Fearlessly Red

            My family is quite the strange one. On an ordinary day probably one food fight and at least one fight between my older sister and I. But today was no ordinary day. It was most likely because we were having a family reunion that my brother decided to wear my bra as headphones and it was also probably the reason my sister was a major pain in my ass.

                   “Give it back rat!” My voice echo’s off the peach hallway walls as I fly down the never ending staircase after my ten year old idiot of a brother. I swear to God the kid never sleeps. I’ve been up all night trying to wrangle him and the least he could do was give me a break and try not to annoy me. But being that he’s a boy and ten it just didn’t happen.

                   So here I am having a standoff with a rotten banana as my weapon. “I swear to the heaven’s and back that if I don’t get my bra back I’ll murder you.” Alan just laughs and squeezes my strawberry pink bra closer to his ears.

                   “I can’t hear you.” He squeals before racing out of the kitchen. I try not to cuss as I pass my parents with a sickeningly sweet smile – trying not to puke in the process. The moment I walk out of the kitchen – shit was about to go down.

                   Rushing past my sister – Gigi – as she puts on her mascara – I hope she gets it all over her face – and fly into the decretive dining room. Another thing about my family is when it comes to family reunions, we go all out – not even kidding. The last reunion we all flew out to Salem, Oregon and had a huge sit down dinner before all the cousins – including my sister, brother and I – went to the lake and had a huge cookout. It was a lot of fun but Alan ruined it by farting right in front of Gigi’s face. Never seen her face so red before.

                    “Alan, stop right there.” I screech just as he’s about to run out the front door. If he did that, everyone in our whole entire neighborhood would know what type of bra I wear. The already know that I’ve had my period before – no thanks to Alan.

                   Alan stops in his tracks and turns toward me with a high pride smirk. If I could reach him in one step, I’d strangle him to death. Alan’s eyes narrowed as mine glared after him.

                   “What are you going to do sis? Stab me with your banana?” He chuckles out. I practically want to growl – and if I was a dog, oh I would. I had no comeback in this situation. All I could really do was stand and try not to tare my brother limb from limb.

                   “If I could, I would.” I grit and  he laughs.

                   “Well, you can’t.” He retorts.

                   “Give it back.” I whine and he laughs again.

                   “Let me think… Yea- no.” He says with a proud smile.

                   For a moment I didn’t know what to do. Then it all clicked. Last November Alan got into the whole girls thing. He passed the cooties phase and was into the boobs and butt phase. One day I got a call from Alan’s PE teacher asking if I was our mom. Of course I said I was – I can’t help but be curious – she said that she found Alan sitting in a hamper in the girls bathroom while they were getting dressed.

                   I never told mom about that day and Alan never thought I found out. A sly smirk slipped onto my pink lips as I drop the banana in front of my feet. “Oh Alan. Alan, Alan, Alan.” I start off walking around my brother while smiling. His smirk dropped as his face flashed with confusion. He tighten my bra around him even more as I stepped right in front of him.

                   “I have something against you.” I whisper and the confusion left his face. I swear to God I’d never been more happy or devious in my whole entire eighteen year old life. And man does it feel good to see my brother cower under my gaze.

                   “What?” He quivers and I laugh.

                   “November 10th girls locker room.” I state and his eyes widen in fear. In a moment’s notice my bra was on the floor and he was running up the stairs as fast as his little legs could go. I slightly chuckled and pick my bra up with my pinky. The skip to my step was back as I turned around with a wide smile. But that was gone as soon as I slipped on the rotten banana.

                   My eyes roll to the back of my head as I land on my back with a thud. Pieces of banana land on my face while my bra lands right on my boobs. Before I knew it Gigi, and a guy were standing in front of me while my mother’s mouth hangs a gape from the kitchen doorway.

                   “Well this is awkward.” I mutter as I look at the five unknown faces. Gigi’s playful laughter fills the room as I stare into the boys eyes. He looked around my age and looked like any other guy from school. His face a bright smirk and his mouth open from laughter. I call it the Valentina stare. Since every guy has the same face every time they see me.

                   “Since when did we have another boy in our family? Last time I checked I only had one annoying little brother.” I mutter with a slight twang in my voice. Gigi’s face tightens for a moment as I remove the banana from my face and sit up making the bra drop from me.  

                   “We don’t idiot. He’s a friend of Gila’s.” Gigi states offering her hand. I quickly grab it but fall on my butt when she retracts it with a giggle. A slight ‘ow’ escapes my lips as I rub the sides of my butt. The boy offers his hand making me look up at him with confusion. There’s a small sparkle in the corner of his eyes as I place my small hand into his bigger one.

                   With his strength I was pulled up into a standing position allowing me to brush off my legs and rub my butt in annoyance since it hurts so freaking much. “Thanks man.” I mutter and he just nods. Then I realize that I’m rubbing my butt in front of a guy – a cute guy.

                   “I’m Valentina.” I squeak out offering up my shaking hand.

                   The boy laughs quietly before shaking my hand. “Gabe.” He firmly states. From the corner of my eye I could see Gigi rolling hers. She looked as if she wanted to say something to the two of us – but she held it in as I dropped my hand from his strong one.

                   “Well, I’m just going to take this.” I say and grab my bra from the ground and hold it tightly to my chest before looking over my shoulder at my mom who was now shaking her head as she walks back into the kitchen. “And now I’m going to leave.” I mutter pushing myself past the two of them toward the stairs.

                   “Hey sis, look what I have.” My heart literally stopped as everyone in the room looked toward Alan who was at the top of the stairs – diary in hand. Everything that ever happened in my life was in the hands of the most hated ten year old on the planet. My brother Alan is about to die by the hands of his own sister.

                   “Put the book down rat!” I scream as I run up the never ending stairs – once more – toward the idiot. This might be one of the many reasons why most people don’t like me – especially guys. I have a moody sister, a rat of a brother, and me just being me. Let’s just say, life’s not about to get easier for this red head.

                                   Not ever.