The Princess's Guardian

2

"Jordan! Punching someone is not a solution to a problem. I don't even understand why do you have to mind into other people's business," my mother states with a disappointing look on her face. The moment we leave the principal's office and enter her Toyota, she can't stop yapping my ears off about the big trouble I am in for defending a first-year from the captain of the football team."It's not like he's going to lose an organ or something," I grumble moodily, looking out of the window. Not to mention he's a freaking footballer and that punch will have very little effect on him.

On the other side, my punch has an effect on me.

Adam Raymond walked out of the principal's office with no physical signs and I walked out with a bruised knuckle.

Can you see the unfairness in this situation?

Apparently my mother's awareness to that fact is zero. She strongly believes that girls are not meant to use violence, probably even if I am about to get kidnapped. My grandmother has drilled ancient girly rules or whatever into her daughters.

This is why my mother is a housewife and is babbling about the outdated feminine etiquettes to me.

Right now, I wish for a pair of mufflers and a queen-sized bed.

My mother sighs dramatically. "This is the second suspension you received this year. I am very disappointed in you, Jordan."

There's nothing I can do about it anyway. No matter how much I explain to her about the injustice, she would suddenly go deaf.

As usual, I use the silent treatment on her. Since she doesn't want me talking, I won't. I know that she will get annoyed with me but I don't care. I stand to what I believe is right.

That evening, I leave the house without informing my mother. She knows that I'm heading over to my brother, Joshua's apartment like I do every evening. Little did she know that I'm not going there to just visit.

"I heard you got into trouble in school today," Joshua tells me when he opens the door after I knock. He's dressed in his Adidas shirt and shorts. To be honest, he looks more like a school dropout than an engineering student since he didn't shave for a few days and his hair is like a bird's nest.

Let me correct myself: He looks more like a homeless person than an engineering student.

I ignore him and brush a few strands of black hair off my face. "Is he here?"

Joshua is quick to stop me from not answering him. He raises a thick eyebrow at me.

"So what if I did? He was a total ass," I say bluntly. "Now move out of my way."

"Jord, what did he do?" he asks, serious. The usual glow that seems to always be stuck on his face is gone completely. Not only mum must have called him earlier to inform him of my 'behaviour', but also he's struggling between work and school.

Well, he always wanted to be independent and his dream came true.

"The usual. Now move your big butt aside so I can see my love."

My brother complies with a grin. Immediately, I rush over to the small living room where my brother's best friend is seated with a bowl of chips on his lap and watching sports channel.

"Hey, Jordan," Charlie greets with his mouth full of chips.

Charlie is Joshua's best friend ever since they were in kindergarten. He used to always come over to our house and play video games with us. Now, he studies Computer Science in the same university as Joshua and are roommates.

I grimace at the flying spit. Luckily, I don't stay here so I don't need to clean up.

"You're disgusting. If you keep this up, you'll be a bachelor until you're eighty," I remark, wrinkling my nose.

I can already imagine a grey-haired Charlie cooped up in a tiny room with nothing but soda, chips and video games. It's a very disturbing thought.

"Hey!" Charlie protests, flicking a straw at me. "You're mean. Joshua, your sister is mean to me! Again!"

"Not my problem!" my brother yells from the kitchen. I'm pretty sure he's packing lots of granola bars and energetic drinks for later.

I smirk victoriously. That's when I spot the untouched box sitting at the corner of the living room. Before I realize what I'm doing, I appear close enough to it to rip open the box.

It almost seems to appear as if a heavenly light appear from above and shines on The COLT hockey stick right in front of me.

"You better close that mouth of yours before a fly enters and you choke to death on it," Charlie remarks with amusement.

I narrow my eyes at the idiot. "Want me to test my new stick on you?"

His eyes widen instantly, offering the bowl of chips in my direction. "Peace?"

"I can't believe you're scared of someone who is four years younger than you," my twenty-year-old brother says, laughing so hard that he bend over. He's already ready for a new game.

"It's your fault that she's a wrestler instead of a girl," Charlie accuses him. "You transformed your sister into something she's not. Can you see any similarities between Jordan and any other normal girls?"

I glare at him. "Normal girls have long hair. I have long hair. Normal girls have boobs. I have boobs. What? You want more proof?"

Charlie makes a face. "Eww. Ugh. I think that's enough information."

Joshua shrugs. "Not my fault that she didn't want to follow mum's footsteps to being a perfect lady. I just taught her to survive the cruel world with a few tricks."

I sigh impatiently. "Since you two are so keen on getting an answer to the question of whether or not I'm a female human being, I'm leaving. Goodbye, Earthlings."

Without another word, I make my way out of the apartment and towards the skating rink with two dumb twenty-year-olds trying to catch up from behind.

Author's Note

Wow, that's a challenging chapter to write.

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-M.