"Absolutely no talking while you are in detention, is that clear?" Principal Howard glares at me and the new kid, then leaves the timeout room and shuts the door, harder than he needed to.
The new kid glares at me. His eye is already showing a bruise underneath the redness. I can't help but grin at him. He's pathetic. You shouldn't pick a fight with someone you can't beat. If it wasn't for my stupid brother, he'd need more than an ice pack for his eye right now.
"Talk about unfair," I say. "Kaden was fighting too, but he's not in trouble."
New Kid rolls his eyes and mumbles something.
"What was that?"
"You started it!"
"You hit me first," I say.
"You were picking on Kaden."
"You hit like a girl."
New Kid glares and crosses his arms. "You play like a girl."
"Whatever." I lean my chair back and put my feet on the table.
The door opens. "I thought you should know, I can hear every word." The secretary gives a piercing stare. "Also, your brother is okay, but he's going home for the day. Your mom is coming to pick you two up."
I'm glad Mom is the one coming to get us. I know Dad is still going to find out about this, though. My stomach swims. Oh man, I would give anything to trade places with someone, anyone, just so I wouldn't have to go home today.
"Kaden is your brother?" New Kid gapes at me.
I shrug. "Yeah, so?"
"How could you beat up your own brother?"
He wouldn't get it. There's no way he knows what it's like when your parents expect you to be perfect, and then let your stupid brother do whatever he wants just because he goes to the learning center. Like that's some kind of excuse.
Kaden always gets away with everything. He gets C's on his report card and Dad acts like he doesn't even notice, but I get one B and Dad yells at me for not trying hard enough. And Mom! She expects me to read a million books every month, and practice my music for hours every day while Kaden gets to do whatever he wants. Mom and Dad expect me to be perfect, while Kaden's their favorite, the one who can't do anything wrong.
Just once I'd love to trade places with my twin. So that I could see what it's like on the other side. And so Kaden could realize how easy his life is compared to mine.
YOU ARE READING
In My Head
Teen FictionTeenage baller Kaden Hastings has a fit when his family moves to California. He can handle the new medical diagnosis that slowly eats away at his life, but when his parents separate him from his teammates and girlfriend to move him to California to...
