𝚂𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚖 𝚒𝚜 𝙼𝚢 𝙱𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 (Complete)

𝙼𝚒 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚊 𝚢 𝙼𝚒 𝚃é

Lucas shifts his weight for the millionth time that minute as he sits cross-legged on the wheely chair right smack center of 'his' room in 'my' house. He begins mumbling as he uses the random music stand beside him to swirl himself in a circle. "Carry the one and the two and the three to the four and—"

"Since when does Spanish require carrying numbers?" I question.

"Come on, Par! If you don't help me study, then there is a—carry the nine point five to the three point nine seven four—hundred percent chance I'm going to fail!"

"First of all, don't ever call me 'Par'. Like ever. Again."

The pencil hanging from his mouth falls to the carpet.

"Second of all," I continue, "the only thing I know in Spanish is, 'Mi casa su casa.'"

"Aw, thanks, Par."

"Stop calling me Par! It sounds like you're calling me a pear and it's making me really self-conscious," I murmur the last part as I touch the sides of my waist. "And my house is definitely not yours!"

"It definitely is," Emilie says from beside me on my right.

I scream and fall off my chair. "Where on Pluto did you come from!?"

"Mom says a stork brought me, but I'm not dumb enough to believe that anymore," she replies.

"That's not what I meant," I mumble.

"You're right, a stork didn't bring you, because you were adopted," Mia says from my left.

I jump back in surprise.

Yeah, sure, just go around appearing out of nowhere like ghosts.

"Don't be a dummy," Emilie grits out. The ominous fire I notice floating around her is absolutely terrifying. "MOM. MIA'S SAYING I'M ADOPTED AGAIN. TELL HER TO SHUT HER FACE SINCE SHE'S OBVIOUSLY THE ADOPTED ONE."

Silence returns her outburst.

"MOM?!"

"The tea has been spilled," I say. "I repeat, the tea has been spilled." I fold my arms and cross my legs. "Now who's gonna clean it up?"

Ｔｅａ

𝐀𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫.

Ｔｅａ

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭

Just like my sisters, my mom seems to appear out of nowhere. I must have really bad peripheral vision.

"We were going to tell you on your next birthday—" my mom begins.

"But I just had a birthday!" Emilie screams.

"You know, this seems kinda personal, so I think I'll leave now..." Lucas murmurs.

He's about to slip out the door when I grab his ear and pull him back in. "Come on, Lu Lu," I say in an overly sweet voice. "You're a part of the family now! And part of being a family is dealing with family drama."

"Doesn't family help family with homework?" he questions in the same tone.

"I don't know? Why don't you ask 'our' mom?" I narrow my eyes into slits.

He turns to my mom with his mouth open, ready to ask her, but instead of a question shooting from his big mouth, a shriek slips out.

I don't even notice the heat in the room until I turn and see Emilie with her hair flying around her—how it was floating is anyone's guess—and eyes blazing with dark fire.

"You know, you guys don't act like I'm family anyway," I retort, shrugging. "I'm out of here."

I slip out without anyone noticing, leaving Lucas in the heat of the furnace.

———————

"What you did yesterday was so evil," Lucas mumbles as we walk to school the next morning.

"It's usually every man for himself in mi casa," I reply, closing my eyes. "Get used to it. Or not. I don't care."

When I don't hear him, I open one eye and see him with his lip out and glassy eyes. "Are you crying!?" I exclaim.

"No," he squeaks. "I'm sweating from my eyeballs."

I roll my eyes and quicken my pace.

"Where's the fire?" Lucas questions as he jogs to keep up with me.

"On humanity's pants."

"Can't you try to be a little more positive?"

"I'm positive today's going to be an awesome day. I'm also positive that that was a lie."

Suddenly I feel his hand wrap around mine, and I jump back, trying to pull my hand away, but his grip is firm. "Wh-wha-what are you doing?!" I screech.

"Taking you to find some positivity. Positive positivity. Not negative positivity."

"But we're already late for school!"

"Forget school! Embrace the positivity!"

Before I can retort any further, he pulls me away in the opposite direction of school towards the bright sun displayed in the sky.