Isabella

Chapter 13

A/N - Enjoyyyyy....

~~~

"They're acting weird Chase, all of them", I stared at my small screen trying to take in my brother's appearance as much as possible before this conversation ended and I'd have to wait another week before seeing him again.

"They're not exactly normal Izzy", he shrugged, wolfing back a heaped forkful of pasta, "weird how?".

"Zane has literally vanished off the face of the earth, Scott has basically turned into a mannequin, Cay hasn't made a sarcastic comment in 48 hours, Xav has been quiet, and Xander yelled at me for stepping on his toe", I reeled off what had occurred in the past two days and Chase frowned, lowering his fork.

"Xav's been quiet?", that was the only detail he picked up on?

"None of them even asked me about my date, you're the first", I propped my phone up on my bed and sat cross-legged in front of it, "do you think I did something?".

"Nope", he shut me down, "they're idiots, their minds work in some weird-ass way and they shut out the people who don't need to be shut out".

"But surely if they're all acting like this something bad happened right?", footsteps outside my room made me pause, until Xander's door slammed a second later, "I'm gonna confront them".

"Confront how exactly?...", he asked wearily, adjusting his glasses and squinting at me.

"I'll gather them, and quiz them", I grinned, "and report back to you of course". He stared at me for so long I thought the connection had gone, until he sighed and nodded once.

"Call me in 45 minutes", he muttered, ending the call; time to get some fucking answers...

~

"I've gathered you all because I'm concerned", I announced, my gaze shifting between the five brothers I'd forced to come to the living room, "for your well-being as well as my mental state if you keep this up".

"Are we gonna ignore the fact you got us all down here by screaming that there was an intruder?", Xander crossed his arms and sighed.

"It's in the past", I shushed him and cleared my throat, "since I got back on Thursday night you've all been acting weird as shit - it's Saturday and you're even worse".

"We're fine Izzy-,", yeah no.

"I'm not gonna believe that shit Xav", I snapped, "you haven't been talking, barely smiling- jeez you didn't even put on the map when driving to school yesterday". That shut him up.

"We received some news, some that doesn't concern you as of now Isabella - but some news that we didn't expect to hear for a few years", Zane remained calm and robot-like as he spoke, nothing I wasn't used to.

"So the news will concern me at some point?", I clarified.

"When the time is right, yes", he nodded, "I apologise for us acting so distant, this has just put us under a lot of stress".

"Oh I wouldn't say distant", I frowned, "weird as fuck sounds better".

"Isabella", he warned.

"No, if you're not gonna tell me this news - fine. But don't do this; it's like living with four mannequins and a ticking time bomb who screams at you for accidentally stepping on his toe", Xander looked down when I said that, "let me in for god's sake, I'm your sister". I didn't stick around to see their reactions or hear anything else, I wanted to call Chase back.

~

"News?", he threw a grape into his mouth and hummed, "well this is the first I'm hearing".

"We're the black sheep of the family Chase", I said solemnly, "I'll get to the bottom of it, you have my word".