"But you keep doing things together socially and-"
"I do not socialise with him," I said angrily. "Ever since he got on the football team he just keeps turning up to everything that I'm at with my friends. He's even taken that from me."
"Have a little sympathy for him, its hard to make new friends and he's just trying to fit in with a new
crowd-"
"Sympathy? He's not struggling to fit in; everyone thinks he's hilarious," I spat.
"Oh really?" Mom smiled and I glared at her.
"Yeah, he's always telling them stories about me from when we were kids. Or doing impressions of me or just generally humiliating me whenever he can. And they all lap it up."
"I'm sure he's not that-"
"Don't even say it! He is that bad and the first chance I get, I'm cutting him out of my life and never looking back."
Mom pursed her lips and sighed. "I'll talk to him. I hate to think of the two of you not getting along." She closed the door behind her and I rolled my eyes. No amount of talking to him would help. The sooner Mom accepted that the two of us just weren't going to be friends, the better.
I started to head for the bathroom then remembered the water situation and swore. I went downstairs to heat a kettle of bottled water instead and came face to face with Reese on the stairs.
"Been crying to Mommy?" he asked as he approached me, purposefully blocking the stairs so that I couldn't get past.
"Just mentioned how lame everyone thinks you are and how all you can do to get their attention is try and wind me up," I shrugged. "She said you've been so upset about not fitting in that you started wetting the bed again."
"Hilarious. How is Ryan by the way? I heard he's been telling everyone how frigid you were in the storm shelter so he dumped you."
"Well at least someone wants to go out with me. The last girlfriend you had was.... oh that's right you haven't had one have you?"
Reese slammed his shoulder into mine as he passed me, knocking me into the wall. I swore at him as he headed to his room and carried on to the kitchen.
Mom had left for work too and I waited as the kettle boiled. I glanced out of the window to Lincoln's house but he wasn't on the porch.
The kettle boiled and I headed back up to the bathroom for a wash. As I reached the landing, Reese sprinted past me and slammed the bathroom door shut between us.
"You might be waiting a while!" He laughed from inside.
I scowled at the door for several seconds then turned the other way and headed into his room. I pulled back his bedspread and poured some water onto the middle of his sheets. I hurried back to my room, abandoned the kettle and grabbed my cellphone before dashing into his room again and snapping a photo of my handiwork.
I quickly forwarded it to our friends with the caption 'Reese had an accident again last night, please be extra nice to him today as stress seems to make it worse.'
I rearranged his bedding so that he wouldn't see the wet patch and went back to my own room where I locked the door to make sure he stayed out.
My cellphone was already blowing up with messages from our friends and I smiled to myself as I picked out an outfit for the cinema.
I spent the morning at Lacey's before heading to the cinema together. I was fairly sure that Reese would do something to me when we got there in retaliation for the bed wetting prank but I was beyond caring. I'd had enough of not stooping to his level and I was ready to stoop as low as he liked.
By the time we were ready to leave, Lacey's mom had come back from work and offered us a lift into town which saved us a long walk and a bus journey. I enjoyed the luxury of the lift as we zipped through the streets towards Orville which was the only local place to do anything without heading into the city.
There were a few shops and restaurants as well as a bowling alley beneath the cinema. It wasn't much in comparison to the slick, modern entertainment buildings inside Harbour City but the commute was a lot quicker and the whole place was a lot more affordable.
There was a small park a few blocks from the cinema and Lacey's mom dropped us off so that we could meet our friends there.
My heart skittered nervously as I spotted Ryan and I wished I'd decided to call him and sort things out before coming out.
"You two aren't having a row are you?" Demi asked as we joined them and sat on a bench opposite her. "I was just talking to Ryan about the whole 'dad incident'," she explained as I looked at her blankly.
"Oh... no nothing like that I've just been busy with family drama. My dad's fine now, he just got the wrong end of the stick because Reese dropped me in it," I explained.