Need a Hand?

04 • Hot Damn

The last year has been...tolerable and a little fun. Tenko and I have firmly established ourselves as troublemakers — or, I have been established as the troublemaker and my brother is the "innocent dragged along". He was annoyed at first that I was given all the blame but I eventually wore him down with all the benefits that come with his innocent reputation.

As toddlers we can't exactly cause much trouble, but we find enjoyment in the little things anyways. Like misplacing our teacher's things when they aren't around; stealing all the art supplies so we wouldn't have to sit through an entire hour of mind-numbing coloring; getting "lost" in the halls and ending up in the elementary building and disturbing class time to ask for "help to get back"; switching identities for the day or week to confuse people about what we specifically like or do; and doing generally creepy things like staring at certain spots and smiling, talking/moving at the same time.

It doesn't get us a lot of friends, especially me since I don't exactly have the patience to sit through pretend-house with the other children. Tenko has some friends, though they're more playmates than friends and only really hang out at the nearby park.

A few things have changed as well in the last year. Mother gifted us with the adorable fat dog, named Mon, on our fourth birthday. Tenko and Hana adore Mon, my brother more so since Hana is always playing with her friends down the street. I've never had a pet before so it's a new experience to have to take care of one.

Father has gotten...not better but not worse either. He loses his temper when he learns that Tenko plays heroes with the other kids at the park and starts to lecture him. I'm the one that gets the worse of his punishments since I'm always screaming at him to fuck off and get over his stupid ass issues. The punishments aren't new to me. Being sent to the backyard to think over what I did wrong is really tame compared to what I faced in my first childhood. Plus Mon is outside in the backyard so it's not bad.

The most interesting change is the new kids at school. Yes, school. As we are officially four years old, we had been bumped up into pre-school. The only change is the homework but Ten and I finish that during snack anyways so, no difference really. We at least have a valid reason, sort of, for being in the school halls instead of being continuously lost. We'd have had to change tactics anyways, you can only get lost so many times in the same place.

Anyways, the new kids, ironically, are a pair of twins. They're older than Ten and I, by three years if the whispered conversations are anything to go by. They're also really important? The office ladies wouldn't shut up about their father — whoever the fuck he is. Makes me wonder if the twins are like the other snobby kids in my class that come from big name families.

I've personally never seen them, but since they're only a year under Hana, she has. She spent the entire afternoon talking about their hair, oddly enough. But red and white hair is odd, I'll concede. Hana thinks they're interesting. Tenko just wants a look for himself. I honestly couldn't care less, so I easily agreed to my brother's attempts of getting a glimpse.

You would think that red and white hair to be obvious in a sea of brown and blacks and blonde, right? Apparently the fuck not.

The Peppermint Twins, as I've taken to calling them based on the rumors of their hair color alone, joined the school in the middle of the first semester. It's about to be the end of the first semester and still nothing. It's pretty impressive. Maybe they hide from the masses because they don't like the attention their family name brings?

The thought had prompted me into figuring out if the school had access to the rooftop. Which then prompted me into picking up my lock-pick skills again. Which I taught Tenko. Which then landed us here — sprawled on the floor of the rooftop after having stumbled when the door opened unexpectedly, staring up at two wide-eye seven year olds.