A House Full of Brothers

Chapter 8

  I woke up feeling refreshed and generally happy. Then I remembered I have to lie to my brothers to go shopping.

  I went downstairs to look for Jackson. Jackson was the only one who was awake as early as me on the weekends. The rest of the boys sleep in.

  "Hey Jackson," I say with a higher pitched voice so he knew it'd be a question.

  "Yes," he mimicked the tone I used.

  "Can Kyle and I go to the mall?" I ask with an exaggerated grin.

  "What time will you be back?" He glanced up from his phone while I glanced at the time.

  "Twelve?" That would give me even more time than necessary since it was eight at the moment.

  He asked a few more questions and was being skeptical but after a few guidelines from him and a bunch of smiles from me, he agreed.

After borrowing Jackson's phone to call Kyle, he picked me up. Kyle had a car but always opted to ride with me and my brothers in the morning on the way to school.

"Hey Brookie." He greeted as I opened the passenger door.

"Hello Ky." I replied flatly while buckling into my seat. "I have to be home by twelve. And you know they'd kill me if I'm a minute late." I warned.

He simply waved me off, "Yeah yeah, whatever."

"No. Not 'yeah yeah, whatever.' You don't understand what's it's like living with them, I don't want to get in trouble." I ranted to Kyle as he drove down the road.

"Brooklyn, you gotta relax. We'll get you home on time. Besides, it's okay to break the rules every now and then." Kyle tried to console me.

"Not with them. Each time I do anything wrong, it's like they need to have a whole convention over it." I sighed. Kyle put his hand on my thigh reassuringly.

"You'll be home on time. I promise." He said before taking his hand away to continue driving to the mall.

The ride was quiet between us, music filling the lack of conversation. We pulled up to the mall and I crawled out and waited for him.

"Okay, where to?" He asked as he swung his keys on his finger.

"I don't know where to get a dress." I shrugged.

"Well it's a high school party. Not a formal, it doesn't even have to be a dress, just something a bit more fun. To enhance the experience. Besides, if you party right, it should end up as a heap on the floor anyways." He laughed and gave me a suggestive smirk. I glared at him before punching him.

"I'm going because Blake made me. My clothes are staying on. My lungs are staying clear, and my liver is staying healthy." I snarled at him.

"Okay, you're gonna have to have a drink of some sorts. You'd regret not doing it when you're older. I'm not saying to just get wasted but at least try a sip of mine." He tried to persuade me.

"I don't need to be getting drunk." I tried to finish the argument but I was out of luck.

"A sip wouldn't get you drunk, Brooklyn." He said with a chuckle.

"I'm small. I'll probably pass out from the smell of alcohol." I exaggerated. But there was no doubt in my mind that I was a light weight.

"Mhm, Okay Brookie." He laughed and then guided me into a store.

"Ooh how about this one." He suggested, holding up a red dress that seemed like it would only fit a toddler.

"My boobs would fall out!" My eyes widened.