A year on Venus

16: having a point!

"Mom he's already seventeen. He's supposed to move out of this house!"

I laughed hard at that. "Don't worry sweet heart I'll soon do that. I'll move out and you'll miss me bad. But why is a cute girl like you crying over food? Shouldn't you be dieting instead?" I teased. She pouted her lips as her eyes welled up. She turned to mom again, "mom that was my diet he threw away. I was supposed to have an oatmeal this morning." She cried. My eyes widened at that.

She turned to me again, "you're a terrible person."

I smiled tightly at her.

"Stop crying, but honestly why will an Ethiopian girl like you be crying over an oatmeal. What's in the bin is already in the bin."
I said that trying to calm her down but it worsened the situation. She hugged mom tightly and continued crying before saying something in anger, "i'm not Ethiopian."

"Woo woo girl! Take it calmly. Your brother can't be Ethiopian and you end up being a whole different thing. Or are you a dinosaur?" I asked. And that did it, she laughed and released mom.

"Your nationality isn't Ethiopian. The sooner you understand that the better. Stop fooling yourself." My little sister said.

"Alright, you can ask mom." I said.

"Mom what's my nationality?" I asked her by myself.

"Scottishhhhhh!" Mom said and my sister began laughing. I maintained a tight face. "Mom's Ethiopian and whether you like it or not that's made me an Ethiopian too." I told my sister.

"But what about your Father?" My sister said and looked me in the eye with her hand on hip and elbow turned outward.

I refused to answer her.

"You see my point." She said before turning to mom. "Mom shouldn't he take after father interms of nationality? I supposed that's how it's done."

"That's how it's done sweetheart." Mom told her.

"I refuse to be Scottish. I am Ethiopian and that's on period!"

"Alright if you say so." She said shrugging and moving further in to the kitchen, maybe she'll prepare another oatmeal and I'll definitely make sure I throw it away again once it's done.

As if she read my mind I heard her say "ain't you going to school. You'll soon be late." She offered me a tight smile.

"Don't worry I don't have a morning class too." I said stressing on the last word.

"Alright for your information you can't throw away my oatmeal again." She said pointing at me with a spoon. I laughed hard at that.

"Hey little girl very soon your brother gonna be more handsome. I'll be having this amazing tanning spray." I said pressing my back to the kitchen island.

"Tanning? Why can't you accept yourself the way you are? You're cute already. Your fair skin is nice." She said and I saw that serious look she always had on.

"Are you jealous of me?" I asked. I watched her stopped with whatever she's doing. She glanced at me before rolling her eyes and moved back to chopping off strawberries and berries and by then mom had already left.

"Suit yourself. What's the brand name? Maybe it won't even work for you, just like how you've been wasting your time with the rest." She said.

It's true I've been buying tons of tanning products, I just don't like being too fair, I know i'm handsome just the way I am. I don't have any insecurities or whatever, I take vitamins and multivitamins, I go to gym on daily basis, I stick to a sexy hair style that makes people drooling. During highschool I always got the award of being handsome each year, but there's just this constant feeling of wanting a tan in me. And unfortunately no matter how I try my skin never tan up. I don't know what's the reason. I've met several dermatologists but all in vain. Still, I can't stop till I tan up. I'll keep testing several tanning products, and won't stop till I get what I want.

"There's this girl I met last week in school. She looked so tanned. I'll make sure I find out about her tanning products and schedules."

Once I said that I looked towards my sister to see her with a smirk. She squinted her eyes at me. I wanted to know what she was thinking about, but the more I tried, the more I fell. I released a sigh at last.

"I hope she knows how wickedly terrible you are. Just in case you're thinking of dating her or something." She said with a smirk.

I found myself laughing hard at that, I mumbled in my laughter and licked away my lips before putting on my best smile, I pushed back some of the hair that fell on my forehead before squinting back at my sister, "dating?" I repeated what she said.
"I never thought of that. But you have a point."