LANCELOT'S P.O.V
I was currently on my way to pick Ceres and Max up from school. In order to keep up with the plan all of us made, I had asked Dad to pull a favor for me and allow me to clear my schedule for the rest of the day. He had no problems thankfully.
When the two had finally come out, my eyes widened when I saw the red bump on Ceres' forehead, instantly making me clench my fist. What the hell happened to her?
The two had gotten into the car and it was just complete silence.
"So are one of you going to tell me how that bump appeared?" I asked and Max shrugged.
"I don't know. She won't talk about it" he said and I looked over to Ceres who sat with her head turned towards the window, obviously avoiding my gaze.
"Ceres, how did you get that bump?" I asked. I had no plans to start this car until she told me and I guess she noticed as well because she slowly turned her head towards me and once she saw the expectant look on my face, she gave in.
"I wasn't watching where I was going and tripped into a locker..." She muttered and a light pink dusted her cheeks, no doubt embarrassed of the way she got the bump.
I wasn't all too satisfied with her answer but I left it alone for now. I could question her further once we got home.
"Ahhhhh!!! Honey, what is that on your forehead?!" I winced at the sound of Kade's loud voice. He was staring at the red bump on Ceres' head in horror. I thought he was about to have a heart attack or something.
Ceres frowned at him but before she could say anything, her head was being tilted at various different angles by Ares.
"Jesus, that thing is big. How'd you get it?" He asked.
"She tripped and fell into a locker" I said and Ares gave a hum before nodding.
"I suspected this would happen eventually and I guess it's my fault for not saying something about it sooner" he said and we all looked at him in confusion.
"Kiddo here needs glasses" he said. I wasn't too surprised at Ares' conclusion since he was almost never wrong about things like this but seeing Ceres sulk at Ares words just made me feel guilty.
How could I have not noticed that? I mean, I sometimes helped her with her homework but it never appeared to me that she had trouble seeing.
"Ceres, how long have you been having trouble with seeing things?" I asked and Ceres shrugged her shoulders.
"A week...or two..." she mumbled.
"Or two? Honey, you should have said something sooner. Your eyes could have gotten really bad if we hadn't found out" Kade said.
"Sorry..." Ceres muttered.
"And you! Why didn't you say anything the moment you noticed?" Kade asked getting up close and personal with Ares who just put his hands up in surrender.
"I didn't want to call it out unless I was sure" He said and I just sighed. I agreed with Kade that Ares should have said something, even if he wasn't sure. We could have prevented what happened today if we had taken her to an optometrist sooner. I said nothing though, leaving it up to Kade to do the lectures for once.
"Ceres, come with me" I said holding my hand out to her and she took it so I led her up to her room.
"Let's get started on your homework" I said and I could already see the beginnings of a frown forming on Ceres' face. She really hates homework, huh?
"But these ones aren't due til next Monday" She said and I shook my head.
"I don't want you to become like Max and procrastinate all the time, that's how you end up in trouble. Besides, after we finish, me and you are going to hang out for the rest of the day. We can do anything you'd like" I said and at the bribery of getting to do something fun, Ceres complied and we started on her homework.
Throughout the entire time we were working, it had become even more evident to me that Ceres really did struggle with seeing and at some point, I had even gotten frustrated for her. She didn't complain about it at all, she just continued to struggle in silence. Was this how it was for her back when she lived with that woman? Keeping things to herself seemed to be something that came naturally to Ceres and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.
If only she felt more comfortable speaking with us about these things...
Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I looked down at Ceres who was pointing at a problem on her paper.
"I'm having trouble with this one" She said and I nodded before slowly explaining to her how to solve the problem.
Once we finished with her homework, I asked her what she would like to do. Ceres' had gone into deep thought and I found it endearing how serious she was taking this. It must have meant she was somewhat looking forward to it right?
"I'm not sure..." she said and I smiled at her, to show that I was thankful for her trying to think of something.
"Well how about we go run some errands together? Your idiot brother Ares forgot to go grocery shopping, so we can take care of it" I said standing up and Ceres nodded happily.
The two of us headed downstairs and just like that we were in the middle of an all out war but it came to a halt once I had made our presence known.
There were pillows thrown everywhere, Max was in the middle of suffocating Kade with a pillow while Ares held his pillow above his head, about to bring it down on an unsuspecting Roman who just now realized the position he was in. There was a lamp on the floor, thankfully it wasn't broken and the window curtains were on the ground.
"Are you boys enjoying your recess?" I asked with a tight lipped smile but all of them knew that I was the furthest thing from happy right now.
None of them dared to answer my rhetorical question and if they knew what was good for them, they wouldn't.
"I don't know who started this but I can assure you that you three don't want me to be the one who finishes it, now do you?" I asked slowly and all of them shook their heads.
"Ceres and I are going grocery shopping. It would do you three well to have this house fixed up and sparkling by the time we come back" I said and didn't even wait for them to give me their answers and just headed to the car with Ceres.
While in the car, Ceres seemed to be off in a world of her own as she watched the scenery passed by. I would give anything to be in that head of hers for even just a second, just so I could understand what was going on. But then again, that would be an invasion of her privacy and she probably wouldn't like that.
I chuckled to myself when realizing I was actually considering this as if it were possible. Ceres looked at me when she heard my chuckle. She probably thinks I'm crazy or something now.
We had soon arrived at the grocery store and I told Ceres to grab a shopping cart.
Looking at the list that Roman had kindly texted me, the two of us began to walk down the aisles in search of the items. Ceres followed behind me with the cart while I picked up the things we needed.
"Is there any snacks or drinks that you would like?" I asked as we were now half way into the list. The list was full of the things that the boys loved to eat and pig out on but it had come to my attention that with our newest addition to the house, we had to get the things she liked as well.
Ceres' pondering face from earlier had returned as she tried to think of the things she wanted.
"Pizza Rolls and Bagel Bites are fine. I also like Hawaiian Punch and Snapple" She said and I nodded.
"Anything healthy?" I asked with a small smirk and Ceres blushed.
"I'm fine with vegetables" she muttered and I chuckled.
I was a bit shocked to hear that she didn't have a problem with vegetables like any other kid on the planet, even her older brother hated broccoli and he's twenty years old. She was so mature for her age that while I was impressed, it also made me sad. It was clear that she had to become like this in order to take care of herself.
I shook my head to try and get these thoughts out of my head. I couldn't change her past, sure I could be curious of it, but it probably wouldn't be good to stress myself out about it. Maybe someday when we were close enough, I could ask her or she would tell me but right now just wasn't the time.
"Alright. Let's head to the next aisle" I muttered but when I started walking, I didn't hear the sound of the shopping cart following behind me so I turned to see Ceres staring at something.
I followed her line sight only to see a mother and her daughter laughing about something. I looked back to Ceres and this time it was her shaking her head to try and get rid of whatever thoughts were in her head so I quickly turned so she wouldn't notice that I saw her staring.
Hearing the sound of the shopping cart, I decided to continue walking to the next aisle and this time, Ceres was right behind me.
After we paid for the groceries, we headed back to the car and once loading the groceries in the back, we were on our way back to the house. I really did hope the boys fixed up the house because I was in no mood to lecture anyone.
Thankfully, the living room was back to normal and I nodded in approval when seeing Ares and Max in the kitchen.
Everyone had come down to help put away the groceries which I was thankful for since there were a lot. Once we were finished, I checked the time and saw that it was only six. There was still some day left but Ceres still probably wasn't sure of what she wanted to do but I guess it didn't hurt to try asking.
"Hey, have you given some thought on what you want to do?" I asked and this time Ceres gave me a small smile with a shake of her head.
"It's okay. Even though we only went grocery shopping, I still enjoyed spending time with you" she said and I felt a warmth spread throughout my chest at her kind words.
"Are you sure that there isn't anything you want to do? I don't know when I'll get another day off like this" I said and once again, Ceres shook her head.
"It must have been pretty boring" Kade said with a snicker and I glared at him.
"Leave him alone, Kade" Lucas said with a sigh.
"I'm just kidding!...Or am I?" Kade said playfully and we all just shook our heads at him.
"Next time, we'll do something really fun okay?" I said and Ceres nodded.
"You have to pinky promise" Ceres said as she held her tiny pinky finger out to me and we all, even Lucas, immediately melted at the cute gesture. We definitely had the cutest little sister in the world.
"I promise" I said wrapping my bigger pinky around hers.
"Good or else you'll have to swallow a thousand needles and chop your pinky off" she said all with an innocent smile that was scarily similar to Kade.
"Oooohh, you're so cute!!" Kade said gathering Ceres up in his arm and hugging her, well more like smothering her.
The rest of us just watched wearily.
"Of course he'd find that cute..." Max muttered.
Yeah, definitely the cutest little sister...