Rats, Roses And Paper Bones

chapter 23: Troublesome you

"What is going on here?"

Out of the one thousand and one words in my very impressive vocabulary, those were the only three I could manage.

I had just walked into my sister's hostel after classes, and for some reason, everyone was staring at me like I had personally offended them.

All I wanted was to give Dara her pocket money for the week. She usually left it with me, and I gave her a little at a time so she wouldn't blow everything at once.

Apparently, I had walked into something much more interesting.

Dara was standing beside her bed, her head hanging low, while one of my classmates stood in front of her, gripping a metal clothes hanger.

A few other girls stood around them.

They were all in their underwear.

It was both hilarious and deeply concerning.

"Oh, good. Your sister is here," the girl holding the hanger said.

I sighed.

Of course.

Dara had gotten herself into trouble again.

Judging from the way everyone was staring at me, they were probably thinking:

Oh, look. Her sister is here to save her again.

And honestly, I couldn't blame them.

This was probably the umpteenth time I had played solicitor for my sister. I could count at least five occasions when Dara would have ended up in bandages—or possibly crutches—if I hadn't shown up at exactly the right time.

The first incident had been entirely Moyo's fault.

But after that, Dara seemed to develop a special talent for getting herself into trouble.

She would say something unnecessarily rude.

Or do something unnecessarily rude.

Or, sometimes, both.

And somehow, the result was always a near-death experience.

I plastered a wide, fake smile across my face and gently took the hanger from the girl's hand.

"Okay, guys... let's not do this," I said. "I'm sure we can sort everything out without anybody getting hurt."

The girl reluctantly released the hanger.

"Can I just talk to my sister for a minute?"

Nobody answered, so I took Dara by the arm and pulled her towards the corner of the room.

"What did you do this time?"

"Nothing."

She folded her arms and looked away.

I stared at her.

"Dara."

"What?"

"Look at me."

She reluctantly turned towards me.

"When was the last time I came to your hostel?"

"The day before yesterday."

"And what did I come here to do?"

"Visit me."

"And what did I end up doing?"

She opened her mouth.

"Well..."

Her voice trailed off.