Chapter 195: Morning Squabbles
It was Monday morning. The Sinclairs’ duplex, which was usually bustling with individuals trying to get to their places of work and school, only witnessed three individuals: Miles, Josephine, and Cassie.
To the two girls’ surprise, Miles hadn’t just woken up earlier than them but was already in the kitchen when they came downstairs, with two bowls of cereal waiting for them on the kitchen counter.
Seeing Miles with a milk mustache while absentmindedly chewing on a piece of carrot, and an empty bowl before him, Cassie and Josephine exchanged a speechless glance before beginning to laugh.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Josephine joked as she walked towards the fridge.
"Pregnancy symptoms. You know, if you’re trans, we wouldn’t mind, right?"
Cassie pulled out a chair to sit, dipping her hand into the big bowl at the center of the counter as she did.
As siblings, the two weren’t going to miss the chance to pick on him. However—
"That’s a good one. He probably threw up everything he had last— What the fuck?!"
Having used her strength to secure a firm grip on the bottle’s handle, Josephine expected the weight of about 3 kg but found it unexpectedly light. Instantly squinting her eyes, she saw that the bottle of milk, which had only been opened yesterday morning, was now down to just 10% of what it had contained.
Cassie, who had dipped her hand inside the bowl hoping to grab an apple, surprisingly grasped nothing, her fingers clenching around empty air.
Tilting her head towards Josephine, who had just cursed, her hand rested on the edge of the bowl, causing it to flip and clatter onto the counter.
Cassie opened her mouth in shock, knowing the bowl had been stuffed with fruits from Miles’ grocery shopping last night.
As if sensing something, they both turned towards Miles, who flinched under their gaze, exposing himself.
"Selfish bastard. Did you do this?"
Bang!
Josephine slammed what was left of the milk onto the counter before him.
Cassie picked up the empty bowl, hinting that she would hit him over the head with it if he didn’t speak up.
’What? Am I supposed to tell you two that I fucked the brains out of Hannah and Deb while using three drops of aphrodisiac on myself?’
However, this was a response he didn’t dare give.
Glancing at Cassie and Josephine’s expressions, he sighed, knowing they wouldn’t understand the kind of hunger that had almost killed him twenty minutes ago as a repercussion of overloading himself last night.
Every ounce of nutrients had been absorbed to repair the vitality he had spent last night, and his stomach had sunken by the time he woke up.
Rushing into the kitchen, he had devoured everything in sight. The fruits in the bowl were the first to fall prey, then the box of cereal and bottle of milk.
’I wonder how they’ll react if they know the cereal is gone too.’
Breaking the looming silence by first taking a deep breath,
"I was hungry," he replied, meeting their gaze.
Cassie and Josephine didn’t expect him to reply so seriously. They temporarily paused, blinking twice, then quickly withdrew their threats.
"Hmmm."
Cassie let out a cold harrumph and placed the big bowl back down, whilst Josephine took a breath and lashed out one more time.
"Still not enough reason to drink so much milk. You better replace it."
She turned her face away, rolling her eyes in displeasure.
"Ah. Thank you. Catch you later. I want to go have my bath."
Miles nodded appreciatively and was about to dash up the stairs when the doorbell rang.
’Ehn?’
Cassie and Josephine glanced at him. With no choice, he walked towards the door, wondering who it might be this time.
Click!
To his surprise, he saw Jazmín, half-dressed in her neatly ironed school uniform while wearing flip-flops.
"Hi."
Seeing his taken-aback expression mixed with surprise, Jazmín waved her fingers at him, smiling as she also took in his appearance. He clearly wasn’t ready to be in school anytime soon.
"Uhm, hey, Jazmín. Good morning. What’s good?"
Blinking his eyes, Miles facepalmed, realizing he had said too much for a simple greeting.
Understanding that he was still running through some morning brain fog, Jazmín smiled, finding it cute.
"Well, as you can see, I’m good. I just wanted to ask if you’ll be taking a ride so maybe I can tag along?"
Jazmín stretched out her hand and pressed a finger against his chest, tracing a series of letters to form the word ’please?’
"Uhm..."
Surprised but even more speechless about how to break the news to her, Miles hesitated.
Seeing his hesitant expression, Jazmín asked,
"Thought you said she wouldn’t mind." Jazmín pouted.
"Well, that’s not it. I’m taking the school bus," Miles revealed.
Jazmín became speechless. The smile on her face froze as though she had heard something ridiculous.
"The school bus?" she repeated, as if recalling something archaic—a term she had long forgotten.
"Yep!" Miles nodded, not feeling embarrassed since it was a choice he and the boys had made. Besides, the whole junior year already knew about it.
"Never mind. Let’s pretend I never asked. Not everyone can be you."
Jazmín instantly switched expressions and shook her head with an exasperated sigh.
"I guess I’ll see you at school then. Try not to be late."
She teased him about his appearance before quickly running away in her flip-flops while Miles shook his head.
"Who was that?" Josephine asked when he got back inside.
"Jazmín," Miles replied before dashing to his room.
40 Minutes Later.
Dominion High.
"Hey, you good?"
"Broooooo!"
"Don’t be scared. We’ve got you."
The bustling hallway witnessed something astonishing as the school’s most infamous clique of bullies hugged and shook hands with people they would usually rough up or slam against the lockers.
Chris walked silently at the center with a cold expression while Ben and Tyler happily greeted the other students.
However, just as they were merry over a secret only they knew, Chris stopped in his tracks after spotting a certain figure, who also happened to glance at them.
