sʜᴀᴛᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ

T H I R T E E N

Alexa

We snuck into Andrew's room. No one else but Cameron and Ryder were home, so it wasn't really sneaking. Andrew told me that Dad and Veronica were on yet another business trip—but when are they not? And the rest of our stepbrothers have yet to return home from school.

I really hope that they're happy to see me, like Cameron was, but I don't know. I sat down on Andrew's bed and sighed, nerves consuming me.

Andrew sat next to me. "Are you okay?" he asked me, and I nodded in reply.

"Alexa," Andrew begins, "what have I missed in two years? Why weren't you here when I woke up? Why did everyone think you were dead?"

I sucked in my breath. Should I tell my twin brother the truth? Would he even believe me? I bit my lip. There are a lot of things he's bound to believe, but Dad being abusive wasn't one of them. At least, that's what I assumed.

"Things happened," I settled on saying. "Things were messy, but things are fine now."

"That literally answered nothing," Andrew says drily.

"Sorry."

Andrew sighed. "It's okay, you can tell me when you're ready."

I smiled appreciatively.

***

"Dinner!" Zach's voice called from downstairs. Everyone else had arrived two hours ago and I stayed here. Andrew really wanted to surprise them with my presence, and Ryder and Cameron were all for it.

Andrew grinned. "It's time. Let's go!"

I grew nervous and tense. "Oh, I don't know, Andy," I say. I'm scared, but I didn't want to say that.

Andrew sits next to me, on the bed. I tensed up. I don't know why, I just did. "What's wrong?" he asked me, touching my shoulder and I flinched back. Why did I do that? I took a deep breath. This is Andrew. He has never hurt me. And he never will. Didn't I think the same thing about Ryan?

"I'm fine," I tell him. "I just haven't seen our... step brothers in so long." A lot of worries consumed me, but I wasn't sure when to even began with that. Or if I should tell Andrew why I was worried. Probably not. I doubt he even knows how they used to treat me. And I really would rather not tell him. Because I want that to be left in the past.

"Andrew, get your ass down here and eat!" Zach's voice called from the kitchen.

Andrew chuckled slightly. "Well, we should go down there," he says. "Would hate to see him mad, eh?"

I flinched at that, but I don't think Andrew saw.

"Yeah, let's go."

I followed Andrew downstairs and as we got closer, I could hear the talking amongst the brothers.

My only comfort was the knowledge that Dad wasn't home.

"Hey, guys, what's for dinner?" Andrew asked as entered the kitchen.

"Chicken and—" Zach started to say, but his eyes widened when he looked over to see me next to Andrew. "Uh—?"

"Justin, you see her too, right?" Jason asked his twin.

Justin nodded, his mouth agape, causing chewed up chicken to drop out.

That was kind of gross.

All three of them had stopped eating, staring at me wide eyed. Ryder and Cameron smirked at each other.

"Alexa... you're... you're... back," Zach said. He probably didn't want to say the word dead.

I nodded shyly.

No one moved, except for Andrew, who sat down and began eating. "Now, don't look so shocked! Can someone make Alexa a plate of food?"

Zach still looked too stunned to move, so Cameron got up and made me a plate and set it down on an available spot. I sat down. It was next to Andrew and Ryder.

"Alexa, you're not dead?!" Justin suddenly exclaimed, and Cameron and Jason elbowed him from either side of him. I let out a small nervous giggle.

"Nope," I answered. I was hoping no one was going to ask me any other questions—like how I'm alive, why I'm here, didn't I try to kill myself....

Thankfully, no one did. But that could just be because everyone was just so shocked that I was here, eating with them at the table.

I missed you guys.

I wanted to say that out loud, but I didn't want to sound too sappy. I still wasn't sure if they all felt the same. Andrew, definitely. Ryder and Cameron, I think so. I wasn't so sure about the others. They just seemed so shocked, that I couldn't tell how they felt underneath it. Happy? Angry? Sad? Annoyed?

I was starting to get uncomfortable because everyone was still staring at me. I couldn't even bring myself to start eating, because the last thing that I wanted to do was eat while I have many pair of eyes on me.

"You good?" Andrew leaned over and whispered into my ear.

I nodded in response.

"Thank you for the food," I told Zach, and he shook his head as if he was snapping out a trance.

"Oh, um... you're welcome.." Zach said, glancing at the twins and then at Cameron then at Ryder and then at Andrew, and finally back at me. "You're real, right? Everyone else sees her, right?"

"Yes, bro," Cameron answered. "She's real. We can all see her."

Zach began crying, which alarmed me. "Alexa, I—I—I'm sorry.... I love you.... You're my sister, and I'm so so sorry...."

"Sorry?" Andrew muttered to himself, confused.

I got up and went to Zach and hugged him. He hugged back, his grip tight. "I—I love you too," I tell him. It's true. I love all of my brothers. But was this the first time I've said it? Realizing that, I added, "I love all of you."

Everyone seemed to be growing teary eyed. God, this was so sappy and tense and emotional but it feels like a giant weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

I've reunited with Andrew, my friends and now my stepbrothers.

I'm never losing any of them again.

A/n: hey:)

Pretty soon after we take care of all this emotional shit, we can go back to having loads of funny moments. I think we'll be able to veryyyy soon.