His Baby Sister, Her B.B.B.F.F

First Day of School

"Lainey, Lainey, wake up!" A familiar voice calls out. I groan, throwing a pillow over my head.

"Come on, sis, it's time to get up." The voice said.

"Let me sleep forever," I mumble. The voice sighs, then hands start to tickle me.

"Ah!" I yell. I laugh and giggle, trying to get the merciless tickling to stop. "Okay, okay, I'm up!" I giggle. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and open them to see my big brother, Zane. He was already in his school uniform, mask and everything. His bangs covering his right eye.

"Good, now come on, Mommy said breakfast is ready." And like that, he was gone. I yawn, then flip the covers off my body to get up. I stood in front my mirror, trying to pull down the skirt a little.

"Why do these things have to be so short?" I grumble, giving up a losing battle. I sigh, tuck my locket under my shirt, brush my black hair, then head downstairs. I could smell Mami's strawberry pancakes the moment I walked out of my room. I sat on the banister and rode down it, as I'm accustomed to doing. My family was already in the dining room. Mami was fixing Vylad's tie, Papi was reading the newspaper, Garroth was finishing up a pancake, and Zane was on his phone. The typical morning for the Ro'Meave household.

I sat down at the table and start piling up pancakes, taking quite a few strawberries with me. I ate my pancakes, then began demolishing my strawberries. Zane looks up and chuckles, shaking his head.

I swallow and ask him, "What?"

"Nothing," he said, looking back at his phone. "I just keep forgetting how much you love strawberries."

"Hilarious, you should start a joke shop," I tell him, smiling.

Knowing I'm teasing him, he smiled (I could see his mask shift a little, something that only happens when he smiles.) and without looking up, he says "Maybe I will. I'll become as popular as Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes." I try not to snort.

"So, La-La, are you excited for your first day at high school?" Mami asked me, done with fixing Vylad's tie.

I shrug. "More nervous than anything," I admit, taking another bite of my strawberry.

"Well, don't you worry, La-La, you'll love it soon enough!" Mami promises. I giggle.

"And, we'll want to hear all about your first day at dinner," Papi says. Mami looks at the clock.

"Oh, would you look at the time. You all really should be going. You wouldn't want to late on your first day!" She says. I nod, jumping out of my chair. I grab my bag already full of my school books and my lunch box, put on the loafers I'm technically required to wear, and head out the door with my three brothers.

Garroth and Vylad walk ahead, while I stay back with Zane, my pace steadily slowing. Zane looks back at me.

"Lainey, ¿estás bien?" He asked in Spanish. I'm Latina and speak fluent Spanish. I usually rant in Spanish when I'm upset. To understand me better when I'm in a funk, Zane took Spanish in middle school. It was also for high school credit.

"No en realidad no."

"¿Qué pasa?"

"Estoy asustado. Y nervioso ¡Pero emocionado al mismo tiempo! Solo estoy preocupado de que voy a hacer el ridículo."

"No te preocupes, Lainey. Solo quédate conmigo todo el tiempo. Mamá se aseguró de que tú y yo compartamos el mismo horario. Entonces, no te preocupes demasiado, ¿está bien?"

"Bien. Gracias, B.B.B.F.F.

"No hay problema, Elena."

In case you all are wondering what B.B.B.F.F. is, it means Big Brother Best Friend Forever. We got it from our favorite show, My Little Horsies. Twilight Shimmer calls her big brother, Sparkling Armor, B.B.B.F.F. When she sings the song about her and her brother, they actually sound a lot like Zane and mine's relationship. So, with his consent, of course, I started calling him my B.B.B.F.F, but only under the condition that if anyone asks, we don't tell anyone where it came from. He's kinda self-conscious about liking a little kids show, but I really don't care.

As we got closer to the school, the small amount of confidence I regained quickly vanished. I started to hide behind Zane. "Oye, solo mantente detrás de mí, ¿de acuerdo?"

Too intimidated to speak, I just nodded my head and clutched his arm. He guided me into the courtyard, where every other student was talking. "Wh-why isn't anyone going inside?" I asked.

"No one's allowed in until the bell that starts school rings." "Ohhh, o.k," I say, starting to look at my shoes. "Come on, let's head over there." He stated, pointing to a tree far from everyone else. I nod, grateful. I'm not really good with crowds. Social Anxiety is the worst.

We sit down in the shade of the tree. I take out my schedule, curious about my classes. Zane looks at them with me. "Like I said, Mom made sure to put us in the same classes so that you already have a friend."

I chuckle. "Remind me after school to bake Mami a cake." He looks at me. "Only if you let me help." I pretend to think for a minute. "Deal!" I say, giggling.

I was about to reach into my bag to take out a book when three shadows cross my body and I see people out of the corner of my eye. I look up to see two boys and one girl, all three around Garroth's age. One boy was front of the other boy and girl. He had short black hair and a nice teal color for his eyes. The other boy had short brown hair and red eyes. The girl had long white hair with purple eyes.

"Hello, Gene," Zane said, his voice filled with malice. Uh oh. This is gonna end up badly.

"Zane, back so soon?" The black haired boy Zane called Gene asked. Just then, he looked over and noticed me. He nodded in my direction, asking him "Who's the kitten, your girlfriend?"

Ignoring the racing heart, I managed to speak up. "Um, a-actually, I'm his sister..."

All three heads whipped toward me, Gene had his eyebrows raised. I shrunk back behind my brother. "Shy, huh?" He chuckled.

"Leave my sister out of this, Gene," Zane told him. I looked at him, his body was rigid and, oh Mother of Irene, if looks could kill, Gene would be dead about 10 times by now.

"Or what?" Gene mocked. "Or I'm going to kick your sorry behind," Zane growled, suddenly standing up. "Zane, no!" I whisper-yell, trying to pull him back down. Suddenly, a large bell rang. Phew. Crisis averted. I think.

I grab my bag and Zane's and pull him away from Gene and his gang. "W-Who were those guys?" I asked him, giving him back his bag.

"The Shadow Knights." He said, keeping his head down. "Gene, the leader, Zenix, the one with red eyes, and the girl with purple eyes is Sasha."

"The Shadow Knights? Isn't that the gang you tried to get into last year?" I asked him, looking into his eye.

He just nodded. I heard him mumble under his breath something along the lines of "How am I annoying?" and "They better not touch her, or else I'm gonna.." Aww! He wants to protect me! As sweet as that is, I can take care of myself, thank you very much. I mean, I should hope so since I've been in a dojo since I was 8 and graduated just last year. Then he took a deep breath to calm down. Good idea there, Zu-Zu.

I looked at my schedule again. "We should be going to class. We don't wanna be late." Zane shrugged. "If you say so, although usually, they forgive students for being late on the first day."

A-6. Science with Mr. Carbon. Huh. Okay then. I look up and notice the crowds of students hurrying to get to their first block class and I shrink back behind Zane. He chuckles at how shy I instantly become. I stick my tongue out at him because I am a child. "Come on." He says and we head to my first class of High School. Yay...