Sticks And Stones

Day 8

[Day 8]

"No basketball practice today?" My brother's quiet voice pierced through the comfortable silence that we shared in the room, and I looked up from the challenging piece of homework.

Whoever who said that Senior High was a breeze should really step in my shoes, because I was about to die from killing too much brain cells.

"Nope. Kasaniji cancelled because Coach is down with fever, and he's busy with dorm things to direct training." I answered cheerfully, taking the excuse of a break to stretch and laze around. It was pretty rare that Ronin and I were spending the evening together in silence in the room, for either he had training or I had training. But now that Ronin was still under suspension –which meant he was locked in our room for the most part of the day –we were beginning to spend more time together in the room.

"I heard you were kicked out of training early last week." Ronin's voice held a little accusation, and I blushed up before I could stop myself.

"Um, y-yeah. How did you know?"

"Kasaniji stopped by the room after training that day to talk to me. You were distracted from practice because of my suspension?" Ronin stood from his desk and trudged, falling heavily back on his bed. No one would think my brother as the lazy, no-boned kind of monster given his mysterious, aloof and cold exterior. But when Ronin got real bored and lazy, he was pretty much a worm on the bed.

"I was thinking about a million things, and he assumed it was you." I excused, but Ronin knew better. Out of the million things, Ronin probably took nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine of those things –and he knew it.

"You know the suspension isn't your fault." Ronin started his fiftieth time. We were past bantering about this, but sometimes Ronin was a little too naggy. If only he was like this with everyone else, then he wouldn't have a single problem with relationships. Still, I couldn't exactly up and tell him to treat everyone like his sister, right?

"Yeah, it's your fault for being stupid." I sighed, finally caving in. There was no point arguing anyway, since both of us weren't going to change our point of view. Still, Ronin had earned ten million brownie points when I woke up to find that he not only helped me restock for at least half a year's worth of sanitary pad, but also bought chocolates to cheer me up.

I swear, if Ronin wasn't already my brother, I would have immediately latched onto him like a leech and trapped him with a ring around his forth finger.

"It's thanks to a certain somebody that I acted so stupidly." Ronin retorted dryly, and I snorted, still stretching. Since we were in the safety of our room, I had taken off my vest to let my chest loose. If girls and women around the world were relieved whenever their bras came off, they definitely hadn't tried wearing a vest the entire day before.

"The weekend is coming up." I started another conversation, steering us safely away from the conversation of Ronin's suspension. "Lydia's coming over to celebrate her birthday with me. Will you come with us?"

"Why would I?" Ronin asked, voice muffled. I turned around to find his face pressed against his pillow, as if he were planning to suffocate himself while lazing around. "I don't know her."

"I've told her a million things about you, and she wants to meet you very much. Please say yes, Ro. She's my best friend." I begged the best way I could, and knew that I was slowly winning by the long period of silence that my brother was in. As if he were weighing the pros and cons in his head. The pros and cons usually didn't matter at all, because the fact that I was his sister made everything disappear. Still...