4. Cindy’s debate skills are not always verbal

It was nice to feel like I was always welcome at the Harper household. Since the very first time I met Hunter, his home has felt like my home away from home. As far as I know, my mom and his dad had been good friends for a while, but I was unsure how they met. One random afternoon, I found myself at a party with children I was completely unacquainted with to celebrate Hunter's 9th birthday. As much as I wanted to linger around mom, I was strongly encouraged to mingle with my age mates. I was quite timid toward everyone until Hunter came over and offered me a generic superhero mask. My younger self took this as the ultimate seal of approval. Hunter's taste perfect. I barely talked to anyone else except him that day and I had so much fun role playing all sorts of fantastic childhood imaginations with him and his friends. I practically had to be dragged away from the party at the end of the day after Hunter showed me his costume collection. It's no surprise that when we started going to the same school in middle school I was elated. Him and I were going to take on the world together.

As was tradition, Hunter and I quickly disappeared into his room in readiness to game the afternoon away. I was glad to see that Hunter had added more pieces to his collection of deep space themed bedroom. The times I had the chance to spend the night over, the glow in the dark display of the cosmos overhead had always mesmerised me until I drifted off to sleep. I could already feel myself drifting away through the void as Hunter set up a game for us to play. For a moment, only my thoughts mattered. I was deep in space, heading nowhere except where my mind designed. All the memories of the day were behind me on Earth.

Just as I was sure I would crash into Jupiter, I was brought down to Earth by a knock on the door. Hunter moved to the door and poked his head out the door. I heard him yell at someone on the opposite side:

"What's your story!?"

I immediately knew exactly who was knocking. Normally I would have felt bad for whoever could make Hunter yell at them but I knew all too well who he was dealing with. She responded with equal aggression:

"What's your story!?!" Cindy mimicked her brother.

"I'm not playing, Cindy," Hunter retorted. "If you have nothing important to say then leave."

"I want to hang out with Tony too."

"Oh how adorable. But you don't see me insisting on playing with your mates, now do you? I didn't think so."

"Don't make me use force, Hunter."

"In your dreams."

Have you ever seen a thirteen year old girl manhandle a seventeen year old tower of a boy. It's one of the most unbelievable things I've ever witnessed....well relatively speaking. I watched from the comfort of Hunter's bed as the siblings basically rolled down the corridor. The sound of struggling and clashing appendages filled my ears. I didn't know whether to go and intervene or not. I was desensitised to the conflict but I still felt guilty for not doing anything fast enough. It must have quite the wrestle because I heard Mr Harper shout i from the other end of the hallway to stop them from fighting. I was glad I remained in the room because he would probably found me betting on who was going to win this edition of Wrestle Mania. He was clearly fuming. I pretended to be in my own world as he bore down on the two.

"Hunter," Mr Harper exploded. "I expect you to take charge in these situations. You're old enough to control your sister. And you are both old enough to know this is childish."

"But Hunter won't let me hang out with Tony," Cindy blurted out.

"What you need to do is get your own friends yeah!" Hunter retorted.

"Hunter that's enough!" Mr Harper interrupted. "Both of you stop acting like children and be good hosts to Tony. Hunter, no more bullying your sister. Tony is her friend too."

"How am I the bully now?"

"That's enough! Now I want you to hug it out and stop fighting over nonsense."

I had to see this for myself. I rushed toward the open door of Hunter's bedroom and stared out at the group in the hallway. Hunter and Cindy stood facing each other while Mr Harper stood slightly farther down the corridor. The siblings gave each other looks of almost utter disgust as they pulled into an embrace. I had to hold back laughter and ended up choking on my saliva.

"Tony," Mr Harper said." Are you alright, my boy?"

"I'm just fine," I managed in-between coughs.

"Sorry you had to hear all this. It won't happen again."

I wasn't sure what to say in that situation. I simply feigned a distressed half smile and watched as Mr Harper left us to our own things. Hunter quickly pushed Cindy away from his embrace and slid into his room. Cindy had a small triumphant smile on her face as she followed me into Hunter's room. I took my place on Hunter's bed and watched him finish off were he left off in setting up the game. Cindy took a seat next to me.

"If only dad knew the full truth about all this right?" Cindy chuckled.

"I don't think I would want him to," I responded. "I'm still on his good side unlike you guys."

"You mean unlike Cindy," Hunter said. "No matter what happens, I always receive the bulk of the blame."

"Well, unlike you, I make believable arguments."

"Oh don't be so up your butt. The closest to argument you ever make is puppy dog eyes."

"Sulk all you want, but there's a reason I'm part of the debate team."

As much as I would like to agree with Cindy, my experience with her in the context of their issues told me Hunter was right about her. I had never seen her make an argument to their parents after about their conflicts without utilising the power of her cute puppy expression to win the argument. It was a bit of a shock to hear she even considered joining debate. She explained that she was not exactly keen on doing it at first but she wanted to put herself out their and build her character. It turned out that after a few practice sessions, she was something of a natural. Not sure how years of wrestling with her brother and getting away with it had helped in the aspect of debate but maybe I'm just too shortsighted to see the connection.