𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝟼 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜

𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜

"What happens? Did you not go to the party?" Oliver asked, noticing his brother walking in with a sorrowed look.

"Where's anna-"

Suddenly, Anna had ran inside, bursting into another fit of tears, throwing herself onto Oliver.

"What's wrong with her?" He frowns, Tyler sighs as he plops himself next to them. "Anna was given a fake invitation."

Oliver was taken back, since when do 5 year olds bully eachother?

Oliver held the distress child as she cried, she was so vulnerable at this state. He was afraid if he squeezed her too hard or said the wrong this then this precious girl might just fully break.

He wasn't prepared for that. Non of them were.

Soon after, Anna fell asleep due to exhaustion. The rest of the boys returned home, all of them with curious glances at the teary-eyed child.

Once Tyler explained to them what had happened, their confusion with replaced with bitterness and anger.

Noah was ready to beat some kids up.

Alex had reminded him that their children and he couldn't beat the children up.

"Who said I was going to be then up?" He raised a brow at his younger brother. "Money can get you a lot of things in life, my boy." He cracked his knuckles, "And kids are desperate enough to earn it."

Anthony was silent the whole time, thinking deeply about something. The boys took notice of this, waiting for him to speak what was on his mind.

"I'm going to make a few phone calls." He leaves the room, phone in his hand, dialing a number.

"When anna wakes up, go take her out for the rest of the evening." Joshua orders, following Anthony in the other room.

******

"I don't want to go out; I want to stay home," Anna whines, throwing her blanket o ear her head.

"Come on, Anna, are you sure you don't want to go?" Noah rubs her back. She peaks her head out a bit.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Well, it's a secret." Alex pulls the rest of the blanket off.

"Fiiiiiiiiineeeee. But at longs, if there's ice cream!" She smiled.

Everyone sighs, happy that their little sister did not lose that adorable and contagious smile of hers.

Anna and her brothers spend the day out near the pier. Eating ice cream, as promised, hotdogs, curly fries, and funnel cake. Noah felt as if his insides were going to explode due to the amount of unhealthy food.

A few days later, school started up again, feeling better after a great weekend with her brothers. She felt like she could rule the world with the amount of confidence she felt.

In the end, Anna doesn't care if she doesn't have friends, yeah it bothers her, but it's life. At longs, if she has her brothers, that's all that matters.

Walking into the classroom with her chin held high and a smile on her face. As soon as she walks in, she is met with a familiar face.

"Hi, Anna," Karol says shyly.

"Good morning." Anna smiles.

Anna goes to pass her but is held back with a slight tug on her arm.

"I'm sorry, anna; I was only mean because Emily said that you told alec that I like him...But then I found out that it was Emily that told him, not you." Karol looks up at her friend with tears in her eyes. "I understand if you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. But I'm sorry."

Anna hugs her old friend reassuring her telling her all is forgiven.

The two girls played together, purposely ignoring the glares from a certain someone.

The teacher allowed them to play outside till pick up.

"Anna, your brother is here to pick you up!"

Anna whines and Karol frowns,  "I'll ask him if we can play until you leave." She suggested.

Joshua agreed, not having a problem with anna still wanting to play with her little friend. He stood talking with a girl named Maria who was a new worker at the school.

"OW!" Karol cries out as she falls on her face. Anna whips her head around, seeing Emily standing behind her with Dani and Jayla.

"Emily, that wasn't very nice," Jayla whispered to the girl. "SHUT UP!"

"Don't speak to her like that." Dani glares at her. Emily's eyes widen, so she looks at anna stalking towards her.

She points an accusing finger at her.

"YOU RUIN EVERYTHING! YOU TOOK ALL MY FRIENDS FROM ME! AND YOU TOOK MY POPULARITY! NO ONE EVEN CALLS ME CUTE ANYMORE!" Emily stomps her feet.

How annoying.

Anna thinks to herself.

"Emmy, it's not like that-"

"SHUT UP! DON'T CALL ME EMMY!!" She cries out and runs away with tears in her eyes.

Joshua stayed vigilant about the situation near the playset with his sister. But he knew that it was some whinny jealous brat who didn't get their way.

He was very thankful anna wasn't like that.

Most of the time.

His eyes drifted back up to the beautiful woman in front of him as she spoke about chocolate frogs from universal.

Maria reminded him of anna in some ways. Joshua sometimes imagines what kind of person anna would be in the future.

In seven years, she'll be in that scary teenage faze. She'll get her period, want to wear make-up, date boys or girls.

He shook his head at that thought.

"Are you okay?" Maria's soft voice called to him. His eyes drifted behind her towards the playground-

It was like times moved in slow motion.

Joshua's eyes had widened in fear.

No.

Emily's distress blind-sighted her from her surroundings.

No.

A black car drove faster down the road.

Please.

Before the car could hit the blond little girl.

Someone.

Anna had pushed her out of the way, causing her to get hit.

Everyone around them stood frozen.

How did this happen?

A desperate cry shook everyone awake from this nightmare.

"ANNA!"

********
A/N

⚠️WARNING⚠️
This is the second to last chapter of BOOK ONE.

Please be prepared for what's coming to an end.

Once book one is finished, I will be taking time to edit the chapters of book one all while preparing BOOK TWO.

The last chapter is going to be pretty lengthy. Please be patient as I try to make this ending one worth reading.

All while writing the last chapter, I will be editing it now to speed up the process.

Thank you for you're patience.❤️

-Author