"You want to date your brother?!"
Although we were outside, she screamed it loud enough for many of the surrounding folk to be able to hear her shenanigans. My heart started pounding as people turned their heads around to see who that question was directed at. I heard a couple of snickers and saw some students give me weird looks.
It was directed at me, clearly.
Trying to look away from the familiar faces eyeing me up and down, I turned back to face my cousin.
"Bella! Why would you yell that?" I whisper-shout at her, glancing around to see if people were still staring.
She shrugged with her arms, her black hair flowing smoothly thanks to the wind. "Well, what can I say?" She says with a bored expression on her face. "I just love embarrassing you," Isabella sneers at me.
Layla, sympathizing with me, frowns at her. "Bella you know that Ari doesn't like attention." she lectures.
Isabella looks her up and down, making sure her action is noticed by my Somali friend. "Yes, and?" She rolls her eyes at her.
I sigh and throw my head back.
She completely missed my point, on purpose, to embarrass me. Now, everyone thinks I'm a weirdo who dates her family members.
Isabella was the one pointing out a couple who was acting too touchy in front of everyone. All I did was say that I'd never get into a relationship that was all about kissing and 'I love you's, I'd rather have a sibling relationship with my boyfriend.
Of course, Bella, being herself, had to twist up my words and make everyone think I support incest.
"Ariana that's disgusting! Why are you crushing on your brother?" Laurie goes on to say, trying to keep the fire burning.
I swiftly turn my head around and look at her in betrayal.
"Laurie, I know you're not talking." I scoff at her words. "Your own country's royal family is known for marrying their siblings."
Laurie was a typical western girl. Short blond wavy hair barely reaching her shoulders, pale skin enhancing her freckles, tall slim figure, mean to the people she disliked, gave attitude to almost every boy around, French, she would spend all her time on her phone but still end up with straight A's, she was also French, abused her little brother, did I mention she was French as well?
You know, the stereotypical baguette person.
She looks at me with surprise, hinting her shock at my comeback, "Touché" Laurie thinks before answering back. "Why are you defending incest though?" She smirks at me.
"I'm not! You guys twisted my words and made me out to be—" I cut myself off after noticing something, or rather someone, who caught my attention.
There was a man.
A man in a stand, holding a cup of some delicious-looking mixture.
"To be what?" Bella begs me to continue.
I ignore her question and make my way towards the boy.
With this nice sunny weather, many students took the opportunity to raise money for the fundraisers. There were a couple more stands along the pathway. I saw one selling cookies, another one selling cupcakes, but the one I was marching towards, was a smoothie stand. They set up the stands not too far away from the college building, on the pathway, to bring in more costumers.
I look back to see if my friends left without me before standing in line, behind a girl who was lost in the options they offered.
I had already set my eyes on the Strawberry & Banana smoothie, so I didn't need to think about it.
"We only have four options," the guy chuckles at her indecisiveness. "I don't think it's that hard to choose." he continues, fixing the blue cap on his head.
Even though she was being rushed, the girl took her time to pick an item from the menu. "I'll just get the Strawberry Banana smoothie." She settles.
He nods at her and gives her the order, once she payed.
Her choice disappointed me. I didn't want to take the same thing as her, or else It'll look like I copied her.
I look behind me,
Two people were waiting. I bet they were cursing at me in their heads now. I should hurry up and choose something.
But I wanted the strawberry smoothie...
But then, if I take it, they'll think I'm a stalker.
Okay no, It's not that big of a deal, I'll just-
"Can you pick?" the guy in the blue cap demands.
"Sorry, I'll just take the cherry one." I splurge out before paying quickly and grabbing my order, not daring to look him in the eye.
That was so embarrassing. I literally just wanted a smoothie. I bet he hates me now, because I wasted his time.
I take a sip of my drink to change my thoughts.
Freezing in shock, I realize that my smoothie didn't taste all that bad. Maybe rushing myself wasn't so bad after all. If I didn't do that I'd never have tasted this masterpiece of a flavour.
As I walk back to my group of friends, I make sure to enjoy every sip I take, until someone bumps into me fiercely. In the blink of an eye, my juice was all over my white shirt.
That wasn't the problem though, the problem was that the person didn't even mind looking back or paying attention to what they did. He just kept walking straight ahead, oblivious to what happened.
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I take back what I said, Banana and Strawberry can never be topped.
The water going down the drain made a loud continuous noise. My arms were dripping with water and my white shirt was soaked. I kept scrubbing the juice away, hoping to see the original white color come back.
"It's not coming off," I whine.
Isabella was tapping her foot on the ground, arms crossed. Laurie was scrolling on her phone and Layla was trying to help me remove the stain.
"Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't have happened if you just went and confronted him." My cousin scolds me with attitude.
What was she talking about? How would yelling at him and causing trouble make this situation reverse? That would only create problems I never asked for.
I frown at her and return to my task. "So you want me to fight him just because I spilled my drink on my shirt?"
"As if you'd ever do that," Laurie says chuckling, making me glare at her.
Bella rolls her eyes. "No, I don't want you to fight him. I'm just saying that if you demanded him to, he would've bought you another drink and given you another shirt or something." She replies to me.
A silence made its way in the bathroom but the running water suppressed it a little.
"That's your problem, Ari. You can never stand up for yourself." She tells me.
◆◈◇
As if I didn't know that.
She doesn't understand how it feels to be in my position. Yes, we are cousins, but we grew up in completely different environments. For instance, my dad puts a lot of pressure on me to study and get good grades. Her dad, on the other hand, tells her that as long as she is happy, it doesn't matter what she does.
Whatever, it doesn't matter. I should be getting back to my studies.
I lift my head from the comfort of my arms and stare at the workload in front of me. I was revising my classes of today, Biology and Psychology. Once I'm done, I'll have all the time of my life to complain about what happened.
As I got back into focus, the door to my room bursts open.
Well, here comes my brother.
"Ariana-a" he sang joyfully.
I turned on my rotating chair and glared at him. He was standing in the middle of the doorway, taking up all the space because of his buff figure. I don't think he ever hit the gym. It was all genetics. I was generous enough to give them all to him and not steal them away.
"Get out of my room," I puff.
He pouts, despite his big age of 27 years. "You don't want to hear what happened to me today?" Raising an eyebrow, he smirks.
I stare at him blankly. "What?" I ask him.
He clears his throat and leans against the doorframe. "A girl asked for my number today." He stares at his nails.
"So what?"
Slowly shifting his gaze to my face, he squints his eyebrows. "What do you mean so what?" He goes on to say. "How many boys asked you out, Ariana?"
I roll my eyes at his question. "That girl probably just felt bad for you and your stupid Edgar cut."
He sends me a shocked expression, acting hurt after my statement. "Girls love my cut, no quema, cuh."
Pissing me off, I sigh loudly. "Go do something with your life, Cristian." I grab a notebook from my desk. "Look, I'm studying so that I can be a doctor." I throw it back down on my desk. "What are you doing?" I send him a fake smile.
Staring at me, he leaves a moment of silence, then attempts to think about what to say before continuing. "No quema, cuh." He speaks proudly.
I grab the pillow on my bed and launch it at his Edgar-shaped head. Missing him, I take another one and attempt to smack him with it. His eyes go wide and he runs away, screaming like a little girl.
He skips down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Mamá! Ariana is hitting me!" He whines like a baby.
My mom, turning away from the stove, looks at the both of us and stares at him in disappointment.
"Cristian! Por el amor de Dios! Go do something with your life." She places her hands on her hips. "You just sit around all day, watching TV, and wait until your sister gets home so that you can nag her."
"That's so not true-" He puts up his index, trying to argue with truthful facts.
"Cristian," she sighs, throwing her head back. "When are you getting a job?"
He stays quiet.
"Pronto, mamá, pronto."
I was trying to hold in my laugh. Every time he went to my mom, complaining about me, he got a scolding.
What can I say? I'm the favorite.
It's not my fault he doesn't want to be productive.
Giving up, he fakes cries and throws himself on the couch, complaining about his life.
"I feel like every time I try to be happy, someone in this family just has to take away that feeling of happiness." He motions with his hands while he lies along the couch.
Seizing the moment, I sit down on the opposite sofa and cross my legs, pretending to listen attentively.
"Yes, it can be a very overwhelming feeling." I nod. "Maybe you should try meditation to open up all your chakras." I continue.
He looks at me in disbelief and shakes his head in disappointment.
"Maybe yoga is a better option for you?" I ask. "I have a pink mat and pink weights for you if you'd like." I go on.
"Women." He states simply, grabbing a pillow and covering his face with it.
The front opens suddenly and my dad walks in with his bag. "Hola niños." He wipes his forehead with his hand.
We greet him at the same time as he walks over to the kitchen to greet my mom.
Cristian stares at me with big eyes, as if to tell me something that I couldn't understand. Then starts throwing signs at me.
What was he talking about?
"What?" I whisper, perplexed.
He takes a deep breath in and motions clear signs with his hands. Crisscrossing his arms, 'Don't', motioning a puppet with his hand, 'talk', putting one hand on top of the other, 'on' pointing to himself, 'me'.
Little brat didn't want me to snitch on him. In your dreams. I'm going to go do the exact opposite.
As if reading my mind, my dad walked over to us and sat next to me on the couch, leaning into its comfort. "So, Ariana. You finished studying?"
I look over at my brother and grin while he stares in fear. The outcome of this situation was all in my hands.
'Please' he mouthed.
Yes, keep on begging for mercy.
I crossed my arms and cleared my throat. "Well," I paused as my dad waited for my answer. "I was studying, but then Cristian, bursted my door open and de-concentrated me. Now it's going to take me forever just to get back into focus."
My dad turned to face him and raised an eyebrow, begging my brother for the truth. I could see Cristian clench his jaw at my betrayal.
"Well? Is it true what she said?"
Cris stared at him before finally opening his mouth. "Yes, but she also-"
"Dios mío.." he sighs in disappointment, leaning into the couch. "Every time?"
Here we go again.
"Ariana, go continue studying." He directed to the stairs. "I need to talk to this gordo."
I snickered. As I walked past my brother, I patted his back for support.
I win. Like always.
My mom, who overheard the conversation came in with a spatula in her hand. "Hernando, I was telling him before you came that he should be spending his time wisely. You have to get some sense into this boys head..."
Step by step, I walked up the stairs, staring at my brother who covered his face with his palms, in defeat.
I was putting away my books from my desk when I saw my phone light up and vibrate at the edge. As soon as it did, I grabbed it to reply to the message.
As soon as it did, I grabbed it to reply to the message [https://img.wattpad.com/f7229a6b405f5d71949d8c354aca8431bc4d9baa/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6e4a625632724e736c624b435f673d3d2d313435363135323633372e313764633133643530663766653633363839393330373431383431332e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Ms.Ferguson was one of my past semesters's teachers. She was a teacher who helped me get good grades and understand everything without difficulty. The one teacher who taught me efficient ways to study.
She was also a participant in school organizations to help students in their studies. For example, she set up tutoring sessions, created the Study Buddy club, and did a couple more things. I asked her at the beginning of the semester if I could get more credit for a better profile so that I have a higher chance of acceptance into the medical school I want to attend, and she recommended I give tutoring sessions.
I owed her one.
After she gave me their number, I texted the student about the subject. They didn't reply right away, so I finished packing my things and left my room for a quick snack.
I couldn't help but wonder who it was. I was hoping it wasn't one of the popular kids, because I don't think I could ever tutor while knowing that my student was one of those who spread rumours about people who make the simplest mistake.