Chapter 1

Tuesday

SLAP, “pervert!”

“Whu ... what the ... heck was that in aid of?” the boy asked, while rubbing his cheek. He’d gone from fast asleep to wide awake in nothing flat.

Jennifer, his fifteen-year-old stepsister said, “you and probably some pervert friend of yours put one of your dicks in my face when I was asleep, and took pictures.”

“Huh... ?” Mike exclaimed, “what gave you that idea?”

“Bernadette showed me, it’s on the internet, seriously ... I should... “

“You should show it to me, since I have no idea what you are talking about, you can at least let me know what it is you’re accusing me of!” Mike said.

“Of course, I can’t do that. why would I want even one more person to see my humiliation?”

“Look, Sis... “

“Don’t you ‘Sis’ me, I’m not your sister, and... “ she hesitated, “I mean I have to put up with you and your perverted ways... “

“Enough with the pervert! I’m a perfectly normal fourteen-year-old boy. Anyway, unless I see the picture, how can I prove that it wasn’t me who took it, or was in it?” Mike continued.

“Well ... okay... “ Jenny pulled out her tablet, and started scrolling through to find the picture, “here you go!”

“HAH ... sorry, I won’t laugh again, it’s just... “ Mike said as Jenny started raising her hand. “Okay, I can’t say I’ve been in your room in ... well, forever, but howsabouts we go take a look now in your room ... oh, don’t be silly,” he said as she balked, “you just walked into my room without a by your leave.”

“Yes, well, I won’t be coming in here again, anytime soon,” she sniffed.

“Like I said, I’m a perfectly normal teenager.” The posters and prints on his wall were predominantly of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, with a space shuttle caught just as it was taking off, and an A-10 Warthog strafing ... maybe it was Iraqi tanks, and only two other posters, both fully clothed, one of Emma Watson (as Hermione Grainger in the third or fourth movie, making her close enough – supposedly – to the same age as Mike was now), and the second of Megan Fox. Otherwise the room was surprisingly neat and tidy for a teenage boy during the last few weeks of summer vacation.

They crossed the passageway to a door that opened to a similar, if mirrored, room.

Mike noticed that the walls were painted the same white, with an incredibly subtle hint of blue – blue being a relaxing colour according to the experts, and the same multi-hued brownish wall-to-wall carpet. But, that was where any resemblance ceased. Her colours, her bedding, drapes, and so on were pink, with a touch of red and yellow thrown in. Mike had already been replacing most of his baby and sky blue with navy and darker colours.

“Okay, I’ve seen enough! Do you want to stay here and discuss this, or do you want to go down to the living room?” Mike asked.

Jenny said, “living room, I think, I want to get something to drink.”

There was a two-pint bottle of orange juice in the fridge. Mike followed Jenny’s example, and added ice to his glass, and although he did a normal boy thing of filling his tumbler almost to the brim, there was still more than usual leftover.

They went into the living room, and when Jenny sat in a single-seater armchair, Mike said, come sit here,” as he sat on a two-seater sofa, patting next to him.

“No!”

Mike asked, “well, how do we look at the same picture or pictures at the same time, and discuss the who, what, where and when of it all?”

Jenny replied, “oh, okay!” and made her way over and sat next to Mike. She opened her tablet again, Mike averted his eyes so that he couldn’t see as she entered her PIN number.

“Okay, you can look,” Jenny said.

Mike said, “ let’s see that picture again.”

“Okay,” and Jenny turned the tablet so that Mike could see the screen.

“The reason I started laughing... “

Jenny had a perturbed look on her face, “well?”

“Okay, here’s the thing ... do you remember after your dad and my mom died in that car crash, and we came to live with my dad and Mrs B... ?”

“You can call her mom, she wants us to.” Jenny said.

“Anyway, dad got me to help him, I was probably just big enough ... old enough, that he was willing to give me the responsibility, we painted out the two rooms, one for you, and one for me... “

“Okay, so what... ?”

Mike said, “quiet, I’m thinking aloud here ... okay, your room was done in the same white as mine. Dad said something about simple, and easy to customise or change when the time came.”

“Yes... ?”

“Well, look at that picture, what do you notice about it? Those walls are a lighter yellowish brown, maybe beige, isn’t that right?” Mike asked.

Jenny exclaimed, “boys, really! No subtlety ... that is peach, moron!”

Mike said, “I don’t think I like that word any more than pervert. Okay, next point ... I know that I have been watching Mrs B hanging up laundry for a while now, your linen is all pink, just like mine is all blue. Look at that pillow, look at the ... is that avocado green... ? ughhh... ! does any of that look like it belongs here?”

“Oh gosh, Mike, I am so sorry, I wasn’t thinking, I hit you, and it wasn’t even your fault, but still, I blamed you! Here let me... “

He was turning towards her as she made to kiss his cheek better, and as he was starting to talk, he pushed his tongue between the lips that were suddenly there.

Mike realised that he liked what he was feeling, as the two mouths stayed locked together for a few moments longer, and after an initial almost pushing away, Jenny had moved her face to better fit his, while her hands wrapped into his T-shirt, pulling him closer to her. ‘She must also be liking this,’ he thought.

Neither could have told how long they were locked together like that, but eventually, they had to both come up for air.

Mike started to say, “ummmhhh... “

Jenny was saying, “I didn’t mean for th... “

“You first.”

“No, you first.”

Mike chuckled.

“What... ?

“I was just imagining one of those Marx Brothers or Laurel and Hardy moments when each says ‘you’, ‘no, you,’ ‘no, you’ and on and on until they forget what the argument was about.”

Jenny nodded and giggled too.

Mike said, “well, that was different. It was better than I expected, and getting some of your mouth fluids in mine ... well, wasn’t quite as gross or sickening as I had always thought it might be.”

“No,” Jenny dreamily said, “that wasn’t unpleasant at all.”

Mike said, “lastly, I was going to point out that, well, I’ve been... “

Jenny who had been looking at the picture again, blurted out, “but ... you’re not Jewish,” she coloured, “are you?”

“No, but I think that my parents may have had hygiene in mind, when they did ... when they caused it to be done.” Mike said as he tried as surreptitiously as possible to manoeuvre his misbehaving package.

Jenny looked down to see the bulge in his jeans.

Embarrassed, the pair pulled apart.

Jenny suddenly exclaimed, “that b ... that evil ... she called herself my friend, and then she betrayed... “ she fell silent, she’d already said more than she had meant to.

Mike drank some more juice, realised that it was beginning to taste a bit watered down, he gulped the rest down, both of them were unable to articulate their thoughts, Mike decided that he needed time to think, “I’m going to ride my bike.”

Jenny nodded, she was already deep in thought.

Mike stood up, he took his tumbler through to the kitchen, rinsed it out, and then went outside to find his bicycle. He climbed on, rode down the driveway, looked left and right, and rode onto the street, in the direction of the park. He was certain he could find some kind of pickup game underway. He would wangle himself an invite to join in whatever game was being played.

Mike decided to put all thought of what had occurred with Jenny at the back of his mind. He would think about it later.

He got into a game of basketball, where he was so much more aggressive than usual, that he stopped the other team from scoring at least three times, whereas he scored three times, he really was playing a lot more aggressively than usual.

When time was called, he gladly went and laid down on the grass next to the court, he was sweating, and needed a bit of rest.

“Wow, dude, where did that aggro come from?” Timothy, one of Mike’s schoolfriends asked.