1 Prompt, How Many Writers

Destructive Tendencies

 Mira surveyed the scene around her and decided that, yes, they were going to be killed. 

Reed and Hayden stood side by side looking up at the shattered window. Their pale hair was mussed and they both seemed pretty rattled from falling through said shattered window, though, by some work of God, they had managed to stay mostly unharmed save for some cuts and a few bruises. Sadly we couldn't say the same about the window.

"Your mom is going to kill you," Mira stated blandly. The two brothers turned to face her, both wearing looks of horror. Neither boys were usually one to show much fear, having been raised by a father who bore no love for his children, but the idea of having to face their mother seemed to terrify them. Mira expected that they wouldn't be able to stand seeing her disappointed in them.

"What do we do?" Reed whispered, "It's not like we can fix the window before Mum gets home." He looked to Hayden, who was looking over his shoulder towards the road leading up to their home, as if their mother would turn the corner any second, despite having another half hour before she was supposed to arrive.

"This is not a 'we' issue. You and Hayden felt the need to wrestle near the window. This is in no way my fault." It was kind of her fault. She made no move to stop them, instead sitting in a corner occasionally commenting on the fight. But what else are you supposed to do when two of your closest friends get into a fight in front of you? Break them up? That's no fun.

"Well okay Mira, no one's perfect," Reed drawled, his voice was dripping with a sarcasm that had Mira seeing red.

"Listen here you stuck up bra-"

"Mira," Hayden snapped, "I know he's annoying but drop it, we need to find a way to fix this."

"Why do I need to help?" She mumbled.

"Because that's what friends do Ra-Ra," Reed chuckled.

"Don't call me Ra-Ra."

The living room of their house was small but homey. The walls were made of dark wood and the floor was covered in a soft rug that was worn down from years of use. The back wall was lined in bookshelves holding some of the families most loved classics as well as knick-knacks picked up in their travels. The three windows (two now) let in plenty of natural light during the day and makes everything look like an old black and white movie at night. There was a small fireplace across from a sofa on which sat the youngest Nathanson, little Lany, Reed and Hayden's five year old sister. Lany seemed to be utterly oblivious to what was going on in the room.

When Reed and Hayden were standing next to their mother it was obvious that they most definitely did not inherit much from her. They had shaggy blond hair and pale skin while their mother had black hair and an olive complexion. The only thing that they did share was their eyes. They all had brown eyes but if you looked closely you would see that the pupil has a ring of deep green around it, the color of moss. The boys easily dwarfed her small frame, but when she was mad she was easily the scariest person Mira had ever met. And she was furious.

"I left you alone for an hour and you broke a window? And you didn't even bother to call me to warn me, instead you waited until I came home to see two of my sons and their friend- not that any of this is your fault Mira, I know how they can be- standing in the driveway surrounded by glass, with the window gone! It's just gone!" Their mother turned towards the offending window and sighed. "What were you even doing?"

"We're sorry Mum, really. We didn't mean to." This Reed was so different from the arrogant boy Mira was used to. He loved his mother more than anything and he felt the need to step up after his father had been taken away, but he really was still just a boy and it really showed in moments like these.

"I know you didn't mean to but you still did it. I want you guys to clean up the glass outside and then we can have dinner, we'll sort out the rest later."

"Yes ma'am."

A week after the window incident all seemed to be forgiven, though Mira teased Reed and Hayden about it endlessly. But of course they could only hold in their destructive tendencies for so long.

The Nathansons were a large family consisting of three boys and a little girl. Hayden, Reed, Kaden, and Lany. The boys were all friends with Mira and when there are three teenage boys and fifteen year old girl with something to prove alone together for long periods of time, something is going to break. That something just so happened to take the form of Hayden's femur.

Two hours and a trip to the hospital later and their little group found themselves sitting in Reed and Kaden's room all of them profusely apologizing to Hayden, who sat on Kadens bed, with his legs stretched out in front of him.

"You guys know it's not really your fault. I'm the one who decided to take the bet." Reed had bet him he couldn't jump to the top of the tree beside the trampoline in their backyard. A stupid idea in hindsight.

"But we still feel bad," Kaden said. Kaden was the polar opposite of his brothers. While they were both obsessed with sports he tended to stick to the scientific side of things. He could usually be found with his nose in a book, his glasses slipping down his nose. He had his mother's black hair and his father's brown eyes which lacked the green ring the rest of his family shared.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry." Reed crawled off his bed and walked across the room to sit by his brother. "We'll do anything to make it up to you."

"Well if you're putting up that offer then I guess I have to take it," Hayden smirked.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I don't like that look."

"Well you know that it's my turn to mow the lawn, but I seem to find myself unable to do that right now."

Reed looked puzzled. "That's not so bad."

"I also have an essay due in a week."

"I hate you."

So the next day Kaden, Reed, and Mira found themselves in a study room in the school's library writing an essay on a dead man whose name they couldn't remember for the life of them.

"I can't believe you told him we'd do anything. You could have at least excluded us, we didn't make the bet." Mira couldn't focus on the book in front of her, the words all blurring together. She was tired since Kaden felt it was important they get up at six in the morning to get an early start on research, which he seemed oddly excited about.

"Come on Ra-Ra-"

"Don't call me Ra-Ra."

"Whatever. What I was going to say is, there's no 'I' in 'team'." He stood up from his perch on a stool near the computer and traded out the book he was reading for one on the table. "However, there is an 'A' which stands for...." He looked up at us expectantly and paused for us to answer.

Mira glanced at Kaden who looked as confused as she felt. He caught her gaze and shrugged. "What?" He said.

Reed seemed disappointed with that answer. "I don't know I was hoping you thought of something so I could just roll with that."

"I don't know why Hayden would even want you to write his essay. You're the most idiotic person I've ever met."

"Love you too Ra-Ra."

Mira just groaned.

A week later the three were happy with the essay and approached Hayden to present to him the final product. He read it over and thanked them, saying that his teacher would love it. What they didn't was that the second they left the room Hayden let his mother read it. After getting a tongue lashing for making his siblings and friend do his homework she read it and then silently put the paper into the trash. It was easily the worst essay she's ever read.

~Summ 

So these are the only characters I actually have a story line going for and I'm kind of in love with them right now so they'll probably show up again. 

Word Count-  1,425

Prompt- "There's no 'I' in 'team'. However...."