The next morning, I woke up to my door being thrown open. I bolted up and my eyes landed on Dino, who was standing there looking out of breath.
"Why are you still in bed? We have to go! Chop chop, Marls!" With that, he backed out of my room and closed the door. I reached over to my nightstand and pulled out my clock.
7:10.
Oh shit.
Why did my alarm not go off?
I got out of bed and went to my closet to pick out something to wear. Because I was running short on time, I just threw on whatever I could find. I went into the bathroom and decided that I didn't have enough time to do my hair.
Great. Just great.
I brushed the knots out and figured that would be good. I grabbed my bag and went downstairs to the kitchen to find some breakfast. All of my brothers were seated around the bar.
"Sleeping Beauty is finally awake." Lorenzo joked as he shoved a blueberry muffin in his mouth.
I sent him a playful glare and got a banana.
Antonio looked down at his watch and cursed. "We better get going. Marlowe, is that all you want to eat? If you want to grab something else, I'll make an exception to my 'no eating in the car' rule."
I shook my head. "No, I'm good. I'm not much of a breakfast person."
Which was true. Sebastián never made it a big point to eat breakfast. I normally would just grab something small on my way to school.
He nodded and got up to walk to the car. I followed after him, laughing when I heard Dino behind me fumbling around with his things.
During the ride to school, we sat in silence other than Antonio's deafening music. I swear if I keep riding to school with him, I'm going to be deaf by the time I'm 20. He is too. Jeez.
When we pulled into the parking lot, we jumped out of the car and speed-walked into the school. 7:45. Cutting it close this morning.
The first half of the day went fine. At lunch, I sat at the same table as I did yesterday with Sarah. We talked for a while before someone plopped down next to me. I turned to look at them and saw that it was Haidyn.
"Hey. Did you get home fine yesterday?" I asked her before taking a drink of my chocolate milk.
She nodded. "Yeah. Seraphine had Théo drive me home though, so that was fun." She said sarcastically.
Sarah gasped. "Théo Chevalier? What was it like? He's so mysterious."
Haidyn looked at her with an emotionless face. "He's a jerk." She deadpanned.
Sarah's jaw dropped. "Marls. Why are we hanging out with her?"
I stared at her. "Because she's a friend of mine from Texas. That's why." I was starting to get tired of her shit. I felt my phone buzz in my back pocket. I pulled it out and saw I had a text from Antonio.
Ant 🐜
Meet me outside after school. -L
Sarah looked around after she saw I got a text. "Are your brothers coming over? I promise I won't be as awkward this time." She rambled as she whipped her head around.
"No, it was my other friend from Texas. Luciano." I said. Haidyn's gaze snapped up to me.
"What does that asshole want?" Haidyn asked. After I told her what happened, she immediately started holding a grudge.
Sarah squealed. Haidyn and I slowly looked over at her like she was crazy. She looked at us like we were the crazy ones. "Luciano Soriano? He's not an asshole. He's hot as fuck."
Haidyn tensed. "Just because he might be attractive to you doesn't mean that he's not an asshole. You don't know him. You don't know what he's done. You don't know what he's capable of."
Ok that was a little much.
Sarah huffed and stood up quickly. "Obviously, I'm not wanted here. Have fun with your new best friend." She stormed away and sat down with the group of girls I saw with Haidyn at the mall.
That reminds me.
"Hey, did I see you at the mall with those girls last Saturday?" I asked Haidyn out of the blue.
She kind of looked shocked. "Yeah, I went to the mall with them. My moms make me hang out with them because they think that they are good influences or something."
"You looked pretty happy with them." I told her, trying not to sound like I thought she was lying to me even though I kind of did.
"Sometimes they'll crack a funny joke. But they are all back stabbing bitches. How did you get mixed up with Sarah?" Haidyn asked.
"We have the whole first half of the day together. She showed me around yesterday." I explained to her.
Haidyn nodded. "Anyway. Back to Luciano. What did he want?"
I showed her the text. She scrunched her face. "Are you going to listen to him? Are you going to talk to him after school?"
"I don't know. I don't know what he wants to talk about honestly. We got everything off our chests earlier. There's nothing else to talk about."
Haidyn stole the phone from my hands. She typed something and sent it before I could stop her.
Me
No.
Haidyn didn't give me the phone back. "I'm waiting for him to respond." She told me. I didn't get a chance to say anything before the phone buzzed in her hands. She hid the phone so that I couldn't see what was going on. She would type and then wait for a response, then type again. This went on for a while before she finally handed me the phone back so I could see what she said in my place.
Ant 🐜
Why not? I need to talk to you. -L
Me
Because I said so. Does Antonio know that you have his phone? He won't be too happy when he finds out that you're texting his little sister.
Ant 🐜
Yes he knows. Now are we meeting after school or not?
Me
Let me discuss it with the council.
Ant 🐜
The what? What fucking council?
Me
...
"Should I talk to him? It sounds like it's important." I asked for Haidyn's advice.
She sighed. "Ultimately, it's your decision. But if it were me? I would drop his ass without a second thought." She told me softly.
I took a deep breath, taking her advice into consideration. Then responded to the text.
Me
Where do you want to meet?
Ant 🐜
My car. It's parked by Antonio's.
Me
See you then.
I looked up at Haidyn and she shook her head. "I think you're making a big mistake. If he tries to pull anything, tell me. No hesitation. Got it?" She told me sternly.
I nodded. "Yeah. No hesitation. Got it."
The bell to go to our next class rang. Haidyn and I started walking to U.S Cultures, passing Sarah and Monique along the way. I was really disappointed when I found out what Sarah was truly like. I had hope that she and I would become good friends. Yesterday she seemed fine. Until she found out who my brothers were.
I guess that goes to prove that you have to be careful who you trust.
Haidyn and I made it to the classroom just moments before the late bell rang. We walked in and took our seats. The class was boring, the same as yesterday. He did happen to assign us homework.
Great. Just great.
Now I have homework in Spanish, Chemistry, Geometry and U.S. My day is going great.
When class was over, Haidyn and I went our seperate ways. I walked to my locker to switch out my binders. I closed my locker and started to walk towards English when I saw Xavier running towards me. He didn't stop when he saw me. Instead, he grabbed my arm and started taking me with him.
I had two choices.
Either run with him, or fall on my ass.
I chose the first option.
I dropped my binders and started running with him. Once he realized that I wasn't going to fight him, he let go of my arm.
"Why are we running?" I asked, starting to get slightly out of breath as we ran through the hallways, weaving through groups of freshmen that were just hanging out in the hall.
"Don't ask questions!" Xavier called to me before we finally reached a door and we ran outside.
He started running towards the street. We stopped once we got there and looked back at the doors that we just came out of. A teacher burst through them and was looking around. Xavier crouched down to the ground. He looked up and saw that I was still standing there. He grabbed my arm and yanked it, so that I was crouching with him. He started to shuffle towards a bush.
We hid for a minute or two before we heard someone walking up to the bush. I turned to say something to Xavier, but he was already looking at me. He saw that I wanted to say something so he slapped his hand over my mouth. I don't like people touching me without my permission, so I did what every reasonable person would do.
I licked his hand.
He quickly pulled his hand away and made a grossed out sound. The footsteps promptly stopped and then rushed over to where we were hiding.
We both looked up and saw one of the janitors standing there. "What are you kids doing out here? Nope, actually. I don't even want to know." He sighed and ran his hand over his scruffy beard. "Well, come on then. I guess walking you to Dr. Myer's office would be the smartest thing." He motioned for us to stand up and started walking towards the school, turning around every so often to make sure we were still behind him.
As we were walking, I heard the janitor grumble. "I don't get paid enough for this."
We reached the office and had to sit in the lobby area because Dr. Myer was in a meeting.
After 10 minutes of waiting, a short, bald African-American man dressed in a nice suit walked out of a room and over to us.
"Ah. Mr. Marini. Back again, I see. And who is this you brought with you?" He greeted.
I smiled. He seems nice. "My name is Marlowe Angeli, sir. I'm new. I just started here yesterday."
Dr. Myer smiled. "Welcome Miss Angeli. Well, we should get this over with. Come on. Into my office, you two. Mr. Marini you should know how this works by now."
Xavier walked into an office that was near the secretary's desk, Dr. Myer following behind us. He sat down in the chair behind his desk and Xavier and I sat in rather comfortable chairs on the other side of him.
"Now, Mr. Ortiz told me that he found you hiding behind a bush by the main road. Xavier, your hiding wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you were being chased by the P.E. teacher, now would it?"
Xavier smirked. "I don't know, Dr. Myers. You should tell me."
Dr. Myers gave him a serious look. "Xavier. This is the fifth time you have been in my office this week. It's Thursday. Please don't tell me that I'm going to have to call your brother again." He sighed and glanced at me then looked back at Xavier. "Look. If you don't tell me, then you're going to have to tell Alessandro. At least tell me how and why you got Miss Angeli mixed up in all of this."
Xavier looked over at me. "Well, I was running. And I saw her standing there. So I told her to run with me and she did."
Dr. Myers looked over at me to make sure that I agreed with what Xavier told him. I nodded.
I mean, there are a couple things that he missed.
He grumbled and started digging into his desk. "The last thing I need is another Marini and Angeli duo terrorizing the school."
Huh. Alessandro and Alessio must have been good friends when they were in school. Or maybe Orlando. But I couldn't see him pulling pranks left and right.
He pulled out a file from his desk. He opened it and starting typing a number into his phone. He waited for a second before he started speaking.
"Mr. Angeli. This is Dr. Myer from Brealey High School. I was calling to let you know that Miss Angeli is currently sitting in my office due to an infraction of our student handbook."
Oh shit. I'm screwed.
"She was found by a janitor hiding behind a bush near the end of the school driveway with another student. Given that it is her first offence and only her second day here at Brealey, I am going to let this slide. But she will not be finishing the rest of the day. Someone is going to have to come to the school and pick her up." He waited and nodded his head. "Of course, sir. See you soon, Mr. Angeli."
He hung up the phone and started typing another number in. "Hello, again Mr. Marini. This is Dr. Myer from Brealey High School. Xavier was found hiding behind a bush near the end of the school driveway with another student. He will need to be picked up today and serve an after school detention tomorrow." He looked at Xavier and gave him a pointed look. "Thank you, Mr. Marini."
He hung up the phone and looked at us both. He opened his mouth to say something when the P.A. system beeped, signaling that the secretary was making an announcement.
"Dr. Myer to the cafeteria please. Dr. Myer to the cafeteria."
Dr. Myer sighed. "Don't catch anything on fire while I'm gone."
He got up and walked out of the office. I let out a breath of air that I was unknowingly holding in. Xavier laughed and looked at me.
"First time getting in trouble at school?"
I shook my head. "Nah. I spent so much time with the principal back in Texas that we were on a first name basis. Well, at least I was. I don't think that she appreciated it very much."
Xavier laughed. "Look at you. The light of the Angelis' lives is a troublemaker." He ran a hand through his hair. "We make a pretty good team though, don't you think."
I nodded. "Yeah. You're not too bad, Marini."
The conversation died and we were met with a silence in the room. It wasn't exactly comfortable but it wasn't awkward either.
Well, it turned very awkward when the door burst open and in its place stood a very angry Alessandro. I peered around him and saw an equally fuming Alessio.
Hehe.
Oops.
-
jeeeez. it's been a while. I was just looking at the stories in my drafts and I saw that the reads are up to 2,000!!! I actually couldn't believe it.
I had a pretty rough day today, so that cheered me up a bit. Enough to finish up this chapter I've been working on for like two weeks.
Alright. Question of the chapter: Who's your favorite brother so far?
Mine's definitely Antonio. I feel like they share a lot in common with the fighting and everything. Also, I feel like they both really needed each other.
Okay, that's all I have! Byeeeee!