32

Dear Best Friend

If you ever feel bad,

Call me. I promise to

Sing to you.

Then you can decide

What's worse.

A scream leaves my mouth as I run happily forward. The two people turn around frightened but open their arms when they see me running. At great speed, without stopping, I jump into their arms and all three of us fall to the ground. An 'oompf' leaves their mouths when they come down on the ground, with me on them. Tears flow over my cheeks as I grab them both. Laughing, they take hold of me too. "I missed you so much" I cry louder. "We missed you too sis" Coll whispers in my ear. I see tears running down his cheeks too. I wipe them away, laughing. Coll stands up, followed by Justin who still has me in his amen. "What are you doing here?" I ask when I wipe Justin's tears away, too. "You don't think we'd forget your birthday" smiles Justin.

I hear someone scrape his throat and drop me out of Justin's arms as I turn to my friends. All 9 look at us with big eyes but Alex looks at my brothers with clenched fists, angrily. I roll my eyes for my boyfriend's jealousy as I step towards him. I grab his hand and point at my brothers. "This is Coll and Justin, my two brothers and best friends.' I'm proud to tell my friends.

I go to my friends and stand next to them. "These are Lexi, Britte, and Kim" I introduce them. 'Next to Kim is her boyfriend Finn. Finn is one of my best friends and I live with him.' I tell my brothers. I see them looking at Finn before they say hello to my girlfriends and Finn. "The two guys next to Finn are Aiden and Rayen. They're also my best friends.'

I stand between Owen and Jax and I see them looking jealously at my brothers. 'This is Owen and Jax. They're like brothers to me.' I say. Coll and Justin look at the two boys with gratitude. "I was hoping someone would take care of our little sister here as if she was their own. She needs someone to take care of her. She's way too clumsy.' Says Justin grateful when he steps up to me and rubs my head. Laughing, I slap his hand away. I'm going to stand next to Alex in doubt. I haven't told anyone in my family I have a boyfriend yet.

Alex immediately slams his arm around my waist and pulls me against him. I see my brothers' eyes narrow when they look at the gesture. "A-and this is A-alex. My b-boyfriend' I stutter nervously. Coll's eyes grow big when he hears I have a boyfriend but Justin only looks angrier at Alex. "And I live with him," I'm quick at. Now Coll looks angry too. Alex lets go of me and takes a step forward and puts out his hand. My brothers shake his hand too. "How long has it been?" Justin asks. I swallow and look at him caught and apologize, "Two months" I mumble.

I'm lying in bed tossing and turning. After my confession, all my friends went home quickly. My brothers took Alex and sent me to my room. I've been looking at the ceiling for two hours now, not knowing what's happening downstairs. I shoot straight when I hear the door open and see two people walking into my room. Both of them crawl into bed on either side of me. "It's a good boy." Justin says. "He really loves you" adds Coll. "So I can keep him as a boyfriend and you're not gonna kill him?" I'm asking just to be sure. "You can keep him as a boyfriend for now and we're not gonna kill him.'

I give both of my brothers a kiss as I mumble a thank you and fall asleep. The next morning we're all driving in the car towards campus. I sit from the front next to Alex, our fingers entwined in my lap. In the back seat, Finn and my brothers are chatting about a computer game. My brothers wanted to check out the place where I go to school.

On arrival, we all jump out of the car and Coll puts an arm around my shoulders. I see Alex looking jealous and I can't hold back a giggle. Alex looks at me with slit eyes before he sticks out his tongue. On campus, there are more people walking than I expected in a holiday. I see Chelsey wiggling her hip at us with Alex in her sights. Alex comes standing right next to me and Coll takes a step back, allowing Alex to put his arm around my waist. "Alex darling," she starts.

Alex looks at her irritated but her gaze is already sliding around the group. Her gaze stops with Justin and seductively she takes a step forward. "And who are you?" she's purring like a cat. 'Justin' answers my brother when he looks at the hand lying on his arm. Chelsey takes another step forward and I watch with disgust as she seduces my brother.

'Leave him alone' Icome between the two when I think it's taken long enough. Chelsey looks dirty at me when I stand between her and Justin. "What? Did our ugly duckling upgrade from slut to whore? Is this your 4 or 5 boy for today?" she asks bittersweet. Behind me, I hear three guys angry gasping for breath. All three stand in front of me and look at Chelsey dirty. Her eyes grow big when the boys exchange a few words with her that I can't understand. After a few minutes, Chelsey runs away as fast as she can.

"Are you all right?" asks Coll as he turns to me. I nod of yes and take Alex's hand. We walk on together and I take everyone to my building. Inside, I passionately explain what I've already done and learned. My brothers listen attentively as Alex looks at me with pride and love. I arrive at my locker first but turn around immediately. Panic-stricken I look for an excuse not to show my locker.

'Let's have a drink, my locker isn't important and I'm thirsty' I say as convincingly as possible. Alex raises his eyebrow to me as my brothers look at each other. 'We have to go' I push them away in a hurry but no one moves. All three of them look at each other and step forward at the same time. 'NO' I shout scared as I try to stop them again but it's already too late.

They are all hammered to the ground. The lockers are smeared with red graffiti where in the big picture: I HAVE WARNED YOU LILY.

Coll turns around frightened, "What's this?" he asks confused. "I'm being threatened" I mumble.