Strokes landed against a perfect cream colored drawing paper as Brandy observed a ladybug on a leaf.
Drat, I forgot my coloring pencils back at home.. The young pup growled internally, but not too loud. She didn't want the ladybug to be frightened away after all. Ladybugs were rare back at home, so Brandy never took the time to look for them to add them to her art collection. As she continued to observe and sketch, her younger sister, began to whine again.
"Ah! Those lads over there keep shooting dust in my face every time I try to go to the store!" Chilli complained, pointing at three young lads racing each other on their bikes. One had soft, creamy looking fur that ranged between cream, red, and blue colored, the other had a black splotch on his eyes which made him look like a bandit, and the youngest was dark blue with some hints of brown in his fur. These boys...nuisances, which is what Chilli calls them, always seemed to be doing something every time she was out and about. "Aw! Even my fur is dirty!"
The ladybug flew away from the leaf which was enough to make Brandy bark. She barked three times before Chilli turned to look at her older sister, a look of surprise on her face. Brandy was quiet and timid most of the time, so she was concerned, in the nicest way possible. "Brandy? Are you okay?"
"Chilli!" Brandy snarled angrily. "You scared my ladybug away!"
"Sorry Brandy. I didn't mean to," Chilli looked down sadly. She hugged herself because she knew Brandy was a monster when she was angry, so she braced for some heavy scolding from her sister. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry won't make it come back, Chilli! Gosh, who cares about some boys racing around the road?! You don't have to announce their every move, now my ladybug's gone! When will you grow up?" Brandy pushed Chilli away, stomping back inside the cabin. Chilli sniffled a bit before tears became waterworks and ran inside, leaving a blue heeler curious about her.
-
"Woah, did you see that?" A young voice piped in after he'd came in second in their race. "That heeler just got in mad trouble with her sis!"
"I wonder what it was about?" A blue heeler picked himself off the ground after his bike ride over a rock and fell to the side. He had a mild wound on his knee, but this was the eighties, so he grabbed some dirt and rubbed it on the wound before turning back to see the red heeler's cabin. "I feel bad for her, aliens could've heard how loud the other one was.."
"Man, Bandit actually having empathy?" laughed the creamy furred brother. "Or are you distracting us from the fact that you lost big time!"
"No fair, my bike rode over a rock! I demand a rematch!" Bandit huffed, picking his bike off the ground.
"Nope," said the youngest. "You lost, fair and square."
"I was going to win until that stupid rock came from nowhere! You can't even skid correctly, Stripe!" Bandit growled, shoving his snout into Stripe's space. "Bet 10 dollars you won't make it to the beach faster than me!"
Bandit started to pedal quickly to the beach, leaving Stripe and his oldest brother behind. "Rad, I don't have ten dollars."
"It's all good mate. You don't have to pay him, he's been getting on my nerves lately anyway," Rad rolled his eyes. "But go ahead and bike to the beach anyway, I'm heading back. Mum needs some help setting up the grill outside."
"Oh, okay," Stripe beamed, knowing this meant a BBQ was going to take place. His mouth watered at the thought of meat...steak, ham, sausages... Before he knew it, a stream of drool leaked out of his mouth as he daydreamed about meat. It wasn't often that Mum and Dad would make a BBQ, let alone pack all kinds of meat for it. Now he knew why Mum made him and his brothers buy so much meat at the store yesterday!
"Stripe, you're drooling," Rad snapped his fingers in front of his youngest brother. "Go and play with the other kids here or I dunno, go look for Bandit?"
"Oh, uh right! See ya later Rad!" Stripe climbed onto his bike and left in the same direction Bandit had gone, leaving nothing except dust in his tracks.
Rad smiled at the sight of his younger brother having fun before he went in and began to help Chris, their mother, with the grill and various sorts of meats.
-
"Brandy, how many times should we have to tell you, don't yell at your sister!" Mort, their father, scolded his oldest on account of screaming at Chilli for nothing more than a harmless observation about the annoying boys across the road. He sat on his knees, hugging Chilli as she cried more into his fur. "She doesn't know any better!"
"She scared my ladybug away, dad! I'm tired of her acting like such a baby all the time!" Brandy retorted. "Chilli, stop being such a baby!"
Chilli's sobbing only grew worse as her grip on Mort tightened. Mort was really trying to keep his cool, he really was, but he wasn't a perfect saint. Any more rude quotes from his oldest, and he'd start yelling at a much higher volume than Brandy could ever hope to achieve.
"Brandy, she is younger than you, so she doesn't exactly get the gist of acting so mature. All I'm asking is an apology to Chilli, you really hurt her feelings and it's understandable why; you screamed at her for such a minor reason!"
Brandy took in a deep breath and exhaled after 5 seconds, a method of self control their mother had taught them when they were younger. After she did this plenty of times, she felt calmer. She looked at Chilli's still crying figure and sighed. She does look pretty sad. I guess I'll apologize to her.
"Chilli, I'm sorry for yelling at you," Brandy inched closer to the crying pup in her father's arms.
"And?" Mort added, expecting another addition to her apology.
"And I promise I will try my best to not yell at you anymore."
"Good. Chilli, how are you feeling?" Mort ruffled her head fur, his youngest looking up at him with teary eyes. Definitely not all the way better, but at least she wasn't sobbing anymore.
"B-better," Chilli stuttered in between disappearing sniffles, separating herself from Mort. She rubbed the last few tears from her eyes. "I accept your apology, Brandy."
"Good," Mort said once again. "How do you girls feel about Freezy Pops?"
Both girls cheered and jumped up and down happily. "Yes! Woohoo!"
"Alright settle down, we'll go on a small walk near the beach then go to the store and get some, that sound good?"
"Yes dad," both girls said at once, containing their excitement. Their tails wagged furiously, their muzzles watering.
-
When the sisters and their father got there, it was quite crowded with people swimming in the ocean, families soaking up sun on the sand, and of course, those three annoying boys...wait, the creamy one wasn't there. It was the bandit looking one and the one with all the stripy colors. Brandy scowled at them, but neither of them even noticed her glare. They were too busy making a sandcastle although the bandit one seemed to be nitpicking every single thing the stripy one would contribute.
"You call that a moat?" Bandit shook his head, annoyed. "You can't build towers or decorate them or build windows or even a moat?"
"Sorry, sorry!" Stripe cowered down, his tail drooping sadly to the floor. "I tried my best, honest!"
"You should've stayed behind with Rad...at least you would've been useful for something," Bandit scoffed, pulling his leg behind him. When Stripe realized what his older brother was about to do, he growled.
"You never treat me good," Stripe growled, tears starting to form in his eyes. "It's not a wonder Rad is so annoyed by you all the time!"
"He is not, he is annoyed by you because you're such a baby!" Bandit kicked the castle, sending the sand Stripe's way. He shielded his eyes too late because the sand was already irritating them. The tears streamed down his face from sadness, anger, and well irritation from the sand fest.
"Dad," Chilli tugged at Mort's fur, grabbing his attention.
"Yes, dear?"
"Can I go talk to some of the other children here?"
"Go ahead, mate," Mort smiled. Chilli was pretty introverted, so seeing her go out of her way to make friends with other children made him beam with joy. "Come back in 20 minutes for the Freezy Pops!"
"Yes dad!" Chilli ran towards the stripy kid that was already taking off inland. Brandy rolled her eyes; no matter how many times she told Chilli to mind her own business, she always felt a need to play the heroine whenever she saw another kid being bullied by their older sibling.
"Dad, can I go too?" Brandy asked quietly.
"Huh? Really?" Mort's eyes were as wide as saucers. "S-sweetie, you never want to play with other kids...everything alright?"
"Yes dad, I just want to remake that sandcastle with the bandit looking kid over there," she pointed in his direction, but even then, Bandit didn't care enough to notice her. "His brother made it fall apart."
"Oh, well...go ahead. I guess I'll walk on my own," he gestured her to go, thinking what could've possibly gotten into his oldest's mind?! Chilli was introverted by nature, Brandy has gone as far as being antisocial at points. She was annoyed easily by other kids, had a tendency to act bossy, and was prone to biting if anyone really pissed her off.
"Thank you, dad," she left him behind, running towards Bandit, who finally noticed her. "Hey, mind if I join you?"
"Um, yeah sure. My little brother completely ruined my castle, so I'm just rebuilding it. Can you help with the towers?" Bandit handed the red heeler a bucket. When his eyes locked with hers, he remembered this was the same red heeler who had made her presumable sister cry. His ears fell behind him in slight fear; her voice was loud and scratchy when she was mad!
"Of course, I'm the best at building towers. Your brother really screwed up on the moat," she grabbed the mini shovel and scooped sand into the bucket, flattening it out to build a tower. Up close, this random boy didn't look so annoying, she thought.
"Were you watching me?" Bandit lifted an eyebrow, questioning Brandy.
"Well...you were making a lot of noise when you were yelling at him," Brandy reasoned. "Sorry if it was weird."
"I was yelling?" Bandit was drawing little stick figures, still alert for this girl's angry voice. "Now I think I should go check up on him. Rad's been telling me to stop teasing Stripe, but he annoyed me so much!"
"You should, whatever your name is," Brandy nodded.
"Bandit," the blue heeler replied. "Bandit's my name. You?"
"Brandy," the red heeler replied. "And I think I should teach you something before you run off after your brother."
"Teaching? No thanks, this isn't school," Bandit broke off eye contact and started doodling on the sand again.
Man, this kid... Brandy rolled her eyes. "No, you dummy. I mean teaching you how to control your anger. So you won't yell at Stripe anymore."
"Should I really be learning that from you?" Bandit laughed sarcastically. "Earlier today, when my brothers and me were racing, we saw you yell at your sister! It even scared me!"
"Ah, I was yelling, huh...I guess Dad wasn't lying after all," Brandy rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "But really. Mum always told me to take a deep breath, hold it for 5 seconds, and then exhale. Works like a charm after you do it a few times."
"I'll try that once Stripe does something else that's annoying. That shouldn't take long," Bandit nodded at her advice. "Man little brothers and sisters are the most annoying things."
"Someone that understands me," Brandy smiled, turning her bucket upside down on the sand. She slowly picked up the bucket, leaving a nice, smooth tower behind. Bandit stared, impressed with her work so far.
"Much better than Stripe's. Even mine," he stopped doodling and started to scoop sand in his own bucket to help. "How do you do it?"
"Just scoop in sand and flatten it with your hands," she responded, working on another tower. "Other kids say use the shovel, but it always comes out crumbly when I try that."
"You're smart for coming up with an even better method than the shovel," Bandit complimented her. Brandy thanked him, watching the light breeze blow his fur about.
Was this really the kid I thought was annoying?
-
"Hey, wait up!" Chilli ran behind the striped blue heeler, who bounced all over the place. He was crying, so he covered his eyes with his hands...needless to say, he ran into a bunch of walls and even people. "Please, you're going to hurt yourself-"
Stripe ran into the store before he fell onto the grass and looked up at this strange girl who looked very concerned for some random stranger. "Why are you following me? Please, just leave me alone."
His ears fell behind his head as he curled up his knees against his stomach. He wrapped his arms around his legs before shoving his muzzle in, hoping this kid would leave him alone. Chilli wasn't so easily gone; she sat down next to the lad and offered him a tissue.
"Here," she handed him the tissue. "I saw that your brother was being really mean to you."
"Yeah, and? It's none of your beeswax!" Stripe tried to look intimidating, but he received the tissue anyway and wiped away his tears and runny nose. "Get lost."
Chilli felt a bit offended, but she knew people tended to sound ruder to protect themselves from humiliation-she's been there more than once on account of not just annoying Brandy, but also the bullies at her school. She took in a deep breath, holding it in for 5 seconds like Mum used to tell her to do, than exhaled. After a couple times, she turned to him again. "I know you're just being mean because you think it's embarrassing that I saw your brother bully you, but that's okay. I know what it's like...and that's why I came and ran after you. I just want to see that you're okay."
"...How do you know?" Stripe was still holding his mean act, but was curious-how did this girl read him like a book? When he took a closer look...
That's the girl Bandit felt bad for! The one that was crying earlier today!
"Because my sister does it to me all the time," Chilli admitted bashfully. "I try to help her out with things, and I get yelled at because my work isn't as great as hers, or I get locked out of her room when her friends come over because I'm an embarrassment, or even told I'll get my face bitten off if I don't be quiet..."
Stripe sat still for a second, recalling all the times Bandit or even Rad have criticized his efforts to help them with various things, like coloring or setting the table up or even cleaning the house. The locked out of their room part was spot on when both boys would tell him to play with Mum and Dad and stay quiet. While Rad never threatened Stripe, Bandit was no stranger to the biting threat although his favorite was the punching threat. "Do you also get told to do things for them when Mum and Dad asked them to do it in the first place?"
"Only all the time! Brandy is told to take out the trash, but if I don't do it for her, I'll 'get my face bitten off'," Chilli did air quotations, smiling at Stripe when his tears stopped forming.
Stripe laughed. "Oh yeah, and when they lie to you and make you look really dumb...Bandit told me the boogeydog only comes out at night in our closet and 'feasts on annoying blue heelers named Stripe' once. I was so scared of even looking at the closet for a whole month before Mum found out what happened. Truth was that Bandit was hiding some snacks in the closet and didn't want me getting to them!"
Chilli giggled at his story before finally getting her bottom off the prickly grass. She lent him a hand which he finally accepted, his tail starting to wag slowly. "Ah, so your name is Stripe?"
"Yeah, cuz I got these awesome stripes on my body," he motioned towards the stripe on his belly. "Mum says they make me look oonique," he butchered the word not so gracefully.
"Unique," Chilli corrected him. "And yeah, they do!"
"Yeah, yeah oonique, unique, same thing," he playfully dismissed, walking back towards the beach with his new friend. "What's your name?"
"Chilli," she responded. "I'm not sure why I'm called Chilli, but I like my name!"
"I like it too," he said before a new thought hit him. "Wait, Chilli! Ya wanna race down to the beach?"
"I just got done chasing you here," Chilli stretched. "Besides, do you really wanna go back to your meanie head brother?"
"No," he crossed his arms. "He is a stinky poopy head. I'm asking you to come to the beach so we can build a huuuge sandcastle. A way bigger one than Bandit can ever even dream of building! Then we'll see who the big dumb baby is!"
Chilli mentally rolled her eyes. "Do we have to? If we make it a contest, don't you think he'll be even meaner to you even if you did make a bigger one?"
"Hm, you're right," Stripe paused. "But he's always mean to me, so what does it matter?"
"I mean...it'll get worse," Chilli tried to reason. "What I would do here is just let him have his time to cool down and then act super sad and droopy until he apologizes."
"That's lame."
"It's better than a sandcastle building contest," she shot back. "Plus when you see the guilt on his face, it'll change your mind completely!"
"Too late," Stripe smirked. "I can see the beach from here clearly now."
"Aw man," Chilli groaned. "What do I get for helping you?"
"Uh, I dunno, bragging rights?" Stripe laughed. "Brandy would be mad if she saw how big our castle could be!"
"She doesn't care about sandcastles anymore," Chilli muttered. "She says she's too mature for that."
"What's that mean?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it's just another way to say that sandcastles are for babies."
"I wonder why older brothers and sisters are so mean all the time," Stripe pondered. "It's not like we try to be annoying. Well...if I get a chance to intentionally annoy Bandit, I'd for sure take it, but-"
"Well Brandy has bullying issues at school. A lot of the kids in her grade pick on her for no reason," Chilli interrupted him. "Dad says I should try and be patient because bullying me is how she lets out her anger. Of course, he also has my back when she takes things too far."
"Huh, I think Bandit also got bullied back then, but now he is the bully. He's had a growth spurt a few months ago and now towers over a lot of other kids," Stripe pondered. "The kids in my grade love me, so I don't really understand him."
"Most kids seem to like me too," Chilli answered. "But a few hate me for no reason."
"Mum tells me that's because they're jealous they're not me," he chuckled. "But a mum's job is to stroke our egos, so I don't really believe her.."
"True," Chilli flatly said, remembering times her mum would hype her up when she was down. She stopped smiling, but she remembered one of her favorite quotes said by her mum: "Well sometimes, special people come into our lives, stay for a bit. Then they have to go."
While the quote was initially said to motivate Chilli to make new friends after her best friend moved to America, it strangely worked for her passing. Chilli tried to smile again.
"You okay?" Stripe noticed the frown which dragged on a few seconds as Chilli replayed the quote multiple times in her head.
"Y-yeah," Chilli lied. "On second thought, let's build that sand castle you're so obsessed with."
"Chilli!" Brandy was running at full speed from the beach. "Chilli, the Freezy Pops!"
"Darn," Stripe's ears fell again. "Never mind about that sand castle then."
"Maybe tomorrow? Dad said tomorrow we're just gonna swim the day away," Chilli spoke quickly, eyeing the blur that would hit them sooner rather than later.
"Well, we were supposed to go to the carnival tomorrow," Stripe said. "But I think my parents wouldn't mind if I came to the beach anyway."
"Oh, okay," Chilli said. "See you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow!" Stripe waved as Brandy tackled her little sister onto the sandy trail.
"Hey! Get off me!" Chilli tickled her sister's sides which made her burst out in laughter.
"Fine," she got up. "Let's go already, my stomach is growling."
"Bye, Stripe," Chilli said, walking to the beach with her sister. "Just gonna find Dad and walk to the store with him."
"Yeah, have fun, Chilli," he ran back up the trail, headed to his own cot.
When he was out of hearing range, Brandy slit her eyes with a grin and neared Chilli. "Oh, is he your new boyfriend now?"
"No!" Chilli grumbled. Brandy had a tendency to believe girls and boys couldn't just be friends. "I like Pat already."
"Pat's so plain," Brandy stated.
"He is not!"
"Is too!"
Mort caught up to his daughters, the two not even acknowledging him. His ears were raised to their fullest, interested in hearing their conversation slyly. He turned to walk towards the shop and girls did the same.
"All I'm saying is that you two looked pretty close," Brandy smirked.
"Well we may have looked it, but we aren't it," Chilli crossed her arms, side-eyeing her sister.
"So he's Bandit's brother then," Brandy, who had gotten bored of teasing Chilli, stated. "The two barely resemble one another."
"How do you know Bandit?" Chilli asked. "I only know Bandit by what Stripe has told me about him. He sounds mean."
"He's a nice guy," Brandy said. "Real good sandcastle builder too. I guess Dad was right when he said there's a lot more to a person than meets the eye."
"Sandcastles? I thought you were too mature for that?" Chilli raised an eyebrow.
"Look, he made it fun. And to be fair, what he's told me about Stripe makes him seem like the most annoying sibling on the planet!"
"Oh, so you built sandcastles with this boy...sounds kinda romantic, don't ya think?" Chilli took her turn to tease, grinning slyly at her older sister.
"Well he was kinda cute but-" Brandy blushed, at a loss for words. Luckily, her father spoke for her anyway.
"So you only wanted to play with that lad because you thought he was cute," Mort intervened. "Sounds like a Brandy thing to do."
"Ahaha Dad is on my side!" Chilli teased harder. "Brandy and Bandit sitting on a tree...K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Stop it Chilli! He might be here somewhere, he said he would return to his cabin soon.." Brandy blushed harder, a few crimson covering her orange and white furred face. "Besides I didn't even approach him because I thought he was cute, I just did it because I was bored and he just looked cuter up close!"
"Suuure," Chilli laughed.
"Alright, alright, no more teasing," Mort hugged both of his daughters. "Let's just have some nice tasty Freezy Pops and watch TV for the rest of the day."
The trio entered the stores, the two girls squealing with wagging tails and the dad smiling, as calm as can be.
-
"Hey," Bandit caught up to Stripe on the trail. "How've you been? Since the...sandcastle thing."
"Well if you must know," Stripe scowled at him. "You made me cry and a girl came over and became my friend. Turns out she and I have a lot in common...things like annoying big brothers and sisters."
"Yeah, about that," he rubbed his hands nervously together. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that for something as dumb as a sandcastle. I'm sorry, mate."
Stripe paused. "Woah...um, you really mean it, Bandit?"
"Of course! I don't just apologize for the sake of it, Stripe!" Bandit laughed a little.
"Of course not, knowing you," Stripe's lips began to curl upwards. "But fine, I accept your apology. What were you doing all alone on the beach?"
"Not all alone, actually," Bandit clarified. "I became friendly with one of the girls here. She was pretty nice to me and we did build a huge sandcastle together before she had to go with her sister and dad for Freezy Pops!"
Stripe choked on his own spit. "Wait, your friend left with her family for Freezy Pops? Did she have orange and white fur?!"
"Um, yeah?" Bandit shrugged, confused on his brother's reaction. "Her name's Brandy. You know her or something?"
"I was hanging out with her sister earlier too," Stripe said. "Chilli made Brandy sound like a whole monster. She didn't chew your face off?"
"Well my face is in pristine condition is it not?" Bandit humbly bragged, smirking at his reflection on the glass of their cabin. He'd learned that word from his father who was always comparing wine at the local alcohol shop near their home. As they walked inside, they noticed it was cooler than when they previously left and everyone was gone, but then they remembered the cookout. "Brandy is a calm girl, she's funny too. Nothing really wrong about her except for the morning thing she had going on with her sister, but then again, she made Chilli sound like a whiny person to be around!"
"No way! Chilli was great! She's patient, caring, smart, and cute!" Stripe retorted, covering his mouth after realizing what he had said.
"Oh, she's cute?" Bandit nudged Stripe's shoulder. "Ooh, wait till Rad hears about this-"
"No, don't tell him!"
"Why?" Bandit scratched his head.
"Remember last time when you told him I thought that corgi in the playground was cute?"
"Oh, um yeah. Never mind, let's keep this crush between us then," Bandit quickly changed his mind. Last time when Stripe thought someone was cute, Rad declared Bandit his wingman and forced Stripe out of his comfort zone to pull stupid stunts. The girl, rightfully so, was not impressed and more annoyed with Stripe (and ready to chew Bandit's face off after he kept going on and on about Stripe's "huge strong" muscles).
"It isn't a crush," Stripe muttered, remembering too many things from the corgi playground incident. "Let's go find everyone else and forget whatever that was, please."
"Right with ya, mate," Bandit shuddered, opening the back door.
-End-
Pls review if you can, any and all constructive criticism is allowed and appreciated.
