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Meddling Meddler - The Sister
"Love is a thing, well, its kind of like quicksand:
The more you are in it, the deeper you sink.
And when it hits you, you've just got to fall."
--Unkown Author
Using his legs.
His eyes widened in utmost curiosity as Erin rushed just as hastily down the stairs in a typical grey pencil skirt and tight white button-up shirt, her long black hair curled up using one of those old-fashioned hair curlers.
“Uh… Going somewhere?” Jayden asked, his voice sounded muffled with all those biscuits stuffed in his mouth. With one final tug, he got both socks on, and started putting on his shoes.
Erin paused midway hassling to raise an eyebrow at her (idiotic) little brother.
“Oh, of course not, I just thought it’d be cute to dress up and go back to bed.”
A confused expression.
She groaned and continued her way down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab a blueberry muffin, and then walked back into the living room to retrieve her bag and typical black heels before setting it all down beside her as she started removing her hair curlers one by one, letting her hair fall around her face in loose waves.
“I’ll be teaching in your school, remember?” Erin reminded Jayden, who suddenly looked as though he was about to faint. Or be down with a fever. Yeah, a fever would be good; a fever would keep him in bed for days, he mused to himself.
“Fun.” He commented wryly as he took in his sister’s appearance. “Are you sure you want to wear that shirt?”
“Yeah, why not?” She tossed back, apparently unfazed by her brother’s feigned enthusiasm.
Jayden eyed her shirt sceptically, “People will think you have… Boobs.”
He dodged to the left reflexively as Erin aimed the last of her hair curlers at him, albeit completely missing the target. He chuckled in amusement as she stomped like a huffy kid to the dining table to get the car keys, and then continued trudging towards the door.
Sometimes he wondered how the hell she ended up as his older sister, when she was such a baby at times.
Erin looked behind her shoulder irritably and snapped, “Are you following or what?”
Jayden stood up from his place and moved hesitantly, his smiling eyes turned weary.
“Wait, Erin… You won’t be teaching in any of my classes, right?”
An instant, innocent smile lit up her face as she stepped out of their house, followed soon after by Jayden; A smile that, in Jayden’s case, suggested the worst.
“Most certainly not. Wouldn’t wanna embarrass my baby brother now, would I?”
“Dang, man, that new substitute teacher is hot.” One of the guys from his gang, Blake, commented appreciatively, his eyes trailing after the hip-swaying movement Erin did unconsciously as she rushed down the hallways, her long, curly black hair bouncing with her every move.
Chad, whom, despite himself, still had a little crush on Jayden’s big sister, shoved Blake roughly using his right elbow as they walked towards their respective classes. Jayden, on the other hand, turned and cast Blake a deathly glare.
“That new substitute teacher…” Is my bloody sister, Jayden wanted to say, but paused as he realized the chaos it might cause. “…Is not someone you’d wanna touch. She has foul breath, and her stomach… Bulges. Doesn’t it, Chad?”
He looked towards his best friend pleadingly. Chad complied with much eagerness, nodding his head as convincingly as possible as he joined in, “Yeah, totally, dude. And from what I heard, she farts constantly during sex.”
Jayden’s gaze went instantly to meet Chad’s forebodingly. Chad shrugged, his lips lifted a little into an ill-concealed smile as he gave Jayden a quick wink.
Blake’s face contorted into one of disgust as he digested whatever the pair of them said about Erin.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Now that’s a major turn off.” Blake muttered in disbelief, his head jerked back a little as he realized they walked past his class. “Shit, my class is over there. Later.”
“Later.” The two of them chorused as nonchalantly as possible, and waited for Blake to run into his French class before they burst out in full-fledged laughter. Chad grinned, “God, Erin would so murder us if she finds out!”
“Nah, she wouldn’t, Blake is an ass…” Jayden halted to think about the long list of guys Erin dated, all of which reminded both Jayden and Chad of donkeys. “Yeah, okay, she’s gonna kill us.”
Chad grinned at the thought of that and ran a hand to smooth his messy mass of blonde as he reached the door to his Math class.
“See you, jackass.” He said cheerily to Jayden, who rolled his eyes and let out a half-smirk.
“See you, fucktard.” Jayden retorted, his voice just as light as he twisted the doorknob to the English AP class right beside Chad’s and swung the door wide open.
Upon seeing whatever he saw, his bag dropped to the ground.
Just like his mouth.
“Class, this is the baby brother I was telling you about! The one who peed in his pants the first time he saw Ronald McDonald in his birthday party and ran off crying in dismay!” Erin walked over and enveloped Jayden in a big bear hug, and whispered into his ear, “Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you.”
“You’re doing it already.” Jayden mumbled edgily as he released himself from the embrace, and was just about to sit at his usual spot at the end of the class (preferably far, far away from the teacher’s desk, and hopefully, out of her notice), but Erin’s hand on Jayden’s back pocket prevented him from doing so.
“Eric, is it?” Erin looked towards the quiet kid sitting beside Jennifer, who smiled brightly and nodded feverishly in response. Erin flashed him a brilliant smile, probably melting him into bits and parts on the inside. “Do you mind swapping places with my baby brother for a few classes?”
If he was disappointed, he didn’t let any of it show. Instead, Eric nodded solemnly and got up from his place, taking his seat at the end of the classroom, far too far for his eyesight to reach the blackboard.
But Erin was positively elated, clearly showing her glee as she gave Jayden a light push towards his newly-accustomed seat… Right beside a very befuddled-looking Jennifer.
“I swear I didn’t make her do any of this.” Jayden defended himself huffily the moment he set his bag down beside the table and pulled out the chair.
“I wasn’t even planning to ask you that.” Jennifer replied dryly, habitually shuffling the papers on her desk. She didn’t know why, but it felt easier to be sarcastic around Jayden.
It concealed her occasional uneasiness; the fact that Jayden sometimes had the uncanny ability to make her nervous.
Jayden smirked, “Well, glad to know you’re back to your usual self.”
And apparently he noticed.
“Well, glad to know you’re still a pig.” She retorted, tucking her red strands behind her ears and batted her long eyelashes at Jayden, who rolled his eyes in return before focusing his blue eyes on his sister, who was flipping through some papers, her face the epitome of pure concentration.
Then, she looked up and cleared her throat; everyone perked their ears up in attention.
(Especially the boys, to Jayden’s utmost dismay.)
“I believe Mrs. Lucinda gave you an assignment before she left? A pair work, was it?” She waited for some affirmation, and when the class nodded, she smiled, “And… Did anyone come prepared?”
Almost everyone ducked their head down in guilt, including both Jayden and Jennifer, both suddenly remembering who their partner was.
Erin laughed and shook her head, a knowing glint in her eyes.
“It’s okay. Find your partners now and get working, people! The first pair will be up tomorrow!” Everyone remained on their seat, not willing to budge. Erin frowned and added wryly. “Get going, people, or that’ll be ten marks off your final examinations.”
The threat worked, because barely a second later every student was seating with their partner, looking rightfully panicked about their literature act.
Jayden turned his chair sideways so that he was facing Jennifer’s side, refusing to acknowledge the fact that Erin was just behind him, staring on curiously for any progress.
He wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction, and neither was Jennifer, who looked completely bored as she, too, turned her chair to face Jayden.
“Hello, sunshine.” He greeted with a charming smile, a futile attempt to lighten up the atmosphere a little.
“… Yeah.”
“What, no ‘hello, gorgeous’ or ‘how’re you doing today, handsome’?” Jennifer wrinkled her nose at his choice of words. Leave it to him to do all the self-praising. Jayden leaned in and scrutinized her, making her uncomfortable under his penetrating gaze. “How about ‘I missed you, sexy’?”
She scoffed, “I’d say that, but then I’d be committing a sin. It’s called lying.”
Jayden placed a hand on his chest dramatically.
“And now you’re wounding a man’s ego.” He said, patting his chest in a self-comforting gesture. “I think there’s something written about that being a misdeed as well, Jennikins.”
“Well, technically you’re a pig, so…” Jennifer let that sentence hang in the air. “You know."
“That was quite a sucky comeback, just so you know.” He remarked indifferently.
Jennifer stuck her tongue out childishly, but recovered her cool, composed stance just as quickly as she lost it, her eyes trained on the table once more, not uttering a word.
The silence stretched on, feeling each unspoken moment with tremendous unease before Jayden decided to speak up.
“How’s Alex?” Jayden asked, still slightly worried about his team mate’s condition. “I haven’t seen him today.”
The tiniest of smiles lit up Jennifer’s features; she never knew Jayden had the caring bit in him – and for whatever reason, it made her happy.
Jayden frowned at the way she smiled; what was it about Alex that made her beam like the way she did?
Jayden would never admit it, but somehow, it made him jealous.
“He’s doing alright,” She told him quietly, careful to not let Erin overhear any of their conversation. “The hospital will be discharging him today, so he’ll prolly be coming back to school tomorrow.”
“That’s great.” He said, relaxing a little now.
“Yeah…” Jennifer trailed off, looking away as she mumbled shyly, “Thanks for asking.”
Jayden struggled to keep his cool composure, never letting his guard down.
“Whatever.”
Jennifer’s mouth hung open in disbelief. What happened to that caring, sensitive part of him?
Gone with the wind, apparently.
She glared at him as she crossed her arms, “Whatever.”
And just like that, all the potentially sentimental moments went down the drain. Jayden silently cursed himself for being so stupid and insensitive as he waited for Jennifer to flip through the pages in her notebook, finally halting on one of the empty pages.
“We’ll be acting out the scene after prom, where Kat recites her poem, and Patrick just sits there, looking retarded.” Jennifer explained in a deadpanned tone. “So basically all you have to do is sit there… And look retarded. Which is something you’re getting pretty good at already.”
“Now, class, I must remind you that there has to be some interaction between the both of you,” Erin said aloud, clearly having heard whatever Jennifer said. Jayden grunted, while Jennifer slumped back against her chair, looking defeated. “I want to see the chemistry, people! Show me some love!”
A few students laughed.
“Now what?” Jayden asked, and Jennifer replied with a shrug.
“Need any help?” Erin asked, careful to sound casual as she approached them. Jennifer smiled. Sometimes when Erin’s attempts get way too obvious, Jayden’s face would turn a slight shade of pink. It was amusing to watch, really. “How are you two mingling, hmm?”
“… Mingling.” Jayden repeated dryly, staring at his sister in disbelief. “Who says that?”
“Your sister, apparently.” Jennifer told him with a wry smile, before turning towards Erin. “Thanks for the concern, Er- Ms. Brock, we’re doing just fine.”
“Pleased to hear that,” Erin grinned, before putting a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. “But you know, you can always come over to our place to do some practice with Jayden.”
She ended the sentence with a slight wriggling of her eyebrows and a subtle wink.
Jayden quirked an eyebrow, wondering if practice had a double-meaning to it.
“No, it’s okay, I-”
“Don’t I have a say in-”
“Oh, I insist you practice at our place.” Erin pressed on, cutting both Jennifer and Jayden off. “So… How does tomorrow afternoon sound?”
Jayden scowled.
He knew why Erin chose tomorrow afternoon.
Tomorrow afternoon, his mum would be going for her first yoga lessons, which meant she wouldn’t be home; Tomorrow afternoon, his dad would be attending a company lunch instead of coming home for food, which meant he wouldn’t be home; Tomorrow afternoon, Erin would be going somewhere with someone, which meant she wouldn’t be home.
Well, to put it plainly, everyone wouldn’t be home.
Erin smiled when there was no response from any of them.
“Perfect!” She squealed in delight before walking off to inspect the other pairs happily.
Jayden and Jennifer shared an amused glance at each other.
“Perfect.” They mimicked, before bursting out in laughter.
That was the first time Jennifer found herself liking the way his low chuckle matched her own, lighter snickers, and the thought of it... It made her anxious.
Because now she wanted more.
a/n: I don't really know what I feel about this chapter. The initial plan was to built up the chemistry between the both of them, but I don't think that's going too well. I need some advice. Really.
Review and let me know?
Much love,
