Collie

I

Bennie

"Hey! You wanna come back and say that in front of me?" I shout at some kid who thought they could get away with picking on Jordyn. Not on my watch, buddie.

"What? I didn't do anything!" he defends.

"No, I saw it. You pushed her and said something. What did you say?"

"Bennie, stop. You're making a scene." Jordyn begs.

"Okay, fine. Only because you said." I tell my seven year old sister. I take her hand and leave the school grounds with her, heading towards my car.

"Hey, babe." I greet my girlfriend with a kiss once I'm in the car.

"Hey. How was your day, Jordyn?" she asks my sister.

"It was okay, I guess."

"Well, at least it's Friday tomorrow, right?"

"I guess."

My girlfriend gives me a look of concern and it makes me all warm and tingly inside that she cares about Jordyn. I've basically taken her under my wing and we're best friends.

I shrug and start the car to go home. All the while Jordyn is quiet in the back and Taylor and I make light conversation.

"What colours are we thinking for prom?" I ask her.

"Maybe if you went for purple then I could do a pink?"

"I love purple."

"I know, that's why I chose it. Are you gonna wear a dress?"

"No, I'm gonna wear a suit and I know Mama has a purple one some where, I'm hoping it fits." I shrug.

"You'd look so handsome in a suit." she gushes.

"Stop it." I blush.

"I love you."

"I love you, too." I answer as I pull up to her house. She kisses me goodbye before grabbing her stuff and getting out.

I watch her as she closes the car door, walks up to her house, turns around to wave and dissappear through the front door.

"I don't like her." Jordyn admits.

"Why's that?" I ask.

"She gives me a weird feeling. And she's creepy."

"How is she creepy?" I laugh, pulling out of the driveway.

"She always sucks up to you, she always talks to us and she's overly nice all the time. It's creepy. I don't like her."

Taylor and I have been dating for two months now. I introduced her to my family about a week after we got together and everyone had given their opinion on her, they thought she was great. Jordyn had yet to give me her opinion though, and I guess she's given it to me now.

I'm upset that she doesn't like her. Obviously it's not Jordyn's fault. She can't choose to like her so I guess I'll talk to Taylor about it.

I pull into our family home driveway. Jordyn is eager to get out the car and reacquaint herself with her bed. I've never known an seven year old to be so relatable. But I have homework so I won't be able to return to bed any time soon.

"Hey, Mom! Hey, Mama! We're home! I call into the house.

Mama appears from the hall of which her bedroom is located, already in her pajamas. She's in her Christmas pajamas, because it is December and tomorrow is the last day of school until the winter break.

"Hey, kiddo. How was school?" she akss, sauntering over to me for a cwtch.

"It was good. I got my test results back. You wanna see?"

"Let's wait for your Mom. She's just in the shower. This poor girl wasn't feeling well, and your Mom did a great job at looking after her, she just wants to make sure that there's no virus on her or something."

"I see. Have just come home?"

"Pretty much. How's that girlfriend of yours?"

"She's fine. I finally got Jordyn's opinion on her." I huff.

"Not good?"

"She doesn't like her. She said she's creepy and gives her a weird feeling. And she doesn't like how she 'sucks up to me' and how she's too nice." I quote my little sister.

"Well, I can see where she's coming from. Maybe Taylor is just trying to get on our good side." Mama shrugged.

"Maybe. How we're the twins in school today?"

"I got another call. They ran through the halls with a speaker, blasting music. Their teacher noted that they're too fast and they couldn't catch up to them. So they were running from teachers for a good hour and a half." Mama explained.

"I really don't understand why they're playing up in school. It just doesn't seem like them."

"I notice that Danny is trying to cheer up Billie a lot. She always asks me to take her shopping so that she can buy stuffed toys and sweets for Billie. I think she's just trying to take her mind off of whatever is troubling her. And apparently, causing mayhem in school does just that."

I can see that Mom and Mama struggle with Billie and Danny's behaviour in school a lot. They're good kids when they're at home, but my parents are always getting calls about their behaviour from their school. They don't do anything too bad, just the typical skipping class, disrupting lessons and now running down the hall while blasting music.

Mom exits from her shared bedroom and I notice that her pajamas are matching with Mama's. It's cute.

"I'll talk to them about it but until then, let's see those results!" Mama announces, slinging her arm around Mom's shoulder and kissing her damp hair.

"Ooh, they came back?" Mom excitedly asks.

"Yeah. Let's sit on the couch."

Mama leads us to the living room and allows me to sit between them, while they hold hands along the back of the couch and watch as I retrieve my results from my school bag.

Mama sets her glasses on her nose and squints as she reads the letters that are my grades so far.

I get nervous as they read through, even though I know it's nothing dissapointing. Straight A*s and a GPA average of 4.0. I'm just worried that it'll be too similar as those are the grades that both of my parents had and my two older sisters. It won't be anything new.

"Bennie, this is..." Mama starts.

"Fucking amazing, dude! I'm so proud of you!" Mom finishes.

Mama takes the paper from me and reads the teacher comments.

"'Bennie is such a pleasure to teach. She is unbelievably clever, kind, a quick thinker, great at problem solving and a great kid all round. I hope that you, as her parents, are extremely proud of her, because I know I am.' That was what your home room teacher said."

"But I think it's slightly unfair because my homeroom teacher is Auntie Marley."

"She'd tell me if you weren't well behaved. Trust me. She'd rat you out like a little snake." Mama scoffed.

"Yeah, your Mama has Auntie Marley wrapped around her finger."

"Do not!" Mama argued.

"Mhm, sure, honey. I am so unbelievably and extremely proud of you, Bennie. Our little Collie is growing up and becoming a great woman." Mom whines to Mama, hugging me and squeezing me incredibly tight.

"Yes, she is. You're an awesome kid, Collie. I love you so much" Mama affirmed, taking both my Mom and I into her strong arms and adding more pressure when she squeezes. I love it when they call me Collie, I have no idea why, I just do. And I'm so happy that they are proud of me.