Unexpected.

Family Dinner

I get to my house in fifteen minutes.

Five minutes. Shit, I'm late.

I drive to the car garage finding my twelve year old brother standing in front of it with a mischievous grin on his face.

He and his twin brother both look like younger duplicates of me, with brown hair and the same shade of green eyes we can all pass as triplets only of course I'm taller, five years older and my hair is a shade darker than theirs.

I stop in front of the garage, roll down the window and glare at my brother.

"You're late" Ethan smirks and I roll my eyes.

"You think I don't already know that?" I ask mildly irritated, he was wasting my time on purpose, he loves it when I get in trouble.

"Well I'm gonna make you even later because if you don't pay me ten bucks I'm not gonna help you open the garage door" he says.

I snort loudly and get out of the car "Thanks, but I can do that myself."I walk to the door and slide it up, opening it.

"Then I'm gonna pull the door down on the hood of the car as you drive in." he grins victoriously probably enjoying himself.

"Well you better be ready to face moms wrath because it's her car you would be destroying." I retort winking at him. The grin disappears from his face, now it was my turn to smirk. I slipped back into the car but not before I hear Ethan say loser before walking back into the house.

I park the car and follow Ethan inside. I check my watch cursing loudly, I had wasted four more minutes bickering with that idiot.

Nine minutes late. I guess I'd better start planning my funeral.

I got to the front door and opened it walking into the living room. I was immediately ambushed by my three year old little twin sisters, in case you hadn't noticed my family has two sets of twins and we're eight in total, we're quite a lot but at least its never boring.

I pick up one girl putting her on my back and the other one in my arms, both girls yelling my name seemingly very happy to see me.

Heather,the one in my arms, giggled and licked my cheek lovingly making me laugh and the one on my back, Holly, clawed me only adding more to my laughter. The two girls have a peculiar fancy for lions so they try their best to act like one which can be very amusing. I ruffle both their blonde heads and put them down.

I walk past the dining table seeing it already set and ready for dinner,  and head for the kitchen. Once I enter I immediately meet my mothers stern glare, she has her hands on her hips which makes the situation even scarier. Don't get me wrong I love my mom in fact we all do its just that having eight kids running around the house is lot of work for her that's why she gets strict and scary sometimes but we all understand and try to make it easier for her.

Like the twin girls, Mallory Winster has blonde hair with angel curls but instead of the light blue eyes they have my mother has green like mine but darker and more startling.

"You're late, again" she says and I shoot her a sheepish smile.
"I'm sorry, I lost track of time" I plead.
But she just shakes her head and sighs. "Okay, I don't have time for you now because I have to finish getting dinner ready before your Uncle George comes over but just know that you would be getting it from me later." She throws me another disapproving look and walks out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of Greek salad.

I sigh in relief thanking God that at least she was in a good mood or else she would be having me for dinner. Literally. I grab an apple out of a basket and exit the kitchen, eager to get to my room and change into something more comfortable.

I jog upstairs meeting my sister Jenna on the way up. I look up and meet her icy blue eyes staring at me with a haughty look on her face. Being immediately after me it's normal that the sibling rivalry is strong between us but sometimes she takes it too far.

"Hey fish head" she greeted, tossing her dark brown hair over her shoulder."I'm sure you got what was coming to you from mom since you're undoubtedly tardy".

"Nope" I smirk "She actually let me off the hook". I took a bite of my apple.

"I highly doubt that" she retorts also smirking. "She's just letting you go for the meanwhile, after dinner she's sure to punish you."

"We'll see." I say.

I walk past her a little annoyed, I don't know why she and Ethan derive so much pleasure from seeing me miserable.

I get to my room and shut the door, already tired of being home when I'd just gotten back. I take off my jeans but leave my socks and hoodie on since it was cold then put on some pajama pants because it was too cold to wear only boxers and mom would never allow because we were having visitors and it wouldn't be nice if one of them sees me parading around in my underwear.

I throw myself on the bed feeling very heavy and tired, I grab the remote and switch on my tv. Because I'm the oldest I have a room to myself so I don't have to worry about fighting for the remote with anybody. One of the pros of being eldest. I hear a knock on my door and Evan, Ethan's twin brother pops his head into my room. "Mom says to come down for dinner in twenty minutes." he called, popping his head back out. I lay back down and turn off the tv wanting some peace and quiet so I could take a quick nap before dinner.

Just when my eyes start drifting closed my door flies open, startling me. My two middle sisters rush into my room the older following the younger. The older, Alice, had a strange look on her face like she too was trying to figure out what's was happening, the younger Amanda had already started ranting and complaining to me.

"Jack" Amanda whined "Alice took  Mr Poochie and wouldn't tell me where she kept him".

"No I didn't, Jack, I swear!" Alice shouted.

"Stop lying" Amanda screeched.

"I'm not lying!" Alice yelled back almost in tears.

I groaned and rubbed my temple. This is one of the cons of being eldest, having to settle these kind of matters.

"Ok ok" I said "Alice did you take her teddy?"

"No I promise"

"Liar!" Amanda screamed again.

"Amanda!" I warned.

I turned back to Alice, at eight years she looks so much like my mom it's scary. She has the same curly blonde hair as the twins and the green eyes of Mom, my brothers and I. She stares at me silently pleading with me to believe her. And I do.

"I promise that I didn't take Mr Poochie" she says again, calmer this time.

I nod and turn to Amanda who is still sulking, ruining her pretty dark chocolate face. Amanda is six and the only adopted child, because of that everybody treats her like a princess and she may have gotten spoilt a little.

"Did you hear that Amanda? Your sister says she's telling the truth and I think you should believe her because she's your sister." I say

Amanda looks at me with her big brown sparkling eyes then looks at Alice and makes a face.
"She's not my sister if she steals my toys." She says which only makes Alice's face drop sadly then Amanda walks out of the room and slams my door in the process.

I had the nerve to call her back and tell her to close it properly but I figured it wasn't worth it and she probably wouldn't even listen to me anyway. I looked at Alice who shrugged sadly as if to say "at least you tried" then she walked out also, shutting the door quietly behind her.

I shake my head and check my watch, there's still fifteen more minutes until dinner. Time to get some shut eye.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey peeps. Woohoo nine reads. Wow. I'm glad you're enjoying my story but I know you're going to enjoy the next chapter for sure.  Just keep reading to find out what happens. The mystery is about to begin *smiles creepily* lol just joking no need to be scared this isn't a horror story. Don't forget to comment