"What the hell happened to your face?"

He turned his head to the side shielding his face from me. He rubbed at his eyes, they turned more red than before.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You want to tell me what happened?" He stared at me for a moment and hesitantly nodded.

Liam's car pulled out of the school parking lot as soon as I stepped out. I waved a pitiful goodbye when he was still in view, doubting he could still see me.

"Aww, is Hayden sad that big bubba is leaving?" Dylan mocked, pushing me into the street.

My school life was shit if I was being honest. All of middle school I was picked on for not having a mom. At first, people mocked me, they made fun of my every move but when that wasn't enough for them, they began physical violence.

Dylan, Giovanni, Cai, and Fallon were the regulars. They were well-known around school, not likeable but well-known. Nobody had the balls to tell them they were the most hated people in the school because they could make your reputation plummet to the ground- not that I cared at this point.

My brothers don't know about my bullying, I didn't want to burden them with my minor issues if I could just deal with it. I'm surprised they haven't found out about it, I was never the best at hiding it. They were never very observant and neither was dad. Sometimes it felt like I was always forgotten until Rayland came along; she made me feel a bit better.

"Hayden, I'm talking to you." Cai screamed. I resisted the urge to wipe his saliva off my face.

"Come on, be nice. He's probably thinking about his mom." Fallon laughed. I got up and headed to the main entrance of the middle school.

"Not so fast buddy." Dylan pulled the hood of my jacket, cutting off any air circulation. I landed on my butt when the three of them started laughing at me. Giovanni watched with sympathy.

Giovanni was the shyest of the group. He's not a mean person but he never stopped the bullying, he just watched as kids got picked on everyday, following behind the crowd. Coward.

Punches started flying toward my face before I could block them. Eventually, I laid there and let it happen.

You're pathetic.

I know.

"Are you okay bub? You look tired."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a late night." I laughed, it wasn't genuine though.

"Come on." Liam ushered me out of the car. I went to my room and lay in my bed, contemplating on whether or not to talk to someone. It gets boring when you only have your thoughts to occupy yourself.

I decided I would go to Rayland's room because it was the closest. Fallon stomped on my knee, I was in pain all day.

I jumped on top of her bed despite the pain.

"Hey, bud. How was school today?" I froze at the question.

"It was good. Wait, let me show you what I got on my test." I tried to change the subject. I ran out of the room but before I made it out the door, my knee gave out. I was ready to face the impact until I felt someone catch me

"Woah, are you okay?" She looked at me concerned. This question was enough to make me sob into her lap. After a few minutes, I lift my head up to look up at her. She shot a soft smile at me but her face slowly formed into a mad expression. I thought her anger was directed towards me but I realized she was staring at my check.

"What the hell happened to your face?" She asked sternly at me. I turned my face away wiping my teary eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You want to tell me what happened?" I trusted her but it was sad. It was sad I trusted her more than my own biological brothers.

I told her everything, my eyes puffy and my cheeks drenched in tears. She listened to my whole story and by the end of it, she was cradling me in her arms, whispering sweet nothings in my ear.

"Thank you for listening."

"Anytime, shorty." She smiled softly at me. I laughed at the nickname. We sat in comfortable silence before I broke it.

"Can you please promise you won't tell our brothers? It's not that I don't want them to know, it's just- I don't want to burden them." She looked at me with confusion, her dark eyebrows furrowed and eyelids slightly squinted.

"What are you talking about, Hay? Your brothers would do everything for you. Don't think you're a burden because they love you so much. If something was bothering one of them, would you want them to tell?" She spoke sincerely.

"Yeah, I don't want them to keep anything from me." She raised her right eyebrow and I realized the point. "Okay fine, you're right. I'll tell them eventually." I sighed.

"Pinky promise." She stuck her pinky finger out at me, shooting me a sincere smile. I laughed and held my pinky out.

"Promise."

Over the course of two weeks of living in the Brown house, Rayland has grown the closest to Hayden. She felt this protective aura over him, blood or not.

When Hayden told her he was being bullied, she was fuming. She didn't want Hayden to think she was mad at him, she kept her anger concealed for the sake of Hayden. How oblivious were these brothers to realize their youngest brother was being bullied for years? All she knows is that those boys are going to regret messing with Hayden.

-

"Is that them?" Rayland seethed, pointing to a group of preteens at Hayden's school.

She wanted to teach them a lesson for bullying the youngest Brown. She skipped school and took a short walk to 'Mountain Hills Middle School' across the street. It was a small price to pay for a big change. If this was going to stop her youngest step-brother's bullying, she would take lectures any day.

"Yeah," Hayden shrunk. He always wanted to fight back against his bullies but he was far too weak to even leave a scratch. Others fighting his battles wasn't his first option but what other choice did he have? "Are you sure you want to do this. We can always turn-" Hayden felt bad for pulling his stepsister into his mess. He didn't doubt her strength but he knew these boys knew how to hit hard.

"Hayden, I'm saying this as nice as possible. Please, shut up. I'll be fine, okay bud?" She interrupted.

"Promise?" He used his puppy dog eyes on her, they always worked on his brothers.

"Promise." She connected their pinkies with a sweet smile on her face.

"Aww, isn't that cute. You got a little girlfriend? Wait until she finds out how much of a loser you are." A voice yelled from the courtyard.

Hayden cowered behind the girl that was at least three inches taller than him. Rayland glared at the boy, her hazel eyes dramatically darken with her fists clenched at her side. Dylan's facade slightly broke at the girl's demeanor but he quickly recovered.

"You're even hiding behind her." All the boys pointed and laughed.

"Haha, hilarious," Rayland clapped sarcastically. "Now tell me why you're picking on my brother." Everybody was shocked by the words that came out of her mouth, including Rayland and Hayden.

Rayland looked over at Hayden, nervous about his reaction. She was surprised when his lips twitched upwards, pummeling her with a hug.

"Sister, I knew your Mom was a whore." This comment wiped the smile off Hayden's face.

Rayland walked up to Dylan with a sick smirk on her face.

"Care to repeat that?" She dangerously whispered in his ear. Dylan paled but repeated the phrase.

"I said, I knew your Mom was a wh-." His sentence was cut off with a strong punch to his jaw. Dylan stumbled backwards, holding the right side of his jaw.

"You don't know who you just messed with." Another boy stepped up, spraying saliva everywhere.

"Say it, don't spray it." She muttered, wiping the spit off her face. Fallon raised a hand to punch her but she caught it with her right hand.

"I. Dare. You." She glared. Fallon pulled his hand out of her strong grip. Before you knew it, a big fight broke out between the three boys and the girl.

Eventually, things calmed down and the administrators broke it up. Rayland sat next to her younger stepbrother in his school's office.

"Now what are we gonna tell your brothers?"

Blake Brown was the first brother to notice his step-sister's disappearance in homeroom. He thought it would be a great idea to try and get her in trouble for skipping. He would've if he wasn't interrupted by his older brothers.

"Yo, did you see the video?" Jaylen practically sprinted to his brother, ignoring the weird stares in the cafeteria.

"What video?" Blake curiously looked at the youngest triplet.

Jaylen handed over the phone to his brother, displaying a video of Rayland punching a kid about an inch shorter than her, followed by a kick to the head leaving the boy unconscious.

"What the hell?" Blake muttered. "Where even is that?"

"I don't know. All I know that she is going to be in a shit load of trouble with Dad." He smirked. "The last time I skipped school for a fight, I didn't see the light of day for a month." He shuddered.

The day continued as normal and by now, everybody had seen the viral video.

"Rayland, this is the second time. You better have a good explanation."

"It's not my story to tell." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Fine then. You're grounded." Paul told her. Rayland glared at him, he had no authority to tell her what to do, nobody did.

"Who are you to ground me? You're not even my real dad." She said without thinking, not even realizing the words had stung Paul's heart.

Of course he knew he wasn't her biological father and he wasn't trying to replace him. All he wanted was to become a father figure for the young girl, someone who she could talk to when feeling upset, someone he could spoil, someone he could protect.

"You're right, I'm not." He walked out of the room, striding to the kitchen. Rayland felt guilty for what she said, her heart panged with guilt.

"Wait." She called out, running after him. He turned around midstep, trying to look unfazed by her prior comment.

"Look, I'm sorry," She sighed out. "DNA doesn't make someone a real father; a real father is someone who loves and cares for his children. A father can be the most impactful person in your life, a father can shape your personality, positively or negatively. A father figure is someone that everybody wants but not everybody needs. A father is someone you can look up to. I can tell your sons look up to you and," She looked him in the eye. "I do too."

Paul nearly had tears in his eyes. He loved his boys to pieces but he secretly always wanted a daughter.

"Can I... hug you?" He nervously laughed.

She wrapped her arms around him. "You don't have to ask." Her 5'5 height only came up to his chest.

"What the hell?" The front door opened revealing an angry group of teens.

"When I skipped school, I got grounded but when she does it, she gets a fucking hug. I haven't got a hug from you since Mom died." Jaylen said on the verge of tears.

"Yeah, why the hell is this bitch getting a hug?" Jayden gritted.

"Watch your language, son."

"And you're still not getting the point," Jaylen bitterly laughed. "Whatever, I'm out of here." He stomped up the stairs, seconds later a door loudly slammed. The rest of the brothers quickly followed.

"I'm sorry about that." Paul sighed.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." She crossed her arms, he raised an eyebrow at her, ushering her to continue. "When was the last time you comforted any of them?" She asked. Paul was confused on why she wasn't mad at them.

"I- it was- uh." Paul stuttered. She shook her head disappointed.

"They're the ones that need a real father right now." She walked away.

"They're the ones that need a real father right now."

Her words replayed over and over in my head.

The last time I consoled my sons was at my deceased wife's funeral.

'In loving memory of Francesca Brown'

I watched as my wife's coffin was slowly lowered into the ground. My eleven-year old triplets were holding each other tightly, almost as if they let go, they would disappear. My two youngest sons were holding hands, silent tears running down both their faces. My oldest son was holding my second youngest, rubbing circles on his back letting him sob into his chest while tears were also running down in his face.

I called all my boys over and we stood, crying and comforting each other, promising we would never leave. And I broke that promise.

I didn't physically leave but my soul did. I was never the same after that, no one really was. Micheal barely showed any emotions. After he graduated high school, he started working at my company, barely home enough to spend time with his family.

Liam took on the motherly role of the household; he cooked, cleaned, and took care of everyone around him. Without him, the household would fall apart more than it already is.

The triplets went their separate ways for the most part. Jayden and Jaylen are inseparable while they drifted apart with Jaxon. Jaylen was a ray of sunshine, always laughing and smiling, and trying to make people happy. Jayden closed himself off from the rest of us, I haven't seen him smile since. Jaxon turned down a dark road when he turned fourteen. Drinking, drugs, sneaking out, and- I don't think I can say the rest, it's too painful.

Blake suffered the worst after the loss, he became mute for a few years before he started talking again when he was twelve. He still didn't talk much and never trusted anyone again. I had a feeling there was another reason he never trusted again but we were never close enough to tell me.

Hayden didn't change much, he was still his adorable, bubbly self. He was the only thing keeping us sane at the time. He was always bouncing around, trying to cheer people up.

I kept myself occupied with work and the company, it was the only thing that kept my mind off of Francesca. I didn't realize how selfish I was being until today. I wasn't the only one that lost someone dearest to them, I neglected their feelings and put mine before theirs.

I'm a pathetic excuse of a father.

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2591 Words

Any thoughts?

Chapter's kinda cringe.

What do you guys think of Paul so far?

Also, I will officially be updating every Thursday.