Miss Perfect and Her Brothers (Part I&II)

4. Juvenile Delinquent

It was really hard for me to objectively assess how well I had integrated with my new brothers during our outing together. What we had achieved was really just a drop in the ocean of the work that lay ahead of us in building the relationship that I believed siblings should have.

Sometimes I thought that if I were more cheerful and sociable, it might be easier for me to break the ice with them and get them to like me. Meanwhile, I couldn't even talk to them normally, let alone joke around, always held back by the fear of making a gaffe. Every interaction with the boys made me anxious and stressed because that was just the stupid way I was.

I defended myself with the fact that I was going through a period of mourning, and I wasn't going to explain why my social energy was at a minimum.

I felt best closed off in my safe shell. Curled up like a shrimp, I spent almost the entire next day in an armchair, soaking up the story of the book I had started reading yesterday. No one bothered me. Vincent was indeed working almost non-stop, and Will was hardly any less busy. The twins and Dylan went to school in the morning and only came back in the afternoons.

Although I was the kind of person who liked to study, this temporary break from school didn't bother me at all. On the contrary, I was glad that Vincent had decided to send me there only from next week. Everything in my life was happening so fast now that the time given to me to adapt was very much needed.

Besides, this was the best therapy for me – peace and a book with occasional breaks for making tea and using the bathroom. No wonder that when I read the last sentence of the first volume, I immediately felt sad and empty. It wasn't long before I started looking for the next part, eager to be transported back to that magical world.

I spent an hour and a half browsing through the numerous bookshelves. I even googled the cover of the second part to make it easier to find, but it didn't help. It was missing, and I was sure it had to be here somewhere because I found other parts of the same series. 

Soon tired of searching, I went to the kitchen to return my tea mug to the dishwasher. There I ran into the nicest of my brothers, Will, who was peeling fruits for his nutritious smoothie. I was happy to see him. I wasn't afraid to ask him for help.

"Hm," he murmured, squinting at the screen of my phone as I showed him the picture. "Ask Tony; I think it's his book."

I wasn't thrilled by the fact that it was Tony I had to turn to. I even considered starting to read something else, but damn, I was really hooked. I had entered that world and wasn't ready to leave it yet. So if my reading needs required sacrifices, so be it.

When I stood in front of Tony's bedroom door, my confidence and determination had already left me. I clenched my right hand into a fist, ready to knock, but I raised it slowly. Until the very end, I was torn about whether it was worth interacting with the nastier of the twins just to find out where some book was.

Finally, I pulled myself together, exhaled, and in a sudden burst of courage, banged on the door marked with a silver "T". Holding my breath, I waited for them to open, and when several long seconds passed, I knocked again. I was sure I had heard my brothers come home from school earlier, and it didn't seem like they had had time to go out again. When I was about to give up on Tony being in his room, I knocked one last time, ready to leave, when I heard a lazy grunt coming from inside:

"What?"

I licked my lips.

"Uh, hi... Hi, Tony. It's me, Hailie," I said to the door, my voice trembling like plucked strings. "Will you open up? I have a question."