A Little Bit Ninja

4: New Leaves (Revised)

Chapter 4: New Leaves

Someone gave me a side hug, which was when I noticed that Erica and Millie were at my side, and the Kapur brothers behind. Some of the soccer team was still chuckling at my attack, like it was all just part of the show. Paul, stepped out of the crowd and came toward me.

“You okay?” He asked looking slightly ashamed.

If I had tried to speak, my voice would have warbled so I kept my mouth shut, nodding at him instead. Paul, Millie, and Erica walked me into the house, the soccer team parting like the Red Sea to let us pass.

My pacifist phase didn’t last very long.

A couple hours later I continued the recuperation process downstairs in the theater with Abe and about twelve of his soccer buds. Happily, the devil in carnate was absent. Only those who were crashing at our house had stayed while I worked upstairs to rid my skin of all traces of onion-free beef pasta, stomach acid, and onion juice. Erica and Millie decided to let me have some alone time and went home with Rakesh and his brothers.  

“Gross Jade! Get those nasty things away,” Abe hissed, yanking my feet out from where I’d burrowed them under his legs.

“Hey! My toes are cold,” I said trying to put them back, but then I begin kicking because he kept pushing them away.

“Then get me a blanket, Abe. You owe me.”

True. He owed me so big after tonight; he should have been begging to give me a foot massage.

“Get your own blanket, Jade,” he retorted, “I’m letting you hang because I owe you. Warming up your smelly feet is way above and beyond the call of duty.”

So I did what any sister would do. I wiggled my toes in his face.

“Smell them Abe!” He was fending off my feet with expertise, “Take a big whiff! They smell like Bath and Body Works soup.”

Phase one of my de-stenchifying process included half an hour under the scalding spray of my shower. Phase two was an hour long soak in my Jacuzzi tub accompanied by a gallon of bath salts, bath oils, and bath bubbles. It might have been overkill, but it takes a lot to overpower eau de onion juice and vomit. And there I was half an hour after that, wearing yoga pants and a baby T-shirt, and I most definitely did not smell bad.

Abe caught one of my scissor kicking legs and pinched the Achilles area of my heel with his thumb and forefinger. He had long ago figured out ways to get around the no-hitting-girls rule when dealing with me. I screeched as he applied pressure, and tumbled off the couch in my attempt to get my foot back from him. When I landed on the cushy carpet below he let go.

“Ow!” I rubbed my head where it collided with the knee of whoever was sitting on the floor.

“Oops. You okay?” Abe asked, looking down at me.

I shot him a glare before turning around to face the screen. Because this was the first time Abe had invited me to chill with him and his friends since I chosen to embrace my femininity, I didn’t want to press my luck. Besides, I suspected that the only reason he had let me come tonight was to prove that he isn’t the psychotic, overprotective brother, I charged him with being after my brawl with his BFF.

Although he was kind enough to pull me off of Landon after our brawl, the whole confrontation would never have happened if Abe hadn’t aided and abetted his friend with the stunt in the first place. I was very well aware that Landon creeping around the house couldn’t have gone unnoticed while he rigged the onion juice balloon, especially because it required a twenty foot ladder, and Abe has Spidey Senses when it comes to mischief in the making.