How To Make Murder Look Like Suicide?
1171 Words
The car rolled to a stop in front of the charcoal navy, ranch-style house that stood rigidly, adjacent to a decent bungalow of a lone gruff man. The houses on this side of town needed some kind of oddity to complete their aesthetics, either from the inhabitants or the building itself. Zane pulled on one of the master control panels, murmuring about how his teammate had borrowed his cream Lamborghini and retumed it with the passenger seat door panel busted.
The door clicked open and I got off. I shut the door and made my way to the porch with him following behind me. I opened the door with my spare and got in. My stomach growled at the sweet scent of spaghetti and meatballs, my mouth was watering, and I didn't realize that I had drooled a bit until Danna pointed it out.
"Ew. Sydney, get a grip. Want the rest of us to lose appetite or what? " The look of disgust in her face almost, "Almost" brought embarrassment to mine.
"Danna Penelope lane, be nice to your elder sister" My mom warned sternly to my almond-haired little sister, who just rolled her eyes and leaned against the couch. Zane walked into the kitchen first, and I followed behind him.
"Good day Elena, looking radiant as always." My mom beamed at the compliment and I felt my eyes twitch.
"You're too sweet Zane." She grinned at him, shifting her gaze to me. "How was school?"
I moved over to the sink, where they had dumped a bowl of fresh apples and grabbed two from it.
"Received the daily dose of misfortune fervently, so I'd rank it mediocre at best." I muttered, biting into my apple, tossing the other to Zane, who caught it without having to move, on the other side of the kitchen.
"Zane?" My mom asked, turning to Zane. "How was your day?"
" Asked a girl out at school, and we're going out on Friday. So, it was pretty swell. " Zane boasted with an unapologetic glow.
"Well, that's a first." Danna droned from the sitting room. My mom threw a plastic cup through the kitchen passthrough at Danna, who ducked just in time before it smacked her on the face.
" Don't listen to Danna, that’s awesome news. Promise me a full detailed rundown of your date when you get back? "
"You bet." He clicked his tongue twice, snapping his fingers, then pointing at her with one eye closed. I cringed so hard I thought I might not make it through the intense rush of adrenaline that flew down my spine.
My mom smiled genuinely at him, she had always had a soft spot for Zane, not that I've had that many friends over the years. Sometimes I wondered if she liked Zane because she wanted to, or because he had literally grown on her for the past 14 years, when they moved here.
Sometimes I think she might just be tolerating the charmer, because I had shown very little interest in having other friends.
"I got off early from work today, so I decided to make you guys a good meal." My mom started. Moving from the stove to the cabinet to get ingredients.
" The cafeteria food keeps getting more disgusting by the day. Need help? " Zane offered, munching on his mouthful of the reddish fruit. She shook her head, her long almond mane the exact replica of Danna’s, swayed at the motion.
" You kids don't have to bother. Go and freshen up Sydney, I'll be done before you're out. " I nodded curtly and started to leave the kitchen when Zane spoke up.
" Need help in the shower Pop? ”
"f**k you Coco." I fumed, sticking my middle finger in the air at him. Before I backed them again, I saw my mom give the ‘ Seriously' kind of look. He mumbled an apology with his lips pressed against each other.
"And language young lady." I was already ascending the stairs when my mom snapped.
One of the things that my mom had said that proved difficult to digest, another one of my unyielding traits that Zane had managed to bend. It was my short-temperedness and supposed lack of empathy in most cases.
Hear me out, would a temperamental person kneel on hard wood and feed someone else a bowl of spaghetti while the other party enjoys an interesting video game, giving the feeder almost no time to eat their own food?
I don't think so!
"Zane." I snapped, boring holes through his thick head of hair. Even though I wanted to shove his head into the feistily seasoned spaghetti bowl, I couldn't do that and risk having the cute little bun he had instructed me to put his hair on earlier, so he could focus on his really important boss level.
"Hmm? No s**t head, you go left. " He cussed at the s**t head of a teammate he was gaming with.
Ignoring my call, making the little thread of flame that was brewing in my chest spread vastly.
I picked up my own plate to take a bite when I noticed he had undivided attention to the television now.
"Poppy." He called softly, opening his mouth widely. I chewed on my cheeks. I should probably look up how to make murder look like suicide. I might need it sooner than originally anticipated. “Pop.” He took off the headset and turned to me with a frown.
"You're slacking, my man." He probed with a sigh. "You want me to tutor you on calculus or what?" my fingers balled into a fist as I watched the jerk speechlessly.
" Up your game Pop, it's our last year at Nile's high. Feed me and let's get to tutoring. " He persisted as if it was the most normal thing in the world to say.
I blame Mr. Fernando for not being thorough with his teaching. But if Zane is a genius at it, doesn't that mean my brain is to be blamed? Why does he have to rub it in my face though? It’s not like I'm this dense in other subjects, plus we've always supported each other positively academic wise.
Sure, there was this one time I posted his test score where the teacher had doodled the face of a clown on it as zero, on social media in the 10th grade, and the other time I teased him about spelling 'other as order' in his assignment for a few days, or weeks, maybe months?
But isn't this a bit extreme for payback? That is just pure evil.
" Get to it Poppy, or you'll have to microwave. I don't do cold food. " He smirked wickedly. By this time, the little thread had burned to the end and fell on a card which caught the flame and spread it while completing a swift domino effect.
I guess I'll be having prom in jail after all.
- Writer
