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The whole coming week was uncomfortable because I was still mad at Larson for laughing at me when I fell and my butt was on full display. He still hasn't apologized and I had barely spoken to him. He knew I was giving him the silent treatment, but he clearly didn't care. I guess if I was quiet, he wouldn't have to worry about me. Brady was home too most of the day when he wasn't the gym working out or practicing football with his friends. I didn't mind that he was out a lot - I was mad at him too. The day of the pool incident, he came home and teased me about what had happened, not letting it go and calling me "Bare Butt Brenna". Jace chided him but Jace wasn't home during the weekdays until dinner time; it was just me, Brady, and Larson for the rest of the time. And Larson didn't care what Brady did or said to me.
Friday came around and I was excited because that meant the weekend was almost here and Jace and Charlie would be home all weekend and I would be able to talk to people I liked. I stayed up in my room all morning, not wanting to be teased by Brady, but around noon, my belly started to grumble. I put on Jace's sweatshirt he lent me the other day and I skipped down the stairs. Brady and Larson were in the living room whispering to each other in low voices. They hadn't seen me up yet so I decided to be quiet and sneak next to the living room entrance to be able to listen to what they were saying.
Larson was talking first. "Yeah and dude, I can sell one pill for like 30 bucks. I have probably like 35 extra pills that I grabbed. That's like more than 600 bucks!"
"You better hope they don't notice, Larson. Or at least that they don't know it's you who took them." Brady's voice seemed nervous which was surprising because he always walked into every room like he owned it. I had never really seen him nervous before.
"They won't. And I'll sell them before they can ask any questions," Larson replied simply. I didn't know much about drugs but I was 99% sure that selling prescriptions were illegal.
"Just make sure you sell them to the right people," Brady replied. He's 16, what does he know about selling pills?
"I know, Brady, I'm not an amateur like you," Larson replied, standing up from the couch and starting to walk out of the room. I ducked away from the entrance to the living room and tiptoed into the kitchen so that they wouldn't know I was listening.
I grabbed some yogurt from the refrigerator and pulled myself up on a barstool at the counter. As I took a scoop, Brady and Larson came into the kitchen. "Thought you might've died, Brenna," Brady spoke.
I barely raised my eyes from my yogurt in acknowledgment. "Are you a mute now?" It was Larson's turn to talk. I ignored him too. Suddenly, I felt two hands grab my waist and pick me up from my seat.
"Hey!" I exclaimed.
"Oh look, it talks," Larson spoke, putting me on the ground. I climbed back on the chair and kept eating. "Brenna."
"What?" I barely looked at him.
"Me and Brady are going out to get lunch, so you need to be on your best behavior, okay?" Larson grabbed his wallet and keys from the kitchen counter and stuffed them in his pants pocket.
"You're leaving me here alone?" I asked.
"Yeah," Brady answered for Larson.
"But I want lunch too," I complained. Jace told them I wasn't old enough to stay home alone, but here they were going to lunch without me.
"You're already eating, B," Larson responded. "You don't need more food."
"It's just yogurt, Larson," I retorted. "I wanna come."
"Fine. Go change," he said.
Brady started to complain. "But Larson, we-" Larson put his hand to Brady chest, signaling him to stop talking.
"Go change now, Brenna."
I smiled as I sprinted up the stairs to change into regular clothes as fast as I could. I picked out athletic shorts and a t-shirt, sliding them on as fast as I could before running back downstairs. I went back into the kitchen but Brady and Larson weren't there anymore.
"Larson?" I called out, half expecting him to jump out from behind a couch to scare me. There was no reply. I looked behind all the furniture and in all of the rooms before realizing they must have left without me. Jerks.
I whined to myself out of frustration for a minute, but I quickly got over myself and walked back upstairs towards my room. On the way to my room, I passed Larson's room. I gently pushed the door open to make sure he definitely wasn't still home and stepped into his room. It was a typical boy room, with his comforter hanging off his bed and beer cans littered across his dresser and nightstand.
Larson said he had pills, and I wanted to find them and take them to get him back for being mean to me. I peered around the room trying to find the best hiding spot that he would have used. Under his mattress and in his underwear drawers were unsuccessful, but in his nightstand, something sparked my eye. A small silver square packet. I knew what it was - we saw a picture of one in health class. A condom.
I grabbed it and took it with me back to my room. I had never seen one in real life and I figured I should understand what they are way before I had to use them. I unwrapped the package and the contents were slimy. I threw it across the room and gagged - it was disgusting and I knew I'd never want to use one of those gross things near me ever again.
I shuddered and picked it up with a tissue and threw it in my trash can. Because I was alone, I decided to bring my American girl dolls with me downstairs and play with them on the living room couch instead of in my bed. I didn't play with my dolls like little kids though - I only used them to be my students in school so I could teach them. I hated being a student in school but being a teacher sounded fun.
I was teaching my two favorite dolls long division for a long time. In the middle of my lesson, the doorbell rang. Jace always told me to never open the door alone and instead get one of my brothers to open the door for me. But no one else was home and the person at the door kept ringing the doorbell and seemed really impatient. I walked to the front door, unlocked it, and swung it open.
Standing in front of me was a huge man. My brothers were pretty in shape and were bulky but this guy at the door had arms as big as my face. I had to turn my head completely vertical to even be able to see his face.
"Is Larson here?" he asked, his voice booming.
"Uh - um, no he's not right now," I mumbled, suddenly regretting opening the front door.
"When's he coming back?"
"I don't know," I replied softly. "Who are you?"
"I'm Wade," he answered. "Give this to Larson, okay? Don't look at it and don't give it to anyone else. Just him."
"O-okay." He handed me a green reusable grocery bag stuffed with what looked like paper. But we he dropped his hand from the bag, I realized how heavy that thing was.
"What's your name, little girl?"
"Um, Brenna," I answered.
"Brenna," he spoke. "Nice name." He grabbed outside door handle and began to pull it shut as he headed back outside. "Don't forget. Give that to Larson and don't let anyone else see, including you Brenna. You got it?"
I nodded and Wade closed the door and walked down the driveway back into a nice black car and drove away. I peered down at the grocery bag in my hand and my curiosity instantly got the best of me. I went up to my room and closed my door behind me so that I could look at the contents of the bag. I knew that Wade guy had told me not to, but Larson wasn't here and I couldn't just let the bag sit in my room without knowing what was inside.
I turned the bag upside down and the crumped up paper fell out onto my carpet followed by a large black object. I reached into the pile and picked up the foreign object. As I held it, my hands shook. It was a gun.
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After getting over the initial shock of having a real life gun in my hands, I slowly placed it back into the bag with the paper and shoved it under my bed, praying that Larson would be home soon so that I could give it to him and be done with it.
As if on cue, the garage door opened and Larson's voice echoed through the house. "Brenna!" I walked down the stairs to meet them in the living room.
"How was lunch?" I asked innocently.
"Delicious," he replied. "And I'm sorry we left without you. Here." He pushed his hand out and passed me a brown paper bag with a yellow M on it. "Chicken nuggets and french fries."
I couldn't help but grin as I opened the oil-stained bag. The smell of fried goodness wafted into my nose and I opened the bag, plopping myself down on the couch.
"Why did going to McDonald's take you guys so long?" I asked. Brady glanced at Larson with a concerned look, but Larson didn't miss a beat.
"We sat and talked for a while. Guy stuff," he explained. "Brenna. You can't tell Jace we left you here alone, okay?"
"Why not?" I pretended I didn't know that Jace would do worse than smack Larson upside the head if he found out I was left home alone. Especially if he found out that I had answered the door to a huge intimidating man who gave me a gun.
"You know why not," Larson growled. "If you tell him, I swear I'll-"
"I'll kill you!" Brady interjected.
Larson squinted his eyes at Brady. "We won't kill her, Brady. I'll beat you though, Brenna, I swear," he threatened. But I didn't feel threatened at all because I knew Larson would never actually hurt me. He might ignore me and not be kind or loving towards me, but he would never lay a finger on me. Brady on the other hand, was a different story.
"Okay," I responded, smiling sweetly at the two of them. "I won't tell. If you buy me another American girl doll for school."
Larson sighed. "Are you making a deal with me involving dolls?" It wasn't my fault I was playing with stupid dolls. Jace refused to get me a phone until I got to high school and I didn't have anything else to do with no friends around. My only friend had gone to live with her grandma all summer and I was stuck here alone.
I nodded. "I need a new brunette doll. I cut this one's hair today and I messed up and now it's all ugly and gross and I can't even look at her when I'm teaching school." I gestured to the sad doll that sat on the carpet of the living room.
"Ugly and gross, like you," Brady said. "What a perfect pair." He smirked and snatched the chicken nugget that I was eating out of my hand before leaving the living room and running upstairs to his room.
I huffed and crossed my arms. "How is he even meaner than you are?"
"Hey, I'm not mean!" Larson protested. "Everything I do is out of love."
"No it's not. You left me here alone today for hours. Something really bad could have happened to me and you would be so sad. And it would also be your fault," I pointed out.
"But nothing happened, did it?" Larson sat on the couch next to me.
"Well I -" I was interrupted by the front door opening.
Charlie and Jace walked through the front door and into the living room. Charlie walked over and pressed a kiss to my forehead before grabbing another fry. What was it with these boys taking my food? I hate sharing my food. Jace walked over and grabbed the entire bag of McDonald's from me and walked into the kitchen.
"No food on the couch, Brenna, you know better," he scolded me.
"Hi to you too," I mumbled, taking the bag out of his hands and sitting at the kitchen table.
"Hi baby," he said, chuckling. He stood behind my chair and wrapped his arms around my body, squeezing me so much I thought I'd explode. "How was your day?"
"Fine," I replied simply. The thought lurked in my mind about the gun that was still under my bed. I needed to get it to Larson and out of my hands.
"Good," he said. "I'm going to change out of my suit and then if your appetite isn't too spoiled, we can go out to dinner later?" I nodded and Jace ran up the stairs to his room. Charlie also had to wear a suit to his internship, so he also went upstairs to change. This was my chance.
"Larson!" I whispered, walking back into the living room.
"What?" he groaned, clearly annoyed that I was interrupting his time on his phone.
"I have an emergency."
"What is it, Brenna? Can't you just go tell Jace?" He didn't even look up from his phone at me. He scrolled through some app and he chuckled to himself as he read whatever his screen had written on it.
"No, I can't Larson. I need to talk to you," I explained. "I talked to Wade today."
He suddenly froze and looked up from his phone. "What the fuck are you talking about, Brenna?"
"Wade. Big guy. Tan skin, dark hair. Tall and muscular. I think his arm was the size of my entire body."
"I know who Wade is, Brenna," he growled. "My question is why did you talk to him?"
"He came over after you and Brady left for lunch. The doorbell kept ringing and ringing and it wouldn't stop, so I just went to the door and opened it. Then Wade was standing there," I answered.
"Fuck," he muttered to himself.
"Jace says you shouldn't curse around me, Larson."
"Brenna will you just - ugh." He rested his head in his hands and sighed. "What did he say and what did he do?"
"He gave me something to give to you. And I took it and he told me not to tell anyone except you. So I didn't. I'm only telling you. That's good, right?" I asked.
"Yes, Brenna, that's good. And you still can't tell anyone," he spoke, looking up at me where I was standing next to the couch. "What did he give you to give to me?"
"Um," I started. "Can you just come with me?" He nodded and took my hand as I led him up into my room. Luckily my others brothers were still in their rooms doing who knows what, so Larson and I were able to make a quick entrance into my bedroom without anyone seeing. Larson locked the door behind him.
"You have to whisper now, B," he explained. "No one can know about this. Promise?" I nodded. "Now show me what Wade gave you."
I shuffled my feet to my bed and plopped down on the floor in front of it. I reached under the bed and slid out the green grocery bag. Larson walked over to where I was sitting and leaned down to look through the bag. I could tell his hand touched the cold metal when his eyes widened. He pulled out the black metal gun and held it with both hands.
"Shit Brenna," he breathed out.
"I picked it up but I knew I shouldn't hold it, so I just put it back in the bag and waited until you were home to give it to you," I explained, rocking back and forth on my feet.
"Yeah, that's really good of you, B." His eyes didn't leave the gun he held in his hands. He peered to the bottom of the gun and he seemed relieved.
"What do you need a gun for, Larson?"
"Just business stuff, don't worry about it," he spoke. He shoved the gun into his pant waistband and put the paper that had fallen out back into the bag. "Keep this under your bed for now." He shoved the now-empty bag towards me. I kicked it under my bed with my feet.
"Larson?" I whispered. "You're scaring me with the gun."
"Why Brenna?"
"I just don't want you to get hurt." My eyes were watering as I thought about Larson in a hospital bed, this time with gunshot wounds that weren't able to be healed. I wiped my eyes quickly, trying to stop crying because I felt like I had been doing a lot of that lately.
"It's okay, baby," he spoke, pulling me into a hug. "It's just for safety. Please don't worry about it. And please, please, please don't tell anyone. I'm dead serious, Brenna."
I peered up at him through my eyelashes. "I won't tell anyone if you promise to be safe."
"Deal," he said, grinning. He pulled me in for a tighter hug. "This is why you're my favorite sister."
"I'm your only sister, you dummy!" I giggled as Larson went to leave.
He stood at the door with the knob in his hand. "Brenna Leigh, I seriously need you to keep your lips sealed about this gun." His voice was low and quiet but I could hear. "If you tell anyone, bad things will happen to me." My eyes widened as I nodded multiple times.
Larson grabbed the handle to my door and closed it behind him as he left me sitting on my carpet wondering what in the world my 22 year old brother would need a gun for.
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We went out for dinner that night like Jace had promised. After arguing about where we would go, Charlie got to pick because apparently he had a hard first week at his internship job. I only wanted mozzarella sticks because I had eaten McDonald's just a few hours before and my tummy was already full. Of course Larson ordered a healthy salad because he was "cutting down" or something. But Charlie got a huge plate of pasta that looked so inviting. I kept staring at it as he was eating and he finally offered me some after I finished my mozzarella sticks.
While we were eating, Jace did his typical dad move of asking everyone how their days were. He made us go around the table and tell everyone about our days. Charlie told everyone about his new job and how his boss was mean. Brady talked about the football practice he had this morning, and Larson just grumbled when it was his turn. He never liked to participate in these types of conversations.
"Your turn, B," Jace spoke up. "Tell us about your day."
"Well I slept late because I was really sleepy but then I woke up and had some yogurt for breakfast. I also taught school with my dolls today and cut one of their hairs off and I ruined it," I explained, frowning.
"We can get you a new one, bub," Jace smiled. "Your birthday is soon, you can ask for another doll as a present."
"I think I'm too old for dolls now. I want a phone!" I tried to suggest it to Jace and he just stared back at me and I knew my chances for a phone were limited. "Yeah well also there might be some doll hair in the carpet in the living room. I cut it off and it got everywhere and I couldn't find the vacuum and no one was home to help me find it, so I -"
"No one was there?" Jace kept his voice level through gritted teeth. His fork clanked on his plate as he dropped it from his hand.
"No," I explained. "Um- I mean yes, yes, there was someone else home. Brady and Larson. They were home all day with me. All day." My face reddened as I realized the mistake I had just made.
"Brenna, are you lying to me?" I looked up at Jace's eyes and I realized I really could not lie to him. If I lied to him, he would know it and I would get in even more trouble for lying. Plus every time I lied to him, my heart hurt and I felt really guilty.
I nodded my head "yes" and looked over to Larson and Brady who were both glaring at me. This would not be good.
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a/n: hi guys! thanks for reading, i really hope you like the first few chapters
idk about u guys but when i was 12/13 i literally always played school which was ironic bc I hated real school
please vote and comment to lmk that you want me to keep writing! xoxo annie