My Own Way

Chapter 13

"You should call Justin and tell him to come over." My mom told my dad.

"You think I should? Once it's said we can't go back. Also he's going to be extremely pissed off we didn't tell him the second we knew." My dad said.

"He will be angry, I'm certain of that but if we wait...that something happens or not, the longer we wait the angrier he'll be. This isn't only about us it's his family as well." My mom said to him.

"I agree with mom. Justin, Nicole...Anne will be really angry with me. She really likes him, I don't know if it's mutual but...nevertheless she likes him and I know Justin is going to refuse them from being friends. I don't know if Jesse is...good or bad but...it's Anne. If we tell her everything and I mean everything...I'm not sure how she'll take it. She thinks our family is perfect. That's what she told me yesterday, saying she'd love my life because it's so perfect. I laughed and said nothing is perfect. I'm scared she'll hate me...for ruining whatever relationship she has with him." I said, being honest.

"She's young and she still has a lot to learn in life. When she's an adult and more mature, she will understand that we are only trying to protect her...keeping her safe." My mother said.

My dad got up and I heard him grab the phone and dialling a number I knew would be Justin's.

"Hey." I heard my dad say.

"No it's not. I need you to leave and come over."

"I know you're busy but..." He said and I could hear my uncle's voice. Even with the distance my dad was from us we could hear him. I couldn't make out what he was saying but still.

"Justin, stop talking!" My dad yelled into the phone. "Just leave and get your butt here. It's important."

I heard my dad make a sound of annoyance he used multiple times with my brothers and me.

"Yeah...brother code." I barely heard him say. I looked at my mom and she seemed as confused as me.

"Seriously you're going to make me say the whole thing." He said a bit louder and I heard Justin laugh.

"Fine, I invoke the brother code." He whispered into the phone.

"Fine bye." My dad said and banged the phone on the receiver.

What the hell, brother code?

My dad sat back down at the table, like nothing happened while I looked at my mom for answers but her eyes were on my dad.

"I invoke the brother code?" My mom asked and he immediately looked at her.

"I have my weird things and you have your weird things, the difference is in most of mine it involves my idiot brother." He answered and my mom just slowly nodded her head like she understood.

"Perfect my ass." I whispered, shaking my head.

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When Justin showed up, no one had moved from the kitchen table. He was in a good mood when he got here but the second we said Jesse and Anne in the same sentence he blew up. We all knew he would be angry, if the roles were reversed we'd all have the same reaction.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?!" He yelled at us.

"Because we weren't sure if he was or wasn't his son. What were we suppose to do? Tell everyone and ruin the reputation an innocent kid if we made a mistake?!" My dad yelled back.

Justin kept walking back and forth in the kitchen and it was starting to drive me crazy. Couldn't he just sit down and freak out like that?

"Amanda...when did you learn this?" Justin asked me.