Rose Hart and her devil little brother, Tom, live on the beach in Miami, Florida. The Harts can’t remember the last time a peaceful day went by in their household. Everyone knows that eventually, Rose will win an argument, and Tom will retaliate- like that one time he put a tarantula under Rose’s pillow because she was taking too long in the bathroom. 

One dark and rainy morning, when Rose woke up, she found herself drenched in water from the Gulf of Mexico. The rain was pelting against her closed window, covering the sound of the ocean crashing against the shore. If her window was closed, how come she felt like she had just jumped in the sea? 

What she didn’t know was that just a few minutes ago, Tom grabbed a sand bucket and filled it with ocean water. He brought it back into the house, slowly tiptoed into Rose’s room and dumped the bucket on her. Rose was shivering in her cold sheets and steaming with anger. This has Tom written all over it, she thought. 

The night before, Tom and Rose got into an argument over who should get the TV remote. When Rose won the argument, Tom’s face became so red he looked like a tomato. And just like always, Tom’s temper got the best of him, like the time he shredded all of Rose’s homework because she borrowed his calculator without asking. 

Rose was fuming as she marched into Tom’s room, feeling ready to put his head through a wall. 

Rose tries her best to take the high road, rarely ever retaliating when Tom takes things too far. But tonight, something changed. Tom had finally pushed Rose past her breaking point. 

“What the heck? Why would you pour water on me in my sleep?” Rose screamed as she flung open the door to Tom’s room. 

“I recall no such thing. Must have been a stroke of bad luck. Had you given me the TV remote last night, you could have had good luck,” Tom said, faking innocence. 

“I'm telling Mom and Dad! Then we will see how guilty you really are!” Rose yelled, slamming the door as she left Tom’s room. 

She stormed down the hall and to her parents room, leaving wet footprints with every step. She came to a stop when she overheard her mom and dad talking about what to do with Tom and his irrational behaviors. Rose was frozen, torn between listening in and giving her parents privacy. They were talking about the options of boarding school, becoming more strict with punishments, and even taking Tom to get evaluated by a professional psychiatrist; they seemed clueless as to what to do. This made Rose significantly more confident that her parents would believe her instead of whatever lie Tom tried to spin. That, and the fact that Rose was still dripping wet. 

“Mom, Dad, you two will never believe what Tom did last night. He was upset because I didn’t give him the TV remote, so while I was sleeping, he came into my room with a bucket of salt water and dumped it all over me,” Rose said, finally entering the room. 

“Are you kidding me? I can’t believe he would do something like that over a silly TV remote. Rose, why don’t you handle it on your own. Your father and I are tired of handling your issues with you and your brother all of the time,” her mother said, obviously exhausted. 

“Ok fine, but you both better agree on a punishment for him. I’m not dealing with his horrible revenge plans anymore,” Rose said as she left the room. 

Rose slowly walked back over to Tom's room where she mustered the confidence to burst into the room and scream, “This is the last time that I am going to accept your disgusting attitude over little things like the TV remote. I'm warning you, Mom and Dad are talking about alternative options because they're tired of it too.”

“What do I care? It's not like they're going to send me to boarding school or something like that.” 

“Yea sure, we’ll see about that.”

As Rose left the room, she wondered if she should tell him about the talk that their parents were having about Tom's behavior. However, she decided against it because it wasn’t her place. She felt that she had done her part by warning him. 

Two days later, Rose and Tom got into yet another fight over who got to have a friend over that night. Both of their parents agreed that it should be Rose because of the salt water fiasco. Tom decided that it would be a great idea to get back at Rose by letting his two pet mice roam free in the basement as Rose and her friend, Sally, were watching movies. 

“AHHHHHHHHH! TOM, WHY ARE THERE MICE DOWN HERE?” Rose screeched. 

Tom walked down into the basement, as calm and cocky as ever. 

“Why are you asking me? I'm not the one who was in charge of cleaning the basement before people came over. This is your fault, accept responsibility for your own actions instead of always blaming me.”

“I know you’re the one that put them down here. I'm going to go tell mom to check and see if your pet mice are still in your room, and if they aren’t, then I’lll know that it was you.”

“Fine, go and see if I care. I swear it wasn’t me,” Tom said with a shrug. 

As Rose and her mother walked upstairs, they found that the cage for the mice had been opened. Rose's mom told her to go downstairs, get the two mice, and bring them back up. Reluctantly, Rose brought them back with a disgusted look on her face.

“Rose, your father and I have decided what to do about Tom's behavioral problems. We’ll be sending him to boarding school starting in one week,” her mom said. 

When they told Tom about their decision, he burst into tears pleading for them to give him one last chance. He had some time to think before he left, and he realized that maybe if he had just listened to Rose when she warned him, this entire situation could have been avoided. 

One week later, the car was in the driveway, packed with all of Tom’s clothes and some nicknacks to give him a nice memory of home. As he walked to the end of the driveway to get into the car, he saw his family standing on the porch with tears running down their faces. Neither Rose or Tom could believe it as Rose wiped away her tears. She was going to miss him. 

“GOODBYE TOM. WE’LL MISS YOU AND WE LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS!”