Sibling Squarrels (standard:other, 4158 words)
Author: Hope	Added: Jan 20 2010	Views/Reads: 2811/1823	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Regan and Reilly are fighting head on whilst dad struggles with his promotion and mum's finding it hard to cope with the baby. Arden and Aimee try to keep the peace.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

maybe Madelyn Fox will finally notice you.” She spat back spitefully. 
Wow, was that below the belt or what? “How do you possibly know about 
Madelyn?” I asked dazedly. I'd been trying to talk to Madelyn Fox for 
about two years now, but had never plucked up the courage. She was just 
so beautiful. “Come on Reilly, how could anybody at school not know 
about your gigantic crush on Madelyn? Every time she passes you in the 
hallway you act like an idiot, running your fingers through your hair 
and trying to look really macho. I think you've been watching too many 
of dads James Bond movies personally, or you think of yourself as a 
twelve year old Edward Cullen. And when mum and dad considered sending 
you to Applecross instead of Swanbourne you basically went berserk just 
because you knew Madelyn was coming here. All that rubbish about 
needing your big, loving and considerate sister to be with you didn't 
fool me, even if it did fool mum and dad.” She ended her speech with an 
infuriatingly smug smile playing on her lips. Just then the doorbell 
rung, saving me from any more spiteful comments she had for me. 
Strictly speaking we weren't supposed to open the front door when mum 
and dad were out, stranger danger and all that, but by the sound of the 
screeches and screams of laughter outside I guessed that it was dad 
back from the party with the terrible twosome. I slowly skirted around 
Regan, keeping both of my eyes on her just incase she wanted to come in 
with a surprise attack from the side, then when she didn't I walked 
gratefully down the hallway to open the front door, checking who was 
there first in the peep-hole. Once the door was open I had to take a 
big step backwards because dad took up the whole doorway. Laden down 
with two bulging party bags, two sleepover backpacks, two helium 
balloons, one fluorescent pink and one startling lime green, two pairs 
of kiddy shoes, the two enormous teddy bears that Arden and Aimee went 
to bed with, and two sodden towels he stumbled into the hallway, 
knocking over the hall table where we kept the sunglasses and car keys 
in the process. “Umm, did you have a good time at Lucy's birthday party 
dad?” I asked innocently. I took the two backpacks from him so he could 
finally fit through the hallway and into the living room, where he 
dumped all of the paraphernalia he was carrying onto the floor. “Oh 
yeah I had a great time.” He said sarcastically. “But apparently it was 
a fairy party and I wasn't dressed appropriately, so Lucy decided to 
give me these.” He turned around so I could see the set of purple fairy 
wings on his back, before hidden by the Dora the Explorer and Batman 
backpacks. “They really suit you dad.” I smirked, hiding a snort with a 
badly pretended sneeze. “Didn't Lucy want them back though?” I thought 
of the little girl putting fairy wings on my 42 year old 5 foot 2 
father and bit back another laugh. “No.” He answered glumly. “She said 
I could keep them for next year. Remind me in twelve months time Reilly 
that I should go to work and your mother should take the day off to 
take the twins to Lucy Taylor's birthday party.” He picked up the 
towel's and made his way to the washing machine. “Will do dad, will 
do.” I muttered, this time freely laughing. I went back into the hall 
and through the open front door, where Aimee and Arden were still 
playing with their goodie bag toys. What's with birthday parties now, I 
thought. Weren't you supposed to give gifts to the birthday kid, not 
the other way round? “Come on guys, you're still wet from the pool. 
Let's go upstairs and have a bath.” Unwillingly they abandoned their 
game and walked into the house. Herding them towards the stairs I took 
another peek into the dining room, where I could see Regan smiling 
slightly to herself, obviously having seen dad with his new accessory 
on. “So Arden how was the party?” I asked my little brother lovingly. 
Arden was my favorite sibling, though I'd never say it to mum and dad, 
who strongly disagree about having favorites. I think it must be 
because we're the only boys in the house, but it might be because he 
was so damn cute. Even though he and Aimee are twins, they look nothing 
alike. Arden has soft, curly, strawberry blond hair that tickles his 
ears and reached about half way down his neck, whereas Aimee has 
darker, more brownish hair that's dead straight and the envy of Regan, 
whose hair would never straighten no matter how many hours she spent in 
the bathroom using her new GHD that she got as a Christmas present. 
Arden was also a lot smaller than Aimee, something I could relate too, 
being basically the smallest in my class. “It was great, even though it 
was a silly fairy party, Yuk! The food was great though, she had a 
yummy chocolate icecream cake and sausage rolls and party pies and 
loads of lollies, four whole bowls full of them! But before we ate we 
went in the pool which was really fun because we played this game 
called Pirates and Mermaids, and the boys were pirates and the girls 
were mermaids. So the pirates, you know me, Harry, Kennedy, Joel, 
Xavier and Zack had to capture all the mermaids who were Aimee, Lucy, 
Millie, Lisa, Jasmine, Indi and Daisy. We won of course, and then Aimee 
went into a big sulk. Dad said that we'd have to go home if she didn't 
stop, so then she cheered up. Actually, I don't know if it was what dad 
said that made her cheer up, or the birthday cake. Either way...” I 
loved hearing Arden gabble on in his own funny way, like he's afraid 
that he won't have enough time to say everything he wants to so he 
crams everything into 30 second time slots. He was still talking when I 
was running their bath, and then Aimee took over when he refused to 
open his mouth when I was rubbing shampoo and conditioner through his 
hair. “Guess what?” Aimee asked me suddenly after a very in depth 
explanation of a game of pass-the-parcel. “What?” “Madelyn Fox is 
Lucy's sister and...” My hand slipped when I heard Madelyn's name, 
causing it to go straight into Arden's tightly closed eyes, causing 
Aimee to cut her sentence short. Arden yelled in shock and I hurriedly 
washed his eye out for him, removing any trace of L'Oreal Kids shampoo 
from his eyelids. “Anyway, you were talking about Madelyn Fox...” I 
probed. How miserable I was, getting information about Madelyn from my 
six year old sister. She probably had more of a relationship with her 
than I did though. “Yeah well she came downstairs for a bit and started 
talking to Joel's big brother Jason and then Madelyn pushed Jason in 
the pool and then they were swimming together and laughing. I thought 
it was weird because you like Madelyn right? But now Jason does too 
and...” I had to stop her right there for a second. “How does everyone 
in this family know I like Madelyn Fox when even Madelyn Fox doesn't 
know I like Madelyn Fox?” I asked, muddling even myself. Aimee just 
looked at me, confusion making her eyebrows pull together into one 
straight line, and didn't talk any more because her mouth shut tight 
when I moved on to shampoo her. 

***************** Going back downstairs once the twins were happily
watching television in mum and dads room, something not strictly 
allowed but anyway, I saw dad and Regan watching the 5 o'clock news and 
went to sit next to Regan on the sofa. The news was boring, just 
something about interest rates, so instead I stared at the clock 
waiting for 5:15 to come, because that was the time mum came home from 
work and we could have dinner then. Mum worked at some big company in 
the city, I'm not sure what it's called but dad calls it That God Damn 
Company because they make mum work all the time without many breaks. 
She can never come to my baseball games any more since she started to 
work there when I was in year 5 because she wasn't allowed to leave 
work until 4:45, and that's when my games ended. Just as if she knew I 
was thinking about her, I heard the front door open and close with a 
bang. I raced into the hallway to see mum. She was there with some 
brown grocery bags, obviously some food for tonight's dinner party. I 
hoped something good for us was in there, because I was starving after 
finding the fridge empty of any good snacking food earlier. “Now 
Reilly, go get Regan, Arden and Aimee then you four go wash your hands 
for dinner, it shouldn't take me any more than five minutes to make 
it.” “Okay mum.” I was glad we weren't eating dinner with the 
grown-ups, their discussions were always so difficult to understand, 
and they normally stayed talking until about twelve o'clock, and by 
that time I would always be falling asleep into my hot chocolate. 
“Regan, dinner's cooking and mum told me to tell you that we had to go 
wash our hands.” I mumbled at her, wondering if I was forgiven for 
today's unpleasant incident or not. “In a minute nerd, I'm watching 
something here, can't you see that?” I was obviously not forgiven. 
“Regan, don't ever talk to your brother like that, it's not nice and I 
don't want Aimee and Arden to pick up any bad habits.” I smiled 
gratefully at dad; Regan's words had really hurt me. If anyone in this 
family was a nerd it was her, always with her nose in some book or 
another. Right now she seemed to be reading and rereading The Perks of 
Being a Wallflower, which mum and dad had encouraged me to read, and 
there was no way they'd get me to read it. I said thanks but no thanks, 
preferring to stick with my Calvin and Hobbs comics and my Dr. 
Frankenstein books. “Whatever.” Regan replied to dad, but said it so 
low that only I could hear her. She got up and I made to go ahead of 
her, but in the hallway she grabbed my arm and spun me around so that I 
was facing her. “You're really going to get it know maggot. I was just 
reading my book again and I discovered that page 34, the page I was 
reading when you nearly killed me, is now covered in blood. Now I know 
that telling mum and dad isn't a good idea, they'd probably overreact 
and start yelling none stop, but I need a new copy now and I think it's 
only fair if you pay for it. What do you think baby brother?” She 
smiled icily down at me, using her height again to seem intimidating. 
“Look Regan I told you it was an accident okay? I don't even have 
enough money to buy you another stupid book, I'm saving up for a new 
bike, remember?” Of course she remembered, she was the one that laughed 
none stop for two days when I had to go to school on her old pink 
Fantasia bike. Her smile faded and was replaced by an ugly scowl. 
Without another word, I raced up the stairs before her, wanting to tell 
the twins that dinner was nearly ready instead of Regan snapping their 
heads off, which I think would be quite believable of Regan to do in 
her bad mood. I walked into mum and dad's bedroom and smiled when I saw 
Arden with his arm around his twin sister, both of them staring 
intently at the TV screen, watching The Adventures of Scooby-Doo. Aimee 
was petrified of Velma, the girl with a brown bob and glasses. I could 
see her point, she was a bit freaky. “Dinner's soon guys and mummy 
wants us to wash our hands. You can watch Scooby after dinner; I think 
we have this episode on DVD anyway.” As I said this I turned off the 
television and turned around to two disgruntled expressions. “Guess 
what we're having for dinner?” I asked the twins to cheer them up. I 
couldn't stand that sad look on their faces. They took the guessing 
game very seriously. Instead of the standard ‘Guess what? What?' They 
both took five guesses and then got you to tell them. As they went on 
their guesses normally got quite interesting. “Sausages?” “Pizza!” 
“Meatballs!” “Spaghetti?” “Umm...jelly?” “Chocolate icecream!” 
“Marshmallows!” “What about...jelly snakes?” “How about normal snakes?” 
“Or spiders!” “No, no and more no. Do you want me to tell you?” I told 
you that they had extremely active imaginations. “Yes, yes!” “We're 
having your favourite... fish and chips from Danny's!” Danny's Fish and 
Chips was the best fish and chip shop in town. Aimee and Arden loved 
going there because they always got free chips right from the fryer and 
they found the fishes in their big tank mesmerising. “Yay!” “Now go get 
your hands clean otherwise you won't be having any.” I didn't think I'd 
have any trouble with them; they could never resist Danny's fish and 
chips. “Couldn't we just watch the last bit of Scooby?” Aimee asked. 
Wow, it must have been one hell of an episode. “Aimee Faith Colser and 
Arden Tyler Colser, if you aren't both in the bathroom in three seconds 
I'm going to have to......tickle you!” I pounced towards them, much 
like the way I pounced on Regan this afternoon, and started tickling 
them both. They squealed and giggled, bending inwards on themselves in 
pleasure. I let them both go with a kiss on both of their perfect 
little foreheads, and followed them into the bathroom, picking up their 
stool on the way so that they could reach the sink. “Now remember soup, 
that's enough Arden!” I laughed as he squirted enough soup onto Aimee's 
hands to wash the car. I scrubbed their little pearly fingernails with 
the nail brush before I let them loose on the food. They scrambled 
downstairs, both wanting to get the best seat in the car, the passenger 
seat. I made my way down more slowly, not wanting to sit through a 
whole car drive with Regan glaring daggers at me the whole time. When I 
got to the car Aimee was in the front seat and Arden was in the middle 
of the three back seats, grumbling to himself quietly with his arms 
crossed. I slid in next to him and put my arm around him. “Next time 
mate, next time I'll make sure you get in the front.” I promised him, 
and sighed happily when his scowl disappeared and he flung his little 
arms around me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Regan sit in the seat 
next to Arden, and blessed his little soul that he sat there and I 
didn't have to. I could very nearly feel the waves of annoyance rolling 
of her and crashing into me like water smashing into a cliff. “So 
Aimee, what did you get Lucy for her birthday again?” This was a safe 
subject, something Regan knew nothing about so she couldn't take over 
the conversation and lead it somewhere I didn't want it to go. “Well, I 
got her a necklace with a purple heart on it and that huge chocolate 
freckle with Best Friends on it, because I'm her best friend. Arden got 
her a really cool yoyo that lights up when you use it and a sparkly pen 
for school.” Wow, four presents from one family, I thought. “Did you 
know Reilly that we're allowed to use pens now at school! We have to do 
lots and lots and lots of writing with a pencil and markers first but 
then you get to try out with a pen. I got mine straight away and so did 
Aimee but Lucy only just got hers on Friday so I thought I'd get her a 
pen so she can have something pretty to write with.” That was Arden, 
always proud of him and his twin sister, and encouraging and 
congratulating everybody else. “Well that was lovely of you Arden.” I 
praised him. He glowed in pleasure. He really does look up to me, I 
thought. It felt good to be admired, even if it was just by your little 
brother. Arden and Aimee were already sitting down and had started to 
eat when I got there, and Regan was getting her portion of fish. 
Luckily the twins had sat next to each other, meaning I wouldn't have 
to sit across from the active volcano. I waited until she's sat down 
before I went up for my fish and chips, I didn't want to give her a 
chance to get back at me for not agreeing to buy her a new book. I 
struck up a conversation with Aimee so that Regan couldn't start 
talking meanly to me in front of the twins. “Mum, why do you have to 
have this stupid dinner tonight with dad's stupid boss and his stupid 
wife?” There went Regan again, going off at anything. It really annoyed 
me how she got away so easily with doing that, but if I did it then it 
would be the end of the world. “Now Regan, don't start on this again. 
You understand why your dad wants this promotion. We can hardly afford 
this house as it is, what with the mortgage rates going up and 
everything. And now that Arden and Aimee are getting older, they need 
more space than that one little room. We also have baby number five on 
the way, and when it gets here, why I don't know if there's a spare 
corner that we could put it in! This is good for our family Regan, even 
if it does mean moving away.” Mum stared lovingly down at her belly as 
she said this. So did I, I wondered what it was, a boy, a girl, or a 
mutant alien come to destroy the Earth and all that lived on it. Maybe 
it would have five arms and three eyes, and spit fireballs at anyone 
who annoyed it. “Yeah but mum, why do we all have to go? Why can't dad 
just go to Sydney or Melbourne or wherever and we stay here in Perth? 
Then dad can come here on weekends and holidays and stuff. It's the 
perfect solution!” Of course it is Regan, of course it is. Mum had 
started doing the washing up and was humming quietly to herself. I 
didn't even realize that she'd heard Regan speak until she answered 
her. “We are moving Regan and that is final. End of discussion.” 

***************** 


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