Shira's Tale(Wattys2017)

Chapter 8

That Sunday, Dana and I decided to spend the day in Central Park. It wasn't really my choice, I would have much rather preferred to take a stroll in the park by my own, but Dana was bored.
She barged into my room just after noon with a togo bag already slung on her shoulder and the glimmering shine of sunscreen illuminating from her skin like giant light source on a theatre stage. She was wearing round sunglasses and had a black hat in the style of what a businessman from the sixties used to wear, yet hers was black and had a pattern of multicolored skulls dispersed on the material. Her lips were pursed and her hands were sculpted into a fist, compressing against her smooth hips.
It was just the two of us in the house at the time. AnnaBeth had gone to meet a friend and my father had taken Jayden to a birthday party.
"I'm bored". She announced to me.
"That's wonderful, Dana. I'm so happy for you". I said. I was sitting on my bed, already dressed and with my novel lying in between my fingers.
She tilted her head like a memorized puppy. "What are you reading"? She asked.
"The Handmaid's Tale".
"Is that about a chick who gives too many handjobs"?
I cringed and felt a stretch in my face as my facial muscles contracted properly for the first time that day. "Where do you come up with these things"?
"In my brain".
I rolled my eyes. "What do you want"?
"Happiness and a ban of homework".
"Dana".
She dramatically sighed and started moving her body like a performer in a Shakespeare play. "Please do something with me".
"Depends what that something is".
She gasped with a twinkle of excitement. "Let's get a picnic blanket and my speakers and my laptop and go to Central Park!"
"Why do you need speakers and your laptop to go to a park"?
"Because it's gets boring lying in the grass and getting sunburnt".
I sighed. "I'll come if you leave the electronics behind".
She huffed. "Fine, you can get dressed and then we'll go".
"I am dressed".
"You're not dressed for a day in the park! You look like you're about to go the theatre in November!"
"You know I don't feel temperature-"
"Normal people do, Shira! It is boiling hot and you need to put on a pair of shorts and a short sleeve shirt so people don't think you're the weirdo that you actually are!"
She huffed and marched away from my room down the stairs.

"I forgot to tell you something".
Dana and I were strolling through the park. I had decided to give in to my sister's request and changed into summer attire. Despite that Dana and I were wearing the same thing with different patterns, I was more covered. My shorts were at a comfortable and appropriate length , hers were tugging at her ass. Her shirt was high cut and revealed her lower toro. Her belly button and piercing was like a large aquarium tank on view and impossible to avoid contact with it. I was sure she had gotten her piercing without permission , let a stranger in a deserted ally stick a needle through her young , adolescent skin. There was a thin layer blood lining around the hole and a shadow of red pressure engraved in the belly area. Her piercing was obviously getting infected. It probably was already.
I could hear the birds chirping like they were projecting their voices into a loudspeaker and inhaled the second smoke of the hippies and unhealthy beings I had passed.
"Let me guess: you're using me to play out your terrorist attack on New York"? I sarcastically guessed.
"That's not even funny! You know how paranoid this city is!"
"Is anyone around you having a heart attack"?
"Possibly".
I shuffled my skinny shoulders.  "What did you forgot to tell me"?
Dana's head raised from her slumped shoulders and her whole face lit up. "There they are!"
"What"?!
Dana pointed to two teenage boys leaning against the barred gates that prevented anyone from anyone falling into the elegant dam on the other side .
"Who the hell are they"?! I cried.
"Two seniors from school".
I stopped in my tracks when the distance between us and the boys was a good twenty yards. I stared at them with a glare masked on my face and my analyzing glasses on. They were typical looking teenage boys of m era; with the left side of their hair cut to look like a wave on the west coast, baggy yet styled t-shirts and skinny jeans. One of the boys licked his thin lips like their was sugar coated around them as he stared at me, like he was a shark and I was his bait.
"Jesus, Shira move or they're going to think you're retarded!"
"What is going on, Danielle"? I snapped.
She rolled her eyes and folded her arms, her right foot started tapping and creating a false, non rhythmic beat like a group of young children trying to stay in tune with a nursery rhyme. "You're so damn smart, what do you think?"
My nostrils flared and my hands sculpted into a fist of fury and utter anger. "I think that one of those guys came up to you at school, serenaded you with inferior jokes and asked you to come to the park today with a friend so we could all lose our virginity together like idiots".
She cringed. "What sort of sister do you think I am? They're just going to pull us , then I'll lose my virginity depending how decent he is".
I took a step forward, raising my left index finger up at her. She's five inches taller than me despite our age gap. "You are not losing your virginity to an asshole like that".
"You can't tell me what to do", she cried, "all my friends have lost theirs".
"That means you can't tell me what to do either! I'm not going to kiss a random guy just because you want me too-and how do you know your friends are not lying"?
"I don't know, but then I'll know I'm better than them if they are".
"I'm still not making out with a complete stranger for no good reason".
"Why, are you scared"? She mocked.
"Hey Dana", the one guy called, "whose your friend? She's smoking hot!"
Dana turned around and formed a smile like she was a contestant in a beauty pageant. It was so artificial and reactive with lies, it made me sick to think that she had become the type of girl I had vowed never to be.
"This is my sister, Shira. She's a junior at school". She announced like a news anchor.
The boy on the right shuffled towards me , analyzing me like I was some sort of gem in a science lab. I wanted turn around, walk away and go home. I didn't want any business in random hookups, especially since I knew by the way the boy looked at me that he saw me as an object rather has a person. He was suddenly standing in front of me and stroking his hand through my hair. He then leaned forward and sniffed it like it was a sample of perfume. I immediately pushed away and looked up at him with anger boiling in my blood. He placed his large fingers around my arm and leaned forward so his face was close to mine.
"You want to go somewhere in private"? He asked, his voice smooth and slick the pages of a physical novel.
"I don't want to go anywhere with you...דפוק".
He cringed and his teeth slightly gritted, "what are you playing at? Speaking gibberish like some sort of toddler? You look like one too".
Anger built up in fists. My hands flung at him and he fell to the ground. I released a scream of anger and turned away like I anticipated, running like there was a monster on my case.
When I looked back, Dana wasn't there and neither was the other boy. They must have crept off and left me alone to be played with like the toy Dana thinks I am.