Here's chapter 13.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Michelle yawned as she awakened, and she immediately glanced at the calendar.

February 5, 2013. Her thirteenth birthday.

"Ellie! Ellie! Ellie!" two year old Tommy squealed as he burst through the door.

"What, Tommy?" Michelle asked, rolling her eyes at the old nickname. Tommy had called her Ellie until… well, the day after today, actually.

"-Appy birthday!" he cheered, presenting a small collection of flowers from behind his back- tulips, her favorite flower.

"Are they going to squirt me with water of something?" Michelle asked, cautiously accepting the flowers.

"No," Tommy answered, confused.

Michelle inspected the flowers for any kind of trick: squirting water, a fake or very real spider, itching powder sprinkled across the powers. She came up empty. They were just flowers. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Thanks," she said, tentatively.

"I love you, Ellie," he chirped, suddenly embracing her.

Michelle waited for the inevitable prank. A sign on her back, paint down her shirt, a kick in the shin if Tommy wasn't feeling particularly creative that day. Nothing came.

Tommy exited the room without a trick, without a prank, without another word.

What was going on here?

"I hope you like it, Michelle," Steven said as she tore open the paper on his present.

She gasped. "I love it!" she exclaimed as she lifted a pink, sparkly jacket out of the box. It was beautiful, and Michelle had been prepared to wear it every day until she grew out of it.

She never got the chance because Tommy had ruined it the next day.

"It's pretty, Ellie!" Tommy complimented as she tried it on.

"Get lost, squirt," Steven muttered as he placed an arm around Michelle. That was right. He'd been her first crush, and he'd almost been her first boyfriend until… that's funny. She couldn't remember why they didn't work.

Little did Michelle know, she would be getting her answer very soon.

"No," Tommy snapped. "My house, my sister. You gets lost."

"Tommy," Michelle hissed.

"No! Ellie's friend Samantha told me that you two are dating, and you have the nerve to hit on my sister."

Michelle never knew Tommy was so smart. She didn't think two year olds would know what half of that meant.

Despite knowing that Tommy was yelling the truth, the words slipped out of her mouth of their own accord.

"Get lost, Tommy. You're a liar! You always make things up! I don't want you at my party!"

"I'd never lie to you, Ellie!"

"That's another thing. Don't call me Ellie. My name is Michelle. It's not that hard to say."

Why was she saying all of this? Tommy had only been trying to help… but of course, she didn't know that back then.

"Ellie…" Tommy trailed off, his lower lip quivering.

"What did I just say?" Michelle snarled. "Go away, Tommy."

"Yeah," Steven agreed, and Tommy regained some of the fire he'd previously had.

"Ellie, he's using you! He's a big meanie. I don't even know why you like him. He's ugly and dumb, too."

Tommy hadn't meant to say those awful insults. He'd only been trying to protect her from a jerk who would've pushed her around through an entire relationship, but naive thirteen year old Michelle didn't know that.

"No, he's not!"

"I'm leaving," Steven said, standing up. "I'm sorry, Michelle, but we can't date if your brother's going to insult me every time I enter this house."

"No. Steven, we can make this work," Michelle said, chasing Steven to the door, but he'd already shut it behind him.

"Michelle, he's just a boy. Come apologize to your brother," Mrs. Webster urged, although she tried to keep her tone gentle since her daughter had just had her heart broken. "Have some cake and just have fun."

Michelle grabbed the plate of cake from her mother's hands and stormed over to Tommy. She growled, angrily, and smashed the cake in his face, making Tommy wail.

"I hate you!" she screamed.

Why had she said that? Tommy was the thorn in her side, but she didn't hate him. Besides, he'd been so kind, so protective that day. He'd been a good brother. He'd tried to be her hero…

And in return, she'd been the villain, the traitor. What kind of person was she?

"Michelle!" Mrs. Webster shouted. "You are grounded for not one, but two months! Go to your room!"

"Gladly!"

Michelle stormed up the steps and slammed the door, and that's when Michelle could reveal her fifteen year old self without time intervening and doing only what she did the first time around.

The first time, she kicked and screamed and threw things, her first teenage tantrum. This time, she cried.

Tommy had loved her. Tommy had cared for her, been protective. He'd been a good brother before she did that, before she said she hated him.

Michelle remembered now. Tommy had never pranked or tricked or lied to her until the day after her thirteenth birthday. She'd been the cause of his behavior.

Michelle understood now. Tommy smashed her face in the birthday cake every year since she turned thirteen because she smashed the cake in his face. Tommy pranked her to make up for all the hurtful words. Tommy always lied because she accused him of lying. Her parents always took Tommy's side because they remembered the Tommy before her thirteenth birthday, and they also remembered her horrible behavior. They took his side because after Tommy was born, she didn't give them any reason to trust her. She was always putting Tommy down, even before today, and the birthday had been the final straw for her parents and Tommy.

Tommy had become Tommy the Terror on this day, and it was all her fault.

She knew why she'd forgotten about this birthday. She couldn't live with herself and the mistakes she'd made, so she'd blocked it out. She felt like she was going to get sick. She finally knew the truth, and she'd do anything to forget it again, to live in ignorance and denial once more.

I guess the old saying is right: the truth hurts.

And the truth comes out! Tommy wasn't always the bad guy. Thanks for reading!