Knowing Jude

3. Little Evil Sisters

3. Little Evil Sisters

Later on at night, I'm in my room, done with my homework and texting my bestie, Jennifer, when my mother calls me from somewhere in the house.

"Jo?" I hear mum's voice shout from the kitchen. Unlike at school, at home everybody tends to stick to my middle name. "Aren't you supposed to do the dishes tonight?"

I put my phone away, cursing. "What? No, it's Maria's turn tonight," I scream right back.

We are not lunatics, communicating across our expansive house just requires a little bit more effort.

"You didn't do them yesterday," Maria's voice joins the clatter.

I leave my room, because I can see where this is ending. I go down the hall and through the living room to the kitchen.

"Sam did it for me," I say when I get there.

"You didn't do it, that's what matters," Maria says, turning to face me with a self satisfied smirk. She tosses her long dyed hair back, as if challenging me to say something.

Oh, the little devil...

"I got it done, that's what matters," I shoot back.

"Why would you get your small brother to do dishes for you?" Mum asks, hands akimbo, a pinched look on her face.

"He's not so little, Mum. He is ten, for heaven's sake. He can even cook better than some people in this household," I say, making sure to shoot a glare my younger sister's way. Maria Hansen doesn't like getting her hands dirty, and I guess not learning how to is how she keeps it that way.

Mum waves her hand in dismissal. "Just clean the dishes, Jo. And I want the kitchen clean, too."

I can sense Maria's smug look, and I decide not to look her way, I might get tempted to slap it off her face.

I march behind the counter, my moods already plummeting for the night.

Instances like these, I wish for the morning to come fast so I can go to school and not have to deal with some people anymore, and it's what I do right now.

Are all younger sisters absolute evil, or is it just mine? Maria is always in competition with me, for what I have no idea, and sometimes it's hard to ignore her since she is an attention seeking expert.

By the time I get back to my room, sleep is already catching up with me. I change, grab my phone and jump in between my covers. I look through the texts I've received.

Jen, 8.15pm: Guess what, Ava.

Jen, 8.17pm: Hey, u there?

Jen, 8.20pm: Ava!

I look at the time on top of the screen. It's only twenty seven minutes since her last text.

Me, 8.47pm: What?

Seconds later, my phone pings.

Jen, 8.48pm: Jax is taking me out on Friday!!!!

I read that text the first time, reread it, confirm that is really Jax she is talking about, then reply.

Me, 8.51pm: Lol, funny..... Not so funny, Jen.

She replies instantly.

Jen, 8.51pm: I'm not kidding! He said it's a surprise, I have no idea where he is taking me.

I can hardly believe what I'm reading.

Me, 8.52pm: You're fucking kidding me, Jen. Y would Jax take u out? Y would u even... U r fucking crazy!

Jen, 8.53pm: What's the big deal about it?

Me, 8.53pm: I can't fucking believe u ryt now

Jen, 8.54pm: He is no longer Angela's bf,

I can't believe she said that!

Me, 8.55pm: That's the deal, he was her bf!

Jen, 8.56pm: U r so ridiculous, Av. We'll talk about it tomorrow, night.

Me, 8.57pm: Night.

I go over the conversation, then throw my phone onto my bedside cabin. I knew Jennifer could be selfish, but this was taking it too far.

The wound of having Angeline ripped from our lives was still fresh, and here she was, already cozying up to the only guy Angeline had ever loved.

Angeline, Jennifer and I had been a team, since the first year of high school. I had known Angeline longer than that, though, since we had gone to the same primary school. Jennifer had been my first assigned desk mate the first term, so she became my other friend.

Jax had transferred to our school in the middle of the second year, and Angeline had instantly crushed on him. They both played ball games, they met on the field someday and that was the beginning of their love story. A love that the other kids at school envied and desired. They cleared the second year, the third year, and were definitely going to clear the fourth year together, but tragedy struck.

It was just a fall. At first.

It had been a hot Saturday, and a group of us from school decided to go diving at a river that passed nearby, but far enough from our homes that the folks wouldn't know what we were up to. Jennifer, Angeline, Jax and I were there.

It was all fun, until Angeline went to dive from the big stone at the side of the river. Someone had stepped on it with muddy feet, and it had become slippery.

She slipped.

She slipped and went into an unexpected dive, head over body, sinking below the surface of the water.

I remember watching with bated breath, waiting for her to surface.

She did, but with a sour look on her face, her hand clutching her head. Jax swam in and brought her to the bank.

She had hit her head. She sat the rest of the session out, watching the rest of us.

Days after her bruised skull had long healed, she had started complaining of headaches. It had gotten so severe, searing pain that made her eyes hurt, pain that kept her away from school. Then her mother had taken her for a CT scan.

Happened she had hit her head so hard, she had developed internal bleeding behind the skull. The brain was swelling and the pressure was getting too much...

I didn't like thinking about the specifics, it made me feel as if I was going through the agony again.

Before they could get her to a condition that could have been safe enough for a brain surgery, she had passed away. Because of a stupid diving trip in the woods, I had lost my oldest and closest friend.

All that had been a mere two months ago, and I still had dreams, and nightmares, about it. When I was with Jennifer, I noticed Angeline's absence, imagining what she would say at what point. She was never far from my thoughts, thinking about her far too much than would be considered healthy.

Then Jennifer comes out of the blue, the flowers on Angeline's grave not even bloomed for the first time, saying she was now dating Jax.

Sometimes I don't know how that girl thinks, and this was one of those times.

Can't wait to bulldoze her tomorrow.

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Don't go anywhere, you don't wanna miss what's coming ;) 🐧