STOIC

FOUR

EMMERSON

Emmerson 8

Stoic 14

The dress thing wasn’t that bad, but I wore it with pants. It was like having a very long shirt, and I liked it. I could still run and jump in it. The other three birthdays after that one, he got me dresses too. I guessed that from now on, he would be giving me dresses.

I remembered, during that summer, Stoic gave me a metal hoop as big as my head. He said that from that moment on, he would get me a hoop every summer, but that each one would be smaller than the last.

He was so stupid. Why would I want a collection of ugly hoops of different sizes? He was an i***t.

So far, I had four of them. They fit, one inside of the other perfectly. Some were thicker, some were thinner. Who knew why, though?

The wooden gifts for the harvest festival during the fall were always the best ones. Once, he brought me a small rocking chair. It was super simple, but it was just my size. He told me not to worry if I outgrew it, as he said we’d give it another use later.

Time passed, and I still had zero friends. Girls thought I was strange, boys were scared as chicken s**t of Stoic, and wild animals were not the best company. I learned that the hard way. I must have got bitten twice before I realized that squirrels hated me.

Stoic would make me go to the river once a week to fish. Sometimes we caught big ones, and Mom would cook them for us. Stoic said that the fish I caught were his favorite meal, but then he made me fish for him as if I was his slave. Fishing took an excruciatingly long time. Boring, Stoic just sat on a rock as if he was among his family members and looked at the water. I got bored and talked non-stop. Each time I asked him about something, he would answer accurately. It didn’t matter how specific and detailed the question was. I didn’t know how he did it. Not even I could remember all the things I asked. Kenzo and Ethan would join us fishing, too, but they sucked at it and just swam in the river instead.

Stoic and Kenzo were changing fast, and they started to look very different. Stoic had been doing a lot of exercising with Kenzo. His shoulders were broader. He got taller, way taller, and his face was growing hair. Hair! Yuck! His face was changing, too, getting sharper. His jaw was super square now, and he looked hideous. The scariest thing was his voice—it had gotten so much deeper. At least I would have a laugh when it cracked and made him sound ridiculous.

I didn’t spend much of my time around girls, but I could hear them talking about him all the time. They were all idiots. I hated what they all said about Stoic. “Stoic is handsome,” “Stoic is smart,” “Stoic is so tall,” “Stoic is so strong,” “Stoic this,” and “Stoic that.” If they knew Stoic like I did, they would stay away from him. Some even pretended to be friends with me when he was around. I didn’t care. I called them out right in front of Stoic’s face, and they would all lose their s**t. I liked how Stoic smirked when that happened.

Stoic didn’t seem to be interested in girls, though. He ignored all of them. It seemed it was not just me; it looked like he hated all girls. Scratch that—I knew he hated girls. He looked at them like they were disgusting cockroaches. I knew many would try to talk to him, but he completely, absolutely, and painfully ignored them. I had even seen some of them cry over him.

My brother and other guys his age were utterly different. I didn’t know why guys liked those fake-looking girls so much. I bet none of them would make it more than two hours in the wild without melting. Guys seemed to always be chasing them, but not Stoic. That rock only liked fishing. Maybe the only girl he could stomach being near was me, and because I was like his sister, he didn’t have any other option.

It was mid-August, and Stoic’s 14th birthday was today. I had the perfect prank in store for him. Uncle and Auntie were having a birthday dinner at their house for him later in the day. Since Stoic liked to fish so much, we decided to go fishing in the morning. Kenzo had a girlfriend now and had started acting stupid, so it was just Stoic and me again. It was the perfect time to put my plan into action.

I brought a little box wrapped with a red ribbon with me and told him it was a secret birthday present. The box was empty. I told him he could open it after he caught the first fish.

“Emmy, three or four?” There it was, the stupid question. I just started to answer with whatever came to my mind first.

“Four and a half.”

He nodded and wrote it down. Weirdo. He had this notebook full of numbers. Who knew what wicked thing he was up to.

Before we knew it, the line was shaking, and Stoic reeled in the fish. It was huge. He put the fish in the bucket and extended his long arm toward me.

“What?” I asked like I didn’t know.

“My gift.”

“OK, but you gotta sit down. OK?”

He was too tall, and for my plan to work, I had to be able to reach his stupid face. I walked backward, not losing sight of him. He had a strange look in his eyes. He might have known I was up to no good. He knew me too well.

He slowly sat down, and his eyes narrowed on me. Stoic knew for sure I was up to no good. I got the little box and stepped closer to him. I got closer than I needed to. He just sat and looked at me. I knew he didn’t trust me. I gave him the box, and he hesitated.

“Open it,” I sang.

He gave me another hard look and started pulling the ribbon. Stoic opened the box and found nothing.

“It’s empty.”

“What? No! Did it fall?” I mustered my best acting, covering my mouth with my hands as if I were surprised and got closer to “look” into the box. He was caught off guard.

“What was it?” He looked around the ground.

By then, I was really, really close to him. He wouldn’t be able to escape me. I internally had an evil villain laugh moment. Wahahahaha. He would be puking for a week.

“Oh, I think I see it!” I was a diva. I was standing really close to him, in between his legs.

“Where?”

“Here!” I grabbed his face in my hands, squeezed his cheeks, and pulled his face up. Once his face met mine, I kissed him. I gave him the wettest, biggest kiss I could. Ha, he was stupefied.

His eyes were wide open, and his face got tomato red. His lips were a little open from my squeezing, so I knew my saliva was in his mouth. I was enjoying my victory! Since Stoic was frozen in place, I just kept my lips tightly pressed against his, holding my laughter back. He didn’t move. After a long while, Stoic still hadn’t moved yet, and I started to think that this might not have been a great idea after all.

When I tried to pull away from Stoic, he put one hand behind my head, pulled my jaw down with the other one, and pressed me harder against him, slipping his tongue inside my mouth.

Yuck!

I tried to push him off, but he didn’t flinch. He started licking my tongue with his, and his lips moved on mine.

Yuck, yuck, yuck, and yuck!

His eyes slowly closed, and he seemed like he wanted to eat me alive. The hand on my jaw slowly moved downward, touching over my chest and continuing lower. That felt wrong.

I was desperate. I didn’t know what to do, so I kicked him in between his legs. My foot hit something hard, and Stoic fell on the ground, doubled over, and grunted.

“What the hell, Stoic? Yuck!” I started spitting and gagging, making as much noise as I could. The joke was on me. I would be the one puking for a week. Stupid f*****g Stoic.

Stoic stayed there, all curled up on the ground, holding his pants. I couldn’t even see his face, but his ears were red. I cleaned my mouth with the river water and spat many times. Minutes must have passed by, but Stoic stayed on the ground, face in the dirt until I started to get worried.

“Are you okay?” I looked at him like he was a strange thing I found on the floor and was about to poke with a stick.

“Turn around, Emmerson,” he sounded embarrassed. The big old Dokken had been fallen by the foot of a tiny girl. I wished I could record this.

“Why, though?” I was going to give him a hard time.

“Because I said so. Just turn the f**k around, Emmerson.”

“Make me!” I was a brat.

“Emmerson, turn around, or I’ll kiss you again.”

That did it! “OK, OK, you are so stupid.” I turned around, and I heard Stoic move. I gave a little peek and saw him turning his back to me, getting in the water.

“What are you doing?”

Was he going for a swim?

“I’m going for a swim. Go, Emmerson. Take the fish with you. I want to be alone.” He held onto his head as if it were about to fall off. He still had his back to me.

“No, I want to swim too.” He always kicked me out of all the fun things.

“Fuckdammit, Emmerson. Leave!” he yelled at me. He was angry, and he looked desperate. I swear he was bipolar.

“OK, you ogre!” I picked the bucket up and stomped my way back home. There still was a lot of time left before the dinner, so after leaving the fish with Auntie Ida, I went to roll down the hill near the village’s gathering house.

When it was time, I went home, changed my clothes, and walked over to The Dokken’s house with Mom.

During dinner, Stoic didn’t look very animated, not that he ever was, but he looked more miserable than his usual self.

I’ll be damned. My plan worked. Ha!

I must have taken a toll on his pride because Stoic still looked embarrassed during dinner.

Wahahaha!

He stood up, and his father followed him. I saw him talk briefly with his dad inside the house. From the look on their faces, it must have been something serious.

They came back when it was time for him to get his presents. He got an envelope from his father.

What did it have inside? I had no idea.

All I knew was that Stoic loved it. He gave his dad a tight hug, and his father patted his back many times before letting him go.

My family gave him some big odd-looking tools that looked like saws, some spiky things, and a shovel that my father made himself.

What did he need tools for?

I didn’t know, but this was Stoic, so nothing made sense.

It was getting late, so we all started talking and joking around. Stoic remained silent—like always. Somehow my mom brought up the girlfriend topic, and Ethan immediately started making fun of Kenzo for his new “girlfriend.” Kenzo swung his hand and slapped the back of Ethan’s head so hard it echoed throughout the backyard. We all laughed, saying how come Ethan’s head was empty enough to make that sound.

Mom jumped in and said that Riley was asking for Ethan that morning. Auntie let out a funny “weeeee” sound, bothering Ethan even further. We all laughed so hard that my belly started to hurt. Ethan tried to defend himself and said, “At least I have kissed a girl. Stoic runs away from them like they have the pest!” Kenzo chuckled at that comment, finding it completely hilarious.

I let out a big laugh and said, “Pfft, I kissed Stoic, and he was so embarrassed he rolled over and stayed on the ground, hiding his face for five minutes.” I was laughing hysterically without noticing all the laughter around me had died, and I was the only one still laughing.

Suddenly, everyone’s heads turned toward Stoic, and they were looking at him with disbelief in their eyes. His face was so red it almost looked purple.

I kept laughing, and my mom slapped my thigh. “Stop it.”

“What? It’s funny.”

“Emmerson Silva, stop,” she said, as in “zip it or else.”

“Stoic, can I have a word with you?” My father’s voice had never sounded deeper.

Stoic nodded, stood up fast, and walked into the house. My father stood up and walked right behind him.

“I’ll join you two,” my uncle said and followed them. Once they got inside, they closed the door.

Was he in trouble? I was the one that kissed him, though.

I heard a soft chuckle and looked to my left. Auntie Ida was covering her mouth, trying not to laugh too hard. I heard giggles to my right, and my mom was doing the same. Behind me, Kenzo and Ethan were laughing too.

“So, you kissed him?” Auntie asked, and I could hear more laughter.

What was happening?

“To bother him,” I said, not sure I liked where this was going.

“Yeah, right,” Ethan said.

Stupid, why else would I do it?

“I’m not lying! It was to bother him.”

Oh, I’d be in trouble for this. Oh crap, they thought I liked the ugly face ginger.

“Yeah… bothering him. That’s a good one, Emmy,” Kenzo mocked me, making quotation signs. I wanted to punch him in the face.

“Just remember, Stoic is not a little boy anymore, sweetheart,” my mother said. He never was. He had always been tall as hell.

“One day, you’ll get it,” Auntie said, then patted my head.