Brothers

Chapter 1: Just A Regular Day in the Ryder Household

Chapter 1

With a groan, I braced my feet firmly against the side of my dresser and readjusted my grip on the window.

"Okay..." I whispered to myself. "On three."

I quietly counted down before giving it everything I had, trying to straighten out my body as I used my strength to pry the window open.

No luck.

My dresser went lurching to the side and I crashed down onto the carpet, scraping my elbow along the window sill.

"Shit." I hissed, clutching the wound as I managed to get myself onto my feet.

"Anybody?!" I called out of my open door.

Surely somebody heard all this commotion and would come running to my rescue.

Maybe?

Nothing.

I stumbled down the hall to the bathroom, clutching my bleeding elbow as I searched for a bandaid.

I grimaced as I glanced at myself in the mirror. My hair was at its full, frizzy potential somehow forced up into a ponytail and my face was shiny with sweat.

It was a million degrees in this damn house, uncharacteristically warm outside for the middle of September and the air conditioning broke.

All summer, it was fine. When we spent our days getting brown under the sun, it was nice and cool inside, totally useless to us.

But the week school starts up again, the house decides it has had enough of us and turns into an oven.

I tossed out the bandaid wrapper after I securely taped up my elbow, leaning forwards as something red caught my eye behind the trash can.

How the hell did a red solo cup get up here? Didn't we keep the upstairs off limits during parties?

This past weekend was my sixteenth birthday and we threw a banger.

Dad was cool like that. He politely went and stayed with his brother for the evening, letting us go as crazy as we wanted, as long as it was clean and pristine when he returned the next day at noon. I tossed the cup into the trash and shut the cupboard.

This bathroom was a mess.

But hey, it was only a matter of time before someone did something to screw up and landed us all grounded.

It was 5:15, meaning we were technically supposed to be in the game room working on homework for the next forty-five minutes until dinner was ready.

But I didn't know where my dad was and I knew that the only person in the game room right now was Justin. While the typical Ryder fashion was 'easy classes, easy As', Justin decided to torture himself with all the APs he could cram into his senior year. So instead of living it up like his twin brother, he was spending his senior year constantly studying.

Loser.

I thought of my other brothers as I turned off the lights in the bathroom.

Who was home and who would help me in my room without a fuss?

I heard commotion in the kitchen and instantly knew who my target was.

With a grin, I headed towards the stairs.

"Wesley!" I called, sliding down the bannister of the staircase. I grabbed onto the post at the end of the stairs, letting my momentum pull me around to face the kitchen.

I narrowly avoided Mark as I slid across the wooden floor in my socks.

"Watch it, Marley." He growled over his shoulder before running up the stairs.