Warning I guess, there is a small plot spoiler for The Count of Monte Cristo if you ever plan on reading it someday. (LOL I know it's so random to see a classic mentioned in a fanfic)
Once home, Dexter flipped through his navy-blue Oxford dictionary with great alacrity to the "A" section.
"What was it again…" He murmured under his breath. "Altruism?…A-L-T-R- Oh here it is."
He wrote the word on a flashcard as he read the definition aloud. "Altruism…concerned about others…i.e., unselfish."
Leaning back in his chair, the genius ran his fingers through his hair and frowned with bewilderment. "That's not really an insult…"
--
At the Astronominov household, the phone rang shrilly three times before Mandark picked it up.
"Hello?" He greeted as he stood in the foyer. Olga waltzed by casually, and looked at the phone with interest. She tried to listen in, but Mandark was too tall for her to reach. The next few minutes were an amusing spectacle of brother and sister fighting over the phone.
"I don't get it." Dexter stated, not bothering to give his name. After 10 years of being neighbors, they automatically knew each other by voice.
"Think Dantes and Monte Cristo." The raven-haired teen replied, bringing the cordless phone into his room for privacy.
There was a pause. "Dantes was ingenuous, thus leading to his friends' perfidy. Being unselfish didn't really have anything to do with it."
Ingenuous…Mandark quickly looked up the definition. "Simple, innocent, naive…" He muttered aloud unconsciously.
"Did you just look that up?"
"...No."
"Liar."
"Fine, fine. 20 for me, 19 for you."
On the other end of the receiver, an ebullient Dexter could be heard gloating.
Mandark hastily skimmed his Spark notes. "Maybe I was thinking of the Grapes of Wrath…"
"How do you confuse Grapes of Wrath with Monte Cristo?" The other laughed. "Weirdo."
"Both were extremely garrulous." Mandark protested. "Books like that make me somnolent."
His rival grinned. "What? Didn't you just love Steinbeck's lovely discursive on the journey of a turtle?"
"Oh yes, dreadfully fascinating. A turtle walks across the road, almost gets hit by a car, and then continues." The raven-haired teen rolled his eyes. "A whole chapter dedicated just to say that! It's ludicrous, really."
"Perhaps he was being paid by the word count."
"Maybe I should consider writing then. I could probably write a novel using these vocab words."
"I'd become a book critic, and send you acrimonious reviews."
"How sweet." Dexter could feel a condescending smirk through the phone. "Anyways, as much as I'd love to continue our little revilement, I've got a profuse amount of lab work to do."
"Alright. See you."
"Good-bye, Dexter." Mandark said as he walked out into the hall to hang up the receiver.
His sister, who had been standing just outside his room, jumped back in surprise. "Dexter, huh?" She asked with interest. Mandark only rolled his eyes and put the phone back.
--
Dexter, meanwhile, was patiently waiting for the click that would indicate Mandark had hung up. He was loath to admit it, but he felt a strange sense of closure when he heard that singular click followed by the ending dial tone.
Oddly enough, he heard the click…but no annoying dial tone.
"Hi Dexter!" DeeDee's shrill voice made him jump out of his seat. Dexter whipped around to see his sister with the cordless phone in hand.
"DeeDee! How long were you eavesdropping on me?" The genius exclaimed in a panicked tone.
"Since the turtle. Why, was it personal?" The blonde asked with a suggestive wink.
"N-no! I mean, yes! I mean…" Flustered, Dexter seemed to falter for a moment. "You shouldn't be listening to my phone calls in the first place! Get out of my room!" He threw a pillow half-heartedly at her, which she dodged on the way out.
"Ah, young love…" She giggled.
--
Alacrity - eager readiness, speed
Ingenuous - means innocent and honest, without experience, but it can also mean simple and naiive and just generally stupid.
Perfidy - Deliberate treachery or deceit (Poor Edmond Dantes)
Garrulous - Talkative and too wordy
Somnolent - sleepy (The fanciest word for sleepy I've come across yet.)
Discursive - Lengthy with digression. IE: Rambling
Ludicrous - Ridiculous
Acrimonious - Caustic, resentful, or angry. Sometimes also described as "burning". Which in this case could be taken in another way, but I'll let you stretch your mind with that.
Revilement - a verbal attack on someone (Verb: Revile)
Profuse - flowing freely, generous, copious. IE: A LOT! (Fanciest word for a lot that I've seen)
