✅ My Sister's Problem

19. New Rules

"I'm sorry."

They were the last words I'd expected to hear from my little sister today. I figured she had to be realising that she had less leverage than she thought. I'd already heard from Harper during the morning's practice that Lindy had been trying to cause problems. For some reason, with no clear provocation that I could see, she'd tried telling my friends that I wet the bed. Unfortunately for her, she'd tried speaking to Harper and Nadine first. That wasn't the best choice.

Harper Eisen was halfway between me and Lindy in age, so she could be friends with both of us without it seeming weird. The difference was that Lindy treated her weirdly for being older; like she was never quite a part of the group. Maybe someone admired, or someone you could turn to if you weren't old enough to get what you wanted, but not a close friend. It was like the people that Lindy hung around with were strictly ranked in terms of age and social position. But on the team, we all respected and admired Harper; we were friends first, and saw no need to put each other in boxes.

Nadine... well, she had her own opinions on being treated like a baby, and we'd recently had a very serious discussion about whether her relationship with her boyfriend could still be important when it was a bit weird. I think that brought us closer, although there couldn't be much closer left to get. So Lindy was going behind my back to talk to a couple of people who would support me no matter what. And she was telling them something they had no reason to believe. Rather than doubting her, they had pretended not to understand what she was insinuation. And apparently Harper had managed to get Lindy confessing that she was the one with a bedwetting problem as part of her explanation. Of course, they promised they wouldn't share her secret, because only a total bitch would spread those kind of stories. But it must be very clear in her mind that she had humiliated herself.

"You don't need to be sorry," I said. "You've been under a lot of stress. We all say things we don't mean when we're emotional. So, friends? No more stress?"

"I can't promise that," she said. "But I don't want to be worrying about those videos all the time I'm away."

"You can delete the pictures?"

"I'm not going that far. I need some insurance. But I'm not going to be bothering you so much, and I hope you'll be a bit kinder too. And... well, I brought cake."

"Oh, that's good. Cake makes everything better, thanks. And you don't need to worry, it's not like I'm going to be looking through your stuff while you're away. Everything will be right where you left it. Or... well, where Mum left it. You know what she's like with spring cleaning."

"It's summer now," she said; which seemed kind of a nonsequitur until I realised she was just saying the words given any excuse because she was excited about the change of seasons. It had been summer for a while now, but what she was really excited about was the summer break from school. Lindy was going away to camp for a long weekend, so that she could learn to cook bacon on a campfire, tie each other in knots, and paint scenic mountains from the top; or whatever else the Wilderness Scouts got up to these days. It wasn't my kind of thing; the sports I loved all took place on a hard court, and my friends weren't much into that outdoorsy stuff either. But I hoped my little sister would have the time of her life. She might even forget about the bedwetting thing before she came back.

"Yeah, it is. Looking forward to the beach?"

"Camp first," she smirked. "But yeah. This year is going to be so much fun."

I couldn't agree more. And while I went back to doing homework for the last week of school before the summer break, I couldn't stop thinking about the month ahead. Summer was the longest break in the school year, and everyone was excited. Lindy's camping trip was a break from the norm, a way to kick off her weeks of freedom (even though my school still had a week to go); but the other bookend would be a lazy week in Uncle Norman's beach house, a long standing family tradition. It would be the first time without Dad; last year's trip had been cancelled due to to many other things. But it was a great spot with lovely beaches, a whole range of things to explore in the area, and the knowledge that none of us had to care about anything serious until we got back.