2

Moira

I see Aria running down the hallway as if the hounds of hell are giving chase to her. She looks extremely flustered and upset. I hear footsteps behind her but they never round the corner. Who the hell was chasing her? They must have heard my voice and hung back, for fear of being identified. I don't know what is going on but I know Aria. She looks freaked out, which isn't like her at all. She typically just lets things go by her without bothering her. But right now, she looks bothered.

“Aria!”

She looks up and sees me, her beautiful gray eyes widening in relief. I hold out my arms, ready to embrace her. If she is scared and needs comfort, here I am to offer it to her. I glance over her shoulder once more but nothing or no one is there. What is she running from?

Aria

I see my sister Moira in front of me and without stopping to explain, I grab her hand that is reaching towards me and pull her out the double doors that loom in front of me. I run towards the running car, practically dragging my sister along behind me. Luckily, she is able to keep up with me. Thank heavens that she is quick. 

The two of us jump inside of the car and Halona tears out of the parking lot as if she were a formula one racer or an extra in a Vin Diesel movie. But I am not complaining, in the least. I appreciate my sister for helping me make my get away in haste. I wanted to make a quick escape and that is what we did.

"Aria, what the hell is going on?" Moira screeches at me, turning in her seat to face me as I lean against my own seat, tucking my head down in shame. I can not believe that I spoke to my teacher like that. He is an authority figure and I totally disrespected him, which is not at all like me. I am a good person. I show others kindness and respect. Why did I blow up at him like that?

"I would rather not talk about it. Let's just get home, please. Fast."

Both girls look as if they want to argue with me, but neither presses the issue. Thankfully. Instead, Halona focuses on the road and Moira turns on the radio as I make a conscience effort to steady my racing heart rate and calm my breathing.

After what feels like an eternity, my sister turns into the driveway of my home and I jump out of the car, racing off into the house, the second the vehicle rolls to a stop. I am so embarrassed by my behavior, there is no way in heck that I want to talk about it and share my shame with my sisters. They will think that I am a whackadoo. Especially since he is their favorite teacher. Why wouldn't he be? He likes them.

"Aria!" Halona hollers after me but I ignore her call.

I breeze into the house and up the stairs. I reach the second story landing and keep running. My room is on the third story of the old victorian home. In the attic that we converted into a room. My brother spent all day insulating it and then hanging sheets of drywall. I kind of helped, but mostly I was there to provide motivation and food.

I hear Maddy call my name but I still don't stop to talk. I bound up the stairs and slam into my room, locking the door behind me as a precaution. I fall face first on my bed and pray for a black hole to open beneath my feet and swallow me up into a vast void of blissful emptyness. Instead, all that happens is a knock sounds on my door. 

"Come on, Aria. Let me in. I want to know what's wrong." My brother Madoc calls out, sounding muffled through the thick wood of the door. He is so used to handling all of our problems and issues, that any time anything happens to one of us, he is there. Willing to take on our pain for us or hekp us through a crisis. He is the rock of the family. His shoulders bear so much.

I continue lying face down on the bed, ignoring his plea. Out of all of the times I have felt invisable, the one time I truly want to disappear to be alone is the one time that I seem to have everyone's attention. How is that fair? And honestly, can't they take a hint? Geez.

I hear the click of the lock turning and the creak of the door being pushed open. Clearly my brother used his powers to unlock my door. That feels like cheating to me. I consider making a snide remark about it but decide to let it slide. All the fight has gone out of me, considering that I have used up my weekly quota of bitchiness in one afternoon. On. my. teacher. Ugh!

I hear nothing else until I feel my bed shift and the rustle of the blankets as my brother sits beside me. I have always hated how silently he can move around. When I was younger he used it to his advantage, scaring the daylights out of me any chance that he got because I could never hear him coming up behind me.

"Alright, kid, are you gonna tell me just what the hell is going on?"

I flip onto my back and groan. "Let's just say that I had the most horrific day ever and leave it at that. Chalk it up to hormones and natural teen angst, if we must. No need to dive deeper into the situation, it's just me, being a typical teenage girl." I tell him with no shortage of snark.

"Ha!" My brother snorts derisively, drawing my eyes to his. "There is nothing typical about you, kid." Maddy flops back beside me and turns to look at me.

His dark, curly hair frames his face and his dark brown eyes shine at me. All of my my sister's friends always gushed over how hot our brother was. I don't see him as hot, because eww, but I can acknowledge that he isn't like 'put a bag on his head' ugly. He has been blessed by good genes because he looks just like my dad use to.

My sisters are both gorgeous blondes with bright blue eyes. I, being the odd triplet out, was born with my dad's brown hair and my grandma Aggie's frosty gray eyes. My features are more on the plain side were as my sisters have delicate features, making them classic beauties. I mean, we have the same face.

We are identical. It's just, my brows are a bit thicker and darker. My eyes are wider, making me look like a darn Disney princess. My mouth is wider and my lips are a smidge more plump, giving them a sultry look, Moira tells me. But I wish I had their faces. So dainty and femine. They remind me of those really beautiful actresses from long ago. Like the kind you see in those old black and white films.

I focus on my brother and read the genuine concern in his gaze. He is so compassionate and understanding. If anyone is going to get it, it's him. My heart warms and I feel myself wanting to open up to him. So I explain what happened in the hallway, ending the story with me screaming at my teacher before running away like a maniac. The only thing I tactfully leave out is the fact that Mason was touching me and that what was why we were in trouble. I don't need Maddy going into overprotective brother mode and interogating me about that right now. Getting borderline groped by a cute guy in the hallway is the least of my worries right now.

"Damn. When you go for it, you go hard, don't you?" Maddy jokes, chuckling.

"It's not funny!" I moan, covering my face in dismay. My brother doesn't get the gravity of the situation apparently because otherwise he would know that this is no laughing matter. 

This makes him laugh full out. "Come on, you probably aren't the first problem child this teacher has ran into. You certainly won't be the last!"

"I am not a problem child!" I snap, then reconsider. "Well, I didn't use to be one." I turn my head back to look at him and he turns to face me until we are making eye contact. "It's just, it had to be that teacher that caught me. He had to be the one that I blew up on."

"What's so special about this teacher?" Maddy asks me, holding back his chuckles and I have to stop my wayward tongue from revealing to him my infatuation with my teacher.

Oh, nothing. Just the fact that I am in love with him, I think to myself. "Just that he already didn't like me. Out of every student in his class, I am the only one he doesn't call by name. It's Olivia this, Kyle that in this charming little tone. Then when he turns to me, it's Ms. Piper." I drop my voice and give a crappy impression of his deep voice saying my name in the terse way that only he could say it. My brother just chuckles again.

"On the bright side, you might not ever see him again since he was apparently a sub, by what you said."

The thought both saddens me and comforts me. "Yeah, hopefully.” I respond absently. Then I grin at my brother, "Since when do you look on the bright side of things, Mr. Doom and gloom?"

"Just for that, you get to cook dinner tonight." Maddy says, nudging my shoulder with his.

"I cook dinner every night, because the three of you could burn water. I am the only one with taste buds, it seems." I retort. Seriously, Halona can't even make ice. Moira can make pancakes but the always have one dark side and are kind of rubbery. Maddy can grill really well, but he isn't too great at sides. He just opens up canned veggies without adding any seasoning to it. His food is just.. bland.

"And that is why we keep you around, kid." My brother jokes back. He hops off the bed and holds out a hand. I let him pull me up and surprisingly he pulls me into his arms and he hugs me tightly. "I know I don't say it much, but I do love you, kid, and I am always here for you if you need me."

"I love you, too." I mumble into his shoulder. I feel him place a soft kiss on the top of my head and then he pulls away quickly, as if nothing happened.

"Alright, get to making the food. I am starving!" He heads toward the door, but then turns back before leaving. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot.. I have a friend coming over tomorrow night for supper. He is my best friend from school and my old room mate. He is coming over to help me with this stupid mid-term coming up."

"Aww, is lil' bitty Maddy bringing home a friend?" I tease him.

"Yeah, some of us have those, you know. You might try it some time." He grins. "Just don't embarrass me this time by walking naked through the house."

"Oh my gawd, that happened one time! I was three years old!" I squeal. "Are you ever going to let me live it down?"

"Nope. Especially since I had to punch Tommy Byers in the face because he made a remark about it a few years later." He says, looking completely serious.

"Wait, what? Are you joking?" I ask, curious. I use to have such a big crush on his friend Tommy and was devestated when they quit being friends when I was about fourteen. I never heard what happened between them.

My brother bristles. "Yeah, the creep made the comment about seeing you naked when you were three and how he wouldn't mind seeing you again, since you grew up to be a hot piece of a- ugh, I can't even finish it. So, I punched the bastard in his face. You don't talk about my sisters like that. He is not allowed to even think about you like that." Maddy snarls.

"Seriously, he said that about me?" I ask him, impressed. Yeah, it's kind of gross that he made that remark to my brother, but I also can't help being a just a little bit flattered that my long time crush thought about seeing me naked. I mean, even if his pig ass sexually objectified me, at least he noticed me.

"It happened the day that you wore that damn red bikini outside in front of my friends."

"And you threw such a fit that Mom made me throw it away. Since then, I have swam in shorts and a t-shirt because you screwed up my confidence." I accuse him. I loved that two peice, and it made me feel so gorgeous. It hugged my curves in all the right places and made me feels so feminine and dare I say, sexy. But Maddy said it was horrible and I was too young for it. That I looked like a little girl playing at being a woman and it was just asking for trouble, me being seen dressed like that.

"Beats having my friends trying to screw you!" He shouts. I can tell that he is getting riled up so I huff. "Fine." I drop the conversation and turn towards the door. "Go tell Lona and Mo that you are having company tomorrow. I will be down to fix supper after I change my clothes."

"Fine." He leaves the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

I can tell that he is in a temper because I can hear his footsteps thudding down the stairs. He literally takes over-protection too far sometimes. Shaking my head, I move towards my dresser and pull open a drawer. I throw on my usual; a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. Then I throw my favorite hoodie on over it, before I throw all of my dirty clothes in the hamper.

Once I am down in the kitchen, I get the pack of ground beef that I left thawing in the sink out and I mix together a meatloaf to get in the oven. Then I begin to peel potatoes that I will stew in butter. I make green beans as well. About an hour and a half later, I have the table set and I am putting down the bowl of buttered potatoes when my sisters come in followed by my brother.

"Come on! You are not meeting him first!" Halona declares, pulling out a chair and plopping into it.

"Then you aren't going!" Maddy says, seating himself at the head of the table. 

Moira sits in the seat beside me. I glance at her and she rolls her eyes, with a small smile. It is dang near every day that Halona and Madoc battle over something. They are constantly butting heads. Mo speaks up, "I don't mind if you want to meet Nix before our date."

"I appreciate that, Moira. He can pick you up here and come to the door, like a gentleman." Maddy says. "If your date can't handle that, then he isn't worth dating." Maddy has this huge thing about guys pulling up to get you and honking the horn, expecting you to come out. He wants them to get out and come to the door. He calls it good manners. He says that if they actually like them, then walking a few steps to the door to show his affection, isn't asking too much. I agree with him, but I don't want Hal to feel like I am taking sides. If she feels ganged up on, she fights back. Hard.

"I don't need your approval before I can date someone! Who do you think died and made you King?" Halona spits out in contempt. Then her own words seem to register with her as the room cause deathly silent. "Oh, my G-"

"God! I can't believe you actually said that!" Moira screeches at her. "You are so thoughtless!" She pushes away from the table and flees the room.

"Moira!"