The returned sister

Runnin'

It has been two weeks since my first day of school and things have been going great. I joined the girls soccer team with Miyra, I've stopped drinking so much and I haven't stole anything in a month, Riccardo and I have started to smile more, and today is cross country trails, so I guess I'm okay with that since I know I won't pass out. 

I had just gotten ready for school and I'm stuffing my football boots into my bag for cross country today. A knock at my door interrupts me from my difficult task.

"Come in." Enzo walks into the bedroom. Since I arrived we have gotten very close, we would play fight and play video games against each other, which I win. 

"You okay shortie?" He also came up with that nickname after he realised I am only 5'4 and that isn't exactly short for a girl, but he's over 6ft so I guess its fair. 

"I can't fit my shoes in my bag." I tell him. He walks over chuckling, shoves my shoes down, and zips the bag up with ease.

"Show off." I say as I take my bag and walk past him downstairs for breakfast.

"Your welcome!" He shouts from behind me.  

I fling my bag and gym bag on the couch in the living room as I walk past and into the dining room. All my brothers who are there, Ezio, Dante, Riccardo and Larzo, wish me a good morning. 

"Wheres Al?" Enzo asks as he comes into the room, eyes darting to where Alfonso would usually sit. 

"He went to work early, wants to get stuff out of the way for when they arrive." Larzo answers. 

"When who arrive?" I ask him. They all turn to me with raised eyebrows.

"The rest of the family." Dante says as if it is obvious. 

"Theres more!" I yell shocked. 

"Yeah, we have two aunt and uncles, six cousins, including the one who married into the family, and our grandparents." Larzo tells me. My eyes bulge out of my head. And I thought the family was big with just my brothers.

"When do they get here? How old are they? What are they called?" I spew out. 

The all just chuckle as Riccardo answers my questions. "Tonight after school. Nonno and Nonna are 72, Aunt Angela is 44, Uncle Franco is 46, Aunt Ella is 42 and Uncle Giovanni is 40. Marco is 24, Eva is 23 and her husband Gavino is 24, Enrico is 21, Gino is 19, and Nario is 18."

"We only have one female cousin. How the hell has she survived this long." I mutter making them all laugh as we finish our breakfast.

It was just before lunch time at school and I was laying on my back on the field, looking up at the sky with my eyes closed. That was until I felt a massive lump fall ontop of me. 

"What the fuck?" I question as I lift up my head, only to find a tomato of Caitlyn, wheezing on my chest. 

"Help." She pants as she crawls for the water bottle. I pass it to her as she gulps it all down. Once finished she just collapsed back down on my chest. 

A few minutes later the rest of our friends walk across the finish line and sit down next to us. 

"How come you walked but she ran?" I asked them as I motion to a barley conscious Caitlyn. 

"Coach said if she walked again this year she would do suicide runs in every lesson till spring." Alice tells me making us all laugh. 

We decide to go get food before Caitlyn falls asleep and Miyra piggybacks her into the canteen while Megan carries both of their shoes since all of our lower halves were covered in mud. We get our food and sit down in our usual seats. And, just like every day, I give my daily report to my brothers who are looking expectantly my way.

I walk over to them and sip on my juice as I sit in the spare seat next to Carmen. 

"Did you do cross country then?" Dante asks as everyone looks me up and down. 

"Yeah. Why?" I ask them.

"Because you dont look any different beside muddy." Sebastian tells me. 

"I did cross country back in England twice a week. Our warm up was a two mile run, that was nothing." I explain. They all nod in understanding yet looked shocked at how much I ran, all except Blake, who is once again staring at me. I just learned to ignore his stares now as he does it so often. 

"Anything else?" Enzo asks me. I shake my head no and they nod in acceptance. I get up and go back over to my table and just generally talk with my friends until Alice asks something that catches me off guard.

"Is it true what they say about your family, if you don't mind me asking?" I turn and look at her questioningly, I look at my other friends who are also waiting in anticipation. 

"What do they say?" 

"That they are the leader of a gang or something? That they do loads of illegal stuff?" Even this has woken up Caitlyn. Why is there these sort of rumours about my family? But then again, they're rich, like rich rich. And we live in a mansion filled with guards, all of whom I noticed carry guns. And I'm not even going to talk about the sports cars or the authority they have.

"Not that I know of. Besides, they're big softies at home, they can't be part of a gang or something." They just let out a disappointed sigh and we just continue to eat and talk about normal things. 

Ezio's POV

I'm  just sat with my friends talking after we got rid of the girls who fawn over us relentlessly when Carlos says something. "Guys, Adri's friends just asked if you guys we're in a gang or something." 

Enzo, Dante and I just look at each other, our faces paling by the second. 

"You haven't told her have you?" Blake asks. Whenever Adriana is around he starts to stare at her, my brothers haven't noticed thank god, but I have. Luckily for him, I trust him with my life, even if he is two years older. 

We just shake our heads no as Dante says, "Alfonso said we aren't allowed to tell her. He thinks she'll hate us or go nuts."

"What do you mean by 'go nuts'?" Carmen asks. It's obvious Carmen cares about our sister, ever since she and Carlos lost their own they became protective over family, which we are to them. 

"well, when our mother became a junkie she got put in foster care for a while, and stuff happened. Really bad stuff." Enzo tells them. Fury boils within me as the photos of her scars and bruises flash through my mind. 

"How bad was it?" Blake asks as his teeth grind together. 

"Bad enough that she went on a spiral, she got in a lot of trouble with the police, spent 6 months in jail, and nearly beat 15 people to death." I respond. They all turn red in rage, especially Blake, all of them having vague ideas of what she went through, none of them knowing how bad it really got. 

"So she has no idea she has been living with the Italian mafia, and spends every lunch talking to the Spanish and American one?" Sebastian whispers. 

We shake our heads no and they begin to mutter how stupid we are.