The Decuplets

So Much For Finding Our Parents

Scarlett

When Max and Corey gathered us in the living room, I was already nervous. I had thought we agreed to stop with the pointless scheming.

"I know you guys are sick of us looking for our parents," Corey started, "but, we found them." Everyone gasped.

"Our aunt and uncle sent an address of where they've been living," Max revealed.

"I Zillowed the house," Corey added. "It was insane. Just wait," he grinned.

"So...what do you guys say? Should we go?" Max asked uncertainly.

Everyone seemed to share an opinion: we had to go. "Why not? We already came all the way to Spain," Brandon said. We all cheered.

"They live two hours away, so let's head out tomorrow morning. Should we let them know we're coming?" Corey asked.

"They never look at our texts, so there's no point," Clay said.

"Let's just show up," Brandon decided. Not having a plan was so unlike him, but I think he had given up at that point.

-

The next day, we arrived at a huge house on a hill overlooking the beautiful ocean. If you imagined our house to be big, imagine this one to be twice as large. It was similar in style to the villas of our resort, but with more detail and refinement. "Wow," I said.

We hesitantly knocked on the door, all of us shaking with anxiety. A butler opened the door. He looked us up and down and said, "You must be the Romano children." He mentally counted us. "Why are there eleven of you?"

"What, you want me to stay in the car?" Ella rolled her eyes.

"Um, well I'll see if they are available. Take a seat in the entrance." We walked in, our eyes drawn up the insane crystal chandelier then to the symmetric marble staircases which arched over the entryway to the first room.

We sat down, and it wasn't until much later that the butler returned. "They won't be available for a while, but I can take a message."

"You're joking," Max said. The butler raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

"Go back and tell them we're not leaving," Liam said. The butler nodded and head back under the staircases.

"Let's take matters into our own hands," Max rallied, and we crept behind the butler to find our parents.

Sure enough, Mr. and Mrs. Romano were sitting by their clear blue infinity pool, our father sipping what looked to be whiskey while our mother held a pink cocktail. They were laughing until the butler approached.

"What now?" my father asked.

"They aren't leaving," the butler relayed.

"Those brats," my mother complained, "don't we give them enough?"

Gabe looked distraught. I had no idea how to fix this. I cleared my throat and the three whipped their heads around at us. "Hi," I said.

"Scarlett! What are you all doing here? How did you find us? And why?" my father questioned.

"We heard you were going to prison. We couldn't just go on with our lives," Brandon said.

"And we're being followed by your enemies," I added.

"And you're our parents whom we haven't seen in three years," Gabe emphasized.

"We're doing everything we can. We send you money and protection, what else could you want?" my mother prodded.

"What else could we want? Parents, maybe?" Gabe asked furiously.

"We lead very busy lives," my mother sighed.

"Clearly," Clay said, rolling his eyes.

My mother took a sip of her cocktail. "We do. Now, we asked you not to come because we are busy. Why didn't you text first? Maybe we could've cleared our schedules."

Now everyone was rolling their eyes. "We promise we'll visit New York soon," my father said. "It was nice seeing you all. Glad you're in good health and everything."

"So you're just kicking us out?" Noah asked in disbelief.

"That's a strong word, honey," my mother replied. She turned towards the butler and demanded, "Show them back to the door now."

We walked back to the entrance with our heads hung low. I could not believe that had just happened. They had no respect or affection for their own children!

I searched Gabe's face to get a read on him, but he looked neutral. Maybe he had already given up the family dream, and this was just another day in his life. It made me even sadder to consider that was the case.

We piled back into our cars and sped off. After two hours of near silence, we arrived at the resort. As we came into the villa, everyone just wanted to go to sleep, but Brandon stopped us.

"Guys, I know this was a terrible failure. But let's take it as a reminder that the ten of us—um, eleven?—are all that we need. We're still a family, right?"

Everyone nodded, but it didn't seem to cheer anyone up. We all sulked our way upstairs and turned in for the night. It was only 8 p.m., but it felt like it had been a lifetime since we hit the road, eager to see our parents.