Reconstructing Amelia (unedited)

Chapter 93

December 23rd, 2019

"Hey, you're back," Alan said as I walked through the front door and into the living room. "How was it?"

I shrugged and plopped down beside him on the couch. "It was good,"

The living room - as well as the rest of the house - was a mess, pillows and blankets and little orange bullet-looking things were scattered all over the floor.

"You didn't call me," Eli pouted, sprawling his legs over my lap.

"Janie and I took the subway home," I told him. Both of them glanced at each other. "We were fine, don't worry," I said before they could respond. They just rolled their eyes at me.

"I see you made yourself an Instagram account," Alan noted, changing topics.

I glanced at him in confusion. "Yeah, I did. Why?"

He fished his phone out of his pocket, showing me the hundreds of notifications popping up on his screen. "Because people have been talking about it nonstop and tagging us in the comments asking if you're really our sister," Alan explained crossly.

"I can take it down if it's a problem," I said quickly, picking up on his frustration.

"It's fine, Mia, he's just being a prick," Eli assured me.

"Alright," I echoed uneasily. "Where's Javi?"

Eli's face reddened sheepishly. "He's upstairs, resting,"

"Resting?"

"We had a nerf war," Alan interrupted. "Tired the kid out,"

I nodded slowly. "Well that explains the mess," I replied. "But what's a nerf?"

***

"I'm bored," the triplets complained from where they were sprawled out over the couches, the Tv playing absentmindedly in the background.

"Yeah, let's go do something," Eli agreed.

Javi was busy playing with a pile of legos, now wide awake from his nap earlier.

"Mia? What do you think?" Alan nudged me.

"Hmm?" I glanced up from the book I was reading, glancing around from face to face trying to survey the situation.

"We want to go do something," Cayden repeated. "You in?"

I shrugged. "I guess so," I closed my book, gently setting it down on the end table next to me.

"Let's go ice skating!" Javi cried abruptly, standing up and facing us with a bright grin.

"I'd be down for that," Colton replied, and everyone else chimed in agreement. "Let's head down to Wollman's,"

***

"You ready, Mia?" Eli asked me excitedly.

I offered up a small smile. "Kind of?"

Calvin gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Just get out there, you'll be fine,"

I made a face, turning to scour the crowd of skaters. Alan and Javi were already out on the ice. Javi was holding on tight to Alan but was grinning so hard.

"Fifty bucks says I can do a spin," Colton bet.

"Fifty for a spin?" Calvin scoffed. "Please, I bet you a hundred bucks I can do a jump,"

"What about a jump spin?" Cayden added as the three of them each held out a wad of cash.

"Don't do anything dangerous," I warned, giving them stern looks.