Scott slammed his fist repeatedly against the bathroom door, even going so far as to try the handle despite it being occupied. “Jackie!” he shouted, continuing to hammer at the door instead of waiting for a reply.
Jackie did her best to ignore her annoying stepbrother, she had more important things to think about. She pursed her lips in the mirror, pressing her arms into the sides of her breasts in an attempt to accentuate her already deep cleavage. Sparing a single thought for Scott, she called back to him, “I’ll be out in a minute! Jeez! You’re acting like your life depends on it!”
Scott screamed back in frustration, “You’ve been in there for an hour. School starts in an hour and we still need to have breakfast! If I don’t get in now, we’ll both be late!” He rattled his fist against the door once more.
Sighing, Jackie picked her phone up from the bathroom counter, and took a final few pics. An expert in her angles, she contorted her body in such a way that her face and chest were on display as well as her huge but toned ass. Inspecting the images on her phone, she smiled, “These will be perfect for Insta!”
“JACKIEEEE!” Scott shouted again, his voice muffled through the thick door as his patience wore thin. He pulled his phone from his pocket and looked again at the time. He could never understand what could possibly take her this long, and it happened every morning. The shower wasn’t on, the toilet hadn’t flushed. Was she brushing her teeth for an hour, or just sitting in there?
Jackie rolled her eyes as she locked her phone. Making her way towards the bathroom door, she chuckled as she heard the familiar sound of Scott hitting the door between them. “I’m coming, I’m coming…” she uttered, her words inaudible through the wooden door between them. She enjoyed causing these inconveniences, considering them payback for the constant name calling.
A wave of relief washed over Scott as he heard the unmistakable sound of the bathroom door being unlocked. He waited for only a slither of a gap before barging his way through the door, pushing Jackie aside as he passed her. “Get out of the way, bitch!” he grunted angrily.
In spite of being six feet tall herself, Scott still managed to dwarf her. She tried her best to give him a run for his money, because she wasn’t exactly a small girl. Her thick body was layered with muscle from her constant and rigorous exercise routine. Though it started from her time on the basketball team, it carried over to her focus on social media. Mostly weightlifting, but a little cardio here and there. However, it never seemed to be enough to compete with Scott, who still would often overpower and bully her, even as skinny as he was.
“Watch it, loser!” Jackie replied as she stumbled back slightly from his push. She watched as he rushed over to the sink and wasted no time in shoving his toothbrush straight into his mouth. “You’re looking kinda pale, bro. Maybe if you didn’t spend so much time inside on video games, you’d be a more healthy colour. When was the last time you got some sun?” she teased.
His speech muffled slightly, Scott sharply replied, “Why do you care, lard ass? Anyway, I’m studying for finals at the moment. Not that you’d know what that’s like! Get out of here anyway, I’m gonna need to take a shit soon!”
Jackie’s smug grin turned to one of disgust upon hearing this. She didn’t even give him the satisfaction of a reply as she turned to make her way back out of the bathroom. Scott called out to her as she reached to pull the door shut, “And don’t forget to shut the fucking door!”
Jackie paused mid-reach. She had planned to shut the door anyway, but given his tone - she thought of something else she could do. Wrapping her hand around the door knob, she began to pull it shut slowly. Stopping just shy of closing it, she left the door open only slightly before releasing the handle and heading downstairs. She giggled to herself as she heard the frustrated grunt of her stepbrother, followed by the bathroom door slamming shut as he finished the task himself.
Jackie dove into her breakfast - a near-toppling stack of French toast and eggs. Taking no time at all for his own bathroom routine, Scott met her downstairs shortly into her meal. She watched him as he made his way into the kitchen, opting to grab only a cereal bar for his breakfast. She asked, “Do you really think that’s enough for breakfast, beanpole?”
Ripping the wrapper open as he turned to face her, Scott hissed back, “Maybe you should consider eating on a deficit for once, you’ve clearly bulked more than enough!”
Suddenly Karen entered, having heard them bickering already and asked, “Can you two have a day where you don’t fight? I’ve had enough of you constantly at each other’s throats!” Moving her curvaceous form across the room, she grabbed the TV remote from the bench and turned it on for a much needed distraction. As she flicked through the channels, she continued, “You guys are brother and sister, perhaps not by blood, but you’ve known each other since you were toddlers. You should be nice to one another!”
Scott smiled at his stepmom as her gaze met his, but maintained a constant frown at Jackie whenever she looked away. He explained the dynamic of their sibling relationship, “That’s just how we are… It’s how we love each other. Right, sis?” He passed by her closely, punching her in the arm, as he made his way to the dining table.
“Ow!” Jackie yelped, rubbing her now throbbing bicep. “Speak for yourself, dork!” she replied to him. The TV channel flipped finally over to the local news station, drawing the attention of all three of them as the anchors broke a story.
“As many of you will know, a dangerous and bizarre virus is making its way across much of the world. It seems to be only affecting the male population and details on how people contract it, or how it affects the body, are only just becoming known.” A studious looking woman explained, as she shuffled through her notes upon her desk. She continued, “What we do know is that often the first shown symptoms are fevers and chills. Please stay vigilant.”
“God, how scary that must be! Slowly shrinking down, with barely an idea of why.” Karen said with her eyes wide in shock at such a strange pandemic to occur. She turned to face her stepson with growing concern that he was at risk. She was met by a similar look of fear from Scott, who did seem especially pale this morning.
“Are you okay, Scott? You’re looking awfully pale.” Jackie pointed out. She stood up from the dining table and headed over to a drawer, looking for a thermometer. “Maybe you have it! Let me take your temperature!” she laughed.
“Yeah right! I’ll let you take my temperature when you lose five pounds.” Scott snapped back, feeling insecure about the possibility of having the virus. In this house? With Jackie here? He couldn’t think of anything worse. Not to mention their Mom was about to be away with work for a few weeks.
Karen slapped her palm against the bench, jolting the two step siblings out of their feud-fuelled stare. “That’s enough, Scott! I don’t want to hear anything like that from you anymore. And she has a point, you should check just to be safe!” Karen shouted to the tall teen.
“Ermmm sure, but we’re gonna be late for school so maybe later!” Scott replied. As if on queue, a horn sounded outside.
“Oh that must be Vicky!” Jackie said, as she moved her plate from the dining table to the kitchen sink. “Best get going, don’t want to make her late!” she said as she plucked her school bag up from the floor beside where she had been sitting.
Watching her daughter rush to leave, Karen asked, “Is the car still in the shop?”
Jackie smiled, “Yeah, my car is still in the shop. Hopefully I will have it back by the end of the week though!”
Scott stood up from the dining table also and grabbed his backpack, with his cereal bar only half eaten and still in his hand. He corrected Jackie, “You mean our car! It’s not your car, it’s ours…”
“Well if you actually had places to ever go, maybe we could call it our car!” Jackie countered, pushing her brother slightly as she made her way to the door. She turned and looked at him once more, “But you don’t have places to go, do you? Because you’re a loser!”
“Okay Jackie, that’s enough! I’ve told him to stop, now I need you to do the same!” Karen shouted, putting her foot down with the bickering pair. They could never seem to get on. She continued, “And ask your friend to give Scott a ride to school too! You don’t have long before you’re late!”
Rolling her eyes, Jackie let out a heavy sigh, “Do I have to?”
Before Karen could confirm that Jackie did in fact have to, Scott cut in, “No, she doesn’t. I’m going to meet Ethan and he’s going to give me a ride on his drive in”.
“I didn’t know they let infected people still drive. I mean, what happens if he shrinks at the wheel?” Jackie quipped.
“Shut up, lard butt! Why are you even still here?” Scott quickly shot back.
“Mom!” Jackie shouted, upset about the childish insult he always seemed to use. He picked on her everyday, especially for her body - which was bigger than most girls but in no way ugly. She knew she wasn’t fat. She had worked for the muscle she had, and it showed.
“Scott! Please, don’t talk to your sister that way!” Karen demanded, “It only takes one of you to be the better person and maybe you can finally get along. Besides, I would rather you didn’t hang around with that boy for now, he’s infected after all.”
“Mom, you know how I feel about discriminating against the infected. You’ve heard it yourself enough times, the research has shown it’s not contagious. They wouldn’t keep schools open otherwise, would they? I’m just following CDC guidelines.” Scott replied. He swung his backpack up over his shoulder, ready to make his way out the door.
“No, I don’t care. Please just accept the ride from Jackie!” Karen said, commanding her stepson with a tone that told him resisting would be fruitless.
The pair made their way to the door, with Karen following closely behind to wave them goodbye. Upon her face was a glum expression. She was sad that they couldn’t get along, it felt as if the house was constantly in uproar with their fighting. She wasn’t, however, sad that they were leaving. The peace of having them out and about, she welcomed greatly.
Vicky honked her horn again as the door swung open. “Hey, come on!” she shouted, leaning so she could see them through the open passenger window of her car.
As the two teens made their way along the driveway, Karen called out to them, “Hey, remember that by the time you two get home I won’t be here! I have that work trip. There’s money for pizza and you can call if there’s any emergencies!”
“Have a nice time, Mom! We’ll be fine, won’t we bro?” Jackie shouted back to her. She grinned at Scott deviously as she waited for his response.
“Yeah we’ll be fine. Enjoy yourself, don’t work too hard!” Scott added. The pair of them waved her goodbye as they made their way to Vicky’s car.
Karen smiled as she shut the door, sealing herself in the peace and sanctity of her now empty home. She was thankful, at least, for her childrens’ brief moment of mutual respect towards her during their goodbye. She prayed they’d manage okay without her. God knows how they’d keep from killing each other without her being there to step in.
Jackie and Scott made their way into Vicky’s car. As Jackie got herself situated in the front passenger seat, and Scott opened the backdoor, she asked, “Vicky, is it okay if we let my stupid stepbrother ride with us?”
“Yeah that’s fine. I’m not surprised he doesn’t have any friends to give him a ride...” Vicky replied, her words slick with distaste and unnecessary aggression.
“Hey! I did have a ride…” Scott clarified to the tall, but curvy, girl. She was taller than Jackie, although not by much, and not quite as thick. He was thankful that he was still the tallest of the three of them, but he secretly questioned whether or not he’d remain that way with how often the two girls worked out.
Jackie explained, “His friend, Ethan, is infected and Mom doesn’t want him around anyone infected...” She turned to face him as she spoke, inspecting his abnormally white complexion, “Bro, you really aren’t looking good! You might wanna start being nice. You never know when you might find yourself looking up to me...”
“And you might wanna lay off the French toast, fat ass!” Scott retorted aggressively. It was going to be a long ride to school.