Unravelling

Chapter 7 - Man In Uniform

Gracie, Anna, Lauren and I are happily chatting as we are leaving the school building. It is Friday afternoon and we are all looking forward to our weekend. The first week at junior high has been both exciting and exhausting. There have been so many impressions to take in, and so much new stuff to figure out.

One thing that is definitely taking some getting used to is that we have gone from being the oldest students in the school building to being the little ones once again. The older students can be quite intimidating. I guess it is easier for me, because I am used to being around my teenage brothers. But some of my friends are struggling a bit. In our old school, the little kids were looking up to us. And now it is the other way round, which is kind of odd.

"What are you guys up to on the weekend?" Gracie asks.

"Sleeping, sleeping, and more sleeping," Anna replies dramatically. "This week has sucked all energy out of me."

"I agree. School is definitely less fun than vacations," Lauren agrees. "And if I can believe what my sister tells me, it's only gonna get worse. She claims that in the first week, they're always going easy on us."

Anna groans at that.

"If that's true then I doubt I'll survive until I'm in high school. That's supposed to be even worse."

"You guys are exaggerating. It's not that bad."

All three of them glare at me when I say that.

"Of course you'd say that. You like school and you're good at it, too," Lauren claims.

"Plus, because of Ben, the teachers leave you in peace," Gracie adds.

I glare at her for that obvious slip up. We have only met Anna and Lauren at the beginning of the week, since they went to a different middle school in town before coming here. They don't know much about my family yet and I am quite happy about that.

Aidan and Noah have so far done a great job ignoring me and nobody has made a connection between us. Even Jack has stayed out of my hair, and I doubt that my two new friends have figured out yet that I have any siblings that are in the same school building.

"Who's Ben?" Anna promptly asks.

At least Gracie has the decency to look suitably uncomfortable when she realises what she has just said.

"Nobody," she says quickly, but I wave her off.

It is only a matter of time until it comes out anyway. Might as well tell them, since friends don't keep secrets from each other. That's what Alex has been teaching me all my life.

"My brother Ben is a teacher here," I tell them with a shrug. "Not that it matters, or anything. He teaches in high school, so we don't have to worry about him."

"Have we seen him yet?" Lauren asks curiously. "Is he hot?"

I stare at her in disbelief. Did she honestly just ask me that?

Apart from the fact that I generally find it somewhat disturbing to be asked such things about my own brother, I wonder where she is going with that. She's only twelve, after all!

I guess that this is something that I have to learn to get used to now, too. Because I have quickly noticed that girls in junior high are definitely acting a lot more grown-up and hormonal than in middle school. Suddenly, the topic of boys is omnipresent. Basically at every lunch break we gossip about the boys in our class, and about other potential future boyfriends that are wandering the hallways.

Taking that into consideration, I am actually glad that they have not yet found out about the twins. Because, apparently, lusting after high school freshmen seems to be totally acceptable. Not that I think any of my friends would be interested in Noah and Aidan. They are not that cute.