Chapter Five

Ingrit laughed as she stood up. Her younger brother, Branden, walked into the dining room. He dropped his backpack on the ground, quickly dropping his jacket on top of it before he began to walk toward his room. Ingrit cleared her throat and Branden looked up at her.

"What?" he asked.

"That's not where that goes and you know it," she answered, pointing at his belongings on the kitchen floor.

Branden let out an aggravated groan and picked up his things, dragging them into his room. Ingrit watched him and stood in his doorway as he turned on his Xbox 360.

"Do you have any homework?" she asked.

"No," he answered. "Can Ronnie come downstairs?"

"No," Ingrit answered as she shook her head. "And no, you can't go upstairs today either."

"What? Why not?" he demanded.

"Hey, before you start yelling at me, you need to listen to me, got it?" Ingrit snapped, pointing a finger at her younger brother.

Amanda hadn't moved from her spot in the middle of the dining room, watching Ingrit from a distance. She could see Ingrit's brother sitting on his bed, glaring at her for not letting him play with his friend. His arms were crossed and he was mimicking her in a rude manner, but Ingrit ignored him.

"Listen," she explained. "Amanda and I aren't going to be here so you're going to have the place to yourself until we get back. Krystel and Chris are at Oma's with mom for the weekend, so it's just going to be us. You know I can honestly care less when you go upstairs or when Ronnie comes down so long as you keep it down, but with no one else here, I don't want John or Cindy to find out."

"Why?" Branden asked, looking slightly confused. "You let him come down all the time when you aren't here."

"I know, but that's because I'm always in town." Ingrit answered.

"Where are you guys going?"

"You can't tell anyone where we're going because mom already told me no, despite the fact that I paid a lot of money in advance to get the tickets," Ingrit answered. "We're going to go see Tokio Hotel perform in Massachusetts tonight. Tim isn't able to drive us, so I'm going to borrow Krystel's car since she's with Chris and they-"

"But you don't have your license," Branden pointed out.

"I know that," Ingrit sighed. "Which is another reason Ronnie can't come down. I can't let anyone know that I'm borrowing Krystel's car without her permission, okay?"

Branden nodded, understanding what Ingrit was telling him.

"I don't care how late you stay up or what you eat for dinner; you can have candy for all I care. I just want you to keep it down, keep an eye on the animals, and make sure you eat something for dinner, okay?" she continued. "If you're still up when we get home, us getting back will be the sign to go to bed because we won't be back until well after midnight, alright?"

Branden nodded again, glancing at his television screen. He looked back at Ingrit as she went to leave his room.

"Can Ronnie come down tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sure, whatever. Just make sure you guys keep it down because Amanda and I are both going to be pretty tired tomorrow, alright?" Ingrit answered.

Branden nodded and smiled. Ingrit looked at the clock before she looked back at Branden.

"Do me a quick favor before you get too into your game and take the dog out," she said. "I took her out earlier but she needs to go out again. I'd do it but Amanda and I have to get going if we're going to get to the concert on time. I want to get close to the stage since we're going to be in the mosh pit. I saved up a load of money for these tickets, and I'm definitely not letting it all go to waste."

Amanda nodded as Ingrit smiled at her. Branden let out a slightly aggravated sigh at Ingrit's request, but he set his controller down and did as she asked nonetheless.

Reviews

[Corvus]

Great, as usual. I made a connection to the older sister versus younger brother situations in this chapter. Keep it up.

[Sseoni]

Once again, another great chapter! I can't wait to read more and find out what's going to happen next! XD