Bertinelli Family

Chapter 9- Coquelicot

Riley's POV

Why do teachers give so much homework? I mean it took me an hour and a half to complete my homework. I could hear the front door open and shut from everyone else coming home before my homework was done.

I check my phone to see if it's time for dinner. I go downstairs, enter the kitchen and go and sit in my spot. I scroll on my phone waiting for everyone else to enter the kitchen. The table is set already but I'm the only one here. 

I hear someone enter so I look up. Dad comes in and sits down then Oliver and Jessica enter slightly bickering.  Dad looks over at me and smiles a little. Milo and Levi enter the kitchen with Ruby following behind them. Blake enters with Rory both chatting about something. The final two enter and sit down and then we all start to eat. 

Random thought but, one million seconds is 11 days. One billion seconds is 33 years. So the average human life is around 2.5 billion seconds long. Weird right. 

"What are you thinking about?" Milo asks me after I stop eating and end up staring at him while thinking about my random thoughts. 

"Don't ask." Ruby steps in before I get a chance to make an excuse. 

"Why not?"

"It's always something weird when she gets that look." Ruby waves her hand dramatically in my direction. 

"It's not weird." 

"Really then what was it this time?"

"Just how many seconds are in the average person's life." I sheepish tell her as my confidence dwindles after hearing it out loud. 

"Right." Ruby goes back to eating as Blake and Milo look worriedly at me. I simply shrug and go back to eating. 

"Do you always just have these weird facts in your head?" Jake this time asks me. 

"Yeah pretty much. I have a lot of free time on my hands." Milo and Levi chuckle a little. 

"Can you tell us some?" Levi asks me. 

"Sure. Uhm... More people die from selfies than from shark attacks. Mistakes on a doctor's note, mainly due to messy handwriting, kill over 7,000 people in the U.S. each year. 'Near death experiences' seem to be caused by dopamine and oxygen deprivation." I tell some off the top of my head.

"Do you only know facts about death?" Levi asks me while looking worried. 

"I have a fascination with serial killers and weird ways people die," I tell them as they all looked scared and worried. 

The girls look completely unphased as they were the ones who I would tell my facts to.

"Girls how was your first day?" At the head of the table, Dad asks us. 

"Great we meet one of Ryan's friends and then he introduced us to his daughters," Rory tells him. 

"He is not my friend. We sit next to each other in one class. You were the one who agreed to sit with them." Ryan defends herself to Rory. Me and Ruby continued to watch the two bicker over who was at fault and who was who.

Our family members look at them confused while we are used to it. Rory has a habit of making friends with everyone that inevitably drags us along with her. 

Ryan hates this. She doesn't like talking to new people let alone accepting people into her personal life. 

"Enough you two." I step in before they start yelling at each other. 

"To simple it down Rory is too nice to strangers and we had to sit with a group of boys that were nice," I tell our family who only wanted to know about our day. 

I wasn't lying, the group was tolerable. I wouldn't choose to be friends with them but they were nice enough. Like I said Rory can make friends with anyone so she and the boys got along pretty well. Ruby was always iffy when it came to friends. Some worked out some didn't. 

"Wait a second boys?" Jake asks us. 

"Yes, there were 5. They were all really nice to us and seemed like good kids." Rory told him with an innocent smile. Jake clenched his jaw a little but didn't say anymore seeing how happy Rory was talking about her new friends. 

We have all finished dinner and I'm now in my room. I was gonna watch tv but nothing looked good at the moment. I was stuck staring at the ceiling. On nights like tonight, I would try to stay in my room along with staying as quiet as I can. 

Sighing I get up and decided to go downstairs. I walk to the kitchen turning on the light. I grab a glass and get some water. I sit on the island until some now walk in. 

I turn around to see Oliver behind me in sweat pants and no shirt. 

"Why are you up?" His raspy voice asks me as he rubs his eyes from tiredness. 

"Couldn't sleep." He nods before sitting next to me.

"Why?"

"I'm not sure I've never been able to fall asleep or stay asleep easily."

"Nightmares?"

"No, I just cant stay asleep." 

"K, come on." He stands up. 

"What?"

"Come on. I'm not letting my little sister stay up all night, you have school tomorrow." I get up and follow him he leads me down the hallway where the boy's rooms are. 

He opens his bedroom door for me and pushes me lightly inside. He walks over to his bed and lays down and pats the other side for me. Rolling my eyes I go and lay down next to him. 

After a few minutes, I feel my eyes start to close. I end up falling asleep in the comfort of my older brother.