Unwritten Rules (Rules 1)

Fine, my cardio for the month.

“Kids, no running,” the familiar voice of my aunt warns in the distance. Kendrick doesn’t stop, purposefully ignoring his mother.

“Oh Lord. What is that?” He bursts out laughing, then rushes into the kitchen where the delicious smell of my aunt’s famous lasagna awaits us.

He stops in his tracks, raising his arm up so high it’s impossible for me to reach my phone. “You do realize wearing a foundation ten shades darker than your actual skin tone doesn’t fool us into thinking you have a tan?”

I wince.

Well, I sure wish fourteen-year-old me had known that.

“Kendrick Kingston, give me my phone back before I rip your eyes out,” I threaten, failing to sound even remotely credible.

“Give her the phone, brother,” Kassidy chuckles as she passes through the kitchen with nothing but a towel tightly wrapped around her body.

Dripping from the shower she just stepped out of, her blonde hair carelessly falls all the way to her lower back. She is a natural beauty. Ocean-blue eyes, tanned skin, blonde hair. While Kendrick breaks hearts, Kass desperately tries to keep hers intact. Needless to say, they got the good genes. Kass looks like the female version of her brother. I bet these two can’t even count how many times people asked them if they were twins. The fact that Maria had a thing for the letter K when it came to naming her children doesn’t exactly help.

“Kassidy, you’re dripping on the floor. What did I tell you about getting out of the shower?” Maria says.

I can’t help but smile at the complete madness that is my family. No matter how crazy they drive me, I think—no, scratch that, I know that I could never live without them. The simple fact that my aunt Maria welcomed me into her home while my mother and my step-father are on a work trip says it all. She’s a nurse and a divorced woman taking care of two kids, and still she took me in without hesitation. Sometimes I think she’s more of a mother to me than my own mother ever was.

I think back to one of the rare conversations I’ve had with someone besides my family since moving to Florida. Being the girl who “looked Haze Adams in the eyes” didn’t owe me a very good first impression to say the least—whatever that means.

“Why didn’t you just stay with your biological father while your mother is gone?” a girl in class asked.

“Can you live with someone you never met?” I answered.

“I’d like to annoy you longer, but I’ve got friends coming over.” Kendrick hands me my phone, a stupid mocking grin still plastered on his face.

“He has friends? Since when?” I tease him, my eyes jumping to Maria, who, to my great surprise, doesn’t follow me in my teasing Kendrick session like she usually does. Instead, she looks away, a stern expression on her face.

“Shut up. I have lots of friends.”

I’ve almost never seen Kendrick in school ever since it started. We don’t share classes, and our lockers are in completely different sections. I’m pretty grateful that he’s not around to annoy me during the day. I already get enough of him at home. Maybe having a school that’s way too big for the number of students has its perks after all.

“Did you pay people to hang out with him again? I thought we said we weren’t doing it anymore.” I try a joke, only to get the same reaction from my aunt. She doesn’t reply, distinct discouragement in her eyes.

“Don’t mind her. She hates my friends.” He shrugs.

“Why?” I lean against the kitchen table, crossing my arms against my chest.

“She thinks they’re bad influences.”

“Consider me intrigued.”

“There’s nothing to say, really. She believes the stupid rumors going around town.” I can tell Maria is biting her tongue in an effort to not talk back.

“When do I get to meet your so-called friends?”

He laughs.

“Oh, you might already know them. They’re the popular kids. You know, the people you never talk to?” Kendrick says, looking at his phone. “I have to go. Annoy you later.”

I consider asking Maria about Kendrick’s mysterious friends but decide against it. Now is not the time. One thing is certain: if my aunt who likes literally everyone doesn’t like them, she must have a good reason.

I tell Maria I’m going for a walk, and she answers to be safe, her mind wandering to an unknown place filled with secrets I wish I could unravel.

Today is such a beautiful day. I’m not going to waste it by staying inside. Plus, I do want to explore the city I’ll be calling home for the next couple of months. I look up the great places I could go today and find a park not far from Maria’s house. The walk to the park is a good twenty minutes, but I enjoy every second of it. With my earplugs deep in my ears and my worries drowned out by my favorite songs, I shove my hands into my pocket and let myself enjoy the heat of the sun on my face. What else could I ask for? I can’t help but smile thinking about my hometown where the snow is not even close to melting yet. I won’t miss it, that’s for sure.