"Yes!" Brady shouted, dropping to his knees the second we got outside. "I'm free! Free! FREE!"
I rolled my eyes. "You do realize that we come back to school on Monday for the new semester, right?"
"Kill joy." he told me, standing back up. "You are a joy killer, Scout. You killed my joy." He followed Collin and me as we started walking. (I think Collin may have been trying to leave him behind.)
"I am so ready for next semester." Collin announced, trying to keep Brady from bickering with me. "My classes are pretty easy."
"What do you have?" I asked.
"Gym, World History, Spanish I, and Psychology." he replied, smiling.
"Psychology?" I asked him. "Why psychology?"
Collin shrugged. "I dunno. Sounded cool. Brady's got it too."
"Yeah." Brady answered, happy to be back in the conversation. "I also have French I, Guitar, and English."
"Guitar?" I asked, trying not to laugh. "Can you even play the guitar?"
Brady glared at me. "Yeah, a little. My uncle taught me some. What's it to you?"
I held up my hands. "Just asking is all. Don't chew my head off."
Brady continued to glare at me so Collin started talking again. "So, Scout... what classes do you have this semester?"
I sighed. "Well, I got my schedule moved around a bit." I told him. "I've got Honors English, Creative Writing, Crafts, and Photography."
Brady frowned. "Ninth graders don't usually get a bunch of electives."
"They do when they're good at math and take Geometry." I answered smugly. "You know that."
Brady rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like, "Stupid smart... ugh. Hate. Bah!" I thought it best not to say anything at all. That would just agitate him and I did not want to deal with an overly cranky Brady.
"So..." Collin said, trying to keep peace as usual. "How are we going to celebrate the end of exam?"
"Well," Brady started, sounding annoyed. "You and your girlfriend or imprint or whatever you call Scout will probably make out and leave me to... I dunno. Talk to myself or something."
I hit Brady hard on the shoulder. All that managed to do was make my hand throb. "I can't do anything. I have to baby-sit Mat, Mal, and Faith. Danny's been feeling sick so Mom took him to the doctor."
"Brady and I will be happy to help." Collin offered sweetly.
"Brady's gonna do what now?" Brady asked, looking disgusted.
"Oh, you'll get along with Mat." I told him. "You two are just alike. I swear."
"So, it's settled?" Collin asked hopefully.
I bit my bottom lip. "Well... Faith's been acting sort of... odd lately. I don't know what's wrong with her." I wanted Collin to know that before he went over to my house so it wouldn't be that big of a surprise to him.
"I'll see if I can't figure out what's up with her." Collin promised. "I've got a special way with that girl." he added as we turned onto my road.
Once in my yard, Faith ran out of the house and tackled Collin just like her old self. Okay, that was even more odd than the way she'd been acting lately. Maybe she just missed seeing Collin?
"Collin!" she happily shouted. "Are you going to help Scout baby-sit?" She looked towards Brady. "He's a friend of yours, right?"
Brady knelt down on her level. "That's right, little girl. Now, why don't you go on inside with your big sissy and play dolls or tea party. Or maybe you'd like to take a little nap." he said in a baby voice.
Faith narrowed her eyes at Brady, clearly not amused. "I'm seven, not three." Brady looked flabbergasted and Faith turned back to Collin. "Wanna play baseball? Me and you against Mat and... your friend?"
Collin frowned. "Well, what about Mal and Scout? Don't you want them to play with us?"
Faith sighed. "Mal won't. She's inside, shut up in our room. I don't know what she's doing in there though."
I shook my head. "I'll go check on Mal."
"I'll get Mat." Collin said, following me into the house.
"I'm sorry." I told him. "I know you wanted to spend time with me today."
Collin chuckled. "It's cool, Scout." He then frowned. "I thought you said Faith was acting weird."
I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe she got over it. I dunno. Don't know why she wants to play baseball on such a muddy day." The weather had warmed up just enough to melt the snow, leaving the ground muddy.
"Right." Collin said. "I'll just go find Mat then."
"And I'll talk to Mallory." The two of us went off in completely different directions. When I came to Faith and Mal's room, I found the door closed, unsurprisingly.
"Mal?" I asked, knocking on the bedroom door. "It's me, Scout. Are you okay in there?" Mal and I may fight a lot, but she was my little sister and something was definitely wrong with her. I was going to help her all that I could.
There was silence for a moment. "I'm...spectacular." came her reply, finally.
I knew that was a bold faced lie. "Will you let me come in so I can talk to you about what's bugging you?"
"No."
I sighed, sinking down into the floor and leaned my head against the door. "Just tell me what's wrong." I begged.
Mal was quiet for a moment. "People think I'm weird." she finally told me.
I almost laughed. I knew just how to handle this problem. "Well, of course you're weird." I said. "There's not a person who isn't."
"But they say I'm really weird." she whined. "They pick on me."
"If they call you weird, just thank them." I told her. "If they pick on you, either tell your teacher or ignore them."
"You didn't."
I sighed heavily. "No, I didn't. I cried and complained. I fixed that though. I finally confronted Collin and now we're friends."
"You mean boyfriend and girlfriend." Mallory reminded me with a chuckle.
"Right." I smiled. "Don't let those other kids bother you. There's always that one kid who'll stand up for you. Whether it's tomorrow or four years from now."
"Thanks, Scout." Mal said. "You made me feel a lot better."
"No problem." I stood up and stretched. "So, wanna go outside and see Faith, Mat, Collin, and Brady try to play baseball in the mud?"
I heard a shuffling and Mal opened her bedroom door. "Let's go."
Once outside, I found faith sitting on the porch steps with her head on her knees, staring off and Mat hitting baseballs out into the woods.
"Where'd Collin and Brady go?" I asked, crossing my arms.
Mat just shrugged and hit another baseball. Faith, however, answered. "They had to do something really important."
I frowned. What on Earth could they be doing? Why would they just leave my siblings without telling me? "Did they mention what they had to do?"
"Nope." Faith said, continuing to stare off into space.
I sat on the porch steps next to her. So much for celebrating the end of exams with my boyfriend.
