Shout out to rockymarmalade for the cover!

Chapter 3

       I had to pick up Athena after school today because both my parents were stuck at work. I met Wilder by my car and when we were both in, I drove to the elementary school to pick up Athena. Wilder waited in the car while I went to pick her up.

       Athena immediately ran over to me. "Can I go over to Tulip's house? She asked her dad and he said I have to ask Mom or Dad."

       "Yeah, sure, I'll text Mom," I said as I pulled out my phone to text her. Mom responded almost immediately, saying that it was fine, so I told Athena and she grabbed my hand before pulling me to Tulip and her dad.

       "My Mom said I can come over," Athena said. "But can my brother come over too?"

       I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at my little sister. "What? Why?"

       "Because I get shy," Athena said. "And I would like my big brother there with me."

       "That's fine with me," Tulip's dad said. "I have three teens probably around your age that you might get along with."

       Oh, now I see why Athena wanted me to go there. She wasn't a shy person at all. She just wanted to play matchmaker. 

       Well, I certainly couldn't turn down the opportunity of going to Orchid's house.

       After I agreed, he gave me the address, then I led Athena to my car who had a smile on her face the whole time. I drove Wilder to his house and once he was out of the car and in his house, I pulled out of the driveway and drove to the Princes' house. Athena seemed more excited than I was.

       I mean, not that I was excited.

       I totally wasn't.

       When I parked at the sound of the road of their house, Athena quickly got out. As soon as I was out of the car and I locked it, she grabbed my hand and pulled me to the front door. "Would you calm down?" I asked. 

       "Sorry, but I really want to see their house," Athena said. "They have a pet otter. An otter! I wanna see him."

       Athena rang the doorbell and it wasn't long before Tulip answered it. "Hi, Athena!" she said. "Even though I just saw you not that long ago." She then opened the door wider for us to walk in before turning towards the kitchen. "Dad?! Where's Stitch?!"

       Their dad walked over. "Probably with Nolan because he just had to steal my beloved otter away."

       "Oh, 'cause I want to show Athena and her brother Stitch," Tulip said.

       Their dad turned towards the stairs and called for Nolan to bring down the otter. Shortly after, Nolan calm walking down the stairs carrying their pet otter, his eyes immediately falling on me. "Hey, Atticus," he said.

       "Hey," I said.

       "You two know each other?" their dad asked.

       "Yeah, he's also a senior at the high school," Nolan said. "And he's the one who stands up for me, like, every single time someone decides to pester me. It's like he has a sixth sense for when it's happening."

       "Nah, I just see it," I said.

       "Well, thank you for standing up for him," their dad said.

       "It's no problem," I said. "Really."

       "Dad, I'm heading over to Jerome's, by the way," Nolan said.

       "Can you ever go a single day without seeing him?" his dad asked.

       "Depends. Can you go a single day without seeing Mom?"

       "That's different. Your mother and I are married."

       "Yeah, and Jerome and I are dating. There's really no difference."

       "There is."

       Nolan just shrugged before handing the otter over to his dad, then leaving the house. Tulip decided to show Athena a new video game in the living room, so I sat down on the chair there and pulled out my cell phone.

       Something suddenly dropped in my lap, so I looked down and saw a stuffed otter before looking forward and seeing a toddler standing in front of me. He then hurried to his toy box and grabbed a stuffed dog before walking back over and dropping it on my lap. He did that three more times with different stuffed animals before standing in front of me and staring at me.

       "That's William," Tulip spoke up. "He wants you to play with him."

       "How do I do that?"

       "Come on, Atticus, you have a younger sibling," Athena pointed out.

       "Yeah, you and it was always Evelyn playing with you, not me," I said.

       "He just wants you to pick one of the stuffed animals and play with it with him," Tulip said. "I wouldn't pick the Otter, though. He gets mad when other people touches the otter. My dad made all of us have an obsession with otters. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten an otter tattoo yet."

       "Don't say that where he can hear you," someone spoke up, and I looked over to see their mom. She looked at me and gave me a smile. "Hi, I'm Poppy."

       "I'm Atticus, Athena's older brother," I said.

       "My husband Grayson told me that you're always standing up for Nolan," she said. "And I know he already said it, but I really want to thank you. He was going through so much when he came out and there were points where he didn't even want to go to school."

       "Well, I can't just stand by and watch someone get bullied," I said. "Especially when he's a really nice guy who doesn't deserve it."

       William pointed to the stuffed dog in my lap. "You play?"

       I sighed. "Sure," I said, even though I had no idea how to play with a toddler.

       Well, it wasn't that hard. I was sitting on the ground with him and soon enough, he was laughing at everything I was doing with the stuffed dog and trying to mimic it with the otter.

       I heard someone walk down the stairs and I looked over to see Orchid looking as beautiful as ever. She didn't notice me yet and immediately looked at her mom who was sitting at the dining table with her laptop. Orchid adjusted her shirt and groaned. "I hate bras, Mom," she said. "Can I just not wear them? They're so annoying."

       "Orchid, you do know that we have guests over, right?" Poppy asked before gesturing to the living room.

       Orchid looked over and I couldn't help but smile at her as I raised my eyebrows, all while her cheeks darkened. "You didn't hear anything," she said.

       "I have no idea what you're talking about." 

       "What are you doing here anyway?"

       "Tulip wanted my sister over and my sister is apparently too shy for her to be here without me, so I'm just playing with your little brother here."

       "It's true! I'm so shy!" Athena spoke up. That liar.

       William stood up and grabbed a stuffed cat before walking over to Orchid and handing it to her. "You play?" he asked.

       "Yeah, sure," she said.

       "Sweet, I get a break now," I said before sitting back on the chair.

       However, William scowled and dropped the stuffed dog in my lap. "You play, too."

       Play with William as Orchid played with him as well? Yes, please.

       Ugh, I was sounding too mushy.

       William refused to let me or Orchid stop playing with him, so the two of us had to play with him up until I got a text from Mom asking if Athena and I could head home now. While we were getting ready to leave, Orchid walked over. "So apparently, tomorrow in biology, we're going to have to get into pairs for a project," she said.

       "How would you know that?" I asked before realizing why. "Right, your uncle is the teacher."

       "Yeah," she said. "Anyway, since both Alan and Nolan are in that class, I was thinking you and I could pair up so they could pair up and none of us would feel left out."

       "Yeah, okay," I said. "Sounds good."

       Orchid smiled softly at me. "Great. I'll see you tomorrow."

       "Yeah, see you," I said before Athena and I left. When the door was closed, Athena slapped my arm. 

       "You should have asked her out then and there," she said.

       "What? No way," I said. 

       Athena sighed. "Boys are complicated."

       I ignored her as we got in the car and I drove back to our house. As soon as we walked inside, I groaned. "No," I said. "No, please leave."

       "Aww, that's no way to treat your older sister," my other sister Evelyn said before hurrying over to me. "Let me give you a hug."

       "No, gross," I said as she hugged me, then kissed my cheek. I scowled and wiped it away. "What are you doing here?"

       "Eh, university wasn't working for me so I withdrew," she said. "It was getting too stressful, so I'm going to be taking this term off, but I'll be registering for MDC so I get to be closer to my family."

       "Great," I said before looking at Dad. "Why did you let this monster inside our home?"

       "Because she's my daughter," Dad said. "And your sister."

       "Yes, so love me," Evelyn said.

       "No, you're annoying," I said. It wasn't even going to be long before Evelyn brought up Orchid.

       "So, how's that girlfriend of yours?" Evelyn asked.

       There it was.

       "She isn't my girlfriend and I don't like her," I said. "I just....feel protective of her brother because they're triplets and I want to get her attention. No big deal."

       "Ask her out," Evelyn said.

       "No."

       "Do it," Athena said.

       I sighed and looked over at Dad. "Come on, Dad. You couldn't have given me a brother? And I have to be the middle child?"

       "Come on, it's not that bad," Dad said.

       "Easy for you to say," I said. "You're the oldest, and you have two brothers and one sister. I'm stuck with these two for the rest of my life. So  don't blame me if my bedroom door is locked and I'm in there for days."

_____________

Same, Atticus. Same.

Lol, so it's snowing so much here now and I love it. cx Please snow, stay here until Friday. You can start melting away on Saturday, but I want you here on Friday please....

But seriously, I always stay in my room because my siblings are annoying. Well, all but my brothers. Yeah, surprisingly, my two brothers are the only ones who don't annoy me. cx