Atticus & Tabitha | bwwm

03 | her siblings bickering

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italic ; her thoughts

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monday

It was already the dreadful day, that no-one liked. Monday. My family and I were seated in the kitchen, with plates of different breakfast options all over. Yolk was painted across the wooden-table as the children sliced their eggs messily, pieces of bacon were scattered all over the floor, and orange juice was spilt as Zephaniah tried filling everyone's cups.

My family's a mess. Literally.

"Can you pass me the salt?" I asked Zephaniah, who sat across from me on the kitchen table.

"What do you say?" she asked, starring at me with a mischievous smirk

"Please," I gritted out through my teeth.

"Hm- lemme think about it," she chuckled, before continuing to eat her eggs and toast.

I took a deep breathe, before absentmindedly scratching my eyebrow. "Malachi, can you please pass me the salt?"

Malachi looked up at me through his glasses with raised eyebrows. He was the only child in this house that'd actually listen to me- except Rosalia, who was actually cute.

"What?" He frowned, chewing his eggs.

"I know. What?" Znuila said, looking at me with wide-eyes.

"Pass me the damn salt, please," I repeated, already annoyed.

Trust me, I'm not always this grumpy, but my dad woke me up at 5 in the morning so I could make the kids' lunches for school. Usually he does them, but he got called into work earlier than usual.

"Oh. You actually said 'Please'," he said with wide-eyes. "Are you sick or something?" He asked, passing me the salt.

"No, I am not sick," I deadpanned, thanking him shortly after.

"Stop it, Manny!" Rosalia whispered to our younger brother, who was grinning to himself as he oh-so-obviously continuously tapped Rosalia's arm.

"Emmanuel," I said sternly. He looked up at me in shock, before holding his hands together in guilt.

Don't feel bad, Abi. Don't feel bad.

"It's okay, Manny. I have a small punching-bag in my room. You can punch it as much as you want," Malachi told Emmanuel, in hopes of comforting him.

"Since when did you get a punching-bag?" Asked Zephaniah, who looked at Malachi with an expression that screamed 'You're stupid. Stop lying'.

"Mummy got it for me, 'member?" He asked incredulously, looking at each of us with sad eyes.

I actually remember. It was his 7th birthday, and our mum got him a boxing set, because Malachi simply said 'Mummy, I got into a fight at school.' As soon as my mum found out Malachi won, she made it her mission to get Malachi a punching-bag and gloves. Although my father wasn't so fond of the idea, he saw how excited my mother was.

"Oh... yeah," she said distantly. I watched her dark brown eyes shimmer with un-shed tears. She definitely was thinking about our mum, who sadly passed away four years ago.

"Niah," I called, gaining her attention. "You seriously look ugly when you cry."

I watched her lips morph into a grin, "Not as ugly as you," she chuckled, subtly wiping at the corners of her eyes.

"Hey! Everyone's ugly," Malachi said, his mouth open widely.

"Ew, close your mouth!" Znuila grimaced, watching Malachi purposefully push his food more forward, showing his chewed up food.

"Close your face!" He snapped back at her.

"That doesn't make sense, stupid, stupid boy," Znuila said, shaking her head.

"You know what else does-"

"Shut up! Go grab your bags, because we need to walk to the bus-stop soon," I said, tired of all bickering.

They all quickly wiped their mouths with the napkins on the table. I watched them all run to their rooms to collect their bags.

"Niah, did you put their lunches in their bags?" I asked, texting my friend, Maya.

Tabitha; You at the bus stop rn?

"Obviously, I did," she replied, with an obvious attitude.

"Niah, watch your mo-" I cut myself off shortly, because Maya replied.

Maya; yep. waiting for u

I made sure everyone had their school-hats on, their lunches were in their bags, they had on their jumpers, and that they had no gum in their mouth.

"Malachi, open your mouth," I narrowed my eyes at him, once I saw him chew.

He opened his mouth, and I thought for a second he had nothing, until the gum fell from the top of his roof.

"Malachi!" I tsked, before pushing him to the bin softly.

"Ouch! Be careful, you ugly idiot," I heard him mutter to himself, before throwing the gum into the bin with force.

"Ha. Shame," Znuila teased him, poking her tongue out at him.

"Shut up, Nuila," Zephaniah snapped, plucking her earphone into her ear. I could literally hear the music blasting from the plugs, I was getting worried her ears would pop.

"Out the door, now," I sighed, holding on Rosalia and Emmanuel's hands.

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authors;note
hi,
if this book is boring you out,
um. I like it, so you can like
leave. yeah, thanks.
but, thanks for reading xx
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question;for thy chapter
what are your thoughts on Zephaniah?

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goal
10 views | 2 votes

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