Chapter 87s: Half a Base Is Belong To Her (6 September 2003, early morning on the way to school)

"So, it wasn't Vera then?"

My face breaks out in a shameless grin as I make the most out of this situation where our places are switched.

Finally God has listened to my prayer, and He gave me the perfect ammunition!

"No!"

Jellybelly is giving me an exasperated sigh as she peers back at me, idly fussing with a hairtie and her hair as she walks me to school. Usually I'd curse about her stupid college and their flexible schedules, but fakemom in particular is still furious with her. Score!

"Then it was Ann, right? No way it's Kathleen. She would never succumb to peer pressure to be stupid and fit in."

Jenny lets go of her gathered hair to give me a push, allowing the confined bundle of red strands to burst free and flutter awkwardly in the cold morning breeze. I can only laugh. I'm sooo right!

"Can't you leave it be? Geez."

She complains loudly even as the sneaky smile plays on her lips with adult-like caution. But how could I not recognise that relieved-but-not-in-a-position-to-admit-it tell of elephant-like proportions? We're sisters!

I stick out my tongue at her, opting not to respond as I just sprint a bit ahead, turning around and walking as I continue goading her with my eye-contact. She so needs to tell me now that I've got this God-given dirt!

"It's bad enough with mom being all over my case, but I already apologized a dozen times to you, which is nine times more than she made me apologize for. So please? Please?"

She is giving me some sort of pitiful look, but I find that it is… lacking.

If it were Nii-san, I'd be offering my allowance within ten seconds.

No, five.

..Okay, three seconds.

But looking at Jenny's pitiful look.. all I can think is that she'd be a great trophy wife for some rich dude. No responsibilities, lots of fun, and nobody that'll say no to her.

"Have you ever thought about becoming a trophy wife?"

I am barely able to finish the sentence before she comes to sprint at me while yelling my name angrily. Bahaha! As I turn around to face in front I begin to run, but… crap!

Her hand caught onto my jacket sleeve and I can hear some of the threads ripping as the sudden connection veers me off course. My left foot slips on the edge of the tiles, sending a pang of pain through my nerves which makes my knees buckle.

Even though coming to a stop ends up being a success, I can feel the burning pain on the knee of my other leg which was the primary force of friction that slowed my body down. Ugh.

"Oww. You brute! Stupid trophy-to-be!"

I complain loudly even as I come face to face with Nee-san: regret is all over her features. As I attempt to climb back up to my feet, I find that the foot that slipped away is quite painful. Jenny pushes down on my shoulder to stop me , shaking her head

"No, don't stand on it. You might make it worse. Let me feel it for a second?"

Now she's all caring. Pffft. Stupid Nee-san. Could she not be?

It is sooo her fault. OWWW!

Tears jump into my eyes as she is touching my lower leg around the trim of my sneakers. That hurts.

"You stupid torture bimbo!"

"Bimbos are blonde. Nice try. Where did you learn that word anyways? Anyway…"

She peers at me with a small chuckle, although I can see the hints of her unspoken apology in the air. It's part of our banter. "Stop whining; you are completely fine. It's not broken for as far I can tell. It'll hurt for a while though, you probably sprained it."

I shake my head. No no no, that hurt far too much.

"You're such a bully. I need an ambulance! And a police officer! That was assault!"

Even as I proclaim my anger in a somewhat loud voice, I grin at her. But I realize instantly…. OW OW OW.

She's pulling my hair. Pulling my FUCKING HAIR.

"OW! That hurts. Barbarian!"

"Shut up. Setty. I'm going to say this once, and only once. I don't care if you screw up your life with petty vandalism. I've done my share of that. But false accusations of assault of all things?"

She pulls more, and I can see her eyes peering at me with true anger.

"You don't understand this yet, but destroying someone elses reputation with lies is something you should NEVER do, no matter how terrible someone is to you. Lies get out of hand, Setty. You cannot take them back, you understand?"

One hand squeezes my shoulder while the other squeezes my hand, the intensity of her care for this subject close to me.

When she was on the war path with me for no good reason, she just wanted to kill me in her anger because I embarrassed her so much.

But now she looks as if she'd be ready to torture me with her full, calm intent.

Abashed by this cold, terrifying Nee… I can only nod. So scary!

"And no matter what you do, don't ever lie about men close to you. That is even worse than lying about a woman, you understand? Tell me!"

I shiver, nodding a few times in quick succession. "I won't lie about anyone, Nee-san. I promise! Can you please, please forgive me? You're the best Nee-san ever."

Her stern glance stays on me for a few more seconds… and then she burts into laughter.

"You are a bootlicking little wench, anyone ever tell you that?"

The ice is broken, and I find myself laughing in a cheesy manner. Damn it, my foot hurts! She broke.. okay, not broken, but whatever it is, and I am the one apologizing? She's the most experienced, unreasonable of all bullies!

But it is way better than her going Clara on me. Waaaay better.

Jellybelly extends her hand to help me up, and while making sure not to pressure the foot that hurts so much, I lean on her.

"Here, wrap your arm around me. I'll walk you to school. They should at least have a first-aid kit. Or do they also have a proper nurse?"

As I wrap my hand around her, I see the knee of my other leg, which is all scraped up and filled with the foul and ugly England sand. Why can't we have beaches and pretty soil like they have in Japan?

"No nurse, but the concierge is kind of cute according to gossip. I can't say I ever went to check him out, though."

"Uh huh. Realllly?"

I roll my eyes at Nee-san, squeezing her tit through her jacket in revenge. I can feel her wince.

Which reminds me. Oi! I had almost forgotten..!

"How about you apologize to me instead? I deserve to know after all this, you know."

My sad voice and very intimate position against her side - the latter of which is mostly forced by the snuggle-of-circumstance as she walks and I wince-hop along - are effective this time around. Her sigh of surrender gives it away.

"Fine. I'll tell you. It was Ann who initially gave me my first fag. But that was years ago. We mostly quit it as we grew up to be less stupid."

I snicker as I squeeze her breast a second time, but this time she takes revenge by squeezing my arm firmly, nail-impressions included. By reflex, I let go, and so does she. Warning received: no more squeezing.

For now.

"But that's not what I waaanted to knooow…."

I drawl out with my sad-younger-sister voice.

"God. Fine. You little brat. One more thing. That's it. We'll be even. Understand?"

I laugh happily, nodding. Finally I can ask the question that I've been dreading to ask about for the past month!

"That's all I need, hehee! So what did Nii-san do to piss you off to the point of wanting to kill.. eh.. interrogating me so lovingly when we were swimming?"

Her footsteps freeze for a second before resuming their walking pace. I can feel her anger rising on the spot. She clearly didn't expect that question.

The long con always wins!

And by God, Nii-san, you really pissed her off, didn't you?

"Fine. We had a bet, he wanted a kiss if he won and then he abused that Halloween picture to catch me offguard. It was in his WALLET of all places! Squirt, it's totally your damn fault I lost!"

I feel my cheeks flush as she rattles off the explanation. Nee-san is just as competitive as Nii-san, although I never thought she was that bad of a loser… wait.

He wanted a kiss from Nee-san?

"… A kiss?"

I echo awkwardly, wishfully thinking I misunderstood.

"Ha. Yes. A kiss. But the little asshole never said he wanted it on his cheek or lips. I was pissed off so I gave him a peck on his forehead instead. He was so embarrassed! Having the girl he was hitting on treat him like a little boy. Can you imagine his face? It almost made up for losing like that… but don't you think I forgive you for giving him that picture, you little traitor!"

… Nii-san… likes Nee-san? Like… really, really likes Nee-san?