A warmer breeze than yesterday welcomed Sophie as she left the house and despite her usual difficulties with waking up, she felt quite energetic.
Her hands held close to the thermos responsible for her lack of exhaustion and she enjoyed the additional heat the coffee spent her.
Jacob followed her and closed the door behind them before they walked ahead to school. His eyes darting to the canister she carried like a baby.
"Are you sure Dad has nothing against you drinking coffee? He insisted you were too young the last time you tried to take yourself some of it."
Sophie grit her teeth at the thought of the last argument they had because of her consumption of this heaven-sent blessing.
"Dad is not the one complaining. He never bothered with it before Karen moved in and I had to get my daily dose of caffeine for the last weeks from cola, which is also suddenly banned."
She rolled with her eyes to emphasize the annoyance in her voice and moved on, sure that he would carry on from the matter.
Jacob rushed to her side to keep up, his blue eyes not leaving her.
"Is that the reason you are so rude to her? Seems honestly a little petty…"
Her eyebrows furrowed at the baseless accusation of her brother, and her voice carried her resentment with it.
'Not quite that baseless, though…'
"No… That's not the reason I can't stand her. Just another nail in the coffin."
He backed away under the weight of her gaze, hopefully done with the topic at hand.
They walked up to the corner where they met up with Felix every morning in a rather awkward silence.
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To the street bordered a bunch of bushes and trees, as it encircled the park nearby. It was a perfect hiding spot for Felix's usual antics, and although she wasn't really safe from them, it was Jacob who looked around anxiously when he couldn't spot their friend immediately.
Sophie could only notice the rustling leaves from the tree above them in the corner of her eye, before…
Suddenly, without warning, Felix let himself fall upside down from a tree, his legs hanging from a branch, and he slapped Jacob fiercely on his neck.
The comically loud sound that created was probably enough to wake the rest of the street up.
As if to reinforce the impression of a slapstick performance, flew a flock of birds out of the nearby trees and Sophie had to hold her mouth shut to prevent her laughter from spilling out.
Although this kind of prank wasn't unusual for Felix, he had certainly reached a new level and her imagination filled in the sight of neighbors falling out of their beds.
Jacob stumbled from the impact, almost falling head first onto the sidewalk, and held his neck to prevent further attacks.
"What the actual fuck, man! You aren't sober in the head!"
Sophie couldn't remember Jacob being so angry before, but neither could she if Felix ever went so far with his pranks.
The big teenager landed in front of her furious brother and towered a good amount over his rather small size. The two looked from Sophie's angle like a heavyweight boxer and a child locked in a staring contest.
"Aw… did I hurt the little girl? Does she wanna run to her big sister to cry?"
His big grin only grew in size when he mocked Jacob by petting his short, blonde hair, which messed his hairstyle up.
She still struggled to contain her laughter while her brother looked like he was about to explode from the embarrassment and the grievance resulting from it.
Jacob's face was all lit up as he looked at her, both hands clutched to fists.
"You have nothing to say to this, Sophie?! Are you just gonna laugh this off like always when he does stuff like this?!"
Sophie raised an eyebrow, wondering what he expected her to do, but burst out in laughter when Felix pinched his cheek and made baby noises with his mouth.
"Hahaha… excuse me… haha… but what exactly do you want me to do? It's not like I could just beat Felix up any longer. Look at his size! Besides, you should finally learn how to deal with this yourself. If you want him to stop belittling you, defend yourself."
As he saw how he couldn't expect any backup from her, Jacob turned back to face his tormentor, who had bowed down to look him directly in the eyes.
"Come, I give you a free hit, Samantha. Just be careful not to break your nails off."
It looked for one moment like Jacob would actually grow a spine for himself, but he let his raised arm fall back to his side after another shameful look towards Sophie.
Felix gave her brother a last pet before walking over to Sophie, putting some distance between the two.
"What an innocent little girl you are. You don't deserve such a bad and uncaring big sister, Samantha."
Sophie had still difficulties getting herself together, as he flicked her against the earlobe.
The pain was negligible and not unexpected, so she stretched her arm out to enact immediate retribution, which earned her a satisfying outcry from the big teenager.
"Ouch! That's not very ladylike, Sophie. I expected better of you."
His last words were in a mocking tone, and the grin on his face emphasized the point while he brushed his short black curls out of it.
She threw a playful punch against his arm and moved ahead on the street.
"Oh please! Tell me how much that hurts and it follows a kick into your nuts. Don't expect me to sit idle by like Jacob haha..."
He let a laugh out like her own and moved along, while Jacob sulked behind them.
They continued to fool around on the way until they picked up Izzy before reaching school.
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Class was boring like always, and Sophie felt relieved when the break finally started.
She gave Max her fair share of lunch money so he could get their usual snack rations from the kiosk before she joined the others on a bench in the schoolyard.
Jacob still looked as sour as earlier on the way to school, and Sophie considered talking to him while she ate the content of her lunch bag, feeling slight guilt in her stomach for not standing in for him.
That was, until Felix apparently decided he hadn't pulled Jacob's legs enough, taking his lunch and dangling it right outside of his reach.
Even she slowly thought he went too far with that.
"Felix, come on. What's the matter? Just leave him be, you teased him already enough today."
The rather bored face he wore was certainly unusual for such a prank.
"Enough? Just look at him!"
Felix waved the lunch box over Jacob's head, her brother just sitting there pouting.
"He's doing nothing to defend himself, not earlier, not now. Do you know why?"
Not only Sophie was looking questioning at him, Monica and Izzy didn't seem amused either.
Jacob stood up from his seat, his eyes darting for a moment to Sophie, and he hissed a barely noticeable answer.
"You know exactly why! And now give it back! This is not the right time! We all agreed!"
'Right time for what?'
Before Sophie could ponder what he meant with that, stood Felix up as well, pinching her brother again into his cheek.
"Out voted doesn't equal agreed."
A full smile grew on his face, and he addressed the group with a belittling voice.
"Our little Sammy here, thinks she might hurt me. So she holds back her big and scary muscles, to not accidentally grow a pair of balls. Because that wouldn't fit well with her skirt."
Jacob's face lit up red like a tomato, and Sophie felt a pain in her side from laughing so hard at the thought of her brother hurting the big brick by accident.
Monica hid her face behind her hands, trying to hide from the crowd of schoolmates that slowly gathered around their table to enjoy the show, while Izzy went for a direct confrontation.
"Felix! What the fuck? Do you think this is funny, you dumbass? And you, stop laughing Sophie! You're just encouraging that jerk!"
Sophie tried her best to get herself together, succeeding only partially at that.
"Hahaha… but it is funny. Come on, Izzy. You can't tell me you really think he's serious. The two staged that. Jacob even said that this wasn't the right time for their stage play. Tell me, that was Max's idea, right?"
The confusion in Jacob's face lifted promptly, and he admitted her suspicion.
"Well, yes! Of course! A stage play. You looked right through it."
With no actual fight going on, disbanded the crowd again, slightly disappointed. Only a teacher remained, probably to make sure that the situation didn't escalate, anyway.
Somehow Felix looked slightly annoyed by the unmasking of their show, and grabbed Jacob by his shoulder before he could return to his place.
"A show? Is that so? Well, I suppose that means it's time for the next scene…"
He lifted not only his fist but also Jacob on his collar into the air and went for the dramatic beginning of a slightly changed version of a familiar song.
"Samantha, I'll make a man… out of you!"
Before anyone of us could react to that sudden development, stepped Coach Warren in, meeting Felix at eye level and put his fist down, with a slight growl in his annoyed voice.
"That's enough, Ibrahim. In my office, both of you!"
The teacher dragged both with him into the main building, leaving Sophie and the others rather baffled behind.
She didn't know if she should feel guilty for staying by once more, which had contributed to get them in trouble, or laugh at the surreal situation that had unfolded in front of her.
Izzy seemed like she had decided, wearing a smug smile at the sight of Felix getting dragged inside.
"Serves him right. I hope he gets some long due damper for that ego of his."
'Except that Jacob got pulled into it as well…'
Her concern got overshadowed by Monica, who stood up and threw a reproachful gaze towards Izzy.
"Says the right one. Well, I won't sit here and glee over others' misfortune. I'll talk with the Coach. That's not Jacob's fault."
Before Sophie could give her opinion on the matter, did Max dump the snacks on the table, startling the three, who all looked simultaneously up at the confused boy.
"Did I miss something?"