Author's Note: This story is curently being edited and changed. I finished this story over three years ago and I'd like to think I've grown as an author, so I'm going to be working on this until I'm happy with it.

If you've read this before, I hope you like the revised chapters and if you're a new reader, I hope you enjoy the story anyway! The chapters marked with a * will be the chapters that are edited.

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Chapter one.

The house was quiet, which meant only one thing: there was bad news coming.

“Mitchie?” my dad called a few seconds after my bag hit the hallway floor. My plan to sneak in and up to my room was ruined, I knew he was going to ask me to either a) do something involving his girlfriend or b) babysit my step brother on my one night off. “Can we talk to you for a few minutes?”

Taking a deep breath, I headed towards the kitchen to see my dad and Daisy sitting on the stools, their hands clasped together. He was leaning on her for support while she held a victorious smile on her face, knowing she had won another round of Mitchie vs. Daisy. The kitchen looked like it had been through a tornado, the normally clean room had objects scattered around in pretty hazardous ways.

“What’s going on?” I asked, taking the seat in front of them after my father gestured to it.

“Honey,” my dad began slowly, his eyes flicking between his girlfriends and mine. He was a torn man, that was for sure. He often had to choose between her and myself. “Daisy and I are going away for a while. We wanted to travel when we were younger but kids stopped us and now that you’re old enough-”

“You want me to look after Josh?” I asked, astonished. “I know I can babysit him like a pro but while you’re on holiday? That’s ridiculous!”

Daisy snorted and shook her head. “Don’t be stupid. Of course, Josh will come with us. He wants to see the world as well. We need someone here to man the house.”

I stared at my dad, waiting for him to say something about her calling me stupid but when he said nothing, I rolled my eyes and straightened my spine. “So I’m forced to stay here while you take your children to other countries?”

“Are you saying you want to come with us?” My dad smiled at me. “I’m sure we can arrange-”

Daisy held her hand up and shook her head. “No. We can’t let her come with us.”

Even if I did want to go with them to travel, I wouldn’t cope with Daisy by my side for 24/7. Still, there was no need for her to be so blunt about her hatred of me being around and my dad being clueless didn’t help at all. “I don’t really fancy travelling with you,” I said before correcting myself, “with you guys, I mean. I want to finish school with the best grades to get out of this town.”

A hurt expression crossed my dad’s face before he nodded in understanding. “Okay, well. We want you to stay with the Johnson’s as much as you can but you will have your keys to come home when you want to pick things up or wash your clothes.”

The seconds ticked by as I thought over what he said. “Wait. You want me to stay with the Johnson’s?” I blinked madly at him, unsure whether I had heard him correctly. “I can’t stay with them, dad. She has too many boys! I need to have my space. I’ll be fine here on my own.”

Barely getting the last word out, my dad was already shaking his head. “No way am I letting you stay on your own, Mitchie. You can stay with them and you will be fine. It will only be for two weeks, tops.”

Pushing away from the table, I stalked out the room and up the stairs to my room. She wanted me out of the way, that much was clear. It was very clear from the start that she didn’t like having me around and was overly supportive of me leaving my home, my town, just so she could have her happy little family – dad, her and her son, Josh.

After settling down at my desk and staring at the picture board in front of me, I wondered whether I could actually go through with staying at the Johnson’s household. I would go mad if I had to stay there all the time, it wasn’t my home and I wouldn’t know how to act around that many people I hadn’t spent a lot of time with in the last few years. The two boys my age were miles away from my friendship circle currently, they were making a name for themselves and I wasn’t a part of their journey – now I was going to be forced into their lives.

“Mitchie?” Josh poked his head into the room and smiled softly at me. “Are you okay?”

Reaching forward, I tugged on his arm until he was in my room. I made sure the door was shut behind him before smiling down at my little brother. “I’m okay. Are you excited to go on holiday?”

Josh frowned instantly and sat on my bed. “No,” he mumbled, looking down at the floor. “I’m going to miss school and my friends. Mum said she’ll teach me in the evenings but I know she’ll be too busy with dad to do anything with me.”

My heart went out to him. Josh and his mum didn’t get along, they spent a lot of time apart but she still had it in her mind that they were a perfect family. It was difficult for her to see the frost over her eyes that she had a broken family, she preferred to live in her imagination; it softened the blow for her.

“I know you’ll have fun,” I said, opening my arms to him. “Josh, trust me. You will be having so much fun exploring and soaking in the sun. When you come back I’m going to be so jealous of your tanned skin.”

“Why aren’t you coming with us?” he asked, pouting. “It’ll be more fun if you came with us, Mitchie!”

Shaking my head, I rubbed his back until he sighed. “I can’t, Josh. You know that I’m trying hard to get the best grades I can so I can get into a good school.”

Josh tapped his fingers against the desk and looked around. “Lily won’t be the best person on the plane to sit with,” he grumbled. “Why can’t you just fit into my suitcase?”

Thinking of the bright blue suitcase that sat under Josh’s bed, I frowned and shook my head. “It’s a little bit small for me. You could fit Lily in there though,” I added, grinning easily. Our younger sister was still in her annoying toddler phase, all she wanted to do was touch everything and question all the objects she managed to get her sticky fingers on. “What’s happening to her ratty dog, anyway?”

At the mention of the dog (that Daisy hadn’t bothered to train) there was loud barking, followed by a cry. I got to my feet and followed Josh downstairs to a smoke filled kitchen. My eyes widened as I took in the scene in front of me. The kitchen was dangerous before, now it looked like it had caught on fire and had a hurricane rip through.

“What’s going on?” I shouted over the smoke alarm. It had started beeping loudly directly above my head and I had to cover my ears to stop the noise piercing my eardrums. “Dad!”

Hearing my voice, he turned and smiled impishly. “I wanted pancakes and we didn’t have those ready-made ones.”

Grabbing the washing up towel from the side, I hit the air until the smoke cleared around the alarm and it stopped screeching loudly. I stumbled over Pug and glared at the dog until it run into the living room, a waddling Lily following behind. Josh took the towel from me and continued my job while I grabbed the pan with burnt pancake batter in it and took it over to the sink.

“Dad,” I snapped, watching as the loveable idiot tried to open the fridge door around Josh. He looked at me in surprise and dropped the carton of milk on the floor. “Dad,” I groaned, pushing my fingers through my hair.

It was a blessing that they were going away, really.

***

With Lily waddling around in the garden, Pug tied to a leash and my dad sitting on the deckchair, I was able to clean up without someone getting in the way. Josh had been helpful but his foul mood wasn’t helping the situation so I sent him to the shop to get some more kitchen roll.

“What on earth have you done?” Daisy shouted, rounding the corner and staring at the half-clean kitchen. “This room was spotless before!”

The mop was clenched between my fingers as I stared at her. She was kidding, wasn’t she? She had to be. Otherwise, she was demented. She had been sitting in the middle of the room earlier and it was caked in mess, now that it resembled something cleaner, she thought it was messy?

“I have nothing to say to you,” I told her, giving her my back. “Dad is outside if you want someone’s life to ruin.”

The tension was thick. I was tempted to get a knife out and cut it but that would have given her more of a reason to get my dad to hate me, and leave me behind on their next trip that lasted indefinitely.

“I got the paper towels,” Josh said as he squeezed through the doorway. “There was no ready-made pancakes though, so he might attempt to make them again.”

My dad was a great man, he truly was. However, he was the world’s worst cook. I had inherited my skills from my mum, clearly. Sometimes he would tell me stories of the meals she would cook him and all he could give her in return was burnt toast or cereal.

“Can you get the door?” I asked Josh as I pulled the stools out of the way to clean under the table. “I’m sure it’ll be the mail or something, we haven’t got that today.”

Time ticked by as I scrubbed at the floor, trying to get up the stains but when they didn’t budge, I knelt down with a cloth and used elbow grease to get the marks moving. I smiled in satisfaction as I sat back and fanned myself, feeling like I could do with a dip in the sea to cool off. I tugged my jumper over my head and stood up.

“Mitchie!”

My arms were clamped against my sides as I was pulled into a tight hug. I flailed for a second before I got my bearings and looked up at the Johnson boy. I blinked at him a few times before staring open mouthed. Tony Johnson was hugging me. He was actually putting his arms around me and hugging me, voluntarily.

“Hello, Tony,” I said awkwardly. “Nice to see you, too.” I pried his arms off me and took a deep breath before it was forced out of me by another hug. “God!” I huffed when I looked at Robbie Johnson before smiling, unable to help myself. “Hold on a sec,” I told them as I gathered the paper towels and put them in the trash before straightening the stools.

“Pug!”

My foot slid out from under me as I felt the pug hit into my ankle, sending my toppling back into Tony’s arms. I looked up at him with a bashful smile on my face and bright red cheeks. He winked at me and let me get to my feet before letting go of me.

Lily grinned up at me before hugging her dog. Ushering her out of the room, I watched as the Johnson brothers sat around the table. I left her in the company of my dad and went back to the boys, wondering why they were here.

Seven boys, Phoebe’s – my godmother’s – boys. My second mother after my real one passed away a few years ago.

They all watched me, their eyes following me as I got out drinks from the fridge. “Miss us, Mitchie?”

“You bet,” I told Lance as I ruffled his hair. I took each boy in my arms and squeezed them tightly before I stopped in front of James – my best friend, Tony’s twin brother.

Both of us stared at each other for a moment before we laughed and I jumped into his arms, my legs winding around his waist. “Hey, Mitchie,” he whispered against my neck, squeezing me. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good,” I told him then pulled back and frowned. “Why didn’t you keep in touch while I was gone, Jamey?”

Faking a shudder, he said, “Please, not that name.”

With a giggle, I pulled him into a tight hug. He spun us around and kissed my cheek. James was my rock, and I missed him while I was away last year. Out of all of the boys, he was definitely the Johnson brother that I got along with the most.

My eyes found the other boys; Trent, the artist; Kurtis, the college student; Robbie, the body builder; Lance, the mood swinger; Billy, the brains. Tony was sat next to his youngest brother, his green eyes bright as he held my gaze, refusing to let go until I blinked.

“How was England then?” Kurtis asked, breaking the silence. Tony ripped his eyes away and looked back into the kitchen, acting as if he hadn’t been staring at me for the last few beats.

“England was good,” I told him, shrugging. “Much happen while I was gone?”

My dad had decided we needed to get some more culture in our lives. My mum was from England and he thought I needed to experience that, so we packed up and moved there for a year, which is where he met Daisy. We had barely been there two months and they were already inseparable. What had been an amazing idea and something I had been looking forward to for months, turned into the worst year of my life. I was happy to be home now, even though I missed England and all its wonders I had missed.

The Johnson boys looked around the room, trying to remember anything I would have missed. Trent clearly had the biggest news of all, by the grin on his face. “I proposed to Andy.”

Jumping into his arms, I said my congratulations. “I can’t believe you proposed! I love Andy,” I said, grinning. “She was so nice to me when I sprained my elbow two years ago.”

“Just think, Mitch,” Robbie said, winking at me, “one less Johnson to go after.”

Even though I laughed, I could feel my cheek warming up. The Johnson boys were beautiful – thanks to their mum and dad being good looking – which meant they had gained a following over the years they had been in school, each year the students waited to see the next brother and what he looked like. They looked the same, but each of them held tiny differences that made them even better looking in their own way. Green eyes in varying shades and light brown to blonde hair made girls weak at the knees.

“I guess so, but you know my heart belongs to James,” I joked, nudging my best friend, causing him to chuckle.

“My heart is for you, too, Mitchie.”

Even after a year apart, we still made jokes about us being together and in love with each other. We didn’t have feelings for each other; we were so close sometimes I wondered if I should replace Tony as James twin.

As we spoke about the last year and things I missed, I spotted Daisy walking into the room. She had changed out of the tight jeans and into a small skirt, her clothes for first impressions. She smiled sweetly at the boys as they turned to look at her – none of them smiled back. Even though we had all been out of sync with each other over the last year, they still knew what Daisy was like from the few messages we exchanged. It didn’t matter that this was my home before hers; she acted like I was dirt that needed to be removed.

“Sweetie, don’t do it here,” she said innocently, her eyes sweeping across the arm around my waist.

Tony choked on his laughter and the other boys stifled their chuckles. I stared at her and raised my eyebrow. “Oh, don’t’ worry. We’ll take it up to your bed instead. A nice present for you to come home to, don’t you think?”

“I shall tell your father what you just said to me!” she hissed, causing me to smile at her.

“I’m shivering in my boots,” I deadpanned. With a satisfied smile, I watched her stomp out of the room. It took a few seconds for my nerves to kick in and I leaned against James side, breathing out slowly. “She’s such a cow,” I grumbled to him, making him chuckle.

“So…” James said, looking down at me. “You’re coming to live with us for two weeks.”

As I looked around the room at the boys, I found my heart beating ten times fast in my chest. Two whole weeks with them, the only breaks being when I came home for my belongings. It was going to definitely be an interesting experience, that was for sure.

~

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!