Stepbrothers

Chapter 1

"Noah! Come down now or else I'm leaving you here!" My dad called upstairs to my room.

"Is that an option?" I sarcastically yelled back.

"Hilarious." He responded. "Hurry up!"

"Yeah, yeah!" I rolled my eyes and grabbed my phone off of the dresser. I really didn't want to move in with my new, annoying stepbrothers.

I slowly walked down the stairs, not wanting to leave my house for good. But my dad was happy when he was with Claire - a thirty-something, kind woman -, so I was going to have to suck it up. Finally, I reached the door and sighed. 'Goodbye, home' .

I walked out the front door and then down the driveway. I flung open the passenger's side door in my dad's truck and climbed in, immediately shoving my earbuds in my ears. Per usual, I spent the whole car ride staring out of the window, my eyes occasionally drifting over to the mirror on the outside of the car to look at my black eye and badly bruised cheek. Don't ask, it's a long story.

The car slowed down to a stop on the driveway of our new house. My dad flung open his door, and I did the same, stepping out of the truck and grabbing my backpack at the same time. Claire ran down the stairs of the front porch to greet us, her three sons slowly trailing behind her.

"Brad! Noah! You're finally here!" She excitedly said, rushing over to hug my dad. My dad kissed her on the cheek. Gross.

"Boys, help Noah bring his things in please." Said Claire. Blake walked over to me and grabbed a box from the backseat of the truck. I grabbed one of the smaller boxes that was labeled 'Noah' and we both walked over to the house.

"Hey Noah." Blake smiled down at me. "What happened to your eye?"

"Nothing." I said quickly, keeping my head down and staring at my shoes.

"Hey Hobbit!" Joshua laughed, running up to me from where he and Jacob had been standing by my dad and Claire, and messed up my hair. I didn't react at all, I just stayed staring at my shoes while maintaining my fast walking pace. Jacob jogged up to us and walked next to me.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the hobbit." Jacob smiled. "Geez. What happened to your face?" He added as he looked at the right side of my face.

"Nothing." I repeated. No one said anything else after that, but I knew that the discussion wasn't over. I mean, I've known them for nine months, I know they won't drop this subject.

I jogged up the few stairs to the front porch and Blake opened the door for all of us. Max, their German Shepherd, ran to meet us at the door. My eyes were probably wide, because I'm terrified of dogs. Josh laughed but quickly attempted to cover it with a cough, while the other two held in laughs at my obvious discomfort around the dog. I just continued to walk towards the stairs, pushing past the dog on my way.

"Your room is the last one on the right. Don't go into my room, dork. Or else." Joshua threatened.

"Same here." Jacob agreed. I shrugged, I really didn't care. Blake seemed to care though, he hit Josh's shoulder with the back of his hand, sending him 'warning' eyes. Wow, so subtle, Blake, thanks. That was sarcasm, if you couldn't tell. 

  I walked into my new room, dropping my box at my door. Blake did the same. It was a pretty bland room, the walls were a tan color, and the floor was hardwood. In the center of the room stood a bed that was slightly larger than a twin size one, with a metal headboard shaped like a rectangular box, with metal pipes running through it. There was a smaller version of the headboard at the foot of the bed, too. Right now, the bed sheets were a simple white, and the blanket matched. Squished next to the bed was a small, brown nightstand, and shoved against the wall on the other side was a desk. On the wall across from the bed -the wall next to the door- there was a small dresser, with barely enough room between the bed and it to open the drawers. Claire had said that I could decorate my room however I want, but I think I'll just hang up a few posters around my room. 

  "Boys! Dinner!" Claire called up the stairs, I sighed, and threw my backpack on my bed. I walked down the stairs and into the dining room. Everyone else was already sitting at the large, rectangular, dark oak table in the center of the room. All of the heads turned up to look at me when I pushed open the swinging door. 

   "Hi." I responded, tilting my head to the left, raising my eyebrows a bit, and squinting my eyes slightly, with an annoying grin on my face, so that I looked like Chandler from 'Friends' when he's being a sarcastic little shit. So, basically me 24/7. I sat down at the table, slightly disheveled since no one got my reference. Those uncultured swines. 

  After we finished a very awkward dinner, where I pushed my food around my plate while no one talked -except for the occasional sad attempt at conversation-, I walked back up the stairs and to my door to find the two small boxes from earlier sitting next to my door, both labeled 'Noah' by my dad's messy writing. I sighed, and picked up the one and kicked the other through my open door and into my boring new room. I left both boxes by the dresser after grabbing out a comic book I had already read several times. I never wanted to bother my dad by asking for money for things like comic books, so I only had the ones I had bought with my babysitting money that my dad wouldn't let me use to help out with the bills. Of course, this was before my dad got his promotion at work last year, but I guess I never really grew out of the habit. I lied down on my bed and picked up reading my comic book from where I had last left off. I finished off reading the comic before I fell asleep at around one in the morning. What can I say, I'm a slow reader, mostly because I'm used to having to make things like my comic books last.