Jack
I sit at the kitchen table, Sissy across from me.
She’s been suspended. Again.
“One more time. Explain this to me one more time.” I say.
The principal warned that one more infraction and Sissy would be kicked out. He gave the barest details of the latest “incident.”
Sissy rolls her eyes.
“Bro, seriously. It’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. You realize, one more of these and they’ll permanently expel you. Then, like it or not, you’re going to boarding school.”
“That’s bull,” she says.
“I don’t get it. Are you testing me? Pushing me? What is the point in these suspensions?”
She folds her arms over her chest. Her mouth forms a mulish line.
“I get it, Sis. After my mom died I had to go live with Aunt Flo. It wasn’t easy for me either. I tested her, too.” The tests didn’t turn out well. In fact, I try not to think about the miserable years I spent with Aunt Flo. She blamed me for Mom’s death and she wasn’t shy about sharing it.
“No. Jeez. It has nothing to do with that. Also, Aunt Flo was a witch. Obviously. I could’ve told you that without ever meeting her. Her name. So accurate. But honestly, I’d rather have my period than spend a minute with that woman. I pity your kid self, bro.”
I raise my eyebrows. But I can’t argue. When Sissy’s right, she’s right.
“What then?” I ask.
“It wasn’t right,” she mumbles. She looks down at the kitchen table.
“The principal said you made a scene at prom. One worthy of suspension.”
Red stains her cheeks.
“Yeah. Um…I may have…sort of…used the confetti cannon to shoot a hundred condoms at Bret.”
I choke on my coffee. I cough and wheeze for a minute.
Then, “You did what? Why?”
“Turns out Bret was a douche. He told the whole school I was a slut and that he dumped me because I’m diseased…down there.”
My fists clench, “I will kill Bart.”
“Dude. It’s Bret.”
“I don’t care. Bret is done.”
“Nah. I took care of it, bro. I covered him in an avalanche of Trojans. The extra-small size. I’m a hero at school. I got voted student body president today.” She tilts her head back and there’s a wicked glint in her eye.
I start to laugh and I can’t stop.
“How did you…how did you fit condoms in a confetti canon? Jeez, Sissy.”
She blows on her nails. “I’ve got mad skills.”
I shake my head, then somber.
“Sis. You can’t keep breaking the rules.”
“Yeah. I know,” she says. “It’s hard. All these rules. You realize I used to go to school on a computer in the back of a car, right? Most of my math practice came from running long cons with Dad.”
I sigh. “Yeah. Good old Dad.”
“It was okay,” she says. She shrugs.
But I can see again how vulnerable she feels. That she needs me to be a better brother.
I look down.
“I’m going to do a not-so-subtle topic change to shift the attention off my suspension,” she says.
“What?”
“I like Dany.”
“Okay,” I say slowly. This is not something I’m going to discuss with my sister.
“Don’t mess it up because you have some weird hang-up over your crappy kidhood.”
I think about how Dany and I haven’t spoken about us, and how I can’t seem to form the words of how much I care. How I love her.
“Drop it, Sis. Dany and I are just having fun.”
“Right,” she says. “And the condoms I confetti dropped over prom were really just party balloons.”
I laugh. “Go on. Go study or something. I’ve got work to do. Stay out of trouble.”
“Sure. Stay out of trouble is my middle name.”
I scrub my hands over my eyes. I feel like I’m in over my head. The more I care, the more I feel certain that something will go wrong.