Two

    I slammed my locker hearing it echo in the empty girls locker room. Once again, I was late for gym, but it wasn’t my fault. I fell yesterday and I was staying behind to hide it. I grabbed the cover up and walked into the bathroom and looked at the side of my right thigh and sighed. I applied my cover up the best I could, but it looked a bit weird.
    “Aarons! I know it’s you in the bathroom. What is going on?” Coach Johnson bellowed from outside the ladies room. He seemed to be getting annoyed with me because I wasn’t always on time for gym. “Aarons! I am giving you till the count of three to come out of the bathroom! One...two...” I exited the bathroom before he got to three and stared at him. “What gives? This is the ninth time that you’ve been late for gym class, is everything okay?” He asked.
    “I...uhm...well I got hurt yesterday falling on the ice, and I was covering it up because it’s such a bad bruise that I�"” He cut of me off and looked deeply at me. His hands went to my thigh and he looked at it. His ran his fingertips on my other leg and then on my arms.
    “Logan, why are you wearing cover up almost all over your body?” He asked.
    “I had to help my sister with a play she’s putting on at her school and she wanted everything to be really real, and I had to put cover up on. Alright coach, I’ll see you later bye.” I ran off to the fitness center and accidentally bumped into someone as I was running. It was Clark, one of Kyle’s friends. When we made eye contact I looked away and tried to move to another part of the fitness center so he wouldn’t come over and start talking to me. I tried to hide in between this girl Kelly, and Jack. Unfortunately, my hiding spot wasn’t the best because Clark came waltzing over.
    “Hi Logan, I heard that you stayed over Kyle’s last night, was that uh...was that fun?” I tried to ignore him, but it wouldn’t work. He kept asking what it was like for me to spend the night over at Kyle’s house.
    “Stop it Clark!” I said with anger in my voice. I stopped the treadmill and walked away from him, but he followed me. I went into the back area of the fitness center to do crunches, hoping that Clark would leave me alone, but he didn’t. He followed me over and stood there as I did my crunches. “What is it that you want Clark? I’m not going to cheat on Kyle and get with you if that’s what you’re asking or even wanting.”
    “What? No! I don’t want that I just wanted to talk to you, goodness.” He said walking away. I saw coach Johnson walk in and talk with the gym teacher that was in there, Mrs. Gordon. I held my breath and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, him and Mrs. Gordon walked over to where I was doing my crunches.
    “Logan, would you please come with us.” Mrs. Gordon asked. Everyone else in the class was staring at me and then I got up and followed them. I followed both of them into guidance and held my breath. I saw my guidance counselor walk towards me and looking at both my gym teachers.
    “Logan?” she asked. I nodded. “Oh goodness! Okay, great we finally have a time to talk and meet. I’m Mrs. Walsh the new guidance counselor, I took over for Mrs. Dawn after she gave birth, your gym teachers thought it would be a great idea for us to talk.” I looked at them and then back at her.
    “Sure, but shouldn’t I go change?” she nodded. “Alright, I’ll be right back.” I wasn’t going to put up a big fight about not wanting to talk with her, if I did they might think something was up, when really nothing was. On my way to the girls locker room I passed Kyle.
    “Hey baby, what’s up?” he asked. He kissed my forehead and caressed my cheek.
    “I’m in gym class, but my teachers are sending me to my guidance counselor to talk.” His mood immediately changed.
    “Talk about what? You’re not going to talk about us are you? Because nothing is wrong with us!” His voice began to get louder and his grip on my neck became tighter. He pushed me against the wall and glared at me. “Nothing is wrong with us! You f*****g mention anything, I’ll leave you. Do you want that? Do you want to lose the best thing in the entire world?”
    “Kyle, no I don’t want to lose. I love you, I promise I won’t say anything, if you really don’t�"” He slammed me against the wall again.
    “If I really don’t? Like hell I want you blabbing to strangers about us! What happens between you and I, stays between you and I.” He was squeezing my arms rather tightly as he spoke to me. He let go and closed his eyes for a moment and then looked back at me. “Why do you have to always get me so mad? I was so happy to goodness.” I looked at him and then down at the floor.
    “I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean to make you angry. I promise I won’t say anything about us, but I have to go get changed. I’ll see you later, I love you.”
    “Yeah.” He said and walked away. I finally reached the locker rooms and changed. Since I wasn’t going to be wearing any revealing clothes I washed the cover up off or else I’d get on my school clothes.
    I walked into Mrs. Walsh’s room and she was at her desk typing. She turned around and smiled at me.
    “Hi Logan! Please, have a seat.” She said. I dropped my backpack and sat down tapping my foot and putting my hood on. “Logan, that is such a pretty name.” She said.
    “Thanks. Now, how come Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Gordon wanted me to talk with you again?” I asked playing with my sweater strings. She looked at me and sighed.
    “I know I’m new here, but I’ve been told by a lot of my colleagues that you’re a very happy, bubbly, sweet girl, and that Mr. Johnson has noticed your tardiness to gym. Your history teacher, Mr. Benson, told me that you’re the social butterfly, but now you seem a bit quite and reserved, is everything okay?” she asked.
    “Yeah! Everything is fine. I guess the fact that living with step siblings and half siblings has taken quite a toll on me, but it’s all good.” I stated.
    “Any problems with your friends?” she asked.
    “Nope. Not at all, they are the most loyal and trustworthy friends I have. Although, my friend Grady came back and I’m like so exited that he’s back!” I felt a huge smile spread across my face. She chuckled and moved a strand of hair from her face.
    “Really? Well that’s great!” She said. “What about any problems with a boyfriend or girlfriend?” she said. My heart began to beat faster and a hot sweat set in.
    “No! No! Me and Kyle are doing very well actually. There isn’t anything wrong!” I said smiling. She nodded.
    “Okay, any problems at home?” I guess she had to ask all the basic questions.
    “Nah everything is pretty normal at home. You know living with seven guys and there only being two other girls in the house is pretty intense. I surprisingly get along with my biological brothers, but not my step brothers and half brother.” I stated.
    “Wow! You seem to have quite the family, would you mind sharing and enlightening me about your family?” Mrs. Walsh asked. She ran her brightly painted fingernails through her bleached blonde hair and pulled it back into a tight bun.
    “Sure. Well, my mom and dad got a divorce when I was five, I know I can’t believe I can remember. My dad found Cynthia, my soon to be step mom, a few months later and they began to date. That same year they had a little intimate session and had Conner. Then a few years later, still dating, they had Megan. Cynthia already had a four year old son, Carter, and a three year old son Justin, so they’re my step brothers. Megan and Conner are my half siblings. I also have four step sisters who are annoying as heck. Thankfully they live all the way in California.” I said.
    “Really? Wow, that’s pretty interesting! What are your brothers names?”
    “Axel, Abbey, and Lars. My step brothers names are Justin and Carter, and Conner and Megan are my half siblings.” I said tapping my foot on the ground.
    “Wonderful! What are you parents names?”
    “Audrey and Michael. My step dad’s name is Pete and I’ve already told you about Cynthia.” She nodded and sat back in her chair. “So that’s pretty much my life and my family.” The bell rang and I looked at her.
    “What class do you have next?”
    “I am actually getting picked up early. Cynthia is picking me, Lars, Carter, Axel, and Abbey up.” I said. She nodded.
    “Where are you going?”
    “No where, but since she offered we decided to take her up on that opportunity.” Mrs. Walsh chuckled.
    “Alright, well I’ll let you go Logan. It was great to get a chance to talk to you, can we talk sometime again?” I nodded. “Awesome. See you around Logan!” I stood up and walked out. I put my head phones in and pressed play. I walked into the lobby and saw Axel waiting there.
    “Where are Lars and Abbey?” He asked.
    “No idea. Is Cynthia here yet?” He shook his head no and raised an eyebrow.
    “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah, why?”
    “Well, you’re limping a little bit for one, and�"” As I got closer to him he moved some of the hair out of my right eye and I swiftly pulled away. “Logan! What the heck happened to you last night?” I looked down at the ground.
    “Nothing! I fell on the ice, but I’m fine.” All of a sudden a pair of arms wrapped around my tummy and lifted me. “Ahhhh! Oh my gosh!”
    “Gosh! Calm down, it’s just me.” Lars said putting me down gently.
    “Oh my god! Please, don’t do that. You freaking scared me Lars!” Not only did he scare me, but he hurt the current bruises that were on my body.
    “Hey all! Is mom here yet?” Carter asked walking over.
    “Yeah, she’s out there waiting. Come on, let’s go.” We all headed out and walked over to her car. I got in the back next to Lars and Abbey. Carter got shot gun, and Axel had to sit in the way back. I still had my hood on and I turned towards Lars.
    “You okay? You don’t look so good.”
    “No, I’m fine, I guess I’m just tired. I think I’m going to need a nap when we get home.”
    When we arrived home I went into dad’s study and greeted him.
    “Oh hey princess!” He said giving me a big hug. “How was school today?”
    “It was alright, but it really wore me out. I think I’m going to go take a nap for a little bit.” Before I was able to walk away my dad held on to my arm.
    “Where were you last night?” He asked stretching and crossing his legs.
    “Oh, I uhm I was over at Kyle’s house. I must’ve fallen asleep while I was there.” He gave me a looked and nodded.
    “Really? Because Grady called me this morning and asked if you got home safe and sound. Was Kyle planning on bringing you home last night?” He asked. I nodded and tried to put my hand in front of my face. “Baby, why are you hiding?”
    “No, I’m not hiding, I just felt like putting my hands in front of my face for a moment. Anyway daddy I’m going to go take a shower and then take a nap.” I said looking down at the ground and then walking out of his study. I saw that all four boys were in the den watching movies and I sighed. I ran into the bathroom and locked the door. I looked at myself in the mirror and took off my hood and put my hair in a ponytail. I turned the shower on and began to strip down from my school clothes. It was obvious I had cover up all over my body. The make up wasn’t even the same color as my skin and the bruises were showing through. I hopped in the warm shower and let the waters hands massage my sore body.
    I stared blankly at the wall and heard a knock on my door. I didn’t say anything until I heard the knock again.
    “Logan? It’s Lars, can I come in?”
    “Sure.” I wiped my eyes and put my hood on. He was about to turn the big over head light on when I caught him. “No! Don’t turn that one on. I already have the one in the corner on.” He walked over and sat on my bed.
    “Is everything alright? You haven’t been acting quite like yourself for the past two weeks or so, what’s going on?” He asked running his hands through his long brown hair.
    “Nothing is wrong! I swear it’s all good. I think it’s the holidays that make me all like blah and tired. I know in two weeks mom and Pete are coming along with their daughter. That just should not be fun.” I chuckled a little bit.
    “Hey, there’s a smile! Logan, if you ever need to talk about anything that’s on your mind, you can always come to me.” Lars said smiling at me. I nodded and looked down at his hands which were all dry. I grabbed his hand and chuckled.
    “Where is my lotion? Mister, you need some lotion on your hands! They’re so dry!” I chuckled leaning over and grabbing my lotion and putting some in his hands.
    “Aw come on sis, it’s what,” He took a moment and sniffed the lotion. “It’s strawberry kiwi. I don’t wanna smell like a girl.” He complained.
    “No one is going to make fun of you and if they do, well they’re going to have to answer to me. I’ll kick their butts!” We both chuckled at my remark and he finally rubbed the lotion into his hands. He looked at me and I smiled.
    “Dad wants you downstairs.” He said.
    “Was that the only reason you came up here?” I asked putting some lotion on his nose and chuckling.
    “Ah! Come on, really? Ugh! No, I wanted to talk to you. You’re my twin and I can tell when something is wrong. Are you sure you’re okay?” I nodded and smiled. We stood up and I gave him a hug.
    “You’re a good brother you know that?” I chuckled.
    “Oh my gosh! Really? Are you two having a heart to heart moment?” Axel and Carter asked opening the door.
    “Yeah we are! Do you have a problem?” I asked.
    “Nope. Michael needs you two downstairs.” Carter said. I looked at him and then followed Carter and Axel downstairs.
    “Logan!” Megan said running over and jumping on me. I picked her up and we walked into the kitchen.
    “Ooh! It smells yummy! What’s cooking?” I asked.
    “Your father and I have successfully made chicken parm on our own. Along with pasta, cooked vegetables, and a wonderful caesar salad that my mother taught me how to make.” Cynthia said putting some cheese on the salad. “Logan, would you mind setting the table for me?” I put Megan down and nodded.     
    As I was setting the table, the phone rang and Abbey went to answer it. I didn’t think much of it because no one ever calls the house for me, unless it’s like a huge emergency.
    “Hey Logan?” He called.
    “What?”
    “Kyle’s on the phone, he needs to talk to you.” My heart began to race and a cold sweat was beginning to set in. I put down what I was doing and walked over to Abbey. His tan skin and freckled face stared back at me with a smile.
    “Hello?”
    “Baby, where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling your cell phone for the past hour. Are you ignoring me?” He sounded upset and I didn’t like it when Kyle was upset.
    “No, not at all. I’m sorry, I got home and took a shower and fell asleep. I woke up like five minutes ago, not even joking. I’d never ignore you.”
    “Good. I’m sorry about earlier, I just don’t think anyone would understand what we have together. It’s something so special that they may just laugh and think we’re too naive to be in love. I really do love you baby.” Hearing him say all of this put a huge smile on my face.
    “You really hurt me Kyle, but I forgive you.” He sighed in relief and I did too. I was happy that he apologized.
    “I’m so sorry baby, it will never happen again. I promise.”
    “Okay, I have to go. I have to finish setting up the table, but I’ll call you later okay?” I said twirling a piece of my hair.
    “Alright, I love you.”
    “I love you too baby.” We hung up and I turned around only to see 12 eyes staring at me from around the corner. “What on earth are you guys doing?” I chuckled.
    “We over heard your talk, well some of it at least. Is everything alright?” Carter asked. I nodded. “Sure?”
    “Yeah, just a normal boyfriend girlfriend fight, but we’re better now.” I walked into the dining room and saw that it had been finished. “Who did my chore?” I asked. Justin raised his hand and smiled. “Really?”
    “Well, Lars said that you weren’t in such a great mood and I thought that maybe if you only had to do half it would make you happier.” His dark brown eyes sparked under the chandelier light.
    “Well, thank you very much Justin! That did make me happier!” He smiled and went to take his seat. I sat next to Megan and Abbey.
    “Audrey and Pete are coming over on the 20th, we have to get the house ready for their arrival.” Dad said. I could tell dad didn’t want to see mom, but since mom and Pete barely get to see snow, he thought it would be a great idea for them to come to our house.
    “Aw come on! I don’t wanna see the she-devils, they’re so bitchy.” Abbey said taking a sip of water.
    “Abbey! Do not swear please.” Cynthia scolded. Abbey rolled his eyes and continued to eat. I chuckled at his remark.
    “Dad, you remember what happened last time when they came to visit, Lilah and Kira locked me and Lars down in the basement for 20 hours. I don’t think we want a repeat of that.” I said sitting back in my chair and looking across the table at Lars.
    “I agree with them Mike, I mean your ex wife doesn’t seem to handle her daughters really well. They’re little trouble makers.” Cynthia stated.
    “Whoa! Cynthia!” Me and Lars said.
    “Mom!” Carter said in disbelief.
    “I know, but I’m too nice to really say no.” Dad ran his fingers through his wavy hair and smiled at us.
    It was Axel and Justin’s night to clear the table and wash the dishes. I went back upstairs and saw that Kyle had tried to call me. I decided to call Grady.
    “Logan, hey how are you?” He asked.
    “I’m doing good! How are you?” I asked.
    “Much better! I was worried about you, I didn’t really see you today. Did Kyle get you home safely? Or did you sleep over.”
    “I kind of crashed after I hung up the phone and ended up staying at Kyle’s for the night. I’m sorry about all of that. I promise it will never happen again.”
    “Don’t worry about a thing angel, it’s quite alright.” I had to double take my hearing, I wasn’t even sure if I heard him correctly.
    “Grady, did you just call me angel?” I felt my face become hot and my heart beat fast. He hasn’t called me that since we were little kids.
    “What? Oh uhm...well I guess I did. I guess it kind of just flowed out, I’m sorry.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at him.
    “Why are you apologizing? It’s adorable! I can’t believe you remember that name. I can’t quite remember yours, what was yours?” I asked closing my eyes and trying to remember.
    “Snake. We were in fourth grade and I cannot for the life of me remember why I chose the name Snake, but I did.” We both laughed over the phone and I laid down on my pillow.
    “Oh my gosh! That’s right, it was Snake. Hahaha Snake Parker!” I chuckled and so did he. “Well, uhm what are you doing tomorrow after school?” I asked knowing what I was getting myself into. I know that Kyle had told me not to hang out with Grady, but he can’t stop me.
    “Nothing, would you like to hang out tomorrow? Can I come over to your house? My house still has a ton of boxes and I’d like to see your siblings and your dad.” I couldn’t help but smile and I told him that would be wonderful.
    “That sounds wonderful. I’ll ask my dad, but he’ll probably say yes! He’ll be happy to see you.” I crawled under the covers and snuggled up to my pillow.
    “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, I gotta help mom and dad with the boxes.” He said.
    “Oh okay, well I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight and goodbye.” I said softly.
    “Goodnight.” I hung up and sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
    “Logan? Can I come in?” It was dad wanting in to my room.
    “Hold on dad!” I called walking over to my closet and putting one of Lars’ hoodie’s on and then crawling back into bed. “Okay, you can come in now.” He walked in and turned the light on and walked over. He sat down on my bed and looked at his hands and then at me.
    “Is everything alright baby?” I could feel my chest tighten up and my palms begin to get sweaty. I shook my head no. “Your gym teacher called me and told me that you were wearing cover up almost all over your body, is something the matter?” Of course there was something wrong, my conscience screamed, you’re boyfriend is beating the crap out of you. “Sweetie, you have to tell me if something is the matter. I’m not here to harm you or judge you in any way, I am here to help.” I looked down at my hands and began to bite my nails, which was only something I did when I was dead nervous. “Not only your gym teacher came to talk to me, Lars, and Carter did too. Sweetie, we’re�"” Before dad could finish my cell phone went off and it was Kyle calling me. I looked at Dad and he grabbed the phone before I could. “We’re worried about you. Are you positive everything is okay?”
    “Yes daddy, everything is fine. I fell the other day on the ice and I had a bruise and I didn’t want people to comment about it. Lars is always worried about me, and Carter? Well that one is shocking to me as it probably is to you. I’m fine daddy, I swear.” A tiny uneasy smile crept across his face and he kissed my forehead and gave me back my phone. Kyle hadn’t left a message so I decided that I would text him and tell him I was going to bed.
    “Goodnight sweet pea, I love you.” He said.
    “I love you too daddy, goodnight.”
    The car was able to make it up the hill and to school, unfortunately. Cynthia dropped the high school crowd off and then headed to the middle school. I felt someone wrap their arms around my waist, it was Kyle.
    “Hey baby, how are you this morning?” He asked kissing my neck.
    “Hey you love birds, how’s it going?” Olivia and Pam said walking over. I held onto Kyle and chuckled.
    “It’s going alright, how’s it going with you?” I asked smiling.
    “Good, good. Grady is looking for you, so once you have time to stop making out with your boyfriend, go talk to him. See you in bio girl.” Olivia and Pam walked off and I turned around to see a very upset Kyle.
    “Baby, what’s�"” Before I was able to speak I was pushed back and I fell to the ground twisting my wrist once again. “Ow! Kyle that hurt!” He glared down at me and once people began to look he bent down and helped me up.
    “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there babe. I’m sorry, silly me. I’ll be careful next time.” He had sick twisted look and then he grabbed my hand and we walked into school.

Author's Note

I'm sorry the chapters are so long :/ I write a lot XD