Twenty-Three

Alexander Nathaniel Rozzi

"Did you know Grayson, Elijah, Ezra and Everleigh moved out of the house yesterday?" Madison asks all of us but the question was directed mainly at me if there was anyone that should have known it was me.

But I hadn't known.

"What?" The frown on my face gives away that I hadn't been told this information. I hadn't spoken to Auriella this morning or last night. She had been vague in her messaging saying she was having a bonding night with her siblings.

She was telling the truth. She never outright lies, but she had missed some very crucial details in her story. We can't be going through this again.

"Yeah," Madi says softer this time, seeing how I never knew either. "Em hadn't told me much except there was a fight and Crew somehow got Lilianna and Nicolas to sign guardianship over to him and Olivia."

"Oh, thank God." Eleanor breathed, looking like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. I had never noticed how much the siblings behind in that house had worried her, but now looking back at it, it was apparent she always had all of them over here, feeding and trying to give them the nurture they all lacked.

I scroll through my notifications, seeing an alert that Auriella had been over at our cabin yesterday in the late afternoon. I had overlooked it, thinking she had just wanted some space away from her large family. I opened up the security cameras and saw she and Grayson had been over there, dropping off her suitcases. They had stayed there for a while, watching a movie before leaving as the sun started setting. After that, there was only a single message from Ella telling me to sleep well, to which I had replied, nothing about the drama of yesterday. I type out a message and sent it to her, reading the reply before pocketing my phone, and heading back downstairs so I could leave for school.

ANR: We need to talk, just the two of us.

AES: We do. See you at school.

ANR: Sounds good, I love you.

AES: I love you more <><>

Auriella had left me.

She was currently on a flight that would take her two thousand five hundred kilometres away from me.

"Are you sulking?" Liam tossed the basketball at me with a ton of force that made me take a step back. I passed it back even harder, making him grunt.

"Why would I be sulking?"

"Because your girlfriend is leaving you, for like an entire week, and you two are never apart for longer than like five hours when you have to sleep. And honestly, I don't blame you."

"We've spent time away from each other, we aren't joined that the hip." Liam makes a sound of disbelief. "It's true, we often travel, her more than I and are used to being away from each other for a couple of days."

"You just let her travel by herself?" I wait to answer, grabbing the ball from him and dribbling to the hoop, letting it slip through the net. Liam catches it as it falls and tries to get it in.

"I don't let her do anything. She's her person and she can make her own decisions. But yeah, I don't always go places with her. Sometimes she wants to go with just her friends or I have something going on. Other times I just don't want to go. She travels so much and I'm sometimes too tired to go with her."

I know she's always safe but sometimes we need independence, not for too long, but we are human at the end of the day and we might murder each other, especially when we have been getting on each other's nerves.

"Why are we always talking about my relationship? You're in one too?"

"You and Everleigh fascinate everyone here. Don't take it personally." I roll my eyes and try to snatch the ball, glad to know everyone thinks of us like an ancient artefact. "My relationship isn't half as interesting as yours."

"I doubt that. Ev is now friends with Juliette and my girl tells me a lot of things."

Juliette didn't have a good home life. It was something Auriella had noticed immediately and had used her resources to help. I had also helped make arrangements, which is why I knew a couple of details. Juliette knew we had pulled some strings, but didn't know the extent to which we had been a part.

"Jules told me you and Evie mentioned something to the cops. They helped her." Liam whispered. "Thank you, I... I didn't even know."

We both collapse on the grass, sitting next to one another. We had a view of the house, Mom and Dad weren't home yet and Madi was with Emmeline so it was just the two of us.

"It's okay Liam, you wouldn't have."

"But.. I knew her. We were so close last year and then her dad came back and she just disappeared. I never made enough of an effort. Everleigh just knew straight away"

"You wouldn't have known, Liam. And that proves you came from a wonderful home, so I'm thankful for it. You don't know what to look for, Evie knows because she has seen the signs, both on herself and people around her, and she helps because she has trained on how to, you don't. You can't beat yourself up about something you were unaware of."

"You know if you keep being this mature, people will think you're the older one."

Liam changes the subject, and I let him. Liam was truly a softy that hid behind the football captain stereotype. He had been getting a bit of backlash from the students for his relationship with Juliette for the past few weeks, and that had made him on edge. I had never realised how fickle these people were, like seriously criticising someone's relationship because they had different colour skin tones was disgusting and these people needed to learn how to view things in a better light before they made it into the real world otherwise they would be buried alive.

"You're only fourteen months older than me." I scoff but carried on more seriously. "But seriously, don't compare our situations, Liam. They are so different. I have a lot more worldly experience."

"It's just you seem to have everything I want, you have a steady relationship, you have money and you just don't care what others think about you, I hate living in this town, I have to do everything for everybody and I try because the moment I don't then it's going around town how horrible I am."

"It will come," I promise him. "One day you'll wake up and just be so exhausted that you don't have the energy to do it, and you know what? That's okay. You can't be living your life trying to meet the expectations of humans, otherwise, you'll just work yourself into the ground."

"See, that's the mindset I'm talking about, the one I want."

"What did I sacrifice for me to be the way I am, Liam?" I ask, noticing the dark-haired girl walking towards us. "My childhood, and as much as we tried, I never got it. You had that, so stop comparing yourself to kids who had to grow up too fast and just be thankful you had parents who loved you enough to give it to you." I let what I was saying sink in for him. "Hi, Juliette."

"Hey Nathaniel, Hi Liam."

"Hi, sweetheart." He smiles lazily at her. He looked completely in love.

"Well." I stand up. "I need to call, Ev. Her flight should have landed by now."

"Wait." Juliette stops me, pulling out a container. "I made cookies. Would you like one?"

"Thanks, Jules." I grab one and let her take my place on the grass. "I'll see you guys later."

Next chapter is Grayson's and Ella's escapades in New York so look out for that!!!

Hope you all have a great rest of your week.

Please vote and comment, and happy reading

Ara <3