Stepbrother

10: Reminder

NOTICE: Every ten chapters will NOT be from Maya's point of view. They will be from Jordan's point of view. Sometimes, they may be from another character's point of view. It depends on the plot. For now, this chapter is from Jordan's point of view. Thank you for understanding.

I run my hand through my messy hair as I walk down the stairs bare-footed. It was nine o'clock and I was ready to go eat some cereal. I was just about to go into the kitchen when I stop mid-track to see a girl with messy blonde hair snoring loudly on the couch with one arm holding onto a bowl of popcorn and the other arm dangling off the edge of the couch. It was Maya. She was wearing the clothes she wore the day before and had probably fallen asleep while watching a Disney movie.

Yesterday, Maya and I had gotten home after her psycho ex boyfriend basically trapped her in his arms. I felt terribly sorry for her, even if I was sort-of mean to her. She didn't deserve to be harassed by her jerky ex boyfriend. I let her lie down on the couch to watch a movie so that she could calm herself down and she most likely had fallen asleep shortly after that.

I sigh and walk over to the coffee table to pick up the TV remote so I could turn off the TV. I look down at Maya. Half of her face was covered with a wave of golden hair and most of the popcorn in the bowl she was holding had spilled and was covering half her body. I roll my eyes at how ridiculous she looked while she slept and decided to wake her up.

I lift her hair out of her face. "Maya? Wake up, will you?" Maya lifts her hand and waves my hand away from her face, which had butter from her popcorn smeared all over her mouth. She opens one eye and then closes it again, trying her best to ignore me. I frown at her. "Maya! Wake up! It's time to eat breakfast."

"Ugh," she mumbles tiredly. Maya rolls over, almost spilling the rest of the popcorn left in her bowl. The popcorn in the couch crunches below her as she tries to move around. I grab the bowl out of her arm and place it carefully onto the table. I take a piece of popcorn from the bowl and throw it at her face. Her nose wrinkles as she opens both of her eyes this time. "Did you... throw popcorn at me?"

"Get up," I demanded her. Maya slowly sits up and realizes that she's covered in a mountain of popcorn. "You fell asleep while watching one of your dumb Disney princess movies," I tell her.

She yawns. "Little Mermaid isn't dumb. It's a cute movie," she comments, even though she was obviously half asleep while saying it. Maya rubs her eyes to look at my face once again. "Wait a second," she says, suddenly fully awake. "I'm late for school." Maya attempts to get off the couch, causing popcorn to fall onto the wooden floor.

"You're not going to school today," I say, glaring at her as I watch her make a huge mess on the floor. "I won't let you go, especially if your little boyfriend is going to be there. I might have to tell my father about your insane boyfriend."

Maya's eyes grew larger and she looked up at me with a scared look on her face. "Don't!" She says quickly.

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Why not? I thought you didn't like him anymore."

"I don't," Maya says anxiously. "Um, I can take care of him myself. There's no need to cause unnecessary trouble. And besides, I've basically forgotten about what happened to me and Jacob." She stands up and pushes the rest of her hair out of her face. I notice a piece of popcorn stuck in her hair, but I say nothing about it.

I look at her weirdly. She was acting strange for some reason. It almost seemed like she didn't want me to tell my dad about what happened. Also, how could she say that she forgot what happened between her and Jacob? I saw the look on her face. It was the look of fear and pain. She was completely heartbroken. That's probably why I couldn't control myself when I was hugging her yesterday. I just had a sudden urge to comfort her. I knew that I hated living with Maya, but a part of me has suddenly grown attached to her. It was a weird feeling I had, and I don't know how to explain it properly.