Babysitting the Bad Boy's Little Brother

Chapter 16

"Eek! What happened to my beautiful face?!" Brittany shrieks.

"Emma, what in the world happened to my forehead?" Nicole demands.

I can't control my laughter. I burst out loudly, cackling hard until tears are coming out of my eyes. I did an even better job than I thought. That's what happens when you argue with me. I win. So much for that movie compromise. I feel better about it now. Maybe next time we'll be able to watch something good.

"How could you?!" Brittany goes on, fussing in her own petty little way.

I may have drawn a beard around her lips while she was asleep, but it was only a Crayola marker. It's washable, so she has nothing to worry about. I could've used Sharpie. As for Nicole, I wrote my name on her forehead with my signature heart at the end. Just for fun.
Both of them freaked out when they woke up at ten this morning. I was up at eight, as usual. They're lazy on the weekends. So am I, but I don't sleep in late during the school season. My body is somehow used to the delightful torture of getting up early and moving around. Don't worry, I didn't forget to take pictures of my beautiful artwork before they woke either. I think taking the pictures was almost as amusing as seeing their reactions after looking in the mirror. I'm surprised they didn't wake up. Especially Brittany, because she is a light sleeper. Nicole, on the other hand, could probably sleep through ten earthquakes and never know they happened. I do feel bad in a way, but then again it was just a fun prank to pull. They had it coming.

"So do you guys wanna go shopping or something? We've got the day to waste." I exclaim, already knowing the response.

"You expect us to go out in public looking like this!? Um, I don't think so." Brittany replies.

"Yeah, I would but I don't think I own enough makeup to cover this up. I don't like wearing a lot of makeup anyway." Nicole shrugs.

"Well, what are we going to do then?" I ask them both. Should I just go home? I really don't wanna lie around on Nicole's couch all day. Her parents aren't home now. Both of them work swing shift. They are really nice and caring.

"I don't know. It's noon." Nicole says.

"This is awkward. I think I'm going to go home. I have to feed my cat." Brittany answers, getting off of Nicole's bed and gathering up her stuff.

"I should get going too. I have some trig to review before Monday." I exclaim as I get my bag along with my phone.

"It was nice having y'all over. We should do this again sometime. I had fun. Thanks for the tattoo, Emma." Nicole opens the door and walks Brittany and me out.

"Of course. It's only temporary. Bye guys, I'll see y'all Monday. Thanks for the awesome sleepover, Nicole."

"Bye!" Brittany tells as she gets into her car and starts the engine.

***

Monday morning

Daniel: Hey, what are you doing tonight?
Emma: Nothing. Why?
Daniel: Wanna go to the movies? I'll pay. I've been dying to see End Game.
Emma: Sure! Me too, I've seen good ratings online and love Avengers. I've got to go to school, but I'll text you later.
Daniel: Great. Be there at seven. The movie starts at seven-thirty.

When I get to school, I park in my usual parking spot. Two rows down, I see Courtney crowded around a car with some other popular kids from school. They're chatting or something. I then realize that Courtney is holding some white powder in a bag. Cocaine. Those people aren't just talking, someone is dealing drugs and they've got some business going on. I wonder who all knows about that. It's not my place to say anything, plus I could really care less about others' drama.

I go into the building and sit with Alexis in the gym.

"Hey girl, it's been a minute. How was your weekend!?" She squeals.

"Good. What about yours?"

"Great! I went clubbing with some friends Friday night and scored a date on Saturday night!"

"Lexie, that's amazing. I'm proud of you. Who was it?"

"This girl I met, her name is Sarah. She's super cute and I just had to jump on the opportunity, you know?" She giggles, and gets off of the bleachers as the bell rings. "Well, that's our wake up call. I've got to get to class. Great talk!" She skips off to her locker.

I start unpacking the books from my backpack and shove it into my locker. I write today's agenda on my notes marker board. Crap, we're starting that project in English today. The best way to start off a Monday.

Science was surprisingly easy today. It's because I got paired up with a smart lab partner. Josh knows what he's doing, unlike me. He isn't the most popular person at school, but he sure does know how to mix chemicals properly. I forgot which one was supposed to be green and which one was supposed to be blue.
Math wasn't too bad either, we did the same thing I reviewed yesterday and the day before. It came easy to me, but not to Alexis. I had to explain to her how to solve for side A. She doesn't like math, and neither do I. The only difference is that she doesn't care to learn as I do. Alexis keeps about a high C average in pretty much all of her classes. Anything below an A is a no-go for me. Unacceptable is a better way to put it. No tolerance.

***

English class is terrible. I am currently sitting less than a foot away from Austin with a packet in front of me. We're doing essays on the same topic. What kind of English teacher assigns that in pairs? Apparently Mr. Buckingham. It's an argumentative essay. The question is "Is a college education worth it?" I say yes, while Austin disagrees. He called it pointless. This is going to be a long project. The purpose of doing this activity is to see how others' opinions differ from our own and to have some social interaction with our peers to prepare us for the real world. I can't argue with that, but I still don't want to do this.

"Emma." Austin snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Uh, what? I'm sorry I was just..."

"It doesn't matter. Just focus on finding sources." He shifts his eyes back to the chrome book he was working on. I have one in front of me too, with an empty google bar on the screen.

Fifteen minutes of reading articles later, I finally find one worth keeping and using for the paper. I print it out and start highlighting helpful parts. I put my highlighter down, and it disappears from my desk.

"Give it back," I tell him, slightly irritated and in need of an orange highlighter.

"Make me. Don't be so moody."

"I'm not moody. I would be fine if you wouldn't have taken my highlighter I was using."

He gives me back my highlighter and I kick him under the desk. "Ouch".

"Like that hurt, I barely kicked you. Chill."

"You're the one who should chill. You've been acting so weird lately, it's not funny." He says coldly, making eye contact. I don't break it.

"Me? What about you? You've been acting like a butt ever since we got paired up for this stupid assignment. I can't do this with you, I need another partner."

"Good luck getting one. Everyone is full. And, both of us have already started on the topic so you can't switch now." He grins devilishly.

I groan and turn my back to him, sitting sideways in my chair to work. I can't stand this. Doesn't he have prettier girls to annoy? Guess I'm special. Thankfully, there are only seven minutes left until the class is over and I get to go out tonight. I need a week off of school, even though school just started last week. Today has been long. Too long, I'd say.

I put multiple papers in my binder and bring the chrome book to someone who connects it to a charger. The bell rings, and I almost bolted out of the door, getting my backpack from my locker and leaving shortly after. I'm beyond ready to get home to relax. Maybe take a nice bath in Epsom salt. Just thinking about makes me relax a little. I slide into my car, determined to go home, and listen to random songs during my afternoon commute back to my happy place.