brothers.

4~ Meeting the Girlfriends

08.18.23

Dear Diary, it's been three days since I moved in the Fields. So far, I'm liking living here. It's comfortable, I'm eating more properly, and I have a cool new room. Even though I got really sick after our first breakfast, I think I'm okay here.

But the major sticking point would be the brothers. In front of their parents, they conform themselves with hidden insults, passive-aggressive comments, and fake politeness shrouded over cruelty.

Then when their parents aren't around... I'm back to being their personal slave. I clean up after them, do their chores, serve them food. They don't insult me as badly as other families, but they're always making cracks about my 'skin-and-bones' body or my 'smooth brain'. And they love asking me to do things as if they were favors. Like I have the choice to say 'no'.

I'm not going to respond until I'm 100% sure how to. I still don't feel like they'll get physically violent with me. But based on the way they carry themselves, they're the type to 'get me back' somehow if I retaliated. I need to... well, 'get to know them' better.

I know I've suffered a lot worse than this. This just barely scratches the surface of what I've gone through before. But it is disappointing. That's what I get for trusting.

I put down my pen and sighed. Writing all this out made me feel a little better.

My current diary was one of the few things I managed to keep safe so far. So many times, it was nearly lost or destroyed. I had about six more diaries in my backpack. The pages were all ripped up, but at least I still had them. The ones from my early childhood were lost.

I heard voices downstairs. Out of curiosity, I went out to the hallway. I heard my foster brothers talking downstairs, accompanied by some girls' voices.

I slowly tiptoed downstairs to the landing and peeked past the wall. The boys were in the foyer with three girls. One of them was a brunette hugging Kyle, the other was a blonde with Tommy, and the last one was also brunette, her arm around Jack. Their girlfriends, probably.

"You sure you're okay with going to the same diner?" Kyle's girlfriend asked.

"If you're okay." He shrugged. "As long as we get to eat."

"Okay, remember, I'm on a very specific diet. I can't have too much, okay?" said the blonde.

"Yeah, we know." Kyle's girlfriend looked annoyed.

"Oh, did your parents adopt that foster kid yet?" Jack's girlfriend asked.

"Oh, yeah! You said she was a girl, right, Kyle?"

"Um... yeah."

"How's that going? I know it's a bit hard, considering..."

The boys glanced at each other. "Um... about that..." Harry started. "It's a little more... complicated than we expected."

"Complicated?"

The blonde snorted.

"There's something you should know-" Tommy stopped when he saw me. All of them collectively turned their gazes on me.

I froze like a deer in headlights before revealing myself fully. I managed to give a small wave and a smile, swallowing hard.

"Ahem. Uh... girls, this is... Diana," Kyle said, motioning to me. "She's our new... foster sister."

There it was again. Just like everyone else that met me, all three girls were staring at me with pale faces and open mouths. I maintained a polite, shy smile on my face, pretending not to notice.