It All Started in Detention

Chapter Fourteen

Davey sighed, throwing his head back against his chair and wincing at the sudden angle. It didn't hurt anymore than his head did, and a part of him felt he deserved it.

It was Sunday and he hadn't finished any of the straggling assignments he'd need done. He only has five classes, and only one of them is essential, yet he fails to to get anything done. He still needs to practice the piano for the class recital that Wednesday, and the English Literature paper wasn't going to write itself. And the cheer for competition is still missing something, and he might have to rework the entire routine.

"I'm so done with life", he mumbled, leaning his chair back on its hind legs. He closed his eyes and let darkness comb over his vision, a pleasant feelings wading through his chest as he let exhaustion settle into him. "Why do my teachers hate me?"

Davey yelped as he found himself crashing to the floor, his butt and back colliding on impact with the chair. A sharp pain caused his face to wince briefly to accommodate for it, but it wasn't anything he hadn't felt before. He sighed and laid there, allowing the dim sun to shine onto his place on the wooden floors.

"What are you doing?" Davey looked over to find his little brother standing in the doorway with his laptop and a Jolly Rancher stick, all likely from the courtesy of his school. "You look stupid on the floor."

"I was just-" Davey flushed, realizing that he'd been caught in the most unflattering position an older brother can find himself in: humiliation- "resting."

"Well, you missed the bed by a few inches." Davey rolled his eyes and watched Les walk further into their shared room, plopping onto his bed with the grip of a baby on his school laptop. "I thought you were supposed to be smart."

"Shut up, Les", Davey sighs, making the younger respond with "Make me" to further their childish game. Davey loved his little brother, but he really didn't need fourth grade sass on his agenda. "What are you doing on your computer? And you shouldn't be eating in here."

"I'm not eating in here." Davey sat up with seriousness, a raised and agitated brow high on his forehead. He'd be damned before he get gaslighted by a nine year old.

"Oh, yeah? Then what exactly are you doing?"

"I'm slurping", Les placed the uncovered part of his Jolly Rancher stick into his mouth and slurped it, watching as Davey stared at him with disdain and discernment. "You should do what I do sometime. I'm having the time of my life."

"You annoy the ever-living fuck out of me", Davey murmured, shaking his head as Les shrugged. "Where did we get you from?"

"Wherever babies come from", Les reasoned, and Davey blinked. He supposed no one ever told him. Maybe next year. "I know you love me all the same."

"Yeah, you're an okay kid", Davey grinned, his smile falling when he felt the impact of a shoe thrown at his leg. "Ow. Why did you do that?"

"'Cause you're a sappy baby, and sappy babies wear orthopedic shoes."

He was starting to rethink his little brother's likeness.

"They aren't orthopedic shoes!" Davey picked up the single left shoe, walking over to their closet and throwing it in there for no care of how it landed. "They are perfectly normal running shoes."

"I'm sure that's how they advertise them at the old folks home", Les assured with false care, and Davey picked up a pillow and threw it at him, covering it with his face as Les screamed for their older sister. "Help me! He's smothering me!"

"What?!" Both boys turned around to find Sarah standing in their doorway, a toothbrush lodged in her mouth and rollers in her hair. "Why are you screaming? It's too early for this!"