Brotherly Interference

My brother Jake was a force of nature, a whirlwind of opinions and unsolicited advice that usually swept through my life like a rogue tornado. So, when he’d cornered me in the kitchen after school, his eyebrows furrowed in that way that meant he’d seen something he didn’t like, I knew trouble was brewing.

“So,” he started, leaning against the counter, arms crossed, “heard you’re spending a lot of time with a girl named Penny.”

My stomach did a little flip-flop. I hadn’t exactly broadcast my burgeoning feelings for Penny, but somehow, Jake always managed to sniff out anything remotely significant in my life. “Yeah. She’s… she’s in my English class. We got paired for that project.”