Ghost

3

I arrive back home from school and start preparing dinner. 

I'm planning on making some spanish rice, fiesta salad, guacamole, chips and salsa and of course, some tortillas to wrap it all up. 

So just a taco bar? 
Yeah... but better! 
How is it better? 
Cause I created it, duh! Though they don't deserve my 'out of this world' cooking skills... 

I start with chopping the chillies and tomatoes for my salsa. I put extra chillies inside because my father likes it extra spicy. And I felt like putting 1 or 2 more than necessary. 
I know, I'm evil!!! Muahahahahahaha... That's the spirit! 

For the fiesta salad I add fried beans, ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, and sour cream. 
God this is so good. 

After that I mash the avocados and mix it with lemon juice, onions, cilantro and diced tomatoes. Oh, also some garlic. You can never forget the garlic! 

As I wash the rice, the front door opens. 

I turn around and my eyes meet the eyes of the seven new boys. 

"Hey, you're the smiley smart girl from school! What are you doing here?" Jake speaks. 
Before I have the chance to answer, my father walks into the kitchen and I quickly turn back to cooking dinner. 

"She's no one important. Avery, have dinner ready in 30 minutes, no longer" my father says. 
"Yes father" I speak still with my focus on the food. 

"FATHER ?!" all seven boys yell at the same time, making my father jump from the volume, not me though. I've heard louder. 

"We will talk about it another time, first I will show you your rooms and when you have settled in, food will be ready" my father walks up the stairs with my seven brothers trailing right after him. 

I finish up the food and put the different bowls on the centre of the dinner table. 

I turn to go back to go to the kitchen but my father suddenly stands in front of me, "I put a dress on your bed. Go to your room, get dressed and cover everything up. You will be eating dinner with us today." 

I rush up the stairs, quietly going though the hallway where all the bedrooms are and walk to the very end where my room is situated. 
Just as my father said, there lay a black dress on my bed. It is off the shoulder and reaches just above my knees. 

After putting it on I go to the bathroom to check which bruises are visible. I add some foundation where it's necessary and look at myself in the mirror one more time and I must say, I don't look too bad... not bad at all. 

I leave my room and as I close my door, the boys also leave their rooms and all their heads snap to me. 
I roll my eyes as I walk past them and go down the stairs to my father, "Don't mess up!" 

 I nod and turn my head to see my brothers walk down the stairs. 

We all sit on the table with my father at the head, me on his right and the boys fill the rest of the seats. 

"OK first things first, my name is Javier Garcia, but you can call me dad. As you already know I am the principal of the NRS, North River School. I am so happy that my sons are finally with me again."  

I frown slightly as I look down at my hands. He won't let me call him dad. I am only allowed to call him dad when we are in school, so no one would suspect anything. But even at school he basically ignores and avoids me. 

"And this is your sister, Avery Garcia." I slowly look back up with my sweet fake smile, "Hello, it's nice to properly meet you." Oliver speaks up, "Yeah we saw you in our classes at school," Alejandro chimes in, "You are quite smart for your age", then Diego speaks "because you were in almost all of the college level classes". 

And Noah with the final word "It's supposed to be a compliment, but anyway it's good to know Thomas and I are not the youngest anymore!" he has a huge grin on his face. 

They all seemed so nice, it made my smile falter a little and a small genuine smile replaced it. 

"Let us begin." 

 Fathers words brought me back to reality and the boys dug into the food like their lives depended on it. 

I waited until the boys and my father had taken food onto their plates before taking some myself. 
Just as I was about to take some rice, I felt someone squeeze my thigh.

I looked down to see it was my fathers hand, I raised my gaze to his and there was a sharp glare on his face. He never liked it when I ate. 

Throughout the whole dinner, my brothers and father made small talk and my fathers hand never left my thigh but it did sometimes reach higher. I had to force myself to keep the little food I did eat down. 

Noah, who sat next to me, noticed my fathers hand and saw my discomfort, but he didn't say anything. 
Thank god! 

After everyone finished, I cleaned up the table, washed the dishes and went upstairs to my room. 

Since I already showered this morning, I grab a wet cloth and wipe all the foundation off, then get dressed in my shorts and oversized t-shirt. 

Noah suddenly bursts into my room with the other six behind him. 
My fake smile automatically resurfaces, "Hey guys, do you need anything?" not really sure why they were here. 
Uhm..., Noah saw dear old dad sliding his hand up and down your thigh like a pet. Then I'm sure he told the others because there would be no other reason for them to be here... 

Alex starts yelling "Why is Noah telling us that he saw dad groping your thigh at dinner?" 
Wow OK, straight to the point. 
"You know that's assault, right? You should go to the police." Oliver continues. 

They all start yelling at how it's not right and ask me how I feel about it. Did I ask for their opinion on this situation that they know nothing about, or why are they talking? 

It was getting way too loud. "SHUT UP!" They all stopped talking. Fucking finally! 

"First of all you should be lucky that these walls are soundproof or you would be waking up half of the continent with your yelling, and secondly, you haven't been here for the past 14 years and you don't know how things go around here, I know what happened! So leave! Good night and good bye!" 

I push them out of my room and slam the door shut. 

What a long long day. 
I've seen longer. For example... by the north pole. It's daytime six months there... 

---

Noahs pov 

Did she really just slam the door in our face? 
I was just trying to help, I have always wanted a little sister. 

We stood in front of her room for a bit until Oliver broke the silence, "Get showered and get changed. Meeting in my room in 45 minutes." 

We all went to our rooms and showered. I then got dressed into grey sweats and a blue shirt that had the words 'fifteen whole years of being awesome' on it. 

I walked out of my room the same time as my brothers did and entered Oliver's room, but before I closed the door, I saw dad leaving Avery's room with a little grin on his face. 

Maybe he just said goodnight. 

--- 

Olivers pov 

"OK, first things first. How do all of you feel about... well everything that happened?" as the oldest, I find it my duty to comfort my brothers and with moms' sudden death, we all had some issues. 

"I miss mom..." Jake whispers and the others nod along with sad faces. 
Diego speaks next "The school is kinda nice, and it's cool that dad is the principal." 

"He seems nice too, except for the thigh touching thing" Alejandro adds. 
"It could be a normal thing, or?" Thomas asks, "It could be..." Alex answers. 

We talked the whole night and ended up sleeping all together in my room. 

----- 

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- Lilli