Over-raged and Under-aged

When I woke up the next morning I could hear the sounds of the Ellen show floating up from the living room. I rolled over and glanced at the clock; shit, wouldn't be able to keep sleeping in like this when the season starts.
I took a stroll down the hall after throwing on my sweatpants, searching too see who was still in bed. My answer; apparently no one.
I headed down the stairs, deciding against taking the banister - coach would not be happy if I injured my groin again.

I looked over to see the back of Ellie's head on the couch, Tazer was beside her; but he was turned around looking at me. I gave him a questioning glance in Ellie's direction but he just shrugged and turned back around to the TV.
I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of Lucky Charms before heading into the living room to join my new room-mates.

It took all my power not to gawk at my sister as her face came into view. The part of her mouth and cheek that had been covered by gauze the night before; was now showing.
Stealing glances at her cheek I counted 9 stitches holding the angry red cut together, that ran from her mouth up towards her ear; forcing the right side of her face into a permeate lopsided grin. The rest of her didn't look much better.
Her hair was knotted and unkempt, her eyes were unfocused and outlined by purple bags. She felt my stare and turned to look at me; giving me a small smile, a peace offering to ease my mind.
It did the opposite. Her actual smile accentuated by the cut in her face caused a gory mockery of the little girl I knew; I had to look away. Guessing at the shock on my face she let out a chuckle.
"It's not as bad as it look, when they heal they aren't so noticeable."

She spoke so calmly, so matter-of-faculty that I felt anger boiling up inside me; someone had done that to my baby sister, and she didn't even care. "Who did it?" I asked, trying to take the edge out of my voice.

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "does it really matter?"

It didn't really, there was nothing I could do about it. "Yes... it matters to me." She looked over at me, without emotion, and then over at Tazer; who I had all but forgotten.

"My mom told me I was coming to live with you... when I told some of my... friends... they got angry."

"You're friends did this to you?" I spat, standing up of the chair to tower over Ellie.

"They have a bad temper..." She replied quietly, her eyes staring ahead at nothing.

"Well, you're here now so... we'll give 'em the old 1-2 if they try anything again!" Tazer joined in, making dumb punching motions as he spoke; causing Ellie to laugh.

I sat back down, trying not to flip out. What kind of brother was I? The sound of someone's body being slammed into my front door brought me out of my thoughts. "What the fuck was that?" I asked, more to myself than anything. I looked over at Ellie and Tazer; he shrugged, she looked terrified.
I opened the door just in time for Kaner to fall face first into the entrance way.

"What the fuck was that?" I repeated, this time directed at Sharpie who was stepping over Kaner to get into the house.

"Your doorbells' broken" Sharpie laughed as he headed into the living room. I reached down and grabbed onto the back of Kaner's shirt, pulling him up to his feet; before following after Sharpie.

Sharpie stopped dead in his tracks and stared at my sister, his mouth openly gawking. Kaner came in and finished the words Sharpie couldn't start: "What the hell happened to your face!" He shouted at Ellie. Not asked, shouted.

"Kaner! Fuck man!" Tazer shot him an angry glare from the couch. Ellie just shook her head.

"Do you know what a Chelsea grin is?" Sharpie let out a low whistle but Kaner shook his head no. "Well, there's a few ways to do it but... the way I had it done to me was just with a knife... and they only got me on one side..."

"Just with a knife?" Kaner asked, on the verge of shouting once again.

"The other ways are worse." She answered simply, turning back around to the TV. Tazer shot a warning glare at Kaner before he also adverted his eyes to the TV. Sharpie turned to me with a questioning look, I motioned for him to follow me into the kitchen.

"She's my little sister." I said quietly once we were in the protective, closed-in walls of the kitchen.

"I never knew you had a sister... what the fuck happened to her?"

"She... she just has alot of problems alright. You don't know her!" I shot back more heatedly than was called for. "Look man, she's living here now so just... don't... just leave her alone ok?"

He nodded, before turning to Kaner who was staring at the box of Lucky Charms I had left on the counter. "Ugh, go for it Kaner." I sighed, drawng a smile from his lips as he grabbed the box and headed back into the living room; diving onto the couch between Tazer and Ellie.

"Lucky Charms... he's the crazy fucking leprechaun if you ask me..." Sharpie said as he shook his head, heading back out to join everyone else.



The idea of keeping Ellie a secret was a dumb idea. As the night went on and more and more of my team-mates stared to show up; I wondered how I'd ever thought that hiding her would work.
On the plus side, she seemed happy enough. Besides Kaner's out burts this morning, everyone else knew better than to start asking questions, allowing Ellie to just relax and have a good time.
She was actually laughing and smiling with Tazer; which made me glad. They had both had a rough couple of days (well... Ellie longer), but it was nice to see at least there'd be peace in the house.

My only problem was Kaner, not only did he keeps staring at Ellie's face; but he was openly hitting on her. The last thing I needed was for one of my team-mates to sleep with my 16 year old sister. I looked over to where he was standing now, after being shooed away by Sharpie, watching Ellis interact with Tazer; a jealous look on his face. Of course he'd be jealous... only one girl in the room and for once she's not fawning over him. He pushed himself off the wall and head in their direction.
Perhaps it's time to remind Kaner that she's only 16; I thought as I interrupted him in the middle of the room.