The Smell of Rebellion

Chapter Five

A/N: Double update!

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Matilda was in a happy mood when she came through the door, holding a book as she smiled and asked her mom brightly, "Do you want to hear about my first day at school?" Her entire first day was at the tip of her tongue, about to spill out as she told her mom everything, just as mothers and daughters were supposed to do.

Her mother was doing a silly stretch on the other side of the doorway and made a face. "Yuck, I'd rather eat vegetables."

Matilda's face fell and she turned to put her hat away as her dad barged into the house and into the kitchen, slamming doors behind him. "It's official, I'm a genius!" Mr. Wormwood declared. "My losing streak is over!" He made his way over to the counter, reaching over Matilda to grab himself some snacks before pushing her out of the way. He recounted, "This fella comes into the lot. Huge, he was– Great big bear of a man."

Matilda stumbled, nearly falling, but she caught herself on the counter and turned around to stare at her dad, who continued, "And this bear of a man wants a luxury car." He plopped himself down onto a large, cushy pink chair. Her happy mood was already completely dampened by her parents, so she watched with disinterest.

"Oh, lovely," Her mother said in that high-pitched, girly, shrill voice of hers, "But do bears drive?"
Matilda almost face-palmed at her mom's stupidity.

"No. He's not a real bear." He grabbed the TV remote and turned it on as Matilda left the kitchen and stood by the doorway, to the left side of her father. She had her book, Grapes of Wrath, tucked under her arm as she asked, "Do you have a luxury car?" Her face was sceptical.

"I've got two, boy," He said, making the number with his finger.

Irritated, Matilda said, "I'm a girl."

Ignoring her, he said, "One with a smashed-in front, and one with a smashed-in back All I gotta do is glue them together, and Bob's your chipmunk. Daddy's back."

Matilda frowned. Her internal moral compass disagreed with her father's scamming and she blurted with a frown, "But isn't that illegal? And sort of, well, wrong?" She made a face that she wiped away as soon as possible

Her father's expression changed.

Her mom, with her ridiculous makeup on, gasped.

"What'd he say? Wrong?" Her dad spoke first.

If they would actually bother to check what gender I am– Matilda thought angrily, watching her dad stand up and march towards her. Her heart started to pound faster as he got closer. "Wrong?" Faster than Matilda could react, he knocked her book out of her hands and she gasped, as if she'd been struck. "Give me that," He growled, looking at the cover.

Matilda watched on in silent horror, unable to get her body to move or her mouth to open.

"The Grapes of– Idiot!" He read the cover, glaring at Matilda as he shook the book. "How can grapes be angry? Hey? What utter junk!"
"It's not about grapes!" Matilda said in exasperation, her anger getting the best of her. She could feel that faint humming in her heart again, her eyes starting to burn.

"Back-yakking! The little madam!" Her mom said in disgust, looking at Matilda as if she were some alien creature intruding in her home.

"I'm not back-yakking!" She protested, and she looked at her dad in helpless rage as he shouted, "Don't you back-yak me!"
Oh, the injustice of it all! Matilda swallowed her rage, anxiety building in her chest the longer the brunt of her parent's anger bore on her.

"I'll rip this book up in front of you," Matilda's dad declared, shaking the precious library book in front of Matilda.

"No, it's a library book!" Matilda cried in desperation, still unable to move from where she was. Her body wouldn't listen, but her mind was screaming at her to get it. To rescue the book. Her mind spiralled just watching, her face contorting in worry and desperation. Oh, Mrs. Phelps will be so mad... Miss Honey will kill me... I'll be banned from the library! Expelled! What will I do th–
"Go on, do it!" Matilda's mom encouraged, and Matilda looked at her mother in disgust before looking at her dad worriedly, silently praying that he didn't really rip it.

He tried his best to rip the entire thing in half, but no matter how hard he tried to pull or twist and no matter how hard he grunted or strained, it would only tear parts of the cover or make ugly folds on the book.

Matilda watched with a mix of disgust and worry, still unable to move. Her eyebrows were creased together into a frown and her mouth was slightly open as she watched.

"Go on," Her mom said excitedly, as if this was some sort of sick TV-show.

After a few more moments of struggle, he gave up and opened the book.

Matilda watched in stricken terror and anger, her mouth hanging open and her face becoming increasingly intense as he tore out the pages of the book and ripped the cover off and spat, "There!"

She whimpered, near tears as she surveyed the damage done to her book.

"Now get to bed, you little bookworm!" Her father shouted, and she cringed, running to the torn book and getting on her hands and knees to gather up the pages and the book, holding it all in one hand. Then, she turned and ran into another room.

No matter how poorly it would probably be done, Matilda couldn't bear the thought of returning such a damaged book to Mrs. Phelps without at least trying to repair it. Mrs. Phelps was probably going to be furious as is, so she might as well try to minimise her anger so she wouldn't be permanently banished from the library.

"Just because you find that life's not fair," She knelt down and opened a cabinet. Her tone was sombre as she sang, and she grabbed a tube of Turbo-Stik Super Glue. "It doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it."
She marched out of the room, superglue in one hand and the damaged book in the other, and sang, "It wasn't worth risking her parents' wrath anymore. "If you always take it on the chin and wear it," as she took a few steps up. She narrowed her eyes at the hat by the door, a plan formulating in her mind. With a small smile creeping onto her face, she ran up into her room.

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The alarm by her bed rang wildly and she turned to shut it off, her face already in a mischievous grin she sang, "Even if you're little you can do a lot," She swung her feet off the bed and slid her feet into tiny brown sandals, "You musn't let a little thing like, 'little' stop you." She grabbed the superglue and ran out the door, still in her pyjamas.

She reached the railing over the stairs, leaning over the railing as she said, "if you sit around and let them get on top you, you might as well be saying, you think that it's okay," She slowly side-stepped towards the stairs, then went running as she sang, "And that's not right!"

Matilda reached up and took her father's favourite hat off. It was brown-and-black, with a silly feather sticking out of it. He loved to boast about it, and he wore it daily. She turned around, back facing the stairs, as she uncapped the superglue.
She was about to glue the hat, but then she remembered what Mrs. Phelps had told her.
"But remember Matilda, two wrongs don't make a right."

Matilda contemplated following that advice, but she heard her dad enter the room and say, "Ah, twit face," before mocking her, "'It's a library book, it's a library book'! Gripy little gremlin."

Fueled by fresh anger, she remembered what she had told Mrs. Phelps in reply.

"Unless it does. In which case, you've just made a right out of two wrongs."

She glued the inner part of the hat in a nice circle as her dad asked, "Where's my hat?"
Matilda turned around to face him, hiding the glue behind her back as she reached her hat out and said, "Here it is, dad." Her eyes were wide and she hoped she looked like an innocent six-year-old. Her heart was pounding but she kept her eyes down as she held it out.

Thankfully, her dad took it without much question and spat, "Big stupid," as he pressed the hat firmly to his head.

Matilda had to make a conscious effort to stop herself from laughing as he opened the door and left.

As soon as he left, she smiled.

Mission accomplished.

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Hope you enjoyed this (relatively short) chapter! Thank you for reading, and please comment/offer feedback! I accept constructive criticism!