Family Matters

Chapter 1

In this family,  a wonderful morning starts with the kids waking up on time for once. As Olivia got the girls ready, I headed over to my younger brother's room to find him standing in front of the mirror. 

" What are you doing Matt?" I asked. 

He turned his attention to me with a frown on his face. " Getting ready. Weren't you and Olivia complaining about us earlier?" he asked. 

" Not...complaining," I said slowly. I needed to choose my words carefully with this child. " I would rather you listen to the two of us. We're older than you after all." 

Matthew shrugged. " Sure." He turned back to the mirror, ignoring me once more. As I closed his door, one of the girls ran down the hall only with her shirt on. 

" Kaylee! Be careful before you run into-" She chased into the wall. " the wall," I muttered. She was the youngest out of all of us, resembling our mother more than any of us, with her strawberry hair and blue eyes. She realized what happened and then burst into tears. 

I rushed over to her and picked her up. " Hey, calm down." Though, she continued crying her head off. She laid her head against my shoulder, wiping her face. 

" Iz it time tz go?" she asked. 

" Almost," I said slowly. Unfortunate for her, Kaylee's ears didn't work as well. It was hard for her to hear when we were calling for her at times. Though, she almost understand what we were telling her. 
The problem was she has a hearing aid that she refuses to use. Though, it seemed like Olivia got it in today. 

"Iz tine fro fodo?" 

" Soon." 

" Kaylee!" Olivia came running down the hall with our other sister, Reagan. She barely resembled one of our parents, it was more a combination. 

" She's running again," Reagan informed her. " You should get her ready before her teacher picks her out again." 

" I know that," Olivia muttered, taking Kaylee from me. 

" No!" 

" You have to get ready," she told her. 

" Iz wnat Dainel to od it." 

Olivia turned to me. " How about it?" she asked, crossing her arms. " You want to dress a five year old?" 

" Only if she would let me. Seems easy enough." 

   If only I hadn't spoken so soon. Sure, she was listening in the beginning, but by then she refused to get ready and go to school. She was always stubborn like this. The only way to make her go was promising her ice cream before dinner. 

When she was done getting dressed, she ran downstairs and sat down at the table. Olivia and I were almost seventeen, with me driving everyone around. Good thing was we only had to drop the youngest off and Reagan sharing the same high school as the two of us. 

" How are your classes so far?" Olivia asked, setting down the plates. 

"Fine," Reagan muttered. 

" I get to make cakes today!" Matthew cheered. " Teacher said she was going to teach us." 

" Sounds nice to be a kid again," Reagan said. " Wait until you get in high school with all the tests and exams you have to take." She stabbed her food, " Oh, such fun!" 

Without the youngest noticing, Olivia kicked her underneath the table. " Alright, time to get into the car and drive to school." 

" We haven't finished eating!" Matthew said. 

" It's called, taking it out brother," Olivia said, grabbing their plates. I watched as she grabbed containers and moved the food into them. They were put into their lunch boxes and placed on the table. 

" Great," Reagan muttered. " Breakfast lunch." 

" Get used to it." 

                                                                                                     ~

Our mom died not too long ago, when I was fourteen. By then, our dad was put in jail because he was selling drugs on the street. Along with this, came his frustrations. By then, he was taking it out on us, me mostly. 

We dropped Kaylee and Matthew off and headed to our high school. When they left, Reagan moved her legs across the seats and laid back, sighing. " Space!" 

" We're going to be there in a couple of minutes," I said. " No use in resting now." 

" How about you sit in between a deaf girl and a monster?" 

" Don't call them that," Olivia scolded.

" I just did." 

We arrived at the school, with Reagan jumping out of the car along with her backpack. It seemed like she didn't want to wait for us at all. " And everyone says siblings are the best," my twin muttered. 

" That's when you have parents around," I told her, getting out of the car.  

Once we entered the school, Olivia abandoned me for her friends while I went with mine. She would usually find me sometime during lunch, and hang out over there instead. 

A arm swung around me and rested on my shoulder. " Hey! How goes the old broken family?" 

" Hunter..." 

He laughed. " Just kidding Daniel. You don't have to look so mad." 

" You need to leave him alone for once." Another friend of ours, Amber came over and moved Hunter's arm from around my shoulder. She was someone other than my family that knew about how I refused to have others touch me. Before my mom died, she was closer to Amber, almost wishing she was her daughter too. 

" How are you feeling? I saw Reagan run through the hallway earlier."

" She's been acting up lately. Says that her teachers are getting down on her because of her terrible notes." 

Amber scoffed. " At least she's honest." 

" Sometimes that not a good thing." 

She chuckled. " You have to calm down. Remember that they're your siblings, not your children." She looked down, " I understand it's been hard on your family since your mom's death, but they can take care of themselves." 

" They can't," I replied. " Reagan still acts like a child even though she's a freshman. Olivia and I are getting gray hairs just from ordering them around. And with the way things are acting between the younger ones, there's no way I could do anything without them behind my tail." 

Despite all my complaining, Amber laughed. " You sound more like a child than Reagan." 

" Shut up!" 

                                                                                              ~

Amber was the only person allowed to be at our house. Since Hunter didn't understand my current situation, he wasn't allowed to come over. Even though she was younger, Reagan forced Amber and I to walk while Olivia got her ice cream after school. 

I sighed."Unbelievable. Leaving us to walk while they stuff their faces with ice cream. Sounds like a fun old time." 

" Leave the girls to enjoy themselves. On the bright side, you get to enjoy your day with Matthew and Kaylee." 

" Yeah...sure." 

We got there when the bell rang. All of the students ran out without a second glance at their school. Matthew and Kaylee were the last ones out, though neither of them looked too happy. Matt's arm was around Kaylee, as if she was crying her eyes out. 

" Daniel! She got hurt today!"