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I believe everyone after school has a typical after school ritual, including my family. Once all the extracurricular activities are done and everyone is home, we all tend to split off while my dad starts dinner and my mom does work in her garden. The same garden that was originally supposed to be a family garden.

Gemma will hide out in her room until every bit of homework is finished. She has been an honors student for as long as I can remember and will probably go onto to be a millionaire like many intelligent people do. Naomi hovers in the kitchen pretending to do homework but is actually watching something on YouTube while eyeballing my dad's progress on dinner. Then there's Toby and I, who do absolutely nothing when we get home. Since we were both little kids our after-school ritual has been dumping our bags in the front hall, grabbing whatever snacks looked good in the kitchen, and plopping down on the couch to watch tv until our mom told us to do something else.

All big brothers are a pain in the butt, any little sister can affirm that, but all of us have that one thing with our big brother we bond over. My brother and I bonded over old cartoons. We loved Looney Toons, Scooby Doo, and The Flint Stones--if it was a cartoon, we would binge watch it. We both could literally watch hours of cartoons and most days we did, but today our mom finished dinner unusually early. "Toby, Abigail! It's time for dinner, turn off the TV." My mom announced as she stepped into the living room and turned off the tv.

"What? No...come on mom...just like five more minutes!" Toby groaned as he grabbed for the remote to turn the tv back on.

"I don't want to hear it Toby, just because you're in college now doesn't mean you get to do what you want. Let's go," She said firmly before turning around and heading into the kitchen.

"I guess that means we don't get five more minutes." I groaned as I pushed myself off the couch and offered a hand to help up Toby, who was more resistant then me.

"Yeah, I guess." He grumbled as he grabbed my hand and I yanked him up before we both made ways into the kitchen where Gemma, Naomi and our dad were already seated.

"Come on kids, you guys know we have something important to discuss." He reminded as I took a seat next to Naomi and Toby sat next to dad.

"Every time mom says that it's something very unimportant." Toby mumbled. Shaking her head at him, my mom sat down next to Gemma and took a sip of water as we all began to fill up our plates. Once everyone had their food and had begun eating, my mom broke the silence.

"What I want to talk to guys about is a very serious matter, so I do ask that everyone remains serious and pays attention," She said, waiting for all of us to turn our attention to her. She always said that before making some dumb announcement about how we need a shower schedule or something, so I wasn't quite prepared for what she said next.

"Recently a friend of mine has gotten herself into a big fix and she asked me to do a huge favor for her

since we have the money and room." She then glanced at me for a long moment before turning back to everyone. I guess she could tell I was more worried about eating my mac and cheese then listening to her. "She wants your father and I to be the temporary legal guardians of her two boys until she gets back on her feet." She informed, making all four of us stop eating mid-bite. "At first I was hesitant but after some serious consideration, I've decided that we'll do it."

At that all four of us shared wild looks of alarm and excitement. "Alright! It's about time we got some more guys around here! How old are they?" Toby asked excitedly.

"They're both sixteen and fifteen," My dad said as Naomi shook her head fast.

"No mom! We barely have enough room here for the six of us, we'll be crammed!" She protested expectantly as Gemma and I shared a mature sister to mature sister look. I wasn't sure how to feel about the announcement, I really wasn't expecting it and I was a little stunned. It seemed a little unlike my parents to make such a big decision without including us in it or asking how we felt about it.

"What room will they be staying in?" I then found myself asking.

"I was thinking we could move Naomi into your room and put them in hers," My mom said slowly, making Naomi gasp in horror.

"Absolutely not, why can't they be in Toby's room?" She asked harshly.

"Because Mimi, Toby's room is in the basement, I don't think he'd have enough room or a stable enough environment for them," My dad said, making Toby mutter something under his breath.

"That's not fair! I can't believe you're going to do this to me!" Naomi exclaimed, completely outraged as she stood up.

"Naomi sit down and stop acting like a baby. It's not the end of the world. You and Abigail are like best friends anyways," Gemma said.

"Yeah, that's because we don't share a room together! Abigail's room isn't big enough for two!" Naomi informed as she gestured to me wildly. "Abby, help a girl out.'' She pleaded softly. Weirdly, even though

Naomi was right about my room being too small, I wasn't opposed to my mom helping her friend's sons out. I had to do a project on foster kids for school once and I would hate for anyone to go through that if it could be avoided.

"Mom did say its temporary Mimi. Temporary means a limited time, it's not like we'll be stuck together forever.'' I shrugged and she groaned as she fisted her hair in frustration and stormed out of the kitchen.

"Theater kids, always so dramatic." Toby chuckled as I turned to my mom.

"I think it's great we're going to help out these boy's mom, but I'm a little confused about why weren't we all involved in the decision?" I asked.

"It was a decision meant to be made by adults," She shrugged.

A part of me wanted to argue with her but instead I nodded as I went back to eating. While the situation my mom had put us in was self-explanatory, something felt off about it. Really off, and that made me indecisive about how I felt about it. Who was this friend? And if she was such a good friend, how come I had no idea who my mom was talking about? And why didn't this decision at least partially involve the kids? It was all a little sudden to me, but at least Toby was happy, so that had to make it somewhat positive right?

Pulling out my phone then, I pulled up Mac's number before clicking on the text option and typing: My mom just told us the announcement, guess who's getting two new roommates... 

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Hey guys! It took me long enough, but I finally had some time to update! This school week has been hectic so far. This year I have to bring my little sister to the bus stop every morning because I'm the only one who can do it, I have a lot of things I need to set up for myself so I can start being more independent, and I'm going to start a Broadway singing class OH! and I might be auditioning for the theater school's musical, its either going to be 'Bye Bye Birdie', 'Fiddler on the Roof', or 'Peter Pan'. I'm hoping its Bye Bye Birdie or Peter Pan, those are my favorite musicals!

-Mari.