Prestige

| 7 |

I woke up with a painful sting in my knee that had begun when I awkwardly moved the limb in the middle of my sleep, bringing me into an agonising round of mute screaming. Somehow, I am not sure exactly how, but my father barged into the room with a worried face and a medical gel in hand. Wordlessly, my father helped me sit up straight before eyeing the bandage on my knee. "What the hell happened here?" He scolded me in an neutral tone, waiting for an answer.

"I fell and scraped my knee against the concrete. Zero helped treat it." I casually replied before watching my father take the cloth off gently to rub the cream onto the injured skin and aching knee.

"You should be more careful." My father warned lovingly before wrapping up the injury in the same bandage it was wrapped in. "Remind me to change your bandage before school." He smiled before kissing my forehead and tucking me back into my bed. I watched him leave me into a realm of my silence which disappeared instantly when I heard his room door shut. I sat up and slipped myself into my slippers, only to walk out of my room and head towards Zero's room, I peaked in and found the room empty. It was as if he never even went to bed.

Sighing, I walked to the kitchen and pulled out a small tub of ice cream from the fridge. I looked around before quietly pulling a chair out and eating spoonfuls of ice cream from the big tub I had selected. Munching down most of the content in the giant case, I jumped up when something touched my back. "The fuck!" I whisper screamed as I glared at my brother who was dressed for a night out.

"Shut up before you wake dad up." He ordered me before swallowing the ice cream that sat on the spoon, anticipating its end.

I nodded, "Where did you go?"

"I was out with a bunch of guys." He simply answered before sitting himself opposite me.

"Dad saw the bandage. I told him I fell and you helped. Left out the part where you pushed me." I smirked as he rolled his eyes at me, before taking another spoonful of the frozen treat.

"I'll treat you out for a whole meal if you keep your mouth shut about tonight and the injury." He announced.

I narrowed my eyebrows into a smirk and thought for a while, "For a whole week."

"Deal." He happily exclaimed before taking more of my ice cream.

"Yah! Get your own one!" I scolded him in a low voice, while wearing a pout tomake him back away, instead he leaned a little over the table and held my face in his hands, squishing it in his gentle yet tight grip. I continued to pout before he finally let go.

"Which one of you are downstairs?" My father's voice echoed through the house, making my brother and I stare at each other awkwardly. "You answer." He whispered to me. "No you answer." I replied back in a bitchy tone. "I am not dressed for bed, remember? You talk." He finalised before breathing calmly as I spoke, "It's me."

"Mara, get back to bed and stop eating food in the middle of the night like a pig." My father scolded me in a half joking and half serious manner. "Yes dad!" I called back before hearing him shut his room door fully, but this time with the sounds of the door being locked that followed.

"Let's head back to bed before we get screwed." I told Ro, making him nod in agreement as I tucked the tub back into its location and headed back up, following my brother. "Are you insane? Why are you in here?" He looked at me while scolding.

"I have this weird thing where if I wake up in the middle of the night, I can't go back to sleep... no matter how hard I try." I explained to him. I swear just then he rolled his eyes at me; shocker: my brother is already getting tired of me and he has been here for complete two days.

"So what do you want me to do about that?" He was glaring at me right now.

I shrugged, "Keep me company?" I suggested while moving towards his bed and sitting on it. "Damn your mattress is comfy." I fell back and rested my body on it, only to announce the first thing I noticed about it, "It's bouncy too."

He smugly laughed a little while wearing a smirk, making me lift my body in curiosity, "What?"

"Just be grateful that I haven't been here long enough to bring a girl over." He replied with a perverted expression taking over his face.

"Ew!" I declared, throwing his pillow at him as I tried to get the thought out of my mind. Sadly, he caught the soft object, "Calm down, I haven't had anyone over yet."

"Yet?" I questioned, in a disgusted tone, which made him laugh at my expression. He didn't reply, instead he simply laughed at my reaction before vanishing into the bathroom and coming out in a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms and a plain, white shirt. "You look like those typical fuckboys in that outfit." I pointed out.

"And how often do you fuck with a fuckboy?" He sarcastically questioned, mocking me.

"Shut up." I warned him before lying on my back beside him, facing the ceiling.

"I've actually missed doing stupid things like this with you." He commented, without looking at me.

"Good, because I'm about to get cuddly." I smirked while turning around to snuggle into him.

"Patience little bug." He joked before turning around to pull me into a hug. We stayed frozen like that as I tried to force myself to sleep. Just when sleep almost got to me, he started to talk, "What happens if I push you off?"

I lifted my head up and glared at him, "I'll kill you and break your bones before ripping your balls off." His cheery expression faded as he froze with fear, looking into my completely serious eyes. "So you better not do anything stupid." I happily warned him before childishly cuddling into my older brother again.