Splinters: Part One

Part One | 14

"Hey, Brayden. We're going to go eat. Go change into something nice."

I looked at Odera slowly. "Something... nice?"

My little sister groaned and grasped my hand. "C'mon."

She pulled me up the stairs and opened my bedroom door. I sat on my bed and watched as she looked through my now overflowing closet of clothes.

"You really need to organize this," she said, sifting through some hangers.

"Who organizes clothes?"

She froze and turned to me as if I were insane. "You're kidding, right?"

I was silent and just shook my head, looking at her as if she were crazy.

Suddenly, my phone began to buzz. I pulled it out to see there was a text from Collie. I'd received my phone back yesterday night. Melissa came into my room after our bed time and handed it to me.

"I don't want you to lie to me anymore."

And I told her, "I won't. I hated it."

And she said, "I hated it, too." which made me feel that much more guilty.

At the end though, I got my phone back and saw that I had four unread text messages. I was thankful that Melissa didn't check them.

Two were from Collie, one was from Andrew, and the last was from Grady. I read Collie's first.

Did u get ur phone back?

Hey

Then I read Andrew's. His had been sent earlier that morning.

Basketball at noon. Wanna come?

Lastly, I read Grady's.

Failed To Kill A Mockingbird Test. You?

I'd actually gotten a B+ on it. To Kill A Mockingbird probably had to be one of my favorite books. Granted, I'd never really read any books, but I can easily say that it'll be hard to beat.

The text I just received though was: Hey :)

I smiled as I typed my reply.

"Who're you texting?" I heard Odera ask.

My smile faded and I had the sudden reaction to hide my phone.

"N-no one."

Odera squinted at me. "What's with you lying so much lately?" She turned back around and continued looking through my closet.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "I just figured you all hate Collie so-"

"Collie Mathers?"

"Well I-, uh, I think that's her last name."

"The popular girl, right? The one that was mean to Ursanne."

I wanted to say that Ursanne basically started the whole thing, but I didn't want to get into that. I didn't want to say yes though either, so I didn't say anything. Odera turned around and called me again.

"What?"

"Was it that girl?"

"Ursanne's mean to her, too, you know." I said defensively, hoping that Odera and I wouldn't get in an argument regarding this.

Her eyes widened at my reply. She pressed her lips together and shook her head.

"Not really. She was bullying Ursa-"

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," I interjected, definitely not wanting to get into this. Anger was boiling inside me as I left the room in a hurry. Hopefully by the time I was out, she'd have my clothes on the bed or something.