Dani's Little Sister

Chapter 1

"Alright, Danielle." Her mom said, stepping into her daughter's room. "I'm off to work. Are you absolutely sure you can handle him?"

"C'mon, mom." Dani said with a smile. "I'm thirteen years old. I think I can handle my twin brother. All he does is sit there and play video games anyway."

"Alright," she said with a sigh that seemed almost relieved. She did appreciate her daughter's confidence, but a nagging voice in the back of her head reminded her that Darren could be a handful. "If you need anything, anything, you have my number."

"I've babysat tons, mom. You know that."

"Please, please don't let him hear you refer to it as babysitting." She tried, but failed to keep a smile from her face. "I'm only on these overnights this week, but" she paused. "If this does seem to work, maybe I can consider signing up for them more often. They're very good money. Maybe I could even start paying you. As long as Darren doesn't find out."

"He still doesn't even know you got me a cell phone, mom." Dani replied. "Like I said, we'll be fine!"

"Hey, bro. Can I play?" She asked. Darren hardly looked away from the television, shooting all over the place just to clear one enemy.

"Sure. Can you grab me a drink?" She bit back the urge to remind him to say 'please' and smiled.

"Of course." Dani went to the kitchen, her sweet smile metamorphosing into a devious grin. For the last two weeks, she had been asking Darren to play his favorite video game with her every single day. Every time, she had lost, or so he thought. In secret, she had mastered Soul Contract through YouTube playthroughs and just genuine trial and error. Watching her brother, a middling player at best, win day after day had grown maddening for her, but it would all be worth it. Today was the day that she would put the second phase of her plan in motion to seize control of Darren and show her mom just how in charge she could truly be.

She handed the can to Darren and sat down next to him, grabbing the controller he offered her. She feigned trying to figure out the controls, but for the first time, she did not restraint her reflexes and muscle memory as much as she had the last two weeks. She beat Darren, although only by a thin margin.

Darren stared at the television for a moment in disbelief. He looked at her with a mixture of confusion and begrudging respect. She smiled sweetly and watched as his face hardened into an expression of sheer determination.

"Rematch."

"Alrighty." She said cutely. "But, how about we make it interesting?"

"A bet?"

"Yep. Whoever loses has to" she paused and feigned thinking. "Has to do whatever the other one says for the rest of the night."

"Hmm" Darren said, considering it. He looked at the screen again. Did he dare? Was it just a fluke? She had lost every single game they had played for the last two weeks. How did she get so good? His teenage boy mind could not even comprehend the idea that she would pretend to be bad for that long, just for one night's fun. Yes, he would certainly win. It was just a fluke, that was all. Dani allowed her devious grin to emerge fully as her brother extended his hand. They shook and the deal was made.

A bit annoyed by Darren's insistence on a rematch, even though she had anticipated it, Dani did not hold back in the slightest. By the end of the mercilessly short game, her score was nearly double his. She looked over at his crestfallen face.

"Sorry, bro. Guess I got lucky again." He knew that that was not the case. His sister, somehow, was better than him, and significantly, unarguably so. As he sat there numbly, Dani turned the game system off and smiled. "Alright, so" she paused, doing everything in her power to keep her voice level and casual. "I guess that means you're going to do everything I say for the night, hmm?" He simply grunted in response. "Let's start with a bath."