Short story #1 Sisters

part of a collection of stories I am writing about growing up as the oldest of 7 kids

I bent over and splashed the icy water running from the tap on to my face

“Whaha, well that woke me up” I said to no one in particular. I examine my skin looking in dismay at the acne that has popped up all over my face despite the medicines I slathered on the night before. There is still glitter on my face from the previous day’s competition. I smile to myself mentally patting myself and my team on the back for taking third place at our second guard contest

“Knock, knock, knock, knock”, “Knock, knock, knock, knock” someone quietly raps on the door

“Who is it” I say though I already know who it is, my little sister is the only one in my house who would purposely knock four times over and over, It was a reference to our Favorite T.V show Doctor Who.   

“Lilja”

“What do you want” I ask contemplating whether it is important enough to let her in.

  “I need to take a shower”

“……..Fine come in” I say opening toe door to my little sister, she looks like she always does in the morning her curly red hair sticking out in every possible direction making her pale face look even smaller. She is still in her pajama which isn’t surprising seeing as I woke her up twenty minutes ago, Meaning our alarm went off I rolled over and told her to get up then hit the snooze and went back to sleep until my second alarm went off. I am almost always the first one up.

She turns on the shower and I return to washing my face

I then tackle the daily struggle of my hair. I thought cutting it short would make it more manageable but I was wrong. Now, instead of tangling into a mass of curls while I sleep it fluffs into a large brown mass around my head that can’t seem to decide whether it’s curly or straight. I wet my hands and run the water through my hair repeating the action until it’s sufficiently wet. I then brush it into my desired style and blow dry it into submission. When I’m finished I have achieved a semi smooth look with a side part.

“Gosh, Lil are you going to shower for an hour” I tease

“Oh shut up Clare”

I stick my tongue out at her, though I know she can’t see me through the curtain. And open the door to leave.  Absentmindedly I switch off the lights.

“HEY”

“Oops I forgot sorry, why do I always do that”

“Why does everyone Hate Me” she mock cries dramatically sticking her head out of the curtain

“Oh no one hates you and you know it”

“Yeah I guess you’re right. I’m too cute to be hated by anyone”

“Weirdo” I shut the door laughing and go to get dressed. 

 

“Marz……Marz wake up” I say to my other sister who is still asleep, she does this every morning, I think she does it purely to annoy me.

“ ButIdon’twanna” she mumbles into her pillow

Whoosh I pull away her covers and receive a pillow to the head in response.

“alright alright I’m up” she says glaring at me from behind her bangs. 

“Good” I say smiling as I pull out a cute black tee-shirt form my cluttered dresser.

“Hey Marz….” I say turning around to see that she has gone back to sleep. Time to bring out the big guns, I grab my iPhone and scroll through my playlist until I find the proper song Everybody by Shinee. The song  blares out of the tiny speakers which I put just out of her reach so that she will have to get up to turn it off.

She grumbles something unintelligible and rolls out of bed. Satisfied I go to put on my face for the day ahead.

Back in the bathroom I start to do my makeup. First I dot my face with foundation and blend it in all over to hide the offending blemishes that popped up last night. Then to even it out I dust my face with the powder that I “borrowed” from my mom’s room. I step back and look at my outfit contemplating the best colors to go with it. It’s simple, a layered black tee-shirt that fits my curves nicely and a pair of dark blue jeans. “Hmm Maybe I should wear heels” I say standing up on my toes to see the effect it will have on the outfit.

“No! You’ll make me feel short” Lil yelled out of the shower

“Now you know I have to wear heels” I replied teasingly as I return to my makeup. 

The door opens and in walks Marz. She is dressed perfectly in dark grey skinny jeans, a tan tank top and a blue jacket. Her long auburn hair falls perfectly around her shoulders. She opens the drawer and gets out the straightening iron and plugs it into the wall. 

“Move!” she says bumping me with her hip

“No, I was here first.”

“But I need the mirror too.”

“Well you’ll just have to wait.”

“Why are you in such a bad mood this morning?” she said defensively

“I’m Not.” I replied haughtily refusing to give in 

“Well you are sure acting like it.”

“No I’m Not!”

“Fine be a crab! I’ll go somewhere else, I need the makeup bag though.” she said making a grab for the little blue bag that contained our combined stash of makeup.

“I’m using it right now.” I said while moving it to the other side of the counter out of her reach.

“Well it’s my makeup.”

“Not all of it.”

“Well that’s my brush.” she said snatching the eye shadow brush out of my hand

“God Marz, Why are you being so mean today?”

 “Well I was in a good mood until someone pulled off my covers this morning and then was rude to me.”

“Drama Queen!”

       “Diva!”

“Ugg. I hate you.”

“Why are you always so crabby?” Marz said  

“Because you can’t wait 3 damn minutes for the mirror in the morning, and then you get all huffy because I got here first. God you are so annoying”

“What are you two fighting about now” Lil said popping her head out of the shower.

“Nothing” Marz and I snap at the same time 

“Jinx” I say knowing it will annoy her. In response she pinches me until finally I say “Marz. Marz fine you win now stop pinching me” we have been doing this for as long as either of us can remember. When we say the same thing at the same time, one of us will call Jinx. If jinx is called on you, you can’t talk until the other person says your name. Now being sisters we had adapted the rules a little and were not above pinching or lightly hitting the other until they said our name. Though we are probably getting too old for this we still hold on to this last tie to our childhood no matter how ridiculous it looks from the outside.    

Lil steppes out of the shower and goes to get dressed, while Marz and I continue to with styling our hair and putting on other various makeups, shoving one another with our hips and elbows every chance we got..

“I need to brush my teeth” said Lil as she walked back into the bathroom

“Well you’re going to wait because someone is hogging the entire counter” said Marz while shooting me a glare. 

“You don’t always have to be front and center, you can admire yourself just fine off to the side” I reply with as much sarcasm as I can muster

“I can only see half of my face” she replied in disbelief

 “You’ll just have to do that half first then wait for me to finish to do the other half” I said purposely being nasty

“That is just ridiculous”

“I still need to Brush my teeth” Lil piped in 

“Wait your turn” said Marz

“See now you get it, I take my turn, you take your turn, and then she gets her turn” I said mockingly as if talking to a small child

“I don’t see why you get to go first” she said angrily

 

“Because I got here first, Ya snooze ya loose” I said turning away from her to finish my face

“Can I please brush my teeth” said Lil frowning

 “Of course YOU can” I say stepping back with a mock bow 

“Hey I was here first” said Marz trying to shove past 

“So What Now I’m giving her my spot” I said with a raise of my eyebrows. Then with a quick turn, I go down stairs to eat my breakfast.

I put an apple, some pretzels, a granola bar and some cheez-its into a plastic grocery bag for my lunch. And grab a cup of coffee and go to sit down at the table with my mom. She is already dressed and has probably been up for hours already, getting things done before my two baby sisters wake up and demand all of her attention.

“Good Morning Mom” I say leaning down to kiss her cheek

“Morning Clare” she says looking up form her magazine, it’s pages dotted with pictures of diseases and adds for different medicines, my mom was always learning.

Then I hear it, one of my favorite sounds in the world, tiny feet coming down the stairs. Mina toddles into the kitchen and grabs my hand. She is big for her age but she still seems so tiny to me, standing at about a foot and a half. She reaches up with her little hand and grabs my shirt and pulls

“Up” she says her bushy little eyebrows tilting downward as she issues her command

“is that how we talk to people” I say knowing that though she is two her vocabulary id fairly advanced

“Up Please” she says with a hint of sarcasm, pulling my shirt harder.

“Okay” I say lifting all 23lb of her onto my lap. She smiles showing all of her tiny little teeth. That smile promptly shifts as she sees my now almost empty cup of coffee, her little hands dart towards the cup, but luckily I am too fast for her.

“No Mina, You can’t have coffee” I say laughing at her pout.

“last time I let you try a sip you spit it all over me” she looks up at me with her round blue eyes as if willing me to give her what she wants.

“do you want some juice” I offer knowing that it will be more appealing than my lukewarm coffee I get up and make her a Sippy cup filling it halfway with juice then sneakily adding some water to cut the sugar.

I hand it to her and she pads down stairs to watch cartoons.

Sliding my arms into my coat, I step outside, it is blustery and cold. Powdery white snow covers the ground and I know that Walking to school is going to be painful today.

“Hurry Up” I yell through the open door “Why does it always take you so long to get out the door”

“Well some people need to finish eating before heading out the door” she replies gesturing to the bagel in my hand

“Shut up” I reply playfully bumping her with my shoulder

She bumps me back smiling and we start the short but awful trek to school. Marz is shivering before we have walked a block.

“Are you cold milady?” I ask teasingly

“No I’m just decided to wear Blue lipstick today” she says sarcastically

“Ha Ha very funny” I say sticking my tongue out at her and instantly regretting it because of the bitter cold.

“There should not be school when it’s this cold”

“I know. They should make the superintendent stand on the corner until all the walkers have made it to school, I bet he would call a lot more snow days” I say as I start to shiver.

“Watch out it’s icy up here” she says as she slides across the pavement

We continue our walk talking about trivial things that would make absolutely no sense to anyone not related to us, simply enjoying our mutual weirdness.

That’s the funny thing about having a sister, one minute you hate each other the next you are best friends. It’s good to know that I will always have a friend by my side no mater what Happens to us throughout life.

 “Clare. Earth to Clare. Have I lost ya?” Marz’s voice breaks through my thoughts

“Sorry I just spaced out for a sec” I say

“Well you do that a lot” she says

“No more than you, your head is constantly in the clouds

As we walk into the school we are greeted by a welcome blast of hot air, “Oh crap we are late again” says Marz as we rush towards the guard corner to drop off our coats

“Oh well, See ya later” I say as I turn to go to class

“Have a good day” she says 

“You too. Love ya”

“love you too” she says as I rush off to class