The Pain of a Middle Child

XI

The next day, I was assigned to watch over my brother while my parents went out. It was originally going to be my sister who was going to 'babysit' me and Danny, but she was also going out, so that left me to babysit.

I bit down on my pencil, leaving teethmarks on it. Downstairs, my brother was toying with his coins.

I inspected the pencil, studying my teethmarks.

They were a bit uneven, but more straighter than last week.

A loud crash sounded, and Danny's scream peirced my ears. Slamming my pencil down, I walked down the stairs.

"What," I growled at him. The only time I could be myself was when my parents and sister weren't home. With or without my brother, I was free to do anything I wanted.

Danny stared at me, then ran off somewhere. Gnawing at the inside of my mouth in frustration, I went back upstairs, pausing for a few minutes to check my nofitications.

Back in my room, my homework was blankly lying on my desk, looking very annoying.

But nothing was rarely more annoying than Danny. I starting singing my song of the day, There's Nothing Holding Me Back by Shawn Mendes.

"Stop singing!" Danny screeched. I pretened not to hear him and kept on singing, this time, Let it Go from Frozen.

My door opened and my brother entered. He grabbed the shoulder of my Pyjama and tugged.

"Hey, let it go!" I pried it from his hand and he slapped me.

Sure, it was a weak one, but I didn't enjoy getting slapped by my brother. I pushed him out of my room and locked the door. He yelled some things, then quieted down.

I peeked out the door to see what he was up to, and there he was, sitting right in front of the door, a pencil in his hand and a piece of paper on the floor. He was writing something on it. I closed the door again.

The piece of paper slipped through the crack under the door.

Your a mean idiot!

He had written the phrase all over the paper with his big handwriting. I tore the paper and slipped it back with a sticky note that said, thanks for introducing yourself, anything else?

There was a short pause while he read the note. Then the notes came back to me with the ripped paper.

I went back up to my desk and tried very hard to resume doing my homework.

I ended up staying up until 4 a.m. to finish.