my six bodyguards

chapter 12

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?" I asked looking at my parents.

"Well, we'll be going to Idaho in two days so we decided to stay a few nights since the house was on the way," my mom said, giving the fakest smile ever.

Now let me just point out, most kids love their parents. They'd be happy to see their parents after a good year without them.

Me? Yeah no.

They didn't stop here because it's on the way, they're staying here because it's cheaper than a hotel.

I did love my parents a lot when I was little, but over the years I've learned the closest thing I have to parents are my brothers.

My mom and dad have missed my birthday the past five years, they missed Christmas the past three years, and the last time they called me was probably six months ago.

They aren't my parents, they're just the people who made me.

Hayden brought me over to the couch and helped me prop my foot up. He sat behind me and I layed my head on his stomach.

"Oh," I said, "well it's nice to see you after all these years." I put as much sarcasm into my voice as possible. Hayden swatted my shoulder, indicating for me to knock it off. I got a stare from Blake and Wyatt.

All my brothers know how I feel about my parents.

"You too sweetheart," my dad said, "we missed you a lot."

Ew. Sweetheart. He really has the decency to try to give me a nickname. I don't think I've ever heard him call me Emerson except for when we were fighting.

"We also heard that you've been acting up," my mom said, crossing her arms.

At that exact moment I made direct eye contact with Josh. He shook his head telling me not to do it.

Too damn bad, Joshy, I'm doing it.

I grabbed my crutches and stood up. I walked up to here so we were face to face.

Looking my mom right in the eye I snapped. "Mom, you have no right to come home after over a year of being gone, maybe one phone call, and try to parent me," I yelled, "you're not my parent, and you've done nothing to show that you deserve that title. So don't come in a year later and pretend you know what's going on in my life!"

"Don't speak to your mother like that, Emerson," my dad said.

"Same goes for you, father," I said using my fingers as quotation marks.

"This is what we're going to do," my so-called mom said, "we've done some research and we think it's best to send you to a private boarding school. It's very prestigious, they teach you manners, and it's an all girls school, so you don't have to worry about boys distracting you because we all know that's the reason you've been acting up." She gave me a disgusted look, and I glared back.

"What?!" just about every voice in the room said.

"Mom what the hell are you talking about?" Blake said.

"Your dad and I think it's what's best, end of discussion," my mom said.

"No, you don't get to make the decisions around here," Wyatt said, "you decided to leave, so she's not your kid. She's my kid, and you're not taking her away from us!"

Wyatt was the last person I expected to stand up for me considering the circumstances we were in from earlier.

"Wyatt, you don't even have legal custody over her," my dad said, "so it's our desision until she's 18, and clearly you and Blake have done a bad job with her."

"What the fuck," Wesley said standing up, "Blake and Wyatt are the closest thing to parents that we'll ever have! They did an amazing job with all of us, including her! They did everything for you! You guys are irrelevant assholes!"

Hayden stood up. "I don't know what the fuck you think you're doing but it's not whatever this whole thing is," he said.

"It's our decision by law," my mom said.

I had enough. The waterworks came. I went over to the stairs as fast as my crutches could take me.

"Come back here Emerson, we're not done!" my dad yelled.

"Hey! Leave her alone, asshole," Blake said.

I held my crutches in one hand and tried to hop up, dropping them in the process.

"Fuck!" I screamed. I angrily hopped the rest of the way up and to my room. Slamming the door, I went to my bed and screamed into my pillow.

I heard yelling downstairs but ignored it. My parents are so stubborn they're never going to let this idea go.

A few minutes later I heard a knock on my door.

"Go away!" I yelled.

Of course, since nobody in this house listens to me, whoever the person was came in anyway.

"You dropped these," Brady said, putting my crutches against my wall.

I sat up and looked at him. Here come a fresh new set of tears.

"Hey, don't cry Em," he said.

He sat on my bed and wrapped his arms around me. He must have been working out because they seemed way bigger than normal. I sobbed into his shoulder.

This was extremely rare for Brady to comfort me.

"Don't worry sis, we're gonna figure it out," Brady said, "we always do."

He rubbed my back and squeezed me a little harder, making me feel better, he was my comfort.

"Shhh, I love you sis."

"Love you too."

I sobbed harder into one of my human shields. One of my protectors from the bad of the world. My brothers were my family. They were all I had, my mom and dad thought they could walk in and dictate my life.

Oh, how they were wrong.