Family Matters

PART 2: Chapter One

Ceres' ears twitched at the sound of her blaring alarm going off. She reached her hand out of her covers lazily and slapped the snooze button. It was kind of difficult with the heavy weight on her chest as it made it hard for her to move around. Ceres opened her eyes and looked at Bubble who was resting on her chest.

Bubble had gotten big over the years and as a result she was really heavy yet for whatever reason she acts as if she isn't.

"Bubble...you fat cat" Ceres muttered as she picked the cat up off of her chest and placed her on the bed.

Ceres blew the hair out of her face as she got up from her bed. Over the summer she had once again let her hair grow out and she usually asked Kade to cut it but since he moved out, she figured she would have to probably get someone else to do it.

Kade moving out was a huge surprise to all of them considering how he always complained when one of the others spoke about moving out. When you think about it though, Kade moving out was to be expected. He has a wife and a son so it makes even more sense that he'd move out.

The only ones left of the Spencer family at the house was Lance, Lucas, Max, Ares and Ceres but Ceres thinks Lance also has plans of moving out to live with his girlfriend that he isn't speaking about. Arthur was now retired and has been vacationing in multiple different places and left them in charge of the house.

After Ceres was up and ready, she walked downstairs and saw that no one was up and breakfast hadn't been made either so she took it upon herself to start on breakfast.

She had become a much better cook with Roman and Kade as her teachers and she was no longer afraid to hold a knife either. She had practiced many safety rules in her head so that she would never make the mistake of hurting someone.

While cooking, Ceres could hear a set of footsteps coming down the stairs and she turned a little to see who it was.

"Smells good..." Lucas muttered as he walked over and rested his head on top of Ceres' to see what she was making.

"Good morning" Ceres said and she would normally show a smile but with the weight on her head that was pretty hard to do.

"Morning" Lucas said before stepping back and taking a seat at the table.

"Are you okay?" Ceres asked as she watched Lucas put his head down on the table. Lucas nodded but soon enough, Ceres heard light snores coming from her brother.

When she was done cooking she placed the plate of food in front of Lucas who woke up immediately. It wasn't long before her other brothers came down to eat and Ceres herself tried to eat quickly so that she wouldn't be late for school.

"I'm leaving" Ceres called as she slipped on her shoes at the door.

"You sure you don't want me to drive you?" Lance said as he leaned on the wall watching as Ceres adjusted her bag on her back.

"It's your day off, you should rest. A little walking isn't going to kill me. Besides, Dia and I are going to walk together" Ceres said with a smile and Lance chuckled.

"Alright. Have a good day" He said as he ruffled her hair and Ceres thanked him before heading out.

On her walk to Diana's house, Ceres hummed a little tune to herself as she walked. When she reached Diana's porch, she knocked on the door and had to wait a little before Diana's father opened the door.

"Hey sweetie, Diana's almost ready she's just getting her stuff" He said and Ceres nodded. Soon, Diana came down and said goodbye to her father before joining Ceres on the sidewalk.

"Hiii!" Diana chimed as she engulfed Ceres in a hug.

"Hey" Ceres said with a giggle as she steadied the shorter girl. Yeah, shorter. While Ceres had her own little growth spurt (from 5'2 to 5'7) Diana had stayed more or less the same height (she stayed at 5'4).

It had been quite some time since they had seen each other since over the summer, Ceres' family had gone out of the state for the last couple weeks of summer and she had just gotten back right before school started.

"It's really our last year, huh?" Diana asked as the two walked. Ceres nodded.

"Yeah..." Ceres muttered.

"Then that means we've gotta go all out!" Diana cheered and Ceres smiled at the girl's optimistic nature.

When the two had finally arrived at the school, they were greeted by Ross, Hayden, and their newest friend Fred. Fred is just his nickname though. His real name is Frederick and swears death upon anyone who dares call him that.

"Morning!" Diana cheered as the two reached the others.

"Yo" Fred said with a light wave and Hayden and Ross also waved.

"Hi..." Ceres said as she looked at Hayden shyly who smiled and grabbed her hand. He had missed the warmth from her small hands.

The two had finally become a couple just before the summer started but haven't really been able to see each other much since they had plans with their families.

It was hard at first to win her brothers (just Lance and Kade really) over but Hayden was persistent and determined to prove to them that he wasn't going to hurt Ceres and that he loved her.

Though it only took for Ceres to get extremely angry for them to finally back down a bit. An upset Ceres meant an unhappy household and none of her brothers wanted that.

"I hope we can all get some of the same classes this year" Ross said with a sigh as the group walked towards the main office.

Last year was horrible for them since only one or two of them would share classes and not the others. The only time they could all see each other was during lunch.

Ceres smiled to herself as she listened to her friends chat excitedly. It was a crazy few years with them but she found herself enjoying their company more and more every day.

She couldn't wait to see what this year would hold for her.