Where to Begin

Chapter 3

  "Okay, boys, this is Celine...Wright?" She looked at me skeptically but I nodded whilst she smiled reassuringly. "She moved to California recently but I met her on Nelscott Beach this morning."

The boys slowly eyed me standing next to Aubrey then Jackson stood up and pointed to his fraternal twin.

"This is Sawyer, aka Detox, he's my twin. That is Sage, Sketch and that's Wes so...Zero." He pointed to a cute, dark-haired boy and then a nerdy looking boy, with wet, curly hair stuck to his forehead, next to him on the couch.

"That's Dale aka Caveman..."

The only ginger in the family gave me a faint smile. "Calvin, aka Moose,"

The boy saluted me and Aubrey wasn't joking when she said he was a 'hottie'. His curly dark hair stuck to his forehead from sweat, just like Zero's. All the boys were shirtless, including Zero, who was covering his body nervously but his body wasn't bad, at all. Who thought nerds didn't have abs? I tried not to stare.

"Connell, aka Specs. Max who we call Rainman...."

He was wearing a cap backwards on his dusty blonde hair and the sweat caused his hair to curl up the sides a little.

"And thing one on his lap is Snow Globe, first name Noah," Noah was the twin with curly hair.

"Next to him is Sampson but we call him Junior."

The young boys grinned at me. Sampson had more straight looking hair.

"And Chase, Jigsaw, is the one who called you guys down here and also made the inappropriate comment earlier."

Some of the guys laughed again but Chase gave me a smug smirk whilst one of his brothers shoved him.

"Hi, there," I said, nervously smiling and looking at them. Their eyes went wide as they all looked at me weirdly.

"Is that what people from California sound like?" the curly haired little boy asked.

"Oh, I'm not actually really from there. I lived in South Africa until I moved to uh – California – a few months ago," I answered.

"Wait, you're from South Africa?" I think it was Max who asked.

"Yeah,"

"Aren't there, like, animals roaming around?" Connell asked. I realized Connell was the one who 'cut the tension' earlier.

"No," I protested, narrowing my eyes in disbelief. People who had never been to South Africa immediately thought I lived in a jungle. "I didn't live in a jungle, in fact, Knysna looks similar to Mapleton."

They looked at me, shocked, like I had just walked out of their TV, like the girl from Rings.

I soon came to terms with the fact that everyone in the family has nicknames, even Lillian, who I was guessing was The Ringleader but it was difficult trying to remember which twin was which and who was called what.

"Grubs up!" Lillian shouted from the kitchen. She must have gotten home minutes before and snuck in through the back door. All the boys jumped up from the couches they were on and basically ran to the kitchen; all except Max.

"So what're you doing here? By yourself, I mean?"

"Well, it's a long story – '' I stuttered, trying to get out of telling it.

"I have time," he smiled, he has a really cute smile. He smiles with his eyes, too.

"Well, not really, we have to have dinner," I said shifting my gaze towards the kitchen.