FEARLESS [ malcolm in the middle ]

24. prank

based on the season 6 episode, 'Standee'.

❛ You lift my feet off the ground
You spin me around
You make me crazier, crazier ❜
- Crazier, Taylor Swift

I enter the Wilkerson house with a pep in my step. Today started off on the perfect note, my hair was cooperating with the curling iron, my shirt actually fits me properly, and I had my favourite cereal for breakfast.

"Hey, Lois," I chirp when I enter. As usual, she's pacing around the house, she acknowledges me with a quick yet effective 'hi'. "Hi, Jamie," I say in a sing-song voice and kneel down to where he's crawling and playing with some car toys.

"Oh, Tessa, could you please get him in his chair? I got some food ready for him but I just haven't gotten the chance to feed him," she says and I do what she asks.

"No worries," I pick up the little boy and place him in his high-chair in the kitchen, smiling from ear to ear at his cuteness. My day has just gotten ten times better. I figure she'd want me to feed him as well, so I place the plate in front of him and hold the spoon to feed him.

"Thank you so much," Lois says, she sounds exhausted as she collects some laundry from around the house. "You'd think that without a job and with all the parenting experience, I have I'd be able to manage my time better, but God, it's impossible!"

"I can only imagine," I reply in between shared giggles with Jamie. Lois passes by the kitchen table where I'm sitting and lays a swift kiss on my head. Her motherly antics never fail to warm my heart.

"You're a doll." she yells from the nook where the washer and dryer are. "Have you been doing something different with your makeup? You look better every day I see you," she adds.

I blush at her comments. At least someone notices my efforts. Sure, Reese has been staring more often. He even said I 'look nice' the other day, and that had me absolutely melting. I'll admit to myself that my fashion sense and makeup skills have been improving day by day.  "Well, I've started wearing some pink blush. I also learnt how to line my eyes, but I don't do that every day," I tell her excitedly.

She lets out a sound of approval and appears in my view with a hand on her hip. "I like that you've been taking care of yourself. And you know, it's so nice to get to talk about girly things like this with someone. With these boys sometimes you just need an escape." She shakes her head.

"Yeah, for sure," I laugh. After all, I've spent my whole life with these boys, I sure know what it's like to be overwhelmed with their masculine tendencies. "Speaking of, where's Reese?" I finish feeding Jamie and perk up with my question.

She waves a spare hand nonchalantly. "Eh, I don't know. He just got back from the grocery store. Go check on him—he's probably in his room."

She doesn't need to tell me twice. I practically jump out of my seat and beeline to the boys' room.

I slow down right before entering. I peep my head through the door to see Reese messing with one of the drawers. I prepare to jump into the room, and...

"Boo!"

He doesn't even flinch, he just turns around quickly. "God, you scared me," he lies in an attempt to make me feel better about my pointless prank.

"No, I didn't," I scoff. "Watcha doing?" I continue, trying to look over his shoulder.

"I didn't want you to see this, but it's gonna be hilarious." He moves out of the way to reveal a giant crab in the drawer.