Chapter 8

Present

Landon's POV:

Emma can find her own damn way home. I'm not about to wait on her after she and Xavier ruined my night. I'm done.

A headache forms while I rummage through my pockets for my house keys. I slam my hand on the door in aggravation when I don't find them. Why does everything in this life have to be so hard? Why does everything have to be so hard for me?

With my internal complaining, I find my keys bunched in my wallet. I unlock the front door and push it open, eager to rest. However, the second I enter the house, a cold sludge comes pouring down the front of my head, blinding me.

"You just got pranked by the reigning prank king, son!" I hear Dean's snickering and immediately feel a rise in my temper. "Bucket on the door, catch up, man!"

I rub the green muck from my eyes, only for his light brown ones to appear in front of me. "What the hell is this, Dean?!" I shout, infuriated.

"Green slime!" He chimes as if it's funny. "I got you good, man!"

I grab him by the collar of his shirt and hold my fist up. "How many times do you want to get hit today?" I'd call him an idiot but that would be an insult to stupid people everywhere.

"Not the face," he complains in an attempt to protect his ugly face.

"The only problem with your face, Dean, is that I can see it!" I growl.

He moves the slime back over my eyes. "There. All better," he says in that sheepish voice he sometimes uses when feeling guilty. "Now you look like a swamp man. The slime fits your face and bone structure well. I wonder, do you still love nature despite what it did to you?"

Will he still love me after what I'm about to do to him?!

The more he does or says, the angrier I'm getting.

"If you feel tempted to do something to make the situation better, don't," I tell him and let him go so that I can wipe my face with the clean part of my shirt. "And if you have something else to say, raise your hand and place it over your damn mouth." I take off my shirt and try to get the slime out of my hair with it. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you that."

"Roses are red, Violets are blue. I've got five fingers, the middle one is for you," he sings, sending me the middle finger in return.

"Cut it out, halfwit." I stretch out my arms above my head and let out a yawn, hoping that my anger will dissipate quickly. I don't choose to be this way. It just happened. It feels like I can't go back to who I was. Not even years of therapy can fix me. Ironic, I can fix anything but myself.

"Creepy neighborhood girl watching you again," Dean motions with his head to the basement window.

I glance sideways and of course, she's there again, staring at me. The moment my gaze meets hers, she runs away. "That's seriously getting weird."

"Dude," Dean guffaws, holding his stomach while laughing like a mutated hyena, "she obviously likes you." It takes a moment for him to stop killing himself in laughter. He notices my frown. "What's up with you, bro? You usually appreciate awesome pranks. Something happen at the tracks?" He clicks. "Was it that Xavier dude with the dumb hair again?"

I scoff in irritation. "Stupid retard is gunning for Em. I hate him!" I punch the red bag hanging from the basement roof, venting. "And Emma, she's just letting him get away with everything. I can't stand him and I hate that she's being this stupid. I don't understand her logic. He's no good and she knows that."

Dean pats me on the back. "Sorry, bud." He sighs. "Sounds rough. I don't like seeing Emma grow up either. She's like a little sister to me."

I drop my fists and move away from the bag. "I know she's growing up. I don't like it but I've accepted it. I just wish she'd choose a decent guy like JT or something. Why Thorman, of all people? He's just going to hurt her. I'm sick of leading her through heartbreaks."

"Yeah man, I get you. I was there when Tim, the geek boy, dumped her and I was there when Ronny, that emo guy, cheated on her. You beat them both and then held Em while she cried. And I awkwardly watched before handing her tissues," Dean reminds me. "These days, you scare all her potential interests away because you don't want to see her cry again. Frankly, neither do I. Her thick, black eyeliner runs and it's just..." he says my face and stops talking. "Ugh."

Sometimes I want to drop an anvil on his head but he's making sense this time.

"Lannie! I'm home!" Emma calls to me before staggering in through the front door. "I'm drunk!" She yells atop her lungs before collapsing onto the soft carpet.

I shake my head at the sight of her. She looks revolting. Ever since she started dating this guy, she's been taking on his gothic personality and appearance. My sister never used to like the color black. She never used to wear leather jackets and piercings. He's changed her.

"Where's Ronny?" I ask, helping her back up to her feet. She reeks of beer and vomit. It's disgusting. I don't like seeing her like this. She's better than this. She's better than the stench and smudged mascara. Dad would kill her if he were here to see her like this.

"We broke up," she tells me with a lazy smile on her face, leaning all her weight on me.

I glance over at Dean for help. I hate dealing with trash like this. It's not my thing.

"I'll go get the Ben and Jerry's," Dean quickly says before leaving me alone with this mess I call my sister. He's always been a good-for-nothing in these types of situations.

"What did he do?" It's the first question that leaves my lips.

"Caught him cheating with this chick at the club," she answers me before her green eyes cloud over with tears. "I miss him."

I unintentionally clench my fists as dark thoughts begin to race through my mind. "Did he make you walk home like this?" I ask through clenched teeth. No one is allowed to treat my sister like trash.

"I left him at the club after our argument. He said it was my fault so I walked home," she tells me and then giggles like the drunk she is.

I force her to sit down onto the couch before grabbing my jacket and keys. "I'm going to kick his ass and then I'm going to bury him in rage." There's one thing I know for certain, and that's that I'm going to commit a felony.

"Landon, wait!" She shouts after me, desperation in her voice. "You can kill him tomorrow. Right now, I need my brother. Just be here."

It takes everything in me to let it go and sit down beside Em. "You look like trash, Em," I tell her, concerned. She never looks this awful. "Your hair is in like a thousand knots right now."

My insults help her sober up. "Not helping! You suck at this."

"Sorry," I apologize and reach over to fix her mattered hair. "I just don't want to see you like this ever again. You're my sister."

"I know," she sniffs and leans her head on my shoulder. "I miss dad," she says. Moments of silence follow next.

"You're not the only one."

"You remember that time she tried to kiss me?" Dean chuckles fondly at the memory, snapping me out of it.

"You remember that time I hit you and succeeded in hitting you some more?" I chuckle fondly at the memory as a warning to Dean. The only reason she tried to kiss him was because one of her many boyfriends broke up with her and she was feeling vulnerable.

"She totally has a crush on me," Dean smirks, his eyes flickering over to someone behind me.

"For the hundredth time, Wyatt, I do not have a crush on you!" Emma's screeching voice just about bursts my eardrums. She pushes past me to get to Dean.

I check the time. It's past ten. Her curfew is ten. She should have been home long ago. I always tend to let things slide when it comes to Emma.

"If that's what you need to say to yourself..." Dean trails off with a mischievous grin – he knows exactly what he's doing right now.

Emma does as predicted and attacks him. "You're an idiot!" She's made out of hellfire and Dean's about to get burned. As angry as I am with her right now, she makes me proud when she takes after me. Dean really is an idiot.

My pal merely laughs at her. "It's like a hurricane of tiny fists!" He looks at her in amusement as she continues to punch him. He grins broadly, intentionally working her up more "Okay, okay, woman. I hear you roar. Blah dee blah blah," he says calmly, attempting to catch her fists with his hands.

She quickly frees herself and my friend only gets hit harder as a result.

Dean glances over at me, willing my attention. "Little help, Lan?" I shake my head in response. He frowns. "Landon, if you're going to be two-faced then at least make one of them pretty."

I scowl at the moron. He's such an idiot.

Dean turns back to my sister who is still trying to murder him. "Now, woman, what's for dinner?" He bravely asks her. "I'm starving."

Only he, and Blubber, wherever the hell he is, will be starving at 11:25 p.m.

Emma stops hitting my buddy, shocked by his words. "What is wrong with you?! You sexist pig, have you lost your freaken mind?!"

Dean's a champion when it comes to pressing my sister's buttons. He always knows exactly what to say. He's well aware of the fact that she's a huge feminist.

"Yeah and I don't miss it!" He shouts back, proving that he's an idiot. "If you don't make us supper then I'm disowning you as family!"

I swear he's the only one who's brave enough to shout at my sister while I'm in the room. If I didn't know him, he'd be under the floor by now.

Emma closes her eyes as if to gather her cool. "Wyatt," she opens her eyes to glare at him, "you are not related to me in any way, thus, you cannot disown me. You are not family." She turns to face me. "Lan, back me up here."

I shake my head at her and slap Dean on the back. "You're family, Wyatt," I clarify sternly before going upstairs to shower and wash this gunk off of my shirt.

It's not often that I'll walk away from Emma, but she's really disappointing me lately. She's making dumb mistakes and I refuse to clean up after her this time 'round. At the same time, I don't want to be like my mother. I don't just walk away but if I deal with Em now, I'm gonna say a whole bunch of things that I know I'll regret -- at least, partly.

I enter my room and find all my shirts strewn across the floor. Dean's banned from my room. I'm getting a lock. That idiot has no respect. I'm going to drill respect into his head if he steps foot in here again.

I shake my head to myself and turn on the tap in the shower, giving the water some time to heat up. I see my reflection in the bathroom mirror. I hold up my shirt. That green muck is still embedded in it and some of it is still stuck in my hair.

I grit my teeth in frustration. I'm gonna get revenge. He's not getting away with this. I taught him everything he knows about pranks. He can't beat me. He doesn't stand a chance.

Annoyed, I toss my shirt into the clothes hamper and move from the bathroom to close my bedroom curtains. I stop when I see my stalker staring at me from her bedroom window. I flip her the bird before shutting my curtains.

Why are some people so damn weird?

I'm about to enter the bathroom again when I hear my phone make a noise. I reach for it and grab it off of my bed. I open the message and find that it's from an unknown number. I shrug and read it anyway.

Hey Landon :)

Thanks for the pep talk today. Hope to see you again sometime?

~ Sarah

Not in the mood for people of any kind, I don't bother to text her back. I save her number before dropping my phone on my bed and running for the shower.