T H I R T Y - N I N E

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Cameron

After school, I paced around the living room anxiously. I can't believe that poor, sweet Alexa is going to end up leaving us, leaving me, leaving this household. I actually really like having her as a sister. And without her...

I WON'T HAVE A SISTER.

This is the worst news I have ever received in my seventeen years of existence. Crap, crap, crap, crap—she can't just leave... could she?

"Why are you pacing?" Justin asked me as he entered the living room, coming from his bedroom.

I glanced at him. "Hi, Justin," I said, wasting no time, "How do you feel about Alexa?"

Justin held up his hands. "She's adorable and all, but I'm not about that incest life," Justin told me.

I suppose that I could have asked a better question than what I did end up asking. "I mean, how do you feel about her as a sister?" I corrected myself impatiently.

Justin shrugged. "I like her. She's great... a bit weird, though," he answered and then raised one of his eyebrows, which I wished that I could do. "Why are you asking?"

"Would you want her to leave?" I ignored his question and asked one of my own.

"Dude, I thought you liked her!" Justin said with widened eyes, looking shocked.

"I do, dummy," I said, "and that's not why I'm asking. Can you just answer my question?"

"Well, I mean, I guess I won't want her to leave," Justin said with a slight shrug. "But why do you wanna know, if it's not for the reason that you want her to leave?"

"Because she might be leaving," I answered bluntly, causing my younger brother's eyes to widen in disbelief.

Justin blinked. "Excuse me?" he questioned.

"Yeah," was all I said to that.

Justin blinked again, staring blankly at me. "...Well, are you gonna explain what you meant by that or am I gonna have to read your mind?" he uttered sarcastically, crossing his arms against his chest.

"It's pretty self explanatory," I told him.

Justin looked unamused by me.

I rolled my eyes and told my younger brother all that I knew. Justin was a great listener.

Justin slowly nodded, coming to terms with what I said. "Okay, but why would she need to leave? Isn't she fine here?" he asked me.

I just merely shrugged. "Maybe she just doesn't like us...?"

"Maybe she doesn't like you," Justin corrected me, not seeming to have been joking, but he better have been, or I swear to fucking god that I will murder him and throw his corpse into a shark tank.

This time, I was unamused by Justin.

The front door opened and Justin and I turned our heads in that direction to see our younger stepsister come in, the person of our discussion. It was a little after five, so I wondered where Alexa had been, but I decided not to ask—that was my least concern.

"Hey, where have you been?"

But Justin decided the opposite.

"Somewhere not here, thought that was obvious," Alexa replied, a bit sassily.

Cheeky little bitch.

I say that in the nicest way possible, of course.

"So, um, someone's planning on adopting you?" Justin asked, trying to seem nonchalant, but failing miserably. "Uh, Erm, so who is it exactly?"

"Someone," Alexa said, shooting me a quick glance and then looked back at Justin. "I'm assuming Cameron told you. Saves me the trouble, I guess. Don't worryyyy, I'll be out of your hair soon — bye!" Alexa said, adding an awkward bit of laughter at the end, causing me to exchange surprised looks with my younger brother.

Before either Justin or I could respond to what Alexa had told us, she dashed off to her bedroom to do who knows what. I couldn't help but wonder what she even does for hobbies or anything... Does she even have a hobby? What fun things does she do in her bedroom? She doesn't seem like the type to have any special little interests. I don't know, man.

"Are we gonna tell the others?" Justin asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Might as well." I sighed. "So do you think that Alexa wants to leave? Like, actually wants to leave this house? She doesn't seem upset by this — if anything, she seems way too happy about this." I wasn't sure what was going on in Alexa's head, but I didn't want her to leave us. She's my favorite sister, after all. Granted, the only sister I have, but my point still stands.

"Yeah, I wonder why," Justin said thoughtfully. "Maybe she still hates us. Not that I blame her." He let out a heavy sigh, waiting for my response.

I bit my lip. Maybe that's true. But then again, Justin's not right about all of things cuz he's a dumb ass, but... maybe there's a first time for everything... unfortunately.

"Maybe you're right," I said with reluctance.

I'm always right."

No, you're not.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Go get your twin, and I'll get Ryder and Zach."

"'Kay."

Zach, Ryder and Jason stared at Justin and me after we had just explained what I had told Justin. It was mainly me doing the talking, as Justin kept getting distracted.

"And you don't know why she's leaving?" Zach asked us.

I shook my head.

"Correct," Justin said.

"This is terrible!" Jason blurted out. "Don't you think we should do something?"

Ryder was deep in thought — a rare sight, I tried to keep the surprise I felt from seeing Ryder's thinking face from showing on my own face. I was probably failing miserably.

Ryder finally said, "No, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure she really doesn't like us — how far in denial are you guys? If anything, we — er... you guys... — should make her like you all and maybe that'd change her mind and make her happy enough."

We all just stared at Ryder, surprised by his common sense — something he normally lacks.

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