5 Brothers and I

Chapter 10

I walked out of school behind Derek, hoping to avoid the stares of the other students. Jason and Mason followed us about ten metres behind, yet seeming to be far away because of the massive group of people flowing out of the school doors to leave this school.

I haven't talked to Derek since lunch, he knows I hate attention, yet on the first day he brings all the attention on us. Everyone knows who we are now.

Derek understands me, we're practically twins, minus the born on the same day thing. Imagine being a twin but one was born one day and then the other born the next, that would be cool... Anyway, I'm getting distracted.

Derek knows I'll be mad at him for an hour or two, no more than a day, and will respect my wishes, but something tells me this time will be different. He thought he would be helping me, and he did, I just didn't like the way he did it.

"Look, I know you're annoyed at me, but can you please just speak to me?" Derek pleaded from beside me as we walked down the Main Street leading away from the school.

I ignored him, still annoyed, and tried walking faster. That of course, was a stupid idea because Derek is one of the sportiest person in my family. Scratch that, he's probably the sportiest person I know. He kept pace with me, watching me the whole time.

We were halfway home when he must've given up. He swore under his breath and sped up while I slowed to a pace, hoping to be left to myself. Of course, when you have five older brothers, you never have time to yourself.

After about two minutes, I felt two hands, one on each shoulder, grab me and shout. Nothing coherent, just trying to scare me. After I jump, I spin around with a furious look on my face.

There are a few perks to being the youngest and only girl, they get scared when I'm angry. both twins back up with their arms raised in surrender. Still annoyed, I turn around and continue walking.

"Woah, Ape, wait up. What's wrong?" I heard Jason ask. After living with them your whole life, you can easily distinguish between their voices.

'Idiot, why would you call her that? You know she hates that name!" Whisper yelled Mason as I hear him pull Jason to a stop.

"Well sorry for trying to cheer her up," countered Jason as both stopped progressing further forward.

"Yeah lets try cheering up our extremely annoyed sister by calling her a name that annoys her more! Idiot!" Pointed out Mason, no longer whispering and talking normally.

"Don't yell, she's right there, and at least I was trying, can't say the same for you," They do realise I could hear them when they were were whispering, right?

"You didn't give me a chance to try cheer her up, you just went right out their and said something completely stupid!" They do realise that I just need less than an hour and i'll be perfectly fine, right? They know I've never held a grudge for over 2 and a half hours, seriously, they timed it.

"I saw the look on your face you were just going to leave her!" Replied Jason. Yeah I wouldn't mind that.

"That's because that's what we do in this family, we realise that they need space to clear their mind and they'll be fine in no time at all. You know that," Mason was raising his voice now, and that's what scared me. The twins hardly ever fought, but the last time they did, they didn't talk for over two days, that's the longest anyone has held a grudge in our family.

"That's what we did, because mum would have been the one there for us, but she isn't here for us anymore." That one struck a nerve. There was silence as Jason realised what he had said. "Look, sorry, I overstepped the mark. I didn't mean to say that."

Mason took off, walking fast down the footwalk to get away from us, but more importantly, Jason. I had stopped moving entirely. Standing there facing away from Jason as I thought about what he had said. He was right, Mum was the one who was always there for us, she was the reason why our grudges never lasted. But now she was gone and we don't know how to respond to arguments.

I hear Jason take a seat on the curb and turn around to see him sitting down with his head in his hands.

"I didn't mean it, honestly, I just miss mum." That was all he said, still facing down. Without thinking, I sat down beside him and wrapped my arms sideways aound him. He looked over at me and I saw the tears on his face, just before he wrapped his arms around me.

"I know you didn't, but we need to stick together, that's what mum and dad always said, right?" Mum and her brother and two sisters had never gotten along, that's why it was so important to her that we did, and we all promised her we would, thats what I loved about her. She cared about those around her.

"Do you think he hates me, Mason I mean?" Jason said as he raised his head from where it lay on my shoulder. Pulling back from the hug, I looked him in the eye.

"No."

"Just no? No words of wisdom or anything?"

I laughed lightly at his phraising and thought for a bit. "You guys are twins, you have a special connection, nothing has ever come between you guys for long. He's just upset about mum and dad, like all of us, we just kind of have to figure out our own way to handle it."

"I knew you had some good words of wisdom in that little brain of yours," He said with a small smile.

"Please, at least I have a brain. We should head home, Kane is probably waiting for us, he starts work in half an hour so we should get back before he starts getting worried."

Jason and I walked home together joking lightly about little things, but not truly smiling. Although I would never let Jason know how much his comment hurt me, I was doing it for him. He would breakdown if he knew he hurt not only his twin, but his only sister as well. And as much as it hurt me, I knew I had to brush it off, pretend it never happened and just get on with my life.