Little Sister

Chapter 1

"Sweetie," I hear my mom calling from the bottom of the staircase a few minutes later. "Dinner's ready!"

"Alright, be right there!" I sigh and slowly get up off of my bed, leaving my lifeless phone behind me.

"Hi, honey," my mother greets me as she sorts out food onto five plates for her, me, my two brothers and my daddy.

I take a seat at the counter. "Hi, mom," I say, twirling a strand of my golden hair around my finger.

"How was your day?"

"Okay," I tell her as my brothers and dad walk in through the back sliding glass door from our backyard. They all take their plates full of potroast and mashed potatoes and sit down at the dinner table. I follow their lead.

"So, anything up this week?" My mother relaxes down on the chair beside me.

"Not really..." I sigh and eat a mouthful of mashed potatoes that are engulfed by gravy. My favorite.

My older brother, Greg, who happens to be a senior in the same high school as mine, swallows a peice of pot roast and says, "Well, there's a party Saturday night."

I roll my eyes. Of course there is. Greg and his friends never stop partying.

"Who's party?" my oldest brother, Brian, asks Greg. Brian is a sophomore in college, but he lives at home. Since he switched his major, he now attends a community college until he is able to transfer into a college that will support his new major, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning).

"Courtney's," Greg replies with a mouthful of mashed potatoes and pees oozing out of his mouth."

"Ew!" I shake my head in disgust.

Greg wipes his mouth with a napkin and furrows his eyebrows at my remark. "Courtney's nice...Why would you say 'ew'?" My parents and Brian stare me down for an explanation.

I laugh and roll my eyes. "I was saying ew to your disgusting manners."

Then, shoving a forkful of chicken covered in mashed potatoes with pees stuck to it into his mouth, Greg sticks out his tongue and fake gags to gross and freak me out. "Greg, stop..." my mother chuckles.

"Blehhhh," my dad shakes his head and laughs while Brian just continues to stuff his face with food, forkful after forkful, not bothered by the sight.

After dinner, I make my way back upstairs to take a shower, ignoring my phone in the process since I'm almost postive that I won't have any texts or missed calls. After grabbing sweatpants and an old soccer T-shirt, I stumble into the bathroom and take a nice, warm shower.

The hot water feels like such relief against my skin, washing away all of my stress and anxiety down the drain.

BAM, BAM, BAM!

I feel myself jump at the sound of someone banging on the bathroom door violently. "Whaaaaaat?" I groan, exhausted.

"Hurry up! You've been in there for twenty minutes already!" Greg yells angrily, shaking the doorknob just to piss me off.

I quickly rinse the soap off of myself to stop his nagging. "Sorry if I wanna be clean!" I snap, completely annoyed. There is just no type of relaxation in my house. Especially with two older brothers who supply me with no privacy at all.

Once I get back into my room, I walk over to my bed a take a seat, grabbing my phone. It's pointless to check for messages, but I do so anyway in case I have one from Brooke, Brittany, or any other of my girl friends.

1 New Message

I squint my eyes at my phone's touch screen and tap the "read" button.

Kevin: Hey, Bella. Wondering if you were free this Saturday. There's a big party and I need to get a babysitter for my mom's boyfriend's daughter...

My heart sinks. I don't want to be a babysitter for Kevin's little sister, or whoever she was to him. I wanted to be going with him to that party. But I know for sure that the thought of that is pretty much impossible considering I am his best friend's little sister. Plus, he has a hot girlfriend already.

Not that I care...

Even though I really, truly do. I've been in love with Kevin Greyson since the first day I met him. I remember the day so clearly...I was in seventh grade, on my way back from some outdoor market in PA with my grandma and my mom. We stopped where we saw my brothers skateboarding with our neighbor, Jack, and two other kids about Greg's age - one of them being Kevin. I recall  so clearly the way he smiled and looked into my eyes as my brothers and my mom chatted, introducing Kevin and the other kid, Mark, to us.

There was a little while that I had a crush on Mark...but I was young and stupid. And in the back of my mind, I had always wanted to get to know Kevin more. And once he and my brothers became better friends, I fell head over heals for him.

And the feeling hasn't passed yet.

Isabella: Oh, I'm sure I can.

Kevin: Cool. :) Ask Britt, too. That way you're not alone. And my parents will pay you a pretty decent amount, so no worries.

I sigh, reading over the last text. Ask Britt, too. Of course, I'm no one special to him. Just a babysitter for his little sister; just another girl - same as Britt.

But I still can't help but to feel a little hopeful about things. Even if I was no one special, I was still someone.