The Seventh Family

Chapter One

***72 hours before***

(Audrey's POV)

The day my life started to change forever began just like any other. I went to school and suffered through another long and socially exhausting day full of fake smiles and headaches in the form of every single fellow high school student. The only thing that provided me with any bit of sanity was the comfort of the fact that my best friend was there with me, suffering through it all by my side, even though she seemed to enjoy it much more than I did.

But as soon as the day was over, and the parking lot was flooded with kids running away from the school as if their lives and what little was left of their sanity was at stake, I saw the black car, waiting for me, in the parking lot of the school. I immediately suspected something was wrong. When I saw the face of the young man sitting in the driver's seat, I knew something was wrong.

The icy pit that had formed in my gut grew deeper as I met the young man's eyes. Though he smiled, I knew him far too well to fall for the easy-going, nonchalant look he had plastered on his face.

"Who is that?" My best friend asked me, noticing my staring and nudging me in the ribs. Of course Noelle would mistake my panic for something far more innocent and romantic. She'd never been taught to look for or believe anything else, so how could I blame her?

Instead of freaking out, which was really the only thing I wanted to do at the moment, a calmness settled over me, surely a result of years of training. I focused, carefully schooling my expression into one of normalcy and indifference. I didn't answer my best friend, and instead strode over to the car without giving her any sort of explanation.

I reached the passenger side window and the young man immediately rolled it down, leaning over to make eye-contact and give me a lopsided grin. I was almost surprised at how good Reece had gotten at acting. I shouldn't have been.

I smiled back at him, leaning down to his same level.

"Reece? What are you doing here?" I asked him, forcing my voice to exhibit the kind of carefreeness I wanted my best friend and everyone else to see. Reece only shrugged.

"Your dad asked me if I would come and pick you up. Apparently he's in a meeting and your mom's at work."

Reece and I didn't have any sort of secret code, but it was easy enough to glean as much information as I needed at the moment off of his completely unrealistic answer.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but an elbow to my ribs cut my response short. I turned to find Noelle giving me an expectant look. Right. Introductions were a thing.

I turned back to Reece. "Oh, right. Reece, this is Noelle, my best friend," I told him, knowing full well that he knew exactly who she was. I wouldn't be surprised if Reece had the background stories of half of the kids in the high school memorized. But aside from my siblings and I, Noelle and her sister Kamila Scott were two of the high school students that my father and Reece payed attention to the most.

Reece gave Noelle a charming smile. "Nice to meet you Noelle."

I turned back to my best friend, only to find her with a blush darkening her cheeks as she gave him a shy wave. I rolled my eyes. Noelle was never shy. Then again, Reece tended to get that same reaction out of a lot of girls. And I'm not sure why that annoyed me so much.

"Noelle, this is Reece. He's...a family friend." I told her, hesitating for only a second. Noelle gave Reece one of her cutesy smiles.

"It's nice to meet you too, Reece." She told him in her adorably cute voice she only used when she was flirting but didn't realize she was flirting. I think I might've puked in my mouth a little.