"Branna, piss off, I'm sleepin' here!" I snapped into my pillow, keeping my eyes tightly closed.
I felt a whack on my arse, which made me scream, and caused me to jump upright to my feet, so that I was standing on my bed. "That's child abuse!" I shouted to Branna, who stood at the end of my bed with her arms folded and her eyes narrowed at me.
Shite.
She didn't look amused in the slightest.
I did something wrong.
"What did I do? Why are you in here wakin' me up and hittin' me? I'm your little sister you shouldn't-"
"Save it, I heard you this mornin', turnin' off your alarm and goin' back to bed. You ditched school today and that is not cool, not cool at all. You have been a walkin' hormone since you came home from school on Monday. What is wrong with you?"
I groaned, not wanting to explain why I've been off all week.
"Nothin', I just don't feel good today."
I wasn't telling her the full truth. I really didn't feel very good, but the entire truth was that I didn't want to go to school today because I didn't want to deal with another day of Dominic while I felt ill. If Branna knew that he was bullying me, she would call the school and demand a meeting, which would embarrass me. Or she would find out where Dominic lived and murder him. And that would leave me homeless since she technically owned our house and paid for everything. Plus killing Dominic would land her arse in Mountjoy Prison and I would be left all on my own.
"I'll let it slide this once because you're always in school but in the future, tell me if you're sick, okay? I'll make a doctor's appointment for you."
I shook my head. "I'm due my monthly, I think that's what has me sore and cranky."
I was due my period but what had me all wound up was an American dickhead named Dominic. After that first meeting at school Monday morning, he made it his personal mission to get as close to me as he could throughout the school week, because he knew how much I hated it. I even slapped him across the face on Wednesday when he grabbed my arse. He said there was a spider on it, and he was just wiping it off for me.
It was utter bullshit, and he knew it. He fucking squeezed my arse cheek to the point of pain, and that's why he had a grin on his face while pretending to be a do-gooder. Yeah, I was really grateful, so grateful that I left a pretty decent handprint on his cheek that was visible for the rest of the day which had him grumbling and his brother grinning.
Speaking of his brother, it turned out that Damien was the polar opposite of Dominic; he was nice and didn't piss me off. I got paired with him for a science experiment and during that class he apologised for Dominic's behaviour and kindly asked me not to follow-through on any plans I might have formed to murder him, because he liked him alive and breathing, but only a little.
He was extremely flirtatious, but I paid him no mind and just focused on the project we had together. He seemed to get that I wasn't interested in flirting or talking with him at all. He didn't even try after the first few minutes of getting no response from me, which I silently celebrated over. Now, if only his brother gave up as easily, then I would be on cloud nine.
Branna's loud snort pulled me from my thoughts and caused me to look at her.
"What?"
"Nothin'," she chuckled. "Just thinkin' of you bein' in labour with a baby. You wouldn't be able to handle any aspect of childbirth if you can't handle period pains."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh and you are such an expert on childbirth?"
Uh, stupid question.
"No, but compared to you on the subject I am an expert. I am a medical student studyin' to be a midwife, after all. I'm in my fourth year, which means I get to be present in the delivery room now while women give birth so I can get a proper understandin' of what I'm goin' to be doin' when I graduate."
I shivered. "You're so nasty, you actually want to look at a ten pound ham comin' out of a vagina!"
Branna burst out laughing. "Don't call a baby a ham, you bitch!"
I shivered again and groaned before I scrubbed my face a few times with my hands. "Now I'm picturin' someone givin' birth, I hate you!"
Branna burst out laughing again, then moved to my window and opened my curtains, making me hiss at the sunlight that streamed into my room.
"Get up and get dressed, vampire. Since you aren't in school you can do the shoppin' while I'm at the hospital workin'."
That was fair.
"Are you at the hospital all day?"
When Branna wasn't in college doing a million assignments, writing essay papers, or studying for crazy hard tests, she was at the maternity hospital volunteering. All medical students in her chosen field had to volunteer so many hours to get some live experience of childbirth. It's not required that she get paid, because she has to volunteer for experience, but her hospital did pay her. It wasn't much but it was enough for us to live on. We didn't really need Branna's wages to get by. We still had lots of money left to us by our parents, which would get us by until Branna became a midwife and had a steady income. Once I finished my final year in school and graduated, I'd get a summer job that would hopefully roll into a permanent job by the time I started college so that I didn't have to leech off Branna for everything.
"Yeah, I get to see babies come into the world today, isn't that brilliant?" Branna beamed and clapped her hands together, getting my attention again.