“Dad is going to be so ticked when he sees you.”

Randy snorted. “Please, he won’t even notice.”

Sadly, that was probably true. Ever since our mother died last year, our father had basically shut down.

“Why did you have to make a stupid bet?”

He shrugged. His nonchalant attitude worried me. What was he hiding? 

There was only so much I could do when it came to trying to save my family. What little I had left of it. Before mom died, she made me promise to keep the family together. To not let the men of the family fall apart completely. Desperate to see her smile one last time, I agreed. Even though I often wished I hadn’t. 

When Mom died, she took my childhood with her. 

Every night, I made sure Dad drank at least some water and ate actual food. Every morning, I made sure he had coffee to help him get up and go to work on time (and somewhat sober). I cleaned the house and cooked dinner every day. I did the shopping, with whatever money my father remembered to put in the shopping jar when he got paid. 

Randy seemed to be holding up fine. At least I thought he had. He was still wrestling, and he was passing all of his classes. When he was home, he was typically in his room. I usually only saw him in passing, both at school and at home. And when we carpooled in the car we shared.

“Do you want me to help you get to the nurse? That eye looks like it could use an ice pack.” I offered, knowing questioning him further about the bet would do no good. At one time Randy and I had been close, but as time moved on, he pushed me away. 

He started to laugh sardonically, then moaned, and placed a hand on his ribs. They were probably bruised. Mohawk had been wearing some pretty heavy boots.

“No, they’ll just make me report it to the office. I’ll be fine.”

With an eye roll, I stepped away. “I will get it and tell them it is for me. I’ll say I have cramps or something. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t give him a chance to argue, I just turned and walked away. A minute later, I was about to pass the ticket table and stopped. Torn, I glanced back at Randy, who had already been joined by a couple of other boys. He’d survive. He owed me anyway. 

I quickly bought my ticket to the game, then continued on to the health office. 

Thankfully, they were busy. Which meant they did not question me when I told them I slammed my fingers in the bathroom stall door and needed an ice pack - odds were I would actually need one for cramps next week. They just reached into a drawer and grabbed one. They twisted it a few times and then handed the disposable ice pack to me before turning to the next kid. 

Randy was laughing with his friends when I returned, like nothing had happened. I walked up and shoved the ice pack on his eye, a little roughly, making the other boys laugh. 

Randy caught my hand as I moved to leave them. He smiled softly and squeezed my wrist with affection. “Thanks, Fi. You’re the best sister.” 

He was a butthead. I melted and smiled back, giving him a small nod. It was nice to see a small glimpse of the boy I used to know. 

The bell rang not much later, before I even had a chance to grab something to eat. I jogged over to one of the kids who I knew sold snacks out of his backpack and handed him one of the few bills I had left in exchange for a bag of chips. All he had left was plain Cheetos. Which I was fine with since I didn’t care for the hot ones anyway. 

After school, Katia waited near my class anxiously. We had separate lunches, so I hadn’t seen her since our first-period class ended. I lifted my game ticket up and she squealed. I laughed with her as we boarded the bus home. I didn’t mention anything about Randy or the debt I paid for him. I didn’t want to do anything that would ruin her day.

That night, I stood on the sidelines with her parents. All three of us recorded with our phones, while Katia belted out the National Anthem at the first round of finals. The crowd cheered - because my best friend had the best voice in the world. It had nothing to do with me being biased either - which I totally was - she had tried out and earned her placement there. 

We left before the game even started. Her parents surprised us both by taking us out to eat. Their treat. I sighed with relief. Katia never needed to know my brother almost ruined her night. She wasn’t his biggest fan to begin with. Never had been. I didn’t really know why, nor did I care. It didn’t affect my relationship with either of them. 

Randy ended up getting his arm broken a few weeks later. 

By the same guy.