It was the night before school would start. I was a nervous mess. What if I spill all of my things in the middle of the hallway? What if I dropped my food in the lunchroom? What if the teacher calls on me to introduce myself in front of the class? What if I say something stupid? What if none of my friends show up on the first day and I am all alone? What if-
"Lisa! Stop thinking so hard. You're giving me a headache." Dylan said. He sat across from me on my bed playing on his phone. He came in here originally to ask if I had his phone charger, then he got too comfortable on my bed and never left. By the way he was rushing me to find it, I would have thought it would have died by now.
Besides that, I will be surrounded by a bunch of trees, aka, abnormally tall people. My brothers will be around every corner except for Jason and Jacob. Now that I think about it, maybe it won't be that bad.
"I'm sorry not everyone is as calm and collected as you are the night before the first day of school!" I said maybe a little louder than I meant for it to be. "You will be fine Lisa. I don't know what you are freaking out about," he said continuing to scroll through his phone.
I glared at his head. He just infuriates me sometimes. "You're not helping." I picked up a pillow and aimed directly for his head. "Hey! I could have dropped my phone."
"Oh, your poor phone," I said rolling my eyes. "Calm down sis. What's the worst that could happen?" he asked as if I was freaking out about the color black.
"Nothing. I am gonna talk to Jacob instead. You suck," I said sticking out a tongue at him and leaving. And you know what he did? He slammed my bedroom door in my face. The nerve?
I trudged over to Jacobs room where I was sure he would be. He would either be sleeping or on his phone. Luckily, he was on his phone when I walked in. I went on his bed and cuddled next to him. He was watching The Office, which I always found hilarious.
We both laughed when Michael said something stupid. Before we knew it we watched an entire episode. I almost forgot why I came in here in the first place.
"Jacob?" I asked looking up at him. "Hhmmm?" he asked playing with a strand of my hair. He seemed to be on the verge of sleep already. I swear he has some sort of sleeping problem. No one goes to bed at 7 in the evening and still manages to sleep till 10 in the morning. I should talk to Jason about that. Something could be seriously wrong.
"How did you handle your first day of high school?" I asked. "Well, when I started Jason was in 10th grade, so I knew I could always go to him if I needed anything. And I knew a lot of people so it wasn't much of a problem." He made it sound so easy.
"I would like to say just do what you are supposed to and everything will be great, but I know that is not true," he said starting a braid in my hair. "So, I will say this instead, you are going to school for you, not the person you sit next to in class, not the other person in the lunch room. For you."
I flinched as he pulled on my hair a little too hard. "Ow, sensitive scalp here," I said rubbing the spot. "Sorry," he said kissing the spot.
"Besides, if anyone bothers you, come to us and your problems will disappear. We'll deal with it," he said, his voice getting softer and softer.
I looked up to see him already sleeping. So much for that. I gently got up and closed his door after me. Well, I have about 2 more hours before my freedom is taken away from me.
I got my phone back yesterday, so maybe I would just play some games before bed. That was my plan until I saw a text from Liam.
'Hey blue. I know school starts tmr. but I wanted to know if you wanted to go somewhere tonight?'
I stared at the text for a good 5 minutes. There was only one way I would be able to go with him. I most definitely could not ask Jason or any of my other brothers for that fact. But at the same time.....I wanted to go.
'Sure'
I obviously texted before I thought about it. I had no idea how I would sneak out without getting caught the first time. I have never done this before. I quickly texted Anna.
I think out of the entire group I have gotten closest to her. I haven't had many interactions with the others yet.
'I need some help!' I looked at the text for a minute before sending it. I got a response in about 5 minutes. That's what I like about her. 'Be there in 5' she texted back. I went into my room to find Dylan still in there.
"You know Dylan? I could have sworn you had your own room" I said. "Yeah I know, buts its dirty," he said not even sparing me a glance. "Then, there is something called cleaning it!"
"That's too much work. I have better things to do," he said lazily waving me away. "You are so lazy. How could Eva see anything in you?" I asked collapsing on my bed next to him.
"For your information, I do clean it...when it is too dirty to sleep in," he said as if it was the norm. "What if she stops by unexpected and sees your room like that?" I asked looking at him.
He put his phone down and stared at me. "What are you implying?" he asked. I shrugged. "Nothing. It's just, once she sees your room," I said adding some silence. "She might not want to be with you anymore," I finished leaning back on my headrest.
Dylan knew nothing about girls, so I would say it was pretty easy to tell him anything and he would pretty much believe it. With that, he got up and left to go- and I assume- clean his room.
I smiled to myself, knowing that I got one brother distracted. Jacob was asleep and Justin was most likely getting a couple more rounds of C.O.D before Jason sent him to bed.
I heard the doorbell ring and I ran down to get it. Only when I opened the door, it wasn't Anna, it was Grayson. "Don't look so excited to see me, spicy," he said letting himself in. "You do know there is school tomorrow right?" I said closing the door.
"Yep, I still have to make my daily rounds though."Â I rolled my eyes at him. "Dylan, your narcissistic friend is here," I shouted up the stairs.
"I wish you would just stay home," I mumbled under my breath, although I am sure he heard.
Grayson put his hands on his chest. "You get spicier every day," he said ruffling my hair before running up the stairs.
I fixed my hair and went back upstairs to my room. I would definitely need something to wear, although I think what I am wearing was fine. It was one of my brother's hoodies and some leggings. As you could tell I like to wear leggings.
The doorbell rang again and this time it was Anna at the door. She had only met Jason, Dylan, and Justin. Jacob was asleep so I don't think it would really matter. She might just never get to meet him.
I took her hand and led her to my room being sure to lock the door in the process. "I have a situation," was the first thing I said to her once we were seated on my bedroom floor.
"Nice to see you too Lisa, I'm doing fine," she said laughing. I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, its just time..."
"Lighten up, I was just kidding. So what is it?" she asked looking intrigued. I made sure to speak in a low tone. "Okay, so remember Liam?" I asked. "How could I forget. The boy is very good-looking," she said dreamily.
"Well, he asked me out tonight. Although I don't think it is a real date. I think it is just to hang out, but he wasn't very specific about it, but I did have to make it up to him because I couldn't last time and-"
"Okay, okay slow down. I could tell you are very nervous. Let's just do things one at a time okay?"
I nodded. "Okay, well my brothers would never let me go, but I really want to go. I don't want to shut him down again," I said nervously playing with my hair.
"So you want to sneak out?" she asked. I couldn't determine whether she was with me or against me. I nodded slowly. "I am guessing you know the repercussions right?" I nodded again.
I knew that if I got caught I would be in serious trouble, but everyone had to take their risks someday. Mines just happen to be at 8 in the evening the night before the first day of school. Yeah, I am treading on thin ice here.
"Alright then, let's get down to basics," she said with a fake southern accent. It was a terrible accent but we both burst out laughing. "So..."
~Overprotective~
We had the plan ready, and I was really hoping this wouldn't go wrong. I couldn't afford to be grounded again on the first day of school. Because Anna had very similar hair as I did. She would be the 'dummy'.
I learned from Dylan's mistake awhile ago. He tried to use pillows to trick everyone into thinking he was sleeping when he was really out partying. Let's just say when Justin threw his controller at a sleeping Dylan only to find out that he was very, very soft, he ran and told Jason.
We all know the rest. We agreed that whenever she heard one of my brothers coming she would fake sleep under the covers. Hopefully, none of my brothers want to do anything more than just check in.
It didn't take many convictions for her to go along with it. She was like Aerial in a way, obsessed with my brothers. So now here I am outside walking to the cafe. We decided that we would meet there.
I had to run past my brother's while looking down, so they wouldn't find out it was me. Anna and I also switched outfits so that it would throw my brothers off a little. She wore a black tank top with a flannel and leggings.
It took me about 10 minutes to get there because I was walking so fast. It was pretty late out and creepy. When you are alone in the dark, all of the worst thoughts come to you. Every branch that breaks is another person coming after you.
I walked into the cafe which I assume Liam kept open because it is usually close at this time. He sat in one of the back booths on his phone. He had a lamp on which dimly lit the area. I am guessing not to draw attention to the place seeing as though it was supposed to be closed.
I walked over and sat across from him. He looked up at me his face lighting up immediately. "Hey," he said smiling at me. I smiled back. He frowned briefly looking outside. "How did you get here?" he asked. "Uum, I walked."
"By yourself?"
I nodded. "Yeah, my brothers wouldn't be too happy to know I was here," I said chuckling. "You could have called me," he said. "I know. I didn't think about that. I was kind of focused on the whole 'not getting caught by my brothers' thing," I said.
"Don't worry you can drop me off," I continued to ease his nerves a little. He nodded. His face lit up again as he thought of something. "Stay right here," he said getting up. He disappeared into the back and came back a couple of minutes later with the best sight I have ever seen.
He had my usual triple chocolate muffin, but this time it had ice cream and sprinkles on it with chocolate syrup over it. This is a dream come true. "Oh My Gosh!" I squealed as I looked at the delicious delight.
He laughed at my over-excitement. He set it in front of me and I dug in immediately. I moaned at the taste. It was something heavenly. "This is soo good," I said. "I figured you would like it, " he said smiling. Then he leaned in.
"Don't tell anyone, but this is a secret special, my boss would never let me do this," he said. My eyes widened momentarily. "You broke the rules for me," I said continuing to dig in. "I guess we can both say the same." He leaned back and started talking about how his boss would roast him if he ever found out he did this.
I was too focused on the delicious treat ahead of me to pay attention. Sneaking out was definitely worth it. I finally finished and that is when I realized that he didn't get any. Great, now I feel guilty. "Did you want some?" I asked even though it was a little too late for that.
"No, blue. I got it just for you," he said. I sighed a little of relief. I already had one thing to feel guilty about. I just realized that I never asked how old he was. He didn't look very old so that was a good thing. He had to be old enough to drive, though.
"How old are you?" I voiced my thoughts. "Well, I just turned 16 a couple of days ago," he said. I nodded. The age gap was only about 2 years between us. Anna thought he was 18 or older. That would have just been weird.
"Good, cause I thought you were like 18 or something," I laughed. "Well how old are you?" he asked leaning forward with his elbows on the table. "You don't look very young yourself," he said.
"How old do you think I am?"
"Maybe 14."
I nodded. "I will be in less than a month," I said smiling slightly thinking of not being 13 anymore. "Wait, so you are only 13?" he asked with a look of shock on his face. I frowned slightly. "Only for a few more days."
He nodded. "Just a 2-year difference," I heard him mumble to himself. I never considered that maybe he would want someone older than a soon to be 14-year old. "I understand if you do-," I began but was cut off by him.
"No, it's fine, really," he said looking deeply into my eyes. I smiled back at him. I could get lost in his eyes. I cleared my throat when none of us said anything. "So was your only plan to spoil me with my new favorite dessert?" I asked.
He chuckled at that. "Pretty much. They say chocolate is the way to a girls heart."
"That and fries."
"Why fries?"
"Because I love fries, that's why."
"I will be sure to remember that," he said faking the action of writing something down in a notepad. "So how are things with your friend?" he asked looking at me. It took me a minute to realize he was talking about Sally.
The mention of her kind of brought down my oh-so-happy mood. I shrugged. She was merely a thought at the back of my head at this point. "Well, there isn't much to talk about," I said with a dry chuckle, but he didn't even smile.
"That bad huh?" he asked. I nodded. "Yeah, but I don't want to talk about it," I said quietly playing with the ends of my hair. "That's okay. Let's talk about something else," he said.
"Tell me about yourself," he said when I nodded. "And I am sure you won't be a downer, so you can continue safely," he continued when I didn't say anything. I chuckled remembering his last attempt of proving that I am not a downer.
"Well, I live with my 4 brothers who are all older. Uum, I'm gonna be 14 in less than a month. My favorite color is blue-" "-I already know all of this," he interrupted. I was obviously beating around the bush. I don't know him that well, for him to know my deepest, darkest secrets.
"Alright then, you tell me about yourself," I said, trying to get some of the heat off of me. He nodded and folded his arms behind his head. "I have 1 sister and 1 brother. My brother Tyler is 12 and my sister Carmen is 22," he began looking off into the distance.
"My sister lives with her boyfriend a couple of blocks from us. My mom insisted that she stayed close," he said with a soft laugh. I smiled. What? It would be rude not to. "Then there is Tyler who is...well he is Tyler. He is a very wild and sometimes sassy kid, but he is a good kid."
He seemed so at peace talking about his family. "What about your Dad?" I see now that that wasn't the best question to ask because his entire features darkened. Now I feel guilty again. I should have just went with the happy flow.
"I'm so sorry. You don't have to answer that," I said reaching across the table to hold his hands. He looked at me and his features softened a little. "Follow me," he said pulling my hands as he got up from the booth.
"Well, now I have to follow you don't I?" I questioned motioning towards his hands on mine. He chuckled but continued walking with his hand holding mine.
We left the cafe and went around the back of the building. Since the building was basically surrounded by trees we had to weave through some before we got to a small clearing. It was a simple clearing, but at the same time, it was super pretty.
There were some ducks minding their own business and little flowers sprinkled around. The fact that it was night and you could see the many stars in the sky, made it even better. Of course, I have been back here plenty of times. I am pretty much always at this cafe, but I never paid much attention to it because my brothers were always distracting me with their annoyance.
We sat down on the grass- well he did. I was dragged down basically. We sat there in silence for a little and I risked a look at him to see him already looking at me. "What?" I asked suddenly feeling self-conscious.
"I just really don't want to bring down the mood," he said. "I'm sure you can never do that," I said and I swear, I saw the slightest hint of a smirk. I playfully hit him in his chest. "You can't use my words against me!" I exclaimed.
"And now the tables have turned," he said as if he were narrating a movie. "Ha ha ha, I see what you did there." He used my words from the time he dropped Anna and me off. "Isn't it a good technique?" he asked looking at me. "Whatever you say, dork," I said laughing. We sat there in silence for a little while.
He seemed to be contemplating whether to tell me something or not. I know just the feeling. I wasn't ready to go in deep about my family's personal life and I am sure he wasn't either. He could tell me when he is ready. So in that case, I am gonna do something childish.
I got up and tapped him on his shoulder. "Tag your it," I said running away from him. See? Childish. The look on his face was priceless. "Are you serious?" he asked. I nodded. "So, are you gonna come and catch me or not?" I asked making sure to keep my distance.
He surprised me when he suddenly shot up from the ground and started to chase me. I squealed as he nearly got me, but I quickened my pace. If there is one thing I learned from living with 4 brothers, is how to run fast.
I weaved in between the trees but made sure not to go too far. I waited behind one of the trees when I didn't hear him coming. About 5 minutes went by and I still didn't hear or see him. I went back into the clearing to see that he was exactly where we started.
I glared at him. "Hey! Do you not know how to play tag?" I asked. He smirked laying down on his elbows."I'm too old for that, blue," he said like I was some 5-year old asking him to play barbies with me. "That game is for toddlers." "What!? no one is ever too old to play tag," I said walking up to him.
I was about ready to slap him upside the head if he had anything else to say about it. When I was about less than a foot away from him, he stuck his hand out and tagged me. "Tag, you're it," He said and darted off.
I gasped in shock. "You twisted cheater!" I shouted ready to chase after him. I could hear his loud laughs even though I couldn't see him. I kept trying to catch him, but he was too fast. His long legs had the biggest advantage over my short ones.
I decided to just give up. I did not want to trigger an asthma attack. "Tired already?" He asked laughing as he came into view. He seemed completely fine like he just walked two feet. I glared at him.
"I guess I win then," he said sitting on the grass again.
"No, you don't win. Cheaters don't win."
"Says who?"
"Every rule out there."
"I don't know any rule that states that," he said scratching the back of his head. I glared at him once more. "Oh come on, don't be sad," he said. I wasn't actually upset about it, but I couldn't let his cheating ways go unpunished.
He suddenly got up and threw me over his shoulder."Hey! Put me down," I shouted hitting his back. He started spinning me around until I was completely dizzy. When we stopped the world was a swirling mess. "I think that triple chocolate goodness is going to come back up," I said groaning to which he laughed at.
"I'm so sorry for cheating blue," he said giving me his best pouty face. I decided to toy with him a little. "I don't know if I can forgive you. I mean, you did call tag a childish game," I said with an exaggerated sigh.
His face was priceless. "It was just a joke!" he exclaimed. "I didn't mean it," he continued. I couldn't stop myself from laughing. His face is everything. "It's okay. I forgive you." He joined in when he realized what I was doing.
"But just so its clear, I am the winner," I said. He chuckled. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he said smiling at me.
~Overprotective~
Here is another chapter from yours truly. This one isn't as long as the others, but don't worry I am cooking up some good recipes for future chapters. So set your reading tables. I am open to ideas, so if you have any, feel free to comment them. I do take them into consideration. Other than that don't forget to:
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