Chapter 13: Haggle
"I hate her!" Slater barged into Atlas's room and exclaimed. "That crafty girl! She's purposely making me angry!"
He threw himself on the comfortable lazy couch, fuming.
Atlas, who asked his family not to be disturbed, ignored him. He continued to answer the problem on his study desk.
"Big brother, that crafty piglet did that on purpose!" Slater continued in frustration. "She's trying to take mom and dad away from us!"
"Atlas, I..."
Suddenly, Hugo also came into Atlas's room, only to stop when he saw Slater unloading his anger in this room.
"What are you doing here, Slater?" asked Hugo with a slight frown. "Atlas is studying for his exam."
"I'm frustrated!" Slater grumpily glared at him. "It's that piglet's fault! Not only she is replacing Nina, but she's also putting a wedge between us and our parents."
Slater jumped from his chair and encouraged, "We need to come together and stop her madness!"
"If there's madness that needs to be stopped, that's yours," Atlas, who couldn't ignore his little brother anymore, gazed up at Hugo. "What do you need?"
Hugo raised a notebook and approached. "I've been stuck in this problem and I need to understand it for tomorrow's recitation."
Atlas quietly took the note and opened it to the bookmark.