sʜᴀᴛᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ

S E V E N

Alexa

I went through my next three classes, no one that I know in any of them. So far, I've already seen Andrew, Ethan Blake and Michael, all before second period. Michael and I are friends again. Then Andy. It's still hard to believe that he's back and going to school.

Lunch was after fourth period. Maybe I should hide out in the bathroom? I took a deep breath. No. I need to spend as much time with Andrew as I can now that he's back. As for the others, god, how I've missed them. The past is behind us now, right?

I entered the cafeteria. There was a lot of people in the line and at tables. I wonder if my brother and the others are at the same table we sat in during 7th grade.

"Lexi!" cake a voice and I was tackled by Andrew in a bear hug.

A smile escaped me, as Andrew let go and grinned at me.

"Hi, Andy!" I said.

Andrew grabbed my wrist, and once again I had to try not to flinch away from his touch. "Let's go, Lexi. Mikey's waiting. Elliot and Jackson are gonna be so shocked to see you."

Nerves entered my stomach. Yeah, they'll be shocked. But what if they don't want to see me or be my friend? They're much different than Andrew and Michael.

I didn't voice my fears though. I allowed Andrew to pull me along, as my heart picked up its pace. The table came into view and I could see them all. Michael. Elliot. Jackson. They were talking amongst themselves. I bit my lip. What if this goes badly?

"Hi, guys!" Andrew said when we arrived right in front of the table. "Look who's back."

Andrew forced me to sit down, as Michael grinned happily and waved. Jackson and Elliot had stopped talking and looked at me as if they've seen a ghost.

"Alexa? What the fuck?" Jackson said, blinking. "Alexa?"

I shyly smiled. Before I could respond, Elliot stood up and came around the table and stared down at me. I glanced up at him, kind of intimidated.

Without warning, Elliot wrapped his arms around and squeezed me tight. I melted in his embrace, as tears leaked from my eyes.

"Group hug!" Michael yells, grabbing Andrew and Jackson over to us and being brought into the hug.

This felt nice.

Everyone let go. I realized that I was smiling.

"Hi," I said softly, staring up at Elliot. I was sitting, and he was standing. Has he gotten taller? I realized I was looking at him a little too long and I looked away and stared down.

"Hey," Elliot said, just as soft.

"Bro, Alexa!" Jackson exclaimed. "I'm hella confused. Where have you been for the last few months?!"

"I'd also like to know," Elliot tells me.

"Me too!" Michael said.

"Guys," Andrew spoke up. "Give my sister some space. She just got back. For now, let's just appreciate the fact that she is here now, okay?"

I gave my brother a grateful look. I really didn't want to explain much of anything, and I was glad that he was speaking up for me.

Elliot, Jackson and Michael accepted  what Andrew had said, and all sat back down. On my right, was Andrew. On my left, was Elliot. Across from us was Michael and Jackson.

"Alexa," Andrew says, "go grab your lunch."

The line is so long, though.

I shook my head. "No, it's okay, I'm not hungry."

Elliot was staring at me.

Jackson was staring at me.

Michael was staring at me.

A heated blush appeared on my face. Why was everyone looking at me? Before I could say anything, Elliot takes my hand. "it's so good to have you back," he tells me. Is he really Elliot? Or is he some kind of fake?

I pull my hand away. Why do I feel so weird? "It's good to be back." I look away from Elliot. I had to look at something else or I'll go crazy.

"Alexa and I are catching up after school," Andrew tells everyone. "it's just gonna be the two of us for today, but I was thinking tomorrow, we can all hang out, like an actual group, yeah?"

"Count me in!" Michael was the first to say. "First, Andrew is back. Now Alexa? We're finally all together!"

Jackson smirks. "Yeah, I'm down."

"Me as well," Elliot says.

Everyone stares at me once again.

Gonna make my anxiety skyrocket with all this staring...

I smile. "I'll really like that. I missed you all so much, so so much..." I feel as if I could cry. But I was trying to keep it in. I really didn't want to make things too emotional.

The bell rings.

"Alexa, what's your next class?" Michael asked.

"English. Mr.Harper."

"That's my next class, too," Elliot says, standing up. "Come on.

Elliot

I can't believe Alexa's back. It feels too good to be true. I feel as if I let her out of my sight for even a moment, she'll vanish all over again, so I was grateful that she said she had Mr Harper next period.

I take Alexa's hand and help get stand up. I couldn't help but notice Andrew frown at this. I'm not normally touchy, so he'll take this out of context that I have a crush on his sister, but I can't believe she's real. I have to touch her. That's all.

Still, though, I expect Andrew will give me some protective brother speech at some point, especially if I keep grabbing Alexa's hand like this or hugging her. But we're just really good friends.

We walk away from everyone else, to our next class, hand in hand. Alexa was staring down at her shoes. "Hey, you okay?" I ask her.

She nods.

"Have you seen anyone else?" I asked. "Other than us?"

"I saw Blake and Ethan way in the morning," Alexa admitted. "The only person I haven't seen that goes to our school is Ryder. I probably should've asked Andrew how he was doing..."

I give Alexa a side hug. "Hey, it's okay. Today's your first day back. You'll reunite with him and your other brothers soon, too."

Alexa stops walking. "I-I don't know--I'm scared of seeing them again."

"They miss you, too," I tell her. "They were devasted, thinking you were dead. They'll be so happy."

Alexa bites her lips. "H-How did they treat Andy..?" she asks me. "Were they nice?"

I sigh. She definitely wants to see her stepbrothers again, and she's worried about how they treated her twin. Which makes sense, considering how they treated her, and I definitely still don't like them for it.

"They didn't treat him like how they treated you, if that's what you wanted to know," I answer. "But they don't really spend a lot of time with him, either. They just... live in the same house, I guess."

"R-right.... Let's get to class. Lead the way, Ellie."

"I'll let that slide this time."

"Mhm, Ellie."

Then she takes my hand, and we begin walking down the hallway together.