Chapter 12

"Did you have to buy so much stuff?" Ariel complained as she helped Conner bring their bags into the house. "I thought you said we should be conservative because money's tight."

"Not as tight as you're making it out to be; I just don't want you to be frivolous, but you've barely spent the money I left for you," Conner complained. "Are you sure you're eating enough? You seem thinner than I remember." He set the bags down in the kitchen and poked at her side.

"Hey! Don't poke me. And of course I eat enough." When I'm actually hungry.

He stared at the bandage on her forehead. "Are you sure you have it under control? The bullies, I mean."

"Yes, I'm fine. We don't need to go into this again."

"It's just... I don't like the idea of people picking on you, or you getting hurt. It's too easy for things to get out of control, and..." Conner trailed off, biting his lip as he thought about the parents they lost. "I don't want to lose you, too."

"You're not going to. I'm fine. I'll keep avoiding them."

"I know that won't always work. I'm not supposed to tell you to punch their teeth in, but I'd rather you defend yourself. How about some more training?"

"I thought you were headed back today? Aren't you busy?"

Conner glanced at his smartwatch. "You're right, but I don't want to wait. I should've taught you more self-defence years ago."

"Then how about we make a plan for next time or something? I don't want you getting into trouble over me."

"If I don't get in trouble over you, how am I supposed to get into trouble?"

"You're not supposed to!" Ariel laughed and gave him a shove. "Quit yapping and help me put all of this away." She dug into the grocery bags. "Ah!" she yelped as he hugged her from behind.

"Give me a moment, please. I'm worried." He sighed and leaned his forehead on the back of her head.

"You don't have to worry; I'll be fine."

"I'm going to worry no matter what you say. I always worry about you. It's my right as your brother."

"I know, but you have enough to deal with at work."

"Works fine, but I wish it paid more, then maybe we could get out of here."

"What's wrong with this house? I like it. You even made me my study room in the attic; that's more than I could ever ask for. I may not be the happiest with school, but I am happy here. You've done everything you can for me, and I'm lucky to have you."

"I just..." Conner sighed and backed away. "You're right. The house is fine; it's people at that school that's the problem." He nodded. "Next time, we'll work on your moves, and I'll teach you new ones, and hopefully, it'll be enough to detour them. Bullies suck." He snarled, wishing he could teach them a lesson. "If you get kicked out for beating them up, I'll find you a new school, or get your diploma studying at home."

Ariel laughed. "There's three of them and one of me, so I don't know how that can happen unless I catch her without her lackeys."

"Three?"

Oops. She froze, trying to remember what all she had told him.

"They're ganging up on you like little wimps? What scum! Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" A vein popped out of his forehead.

"Because I knew you'd get this mad, and it can't be good for you." She poked the vein. "This guy up here is showing again. It's mostly the one girl that's the issue. If I deal with her, the other two won't bother. They seem to be afraid of her for some reason."

"Probably has money... or she's a tyrant that scares them. Angry people can be scary. But now I'm worried they'll gang up on you."

"Quit yapping and keep moving; I don't want everything to defrost or rot while you're ranting."

"Rot? I don't have enough time for that, at least." Conner went back to putting frozen dinners in the freezer as she put the produce in the fridge. "Any chance I can get some more home cooked food before I head off?" He nudged her.

"Uh... An omelette?" One of the few things I know how to make.

"Nice. It's been a while since I had one. Make it spicy, please."

After putting everything away, even a few books and video games, Ariel went to make lunch. No eggshell, no eggshell. She kept a careful eye on in. How much of this do I use? She shook hot sauce into Conner's egg a few times until it turned red.

With a few splats as she flipped the egg and an abundance of cheese, she made his omelette and set it on the table. "Lunch time," Ariel called out and sat down with her own.

Conner looked at his, then hers and laughed. "I've never seen a red omelette before. Time to dig in—"

"Wait! What if it's too hot?"

"I've drunk hot sauce before." Conner pushed his chest out. "And this has all that cheese to help." He took one bite and coughed. "Oh, that's hot. Woo."

"If it's too hot, don't eat it."

Conner kept eating as sweat dotted his forehead and his eyes watered. "The first bit of it tasted good, but I can't taste much now. It burns too much."

"Then stop eating!" She reached across the table, and he pulled his plate away.

"No, it's my food; I'm going to eat all of it. You better eat yours before I come for that, too."

He's crazy. "Fine, whatever; let your mouth burn." She poured him a glass of milk and sat back down to eat her eggs. At least mine tastes fine. More cheese than anything, but I can't complain. She pulled a piece away and got a cheese-pull. I wonder if I should make one for Jade later, definitely without the added heat.

"By the way." Conner finished gulping down the entire glass of milk after eating his hot eggs. "You remember the self-defence techniques I taught you before, right?"

"Yes, but it's hard to react in the moment, and doesn't work when it's three on one."

"Are you sure you don't want me to talk to your teacher or something? This seems super serious, and I don't want to wait until it's too late before doing something about it. And before you say it, I know I'm always busy with work, but this is important, so I'll make time."

"For now, I'm fine."

"It's that 'for now' part I'm worried about. I don't want anything bad happening to you."

"You can't be around me all the time, and no matter what, bad things will happen to people."

"It's not all proportional in value; having a bad day because you stubbed your toe isn't the same as having a bad day because people are bullying you."

"Conner."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for caring, but I'm fine. I'll deal with it on my own." Somehow. Conner would probably make it worse.

Conner sighed. "I can't believe schools still don't have a handle on this kind of thing."

"It's probably gotten worse since your time with the rise in cyber bullying."

Conner raised an eyebrow. "My time? Geez, you make me sound old."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"And you're not trying to tell me they're cyber bullying you, too, are you?"

"I wouldn't know; I don't use social media." I don't have friends; why would I bother with it? "I don't see a need for it."

"Networking, I suppose, or contest entries, like me. I miss when you just had to put in your email and whatnot, not this 'tag three people' nonsense."

"You've still been doing that? Why bother? We never win anything."

"You can't win if you don't try, and it only costs me a little bit of spare time."

"You have spare time?"

"Ha ha, it doesn't take long when you have one website that finds all the contests for you."

Why do I have a bad feeling this is during his bathroom time that he's talking about? I'd rather not know about that.

Conner glanced at his watch. "I have to go now if I don't want to chance getting stuck in traffic and being late. Oh, but the dishes—"

"It's fine; I'll do them."

"Thank you." Conner opened his arms wide again. "Where's my goodbye hug?"

"I thought you didn't have time?"

"It's a hug!" He pulled her in for a hug and sighed, his shoulders relaxing. "Please, stay safe."

"You, too."

Conner backed away, hands gripping her shoulders, and stared into her eyes, his jaw tight. "If anything else happens, call me. You don't have to deal with this crap all on your own. We've always been a team, haven't we?"

Ariel nodded, suddenly missing their parents even more than normal.

"Once things calm down at work with the new trainees, I'll be home more."

"Yeah, I know the drill."

"Funny." He ruffled her hair. "See you soon." He waved, grabbed his bag and headed to the entrance, where he glanced into the closet. "They're missing..."

You think they'd give him at least the weekend off.