Nash and Joe
I flip over the skateboard to adjust the wheels.
Joe’s twin sister comes stomping into the room. “Where is it?”
Joe grins. “You know the rules. Not until you tell me.”
“Joey.” She clenches her hands. “I’m not in the mood right now. Just tell me where it is!”
“Sorry, sis.” He tilts his head.
Having no siblings, it always amazes me to watch the two of them. They have this messed-up love-hate relationship. She’s always yelling at him about something. He’s always ready to defend her to the end for everything. It boggles me.
Maybe it has something to do with them being twins. People always say they’re connected.
I don’t know, but it’s entertaining.
“Fine,” she says with as much sass as one little body has bottled up inside it.
“Boophis.”
“Boophis?” Joe’s face scrunches. “What the heck is a boophis?”
“A toad,” I say.
They both turn to me.
“No.” Jody’s eyes narrow. “It’s a frog.”
“How’d you know?” Joe asked, confused, no doubt, as to how I know something he doesn’t. Granted, he is the smartest out of the two of us.
I shrug and wave a finger at his sister. “We’re in the same science class.”
She shifts her hip, dropping her hand on it. “And here I thought the only thing you cared about was dicing them up.”
“What?” My head draws back. “The frogs?”
“Nash?” Joe laughs, pointing at me. “He’ll probably cry on the first cut.”
“Hey, I save your scrawny ass all the time. So why wouldn’t I do the same for a defenseless frog?”
“Dude.” Joe’s eyes squint. “They’re already dead.”
“No shit,” I say, moving my eyes back to his annoying sister.
She glares at me for a long second, and that’s when I notice the shape of her lips. They’re so soft-looking. I wonder what they feel like.
I shake my head.
My dick gets a little hard. I hate when that happens. Up until this point, it only happens at school when I look at Lila Burke. The girl’s got big boobs. The biggest in our grade.
“Shut up.” I shove Joe.
“Come on.” He looks at me. “You know it’s true. Remember that time we found James Sherman and his gang poking that dead bird in the middle of the road? I thought you were gonna kill every one of them. You got so pissed—”
“Joe.” I push him harder to silence his flapping mouth.
I glance over at his sister, who’s still inspecting me like I’m a dead frog lying on a specimen tray.
I don’t like it.
“What are you looking at?” I call her out on the stare.
Hand still on her hip, she runs her eyes down me. Shit! What if she sees my growing dick? Think about dead frogs. Dead frogs. Dead frogs.
“Nothing.” Her shifty eyes lift back to mine. She leans my way. “Absolutely nothing.” She shrugs.
“Here’s Mr. Snuggles.” Joe holds out a pillow.
She snags it from his hands and walks out of the room.
“Mr. Snuggles?” I laugh. “What’s that all about?”
“Every night, she tells me what to count when I’m trying to go to sleep like, ya know, sheep and stuff. She gave me a hard time last night about it, so I stole Mr. Snuggles from her. It helps her to sleep.”
“So that’s what the whole boophis was about? She told you to count frogs?” I laugh.
“Hey.” He shoves me. “Why you gotta mess with her like that?”
“Me? She’s the one who’s all like blah, blah, blah,” I mock her words with a stretch of nonsense. “And what about you, telling her about the dead bird and shit?”
“What?” Joe’s eyes round. “I tell her everything.”
“You can’t do that. You’re my friend. You can’t blab to everyone about what we do, especially your sister. I gotta know I can trust you.”
“About what?”
“Like us skipping school last week to go to the skate park. Did you tell her about that?”
“Yeah.” He flips out his hands.
I roll my eyes. “What the hell, Joe!”
“What?” He follows me out of his room. “She won’t say anything!”