"I'm back!" yelled Jessica, slamming the door.
"Who cares?!" I yelled back from the den where I was doing my homework.
"I don't." Jamie moaned from the couch, woken up by the slamming door.
"Well, I do." Jessica said haughtily, and floated past us to her room.
"Ho ho ho." I said, puffing my chest out. "Ah, stuff you." I muttered, looking back down at my maths homework. It looked like Chinese. Or perhaps Cantonese. "Ching chong chaw." I muttered, and tried to dig into it.
"AIIEE!" Jess shrilled from the bedroom, and ran out into the den.
"What?" I snapped.
"You! YOU!" she cried, pointing to Jamie.
Jamie looked like a spotted deer caught in headlights. "What?" she asked warily, ready to take flight from her livid sister.
"You! You gave me this!" Jess yelled, pointing to her face.
I wrinkled my brow, only seeing Jessie's flawless skin. Wait. I thought I saw something.
"No wonder Skeet was looking at me weird today!" Jessica cried, about to tear her long blonde hair out.
Jamie still looked confused. "I don't get it."
"You should, you- you little virus spreader!"
I looked harder at Jess, and burst out laughing. "Jessie, dear, I think you should worry about that HUGE hickey on your neck more than that pimple."
Jessica froze. "I don't have a hickey." she said, swinging her hair around to hide the red mark on her neck. "And it's not a pimple! I've never had one in my life! It's a chicken pox!"
I turned to Jamie. "Looks like Skeet gave Jess one of his many zits."
Jessica made a sound a cross between a wail and a groan. "I don't get zits!"
I stood up, and walked over to Jess. Over the past year, I had grown to almost taller than Jess, even though she was older by a year. I scrutinized the older girl's face and nodded, as if I were a zitologist.
"Jessica," I said quietly "face it. You have a zit. The world's at an end. Get over it." I turned, and sat back down, focusing on a principal some guy named Pythagoras had made up.
Man, these dead guys must have been bored stiff to think up crap formulae, I thought, ignoring Jessica's sudden mad dash to the bathroom.
"Thanks, Kris." said Jamie.
"No prob. She finally hits puberty."
Jamie shrugged, and went back to Passionate Fires.
About 10 minutes later, Jessica walked out of the bathroom, head held high, looking dignified.
I snorted, trying to keep from laughing. Jess had piled on all the foundation and concealer she could find onto her face to try and cover up the zit. She looked like a corpse that's been out in the sun for way too long. And what was worse, the zit stood out even more.
Jamie looked up, and giggled. Jess ignored her, and walked into the kitchen to get a snack.
"I dunno, Jamie." I said to her loudly, so Jess could hear "looks like Jess can't tell her mouth from her nose, 'cause it sure looks like she painted it red."
Jamie blubbered, eyes bugging out. Jess stomped around the corner, glaring at me, looking ready to throw the apple she was holding at me.
"Yes?" I asked courteously.
Jessica was ignoring me and had her attention focused on the cover of the book Jamie was reading. It was the Passionate Fires novel, of course. On the cover was a couple, with a half naked lady at the feet of some drop dead hunk holding her up.
"Where'd you get that?" she bit out.
"Fabio's Book Shop?" Jamie said soberly, her eyes bright.
Jess growled, and snatched the book from her hands. She stomped to her room.
"Wait! I wanna see if Lady Tiana and Duke Robert get jiggy with it!" Jamie gleefully yelled after her. "Reckon Mum and Dad's love life is like that? Yours won't, that's for sure!"
"Shut up!" Jess yelled back slamming her room's door.
Jamie winced, and reached for the Panadol. Her face was red, and beads of sweat covered her face. "Headache's back... I'm hot." she mumbled, kicking the doona off her.
"PMS..." I said, indicating Jessica's bedroom door.
"PMT." Jamie corrected.
"PME." I replied.
"PME?"
"Pre Menstrual Everything."