Gabriele POV.
I hadn't seen Eli since the morning when we split up, and I was growing more and more anxious every minute. I had spent the whole day worrying about how they were doing and if they needed help with anything. I checked my phone every two seconds and had to talk myself out of calling them every fifteen minutes, which got really annoying for my friends.
Finally, I saw them in the cafeteria sitting with some kids in their grade. I wanted to go over, but Ethan grabbed my ark and sat me down. They were smiling, which was good, and even laughing with the kids. At least everything seemed to be going okay.
Ethan had been my best friend for a long time, so he was obviously the first one to know about Eli. I grew to soon regret that decision. The whole day he was like an overly energetic puppy jumping around and constantly asking me when he was going to meet them. Once I had to actually push them to the lockers when he was getting too in my face about it.
When school ended I was waiting at the car with Ethan by my side, since he still woulnd't stop nagging me. I knew I had been talking a lot about Eli since we found out they were, you know, alive, but Ethan was on a whole other level. He had been an honorary member of our family ever since I met him, so I guess it was understandable but still annoying.
After about ten minutes, Eli walked through the doors with some guy that had black hair up to his shoulders. I recognized him, but couldn't remember his name. I used to go out with his big sister, but I hardly remembered her name anymore, so I guess it was acceptable, that I woulnd't remember her little brother.
As soon as Eli noticed us, she waved happily, making me grin from ear to ear. They looked like a little kid on their first day of school and in a way, that's what they were. They had completely missed middleschool and highschool up until then, so it must have been weird being back in school after so many years of homeschooling.
"Hey, I'm Ethan your brothers cool best friend," Ethan said, as Eli got to the car.
I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the side, earning a groan from him and a chuckle from Eli.
"Hi I'm Eli. You have a very orange aura," Eli said reaching for Ethan's hand to shake, which he took but I could see his brain trying to process what li had just said.
I could see Ethan freezing in his spot, but I was more interested in the happy little glint in El's eye. It looked like they had a good day.
"Cool...?" Ethan said only waking up from his trance when Eli was already sitting in the car.
"So, how was your first day? I saw you hanging out with some other kids at lunch," I asked as we drove home.
"Please don't say kids like I'm four," Eli whined throwing their head back.
"Also, were you spying on me?" they continued throwing a hand over their heart.
I just chuckled slightly, knowing that I, in fact, was spying on them.
"It was nice. I made some new friends and caught up on school. I got some materials from the teachers so that I can study the stuff I missed," Eli said looking back at the road.
"Are your new friends nice?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow leaning over to them.
Eli just laughed at my expression and answered:
"Yeah, they're cool. I'm not friends with people who aren't nice."
"By the way, you definitely left an impression on Ethan," I laughed still not over Ethan's responce.
Eli started laughing with me. It was a loud, wholehearted laugh, I hadn't heard before.
"Yeah, I thought it was funny. By the way, he seemed cool. Orange my favorite color," Eli said with a grin.
"It is?" I asked surprised, that I didn't know the simplest fact about my sibling.
"No," They grinned making me laugh uncontrollably.
"I like a green. I actually thought about naming myself Forest, or Moss, or something," Eli explained looking really relaxed in their seat.
Eli POV.
The first day went better, than I could have expected. I made some friends or at least people I could spend time with, since I didn't know them that well yet. I realized just how much I would have to catch up with schoolwork, but I would have more time since I didn't have to work fourteen hour days anymore. I got an anxiety attack in history class, but I was able to deal with it without hurting myself much. I just slightly scratchied myself, but I still took it as a win.
When we got home I immediately changed into sweats since only a maniac could relax in jeans even if they were as comfortable as mine. I jumped onto the king-sized bad, still not used to the room I would maybe live in from now on and felt the exhaustion crash over me. It was odd, since I hadn't even done that much. When I was in Finland, I'd have to lift steal beams all day, but I hadn't I hadn't even walked that much. I was getting closer and closer to falling fast asleep, when my door was thrown open.
"Fuck you!" I called in a flash, and quickly jumped to my feet. I had been reacting a lot more aggressively to suprices instead of flinching everytime and I took it as progress.
A laughing Lorenzo stepped into my room as I calmed down and fell back onto the bed. Lorenzo plummeted onto the couch looking just as exhausted as I was.
"So, how was your first day?" he asked really excited even with is tired eyes.
"Now I'm not gonna tell you, 'cause you didn't knock," I huffed crossing my arms like a little child.
"Now that's not fair!" Lorenzo tutted jumping onto the bed next to me.
"Life is not fair," I said sticking my tongue out. I was well aware that I was acting like a kid, but I really didn't have the energy to do anything but put on a fun character.
"Well, you can tell everyone, 'cause it's time for dinner," Lorenzo said pulling me up like a ragdoll.
I really didn't want to eat. I wanted to go to sleep, or the music room, where I'd lock myself in with the piano I named Stefania. She was a real beauty, and I think I was ready to marry her. The sound was so soft and round, that I melted every time I played.
We had mushroom risotto, which, once again, was full of cream. Could Matteo just cook something lighter for once?
"How was school?" Alessandro asked all of us, but I could tell it was directed at me.
"It was cool. I made some friends and got some extra schoolwork, so I'll catch up with everyone else soon," I said with a smile, making sure, that Alessandro knew, I wouldn't be behind. I wasn't sure what his thought on that were, but I didn't want to find out. I always had to have straight As, so now that my average grade was probably somewhere below B, I was constantly on the edge when I had to talk about school.
I think the boys had slowly gotten used to me just playing with my food and not eating a lot. They didn't push me so much, but I think it was only because I had agreed to eat a bit more. I guess it was a compromise, but I really didn't like it and I'd still do anything I could, not to eat a lot.
"That's great. If you need any help, I Antonio will help you," Alessandro continued nodding toward Antonio.
"Sure thing, we all know, I'm the family genius," Antonio replied with a smirk.
"May I remind you, that I run the biggest technology company in the world?" Alessandro said with a raised eyebrow, and a small smile.
Was he joking around? That's new.
I could see my brothers shocked expressions before they smiled along.
Matteo POV.
I could see Eli rubbing off on us. Alessandro had spent so much more time at home and he started smiling more and even joking around. Antonio started coming out of his room more often, and he seemed happier, even tho it was almost impossible to tell, what he was feeling most of the time. Gabriele finally had someone, he talked to since whenever really talked about anything as a family. I guess we all needed to get better at that.
Eli had lived with us for over a week, but we knew pretty much nothing about them. I guess it's normal to be closed off, but Eli was so open, yet we didn't know anything. We knew they didn't like to eat, they loved music, they hadn't watched a lot of movies, and they woke up early. Other than that, they were a mystery to all of us.
Sometimes, Eli would get visibly uncomfortable, but I didn't really know why. It just seemed to happen, and then disappear soon after. What we did know is that they didn't like serious conversations, so we didn't really try to sit them down and ask things, but we really wanted to get to know them more.
After Dinner, Eli went back into their room to do schoolwork with Antonio who got really excited about helping them even tho Eli said they really didn't need help. Gabriele headed to the art room but promised to do his homework later leaving just me, Lorenzo, and Alessandro.
"I think we need to sit down and ask Eli about their past. We still don't know where they had been or for how long," Alessandro opened, already knowing what all of us were thinking.
"We all know they don't like serious situations, especially not ones they are in the middle of," Lorenzo stated deep in thought.
"But, we all know, that something isn't right," I said backing up Alessandro.
"Let's just give them more time. They've only been here for a week damn it," Lorenzo said throwing his hands in the air.
"They don't like touching, loud noises, eating, and they hate talking about themselves, or their past," I said trying to get my point across. We had all done our fair share of googling, and Lorenzo studying psychology was really helpful with everything.
"Lorenzo, you know better than any of us, that something is up," Alessandro said making Enzo hang his head.
"Of course, I know something's wrong. I'm just saying we give it more time. They'll talk to us when they're ready," Lorenzo said before getting up and going to help Anna with the dishes.
"He's the doctor," I said leaning back in my chair.
Antonio POV.
We were laying on Eli's couches, while they worked and I pretended to study. They were really smart, maybe even smarter than me, which was shocking. I was three years older than them, sipped four grades, and am at the top of my class, but still, Eli seemed to beat me.
"Have you been thinking about any clubs or stuff?" I asked completely fed up with my schoolwork, throwing it over my shoulder.
Eli just shrugged their shoulders, too invested in their physics materials.
"I guess I could join a band or something. The theater band sounds pretty cool," they answered.
"I girl I met today, is in the theater group and it sounds pretty fun too," Eli continued not lifting their gaze from the worksheets.
"So," I started rolling so I was laying on my stomach with my head resting on my palms.
"Is she cute?"
Eli rolled their eyes with a smile, that gave them away.
"She is!" I exclaimed sitting up, which finally got Eli's attention.
"Shut up, I only met her once, but she seems nice enough. And yes, she's cute, but I don't know her. I mean she's more my type, than Jess," Eli started rambling as I just grinned.
"Uuuh, who's Jess?" I asked, clearly using my little sibling as an excuse not to do schoolwork.
"My new friend you dick," Eli responded kicking me in the side.
"Oh shit, that hurt," I groaned as I fell back onto the couch.
After that, Eli finally put down their schoolwork, and we just talked about their new friends, and I'm somewhere around eighty percent sure, they had a crush on Jess.
Eli POV.
Antonio was really pissing me off asking me about girls like a generic teenager at a sleepover. Dating was a pretty hard thing for me and I really wasn't up for it and probably wouldn't be for a while. My last relationship didn't end that well, and I was still heavily hung up on her.
We were just twelve when I first met her. I was fresh back from camp when I went to the library near our school to stay away from my parents for just a while longer. We started talking and after an embarrassingly long time, we realized we had feelings for each other.
It wasn't easy on either one of us since both our families were hardcore religious nuts and extremely homophobic. We both had our fears, but we ended up helping each other through them. We coulnd't tell anyone, but that didn't stop us from spending every waking moment we had with eachother.
We were together for almost two years and it was the closest thing I ever felt to love, and maybe ever would. Together with Carlos and Diego, Mia became my family.
She was my everything, even tho I knew it wasn't healthy. We helped each other get through the days and everytime I got back from camp, she'd be right there waiting to put me back together again.
A few months after Carlos died, our parents found out about ut. I still didn't know how, but it wasn't pretty. Mie was sent to a religious boardingschool in England and my parents weren't any better.
They stopped holding back, bringing me close to dying almost daily. The worst part about it was, that I didn't have anyone. Carlos was dead and Mia was shipped off to England, where I could never reach her. That's when I ran. My parents were sending me back to camp, only waiting for a spot to open up for me, and I knew I wouldn't survive another visit with no one there to catch me when I got back. So, I left.
Every once in a while I thought about Mia. She was so carefree and loving and I just knew how much she hated even the idea of boardingschool. Now, because of me, she had to live in one for God knows how long and I coulnd't do anything about it. Every time she dressed my mind, I felt a pang of guilt hit my chest like a bullet, tearing me apart from the inside out. My life was destined to be hell, but hers didn't have to be. If I hadn't come into her life she would be living happily, perfectly unaware of the pain my simple existence brought her.
That night I couldn't sleep. I don't know what it was, but my brain just decided that exact moment to be the time, when the walls fell on me. Everything that had happened. Carlos, Mia, my parents, my newly found brothers, it all came crashing down, shutting my airways once and for all. My huge room felt like a small trap, its walls slowly closing in until there wouldn't be enough room to move or even breathe. All the air in the room just vanished into thin air taking with it my ability to speak or move at all.
I've always had trouble telling the difference between what's real and what's not. Half of my childhood memories are a blur of my imagination mixing with my memories, and even the things I did remember seemed so far away in a mist of confusion. Maybe it was my mind trying to shield me from the painful memories by blocking them away, but I couldn't remember anything but the painful memories.
I tried to move my arms, but I was locked in place, wondering my mind somewhere between nightmares and the memories I tried so hard to forget. I felt tears, slowly rolling down my face, while I coulnd't do anything to stop them. I heard their voices. They told me what to do, but I couldn't, I didn't want to. I felt his hands on my shoulders pushing me deeper into the soft surface I was laying on. I felt like I was drowning in it all like falling deep into a black lake where I coulnd't even see anymore. His hands blocked my airways as I coulnd't move to push them away.
Somewhere in that state between reality and my mind, I must have fallen asleep, but I didn't know when.