The Favor: Part I

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The Favor

Part I

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“She’s not going to do it,” Sebastian said, not bothering to look up from the book that he’d helped himself to from her backpack while she tried to figure out why Cole and Jonathan were staring at her.

“You don’t know that,” Cole said as he gave her a hopeful smile that matched Jonathan’s.

“I really do,” Sebastian said, sounding bored as he reached over and helped himself to the PB&J sandwich that his mother made for her.

“Know what?” she asked, rolling her baseball between her hands as she sat there, trying to find the willpower to do her homework.

“We need a favor,” Jonathan said, which were normally the words that would have sent her running, but since she was trying to get out of doing her algebra homework or whatever it was that they were studying in math, she decided to see where this was going.

“No,” Sebastian simply said as he finished off her sandwich and followed that with the rest of her chocolate milk.

“We’re not talking to you,” Jonathan pointed out with a glare for his twin brother.

“Yet, I answered you,” Sebastian drawled, turning the page of the book that she was supposed to be reading for…one of her classes. She wasn’t sure which one, but she’d eventually figure it out.

“Look,” Cole said, slowly exhaling, “we need your help.”

“For what exactly?” she asked absently as she grabbed her bag and-

“Where’s my candy?” she asked, frowning down at the empty Ziploc bag that she’d filled with Halloween candy this morning.

“Gone,” Jonathan said with a shrug that had her narrowing her eyes on the large jerk that she was tempted to throw her ball at.

“You’d send him to the hospital,” Sebastian said, not really sounding all that concerned.

“And you’d miss out on a chance to make twenty bucks,” Jonathan said, catching her attention, because she could always use an extra twenty bucks, especially since she was saving up for a new glove.

“What do I have to do?”

“Don’t do it,” Sebastian said, turning another page.

“What exactly am I not doing?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Helping your favorite cousins,” Cole said with that smile that her father warned her about.

“And exactly what would I have to do?” she asked, wondering when they were going to get the point so that she could go do her homework in front of the TV.

“Nothing bad,” Jonathan assured her.

“We just need you to go into Richmond’s Pharmacy and take advantage of the half-off sale for Halloween candy,” Cole said with a shrug that she wasn’t buying.

“Why can’t you do it?” she asked, knowing better than to say yes without asking a few follow up questions.

“Because we’re banned,” Sebastian said, making her frown.

“We went there last week after the game for soda,” she reminded him, wondering what he was talking about.

“Our ban is conditional.”

“Meaning…”

“We’re banned from all half-off holiday candy sales,” Sebastian explained with a sigh and a muttered, “I’ve already read this,” as he tossed her book aside and resumed searching her backpack for something new to read.

“Look, we just need you to go buy candy for us. That’s it,” Jonathan said, and she had to admit that it really didn’t sound like that big of a deal.