Bro Day, Part 1 is the seventy-fifth chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on January 16th, 2019.
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Chapter My brother: he’s seven years old, adorable, cute, and really annoys the hell out of me sometimes. Annabeth says it runs in the family. It probably does. “So you have a boyfriend now?” Johnathan asked me. I nodded. “Yeah. Do you want to go meet him?” “No. Is he coming to yours and Annabeth’s birthday party?” “I assume so.” “I can wait to meet him then.” “Ok.” I’ve got to remember to invite Will. “I’m not going to watch you and him make out all the time, am I?” “I hope not,” I replied. “Me too.” “And how do you know what that is?” “Mom and Dad do it all the time.” I smiled. “Yeah, they kind of do. So what do you want to do with your big sister?” “Umm . . . nothing.” I glared at him. “Just kidding,” he said with a smile. “I want to play video games.” “Ok,” I said. “What game?” “Need for Speed!” “Alright. You’re on. I’ll beat you to the finish line.” “Not if I beat you first.” Can I play, too? Fiskerton asked. “Sure,” I said. He may be a six-foot-gorilla cat, but he’s good at video games, thanks to my dad. We headed downstairs, and I hooked up the game. I grabbed my controller and sat down on the floor. Komodo came over and sat and watched us between me and Johnathan. Toothless just laid down in the back. Then we started to race along with one other computer driver. We played two races. I won the first one, and Fiskerton one the second, but Johnathan ended in last both times. He threw his controller down in frustration. “I hate this game.” “You’ll get the hang of it,” I assured him. “When?” I looked at Fiskerton, then back at Johnathan and came up with an idea. “Johnathan,” I said. “Come here for a minute.” I led him to the back of the room near Toothless. “You’ve been learning to use your cryptid powers, right?” I asked him, whispering. “Yeah,” he replied. “Why?” “How about you use them on Fiskerton to play the game?” “Wouldn’t that be cheating?” “That’s the point. But not if you suck and use it to win. But you have to promise me that you won’t use him every time so that you can get better on your own.” “I promise. Now, let’s try.” He faced Fiskerton, whose back was to us, and activated his powers, his eyes glowing orange just like mine do. He told Fiskerton a few commands and he listened. Johnathan’s powers were getting stronger. “Cool,” he said. “Let’s play another game so I can win.” “You’re on,” I said. I grabbed my controller and it was on. We played a couple more games, and he managed to win them all, but barely. Those damn cops loved him more than me. “I win again!” Johnathan cheered. “Rematch!” I said. “Ok.” We started to play again. “What are you two doing?” our dad asked, entering the room. We froze. He looked at us, then noticed Fiskerton and Johnathan controlling him. He glared at him. “Johnathan. Let go of Fiskerton. That’s no way to use your powers like that.” “It was Jasmine’s idea,” he said. Dad was now glaring at me. “Jasmine.” I smiled sheepishly. “Johnathan wasn’t doing very good, so I just wanted to help him, and Fiskerton was pretty good, so I told him to use him.” Dad sighed. “I appreciate you trying to help your brother, but having him use his powers like that is not the way to do it.” “I know.” “Johnathan, can you let Fiskerton go now?” “Sure, Dad.” And he did. Fiskerton wasn’t happy. He complained to Johnathan. “It was my idea, Fiskerton,” I told him. “And I’m sorry for telling him to do that to you. Now shut up before I make you.” He did the smart thing: he shut up. “Ok, guys,” Dad said. “Say, Fisk, how about you and I play a little one-on-one?” Ok, he replied. Dad looked at me and Johnathan. “Do you two mind if we play alone?” “Well, we were playing it first,” I said. “But, no. Johnathan and I can go do something else. I’m bored with this anyway. Come on, Johnathan.” “Ok,” he said. We stood up from the floor and left the room. Komodo and Toothless followed us. We went outside in the backyard and jumped on the trampoline. Komodo stayed off it because he doesn’t like it, especially with us on it because we jump him on it on purpose, which he likes even less. So he went off to play with Toothless, who was hanging upside down in a tree by his tail about thirty feet away. “So Annabeth moved back with her parents again?” Johnathan asked. “Her dad and stepmom,” I said. “Yeah.” “Will she be moving back with us again?” “Hopefully not, if everything works out.” “If everything does work out, and she stays with them, will she still be our sister?” “Of course she will be. Nothing’s ever going to change that.” “Won’t you be sad that she won’t be living with us anymore?” “I . . .” My eyes narrowed. “I guess I never really thought about that until now.” “I thought you were as smart as she is.” “I am. But sometimes even smart people aren’t always smart.” “That doesn’t make sense.” “Exactly.” We silently jumped for a while as I kept pondering what Johnathan asked me. “Where’s Luke?” Johnathan asked. Oh, he had to ask me that question. Like me and Annabeth, he liked Luke. After I got home, my family asked me where he was, and I told them everything. I think Emily and my grandma took the news the hardest. “He’s, uh, gone,” I said. “Gone?” Johnathan asked. “You mean, like, dead?” “No, I don’t mean that. Yet. He just . . . left.” “Why?” “Well, you know how angry he is at the gods, especially his dad?” “Ok. Where did he go?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. But Grandma’s looking for him.” “I hope she finds him.” “I kind of hope she doesn’t,” I murmured. Well, that dampened the mood. I’m going to try and fix it. “Uh, speaking of Annabeth,” I said. “Do you have a friend, maybe from school?” “How does speaking of Annabeth make you ask that?” Johnathan asked. “Well, Annabeth and I have been best friends for almost eight years now. Do you have someone you can call your best friend?” “Maybe Peter. Why?” “Ok, first of all, Peter, really? Second of all, how would you like to make a new friend. Possibly two new friends?” “First of all, what’s wrong with Peter? Second of all, who would be my new friends?” “First of all, you don’t know Peter as well as I do. And second of all, Annabeth has twin brothers about the same age as you. Do you want to go meet them?” “Sure.” I smiled. “Great. Do you want to come too, Komodo and Toothless?” They nodded. “Great.” I pointed to the front yard. “Through the park, across the bridge, to Annabeth’s house we go.” “You’re weird,” Johnathan said. “What? You’re realizing that now? You should’ve known that ever since you were born. Let’s go.” I’m reading a book that Jasmine gave me to read that she got from the library. She always gives me books to read that she liked. But if she didn’t like it, she would complain to me about it and ask me if I wanted to read it. This book I’m reading is a romance, of course, and it’s good, but it’s not something I’d like to read since it’s always obvious. Bobby and Matthew ran into my room and jumped on my bed, surprising me. “Annabeth,” Matthew said. “Do you want to play hide-and-seek?” “No,” I replied, sounding annoyed. “Go away.” “Come on,” Bobby begged. “Please.” “No.” “Please.” “No.” “Please.” “No. “Please.” “No!” I snapped. “Leave me alone.” That startled them, and they looked like they were about to cry. I felt guilty for that. “I’m sorry. But I don’t want to play anything. Now, can you please leave me alone?” “We want you to play hide-and-seek with us,” Bobby said. “Yeah,” Matthew agreed. I sighed. They’re as persistent as Jasmine is. But I had an idea to get rid of them. “Ok, fine,” I said. “But I call being the seeker first.” “We want you to be,” Matthew said. “Count to a hundred,” Bobby said. “Ok,” I said. “One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . .” After they ran out of the room to hide and I counted a few more times, I stopped and continued to read my book. That got rid of them. It took them about an hour before they came back to my room. “Hey,” Bobby said. “You didn’t find us.” “Hmm?” I asked, looking up from my book. “Oh. Sorry. I couldn’t find either of you, so I just gave up.” “Did you even look for us?” Matthew asked. “Yes,” I lied. “No, you didn’t.” “Yes, I did.” “Liar.” I sighed. “Fine. I didn’t.” Bobby and Matthew didn’t look happy. “Annabeth,” Bobby said. “You don’t want us to be your brothers, but we want you to be our sister.” “Yeah,” Matthew agreed. I stared at them. “Why?” “Because you are our sister. We don’t have the same mom, but we have the same dad.” “Is Jasmine your sister?” Bobby asked. “Yes,” I replied. “Do you have the same mom?” Matthew asked. “No. Her parents adopted me.” “That’s not fair.” “Yeah,” Bobby agreed. “You and Jasmine don’t have a same mom or dad, and you call her your sister, but we share the same dad and you don’t call us your brothers.” “Wait,” I said. “How do you know I don’t call you my brothers?” “We heard you say so.” “When?” “When you and Mom yelled at each other,” Matthew said. “Sometimes it’s about us, and Mom says ‘Your brothers,’ and you say ‘They’re not my brothers.’” I turned my head away from them. “I didn’t know that you two were listening.” But would that make it any less true? “Well, we were,” Matthew said. I felt extremely guilty, but I don’t know why. It was really fair for me to count my brothers at camp from my mother’s side as my brothers, but not my brothers from my dad’s side. Jasmine would give me an ear-full on that and that I need to stop doing things just to avoid her wrath and do them because I want to. Of course, I guess she already did beforehand in her text to me the other day. It’s not their fault that they were born when our dad and their mom didn’t really care about me at all, and I resented them all for that. That wasn’t Bobby or Matthew’s choice. I need to change. At least, for them. And I promised my dad I would. “I’m sorry,” I said. “You two are right. I should be more fair to you as your sister, and I’m going to do that from now on. I promise.” “Really?” they both asked. I nodded. “Yes. Starting right now. So, who’s up for some hide-and-seek?” “You mean it this time?” Bobby asked. “Yes. Now go hide. Both of you.” Just as they were leaving the room, we heard the doorbell ring. “Who is that?” Matthew asked. “I don’t know,” I said. “Let’s go find out.” The three of us went to the front door and I opened it. I smiled a sarcastic smile when I saw who it was. “Of course. Who else could it possibly be?” “Shut up,” Jasmine said. “Can we come in?” I opened the door wide. “Come in.” She, Johnathan, and Komodo entered the house. Toothless was too big to fit through the door, so he stayed outside. “To what do we own this visit?” I asked. “Johnathan and I were hanging out, and since he and your brothers are about the same age, I figured that they could make new friends with each other.” “Ok. Johnathan, these are my brothers, Bobby and Matthew. Guys, this is Jasmine’s brother, Johnathan.” “You have goofy hair,” Matthew said. “So do you,” Johnathan retorted. “What about me?” Bobby asked. “Your hairs look the same, so they look equally goofy.” Jasmine and I both laughed. “Is that your lizard?” Bobby asked, pointing at Komodo. Jasmine nodded. “That’s Komodo. He’s a Komodo Dragon, the largest lizard in the animal kingdom.” “I thought dinosaurs were,” Matthew said. “You’ve got me there. But Komodo Dragons aren’t extinct, as you can see, but dinosaurs are. I also have an actual dragon outside named Toothless.” “He’s the least weirdest of all our pets,” Johnathan said. “Which is weird since he’s Jasmine’s pet, and she’s weirder than anyone in our whole family.” “That’s true.” “But Komodo isn’t as weird as our other two pets, Fiskerton and Zon.” “No. But he isn’t really the friendliest either.” “He’s not?” Bobby asked. “Not unless told to be.” “But watch this,” Johnathan said. “Komodo, you know what to do.” He nodded. Then he turned himself invisible. “Cool!” Bobby and Matthew exclaimed. “How did he do that?” Bobby asked. “Science,” Jasmine replied. “Oh. “Where is he?” Matthew asked. “He’s over there,” Johnathan said, pointing to a spot about ten feet to his left. “Komodo.” He became visible again right where Johnathan pointed. “Cool!” Bobby and Matthew exclaimed again. “How did you know he was there?” Matthew asked. “Johnathan and I have powers that we were born with that we inherited from our dad,” Jasmine explained. “These powers allow us to feel an animals presence and know exactly where it is, even if we can’t see it. And it also allows us to control them, and they can feel an aura around us that we inherited from our mom, which makes them friendly and even protective of us.” Bobby and Matthew nodded like they understood, but I doubt they did. I know I didn’t when I was their age when it was explained to me. “Can we see it?” Bobby asked. “Sure,” Jasmine said. “Johnathan, would you like to do the honors? You’re still practicing using them.” “Ok,” he said. He looked at Komodo and activated his powers. His eyes glowed orange and so did Komodo’s, which meant that he was in control of him. Johnathan had Komodo move and jump on me, knocking me to the floor. “Ow,” I complained. My brothers laughed. Johnathan and Jasmine did too. Johnathan let go of control of Komodo and he got off of me. Jasmine offered me her hand. I took it and she pulled me up from the floor. “Ok, guys, enough show and tell,” I said. “Are we going to play hide-and-seek or what?” “Yeah!” Bobby and Matthew said. “Can Johnathan and Jasmine play?” Matthew asked. “Sure,” Jasmine replied. “Annabeth, you’re it,” Bobby said. “I know,” I said. “How about Jasmine and Annabeth both are it and we hide?” Johnathan suggested. “Yeah!” Bobby and Matthew agreed. Jasmine looked at me. “Ok,” I said. “But that only makes it easier to find you.” “Come on, guys,” Johnathan said to Bobby and Matthew. “I know a good place we can hide where they’ll never find us. “Uh, Johnathan,” Jasmine said. “If you know a good hiding place, I probably know it too.” “We’ll see about that.” “Oh, yes, we will.” The boys ran outside, taking Komodo with them and Toothless too. Jasmine looked at me and smiled. “What?” I asked. “I’m really proud of you for trying to get along with them, and accepting them as your brothers,” she said. I smiled. “As much as I like hearing you tell me how proud you are of me, can you stop?” “Well, I really am proud of you, Annabeth. You’ve come a really long way since the last time you were here.” “Thanks to Percy.” “Yeah.” Jasmine’s tone changed when she said that. She suddenly seemed interested with her shoes. “Jasmine?” I asked. “Is something wrong?” She looked back at me with no clear expression on her face. “No,” she said, looking confused as to why I asked her that. “Are you sure?” “Yes, I’m fine. Why do you ask?” “You just . . . never mind.” “Ok. Come on. Let’s go found our brothers in their supposed good hiding spot, then make them find us, which they probably won’t be able to do because I always have a good hiding spot.” Something was bothering her, but she hides it well. And if she doesn’t want to tell me, it’s nearly impossible to make her. So I won’t try. “Ok.” We went off to seek our brothers. They hid in a good hiding spot after all—under the bridge that connects my neighborhood to the park—and we probably wouldn’t have found them if they didn’t hide Komodo with them and Jasmine sensing his presence. At least Toothless found his own hiding spot in the trees. We spent the next few hours playing near the river or in the park. I even went back home to bring Rufus with us, even though it’ll probably be a while longer until I decide if I’ll stay with them. I’m glad to have enjoyed this day with my brothers. Please review here. |