[COMPLETE]
Emerson Castell loves facts.
Enjoying the how and why of everything, she never fails to let her obsession seep into every aspect of her life, including her relationships - or lack thereof.
Leo Caruso is no stranger to a busy social life...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
On rare occasions like this one, the three of us siblings seemed to get along.
They say adversity brings people closer, and there's nothing better than parents' fighting to bring three partially detached siblings back together.
"You're walking home with us?" Mason asked his older brother, his big brown eyes widening.
"You know, I'm a part of this family too," Max replied, letting out a huff. He crossed his arms over his black jacket which matched the rest of his black attire. I imagined if this was 2007 he would have had the jet black hair swooped over one side of his face and heavy eyeliner.
"No, I didn't know that," Mason answered. For being hardly eight, he had mastered the art of sarcasm.
"Boys, please don't fight." I sounded like an elderly teacher, but the last thing I needed was war breaking out between my siblings. Between college stress, the tension between Leo and me, and the fact my insomnia was creeping back on me faster than I could keep up with, I didn't have the energy to deal with this.
"Fine," Mason mumbled and tipped his head downwards. He kicked a pebble on the ground as we walked across the grass of his school to the sidewalk.
"We get enough of that at home anyway," Max mumbled.
"You're not helping with that," I mumbled. His head shot up, and he raised a challenging brow.
"You think it's because of me?"
"It's pretty obvious, dumbo," Mason said, kicking another pebble.
Max laughed, and Mason and I stopped and stared at him, with equal confusion. He didn't seem the slightest bit concerned that his antics were troubling both of my parents.
"Dad wants to move our family," he began and snapped the gum in his mouth obnoxiously. "He's been applying to academic jobs up north."
"What?" When in the history of my life had Max known something I didn't?
"Yeah, sure, my little 'cry of attention' has caused a few arguments between the two here and there, but Mom is livid because she doesn't think she'll be able to find a tenure-track job at the same university as him or one nearby, but he's insistent on putting his career first. Very last century, if you ask me."
"How do you know this?" I asked, not sure whether to believe him. But it made no sense for him to lie about this of all things.
"I have more time to eavesdrop than you think," he answered, looking me in the eyes. "And well, you know Dad. He's never satisfied. Yet you two spend all of your time trying to suck up to him. Don't you see, Emerson?" We paused at the stop sign at the end of the street. Mason seemed pint-sized between his two tall, older siblings, and I began to wish we had never started this conversation with him around.
"What?"
"He loves the fact you're a genius. But the reason he prefers you over both of us is just because you're like him. He gets to boost his ego by watching his mini-me blossom in front of his eyes."
