Laws Of Siblinghood

Chapter 1

I was listening to music while typing on my computer when my dad came into my room. I removed my headphones and sat straighter on my bed.

"I knocked but you didn't respond," dad said.

He was a man in his early forties who stood a few inches shorter than me, a fact I was always proud of. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes. He had fair skin and a strong jaw. His overall appearance was handsome but wearing down day by day due to stress and overexertion.

"I had my headphones on," I replied. He nodded.

"They are moving in today. I'm going to pick them up. Please be nice to them," he said.

"Why would I not be nice to them?" I asked.

"You aren't nice to people in general," dad answered with a smile.

"You have a point," I said.

"This is serious Zack. Carmen and her daughter are going to live with us. Her daughter is really nice. You will have a sibling," dad said taking a seat on my bed.

"Dad, if they are important to you then I won't be rude to them. Besides, it's not like it's my first time meeting Carmen. I am going to be on my best behavior but don't expect me to give her someone else's place. I have a mother and she is alive," I said.

My parents got divorced when I was seven. My dad got my custody and mom left and got remarried. He didn't start dating till I was in middle school. He was a Geology professor at the college in our town.

It was just recently that he started dating a woman called Carmen Vasquez. She was a physician and was visiting the college for a health workshop when she met my dad. Her first husband had died in a car accident and she lived alone. Six months after they started dating, my dad proposed and she accepted. She had a daughter whom I had never met before. Apparently, she went to a boarding school in New Jersey.

"I don't expect you to give both of them anyone's place. They are not replacements. I know you will be nice to Carmen. Please be good to her daughter too. She is very well behaved. It will be good for us to have someone else in this house too," dad smiled sadly.

Get a dog if you want to share this house with someone else, I wanted to say.

"I promise I'll behave," I said instead.

"Thanks," dad said and got up. He was just going out the door when he paused.

"Please clean your room before I come back."

***

I looked at myself in the mirror. I had dad's dark brown hair and his round shaped face. I had her olive skin tone and dark brown eyes. I was six feet tall, and fit thanks to hours of working out in the summer.

I started thinking about my stepmom and stepsister. I tried to remember my stepsister's name. Ray. Ray Vasquez. She was thirteen, eight years younger than me. I didn't want irritating kids annoying me but I also didn't want to upset my dad.

Ray was going to join Heaven Roth Academy. The school was named after the woman who was the first mayor of our town and named it 'Haven'. Yes, my town was called 'Haven'. It literally meant home.

Luckily, I didn't have to go to school. I had passed out college and was still figuring out what to do. At the age of twenty one, I had no idea what I wanted to do with life. I had a job at the local bookstore 'Worlds' and that was the only thing I did except filling out forms for internships.

My phone buzzed. I picked it up. I had a message from Audrey, my girlfriend.

How are you feeling? Isn't your step family moving in today?