I could still hear Zac's handy dandy drum work as I went downstairs, and my house was already
quite spacious. Oops, I must have had it on louder than I thought. I gathered up my best angel smile
and opened the door. My next door neighbour and across the street neighbour, Mrs Pycross and Mr
Cremis were standing outside, matching expressions of doom on their faces. I was glad Derrick
wasn't home, he had this thing about neighbours with doom expressions. Or rather, neighbours
coming to complain.
"Er... good afternoon Mrs Pycross, Mr Cremis." I raised my voice, in attempt to drown out the
music, it didn't work.
"Robyn, I can hear this music loud and clear in my hous across the street." Mr Cremis frowned.
"Umm... I left my full length windows open again?" I joked, but they didn't laugh.
" Miss Albert, my 12-yr old son is trying to do his homework right now, and he can't possibly
concentrate with that..... that..... racket all over the neighbourhood. It's deafening." Mrs Pycross
sniffed.
"Umm... ma'am, I thought Nathan was a Hanson fan." Blunder. Wrong thing to say, Mrs Pycross
had to be one of those old fashioned ladies, you could tell from the dress she wore and the way she
acted. Formal, polite, all that. Thinking quickly, I got myself out of the mess by promising to keep my
windows shut and turn the music down. Hurray! I got rid of them. I stuck my tongue out playfully at
their retreating backs.
After seeing my neighbours off, I went back upstairs to think, this time I did turn the music
down, much to my disliking, but I kept my full length windows open. I had this thing about keeping
them open when I was thinking. It was like keeping my mind open. Being open minded, something
like that. I don't know how long I was sitting there on the cushions, but I do know half the time I
wasn't thinking about whatever I was thinking about before. I forget things in a flash, so don't ask. By
the time my brother came home, at 7:30pm, I was tired of sitting there, and my bones ached. Ouch!
What a bad combination. Wincing, I stood up and went downstairs, seeing what was for
dinner.
"Hey baby sis. It's about time you came down. Mom and dad are coming home this
Friday." Derrick greeted me with raw stuff that needed to be cooked. Just great, my stomach was
growling for food and here was this piece of raw meat and other stuff and needed to be cooked. I
was glad mom was coming home. I haven't seen her and dad for almost a month. Grabbing the
chopping board and knife, I got to work.
"I see you won't be complaining. You'll finally have some edible food when mom does come home."
I joked. Derrick laughed as he plugged in the electirc can opener and tossed a can of gravy up and
down.
"Yeah, I really will starve" He grinned. Both of us rarely cooked, usually the housekeeper, Madeline
came and did all this. But she was off today, which was rare too. Madeline was nice, you know one
of those typical middle aged housekeepers. She was my second mom. My mom, like my biological
mom wasn't a housekeeper type. She was strictly business, like if she wanted something, she just
went for it. Zoom! Just like that, she's really strong and independent. I like to think that I'm
just like her. My dad, was even more businesslike. Both of them ran this big law company. Usually
they were in New York. We have a really nice apartment there, it's almost as big as a townhouse,
like two levels. Anyways, I decided to ask my fave and only bro, if I was like mom. Really insulting,
he doubled over and laughed so hard he nearly dropped the can of gravy. "You? How?" He
managed to gasp. Frowning, I knew I had to put him on the right track.
"You know, like strong and independent. Determind.... stuff like that."
"Ummm... how do I put this?" Derrick stopped laughing, but he still had a silly grin on his face. "Sis,
your more.... human. I mean like, picture this. A mom type, but with more feelings, and more
expression. Get it?" He asked. I knew he was just trying to be nice. I wanted him to say whatever he
wanted to.
"Come on Derrick, just tell me the truth." I said.
"The truth is, you need work. A lot of work. But you're getting there."
Since Derrick did the dishes that night, it was only fair that I took out the trash. I mean, I was trying
to show I was independent and all that. I don't know why, but that fight with Tyler made me feel like
a 3 yr old. And 3 yr olds weren't independent and strong, were they? Of course not! Not to mention
I had embaressed myself by making a scene where the whole high school could see. Tying the trash
bag out, I walked outside. Now, guess who I saw? Oh.... yes. It was my ol' next door neighbour,
Tyler Hopkins, taking out the trash. Ugh, was heaven really that unfair? Ignoring him, I quickly
disposed of the trash and was about to walk back to the house when this thought struck me. OK, so
if I really, really wanted to prove I was independent and stuff, I should call for a peacetalk. Yeah,
that would be it. I turned around and walked over to his driveway. Tyler looked up at me and
snorted. Ugh, that was insulting!
"What do you want?" He asked rudely. Oh, that was really insulting! I wanted to prove I was
independent, yeah, and STRONG! If someone was strong, I seriously doubt they would tolerate this
and let people walk all over them.
"Excuse me? Hello! I'm trying to be nice here." I burst out. Whooops! That was a really blunder.
Tyler straightened up.
"What I just asked what do you want?"
"Yeah, like I'm here to rob you or something."
"That is not true!"
"Yes it is!" I said loudly, I didn't mean to make it sound like it did sound. Accusing, loud and rude.
Oh...... this was going to be a backfire, I could just see it. But that didn't mean I was going to back
down, no way.
"You know something Robyn? You're just plain stupid, and trying to cover it up." Tyler said. Oh!
That hurt. It really did. He was the first person and this was the first time that someone said
something like that to me. I was barely holding back tears, I couldn't believe how much it hurt, like it
was just unexpected.
"Oh yeah? And you're just some immature jerk who gets a kick out of doing geeky jokes." I shot
back angrily. There was this big silence, like really big silence. I could tell I had hurt his feelings by
the way his eyes clouded over and how he was silent. You see, when you're hurt, your brain usually
doesn't react that fast. I started feeling bad, like really bad. I turned and stormed into the house. This
proved it! Tyler Hopkins was as much of a moron as there could be!
