Turns out, only a punch or two could be dealt before my father decided to stop. He thought that too many new bruises before he could blame bullying would be a little bit odd. I agreed heartily.
We had lived in that house for two weeks and the boy's attitudes hadn't changed, no matter how much Lila promised they would after she talked to them. They hated us because they thought that we were replacing a beloved member of their family.
I really couldn't blame them. If I didn't have my own, much more present worries, I would think the same. But Lila had apparently had enough because she sat us all down for game night on a randomly picked Wednesday night.
It was mandatory.
"Ariel, you don't even eat dinner with us. It's no wonder that the boys won't talk to you. They don't even know you." Lila insisted. I was sitting on my bed, reading through a textbook on practical medicines.
I stared at Lila blankly.
"Is my father going to be there?" I asked softly. Lila sighed and shook her head. I rolled the idea of a game night around in my mouth. My father was always too busy with work and beating my mother and I to have game night. And my mother and I were too busy healing and pretending it didn't happen to even think about game night.
I shrugged.
"Might as well." I whispered and set my book aside. Lila beamed in my direction and led me down the hall to their main living room. They had several, but some were just for formal guests, some were for friends, and there was the one family living room where everyone gathered for everything.
I didn't understand either.
"Mom, you said family game night. So what is she doing here?" Nathaniel snapped, crossing his arms over his chest while he glared at me.
I didn't want to be here either, buddy, so would you stop looking at me like that?
"Ariel is about to become family so we might as well get her introduced to the traditions we hold around here. Now, Elliot had something mysteriously come up at work just in time to get out of game night so it'll just be us ten." Lila said, sitting on one of the couches.
I sat down and Jaydon sat next to me, the other boys watching us warily.
As far as i'd gathered, the older boys had begged and begged Lila to get them a trainer so that they could learn how to fight. She agreed, hiring only the best of the best. That being said, Jaydon had no interest in learning since he was only a few years old and much gentler than the others. So, all the older brothers were very, very protective of their youngest brother, even if they didn't show it much.
"Mom, how long is this gonna last because I got someplace to be in two hours." Ethan said, looking at his watch. Lila glared at him and he quieted down.
"It'll take as long as I want it to take." Lila growled at her sons, who instantly paled in fear. But it was a different type of fear than the fear I was used to. This one was fear of groundation, or their stuff being taken away.
I looked at the TV to avoid my roaming thoughts and saw something I that I had never seen before. Seenit? What the heck was that?
Jaydon handed me a blue remote with a big blue button at the top and different colored, smaller A, B, and C buttons going down the handle. It was only about the size of my hand and I looked at it like it was an alien.
"What is this?" I asked quietly. Jaydon's eyes widened in shock that, one, I had no idea what Seenit was. And two, that I had actually said anything. I didn't talk much.
"You've never played Seenit with your family?" Jaydon asked in a hushed whisper. I shook my head. He took the remote back.
"I don't even know what this is." I whispered back. He shook his head at my obvious lack of knowledge and I looked at the floor sheepishly.
"It's Disney Seenit and everyone's seen Disney movies. I'll press the buttons and you get the answers." He commanded. I nodded even though I still had no idea what the heck I was doing.
A few things I learned from that experience: One, the Steel family is very competitive. Two, I had never seen a Disney movie in my life (except the Little Mermaid). Three, I was not very competitive. Four, family game nights have a lot of empty threats and lots of funny insults.
Lila paused the game when her phone started ringing. The boys all groaned, moaning about how they were going to lose their winning streak now.
"I am so sorry, sweethearts, but i'm gonna have to go. Something major came up at the office in France and I have to go see what they screwed up. I'll be back as soon as I can." Lila kissed each of her sons on the top of their heads, and awkwardly pat me on the shoulder.
I missed that motherly feeling she left.
"Well, if it's no longer mandatory, i'm leaving." Ethan said, and then tried to leave the room. Key word being tried. All the doors were locked. And the windows. Even the vents were covered (though that seemed a little excessive to me).
"Mom?" Kade called through the door. We heard Lila's giggles coming from behind the main door. I stood up and walked over to said door.
"Mom, open the door. This isn't funny anymore." Zander pounded on the door with his fist. I flinched a little at the sound and the memories it brought to the surface.
"No. I'm tired of you avoiding poor Ariel. Talk to each other and work out your differences. The wedding is coming up and i'm not having my kids and my soon to be step-child acting like three year olds the entire time. You'll be allowed out when I hear Jaydon tell me that Ariel has been accepted into the Steel family." Lila said in a stern, motherly tone.
Oh crap. Jaydon couldn't lie to save his life. We were all screwed.