One Thousand Words

Chapter Five- Beyond the Yes's and the No's

||Chapter Five||

“Come on, you already skipped out on Spongebob last Wednesday morning. Now you’re going to abandon me again today?” My older brother, Greg, whines while flipping through the channels on T.V., still in his pajamas with a bowl of frosted flakes in his hands while his feet are resting on the coffee table in front of him. Now I understand why Mrs. Augustine was so skeptical when I told her about Greg going to medical school.

 

I kick his feet.I can’t stand that disgusting mannerism of his. I mean, I eat on that table and I study on that table and besides, Greg never washes his socks. I shiver just thinking about it. “I’m busy. Unlike you, I’m actually doing things with my life,” I taunt.

 

He looks at me, a blank expression plastered on his face. “Okay, when you need a heart transplant, I’ll make sure to show you that I can’t do anything with my life.”

 

“Oh brother dear, we all know,” I pat him on shoulder. “I don’t have a heart,” I whisper and I laugh as his eyes widens and his feet fall off the table. “Much better,” I sing before skipping out the front door.

 

I usually walk to school even though I do officially have my driver’s license. It’s that my mom said I can’t get a car until I’m officially accepted into a university which isn’t fair because my brother got a car the day he passed his test. I think we all know who the favourite child is.

 

I take out my large phone from my back pocket and go over all the questions I’d written down for the interview. Unfortunately, despite my hardest efforts, there’s only so much you can do with yes or no questions. I hit myself on the head with my phone and let out a defeated sigh. Knowing James, he probably isn’t even going to try to answer these simple questions with his fullest intent.

 

But I’m not going to give up. I finally feel like I have a lead onto something and although my instincts have lied to me in the past, I have a pretty good feeling about this. This isn’t like the alien sloth thing with Beth. This is serious.

 

It takes about twenty minutes for me to get to school and by then my mind is clouded with so many scenarios, I think my brain is about to explode. I wave at Naomi who is busy practicing with her soccer team on the first and smaller field of the school. Of course James’s teams would unfairly receive the larger playing field just because he’s on the team.

 

I drag my feet over and when I do, I see him shoot a dashing ball into the net. It goes by so fast, I would have missed if I’d only blinked. The ball is kicked back to him and he prepares for another shot. Taking out my camera, I begin to focus in on him and as he prepares to kick, I take a photo. There’s something about the determination in his eyes that actually makes him look kind of cool. Without even noticing, a small smile spreads across my face.

 

Just like yesterday, as soon as the shutter clicks, his eyes dart onto me, as if he has super hearing or something. He says something to his teammates before jogging over in my direction and suddenly my face goes red. “Nice kick,” I force on a smile. Maybe if I try to act nice, he’ll be easier to deal with.

 

“Are you complimenting me?” He scoffs, but unlike those other times, there’s a small amused smile on his face. “Sucking up isn’t going work.”