Chapter Four: Richard

I glared over at my sister as she on-purposely drank out of a plastic bottle. She only does that because she knows it annoys me. But I have said, 'Plastic bottles cause the release of bisphenol A, which has a mimicking effect as estrogen.' And because my sister is going through the early stages of adolescence, she knows what estrogen is. But that doesn't stop her.

"Richard, don't glare." Mother said, noticing my stare.

"Sorry, mother." I apologized, before returning to eating the pizza that father had ordered over an hour ago, but had only just gotten here.

Grace smirked at me behind the bottle, and mother nor father saw. "Yeah, Rich." She sneered.

I cringed at the sound of her nickname for me. I hate them. I've had all kinds of nicknames from her, including 'Richie, Rich, Mickie, Hick, Mick, Dickie and Dick.' The last one not so much, because she gets told off by mother after she says it.

"How many times, it's Richard!" I snapped, like I had said repeatedly so many times.

"Richard..." Father warned, refusing to have a fight across the dining table.

I sat back in my seat and continued to eat. Finally, Grace wasn't kicking my feet under the table, staring at me or irritating me with unnecessary nicknames.

"George..." Grace mumbled under her breath, this time referring to my middle name.

"Grace!" Mother shouted, staring up at her.

Grace immediately threw her head down, looking down at her feet. Whenever she did this, it meant she was in trouble.

I watched Mother carefully return eating. I looked over at Father, and he seemed equally as twitchy as me. Whenever Mother shouts, it usually means business, and that one of us isn't in her good book. So I try to please them both, so I don't get on her bad side.

I did feel very accomplished when I showed them my report card. All A's. Apart from Gym, that as a B, but I admit that I'm not very good at that. Mother and Father were so happy. Although, Grace hasn't turned hers in yet, she keeps saying, 'I haven't got it yet.' I can't wait to see their faces!

I walked out of my bedroom in my usual pajama wear, a t-shirt that was too small for me, but I found an attachment towards it, and couldn't throw away, and some plaid bottoms. I confidently walked around to the bathroom, knowing that the quicker I got to sleep, the quicker I would get to the day where I had triple science!

Grace stumbled in behind me, wearing a large onesie, which I had expressed my hatred of it several times.

Me and my father have a lot of fears in common, such as dogs, birds, insects, germs, rivers, ponds, lakes, corduroy, squeaky balloons, fireworks and the fuzz in peaches. He also hates it when my mother takes out her contacts, if and when she actually wears them. But I love it when Grace takes her own ones out, which she wears more often. I only like it because she is guaranteed to poke herself in the eye when she does, and I love seeing her reaction to it.

"What are you staring at?" She asked, glancing over at me.

"You." I responded, which caused her to angrily look at me. "Trying to poke your eye out." I added.

"Rich, how many times, I'm not going to poke my eye- Ah! Son of a bitch!" She started, before unquestionably poking herself.

"Grace!" Mother said in her stern voice, after overhearing her cursing.

"Sorry, I got myself badly." She sighed, back to the mirror.

"Then wear your glasses. You won't injure yourself taking the little thing of plastic out of you eye, cause you won't be wearing them." Father said, walking past the doorway.

"Well, I look like a dork when I wear my glasses." Grace sighed, as I continued to brush my teeth.

"No you don't." Mother smiled, walking through to the bathroom. "You know what I see when I look into that mirror?" She asked, turning Grace to face forward. "I see an amazingly talented and beautiful young girl, who doesn't need to wear contacts, and who is completely capable of getting that Max kid."

"Oh, not this again." Father sighed, walking down the remainder of the hall to his bedroom.

Grace had this crush on a guy in her grade for a while. He was Maximus, or Max, Kripke, Father's arch-nemesis' son. Father used to say, 'He's the Maximus amount of annoying that could come out from a Kripke.' Which I would obviously start laugh after, because it's hilarious, only because it's true.

"Sheldon, it's not a big deal." Mother called out for him, as I placed my toothbrush back in its special spot, which Father had insisted on having, so they wouldn't get contaminated.

Me and Grace both left the bathroom simultaneously, and walked side-by-side to our separate bedrooms. We didn't talk, luckily.

She shut her door a little loudly, which wasn't unusual for her, it was quite expected actually. As I got into my bedroom, I decided to finish reading my current book. I was only half-way, which is about five-hundred pages, but I read incredibly fast. My teacher says that it really can't be normal, but yet she says to 'pursue in what makes you happy.'

Sometimes teachers really confuse me. Apart from my science teacher, Mister Harris, a very funny guy, but sometimes he can get to strict.

I smiled with happiness as I felt myself being sucked back into the world of The Lord Of The Rings, one of my favorite books.

My mother walked in after a minute and smiled over at me, which I noticed over the top of the book.

"I know you're enjoying the book, but lights out." She smiled.

I nodded and placed the book on my bedside cabinet. I felt happy that in the ten minutes I was reading, I had read about twenty pages.

"Goodnight, Richard." She smiled, switching off the light as she slowly closed the door.

"Goodnight, Mom." I said back, before placing my head on the pillow completely.