Who We Are

"Guys, come on, knock it off!" I demanded, my arms crossed over my chest as I watched Max and Ronnie chase my sisters around the living room.

The girls were screaming as they ran in circles around the couch, their hair flying out behind them. Ronnie and Max were grinning as they ran after the two of them. Octavia and Gianna were swept into the boys' arms as they finally caught up, obviously deciding that it was time to listen to me.

Max turned Gianna around in his arms and held her in the air by her ankles. The little girl was screaming and grabbing onto Max's legs for dear life as Ronnie spun Octavia in circles, the girl's arms wrapped around his neck so that she couldn't accidently be thrown from his grasp.

"Okay, okay," I muttered as I walked over and lifted Gianna so she wasn't upside down anymore. Max grinned at me and grabbed her around the waist.

Ronnie tossed Octavia onto the couch and laughed loudly as the girl screamed, not realizing that she was flying towards something cushioned instead of the floor.

Max set Gigi on her feet and she smiled widely. "Again, again!" she shouted, already starting to run around the couch.

I couldn't even protest before Ronnie had scooped her up in his arms and dropped her onto the couch next to Octavia. "Maybe later," he told her, "We've got some homework to do, okay?"

Gianna pouted and clambered off of the couch. She wrapped her arms around Ronnie's legs and shook her head. "One more time?" she asked, looking up to him with her large, blue eyes.

Ronnie groaned and covered his eyes with his hands. "Someone get her off of me before I give her all the money in my wallet and buy her a pony."

We laughed and I went and wrapped my arms around her waist. "Gianna," I chuckled, "Stop trying to hustle Ronnie."

Gianna's innocent pout was gone and replaced with one that told us she wasn't happy. "I want to keep playing," she stated, looking between Ronnie and Max.

"No," I said, pushing her towards the kitchen, "Go do your homework and then maybe they'll play with you before they leave."

Gianna whined and rolled her eyes, but she grabbed her backpack from the floor by the TV and headed towards one of the kitchen chairs anyways.

"You, too," I demanded, pointing at Octavia and then at Lisette who'd been sitting on the bottom step with Gwendolyn since the boys started riling them up.

Octavia hopped up from the couch and went to the kitchen, but Lisette crossed her arms over her chest. "Can't I hang out with you guys?" she asked, "I'm almost a teenager. I don't think I should be stuck with the little kids."

Gianna and Octavia glared at her from the table. I chuckled and shook my head. "Sorry, Lis," I muttered, "You're twelve. When you're the same age as me you can hang out with my friends."

Lisette nodded quickly and then yelled, "But I'll never be as old as you! You'll always be older than me!"

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders as Ronnie and Max laughed beside me. "Sorry," I stated, "Guess you're just going to have to do your homework for now."

Lisette grumbled and glared at me as she grabbed her backpack and went into the kitchen to start her homework like the other two.

Gwendolyn stood up and moved away from the stairs as I hopped up them, Ronnie and Max shoving each other behind me as they argued about something unimportant.

"Hey, Kat," Gwen called out to me when we were halfway up the stairs.

I stopped and turned around to face her, causing Ronnie to bump into me and Max to bump into him. Ronnie shoved the green-eyed boy in return and they were back to arguing quietly.

"Can I talk to you in a little while?" Gwen questioned when she knew I was looking at her.

"What for?" I asked suspiciously.

She shook her head. "We'll talk about it later, okay?"

"Okay," I said slowly, wondering what she wanted to tell me now. Ronnie, Max, and I continued back up the stairs and hooked a right into the bedroom that I shared with Gwen.

Max threw himself down onto my bed quickly and Ronnie rolled his eyes and yanked the boy into a sitting position by his shirt.

"Guys, calm down," I laughed, "You're acting all touchy." I sat down on Gwen's bed and leaned against the wall. Ronnie glared at Max and Max glared back at Ronnie.

"You didn't have to come," Max sneered, although he wasn't really angry.

"And you don't have to hang out with my girlfriend," Ronnie retorted, shoving Max's shoulder.

"Boys," I stated calmly, watching then with an amused expression.

"Sorry," they muttered simultaneously, only to glare at the other one when they realized it.

I chuckled and shook my head at them. Then I turned my attention to Max. "So, who's the girl?" I asked quickly, hoping I could surprise it out of him.

"Nobody," Max said quickly, shrugging his shoulders.

I rolled my eyes. "If she does finally say yes to you, Max, I'm going to figure out who she is anyways."

Max rolled his eyes. "But until then, I'd rather not mention her name."

Ronnie grinned. "He's embarrassed," he stated, somehow not sounding cocky or rude in the way he said it.

Max punched his shoulder anyways. "Man, you were embarrassed when we found out that you liked Kat."

"I was not," Ronnie said to me quickly, acting like I'd get embarrassed over the fact, too. "I was not," he repeated to Max, "I just didn't want you guys acting like assholes to her."

Max rolled his eyes. "When were we ever assholes to Kat?" he questioned, "Because you guys got together we hadn't talked to Kat since we were kids."

Ronnie grinned at the memories. "Back in the day," he laughed, shaking his head at the image of the three of us, "A lot has changed."

I smiled, too, remembering the boys as children. "Yeah," I agreed, reaching across the gap between the beds to touch Max's head. "Max isn't blonde anymore."

"I'm not nerdy anymore," he corrected, grinning.

"Still scrawny, though," Ronnie jabbed, laughing at Max's reply.

"Lanky, man," Max corrected, "Some girls definitely go for the lanky type."

"Not Kyra Keester," Ronnie retorted, causing me to grin and scream out.

"Kyra Keester?" I asked loudly, jumping onto my bed so that I was sitting in front of Max, "You like Kyra Keester?" Kyra was the captain of the girl's softball team. In the past she'd dated her male alter-ego, boys from the baseball team. If Ronnie hadn't let it slip, she would've been the last girl I'd imagined Max being into.

"Ronnie! Come on, man!" Max shouted, glaring at his best friend.

Ronnie held his hands up in defense. "Sorry, it was an accident!"

"Yeah, whatever," Max sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No, no," I said quickly, shaking my head. "I'm not going to say anything to anyone." I grabbed Max's arms and grinned. "I just could never imagine you and Kyra together."

Max frowned and crossed his arms even tighter. "Yeah, well neither can she."

"Aw, Max," I cooed, lurching forward to wrap my arms around his neck. He awkwardly pulled his hands from between us and wound them around my waist. I didn't have to look to my right to know that Ronnie was glaring at Max, I could tell by the way Max stiffened and patted my back awkwardly. "Stop it, Ronnie," I demanded, "I'm comforting Max."

Ronnie groaned beside me and leaned back against the wall. I hugged Max tighter and felt him chuckle against me as he hugged me back, obviously not caring that Ronnie didn't like it at all.

After another second I sat back on my legs so I could for the answers to the questions I had. "How'd you meet her?" I asked first, resting my hand on his knee comfortingly.

Max grumbled lightly but answered the question anyways. "I was hanging out back by the athletic fields and shit, and I pulled out a cigarette and all of a sudden this chick came running up on me, telling me that it was bad to smoke around athletes and that I was hurting her lung capacity by just being there."

I frowned. "And you thought the girl liked you?" I asked, wondering how he came to that conclusion.

"No, no," Max muttered, "It wasn't really rude. It was kind of like she was looking for an excuse to talk to me. She stood real close and tucked her hair out of her face and shit."

"She was flirting!" I exclaimed, glaring as Ronnie rolled his eyes at me.

"That took you awhile, Einstein," he joked, cooing as he caught my glare.

"Don't be a jerk," I demanded, crossing my arms, "I might be smart at school but I didn't even have to flirt with you to get you to notice me."

Max grinned. "If you would've punched him in the face he still would've thought you were the reason the sun rose in the mornings."

Ronnie scoffed and crossed his arms. "Shut up, Max."

"No, Max," I said with a smirk, "Go on. I'd like to hear more about what Ronnie thought of me."

Max smiled and Ronnie groaned and banged his head against the wall behind him. Max started to spill his secrets and the little things that the guys had picked up about him.

After about a half an hour of making fun of him, nonstop, Ronnie heaved himself up from my bed, turned towards me, pressed a kiss against my lips, and walked out of my room without even saying goodbye. Max and I laughed one last time, quietly, before we hopped up quickly and followed him out of the room.

But, we weren't expecting for him to pause at the bottom of the stairs as the front door opened and my dad walked through early, completely unaware, until now, that two boys had been in my room, in my bed, talking to me like we were old friends.