Chances Are

Chapter 4 Jean Elizabeth Carmichael, Milton's Greatest Enemy

Jean Elizabeth was born to lovely parents Matthew and Denise Carmichael. She had a brother named Milton Casper who was a full two years older than her. When she was growing up, she knew that her brother existed but he wasn't of much importance. She saw immediately from her mother, that she favored her over her brother Milton. Although he was harmless enough, Jean was influenced by her mother to "outwardly hate" on this boy in her life. Through the years, Milton tried so hard to have a positive relationship with her, but with her mother's coaxing she grew to hate her brother. In reality though, Jean never really hated Milton. He was generally a good brother who took care of her and even did things for her if she asked nicely. She couldn't understand why her mother hated him so much. But in the end, the bond of mother and daughter became so strong that she became influenced enough to hate on her brother as passionately as her mother did.

At first she just ignored him in class and generally avoided him at all cost. But as time wore on, her hatred grew roots when she saw that her father was showing him preferential treatment. Jean saw all the small things her father gave him and it angered her because she thought that her father loved him more than he loved her. It wasn't true obviously because everything her father gave him, he also had one for her. But in her tiny mind, the fact that Milton was being given special attention irked her to no end.

It also didn't help that as a young boy Milton was a very rambunctious and playful young kid. He would invite her to play games with him and in the few short times that she said yes, she'd immediately realize that she had nothing in common with him. Her brother was the definition of a geek and she couldn't relate to the geeky stuff that he and his best friend would be into when they played. And so it came to be, when she was growing up, her disdain for her brother grew and grew and it left him to wonder what he did to her to despise her with so much intensity.

As a young child, Jean was the chubby type, so her confidence and identity were based solely on her looks. People made fun of her, but even though Milton defended her at every turn, she grew to despise him nonetheless. In her selfish brain she thought that his sole purpose in life was to protect her, and in the few instances that he wasn't able to, she put all the blame on him. So when she decided that enough was enough and lost all her weight, she vowed to make his life miserable because she wasn't the perfect brother she was hoping he would be. So when she lost weight, she grew up to be a beautiful and sophisticated young lady. She became stuck up and a man-hater, but her slim 5'5' frame became the face of many boys' fantasy in the school and her long brown hair and hazel eyes allowed her to manipulate most of the boys in the school to do her every whim.

As the years went by, Jean did small things to put her brother into trouble. Sometimes she would make a mess around the house and blame it on him, and immediately Denise would scold him and punish him severely. Sometimes she would hide things and pretend that it got lost, only for it to be found in his room and Milton none-the-wiser why it got there in the first place. Every time she would do something to get him in trouble, Denise would almost always relish the fact that she could scold him once again. Even if she knew sometimes that it wasn't his fault and it was actually Jean's, she still would punish him severely because her hatred towards Milton ran too deep at that point.

One day when Milton and John Dylan were playing around the house, Jean once again grabbed the opportunity to make Milton's life miserable and sneakily tipped the vase over without them noticing. When the vase shattered to a million pieces, Milton assumed that John Dylan was the one who accidentally broke the vase so he immediately took the blame without really thinking about it. Unwittingly for him, it was all her fault. So when he was given the responsibility and punishment of doing all the house chores, it was all Jean's doing. When Denise's patience grew thin and forced him to do all the chores from then on, it was all Jean's doing and she was laughing maniacally in her own room as this all transpired. She was so proud of what she'd done and she relished that she made his life miserable. When he would do the chores, she would see to it that she would make more of a mess so that he would have more things to do. Although she grew to hate his brother, this was the extent of what she did to him. She did pranks on him and blamed him for pretty much anything, but she would get frustrated when he accepted everything with a smile on his face and a quiet resolve. Part of her respected her brother for being so strong-willed and patient, but an even bigger part of her thought of more schemes to make his life even more miserable.