Involved

eight

isabelle langa

The sun hit my skin and I happily absorbed it. I laid on a blanket at the beach and it surprisingly wasn't busy despite how great the weather was. It was incredibly sunny with a cool breeze from the waves. I'm not normally a tanner, but I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to wear a bikini at the beach.

I contemplated calling Trinity—my half sister—to invite her to join me. Jeremiah made it seem like she was happy to have a sister. Honestly, I was happy too. I always wanted a sister and although this not being my ideal circumstances, I still had a sister. I could choose to envy how she grew up or allow things to be fresh. When I called her, she was more than happy to join me.

"Where's your mom?" I asked the invading question. It appeared that it was just her, Jeremiah and her brother.

"She left him when we were around 14. I think when your parents divorced she expected my da-our dad to be fully invested in only Sebastian and I. He was. But my mom took offence to him sending you gifts every birthday. They split," she covered her eyes from the sun. By the way she spoke, it didn't seem like she was upset. I assumed she still had a relationship with her mother and probably split her time.

"When did you find out about Junior and I?" I sat up to look at her. She brought a braid behind her shoulder with a sigh.

"When my mom left. I asked why they were splitting and he was honest. He showed me pictures of you and I remember thinking about how alike we looked and how badly I wanted to meet you," she spoke and I hugged my knees, looking at the water with rhythmic waves. We do look alike. We both looked a lot like Jeremiah.

I glanced down at my phone when I received a call. I shook my head seeing it was Killian.

"Hi," I brought the phone to my ear.

"Hey. I have a game tonight. You're coming right?" Killian questioned. I dug my toes into the sand at the end of the blanket.

"Yeah. Dre is picking me up and taking me home," I informed him before there was a long strand of silence. "Hello?"

"I'll pick you up and take you home," he demanded and left no room for me to even argue. Who was drove me didn't seem of importance. I was going to the game either way. I don't know why he insisted it be him. "Where are you now?"

"Busy." I missed school just for the beach. When I'm done I'd need to cram a bunch of work before the game.

"Where are you?" He repeated in a tone that asked not to be questioned.

"I'm at the beach with Trinity. I'll text you when I'm
home and ready so you can-"

"I'll pick you up from the beach," he hung up before I could argue with him. I stared down at my phone in disbelief that he could be so demanding with absolutely no grounds.

"Is that the guy who you brought to the house?" She received the answer from the look on my face. "He's hot. And tall."

"He's okay I guess." I wanted to steer away from talking about Killian. I was aware of how attractive he was. But talking about him with people made it seem like we were something that we're not. I still clung to the acquaintance title despite the lines between us becoming very blurry. "I just don't like that he's friends with my brother."

"What's it like? I mean, I have a brother too and he's crazy protective. But Junior has this whole group of friends that act like your brothers. It must be nice. A mini family," she sighed from envy. I scratched the back of my neck. On paper there were a bunch of pros to the matter.

"Sure, it can be nice. They're all like my brothers. They give me rides and they take care of me. But it's overwhelming sometimes. There's times when you want to turn it off. I want to go to a party and make out with a random guy without the fear of the guys making a big deal about it. I want to be a girl and do girl things. I swear, Junior spent the first ten years of my life trying to turn me into a guy. When I joined cheer he hated it. The bows and the sparkles and the uniform. Then he just accepted it. They all did and they became my biggest fans and never missed a competition. They're really supportive," I reminisced on what it was like to grow up with them. It's a love hate relationship but at the end of the day, I wouldn't trade it for anything.