Berry's phone rang and his foolish grin disappeared when he saw that his sister was requesting a video call. Seth's words echoed in Berry's head, especially the part where he mentioned that Miley never goes out with her inhaler. He has lost count of how many times he had pleaded with her to always take her inhaler with her. He even went as far as getting her two extra inhalers just in case she forgets to take one,another one would be with her but this sister of his was too stubborn to pay heed to his words. The worst part was that he never gets any calls from the school when she had an attack and he gave them his number specifically because of that.
After a short while of staring blankly at the lit screen of his phone, he finally took the call and Miley's face popped on the screen, her bright eyes almost blinding him, making him momentarily forget that he was angry a second back. "Berry!" She yelled through the phone with her arms spread out sending Berry a virtual hug, something that was normal between them but her smile fell slightly when Berry didn't return the hug as usual.
This could only mean that he was upset with her for something that she did and it made her nervous, knowing how much trouble she had gotten into in the school hostel this week.
"Where are you Miley?" Berry asked, his voice soft. He wanted to sound stern, like a strict older brother but he couldn't, not when she was so happy to see him. Miley pursed her lips, her displeasure evident. Berry didn't even bother asking her how she had been and went directly to ask where she was.
"Where else would I be? And why do you look so upset? You should know that I didn't do any of those things the matrons and teachers said to you. You know me right, I am too decent to do any of those things!" Miley was already proving her innocence when she wasn't even a suspect, yet, which made Berry's brows raise. He was very well aware of how crazy his sister could be at times but hearing her speak like this with this guilty expression, he couldn't help but feel like she had done something worse than before.
"Spill it! What did you do to sound this guilty?" Miley bit her tongue realizing what berry did not know a thing and she had just thrown herself into trouble that could have been avoided. "Don't make me wait", said Berry again,this time, sounding colder than before.
Miley huffed, her cheeks puffed as she yelled through the phone, "fine! I will tell you. So a classmate of mine took my camera without telling me first and not just that, she ended up dropping it and now my camera is ruined!" She cried, sounding aggrieved partially because she knew that Berry had a soft spot for her and would never want to see her cry and partly because her camera was gone. She loved her camera just as much as Berry loved his spatula.
"Go on", Berry urged, knowing this was not the end of the story. He was affected by her tears but did not show it. Knowing his sister, she could use it to her advantage.
Miley cleared her throat, her voice low as she spoke, "I really didn't do anything bad to her. We ended up fighting and by mistake, I pulled a bit too hard on her hair, just so you know, she pulled my hair too, and now, she is in the infirmary with half the hair she used to have." Miley said, avoiding eye contact with berry, with her pitch getting higher and higher with every word she spoke.
"Miley Yates!" Berry called sternly, his face now cold looking like he was about to punish her and Miley burst into tears immediately. Whether she was really sad or just crying so Berry would be lenient on her, no one knows.
Berry sighed, his fingers massaging his temple to prevent the headache that came whenever his sister cried. He really should be punishing her now but couldn't because he could not bare to see his sister hurt and in tears. He chose to let her off once again, knowing that she must have received the due punishment for this at school. "Where is your inhaler?"
Miley's eyes widened before she quickly concealed her guilt and nervous with a smile. "It's in my bag", she answered, sounding convincing enough but Berry would not accept that so he asked her to show it to him but Miley couldn't provide it, making Berry feel like he had lost ten years of his life worrying for this kid.
"Miley", he called again,sounding more worried and distressed than angry.
"I am sorry okay. To be honest, I don't know where it is. I think I left it I'm my room somewhere or was it in the class? I really dont remember but I promise to search for it after this".
Berry rolled his eyes, knowing that she would not be looking for it. Fortunately, after his little exchange with Seth, he immediately sent her another one just to be on the safe side. "I sent you another one. Try not to misplace it". She nodded obediently with her lips pressed together.
A knock was heard at the door followed by the sweet voice of Stuart who had just finished his meeting and was back to see his boyfriend before leaving.
"Who is is? What's got you smiling like that?" Miley asked suspiciously, pressing her face to the screen like it would help her see the room better
With happiness radiating from every part of him, Berry said subconsciously, "my boyfriend", and Miley was so shocked that she couldn't speak for a second and when she finally found her voice, she screamed so hard that Berry almost fell from his seat, his ears already bleeding from the unexpected assault to it.
"You have a boyfriend? Let me see. I want to see him!" She demanded,a little too excited that Berry was becoming wary.
With narrowed eyes, he said, "girls who pull other girls' hair don't get to see my boyfriend", and with that, he hung up.