This is a SKoW challenge that I saw and decided to write about. A lot of it has come from my life itself, with a mixture of fiction-- You'll probably be able to tell the difference in it, lol. The requirements for the challenge are at the end of the chapter. They came off pretty humourous to me, and I guess because at the time that I'm sort of presenting the story to be in, it was a fun time for me, I chose it.

So, review and let me know what ya'll think.

C.S.

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The Rebound

Part 1ne: She Enters

It was like any other day of summer that had passed by. Hot, muggy, almost humid—Annoying. The sweat that zigzagged down my face in tiny droplets came mostly from the heat that hung strongly in the air. The hot mixture of multiple bodies and perspiration succeeded in making a concoction that was deadlier than sunbathing without sun lotion, a concoction that nearly paralyzed me in the spot I stood.

I was tired, running on two hours of sleep from the night before. The party that had been thrown in my brother’s favor and lasted until late hours didn’t make my situation any easier. Neither did the hangover that I suffered from.

Uncomfortable with the dehydrated sensation in my throat, and how my warm spit only seemed to increase the feeling, I crossed my arms over my stomach and shifted my feet. The movement in my legs relieved some of the pain in my stiff body, but returned when a gust of hot air was blown past me. There was no possible way to alleviate the pain I was in by standing in one spot only.

Out of any day in the week that he could’ve left town, my brother had chosen to leave on a day when the meteorologist had predicted it would be a bright and sunny day. What he had forgot to inform us of was that for those intending to travel, it would be a scorcher.

We were waiting for his bus to come, and by my mother's decision we hadn’t moved from the spot where we would receive a clear view of Dominic's bus. It hadn't been one of the best choices in our lives, but one we’d made nonetheless. The bus had been delayed. Some technical difficulty had happened, and the ten minutes granted had turned into thirty.

“Don’t forget, Dominic,” my mother coached my brother, again. “Don’t get distracted. Even if you get a girlfriend, don’t let that detour you from getting your degree.” These were the same words she had said to him ten minutes ago, and Dominic had simply nodded his head.

My mother already knew he wasn’t going to take her advice. My brother was a guy. It was innately in him to chase ass, drink booze, and fuck whatever girl agreed. But he was still virgin in my mother’s eyes. Her precious baby that had grown to be a handsome man was leaving her side. A side that was large enough for him to duck around and hide behind.

“Dominic, honestly, don’t be stupid. I, personally, don’t agree with this whole away from home idea, but because I trust you…”

“I know, ma,” Dominic answered her briefly. His baby blue eyes looked at me and he smiled.

I didn’t even have to keep his gaze long, I knew what he was thinking before he thought it. I was one of my brother’s best friends, and if Rey, our adopted brother, didn’t know what he was thinking, I did.

He was the first in our family to go to college. Our mother had gotten pregnant when she was in her first semester and hadn't even waited a week to drop out. And though the chance to go to college where we lived had been given to Dominic, he had taken the football scholarship he’d gotten and chosen a college that was hours away by bus. But his second priority for going to college was the girls.

“Where’s Rey?” Looking at my mother that had asked a question that both, Dominic and I knew we weren’t going to be able to answer, I shrugged. The last we had seen of Rey, he had left the party early with his girlfriend, and since his cell phone had been off in the morning there had only been one excuse to use. An excuse that my mother wouldn't believe.

As if by magic, a hand clapped over my shoulder, and Rey stepped around me. His face was full of the apology he didn’t feel entirely.

“Sorry, man,” he began. A cheesy smile was on his face at the same time as he clapped hands with Dominic as though they didn’t live with each other. “Sophia made me stay for breakfast, but I got Talbot to drive me here.” Rey glanced at me from the side of his eyes.

When I was alone with them, we were all guys. Every word was spoken in man language, every action done for pure manly pleasure—and I was a part of it, I was one of them. When my mother was in the picture, I became their little sister again. They started speaking in terms that they wanted to believe I didn’t understand and attempt to return me to an innocent stage that I had lost years ago. Their true goal was for my mother to not understand them.

I had started the terms breakfast, lunch, and dinner being applied to sex in our house. It all depended on the time of day that the action had taken place that we would use the term, and after awhile Dominic and Rey had loved it.

My mother smiled at Rey. She was just happy that he had made it to the bus terminal in time to see Dominic off. “So, what did she make you?” she asked Rey.

The loud bustle of people going in and out of the terminal seemed to stop the instant she asked Rey the question—He, too, was a virgin in my mother’s mind, but because she had caught me in the act at one time, she felt she didn’t have to address it with me.

Dominic laughed. “Sophia can’t cook anything but eggs and sausage,” he added after a second. An innuendo that I understood far too well.

“That’s not nice, Dominic,” my mother admonished my brother. Rey gave a smug smile. “Maybe she’s trying to learn how to.”

Immediate guy instincts kicked in, and I laughed skeptically. She didn’t have to learn anything about cooking breakfast with Rey, they had both been master chefs since their first date in middle school.

All eyes were on me, Dominic and Rey knew what I had found funny, but my mother took it as though I was trying to mock her. Her eyes squinted in my direction, glaring. She came back with, “Well at least she can cook something, Cainell. All you want to do is wrestle.”

I sighed. This day hadn’t been meant to turn into one of our family arguments. Our family argued about everything.The most concerned subject was me. Instead of turning out to be the daughter that my mother had tried to turn me into, I came out more than a tomboy. Every chance my mother got, she threw my like for wrestling in my face as something bad.

I was two minutes from revealing to my mother what they meant by breakfast and eggs and sausages. Instead, I shrugged my shoulders. “Whatever, I can cook,” I defended myself.

Nobody said anything. Uncertain whether my words had left them speechless, or they had decided to give me the silent treatment, I turned around expecting to see someone familiar. My heart seemed to drop into my stomach when my ears deciphered the voice I heard.

It was Dominic’s bus being announced over the intercom.

We had waited for so long for his bus to come. It hadn’t occurred to us that when it came we would instantly feel the loss that hadn’t happened.

Our silent moment was disturbed by the sound of feet that neared us. I looked to see Talbot approach us with a girl not far behind him. Her face showed as much disdain for being at the bus terminal as I felt having to depart with my brother.

“Hey, Dom’,” Talbot greeted Dominic. “Mrs. Rhodes.” Respectful, Talbot turned to my mother and nodded his head at her.

His pleasantries got him nowhere.

“Ey, look, Dom,” I abruptly started the goodbyes. “Important things first.” If my brother heard it from me, he would take it a lot more serious. “Then stupid shit, sex and girls—“

“Cainell!” My mother gasped.

I ignored the surprise that was etched on my mother’s face. Now she would be able to blame my brother getting a girlfriend on me. Not one person with us was virgin. “You’re a bus ride away, don’t forget to call, and try to come home for holidays,” I added a second later, which pleased my mother.

Nine months in the womb together playing survival of the healthiest, eighteen years fighting battles with each other, with ten years of Rey by our side, and my brother simply nodded. He had started to feel the effects of what it would be like without everybody he knew.

I had said what I had to; there was no need for anything else when I knew that my mother was going to say everything that everybody could. She was going to wait until everyone had said something to Dominic, and then she would cry for a long time and see him on the bus. I was going to treat it like it was any other day and he would be back when he got the chance.

Without hugging my brother, I walked towards the exit of the terminal. My basketball shorts that flowed around my knees brushed against my skin that had goose bumps all over. Some part of me wanted to shed a tear or two, but knew I wasn’t going to. I hadn’t cried when my parents got divorced, when my father remarried some woman that occupied more of his time than his job had, or when I had been declared the most girlish of boys.

I definitely wasn’t going to cry because my brother was going away to college, Rey was still with me. Though he had a girlfriend, and Sophia didn’t exactly like me, he knew how to divide the time, especially now that it was just the two of us.

And if he didn’t, I would use the same force that I used with Dominic, I would make sure of it.

“So, why aren’t you going to college?” Broken out of my reverie, I looked to see Talbot’s girlfriend.

I shrugged. I wasn’t going to college because they didn’t have any wrestling programs for women, and that was all I wanted to do. “Because,” I answered.

She moved closer to me. The smell of baby powder wafted into my nose and crowded my senses. “Because isn’t an answer,” she joked with me, smiling.

She had a sweet smile. One of those smiles that were always pasted on the toothpaste commercials to promote the product. Only it wasn’t the ordinary smile either. She was smiling at me in a flirtatious manner.

“Because I’m not ready to,” I lied. “When I go, I want to take it seriously.”

My answer satisfied her somehow. “Yeah, I completed a semester during the spring, but I don’t think I’m going back for the fall…. It just wasn’t what I want to do yet.”

I wasn’t sure if she thought we were bonding by her admitting her choice in school was as skewered as mine, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know why we were talking. She was Talbot’s girlfriend, they were all famous for being quiet and anti-social.

“Awesome,” I replied. Unconvinced, I dug inside the pocket of the pair of shorts I wore underneath my basketball shorts and retrieved my gum. "What were you majoring in?” I questioned her. At the same time I offered her a piece of gum.

She shook her head. “Computer science,” she answered.

I was surprised that a girl as pretty as her was going into something like computer science. I had heard that the continuous math courses in it were difficult. And if I had a hard time with something as simple as ratios and rates I wasn’t going to do anything more.

About to say something, I stopped when I saw her face. She looked as though she had realized something.

My thoughts proved me right when she stuck out her hand. “Name’s Lynn ,” she introduced.

I shook her hand. “Cainell.”

The same model-like smile was given to me. It seemed more interested than before. “That’s pretty—“

"No, it’s not. Cain and Abel, heard of them?” I asked her and she shook her head.

I wasn’t that surprised. People knew of Cain and Abel, but didn’t think I had anything to do with them.

“They’re supposed to be Adam and Eve’s sons. Cain killed Abel—“

“I’m not familiar with bible study,” she admitted. “My parents are atheists.”

I nodded in comprehension. “Me neither. My teacher in fifth grade told me the story and made me do a report on it. She figured since me and Cain had something in common, we’d be able to talk about it.”

For the first time since she had approached me Lynn laughed. Her laughed was past melodic, it was girly. “That’s not right,” she commented afterwards.

“I know, but when your mother names you Cainell and half of your family is religious, you’re either a curse or the devil.”

She laughed, again. The smile that was on her face evaporated when familiar voices came into ear range. She didn’t have to turn around to see Talbot and Rey coming our way.

“Ready?” Talbot asked Lynn as soon as he reached us. His eyes fell on me and he gave me a head nod in acknowledgement.

Lynn nodded her head. A quieter air had suddenly come over her that wasn’t there before and I knew something wasn’t right between her and Talbot. “Yeah, one sec’,” she told Talbot.

An irritated sigh left his mouth. I watched as he moved away from Lynn and shrugged. “I’m’a be in the car. One second, Lynn,” he told her.

Uncertain whether that was a threat or a warning, I pursed my lips shut. The last time I had said something to Talbot about the way he talked to women, he had claimed that it didn’t matter, I wasn't his girlfriend.

Waiting until he walked away with Rey, Lynn turned back to me. “I’m going to a party on Friday at Strickland’s, if you’re interested let me know.” Without saying anything else to me she walked away. A coy smile was on her face.

I was dumbstruck.

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Challenge #16 - Oh, It's Hard Out Here For A Girl General Idea: "I was happy to be a tomboy. The way I look (short hair, guy-ish style, no makeup), that was alright to me. Until another girl tried to hit on me." Required: 1) Female as a main character - must dress very masculine - keeps hair short - very athletic 2) Romance, of course, with either the girl's best friend, or with a sibling's best friend 3) A crazy wig to be used by main female character 4) An insane and OCD stay-at-home woman for a mother 5) At least one comment for each of the following: "man shoulders", "thunder thighs", and "chunky ankles" 6) Use of the line: "So take that, FCC!" No: - Use of cliched lines, unless absolutely necessary - Switching point of views -- once you choose one, stick with it!