Wicked Be Thy Game

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We Are Family

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I sat on the sofa with the cat on my lap. The TV was on, and we were watching “Hollyoaks” – correction I was watching, and he was content to just lie there being petted. The show was a guilty pleasure; I didn’t always get the chance to watch it, but when I did it was great. Frivolous at best, it was the stuff of teenage dreams and parents’ nightmares. The show was aimed at young people and revolved mostly around the lives of students. It had bucket-loads of drama, sex, love, death, and violence.

A loud thump caught my attention, and I looked up at the ceiling. Now there was real drama for you in the flesh.

Ruby had come home at about four o’clock, and an hour later her homework buddy had arrived at our house. Being a good daughter, Ruby had told her mum about this friend, who was going to help her with her schoolwork, just as Helen was going out. Helen had been thrilled to hear that her daughter was working hard, but something tells me our Ruby hadn’t told her that this ‘friend’ was a boy.

I leant forward to grab some tortilla chips from the bowl on the coffee table and grimaced as my cat dug his claws into my arms in protest. As I was crunching down on the chips, I heard another thump coming from upstairs. Obviously their attention had moved away from their textbooks.

I tended to avoid all things related to Ruby and her love life. Her boyfriends never lasted more than a couple of months and, generally speaking, were gone before you even learnt their names. She never had a specific type of guy; Ruby was special in that way. She didn’t discriminate: Blonds, brunettes and redheads – she loved them all.

In school, she would hang around with the cool kids and was popular in her own right, but not as much as she wanted. I knew for a fact that it annoyed the heck out of her when, nearly two years after I’d left school, somebody referred to her as ‘Izzy’s little sister’.

But at the end of the day, as busy as my sister’s love live life might be with all the different guys she had hanging around, I knew she’d never gone all the way with a single one of them. Living with someone, you know her habits and recognise signs; and as much as she might boast about how many guys were ‘into her’ they never actually got ‘in’.

As “Hollyoaks” continued to play on the screen, my thoughts wondered to a topic that had begun to really annoy me.

Stacey had caught me yesterday during a free period and tried to get some info out of me about Jake and ‘the girl’ he’d been hanging around lately. Apparently she’d caught the two of them chatting one day and had noticed the sparks flying. I’d shrugged my shoulders and told her that I doubted there was anything going on and that ‘the girl’ was probably trying to get her hooks into him now that his ex and him were over. Stacey had continued to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ as she tried to get me to tell her what I thought was going on with Jake. She’d asked me whether I thought ‘the girl’ had a chance, and I’d watched her eyes gleam as I gave a flat ‘no’.

Talking to Stacey made me realise that I hadn’t really put in my usual effort into getting this business of Jake and me dating off the ground. Usually by now I’d have at least managed to get Jake alone and have a quiet word with him. By now he should have known that friendship wasn’t the only thing going for us.

Jake and I could be something more, something amazing, and I was determined that we would get that chance. I had to stop taking baby steps and grab the bull by the horns. There was only so much time left before Lauren got her hooks completely into Jake and then that would be it, no more chances. I’d be the one left looking like a fool. Sure, nobody knew that I was interested in Jake, but I would know and I refused to let myself be shamed like that.

I had a couple of ideas in my head. I never liked to have things planned in advance, but I did try to keep track of snippets of information I’d come across or heard in case it was something I could ever use. Like the fact that our college had a rugby match scheduled this Thursday, and a certain someone was on the team and would be playing.

The sound of the “Hollyoaks” theme tune pulled me out of my thoughts. I turned my head to catch the end credits rolling on the screen and switched the TV off with the remote. I headed upstairs with the cat in my arms, ignoring his soft cries at being disturbed from his nap.

As I passed by Ruby’s bedroom, I heard a low moan coming from the other side. Her door was slightly ajar, so I edged closer to take a peek through the gap but couldn’t make out anything. I pushed the door open wider and got a view of the bed.

I couldn’t see Ruby from her position under him, but I could see one propped up leg and his hand as it roamed up and down her thigh until it edged under her skirt. Without much care, I shoved the door hard and watched as it hit the wall with a loud bang. I heard a male grunt of surprise and watched as the boy went flying off the bed to the ground below.

That was the problem with single beds; there wasn’t much room to manoeuvre.

I carried on down the hallway, ignoring Ruby’s screech as it rang loudly through the house. Just as I was nearing my own room, I felt a hand wrap around my forearm like a vice. I looked down at the pink nail-polished hand and raised an eyebrow.

“You want something?”

Ruby glowered at me and let go of her hold on me. “What the hell are you playing at?”

The cat grew restless in my arms at the sound of her raised voice. Noticing his distress, I softly rubbed his head back and forth to soothe him.

“What do you mean?” I asked innocently.

“Coming into my room like that...” She pushed her loose hair out of her face and turned her attention back on me. “You had no right to do that,” she shouted.

I continued to stroke the cat in my arms while keeping my gaze locked on Ruby. “I never went into your room, Ruby.” I spoke softly and slowly as her eyes continued to bore into mine.

“You’re such a bitch,” her voice grew louder as she stepped closer towards me. “I’m going to tell mum about this when she gets home. My room is off limits.”

“What exactly are you going to tell her?” I asked out of curiosity. Ruby was never very creative with her stories, but I was still wondering what angle she could come up with.

“That you were going through my stuff – snooping around,” she jeered.

“Oh.” My fingers stopped moving as I contemplated her words. “Like you when you go through my stuff?” I watched as she opened her mouth to deny the statement but at my pointed look she stomped her foot on the ground and settled for screaming ‘bitch’ in my face.

The cat twisted his body in annoyance and mewled angrily. I raised my hand and ran it down his body. “You know Helen’s coming home soon…” I said with a smirk.

“So…?” She spat out.

“So…” I imitated and watched her face grow darker. “I don’t think she’s going to be happy if she walks in on her daughter trying to get her cherry popped – ” I stopped to see her blush at my words before a scowl took over. “Not when she’s supposed to be studying.”

“It’s none of your fucking business what I do, and like you’re one to talk.” She screeched at me. “How many boys were you with when you were at school?” Her face scrunched up as she taunted me with her words. “You weren’t even a virgin when you were sixteen, so don’t fucking bother throwing that on me.” She shoved a finger in my face. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from saying something I’d regret later.

Looking at her, I compared our features; it wasn’t difficult to tell we were sisters. We both had the same hazel eyes, and we both had brown hair, only mine was a few shades darker than hers. Characteristically, though, we were like night and day. While I was the calmer and controlled out of the two of us, Ruby took temperamental to the max. She was loud, brash, and got stroppy on a regular basis. And although we both liked to get our own way – to win, our biggest difference was how we went about achieving that. Ruby just didn’t understand the concept of strategy.

“You can do what you like. It doesn’t mean a thing to me,” I replied amused. The cat in my arms decided then that he’d had enough as he hissed loudly and those sharp teeth of his were displayed fully.

“Can’t you shut him up? I don’t know why Dad lets you keep him. That mangy old cat ruined my favourite shoes last week.”

I rolled my eyes at her whining. “I’m sure you got Helen to give you the money for them.” Her gleeful smile was the only answer I got.

I shook my head and turned towards my bedroom door. “Next time you’re horny try being a bit smarter,” I called out over my shoulder.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

I stopped and turned back to face her as she stood in the same spot glowering, her forehead creased and cheeks tinted red as she waited for me to explain.

“What do you think I mean?”

“How the fuck should I know what you mean? I’m not a bloody mind reader.”

I smirked at her raging show of temper. “What I mean little sister is if you want to get into some boy’s pants don’t be an idiot and bring it home where Dad or Helen could walk in on you any second. What, do you want them to catch you?” Her growl of warning was the only response I got. Obviously she hadn’t been thinking straight.

“You might want to risk setting Dad off, but I sure don’t. So next time…” I looked down my nose at her, even as pissed off as she was she still waited for me to finish. “…use your fucking head.”

I pushed my door open and stepped into the room.

“Arrrgh you’re such a bitch – I fucking hate you!” She screamed loudly.

I rolled my eyes at her usual show of affection. “And maybe try a dictionary. Find some words that aren’t old.” I smiled at her from behind my door, and when her mouth opened to swear some more, I simply shut it in her face.

o0o

I was in the middle of washing the dishes when I realised I was no longer alone. When I turned around, it was to find Ruby’s friend standing in the middle of the kitchen, looking a little unsure of himself.

“Ruby said it would be okay to get a drink.” He had his hands in his pockets as he watched me grab a nearby towel

I shrugged my shoulders. “Help yourself,” I said, and I turned my back on him to resume my earlier task of cleaning up after myself, washing and drying my used dinner plate and cutlery.

It was getting close to eight o’clock, Dad was still at work, Helen was out dining with an old friend, and Ruby was still upstairs sulking. I’d gotten a text earlier from Katie; she was hanging out with our usual crowd and wanted to know whether I was coming out tonight. After reading her text message, I thought about all the nights I’d spent home, just so dad could see me making an effort to abide by his expectations, but enough was enough. I was sick of the self-imposed social exile, sick of the same walls and sick of the hours of boredom I’d spent walking around the house. It hadn’t taken me long to text her back and arrange to meet up with them later.

I was just putting the plates away when the loud hiss of a can being opened reached my ears. When I turned to face the culprit it was to find Ruby’s friend leaning against the counter drinking a can of coke. Watching him, I took back my earlier statement; there was nothing unsure about him. From the way he languorously leant against the counter, the relaxed shoulders and predatory smile, it all spoke volumes.

“Aren’t your parents going to be wondering where you are?” I commented casually.

His smile widened at my words. “I’m a big boy.” The tip of his tongue slipped out to lick the corner of his lips. “Besides, they know I’m at a friend’s.”

I lifted an eyebrow at the ‘friend’ bit and watched as he took a swig of the drink, at the way his throat contracted as the drink made its way down until his eyes were back on mine.

“You and Ruby go to the same school?”

He nodded his head. “We’re in the same year but don’t have any classes together... I haven’t really known her for long.” Thirst quenched, he left the can on the counter next to him and made his way across the tiled floor until he stood a meter away from me.

I titled my head in thought. “You haven’t?”

He didn’t reply instantly as his eyes ran up and down my body, not even trying to be discrete about it.

When he finally managed to focus again he nodded his head in answer to the previous question, which made his hair fall into his eyes.

“I only met her through my mates. A couple of them knew her.”

He brushed the hair out of his face, and I think he thought the action made him look cute because he gave me a coquettish smile as he worked the whole thing like a charm.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he repeated offhandedly as he casually leant against the counter to the left, which effectively brought us closer towards each other.

I turned my back on him again and wiped down the area near the sink, I continued to move the towel down the counter until I was forced to stop as his resting hand blocked my path.

“You should move your hand.”

He took a small step back to give me space but still kept himself close to me.

“What’s your name?”

He gave me a knowing look, satisfaction written all over his face. “Paul Hutchings.”

The name rang a bell, but I couldn’t place where I’d heard it. “You have an older brother?”

He raised one well-groomed eyebrow. “Yeah, I do. Greg Hutchings, he was a year ahead of you at school.”

As I digested this piece of information, I could dimly recall a boy with brown curly hair. “Was he on the football team?”

Paul nodded his head. “He played midfield for the school team; he was actually on the first team all the way through school.”

“Interesting,” I replied dully.

Football and sports in general wasn’t something that I was interested in. I’d been to more than my fair share of school football matches, and they always followed the same trend –long and boring.

Paul stood up straight and puffed out his chest. “I’m on the football team as well.”

“It runs in the family, huh?”

Paul bopped his head. “Sure does,” he replied confidently and spared me another of those smug looks that he appeared to have perfected. “Us Hutchings men are into our sports.”

I reigned in the snort at the ‘men’ part, but my interest was piqued. “So you play a lot of sports?”

“Yep.”

His answer pleased me. Paul easily picked up on my shift of mood, judging by the way his chest puffed out even more, as he stepped closer once more.

“That’s good.” I tilted my head back as I looked up at him. “That’s really good. You know, all that keeping fit stuff.”

“The body is a temple,” he added with a sly smile.

“It sure is,” I agreed as I took a step back to lean against the sink. “So Paul…” When his eyes twinkled in expectation, I gave him one of my rare smiles. “What can you tell me about rugby?”

It turned out that Paul knew a lot about rugby since his dad was a huge Harlequins fan, but getting that information translated into something I could understand was tricky. First there was the fact that rugby was actually split into two games, Rugby Union and Rugby League. Paul insisted that the two games, also known as codes, might look the same to the untrained eye but were most definitely different.

A quick peek at the clock told me it was getting late; it was time to end this conversation.

“So Paul…” I started, and he responded by flashing me his pearly-white teeth. “Do you like my sister or do you…”

He sucked in his breath and laughed out loud. “Like I said, Ruby and I are just friends.”

“Good – that’s good.”

“But I’m glad I got to meet you, put a face to the name.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You heard a lot about me?”

He nodded his head. “You’re a legend at school. People still talk about the leavers prank you and your friends pulled and, man, those parties you used to have? You guys sure knew how to do it right.”

“Those must have been some stories you heard.” I chuckled at his recount of my secondary school years before sobering up. “You seem to know my reputation…”

“Word gets around.”

I was quiet for a moment as I thought about what he said before a smirk made its way on my face. “That’s good – really good.”

I walked towards him until I was almost in his arms, watching him watch me. I leant forward until my body almost touched his and heard the soft intake of his breath.

“You and my sister seemed like you were having fun upstairs.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but I shook my head resulting in my hair brushing against his face.

“It’s okay if you did, but there’s just one thing I need you to know...” I whispered into his ear and felt the shiver run down his body. I stood there leaning over him, letting him feel my presence, letting him absorb my words.

“If you breathe a word to any of your friends about how you were in her bedroom...how she let you kiss her...touch her...”

I stopped to take a step back and tilted my head up slightly, so I could stare into his eyes. “I’ll destroy you.”

There was another sharp intake of breath as I walked around him and made my way out the kitchen.

“Bye, Paul. Don’t stay too long...” I called out over my shoulder. “It’s almost bedtime.”

A/N:

I wasn’t going to post this chapter, since I’ve put this story on hold, but I changed my mind as it was just sitting on my computer.

I’m honestly not sure what I’m going to do about this story, I’ve reached a point where I’m not sure and I’m doubting myself, if that makes sense.

I tried to make the feel of this story different to my other ones; I wanted Izzy to come off as standoffish but I don’t know whether I’ve gone too far with it. So at the moment I’m having mixed feelings about this story and I’ve got to decide whether I want to keep it or dump it. The sad thing is I had a lot of things planned for this story, a lot twists and I was going to have Izzy do a lot of really horrible things.

Anyway thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I really appreciated your comments.

Just to let you guys know that I’m going to start working on chapter 28 of Hit and Run and hopefully the next update shouldn’t be too long. Also I’m going to be updating my newest story Erase and Rewind sometime next week, this is the story that I’ve been working on most right now, I’m pleased by the way it’s progressing.

Thanks again to all my lovely reviewers.

Leila