The Lying Serpent

Chapter Seven: Stupid Shenanigans

Gif of Taylor (Matthew Daddario) comment if you're Malec trash because hot damn Malec is life

***

I felt like a zombie.

I was exhausted, and I still had one soul-draining period left. I slumped in my seat, my arms on the table with my head resting on it,

To top it all off, the cafeteria didn't have coffee.

"Linda, are you ok?"

"Huh," I grunted. I honestly couldn't function properly. Damn my stupid brother. He hogged the bathroom again and mum never listens to my complaints about him. It was obvious he was the favourite.

"Linda?" Nita's voice asked. "Wait, you're not on your Japan, are you?"

At this I shot up, glaring at her for bringing it up around the boys. Taylor was insufferable when he thought it was your time of the month. He enjoyed irritating us, just to get a rise out of us.

"No," I hissed, making sure Taylor heard and didn't get any ideas.

Despite Taylor's irritating need to torture us, we all loved him. Sure, he took things too far, but he was a good friend and there for me in my darkest times. Especially in seventh grade...

"Ok, geez, I was just making sure. Did Tommy keep you up all night again?" Nita's questions broke me from my reverie.

"Yeah, you know mum, she thinks he can do no wrong."

"Oh, poor you." Nita gave me a pitying look, while the boys' voices grew louder and louder.

"Oi! Shut up, would ya?" Nita's voice rose above their's. We were getting curious looks from other tables now. The whole lunch drama with Sabrina seemed to have been forgotten, as our school had bigger dramas to gossip about. I really didn't want any more unwanted attention and it seemed like Nita was on the same page as me.

"What was all that about?" she hissed at the raucous boys.

"This idiot over here thinks he can trick Sabrina into going to Ley's birthday," Taylor scoffed, jerking his chin towards Jacko.

"Guys! Please leave your stupid shenanigans out of my party!" Ley pleaded.

I was way too tired for this. Why does he want Sabrina to come to Ley's party anyway?

Lissie, voiced my thoughts, curiosity and confusion warring against each other on her face.

"Well, if she thought Ryan asked her to go to the party, then she'd come, and I'd humiliate her," he explained vaguely.

"How exactly?" Nita enquired.

"Well...I haven't exactly worked that part out yet."

I rolled my eyes. Jacko always planned these revenge schemes, but they always ended badly, or he didn't plan them out well enough.

"Why would you even invite her, Jacko? No one except us goes to each other's birthdays," I challenged him, exasperated.

"Wait, really?" We all turned to look at Summer. She's so quiet, I forgot she was even there.

"Well, yeah. I mean, we're not popular and while we do hang out with other people, they aren't close enough to us to be invited to our parties."

A small smile appeared on her face, as she realised in delight we had allowed her into our small group. It warmed me up from the inside, the knowledge that we had made her happy bringing me joy.

~~~

I dragged myself up the carpeted stairs, one step at a time.

My last period of the day was English, and Ryan didn't seem to get that I was not in the mood for his idiocy. All throughout the hour, he threw paper balls at my back, kicked my chair and yanked on my ponytail, all because I wouldn't turn around when he called my name. I didn't understand why he wouldn't leave me alone. I hated attention, and was content living my life popular free. Well apart from Sabrina, but she's an unshakeable demon.

The ponytail yanking earned us a stern glare from Mr. Ferguson. After that, Ryan thankfully left me alone, with Lissie trying not to snicker.

I was so ready to collapse into bed, when the telltale rattling of the doorknob signified Tommy's arrival.

I internally groaned. Just when I was about to sleep, he had come home, no doubt about to blast his heavy metal music.

Tommy was in his second year of college, yet he still lived with us. He even got mum to do his laundry and cook for him, it was a wonder that he was her favourite. She overlooked all his laziness because of his amazing grades. Tommy was an A+ student, and always got the best grades between us. I wasn't that bad, I usually got A's and the occasional B. The worst grade I had was a C, and that was in Gym. But no, despite my grades, I was still always in the wrong. Laundry left on the floor? Must be Linda's fault. Dirty dishes? Linda's fault. Everything always fell back onto me.

As I lay on my childish purple bedsheets, trying to welcome sweet sleep, Tommy stomped up the stairs and burst into my room.

"Linda! I need you to do the dishes before dad gets home!" He demanded.

"Ugh, you do it. I'm too tired," I groaned.

"What? Get up! You're only in high school, it's not that tiring."

"It is when someone hogs the bathroom all night, every night, forcing me to sleep at 2am every day."

"Get over it already Linda! Just get off your lazy ass and do the damn dishes!"

"No! You do them! You prick, stop coming in here and telling me to do stuff! Just cause mum loves you more, it doesn't give you the right to push me around! God! You're so spoilt, you know that? When I go to college next year, I'll be expected to leave home. But you? No, you get to lounge around and live off mum and dad. Get lost!"

I was panting by the end of my rant, tears streaming down my face. God, why was I crying? It wasn't even a big deal, they were just dishes. The exhaustion and pressure of everything just came down on me at once, making me lose it at Tommy.

Tommy looked stunned, then nodded and left the room. I curled into a ball and fell asleep, the darkness pushing my worries away.

***

Hey guys, early update because studying is getting tedious haha. One more week of studying left *screams*

Anyway, dedication to TinHoverCarInIce for being amazingly awesome <3 thanks for all the comments and feedback girl, it's much appreciated! Also thanks for introducing me to #FYDC cause I entered this story into it hehe. Tell me what you guys thought! What do you think of Tommy? Is he horrible? Or is Linda just petty? Stay tuned for more, I write chapters in advance (like I'm twenty chapters in already haha) so I have major plot twists coming at the end :) do me a favour and check out 'Superpowers Don't Fail' and 'Heroic Deeds' by *guess who, guess who* ... TinHoverCarInIce lol until next week or after exams, who knows haha xx