Chapter 2: My beautiful sister

I pressed hard on the hot tap, and the water stopped flowing down my back. I breathed in deeply and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a yellow towel. I wrapped it around me, shivering into the hallway. I scurried downstairs quietly, and into my bedroom. Zoe let out an annoyed groan from her bed as I scrambled through my dresser for clean clothes. I pulled on a green tank top, and then a sheer green floral blouse with short puffed sleeves. I slipped into a denim miniskirt.

“How’s this?” I asked. She lifted her face away from her pillow and her eyelashes fluttered out of her vision.

“Spec-tacular.” She deadpanned, shooting me a thumbs up. She smacked back down on the pillow and sighed. I snorted in amusement and made my way to the kitchen. I heard Mom’s urgent footsteps down the stairs as I spooned cereal into my mouth.

“Is Zoe up?” She asked, holding my little brother Michael’s weak-nine-year-old wrist tightly. He shot me a look that said help me. I grinned back at him.

“No. She’s still snoozin’.” I met my mother’s destressed glare and she grunted.

“Michael, make yourself some cereal.” She shoved him toward me and hurried off into our bedroom. Michael slumped past me un-enthusiastically and reached up high for his cereal.

“Why is she so stressed out?” Michael asked from behind me. I swallowed a mouthful of corn pops and shrugged.

“She’s got a job interview today.” I replied.

“So? She doesn’t need a job, Dad has one.” He explained. I rolled my eyes. So naive.

“She wants to make her own money though. Like, all Dad’s money goes into you and Zoe. I get all my money from working at Coles, and Mom wants to buy some stuff with money from her new job. If she gets it, of course.” I explained.

“Hmm.” He pondered. Zoe and Mom emerged loudly. Zoe wore her oversized Mick Jagger t-shirt that our aunt had bought both of us and some baggy sweatpants. When our aunt had handed us the t-shirts, we’d been so confused.

“Who is Mick Jagger?” Zoe had exclaimed, with a stern face.

“He’s very old. He was in the Rolling Stones!” My aunt had enthused. I now knew who Mick Jagger was, because, that’s the kind of chick I am. Rebellious. I listen to rock music even if my parents frown upon it! I told myself. The only songs I want to hear you singing, my dear daughters, are church hymns put against a tune! I immitated my father in my mind, smiling to myself. Zoe’s hair was a tangled mess, and she wore no makeup. She was still more beautiful then me, s**t, even though I was wearing a creamy-pink eyeshadow, mascara and pink lip gloss.

“You’re not wearing that, are you?” Michael sneered, as he set his cereal bowl down in front of the seat next to mine.

“No. What kind of a slacker do you think I am?” She asked.

“Zoe, go take a shower. I’ll make you some toast.” Mom shooed Zoe into the hallway, and opened the breadbox. She pulled out two slices of whole-wheat bread and plopped them in the toaster. Zoe shuffled away and up the stairs.

“How come you made Zoe breakfast and I had to do it myself?” Michael protested.

“We.” I added.

“Because you can. She only just woke up, no thanks to you, Alyssa.” She narrowed her eyebrows and glared straight at me. I re-coiled. No thanks to me, Alyssa? Don’t hold back!

I scoffed, and pushed my bowl across the table. I stood up and stomped out. I heard the water stop, and I sat down in our bedroom. Zoe’s footsteps grew louder and louder as she approached the bedroom, dripping wet.

“Hiya.” She grinned, holding her small white towel over her tanned body.

“Nervous?” I asked. There was no use holding a grudge against her, when it was really Mom’s words that had made me so angry.

“Yup.” She didn’t meet my eyes as she slipped a pair of dark pink underwear on under her towel.

“To what degree?” I dug down further. Further and further into Zoe’s the-prettier-daughter mind.

“Teeth chattering nervous.” She peered at me out of the corner of her eye as she pulled a matching pink bra on, dropping her towel to the ground. She shimmied into a beige pleated mini-skirt, the type cheerleaders wear. Ick. She squeezed into a light pink tank top with little pink rhinestones along the neckline. She looked fantastic, and I felt a little bit of the green-eyed-monster in my throat. It burned.

“What shoes should I wear?” She asked. I was taken back. I hadn’t given an ounce of thought to my shoe-choice. Black converse, it was automatic, seeing as I didn’t really own any other shoes other then winter boots.

“Um... your white flats? The sparkly ones?” I suggested. She nodded, and grabbed them out of our closet, slipping them on.

“Good?” She asked. I looked her over, even though I already knew how amazing she looked.

“Great. You’re going to rule the school, no doubt.” I smiled. I started wondering why I couldn’t rule the school, ignoring our extremely different breast sizes. I was tanned too. I was wearing a skirt, and a cute top. Okay, our shoes weren’t anywhere near the same, but no way was I wearing flats all day at school. I really didn’t understand why us girls had to endure so much pain to look nice.
“I don’t think so. Who am I going to talk to?” She asked. A dry, bland taste grew in my throat. Zoe hadn’t been curvy the year before, when she was thirteen. She’d just been chubby. But now, surprise, her baby fat had spread out into one of the most desirable bodies around. No one had really liked her, and starting over now, I didn’t blame her for being afraid.

“You can hang with me. If you ever need anything, talk to either me, Matt or Andrea.” I emphasized. She gulped. Andrea was my best friend. She was romanian, and you pronounced her name Anne-Dray-Ah. She was pretty and loyal, the perfect package. Except, is caring what your friends look like shallow? Should their personalities matter, or is it okay to want to have them look good, as not to embarrass you?

“Okay.” She finally spoke.

“Girls, time to go!” Mom yelled from the kitchen. I glanced at Zoe and we ran back to the kitchen. Mom wore a printed floral purple and white blouse with a high-waisted black pencil skirt.

“You look nice.” I nodded. She didn’t acknowledge my compliment, just grabbed Michael’s arm and dragged him out. Zoe and I followed closely behind, holding eachother’s hands tightly.

 

A buzz of mixed emotions filled the school. Lot’s of ‘Oh my god!’s and ‘Dude!’s. When you walked in, it felt like everyone turned to you. Hey, look at Alyssa. Her little sister looks like a Victoria Secret model! I immediately punished myself for having that thought about poor little Zoe. Bad Alyssa. Bad. I scurried over to Andrea, who I’d noticed as soon as I’d stepped into the school. I pushed through crowds of squealing girls and trying-too-hard-laughing guys to her.

“Crazy! It happens every year, but I always forget how hectic it really is.” I murmured. She nodded, grinning. I glanced back, watching Zoe push through the same crowds to find me.

“You totally ditched me!” She protested when she got to us, her eyes glassy with tears.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. What’s your first class?” I asked. She smoothed out her hair.

“Geography.” She recalled. Andrea and I exchanged glances.

“Ooh, tough break. You got Madelle Spanglette.” Andrea explained.

“Madelle?!” Zoe exclaimed, and a few people turned to look.

“She’s french, right? Well, she mixed Madame and Madamoiselle, and now if you don’t call her Madelle you get punished.” I nodded, arching my eyebrows. Madelle Spanglette was brutal, man. I felt sorry for Zoe already.

“Eek,” She whispered, crossing her arms over her stomach uncomfortably, “will you take me to her class, at least?” I nodded.

“I’ll see you at lunch, okay?” I turned to Andrea. She smiled, and waved goodbye to Zoe and I as I dragged her through the busy hall.

“Hey, look! It’s Matt!” Zoe’s frown widened into a huge smile that spread from one ear to the other. Well, not literally, because that would be some kind of wretched clown thing. Creeeeepy. I glanced over to where she was pointing and my stomach sank. Matt and his gang of friends. Whom most of I wasn’t very fond of...

“Matt!” Zoe yelled before I could stop her. I closed my eyes slowly and opened them. His whole group was staring now. I forced a smile and waved stiffly over at him. Stay where you are, please, you dear boy. I pleaded to myself. D****t! He began to saunter over with his friends, and they were all staring at Zoe and I. Matt smirked, and stepped in front of the rest of his friends when they stopped in front of us. He reached out and took my hand gently, but I let it limply fall back against my skirt.

“How are you?” He asked, his brow furrowing in that cute way it did when he felt threatened.

“Good! Good.” I chirped, and turned beet red. Dumb a*s.

“That’s good.” He laughed.

“Come on, guys, at least act like a couple.” His best friend Pete taunted. Matt glanced back at him in the corner of his eye and then looked back at me.

“Where are you headed?” He asked.

“I’m taking Zoe to Madelle Spanglette’s class.” I explained. He exchanged the same look with all his friends that Andrea and I had. I giggled.

“I’ll come.” He nodded, and as we began to walk off his whole group stuck behind us. He reached for my hand and this time held on tight. My palm sweated against his and we stopped in front of Madelle Spanglette’s classroom.

“Go ahead. Fly, baby bird, fly away.” I shooed Zoe away. She stuck her tongue out at me and waved goodbye to Matt.

“Who was that?” Pete asked, stepping forward with another boy named Ethan.

“My sister. Zoe Capelle?” I asked. There was no way that either of those two snotballs were getting anywhere near my sister. No way.

“Off limits, boys. She’s an eighth grader.” Matt told them. I nodded in agreement, but that wasn’t the only reason that she was off limits. Also, she was just my little sister, the one that still cried at ‘Lilo & Stitch’ and refused to eat lobster, because she claimed she heard it crying when we dropped it in the boiling pot.

“I don’t care, she’s hot!” Matt’s other friend Scottie joined in. My heart pounded.

“I gotta go. See you at lunch.” I glanced at Matt.

“Yeah.” He met my pained gaze and reached for my face. His thumb brushed against my cheek but I pushed him away. I gave him a peck on the lips and hurried away. Far, far away from those awful Zoe-loving boys.