Beauty and The Geek

A Marvelous Chapter

Marvel

I hate my brother! Well, half-brother. I should've sold the little twit to that lady at the garage sale we were having when he was four months old! What? The woman wanted to buy a baby doll for her granddaughter, so I was going to give her one. I think as I plop down on the couch.

"Marvel," Brutus says as he walks in the room.

"Yeah?" I say, tossing my football from one hand to the next over and over.

"Go check on your brother," he says.

"Can I throw him out the window?" I mutter.

"No," he says.

I sigh, get up, and walk upstairs to Cato's bedroom, opening the door and walking in. "Hey, Loser," I say and toss the football at his face with a smirk. He blocks the ball with his hands.

"Jerk," I hear him mutter under his breath and I run over to him, pinning him down and sitting on his stomach. "Get off of me!" He shouts and I tighten my grip on his wrists and laugh. "I'm not joking, Marvel! Get off!" He bellows.

"You gonna call me a jerk again?" I ask.

"No," he breathes out.

"Huh, Loser?" I say.

"No," he says louder.

"What was that?" I say.

"No!" He shouts.

I smirk. "That's what I thought, Nerd." I say and hack up some spit and let it dangle over his nose. He kicks and thrashes underneath me.

"No!" He shouts. "Get off of me!" He cries. "Get off, Asshole!"

Just when the spit is about to touch his nose, Mom walks in. She looks at us on the floor and gasps. "Boys!" Her voice screeches through the room. She places her hands on her hips. "What do you think you're doing with him?"

I climb off of Cato and stand on my feet, but let the spit spatter on his face first. "Gross!" He shouts, wiping his cheek with his shirt.

"You spit on him?" Mom asks, shifting her position and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Maybe," I say and look at the floor.

Mom presses her -already thin- lips together, furrowing her eyebrows. "You're grounded," she says simply.

My mouth gapes open. "Mom,- ." She cuts me off with a lift of her finger.

"I wasn't finished." She puts her finger down and looks in my eyes. "The both of you," she points to us with her finger. "Are grounded for a week."

Cato looks at her like she has lobsters crawling out of her ears. "But I didn't do anything," he says.

Mom looks at him. "That's two weeks," she says and I choke back laughter.

"But- ." Cato starts.

"That's three, want to try for four?" She asks, placing her hands on her hips again.

"Yes!" I shout, laughing a little.

"That's four!" She shouts.

"I didn't- ," he starts again.

"Shut up and give me your phone," she holds her hand out.

Cato sighs and reaches in his back pocket for his phone. "What did I do, Ma?" He asks, holding his phone out to her.

"One week for the use of profanity," she says, holding up one finger, and Cato nods. "Two for fighting with your brother," she holds up two fingers. "Three for shouting in the house and sass talking," she holds three fingers up.

"But I didn't- ," he starts but Mom cuts him up with a lift of a finger.

"Four for interrupting." She smiles as she takes Cato's phone. "And now five for trying to sass talk again."

"Sounds good enough," I say.

"Oh, you're grounded from your phone, as well." Mom holds her hand out and I frown.

"Mom, my whole life is on here." I say, pointing to my phone in my pocket. "You can't take it away, Woman!" I shout.

She gasps. "Marvel Sanford!" She shouts.

"What?" I say as I drag my phone out.

"Phone" -she holds her hand out- "now." I sigh and drop my phone into her hand. "Thank you," she says and walks out of the room.

"Jerk," I mutter under my breath, referring to Cato.

"I'm not the jerk here," he says, unpacking the boxes. "You are," he points to me.

I run to him, wrapping my hands around his throat. "Listen here, Nerd." I hiss. "I told you to never call me that again. Understood?" I ask as I watch as he begins to turn blue. "Huh?" I shout.

He tries taking a deep breath. "Marvel," he struggles to get out. "I can't-" I let go and he falls limply to the floor.

"Whoops," I say, tapping him with the toe of my sneaker. "You okay there, Nerd?" He does nothing and I begin to panic. "Oh God," I sigh. "I killed him."

I killed my little brother. I think as I sink to my knees beside him.

"I'm so sorry, C." I cry as I pull his body closer to mine, hugging it. "I'm sorry for being a jerk, I'm sorry for yelling at you, I'm sorry for hanging you upside down from a tree infested with wasps last week." I apologize, rocking back and forth with him still in my arms.

"It's okay," he says awkwardly. "Why do I feel like you're going to rape me?" He asks. I slam him to the ground and wipe all the nerd germs off of me with my hands.

"You little shit!" I shout. "I thought you were dead!"

"Why would you- ?" He starts.

"Boys, go to bed!" I hear mom shout. "You start school tomorrow and I want you two up bright and early in the morning!" When mom punishes, that means bed without dinner.

"Got it, Mom!" Cato shouts, unbuttoning the top button of his shirt. "What?" He asks, looking at me. "Like what you see or something?"

"No, I- ," I start.

"Get out of my room," he says and pushes me out in the hallway, then shuts the door.

I walk down the hall to the room I picked; the one that's bigger then Cato's, of course. I walk in and grab some pajamas out of the small dresser in the corner and slip them on. I climb in bed and lie my head on the silky pillow, then fall into a deep sleep.