"So can we just pretend that we're not falling into the deep end?"
15 year old Marlowe Alvarez is your stereotypical troubled teen living with her aunt and uncle after her mother died in childbirth and her father abandoned her, not wanting anything...
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It was getting boring in my room. I had finished watching Stranger Things (that was an emotional roller coaster by the way) and I am already half way through watching Outer Banks.
I was able to fake sick enough to skip school on Friday.
If you ever need to fake puke, just pour an instant oatmeal packet in the toilet and gag a lot. Just don't use strawberry because that might earm you a free trip to the hospital.
On Saturday, I didn't leave my room. Not even to get food. Sunday, was the same thing.
I was going to have to leave my room at some point though, because if I faked sick long enough Orlando was going to drag me out by my hair to take me to the infirmary.
At around 5:00, I heard a knock at my door. I paused Outer Banks and slowly stalked over to the door, looking in my mirror as I did.
I looked like shit.
I opened the door and saw Antonio and Dino standing there. As soon as Antonio saw the state I was in, he pushed his way into my room and sat down at my desk. He glanced at my bed and nodded his head, signaling me to sit down. I sauntered over and plopped down on my bed. Dino walked over and stood by Antonio. They both looked at me with concern.
"What's been going on, Marls?" Dino asked me carefully.
I couldn't tell them what I got in the mail. I knew how they were and that they would try to find out who did it. But I couldn't let them get hurt. They've protected me. It was my turn to protect them.
"I just haven't been feeling well. I must have gotten a stomach bug in school or something." I said standing up to leave to get out of the situation. Antonio stood up with me, planted his hand firmly on my shoulder, and guided me back to my bed.
"We all know that you're lying, Marlowe." Dino said. "It all started after... the incident. If you wanted time to collect your thoughts or just try to start to heal from what happened, you can do that. All you had to do was ask. We're really concerned for you, M. Have you even eaten anything yet today?"
I shook my head and looked at the clock, realizing that I had gone all day without eating.
"Why don't you come downstairs? We ordered takeout, so it should be here any minute. You can share some of my food." Antonio offered me.
I nodded and stood up, ignoring the slight dizziness that I felt. After I brushed my hair, the boys led me downstairs where the rest of our brothers were sitting around a table with some Chinese takeout boxes sitting in the middle of them. Alessandro and Xavier were there, too. As we neared closer to the table, Alessio's head snapped up and smiled when he saw me. I took the empty seat beside Alessandro and sat there for a minute while everyone grabbed their food.
