A/N - cant even look at myself in the mirror anymore 3 updates in like 1 hour 🥲
TW - this chapter contains mentions of grief that some may find upsetting
~~~
"There are officially only three teens under this roof, he's joined the good side", me and the twins rolled our eyes at Caleb who was standing while we all sat at the table, "if I had to pick a favourite brother, it would probably be you because you don't piss me off - happy birthday".
"Brought a tear to my eye", Chase said sarcastically, "thanks".
So far, Chase's 20th birthday had been the only one of my brothers' birthdays that had been normal since I moved here; he didn't seem to have such a hatred for birthdays like the rest of them did.
"Being born at the start of January looks like shit", Xander muttered, "you've gotta wait a whole year for your next one". Zane choked on his food, coughing into his sleeve a few times before squinting at our brother in either confusement or fear.
Probably both.
"Did you hear what you just said?", Scott asked, also watching him in concern.
"Yes", he deadpanned, "I mean he has to wait January through to December - seems longer".
"He's right", I agreed, "not calling it shit, but it makes sense".
"I grow more and more concerned every day", Zane sighed, "it's a shame you leave tomorrow Chase, we could've done something more exciting than dinner".
"This was exciting", Chase insisted, "and education awaits I guess".
"Such a nerd", Cay shook his head solemnly, "ah well, it was bound to be one of us". Chase rolled his eyes and stacked his and Rory's plates, pressing a kiss to her temple and standing to clean up.
"Sit your ass down", Scott ordered and he obliged, "why can't you all be like him?".
"Being the family disappointment isn't easy", Xander shrugged.
"Nor is being the second", Xav sighed.
"Or the third", Caleb chimed in and I rolled my eyes, oh please.
~~
It had been five days since New Year's Eve, five days since my kiss with Ezra, and four days since we'd all witnessed Caleb tear up the living room after being forced to hand over his car keys to Zane for the foreseeable future.
I mean, he did put his and the twins' life at risk the other night, rightly so I say.
School started again in two days, and was I fucking ready? What kinda question is that? To be honest, I hadn't exactly been productive while we'd been off school, unless watching movies with your brothers in your pyjamas daily was hard work anyway.
I still had a lot of questions about our father too, but trying to find the right time to bring that shit up was like trying to find a needle in a haystack - so I hadn't dared to. Plus, everyone seemed okay as of now, and I wouldn't be the one to do that; let's leave that to Xander or Caleb.
~
"Here we are again", I was getting deja vu staring at my brother and his suitcase - why did he have to live so far away?, "I'll see you soon, yeah?".
"How long's soon this time?", I asked, already knowing it was gonna be ages - the next birthday we had in this house was the twins' in May- actually, I didn't even know when Zane's was.
"Should be the twins' birthday", brilliant, "but I'll try and make it back before, no promises".
"Okay", I nodded slightly, wrapping my arms around him and squeezing tightly, "love you".
"Love you too", he chuckled, "okay, I gotta go meet Rory and catch my flight".
We pulled apart and he hugged everyone else, holding onto Caleb a little longer; I knew they'd miss each other the most. When the door closed behind him we all stared at it for a good minute in dead silence, you'd think we were fucking grieving in here.
"Tangled?", Xav broke the silence, rocking back and forth on his heels.
"I'll get the popcorn", Xander muttered, disappearing into the kitchen.
"I'm on blankets", Cay held up a peace sign and jogged up the stairs.
"I'll change my clothes", Zane announced, taking a much slower journey up there.
"I need coffee", Scott yawned, following after Xander; that left me and Xav.
"Let's set it up Izzy", he clapped, "Flynn Rider awaits".
"You and your obsession", I laughed, "crazy".
"You love it really", he chuckled - hell yeah I did.
~~
"The line between sanity and insanity is so fucking thin right now", same Xander, same. It was Monday morning, the first day of school, and there were nothing but good vibes in the house today.
"Alexander, don't you seem ecstatic this morning?", Zane sipped his coffee with a smirk, "ready for school?".
"Don't you dare", he inhaled slowly, "don't ask me questions, don't look at me, don't speak either". Zane simply chuckled with a shake of the head, turning his attention to Xav who was in blue striped pyjama bottoms and a hoodie.
"Okay, I'm ready", he announced, "I'm driving right?".
"Xavier", Zane cleared his throat, "you are aware you're...-".
"Wearing pyjamas, I know", he deadpanned, "can't find any sweatpants". He had a ton of joggers, how couldn't he find any?
"Just wear jeans", I shrugged and he physically shivered.
"I do not wear jeans", he said with distaste in his tone, "they'd itchy, they're uncomfortable, and they freak me out".
"You can't wear those to school Xavier", Zane rose from his seat and placed his mug in the sink.
"I can and I will", he turned away and left the room, "I'll be in the car!".
"Give me strength", he muttered, "you better go before he gets impatient mi amor".
"Uh huh", I agreed, "see you later". I squeezed him in a brief hug, then ran after Xav to call shotgun before Xander did; he was gonna hate me for that.
~
Xander didn't speak for the whole journey, he was being salty in the backseat with a frown on his face as he stared out the window.
What a child.
I left the twins in Xav's Jeep and headed inside, spotting Amelia and Gray heading towards the library ahead of me.
"Oi!", I grabbed both their shoulders and they screamed, sighing in relief when they realised it was me, "long time no see".
"Occupied with Ezra I take it?", Gray raised an eyebrow and I squinted at Amelia, "she told me straight after you did, congrats". Of course I'd told Amelia about my kiss with Ezra as soon as I physically could, it was only a matter of time before she spilled to her twin too.
"Assholes", speaking of the devil, Ezra stepped in line with us and grinned, "darlin'".
"You two make me sick", Amelia pretended to be disgusted, she wasn't fooling anyone as she bit back a smile.
"And how's Atlas, Lia?", Ezra smirked, knowing full well I'd let it slip that the pair of them had kissed on their first date, "progressing?". As if something clicked in Amelia's head, she turned to me with a scowl.
"You little-", she pointed an accusing finger at me.
"In my defence, it slipped out", I surrendered, "accident".
"Can we not talk about my sister kissing someone while I'm here?", Gray grimaced and I chuckled, "let's just get today over with, I've had enough already". He could say that again.
~
"It's fucking huge", I groaned.
"That's what she said", Ezra couldn't help himself and broke out into a fit of laughter at his own joke, "sorry darlin', I had to".
"It's not that bad", Cooper shrugged, "better than being half-naked". I looked down at the giant hoodie that was literally swallowing my entire being in the boys' locker room; Ezra and Cooper had snuck me in here after the latter accidentally spilled his fizzy drink all over my top- don't even ask.
Ezra had so generously lended me a hoodie, and I could say with confidence now, he wasn't getting this back.
"Yeah no thanks to you", Ezra frowned, "you confuse me sometimes man".
"Yeah well", he shrugged, "let's get outta here before someone catches us".
"Who could possibly catch us in here?", I snorted, actually jinxing us when the door swung open - fuck my fucking life.
"Did we just walk in on something I don't even wanna think about little sister?", Xav stared at me seriously, I couldn't take him seriously with those pyjamas on, "do I even wanna know?". He dropped his bag of hockey stuff and narrowed his eyes at Cooper and Ezra.
"Something tells me we don't", Jake whispered into my brother's ear and I rolled my eyes.
"He spilled a drink on me", I jerked a thumb at Cooper before pointing at Ezra, "he gave me his hoodie". All four pairs of shoulders belonging to Xav, Jake, Parker and Asher fell in relief instantly - what did they take me for?
"Phew", Xav breathed out, "okay, piss off we've got practice - tell Xander I'm going to Asher's after school so you two are on your own". Huh?
"You what?", he was just ditching us?
"Get one of the others to pick you up", he shrugged.
"Why can't he drive your car?", I asked and Jake snorted, as did Asher; Parker just raised an eyebrow at what I'd said.
"I'm not letting Xander touch my car, twin or not", he scoffed, "run along sister, sister's friends". Give me strength.
~
We got picked up by Caleb, which would've been a fun experience if he was actually in a good mood. Instead, he just stayed sitting in silence as he drove, my only form of entertainment being Xander pulling faces at me through the mirror above his head.
Upon arriving home I was greeted by an unusual sight; Scott was the one doing work at the table while Zane cooked something - was I missing something here?
"Is it opposite day?", I sunk into the chair beside Scott and rubbed my ankle, I'd underestimated walking around on it today and it was starting to hurt a little.
"Prescott believes I need to eat, so he's disrupted my work and insisted I make something", Zane didn't sound happy about that at all, Scott just rolled his eyes and kept typing on his laptop without a word.
"Well, is there enough for two?", I pondered, "I'm starving".
"There should be", he nodded, "I'm not even hungry anyway".
"Don't even look at me", Scott muttered, "after your stunt that landed you in hospital I'm not taking chances".
"He's kinda right", I backed him up and Zane narrowed his eyes at the pair of us.
"How was your first day back? Ankle okay?", subject changer.
"It was good, and nope it hurts", Scott was up in a second, opening the freezer and retrieving an ice pack while Zane came over with painkillers. You'd think I was dying.
"No school for you tomorrow", my eldest brother announced, "you shouldn't have walked on it today".
"Aren't you the one who emphasised 'education is life'?", I squinted and he turned around, continuing with his cooking as Scott laughed at him. Poor Zane.
~~
A week and a day had passed and we were halfway through January, time was moving quicker than ever here; according to Xav it was because time flies when you're having fun, I couldn't disagree to be honest. Ezra had told me that today, January 15th, was Maceo's birthday and he had invited me over for dinner on the weekend with their family.
I hadn't seen them in a while so I couldn't wait for that; but we still had 4 days between then and now and I was getting impatient.
"I'll never get over the size of your house", I stuck my head out of the kitchen and saw Xav and his trail of friends behind him, "it's disgusting".
"Love you too", he blew a kiss to Parker who rolled his eyes and kicked off his shoes, "Izzy! Haven't seen you in hours".
"Yeah because you vanished from school before I had the chance to speak to you", I frowned, "guys".
"Izzy", they all chorused, Jake coming over and ruffling my hair.
"Any food?", Asher rummaged through the cupboards eagerly, "I'm famished".
"Speak English", Parker dropped onto the sofa and turned on the tv, his afro bouncing as he did so, "why's it so quiet?".
"It's just me and Cay here", I replied, "Zane and Scott went to go see that Enzo guy with the dodgy sister, and Xander's at Talon's".
"Cubby!", Xav yelled, banging a fist on the doorframe, "get your ass down here!". I didn't even get a chance to warn him not to do that, speaking to Caleb today seemed just like poking a grizzly bear with a stick.
"Chips!", Asher exclaimed, slamming the cupboard and joining Parker on the sofa.
"They're crisps", I rolled my eyes and he gasped.
"I'm gonna pretend I never heard that", he held a hand up to me and turned around, "crisps".
"What?", Caleb appeared out of nowhere, eyes red and shirtless with a pair of jeans on. He eyed Xav's friends for a split second before focusing his gaze on our brother- had he been crying?
"You okay?", Xav analysed him with one look up and down.
"What did you want?", he placed his hands on his hips and sniffed. Xav made eye contact with me for a second before clearing his throat.
"Was gonna see what the plan was for food?", he grinned sheepishly and Caleb scoffed, turning on his heel and leaving the room, "woah, wait!". He followed him out and their conversation fell upon deaf ears, I couldn't hear shit.
"So...how long have you guys been friends with Xav?", I tried to make conversation with the guys; Xav was kinda the only one with a bunch of friends so I didn't have to do this often.
"I've known him the longest", Jake spoke up, "we were...7? Yeah, I'd just joined his school and some kids were taking the piss out of my skin; I didn't care cuz I thought my vitiligo was cool- I still do, it's fucking amazing-".
"Amen", Asher raised a hand at the same time Parker said "preach".
"So yeah, I didn't care about what they were saying - but Xav did", he stopped and chuckled to himself, running a hand down his face slowly, "he cornered all three of them, they obviously knew who he was and that he had scary older brothers because he got them to apologise instantly and they never even looked at me again".
"Awww", I beamed, trying to imagine a mini Xav defending his friend, "what about you two?".
"We were 9", Parker spoke up, "I accidentally threw a donut at his face, I thought he or Xander were gonna kill me but the pair of them burst out laughing and invited me to their table, rest was history".
"You've all got exciting stories behind these", I muttered, "Asher?".
"He hated me at first", he laughed, "I was better at hockey than him, and apparently 10 year olds are super competitive - he punched me because he was threatened by me".
"Objection", Xav strolled back in, "I punched you because you were all up in my space".
"I was on the other side of the rink", he deadpanned.
"Yeah", he waved a hand, "my space".
"So I take it you made up? Or is this friendship a lie?", they both grinned and Xav scurried over to the sofa where Asher and Parker were, pulling the former into a headlock.
"Yeah, he's alright I guess", my brother chuckled, "we're ordering sushi - you want?".
"Course", I agreed, my mind drifting back to Caleb; I wondered what was wrong with him...
Caleb
Everything was pissing me off right now.
My house, my siblings, even my fucking car had managed to get on my last nerve today.
The one thing that I hadn't snapped at today came in the form of my best friend; the one person I could tolerate some days.
"I'm starting to uh, to-to think you got an add-add-add, an addiction", oh please.
"Like you're not ecstatic because you're sticking yet another needle into me", I rolled my eyes, letting that comforting pain take over my whole body; some people drink when they're hurt, some shut people out but me? I let Theo fill yet another spot on my body with ink - always.
"Touché", he muttered, "what's up?".
"How do you know something's up?", I frowned, closing my eyes momentarily. I knew there was barely any space left on my back, but I wanted my back done and Theo claimed there was always space for him to add something in.
"Because I-I-I uh, I know you", he replied, "16 years of friendship Cub". Yeah, he was right.
"Everything is making me think of him, I can't fucking take it man", I paused and bit my tongue, I dared my voice to so much as crack in here, "I'm going fucking crazy". The whirring stopped and everything stilled in the room for a moment before Theo's chair rolled in front of my face and he ducked slightly; I hated when he looked at me like this.
"I m-m-m-m uh, I-uh, I m-m-m", he paused, closing his eyes and inhaling slowly, "I miss him too".
"I couldn't even take Izzy for ice cream the other day because she asked for cookie dough", I laughed bitterly, "how stupid is that?".
"It's not", he shook his head, "it's not".
"And then today, there was a fucking rainbow outside and I just broke down- I can't function man", I clenched a fist down by my side and inhaled sharply, I could literally hear my heart pounding against my chest, "and the anniversary's coming, and I just- I can't- I don't". And yep, I was fucking crying now. Damn it Caleb.
"Hey", Theo put down his equipment, equally as teary-eyed as me as he leaned down and rested his head on mine, "I know".
That was one thing I loved about my friendship with Theo, he was right. He knew. He knew me inside and out, he knew me better than anyone, better than myself to be honest. He knew what I was going through right now, not only because he'd been through it with me, but because he knew me.
"God I miss him", I groaned, fuck him for doing this to us.
"I know", he sighed, "me too". We stayed like that for fuck knows how long, just needing each other's presence at this point; god forbid I lost him too.
Isabella
Not calling Xander boring, but his company was pretty shit most of the time. Xav had left to go hang out with the guys elsewhere, Caleb was still god knows where and Zane and Scott were apparently on their way back from their meeting.
Thank fuck, because I could only take so much of Xander talking about everything with a negative opinion.
"You know, you're not much of an optimist", I told him and his jaw dropped.
"No way! Since when?", he exclaimed in fake shock, I rolled my eyes and threw a pillow at his face, "someone's gotta be the realistic one Bella".
"There's realistic and there's pessimistic", I raised an eyebrow and he mirrored my actions.
"Big words for such a tiny brain", he tapped my head and hummed, "sounding a little hollow to me". Before I had a chance to retaliate, the front door opened and deep voices filled the house, one didn't belong to my brothers.
Zane and Scott entered the room, in between them was a guy who- good lord where did he come from? He was tall- not quite Zane's tall but a little taller than Scott, his hair was a much lighter brown and his eyes a light shade of grey. A suit much like my brothers' hugged his body; unlike them however he was wearing a pair of Jordan's on his feet.
"Mi amor, Alexander", Zane smiled, coming straight over and kissing the top of my head, "I'd like to introduce you to someone Isabella". I stood, moving over to that side of the kitchen and after briefly hugging Scott I attracted my attention to the guy- god.
"This is Enzo Hyde", oh god, "we go way back with him".
"His sister called her a bitch", Xander interrupted before I could say a word, "she won't be acquainted with him, nor will I anymore". He advanced towards me and held my wrist, going to pull me out of the room until we were stopped.
"Alexander Leornardo Delgado", I coughed to mask my laugh, "is that how we treat our guests?".
"It's how we treat guests who are related to the scum who disrespect our sister", he challenged Zane, standing in front of me defensively.
"I assure you Alexander, Zane told me about what happened and Kelsey's sorry", Enzo said, sticking his hands into his pockets, "she won't bother you anymore- but if you don't mind, I would like to introduce myself to the girl you've all been talking about for years". We all looked at Xander and reluctantly, he released me but kept his gaze on me firmly as I stepped over to Enzo and stuck out my hand.
"Hi", I smiled, "I'm Izzy".
"And it's a pleasure to be acquainted with you Izzy", he peered over my shoulder at Xander as he said that; yet another person who loved winding him up, "I'll let you run along with your brother before he pounces".
I chuckled and spun back around, letting Xander hold a hand on my shoulder as he guided me upstairs.
So damn overprotective.
~~~
A/N - you're not seeing me again for now🏃🏾♀️🏃🏾♀️
I need to pre-write more chapters...