More than a game episode 1

More than a game
→→→ Jilting the tits ←←
By Bunmi B. Gabriel (BB)
🀄 Book one 🀄
🎀 Hailey’s standpoint 🎀
I knocked on Hans door gently, hoping he would answer this time. He had been locked up in there for weeks, refusing to go to school for almost a month now. He needed to be in school, Ivan was going around showing off Maggie and boasting that he was now the new king because Hans wasn’t coming back. Which is true, Hans will never go back there for fear of seeing them together and getting his heartbroken allover again. Ivan already took over the football team, he was the co captain in a sort of way so now, he was acting as captain. Hans needs to come back before his reputation is completely crushed.
Ivan even had the right to say “and he calls himself a Kendrick.”
That is a big insult! Even our younger brother has more guts than Hans. ‘Hans, you need to go save your reputation!’ Hadley shouted, pounding on the door.
‘Lee, that isn’t going to work out.’ I sighed, everyone calls her Lee so you will see that name more than Hadley. You know Lee as in Hadley with an “e” instead of a “y”.
‘We have to do something!’
‘We shouldn’t be worried about Hans’s reputation, we should be more worried about his health and emotional stability.’
‘What are we suppose to do now?’ She whispered. ‘This isn’t what we planned.’
‘Let’s go out, Melody is waiting for us at the shop.’ I said lowly. Melody is our cousin, our mother’s older sister’s second daughter. She’s very calm, doesn’t speak much but each words made so much sense. She’s pretty cool and just like her name and her father, she’s a music lover. The only scary thing about her is the blue headed p-nther that never leaves her side. If that cat didn’t have a licence to move around freely, I would have bought a gun.
‘Maybe she can help us think,’ Lee suggested.
‘Maybe,’
~
~
~
Lee and I walked into the ice cream shop, Melody loves coming here. Her father opened the store just for her, to work when she isn’t off on tour. Bluey, her p-nther saw us first. She ran to us, moving like she was jumping on air. I don’t like animals, they creep me out, especially wide ones. That’s unfortunate because Hans have two annoying monkeys; a vervet monkey and an all-white spider monkey. Lee keeps a bunny as her best friend. Bunnies are so dumb.
‘Hi Blue,’ I said nervously, shifting away from her. She rubbed herself against Lee who giggled. Bluey’s rules are simple:
1. I touch you but don’t you dare touch me or I’ll bite off your fingers.
2. Don’t touch my property, especially my toys.
3. Don’t stand too close to Melody, she’s off limit.
4. Don’t touch my hair, it’s sacred.
5. Don’t approach me when I don’t approach you.
6. If you don’t know me, don’t call my name, you don’t deserve to.
7. Even if you know me, as long as I don’t like you, don’t call my name or look at me.
She’s such a snub and she don’t like me. She’s nice to Lee but love Hans and my younger brother. Everybody else is forbidden, including Melody’s siblings. ‘Hey girl, where’s Melody?’ Lee asked. Bluey growled. ‘We just wanna talk, please? It’s about Hans.’
She turned and ran towards the kitchen. We followed her to the kitchen; Melody was busy mixing creams while the other chefs made other types of ice creams.
‘No Milan, don’t mix the blueberry and kiwi flavour together,’ she called as calmly as ever. She looked at us and smiled. ‘Hey cuz, what’s up?’
‘Hans, that baby is up.’ I grumbled.
‘Oh, Bethany, can you come help me handle the mixer? I have to take this.’
‘Okay ma’am,’
‘Thank you,’ we watched her leave the mixer to the sink to wash her hands. Lee pulled me out, we took a booth and sat down to wait for her. We waited for over six minutes before she came out with a tray of three good looking ice creams. ‘Here you go, my latest ice cream sundaes, try it.’
‘Ice cream isn’t our problem,’ I huffed. Lee happily took mine and hers. I glared at her.
‘What? You are not in the mood, I am. I am always in the mood for ice cream,’ she said with a childish pout. I sighed.
‘Save some for me,’
‘Okay.’
‘Now,’ Melody said, picking up her spoon. ‘What about Hans?’
‘Ivan, we showed him what Ivan really is and now he won’t get his f-king ass out of his room!’
‘Hmm, have you tried talking to him?’ She asked as she excavated her ice cream.
‘Three weeks,’
‘Words?’
‘Motivational quotes, movies quote, nothing is working!’ I yelled in frustration.
‘Hmm,’ she tapped her spoon on her chin. ‘Maybe he doesn’t need quotes, he just needs action.’
‘Meaning?’
‘You know he’s mommy’s pet, he won’t listen to anyone else except your mother when he’s like this.’
‘I don’t want to involve mom,’ I said as I leaned back on my chair.
‘Hans need to get back to school,’ Lee said with mouth full. ‘Ivan is ruining his reputation.’
‘Hans need to go back and act like he don’t care, intimidate Ivan. You all have that intimidating aura already, especially you and him. He just needs to use it…’
‘Especially me and Phoenix,’ I corrected. My younger brother is as annoying as he is scary… Or maybe because Hans is too nice.
‘Oh, the thing is Maggie, that girl is jilt and must be dealt with. Even if I don’t like the idea, Hans need to stab them both where it hurts more, like their pride. He needs to find a way to kill two birds with one stone.’ Melody suggested.
‘Hmm,’ I stroke my chin. ‘Find a way to break the jilt and crush Ivan at the same time. He can do that in so many ways, he’s better than him. The only thing now is finding a way to play both of them. Lee, any idea…’ I frowned when I saw Lee licking the cups. ‘You finished it!’
‘What? You wanted some?’ She asked as she continued licking a cup. ‘Mm, so good…’
‘We are not getting anything out of her, she’s the dumb one in the family.’ I scoffed. Lee snorted.
‘Me and you are blockheads, you blockhead, I blockhead, end of story.’
‘I’m smarter than you are,’
‘Smarter doesn’t state intelligence. What is 2+2? You don’t know. When I was your age, I could solve anything. Just look at yourself Hailey, you don’t even know how to spell your name.’ Lee boasted.
‘Should I spell it on your face?’
‘Shhhh, don’t speak rudely to the mother that gave birth to you, okay?’ I rolled my eyes, she’s annoying. ‘Melody baby, the sugar in my tea. Won’t you give me more ice creams?’
‘I’m afraid I didn’t make…’
‘Are you gonna eat that?’
‘Yes, I…’ Lee took it with a grin.
‘Thank you very much for sacrificing for a sister, you are blessed. You are not like some stingy people I know,’ she eyed me and hissed, rolling her eyes away. ‘I didn’t mention a name, I only said people. It’s a good thing the stingy people know themselves.’
Melody chuckled lightly. ‘Is the ice cream more important right now?’
‘Is it my fault he wants to kill himself? If I die, he would still be wallowing. Don’t worry, by helping myself with this ice creams, his stomach will get full as well. Right blockhead?’
‘The conclusion to this discussion is I should first use mom to get to him?’ I asked, ignoring Lee.
‘But first, must come up with a good plan t…’
‘Good afternoon,’ someone greeted Melody. My eyes averted to her.
‘Wow,’ was all that left my mouth. The girl was small bodied with violet hair dye and cute glasses. She didn’t look like your usual nerd but with her dress code, I could tell she was something related and a s-cker for anything related to purple. Her hands were decorated with different purple related colours of beads and brackets. Her neck was coated the same way and then her outfit was a purple jodhpurs, a silly yet pretty lilac shirt and white Nike sneakers. Her weaved belt was white as well. Her hair was packed into a ponytail, a long swishing ponytail.
‘Who’s the purple unicorn?’ Lee asked blankly.
‘Oh, that’s Iris Hathaway, she’s a new girl.’
‘Iris, she should have been named Violet,’ Lee said with mouth full.
‘She’s beautiful, cold looking,’ I said absent mindedly. My brain was trying to register where I’ve seen her before, somewhere around. ‘Does she attend our school?’
‘Nay,’
‘She looks really familiar…’
‘You see the reason why I say you are a blockhead? A dunce? I stand corrected. A brainy kid like me would be fast enough to place something. That’s the girl we once saw Ivan with, the one he likes a lot but she hates him, is that unicorn… Hey! I’ll call her that. Hi unicorn!” Lee shouted, waving at the girl as she opened the kitchen door. The girl looked at her and smiled delicately. Lee giggled and grinned at me.
I rolled my eyes. ‘Why does she hate Ivan?’
‘Again, you don’t have sense,’ she said with a pitiful shake of her head. ‘How am I suppose to know? Why should I care?’
‘Tell me I don’t have sense again and I’ll punch you,’ I threatened. She made a dumb face and mimicked me silently. I rolled my eyes.
‘Look guys, I need to head back to the kitchen,’ Melody said, standing up. ‘I know you girls can think of something, you’re both smart when you put your heads together…’
‘Exactly!’ Lee exclaimed, clapping her hands. ‘This is the exact words I told her years ago!’ She said really loudly. ‘I told her to remove her head and sew it to mine, so we could think better and faster, but she refused. Look where it has landed us now, two brilliant minds separated from each other’s… Point of correction, one brilliant mind separated from the peanut size brain.’
Melody laughed and shook her head. ‘Don’t vex me Lee.’ I warned.
‘Why wouldn’t I? Remove your head I said, nooooo, you said. What use are you if you can’t sacrifice your head for me? Two heads are better than one they said, I’m trying to help you seeing as you don’t have anything in there. Just look at who I’m trying to manage…’
‘Lee,’ I snapped.
‘What? You want to beat me?’ I face palmed myself. She shift the glass cup to me. ‘Use this to smack yourself, it’s more effective…’
‘Shut up Lee,’ I whined. She’s impossible to deal with. She pinned her l-ips and smiled widely.
‘I’m just going to keep shut because I don’t want you to drown this place with your tears.’ She innocently put her scoop of ice cream into her mouth.
‘Remind me to tell Phoenix you killed his spider,’
She gasped, throwing her spoon away. she quickly did the sign of the cross. ‘May his creepy soul rest in peace. Tell him I killed his creepy pet, and I’ll tell him you were the one who advice dad to seize his credit cards.’
‘Well played sis, well played.’ I smirked, leaning on the table. Melody was already gone.
‘Well, I learnt from the best.’
⚡ Han’s standpoint ⚡
‘F-cking open this door Hans and pay me back your…er my money!’ Phoenix shouted, hammering on my bedroom door. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, wasn’t crying, just frustrated.
Ivan was my best friend, he was like a brother to me. After mom sent me to live with dad’s old grandmother or whatever she is, I was all alone. Phoenix lived opposite grandma’s mansion, he was the only kid in the neighborhood, the only one grandma let me play with. We had been friends since I was two. How was I suppose to know he envied me? How was I suppose to know that all these while he had been finding joy in breaking all my relationsh¡ps?! I spent three days wallowing, used that to find out everything, used five to beat myself up for being a fool and the rest to rack my head on how to repay him back for his generosity. I didn’t even care about Maggie, never liked her.
‘Hans, don’t f-cking keep me standing here like an ass waiting for f-ck! I need my money back!’
How did that small thief get into my house again?
‘Hans!!!’
‘Get out of my f-cking house you worm!’
‘I’m not leaving this house until you pay me back my money.’
‘I didn’t take your goddamn money!!!’ I roared. He kept quiet for a while.
‘Why are you shouting at me? Did I say anything wrong? I only asked for my money,’ he said softly. ‘Bro, are you okay?’
‘No, I’m not fine! I’m frustrated!’
‘Okay, open the door so we can talk d*ck to d*ck,’ he pleaded. I sighed and stood up. Phoenix is two years younger; sixteen. But he f-cking acts like an annoying kid every single time! I love him though. ‘Hans open this door before I call mom!’
‘Shut up, I’m coming and stop yelling like a girl,’ I huffed. I unlocked the bolts and walked back to my big gray king size bed. My hands were in my pockets as I dragged myself there.
‘Wow, you look like someone ran you over with a car.’
‘Wow, I’m still alive.’ I said sarcastically.
‘Unfortunately.’
‘Phoenix,’ I sighed, falling back on my bed. ‘What do you want?’
‘I’m broke, I need money. Dad won’t give me another dime, the old man said I’m a money wasting machine.’ He said upsettingly.
‘You are,’
‘I am not. When he was my age, didn’t he spend his money on women and fashion too? I need to look good, spend his money on latest items to impress the ladies. Why am I his son if I can’t spend his money? He’s rich.’ Phoenix shrugged as he ran his hand into his hair. I rolled my eyes and look at my roof; a picture of my baby sis staring back at me. Mom accidentally got pregnant again, had my cute five years old sister. Her smile brought a smile to my l-ips too.
‘What money do I owe you? The last time I checked, I started paying your bills since dad cut you off last year.’
‘Let’s talk about who’s paying whose bills later and talk about what is up with you,’ he sat on the bed. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Ivan.’
‘Is he dead? It’s been a while I attended someone’s funeral…’ He grinned when I glared at him. ‘Sorry, go on.’
‘Ivan have been the reason for my constant relationsh¡p failure, my badluck.’
‘Not your bad luck, his and am I suppose to be surprise? I’m not.’
‘How many people knew about this?’ I asked frowningly.
‘How about everyone. That stupid broke ass dude have been taking money from you. You are too generous Hans, too caring. Anyone can literally just come to you and say “hey Hans, good evening. My mom is sick, I need…” And you will cut the person off by saying. “Send me your account details.” You are generously foolish… I mean foolishly generous. I remember the first time we went out together, the amount of people you stopped by to dash out money. That is what Ivan have been doing, extorting money from the exploitable idiot.’
‘You know I can break your jaw, right? I might be soft hearted but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to break someone’s spine.’
‘Break me and mom kills you… The thing is that you need to stop being so soft hearted. Know when to say no, when to snub and be stingy like me. I can never give anybody anything, not even a cent…’
‘And that is why you are completely broke,’ I chuckled.
‘That fact isn’t proven bro, you can’t prove that.’
‘Hmm, I want to pay Ivan back.’
‘Revenge?’ He asked grinningly, he loves people’s suffering. Reason number five why dad didn’t mark him in any of his important properties. ‘I can help with that. You can start by returning to school and showing them a new Hans, one that would remind them whose son you are. I can’t force you to be stingy like me, it takes years of practice for such an important job…’ He patted himself on the shoulder. ‘But you can remind Ivan that he is nothing but a scrap picker, your doormat. He must worsh¡p you!’ I smacked the back of his head. ‘Sorry, forgot you are not man enough… I’m sorry!’ He shielded his face as I sat up to punch him. I dropped my hand and knocked his head. ‘Ow! My beautiful brain!’
‘Phoenix!’
‘Okay, fine! Geez! Boys and their temper,’ he shifted far away from me. ‘I said boys, you are a boy and me a man. Cool, right?’
‘Phoenix,’ I said, holding back my annoyance. ‘Do you have an idea or not?’
‘As you make him k-ss your feet, play a get back game.’
‘What game?’
‘You know that girl he likes? The one whose face we didn’t see because of her hood?’
‘The one he doesn’t know we are aware of?’ He nodded. ‘You want me to play with her feelings by dating her?’
‘Not like that. How about I find out all I can about her, then you can use her weakness to get her to date him temporarily to hurt Ivan and Maggie. As reward for my hærd work, you pay me good money.’
‘That is a…’
‘Brilliant idea!’ Hailey shrieked, walking into my room. Oh great. ‘I never knew you had a brain in there Phoenix…’
‘Ironic,’ Lee sang innocently. Hailey glared at her. ‘What?’ She asked innocently.
‘Ignoring her. You find out all you can and leave the agreement to me. I do have a nice sway with people.’
‘This is going to backfire… Lee why are you dragging me?’ I huffed.
‘Come, I want to bathe my big baby.’
‘Lee, I have hands, stop trying to bathe me.’
‘Can I give you a shave then?’
‘Lee!’
To be continued.
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🍂🔥 Authoress Bunmi B. Gabriel 🔥🍂