Caught in the Middle [A Malcolm in the Middle Fanfic]

Chapter 4

The mirror reveals a girl with long, layered, wavy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, dark green eyes, and sun burnt skin but still attractive in her purple tank top, dark blue capris and pink converse. “I completely approve of this look.” I wink at myself brushing my bangs out of my eyes.

I head downstairs skipping every other step, trailing at my heels is Tyson panting furiously. I glide into the kitchen brushing past my parents and pour some water into Tyson’s bowl.  “Well, I’m leaving,” I gush heaving my bag over my shoulder.

“Bye honey and remember what we talked about.” My mother reminds me. I wave uninterested passing out the door into the warm air and across the street.

6:00 pm and it’s still pretty light out. Walking up the path to the door I notice it’s all cracked so for fun I maneuver my way so I don’t step on any of them. “Don’t step on a crack or you will break your mothers back.” I chime in a sing song voice, making it all the way to the front door without stepping on one crack; I raise my hands in triumph. “Mother’s back is safe,” shouting happily, I knock on the door with a smile spread across my face.

The door swings open and I am confronted by the 4th youngest boy of this family, Dewy. “Hi. I’m Melanie.” I introduce myself cheerfully, extending my hand out. He stares at me for a moment but takes my hand shaking it lazily.

“Yes, I know who you are; Malcolm and Reese talk about you all the time.” he utters with an exasperated sigh. “They do, do they?” I whisper under my breath unable to hold back a smirk. The small one nods and ushers me inside the house.

Not even 3 feet into the house and I am instantly confronted by the boys’ mother. “Hello you must be Malcolm’s little friend, Melanie.” She shakes my hand with a wide creepy smile spread across her face. Her hair is disheveled and she has huge bags under her eyes. I feel bad for her; with 5 boys, 4 living in the same house and they are all trouble makers. There is no wonder she looks as run down as she does.

“Mom! What are you doing?” Malcolm bursts in, clearly irritated at his mother for introducing herself to me. I just giggle. “Well I didn’t want to be rude. Malcolm, go on introduce her to everybody.” She insists.

“My name is Lois; it is so nice to have another girl around here.” She introduces shifting the little baby boy to her other arm.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Lois.” I say politely. Malcolm grabs my arm and leads me to his room I can only speculate to get away from his mother. “She seems nice.” I say. He gives me this are-you-kidding look and I smile. “She is like a tyrant.” I shake my head. “Silly Malcolm, you are supposed to say that because she is your mother.”

I look at my surroundings and I was right we are in Malcolm’s room but there are two beds. “Um do you share a room with your little brother?” I ask pointing to the beds. Malcolm, who is currently clearing a space on his desk, turns his attention to me and gives me a nervous and embarrassed glance. I throw my bag to the floor and open my notebook to a blank page and look at him for his response.

“Well yes, and Reese.” He explains, tensing up like he usually does. “Oh, okay.” I nod glancing around the room. Small house definitely not enough space for everyone to have their own rooms or bed. Hmm. “So can I have a chair to sit on or am I going to have to use the floor?” I ask playfully waving my hand around. Another shy smile flashes in my direction. “No here.” He gestures to a chair next to his.

I have come to two conclusions in the past half hour since I have been with Malcolm; 1: He is probably one of the smartest guys I know. 2: He is also one of the dumbest guys I know. We have been thinking about this project for a while now and we still have nothing to show for it. “My turn” I cheer. Malcolm scoops up a handful of popcorn, aims and tosses it into my mouth.  “What is your favorite movie?” He questions filling his own pie hole with the salty treat. I pull my right leg to my chest and stare of into space. “Mm… are we talking a specific period?” he answers with a slight shake of his head.