You guys know the drill. I post an amazing, show-stopping, teeth-pulling, toe-grinding, hair-ragging, Oscar worthy, chalkboard-scratching, tear-building chapter and you guys praise me endlessly by commenting, which I read and cry, usually from laughter.

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Brynn walked alongside Ezra as he navigated them through the trees. Sort of alongside, really. She wasn't so much as lacking behind as she was trying to keep an appropriate distance between because they'd actually just had a conversation with no yelling and she didn't want to ruin whatever had just happened so she's doing everything in her power to not bug him.

And apparently, walking beside him was a way to do that, so she decided not to.

She wasn't so bold to start conversation. She didn't know what Ezra liked to talk about or if he would even answer to a conversation starter she made.

How did one even start conversation with Ezra? The only interest he had, which Brynn knew about, was boxing. But Brynn didn't know anything about boxing. Maybe she'd have to look it up sometime.

Surprisingly, Ezra started speaking first. "Yesterday," he began and his footsteps got slower until Brynn was actually within three feet away of his right side, "when I yelled at you."

They kept walking, side-by-side, but Ezra was the only one taking side glances downwards to Brynn, whose eyes remained on every step she took on the earthy ground. She was listening, though.

"I shouldn't have said," he began, moving his face, a little uncomfortable. "I shouldn't have said what I said." He looked down and then away, now re-entering the actual garden.

Brynn nodded, now not having a valid reason to look at her feet. She was walking on stable, straight ground now. Now she could feel the damp grass brush across her ankles, the feeling equivalent to the one of having a harsh winter breeze swipe past your cheek. She was listening, though.

"I shouldn't have told you to... you know," she answered, guiltily, after deciding that keeping her eyes on her feet wouldn't hurt.

Ezra didn't respond, and then they were at the bottom of the stone steps, where Brynn had started her evening. Ezra didn't stop walking, so Brynn didn't until they were both at the kitchen patio doors.

Brynn was the first to step in and Ezra after. However, Brynn was the only one who went to sit at the kitchen island, Ezra kept walking through the kitchen to the door.

Brayden stood next to the blender on the counter top, one glass of smoothie in his right hand with his eyes following Ezra's movement suspiciously until the man had left the room.

Once gone, Brayden looked back at Brynn, smiling. "Here you are, sweetheart," he placed the glass on the counter and slid it over, "freshly made, just for you."

Brynn lifted her right hand, in time to have the cool glass meet her fingertips. "Thank you."

Brayden turned to pick up his own identical glass, turning back. "Anytime, sorellina." He went to take a sip from his own, leading Brynn to look down at hers. She was promised no vegetables in it, like spinach, which Brayden disgustedly liked to have, and the colour of the drink was dark purple, which meant good fruits.

Her analysis was correct. It was a good smoothie.

She placed the glass back down onto the counter, licking her upper lip, as Brayden also placed his down.

The two didn't do anything else. Now it was awkwardly silent. It hadn't been awkwardly silent with Brayden for a while now.

Brynn stared at the marble counter, licking her upper lip again, but this time the sweet taste of smoothie wasn't picked up.

Then, the doorbell rang. Brayden jumped a little, looking up and Brynn's eyes shot up to catch his action. The man gave her a small smile, before rounding the counter and passing her to leave the kitchen, obviously to answer the door.

Brynn watched as he went out of sight, out through the kitchen doors, before she turned back around and reached for her laptop which was in the middle of the island.

She, first, tried to open it the wrong way, then she opened it correctly. The screen automatically turned on, displaying the maths site she was on when she was doing homework earlier. She opened a new tab, hovering her hands over the keyboard.

But she didn't have time to be hesitant, Brayden would only stay at the door, with whoever was there, for a certain amount of time. She made her fingers move and type out.

refeeding syndrome

She pressed the enter key, not exactly sure what to expect.

That was just the first thing she heard the doctor at the hospital tell Brayden when she came back into consciousness. Barely.

It was something which she knew was confirmed, but never told exactly what it was. And when she asked the nutritionist, it was explained to her like a toddler.

"It's nothing for you to worry about sweet-pea. Just that, right now, your body is trying to get rid of all the yucky food it's not used to having in you. But if we get you eating small, itty-bitty amounts each day, your body is going to be just fine, okay sweetie? How does that sound?"

Like she was a baby.

She wasn't a fucking baby.

There were so many results given. First in an appreciable box.

'... a metabolic disturbance'

'occurs as a result of reinstitution of nutrition in people'

'who are starved'

'severely malnourished'

'metabolically stressed because of severe illness.'

Brynn read the words, softly wording them out with no sound. Her eyebrows were scrunched together seriously as she scrolled down.

Fixed by... 'replacing electrolytes, usually intravenously.'

Symptoms... 'fatigue, weakness, confusion, difficulty breathing, high blood pressure..." Her breath felt heavier.

Lasts... 'may take 7-10 days to reach a goal rate.'

So... it's not a forever thing.

"Brynn!" Brayden called from outside the kitchen.

The girl jumped, her heart almost stopping as she shut the laptop and turned around to be met with no-one. Brayden was still in the foyer.

She breathed out loudly, turning back around and opening the laptop again to delete the search bar, then deleting the entire tab after that. The maths one was kept up.

Closing the laptop, she moved it back into the middle of the island in the exact same position it was in previously, ready to turn around before something was placed over her eyes.

Appropriately, she jumped and inhaled sharply. But before she could physically react, Brayden's voice resonating through the kitchen, "don't you dare scare the child."

The person blocking Brynn's vision huffed from behind, removing their-his- hands and spinning her seat around. It was Mika.

Even Derek and Jacob were by him. What were they doing here?

The question was evident on her face, causing to Jacob to grin, "don't look too excited to see us now, Bry."

Brynn un-furrowed her face and gave a smile, it was nice to see them. She just hadn't expected to see Mika or Jacob today, she hadn't seen them for a while. And she also hadn't expected her therapist to be with them either. Family friend.

They all looked so professional too, in their work clothes, except Derek, who was still in work clothes, but his work clothes were casual. The casualness of them always made Brynn feel like she wasn't in a professional environment. Maybe that's why he was such a good therapist.

"Hi," she finally greeted, looking at each one, who gave her sympathetic looks. She didn't linger on that for too long, nor did she linger on looking for too long. "We got you something," Mika stated, holding up a white gift bag. Brynn pulled a face, "you didn't-"

"We did," Derek intervened with the usual look he gave her when she lied to him. The look that made her give in. Maybe that was why he was such a good therapist.

And the therapist look was what had Brynn sat in the rounded chair in the living room, Derek, Mika and Jacob on the main couch and Brayden sat on the arm rest of the couch she was on. The gift bag was in her hands and three cups of coffee were made on the table.

She didn't understand why the television couldn't have been on in the background or something whilst she opened what was in the bag. What if she reacted wrong to it and everybody sees that?

At the top was soft, white tissue paper which she took off first, to reveal two objects. She took out the one balanced upwards, a white notebook. "Just something for you to have," Brynn smiled looking up at Derek, who kept looking from her to the gift.

"Only yours," he continued, glancing at Brayden then back at Brynn, who couldn't stop grinning. "Thank you. I love it." God, she'd always wanted her own notebook and this one was entirely hers.

"I'd hoped you would," Derek smiled, reaching forward to take the tissue paper that she still had in her hand, unsure what to do with it, and crumpling it up in his own.

Brynn rested the notebook on her lap and thanked him again. Derek smiled, gesturing for her to look into the bag again. The first object she touched when reaching in was the one she brought out next, it being the only object left anyway. A small grey velvet bag, tied with a white string.

She undid the string, letting the object inside slide out into her right palm. Two small silver rings.

One had a wavy design, just wavy and the other was plain silver, with small hearts imprinted on the inside. "The wavy one is from me," Mika stated, "the other one is from Jacob."

These were the first rings Brynn had ever owned. "Thank you, I love them loads. They're beautiful." Brayden moved the now empty gift bag from her lap. Mika and Jacob grinned.

Brayden brought his hand down to her right should, softly rubbing, "thank you, guys." Meanwhile, Brynn tried to rings, the wavy one on her right ring finger and the heart one on the left middle finger. She grinned looking down on them and then picked the notebook up with her newly-ringed hands.

"Thank you," she said to the three men, "you didn't have to."

Neither of them could say anything as another voice entered the room. "What's going on?"

Brynn grinned at Zach's arrival, just home from school, Zaiden and Silas trailing in behind him. Zach launched himself next to Brynn, taking a look at the things in her hand, then to the three men on the couch.

Zaiden lifted her right hand up, "what's this?"

Brynn couldn't stop grinning, "it's from Mika," she lifted her left on to show him too, "this is from Jacob," then she lifted the notebook up, "and this is from Derek."

She stopped grinning when Zaiden narrowed his eyes at the ring. He looked from the ring to the three guys, still with his narrowed eyes. Then he lowered her wrist, "nice."

He took a seat on the armrest on Derek's side, settling into the silence that was slowly rising. Brynn didn't want it to be silent. Especially not with so many people in the room around her.

"How was school?"

The question was more so aimed at Zach, next to her, because if she was just asking Zach, then she wouldn't be so nervous to start the conversation.

"Shit," Silas stated, coming further into the room, glancing down at the gifts on Brynn, narrowing his eyes, before taking a seat on the armrest by Jacob.

"Silas," Brayden scolded.

"Pretty boring, sorellina," Zach responded, "when did you guys come?" he targeted the question to the three men on the main couch.

"'Bout five minutes ago, wanted to come see Bry," Jacob answered, winking at Brynn who smiled.

Zach's face dropped to neutral, "Bry?"

"What are you doing here?" Ezra asked, coming into the room, surprising Brynn. She didn't know where he had went after their chat twenty minutes prior.

"Just seeing Brynn, why? Are we not welcome?" Mika raised an eyebrow towards the man. Said man shrugged, also taking note of the things Brynn now had on her.

"Where'd you get those from?" he grunted, nodding his head at the objects.

Brynn smiled at the men who gave her them, not really answering verbally, but hoping it would be enough. Ezra looked towards the men blankly.

It was going silent again.

Brynn needed to do something, anything. She didn't know whether to reach for the remote and put the tv on max volume, start another conversation, or leave the room.

And you would think with all the thinking, it would have led her somewhere. It led her to silence. The one thing she didn't want.

She even looked towards Derek, in hopes he'd help; he was good at that when they were alone. Derek was already looking at her with a look.

"So, Brynn, what have you done today?" he asked. Brynn exhaled softly.

First, her eyes trailed to Ezra for no longer than a split second. He had his eyes narrowed at her. She answered, "hung out with Brayden for a bit and did some homework."

"You were off school and you decided to do homework?" Jacob exaggerated.

Brynn shrugged, what she said did sound a bit sad.

Derek furrowed his eyebrows. "I think it's a brilliant use of a day off. Productive. I can't remember the last time I saw a Verlice be so conscientious about their school work," he spoke out.

Brynn felt her face heat up, when Brayden gave her shoulder another squeeze.

However, then it was back to silence. Again.

And only when Callan and Zayne came home and into the room, was conversation smoother. Zayne- standing behind the main couch- Mika, Jacob and Derek spoke well with each other and Callan had taken a seat on the single arm chair opposite Brynn's chair, leaning on his knees with his elbows.

Zach chatted to Brynn and Brayden for the most part, but sometimes the whole room would be included into a conversation and Brynn never felt completely able to breathe when that happened.

It was always Derek that did it, too. Starting the conversation with Brynn, automatically grasping the attention of the room so that they could listen in.

"How is English going?"

Brynn nodded, "it's going well, thank you."

The brothers' eyes went back and forth between the two.

"How did your English test last week go?" Derek asked.

Brynn's face tinted a little pink, he remembered. "Well, actually. I lost two marks on-"

"Wait, English test?" Zach interrupted.

"You never told me about an English test, hun," Callan also intervened, sounding a little dejected.

"You didn't tell me either," Brayden said.

"Why would you tell Derek and not u-," Zaiden cleared his throat and Zayne spoke straight after.

"Yes, why didn't you inform us, Brynn?"

Brynn gulped, she hadn't heard his monotonous voice in a while. She shrugged, looking from each face. They were acting odd.

Most of their eyes went from her to Derek on the couch, back to her, then to Derek, who sipped from his coffee.

Eventually Callan cleared his throat, "right then. I'll just refill the drinks." He stood up, taking the two empty mugs from the table and leaving the silent room. Just as he left, Brynn's phone buzzed, a message from Penny showing up.

How are you feeling?

Are u coming into school tomorrow?

Which reminded Brynn of something she needed to ask.

Standing up, she followed Callan's direction into the kitchen.

The man was placing the two mugs on the counter by the kettle as she voiced, "Cal?"

Callan jumped a little, not prepared for the small voice in the silent room. He turned around to Brynn, face softening, "yeah, hun?"

She thought of changing the topic before even asking what she wanted. Maybe she could just ask for a glass of water?

No. No, not that. Just spit out what you want to ask. Her hands linked behind her back, furiously rubbing all the flesh it could.

"I was wondering when I could go back to school?" her right thumb and forefinger pinched the skin atop her left hand.

Callan furrowed his eyebrows. "You want to go back?"

"I just want to see my friends, if that's okay. But I don't have to," she added the end on last minute because maybe it was a stupid thing to ask of Callan.

"No, that's okay, Brynn. I'll check with Zayne, but you're still recovering remember? It's going to take some time," he walked around the island to stand in front of her, crouching down. "But if that's what you really want, then I'll see what I can do. Maybe Friday or something."

"Thank you."

"Of course, sorellina."

The oldest stared at her face for a few seconds. He inhaled, then re-looked over her face, before his hands came up to play with the strings of the sweatshirt she was wearing.

"Why didn't you tell me about your English test?"

Brynn stopped playing with her hands. "What?"

"Your test, why wouldn't you tell me?" Callan muttered.

"It's not exactly interesting, is it?"

"I am interested, Brynn. We all are."

Brynn could have stopped him right there. She couldn't even fathom trying to start a casual conversation with Zayne or something about a simple test she had.

She nodded.

"Words, Brynn."

"Okay."

The smoothie she had from before still sat on the counter. "I'll just go back in." Callan nodded, letting go of the strings and standing. He watched his sister go over to the counter, collecting her own glass and taking seven seconds to decide whether she should bring the rest of Brayden's in for him.

She decided to, handing it to a confused Brayden when she re-entered the living room. When realisation crossed his features, he softened, taking the glass and keeping her close to him.

Yes, they were acting very odd.

Even odder when the time for Derek to leave came. Mika, Jacob were told by Zayne to do something work related on the third floor, but Derek had to go back to his office.

When Derek rose to leave, Brynn followed to say goodbye, as did everyone else in the room.

At the front door, Derek opened it, then spun around to Brynn, who was ready to stand in the doorway to wave until he went out of view.

Derek coming over was nice, especially with Mika and Jacob. They were all really nice. Family. It's been a while since she felt like that about men who weren't related to her. It felt nice.

The therapist walked towards the girl. Bringing both arms around her, he placed one over her shoulders and the other holding her head close.

Brynn froze. They've never actually touched before and now he was hugging her.

Slowly, her arms came up to around his torso, like she would when hugging Callan or Brayden or Zach.

She felt a little uncomfortable, not with Derek, but with the fact that this was happening in front of all her brothers. All. And they were really quiet.

Dwelling on that didn't last as long seeing as Derek leaned down to her right. "I am so proud of you," he whispered so just she could hear.

Brynn whipped her head to the right to face him, blushing. What had she done? He was proud of her?

The inside of her mouth was chewed unsurely, as he smiled reassuringly. Then she relaxed her head back down into him. Thank you.

Their moment lasted seven seconds, clear agitated-ness in the background unfelt by either of them, well, the girl at least.

Then Zayne cleared his throat.

Brynn internally flinched at the hand suddenly coming down onto her left shoulder and tugging her back. She narrowed her eyes confusedly as she was pushed backwards into Callan by Silas.

Callan kept a strong of her as Brayden and Zayne were busied with saying their own goodbyes to Derek, who had a faint knowing smile.

Brynn looked upwards to the rest of them. They had their jaws tight, including Callan who was holding her. What was up with them?

They were being really odd.

---

Crippling pains rendered along Brynn's abdomen during English on Friday. Like, excruciating pains. Bad pains.

She scrunched her face up without realising, her right hand dropping the pen she was writing with, and going down to hold the pained area along with her left hand. Penny caught the action, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Are you okay?" she whispered as Brynn's face contorted to borderline uncomfortable. Brynn looked in her direction, "I think I'm going throw up." She raised her right hand, cringing at the moment.

Penny looked concerned, looking over to where Mr Laurier was- helping someone on the front desk. The second Brynn raised her hand and the student got on with their work, his attention transferred to her. His face furrowed much like Penny's did.

"Yes, Brynn?"

"Can I go to the toilet, please?" she asked, trying not to sound too strained. Mr Laurier nodded after two seconds and the millisecond his head made a movement, Brynn started standing.

When she actually got out of the classroom, she used her left hand to guide herself along the hallway walls. Her fingertips never left the sturdy surface, until they met the edge of the toilets door frame.

Entering the toilets, she went straight to the one at the end, locking it behind her. She didn't kneel over the toilet though like she expected she would do. She, strangely, didn't have the urge to.

And she wasn't sure if that was good or not because she was the one who asked to go back to school sooner, so if she was already throwing up then that wasn't good. But did it also mean she was getting better? Properly better?

She sighing, sitting down. She was already there.

Then she looked down.

---

"You got your period?" Aubrey whisper-yelled to Brynn, who stood in front of the toilet.

Aubrey stood in front of her to her left and Penny to her right. The distraught girl didn't know who else to call.

Brynn nodded, wrapping her arms around herself, nervously. She knew what it was, they had a small health class in year seven on what periods were, but a quick half-an-hour talk couldn't have possibly prepared her for this.

She shifted foot to foot, her nervousness not ceasing, whilst Penny started asking questions.

"Have you ever had it before?" Brynn shook her head.

Penny looked to Aubrey, "have you?" Aubrey shook her head and gave Brynn a sympathetic look, "no, sorry, Brynn."

Brynn shook her head as a way of telling her it wasn't her fault. Aubrey turned to Penny, "don't you have anything?" Penny shook her head, helplessly.

Aubrey pulled a face, "you haven't got your period, yet?"

"No."

"So the attitude's just there?"

Brynn snorted, momentarily forgetting the predicament she was in, before Penny snapped her back into it after glaring viciously at Aubrey. "What are you using right now?"

"Just some toilet paper."

"Okay, that should be good for now. Can you ask somebody at home-"

Brynn looked at her like she was insane.

Penny trailed off, trying to morph her mouth into saying another sentence, but couldn't think of anything.

"What about the nurse? Doesn't she have any pads you can use?" Aubrey suggested, causing Penny to nod along.

Brynn bit her lip, thinking about it. It was that or asking one of her brothers and that was most definitely not on the table.

Slowly, she nodded, it was better than nothing.

"Yeah, okay."

Aubrey unlocked the cubicle door first, peering out to check if anyone was there before saying that the coast was clear. The three girls made their way out, Aubrey peeking out of the main door and checking if the coast was clear once again.

Brynn had never actually been to the nurses office before, she'd hardly ever been to the second floor of the school. That was usually where the older years' lessons were.

And just the mere fact that older years' were on the level they were currently on was enough to keep Brynn on edge, as well as her two friends who didn't show it as much.

Everytime they passed a classroom, the trio sped up and then slowed back down when out of view from the people inside. From the stairs, the directions to the nurses' office was straight ahead, left, sharp right, then straight ahead until they came to the very end where double doors were. Above those doors was a simple sign reading, 'First-Aid', which Brynn thought was a little dramatic for the situation they were there for.

They entered. It was a relatively large room, chairs littered alongside the beige walls and some chairs had walls between them for privacy. At the very end was the nurse, herself. She had a few desks surrounding the area with a computer and paperwork on them and on the wall behind was a large shelf filled with at least ten blue boxes, all with different labels on them.

The girls stopped after walking approximately three steps in, shimmying themselves to be hidden behind one of the walls.

Brynn kept her arms around herself, not sure if this was such a good idea anymore. She looked around anxiously, the movement not going unnoticed by her friends. Aubrey whispered so the nurse wouldn't hear them, "do you want me to get one for you, Brynn?"

"Please," Brynn responded, feeling so grateful, "sorry, I just don't-"

"It's fine, I get it," Aubrey smiled. She stepped out from behind the wall, no hesitance in her steps as she made her way to the end, where the nurse was.

Penny and Brynn watched, keeping their heads slightly behind the wall, but not at the same time.

Aubrey stood in front of the nurses' desk, "excuse me, miss?" Aubrey could be so respectful when it came to talking to teachers, it never failed to amaze Brynn and Penny.

The nurse looked up from her computer with a smile, wrinkles around eyes creasing. She looked just like a normal teacher, nice clothes and brown hair tied back into a ponytail. "What can I do for you, dear?"

Aubrey smiled back, keeping her voice levelled, "hi, I was just wondering if you had any," her voice went quieter, "pads," it rose back up, "please?"

The woman didn't look phased, keeping her smile. "Of course," she stood up, going to the large shelves behind. Reaching up to the fourth row, on the far right, she pulled out one of the blue boxes then turned around to place it on her desk in front of Aubrey.

"Take however many you need," the nurse said, sitting back in her seat and continuing her computer work. Aubrey looked into the box, biting her lip, before she eventually reached in to grab one. She grabbed another one, just incase. She thought three would be pushing it.

The girl stepped back, "thank you, miss."

"No worries, dear," the woman looked up from her computer, smiled, then went back to typing.

Aubrey turned to go back to the other two. Once she was hidden similarly to them, she held the pads out to Brynn, "here you go, I got you two just in case."

"Thank you so much."

"It says here that they need to be changed every three to four hours," Penny read from her phone. "Do you think you'll be okay getting more or should we-"

"No, that's alright, thank you. I'll figure something out." She had no idea what she was going to do.

"Thank you," she thanked Aubrey, once again. Aubrey smiled, "no problem."

---

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