It All Started With A Tampon

(10)

Josh greets me with a grin, and a bucket. He hands it to me, and fist bumps Mark. 

"You better start cleaning sis." He says firmly. "Mark and I are going to hang out here, and you need to redeem yourself. Your behaviour yesterday was unacceptable." I hesitantly take the bucket, and head to the kitchen. This is going to take ages. 

"By the way." Josh says, sitting down at the table. "Mum and dad are gone for the week. Conference in New York." My blood runs cold. "I'm in charge." He smirks. "Make me a sandwich."

"Me too." Mark says, joining him. I nod, and start fixing them their food. They talk about stupid things, and I zone out.

"Gemma." Josh snaps at me."We're having a party tonight." I look at him confused. Why should I care? 

"So you have to clean this place good." Mark says. I nod, as it makes sense. 

"Move the furniture in the living room out the way." Josh adds, playing on his phone. "And get some food sorted. We'll get the booze." I sigh, knowing that tonight is just going to be filled with drunk, useless idiots. And tomorrow morning, I'll be the one who will have to clean it up.

"Got a problem?" Josh asks darkly. I place their sandwiches in front of them, and huff.

"How long will it go for?" I ask. "Because I'm guessing I'll be the one cleaning the mess up in the morning."

"Yep." Mark says, with his mouth full. 

"It will go for as long as I want it to go for." Josh says, stuffing his face as well. "And of course you'll be cleaning it up." 

"It will take forever!" I protest. "I have school tomorrow." Josh puts his sandwich down and stares at me.

"You're not going to school tomorrow." He says. "You're staying here until it's clean." I pick up Mark's empty plate, and places it in the dishwasher.

"Fine." I say snarkily. "But if I fail Mark's geography assignment, it's your fault." Mark laughs, and looks at me.

"If you fail my assignment, you will regret it." He says. "So you better just work twice as hard." 

"You can work on it in your room tonight." Josh chuckles.

"What?" I ask. 

"You didn't actually think we would let you near the party did you?" Mark asks, gasping for air through his giggles. I frown, not understanding.

"You're going to set up, and then when the guests arrive, you're going to disappear into your room and pretend that you don't exist." Josh says, standing up. Great. So now I'm confined to my room too.

"Get to work." Mark says, and I do. They go into the den to watch football, and start to clean and move furniture.

"Uh." I heave the stone coffee table out the way, and collapse on the floor. I am quite strong for a seventeen year old girl. Josh would never admit it, but when we were younger I could beat him at arm wrestles. Now that's stopped and he just gets mean. I finish the cleaning, and then I start to fill bowls full of pretzels and chips. I'm used to setting up parties, my brother has thrown quite a few. I set up the tub of non alcoholic beverages that nobody will touch but technically we have to offer, and then the doorbell rings. 

"That's the booze." Josh calls. "Just let him in." I let Brian and Jake in, who are carrying two large kegs. Great. The cheap beer gets people drunk quicker. Which means more mess tomorrow. They smirk when they see me setting up, they're used to this. I throw a better party than Josh.

"Where do you want the kegs?" Brian asks.

"Kitchen." I mumble, trying to scrape this scuff mark off the floor. They drop the kegs in the kitchen and join Mark and Josh in the den. I hear frustrated crys, and Josh yelling at the ref. Great. He's in a great mood.