𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇

XXV

—RORI—

On Monday morning, chaos ensues.

Although the press do not print anything, they are made aware of the fact our brother is in rehab. And in school, all kinds of rumours further spread.

My brothers and i have not yet sat down to discuss the situation of Teddy — seeing as the eldest have been busy dealing with it — and so i do not know the full extent of how he landed himself in rehab.

All i know is that Yakov found him to be taking drugs and harming himself, though i know there is much more to the story.

Speaking to Teddy, though it feels impossible at this moment, is the only way i am going to get an honest answer.

The only problem: we are not allowed to visit Teddy at the moment. And by we, i mean anyone except the eldest three.

Also, no matter what my brothers say to convince me otherwise, i am sure that he wants nothing to do with me...

My conscience is guilty. Zephaniah was right when he said that i am no angel. I fractured my brother's nose, for God's sake! And, yes, he shouldn't have strangled me as a retaliation. But what else was he supposed to do? Sit there and take it?

Teddy is one of the worst people i have ever met, but he happens to have a drug problem — not for the first time — and is harming himself, which could mean literally anything.

I feel wrong for feeling under appreciated when this is what he is going through.

I mean, i could never put myself through that. Or my family, for that matter.

Doesn't he know we are worried sick for him?

Doesn't he know i have barely eaten in two days?

...At lunch time, i have had enough. Enough of the whispering, enough of the weird looks, and enough of the godforsaken rumours.

In the lunch line, i overhear someone mentioning my brother and best friend's names, and i think to myself, not again.

Listen, i have no problem with what people talk about in their own time, but at school, when there's a chance any one of us triplets could overhear them talking, they ought to think before they speak.

Otherwise, i'll have to teach them the same lesson i did Lindsay...

"Kissed?" i hear a girl say. "Are you sure?"

"Oh, i'm sure," the other girl says. "Well, apparently they were doing a lot more than just that...Carly went to look for Anna after she ran off and she saw the two of them making out in her room...like, full on French kissing, and apparently they were really touchy too..."

"You don't think they...did anything, do you?" the first girl asks.

"Who knows?" the other girl says. "I mean—"

To avoid scarring myself for life, i promptly leave the lunch line in the midst of their conversation.

This is the first time i am hearing somebody discuss my brother and Annalise since Lindsay, and it makes me so very uncomfortable in every way.

If what they're saying is true — and i am choosing to ignore the details mentioned — then Annalise's first kiss was taken by my twin brother.

Seamus has always argued how much of a bad influence she can be but the girl is far more innocent than i am. And although we live in the same world, we come from completely different ones.

Annalise was born and raised with catholic values — i suppose like my mother — and, although they are not prudes, i imagine her parents would be less than impressed if they found out what their 'little angel' gets up to when they are out of town.