"MITCH?? MITCH MITCHELSON!!??" I roared, my bewilderment fading quickly into boiling rage. How DARE that stupid little… "I THOUGHT SHE WAS OVER THAT DISGUSTING, EVIL LITTLE PIG NOSED CHIMPANZEE!!"
"Guess not." Brick said serenely, his hand up in front of his mouth to muffle his chuckles. Rrrrrr….
"SHUT UP!!" I screeched, whirling on Brick like a lightning storm. "IT'S NOT FUNNY! WHO DIED AND MADE YOU KING?!"
"I've been king since we were born." Brick said calmly, leaning casually against the wall, his arms folded and an amused smile on his face. Out of the corner of my erupting rage, I heard footsteps pounding down the stairs as I flung myself at Brick, slamming my fist into his gut as hard as I could, my teeth gritted so tight that they hurt, my eyes narrowed into slits. I felt the corners of my mouth twist up into an evilly triumphant grin as Brick hit the floor like a boulder, his eyes wide, the breath knocked clean out of him. Thank god for the element of surprise.
"Stop! STOP!! STOP!!"
Boomer came zipping in like a blue sparkler, jumping up and down, his blonde hair bouncing, and his brow creased with anxiety.
"STOP IT! STOP FIGHTING!!"
Like that's gonna help. Over the years, Leader Boy has switched his target from Boomer to me. Not to mention his voice sounds smooth like a prince's, instead of like a scratchy record like it used to. Damn.
And then something smacked heavily into my chest, like a jet plane crashing into me or something. Before I knew it, I was sprawled across the floor like a dead dog, my head throbbing like hell, and trying to blink away the stars that were winking in front of my eyes. Initiate windshield wipers. Oh, God. Please stop the room; I'd like to get off. When my vision cleared, I found myself staring right up into Brick's mug; Brick's furious mug, his eyes blazing almost like burning hot coals in a fire, and his right arm clutching his gut, right where I'd punched him. At least that gave me some satisfaction.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Brick spat at me, his fiery eyes narrowed, his face so close to mine that I was practically being shoved into the wall. It's weird that even when Brick is steaming mad like this, his voice still has that… edge that sounds like the narrator in a luxury car commercial.
"I think I'm lying on the floor like a big bag of jelly."
My sarcasm snapped Brick like a rubber band and his hard fist flew at me like a meteorite….only to bounce off of my force field like a fly off of a window. HA HA! Brick drew his hand away in pain and I couldn't stop the smirk that crept onto my face, my hands joined in front of me, the energy generating the force field pulsing out of them.
And that's when Boomer shoved his way in between me and Brick, his face hurt, and carefully pushed Brick away from me; Brick tensed up as soon as he felt it, and his eyes, that were squeezed shut in pain, snapped open. My force field flickered and disappeared. Brick opened his mouth angrily, but Boomer cut across him before he could get a word out.
"Stop, Brick." Boomer ordered calmly. It was as if Boomer's cool, sparkling ocean blue eyes doused the flames in Brick's blazing ones like a pail of water thrown on a sizzling campfire. Leader Boy's eyes softened and shone like a baby's for a second, and then they hardened up like ice and glared, right at Boomer.
"And who the hell do you think you are, bossin' me around??" Brick spat, little flecks of his saliva splattering Boomer's face. And his saliva is disgusting, let me tell you that. And I'm sure Blossom can too. Boomer stared at Brick, looking almost like he was five again. His eyes were even huger than usual in his pale face, and they shone, wet and gooey, like the big tearful eyes of a puppy in the rain. Boomer chewed on his lower lip, like a toddler, and he turned and swiftly walked away, his shining blonde hair floating. Me and Leader Boy both froze, staring after Boomer as he vanished up the stairs. After a moment of silence, Brick's head snapped back toward me, his eyes burning again and a furious haughty look on his face; I braced myself for the blow. But it didn't come. It wasn't like The Prince (Brick) to have mercy when I was farting around in the palm of his hand, like I was now; I looked up at him in surprise. He glared daggers at me, his lip curled, and then he made a disgusted noise and stalked away after Boomer, as if he was deciding that I wasn't worth his time. I stared after him until he disappeared from the room, and the air seemed to cool down a few degrees with his departure. Figures.
But just where was The Prince's royal ass going? I leapt up from the ground and scurried after Brick, trying to move as silently as I could. As I slunk up the stairs and up to the upper floor, I caught a glance of Brick's long raggedy flaming ponytail, swishing after him as he entered our bedroom; I smirked, crept up to the doorway and silently peered in. Brick was at the window; staring outside. It was the very same window I'd been staring out of. His back was to me, so I didn't know what his face looked like, but I wondered what he was thinking. He was so freakin hard to read, like he was raised on some alien planet or something. I never really knew what he was feeling anyway. Now that I think of it, he was almost as weird as Boomer. Whatever; my whole family is weird.
I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I almost fell over with surprise when Brick turned around and walked over to our dresser; he picked something up off of it and turned it over in his hands. It was Blossom's hair clip; that one that she wore when she was little, and she still didn't let anybody touch. I made a mental note to report Brick to her when she got home from her shopping spree at the mall. But then something else surprised me even more than Brick's movement from the window. I saw the reflection of his face in the heart shaped mirror on the dresser. F-ing hell's bells!! TEARS!!? Leader Boy was CRYING! This time I didn't almost fall over; I did fall over. Ka-THUMP! Smack onto the ground. Brick whirled around in a panic, Blossom's clip slipping out of his hand and onto the floor, his expression tearful and nothing short of petrified. But it melted away as soon as he saw me, sprawled on the ground. And it melted right back into fury.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!" he screeched, his flushed cheeks shining with tears that he was quickly and desperately wiping away.
"Uh….s-sitting on the floor??"
"WHY WERE YOU SPYING ON ME!??"
"Why did you ask me w-what I was doing if you already kn-"
"WHY WERE YOU SPYING ON ME?!!!" Beneath his ferocity, I could hear hysteria.
"Uh…I wasn't sp-spying…I was… ummm…. Walking down the hall and I tripped." I felt like smacking myself in the face as punishment for that pathetic white lie. And it was pretty obvious that Brick didn't believe it. Still red in the face, he lunged at me, seizing the front of my shirt in both hands and shoving his face in mine.
"Stay out of my life, you filthy, psychotic parasite." He hissed, his scarlet eyes glowing menacingly and scaring the freaking heck out of me. His piece said, he flung me out into the hall and vanished in a flash of red. I was too stunned even to react to the pain as I sailed over the railing and plummeted down to the first floor of the house, smashing down onto the living room carpet like an asteroid. I couldn't even remember the last time when he was that mad, which was hard to believe, because he was mad all the time. And he called me a parasite. A filthy psychotic parasite. My heart stuck in my throat like a big fat Twinkie. I won't deny that I'm psychotic, but…
"Butch?"
I looked up. Boomer was standing over me, looking truly concerned, his eyes sparkly and his expression sympathetic. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." I said curtly, shuffling upright, keeping my eyes down. We stood there in silence for a moment.
"He's really mad at you, isn't he?"
I looked at my blonde brother in surprise. He was so dumb, but he was so…smart!
"He's mad at God knows what." I said. Boomer smiled weakly.
"He probably thinks that you're going to ruin the dance. He's taking Blossom, remember?"
I snorted. How could I forget?
We stood in silence for a few more moments. Boomer's smile grew and he crossed his arms. But it wasn't a cool, smug smile like The Prince's. It was as sunny as a warm spring day. Like today.
"What are you plotting?" I asked suspiciously.
"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked, still smiling.
"Come with me where?" I knew what he was talking about, but I asked anyway.
"To the dance."
"I'm not going to the dance. Cuppo's goin' with that Mitchelson chimp, and I'd rather die than go alone. And aren't you going with Bubbles?"
He shook his head, his hair sparkling.
"I already asked her, and she said she didn't want to."
"She turned you down??" I asked disbelievingly. "I thought she was nuts about you!"
"She hates school dances."
I stood there in shocked silence for a few seconds; this was news to me.
"Wha??"
"She wants to take Octi with her, but at the last dance, some kid made fun of her."
I stood there with my mouth open, and Boomer laughed.
"So do you want me to come with you to the dance?"
I smiled evilly.
"Yessss….And you probably already know what I have planned, right?"
Boomer nodded, narrowing his eyes maliciously.
"Gatecrash." He said dramatically. I nodded slowly.
"You got it. Gatecrash EXTREME." Oh, boy, I could already feel the bubble of victory, swelling up inside of me.
"You know that Brick's gonna be really really mad if you ruin the dance, right?" Boomer asked, suddenly concerned. I imagined Brick's response; it was bloody and violent and rated R, and included a chainsaw, cannibalism, various forms of TNT, and an axe. My face fell slightly.*gulp*
"I…I k-know he's gonna be mad." I stuttered.
"Do you really still want to gatecrash?"
I thought for a moment. I shivered as I pictured The Prince beating the heck out of me after his perfect date with Blossom was ruined. But the bubble of triumph swelled even bigger inside my chest, and I felt my spirits soar. With the aid of a turbo jet engine, of course. When sparkly images of my revenge over Mitch came sprouting into my head, my grin spread over my face. It looked so evil that I almost laughed. Boomer saw my face and guessed my decision.
"Brick's gonna be really really REALLY mad…" he said quietly, looking almost nervous.
"Let him get mad." I said confidently, through clenched teeth. "We're gatecrashing tonight."
And we slapped hands.
