The Princess's Guardian

3

Is it possible to regret being the youngest sibling? If it is possible, I regret it 99.9% at the very moment. Joshua is being a stupid older brother by forbidding me from joining the game.

"You are injured," he told me, pushing me with enough force to make me fall to the bench.

Here I sit, watching my brother and his friends play hockey with fury. Not only I don't get to play, I will not be able to test my new hockey stick. Does Jordan know how long I've waited for this very moment?

Of course he doesn't care. He's trying to be a good brother and so far all he's done is making me angrier.

Let me construct a list of the people I want to kill by the end of the day.

First, Adam Raymond.

Second, Charlie.

Third, Joshua.

"No need to frown, little Jordan," Charlie says cheerfully as he decides to spend his time out annoying me. Plus, he reeks of sweat. Of all the other seats surrounding us, why does that overgrown buffalo chose the seat directly next to me? To make matter worse, his arms are resting against the back of his head and his armpit hair in display not 10cm away from my face since he is wearing a sleeveless shirt.

Disgusting creature.

Kill me before the stench does.

I move to sit a seat away and glare at the twenty-two-year-old. "Do you want to sleep with an ice pack on your black eye tonight, Charlie? And for goodness sake, have some dignity and cover your ugly pits. Another reason why you're single."

He pouts yet he does as I say. "I'm just trying to be nice. Why can't you be like other girls who gives polite replies?"

"Because those kinds of girls can stab you in the back. I would stab you from the front," I answer, scooting even more away from him. I swear his smell is trying to follow me. "Why the hell do you smell worse than garbage after every hockey game? Ugh!"

Charlie's eyes widen at my words. "I don't smell that bad!" At the mention of that, he takes a big whiff off his armpits. "It smells like a true man! The ladies would fall to their knees for it."

My fingers twitch when his scent attacks my nose stronger than ever. "You'll land those imaginary ladies of yours in hospital with that toxic scent. Now get out of my face before your smell enters my nose up to my bloodstream and suffocate the hell out of me."

"Such evil," Charlie mumbles as he stalks away.

The game is ending soon so I quickly pack up and limp my way to the nearby Starbucks where my friend works at. I'm not surprised to find her sweeping the floor while swaying her hips to the Linkin Park music from the speakers.

"Nice dance moves," I state with an amused smile as I appear behind her. As usual, I manage to catch her off guard. She lets out a small scream of surprise and her hands out in front of her in defence. The broom fell aside.

"Jordan! One of these days I'm going to hurt you by accident," Sunny warns, picking up the broom. She resumes to work while I take a seat in one of the vacant chairs. "Where's Joshua?"

"Still playing, I think. I had to leave or else Charlie's armpit smell would be the death of me," I complain, throwing my hands up in the air.

Sunny giggles at my exaggeration.

"How long until we can get out of here? I want to go home and take a shower," I whine.

She rolls her light green eyes but speed up her sweeping. "You can always leave first. I can walk home myself."

"Nonsense. Remember what Uncle said? One of us have to accompany you."

"Sheesh, I'm not a baby," Sunny complains. I know she's not, but she didn't seem to understand that she has a small figure and does not have any defence knowledge. Not to mention she's always so gentle and kind that anyone can take advantage of her.

I smile, not wanting to say anything. Sunny finishes up her work and grab her things before the sun starts to set. We take our time to walk down our street heading towards both of our houses. I make sure to keep my hockey stick in my hand as a weapon in case someone tries to mug us or something. Our neighbourhood is dangerous so I don't dare to take any risk.

"Today's such a horrible day at school and work. First off, I absolutely suck at Physics. I do not understand how all the formulas came about and how to use them. What made it worse is that I do not understand the unit conversion. Why can't people just use one unit and stick to it? Noooo, they must make life complicated. Milli, micro, nano, pico, bla bla bla," Sunny rants while I listen in amusement.

"Also I dislike PE. Why do we always play dodgeball during PE? That game should require students to wear protective gear, man. And at work, I accidentally gave a customer extra espresso..."

I listen and chip in my thoughts which made her laugh and relax a bit more.

Before we know it, we have already reached her house where Uncle Alex and Aunt Annie is waiting for her.

"I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow," Sunny says in disappointment.

I laugh and give her a quick hug. She smells strongly of coffee, which is what she works with.

"Don't forget that we have a physics test tomorrow," I remind her before she enters the house. She gasps out loud and I run next door to my own house before she can pursue after me.

Sunny is the only person who knows exactly how I think. This is maybe due to the fact that we were the same age and been stuck since we were ten. The both of us click so well because I can be a tomboy who is scares a lot of people and Sunny is too shy to approach anyone else. Uncle Alex and Aunt Annie didn't have their own children due to the fact Aunt Annie is infertile. They adopted Sunny and ever since then, Sunny became part of our family.

When I get home, my mother clucks like a mother hen at my bruises and ushers me to the shower place.

"Jordan..." Joshua sings as he enters my room when I'm reading a story online before I can fall asleep.

"What do you want, Joshua," I groan. My eyes glued on the screen.

He doesn't answer. I look up from my phone to see him sitting in my chair and staring at me.

"What?" Irritation seeps into my voice.

"I'm bored," he says.

"Get a girlfriend to torment."

"I don't need one since I have you."

I decide to ignore his presence and continue to read a few more sentences before a soft object fly towards my direction. Out of instincts, I drop my phone to the side of my bed and roll over to avoid the incoming assault.

I glare at my childish older brother who has two more pillows in his arms.

"Stop it," I growl, slowly inch towards the other side of my queen-sized bed where all my excess unneeded pillows are stored at the side.

A playful glint flash in his eyes. He throws a smaller pillow, targeting my face. I manage to catch it but the other pillow I fail to see hit my in the stomach with a force enough for me to drop my body onto the bed.

"This is war," I hiss angrily. Now that my anger and annoyance is fueling me, I keep throwing all my stuffed objects at his direction until he gives up returning my attacks. Joshua makes sure that he avoid hitting my sore spots and straining himself from using his full strength.

"Paiseh, paiseh," he admits defeat, running out of my room.

"Coward!" I yell at my brother.

"I'm going back now! Love ya, Jordie. Take care of those injuries."

Eventhough his random appearance annoys the hell out of me, it's nice to spend time with Joshua. Especially since he's now in university and rarely gets to spend time with me.

I never knew that it would be the last time I would see my brother.