Aunt Taylor's Library

Chapter 1 (Ellie)

(Ellie)

Beginnings are always the hardest to write. At least, that's what I've been told. They're definitely hard to write when you've got a pesky little brother reading over your shoulder, and nine other people constantly asking if you're done yet. Not to mention a crabby old lady who expects to read the whole thing when you're done.

Well, hopefully this beginning, hard though it might be, will be good, because the rest of the story certainly is. This is the story of Aunt Taylor's library. To some of you, that may sound boring. I mean, how interesting could a library be, anyway? Well, let me tell you, this isn't just any library. A library is only as interesting as the books inside it, and these ones are special.

Of course, none of this would have been possible if it weren't for Aunt Taylor. When she was younger, she traveled all over the world collecting books from exotic bookstores. Now, of course, she just uses Amazon, but that's besides the point.

Aunt Taylor made a point of buying what she called "special" books. She never tells anyone what she defines as special. One of her favorite sayings is "Its only special if you understand why, and you'll only understand why if you figure it out yourself." I'm not sure that applies everywhere, but it certainly does in this case.

Each of us found out on our own, more or less. I mean, most of us were with our siblings, but that's allowable. None of us knew the others knew for a long time, even. Each group thought it was the only group that knew, and it stayed that way for a while. I didn't even like Kylie before this, and Tyheim and Jo had some sort of rivalry going on. And Caleb thought Marie was the pinnacle of weirdness. And then, of course, Ryliegh and Lily hated each other's guts from soccer. There was only one thing we all had in common, and that was reading. Anyway, what finally brought us together was the library.

There are eleven of us, like I said. Kylie and Lily Prior are twins, not identical (thankfully), who are fourteen. They have one little sister, Beatrice. Their parents still haven't figured out why the twins wanted to name their sister that. I have a feeling it had to do with the Divergent movie coming out right before Beatrice "Tris" Prior was born. The twins both love soccer, and they also spend a lot of time reading and running their fandoms accounts on tumblr.

Alexa and Avery are sisters who are exact opposites, and best friends. Alexa is 15, and my best friend. She's crazy and outgoing, and really popular. When people around her start to fight, she remains neutral, which is really hard to do. Avery isn't like that. She's 12, and good friends with my sister. She's quiet and sweet when you first meet her, but trust me, she can talk for hours when she gets to know you. She's kind of bratty sometimes, and gets angry really quickly, and jumps into fights without knowing all the details. You can't help but love her, even while you're busy hating her. Alexa and Avery balance each other out, which is nice.

Caleb, Jo, Rae, and Ryleigh. Where should I begin? Rae and Caleb are twins, and the oldest, at fifteen. Rae's really into gymnastics, and this weird show called "Supernatural." She always wears black, no exceptions, and is fiercely protective of her sisters. Caleb likes cross country and plays soccer. He's really sarcastic, and can be a bit of an jerk, but once he's friends with you, he's not so bad. Ryleigh is fourteen, and really athletic and loud. She plays softball and soccer. She has no filter and she's really sassy, so whatever pops into her head pops out of her mouth, which can get her in trouble sometimes. She's very loyal, honest, and smart, though. If you want advice, go to her. Jo is thirteen. She loves soccer, and sports in general. She's feisty, loves her fandoms fiercely, and very loyal.

Then there's me, Tyheim, and Marie. My name is Ellie, and I'm your average fifteen-year-old girl. Ok, maybe not. I'm a straight A student, a teacher's pet, and yet somehow best friends with a popular girl. I don't understand it either. I'm probably the most diplomatic person in this group, and I end up stopping a lot of fights, as long as I'm not the one fighting. Then there's Tyheim, my adopted brother. He's thirteen, and really childish. However, he is one of the only boys who made it into the group (proving that fanboys are few and far between) so of course he has some merits. To me, though, he's always been an annoying little brother. Marie, my adopted sister, is the youngest out of all of us. She's 11, and the sweetest, weirdest little girl of all time. She loves pandas, hates her name, and knows four languages fluently (English, French, Latin, and Dutch. Sometimes she'll just randomly start spurting out paragraphs in Dutch just because she can) because she was born in Belgium. She is very shy and self-conscious, and thinks she's not worth as much as she is. We fight about that a lot.

So, now you've met us. And soon, you'll learn our story.