Gracious

Chapter 22

"Don't act stupid Zane", he scoffed, "a little truth would be great". I gulped back the entire glass, holding eye contact with him the whole time, before filling it up again and clearing my throat.

"A friend", I replied and he hummed.

"Does that friend have the word 'boy' in front of it?", he asked and I rolled my eyes, I didn't feel like being somewhat outed on a Thursday morning.

"No. Drop it", I urged, finishing my drink and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, "I'll wake up the twins". I made a move to leave the room but he latched onto my wrist, halting me in my tracks.

"I'm only looking out for you, you know that right?", he said lowly, concern written all over his tired looking face- no doubt he'd had another sleepless night- I just prayed he hadn't heard too much.

"Word of advice?", I leaned forwards and he nodded, I pulled my hand from his grip and took a step away from him, "don't waste your time".

~

"I think we should get a pet", I frowned slightly, squeezing the wheel a little tighter, "imagine a dog, or a lizard- or a snake!".

"Too much enthusiasm at this time of the morning", Caleb muttered, and on rare occasion, I found myself agreeing with him.

"Yeah, a snake!", I didn't expect said enthusiasm to come from Alexander, who seemed to be on board with his twin's suggestion, "you can't even look after yourself though Xav, let alone an animal". Caleb laughed from the passenger seat, fiddling with the radio, then looking at himself in the mirror above his head.

"That's not true!", he protested, "I can look after myself, easily".

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?", ah jeez.

"And here we go", Chase sighed from in between them, his gaze unmoving from his book as he turned the page.

"I'll let you have four sleepovers in my room if you can go three days without asking Zane for anything", Alexander declared and I rolled my eyes, as much as I wanted to have faith in Xavier, he wouldn't last an hour.

"Just Zane?", he asked.

"Well he's our guardian, so yeah", he replied as I pulled up at their school, "but that doesn't mean you can just use Scott".

"Okay...", Xavier nodded slowly, "and if I lose?".

"You have to stay away from popcorn for four days", he announced and our brother gasped.

"You're evil", he jabbed a finger at Alexander who simply shrugged.

"What do you get out of it?", Caleb asked him and he smirked.

"The personal satisfaction of watching him suffer", he picked up his bag and opened his door, "I know he'll lose". He climbed out and shut his door without a goodbye, Xavier's eyes widened and he jumped out too, scurrying after his twin after muttering a quick 'bye'.

"Are you sure we're fully related to them?", Caleb asked as I started the engine, trust him to ask something like that.

"Cub!", Chase gasped, finally lifting his eyes from the pages of his book, "you can't say that".

"What? They make us look normal", he surrendered and I rolled my eyes.

"None of us are normal", Chase claimed, head bowed as he concentrated on reading once more; silence filled the car and I took it as my opportunity to start driving.

I kid you the fuck not, the silence lasted no more than forty-five seconds.

"Tell us about this crush Chasey", Caleb turned around, facing our quiet brother with a teasing tone.