This is a first foray into fanfiction after years of reading. Here's hoping I get the disclaimer language right:
All recognizable characters belong to the creators. I make no profit from the usage.
The words hung in the air as Sarah stared at her brother in shock. At fourteen, he now stood eye to eye with her, and for one brief moment she felt a slight shiver of fear as she assessed the level of rage on his face.
"You don't mean that," she said gently. "I know that you're angry with me for barging in here, but you don't really hate me."
For half a moment, she saw a flicker of hurt little boy in his expression, before he turned his back on her and flung himself onto his bed. "She's never going to come here again. So, now you've run off another girlfriend, and the whole freakin' school is going to be talking about it."
Sarah sagged against the door frame of Toby's room in relief that it appeared the worst of the angst storm had passed – at least the part that sometimes felt dangerous in dealing with a teenage boy growing up without a father to help teach him respect.
She shook her head. "I have told you before, I don't want you taking girls into your room, and especially when I'm not home!"
He snorted. "Don't worry, there are plenty of other rooms and horizontal spaces in this house. You're never home, you'd never know the difference."
She closed her eyes and tried to gather her patience. "Look, Toby, it's just the two of us. I'm doing the best I can, and I want you to have a decent future. You're too young to become a father. I know how hard it is at that age to take care of a kid – that's how old I was when you were born."
His head popped up and he turned his glare on her again. "You're not going to start that story again, are you? I've heard it a hundred times before. Poor little Sarah, forced to baby sit a baby who screamed all the time and took all her toys until she was so frustrated she had the goblins come take him away." He stood up and walked over to her again. "Fairy tales don't exist. The goblins don't exist. You never met a Goblin King, and he wouldn't have wanted you anyway." He smirked at her as she stepped back into the hallway away from him.
"I never said any of that actually happened. I'm trying to get across how frustrating it can be to handle…"
Toby slammed the door in front of her. She rested her forehead against it, trying desperately to figure out what her next step should be, when she heard his mutter on the other side of the door. "I wish the goblins would come and take you away, right now." She froze.
So, how is that for a start? :)