built by bones

Christopher:

Baia is chomping on a strip of Bacon that Zara pushed off the breakfast table. She's gleefully beaming, clapping her hands together.

Zara as in, not the dog.

Taegan is moodily scribbling in her diary, chewing slowly on her vegan sandwich as Brian teases her on her lifestyle, from clothing to food. And Alfie is just stuffing his bagpack with treats from the pantry.

Five kids and one dog.

And yet, no parent.

"Guys, we need to get to school." I announce, pushing the dirty dishes into the the sink and scrubbing off the grease left from that piece of bacon.

"You suck,"

"No, you suck!"

I can hear Brian and Taegan quarrelling from across the room, as I quickly make a dash for any last minute school bits.

"Alright," I take a deep breath, "let's go."

Car rides to school is always full of drama. It's both hilarious and beyond tedious.

"Taegan likes this guy in history lesson!" Brian hollers with an evil smirk on his face.

"Shut up!" Is all Taegan says. That and the loud sound of what I'm pretty sure was a painful punch.

"What the f-"

"FRUITS!" I quickly censor from the front, for the good of sweet little Zara. I quickly shoot Brian a look before turning back to the road.

As the twins squabble at the back, and Zara hums nursery rhymes to herself while making adorable comments such as "look! Butterfly", Alfie shoots me a quick glance.

"Dude," he whispers, soft enough for only the two of us.

I nod back at him, keeping my eyes on the road.

"Do you have a condom?"

I literally choke slamming the brakes, "What the f-"

"FRUITS!" everyone in the car shouts back, including Zara who quickly makes a comment about how watermelons are her favourite fruits.

****

The kids quickly make their way to class while Alfie and I stay behind to talk.

"Yep. Taegan, you and Brian need to bring Zara back after school alright." I remind them, as I hand Zara her Little Mermaid lunch box and help her slip on her owl school bag.

"Yea, whatever." Taegan moodily mumbles, quickly slipping away into the crowd of angsty teenagers.

"Girls. Am I right," Brian laughs, leaving with Zara soon after.

I guess in a way my family was the kind you'd find in a really bad tv sitcom. You had pretty much all the family stereotypes.

You had the never there parents, of which Dad was 100% the sporty father stereotype and Mum, the religious type who loves baking and pretends she knows what's "in with the kids these days".

Then there's Zara. She's the youngest at six. And I love her like crazy. Mainly because she never received much attention from mum or dad and I was always in charge, so I became the parental figure for her.

Brian and Taegan are what Mum used to call "God's blessing". Alfie and I knew that it meant that they were accidental after all those "back massages" Dad was giving Mum(I still shudder and the thoughts).

Brian is the sporty kind. He loved his skateboards and soccer games. He cared more about games than I did about Game Of Thrones, and that's saying something. He's what I would call when I was younger, 'a typical bro'. You know, those teenage boys who wear cringey snapbacks that say suff like 'swag' and baggy pants that go down their asses.

Despite being twins, Taegan is the complete opposite. She's less 'Mean Girls', more 'Addams Family'. She loved black eyeliner that went over her eyelids and smudged under her eyes, and Hot Topic clothes. For a thirteen year old, she scares the living crap out of me sometimes. Entering her bedroom gave me the creeps. The utter lack of colour and collection of creepy toys made me want to start crying for the Mother I never really had.

As for Alfie, he's only a year and a half younger than me but still acts like a twelve year old. He's... well, not the brightest. But hey, he was popular with the ladies so, that's his only point. Despite my love for my brother, we all knew he could be pretty dense. A bit like Patrick from spongebob.

"So," Alfie snaps me back to reality, his fat hands playing with the rips in his jeans nervously.

"Do you have the condoms?"