"The biggest lies are those that you tell yourself"

Song- Burning pile; Mother Mother

After dropping everyone at home Cam parks his truck in our driveway. Moms cars not there meaning she's probably still at work. I hop out of the front seat where I was smooshed between Theo and Cam.

We walk into the front door where I hear the Grayson and Connor shouting. I walk into the kitchen when I see them in the back yard throwing mud at each other.

I step out of the screen door with my arms crossed and a stern look. "What do you boys think you're doing?"

They both turn to me with wide eyes dropping the mud and placing guilty smiles on their faces. I see the water hose turned off in the middle of the yard where the mud puddle was.

"Marlee-" Grayson starts to say but I cut him off.

"What did I tell you about having mud fights without me?!" I quickly scoop up 2 balls of mud and throw it at both of the boys. Immediately it's a war zone.

I'm covered head to toe in mud when I hear 2 more pairs of footsteps.

"Ooo a mud fight!" Theo exclaims joining out war. Grayson and I throw mud balls at Connor and Theo. I turn to see Cameron watching, leaning against the side of the house.

His dark brown hair is shining in the setting sun. His eyes have a amused glint in them as he watches us. I walk over to him, wiping mud out of my eyes. "You going to join?"

"Nah, I'm fine watching" He waves me off.

"Come on Cam, don't be a party pooper!" I scold shaking my head.

"Party pooper?" He laughs "what are you? 3?"

"Actually 4" I deadpan. "But that's besides the point. Don't be boring." I complain. "You used to love mudfights"

I can remember countless times we've had mud fights in this very backyard.

"I have a date with Serena later, she hates when I'm all muddy" He explains. I sigh turning away when Theo walks up and hands me a ball of mud motioning to Cam. I smirk spinning around and plopping it on his head.

"Whoops, my hand slipped" I giggle. He slowly pushes himself off of the wall and makes his way towards me. I back up, not taking my eyes off him.

"You're so dead!" He exclaims before breaking out in a sprint. I squeal turning around and running behind Grayson who is no help and moves out of the way.

Little brat.

I quickly grab more mud and blindly throw it at him. All of my shots miss while his land perfectly at me. Stupid Cameron and his stupid baseball skills.

Theo and Cam go against Connor, Grayson and I. We laugh and scream and giggle for hours. At one point Cam chased me all the way to the wall. I pinned my back against the brick while he approached me with a wicked grin.

He had a large ball of mud in his hand. My eyes widened trying to plan my escape route. "Cam, don't"

"Might I say, mud is a lovely color on you." He winks right before plopping the mud on my head. He laughs so hard holding his sides. Mud drips from my head and I look to him with a harsh glare.

"I'm gonna kill you" I mutter before lunging at him. He stands up and I hop on his back before he can start running. We wrestle for a minute before deciding on a truce.

I stay on his back and we sneak up behind the other boys and throwing mud onto their heads. Soon the fight turned to them 3 against Cam and I. Luckily we had the upper hand.

Quiet literally, I was 3 feet taller than all of them on Cams back.

"What is going on here?"

We all freeze and turn to see my mom standing inside the open sliding door. A hand was propped on her hip and she shook her head at us. Ella sat on her other hip babbling adorably.

"Uh- mud fight" Theo says scratching his neck.

"I thought you guys outgrew them" Mom shakes her head disapprovingly.

"Sorry Charlotte" Cam gives her one of his classic grins. She chuckles and rolls her eyes shifting Ella.

"Just get cleaned up, I have a shift and you kiddos need to watch Ella until Dave and Sara get off of work." She explains before going back inside.

On top of being a teacher, Sara also works part time at a nursing home. We hose off and head inside the house. I run down the hall and straight to the shower so I can get all the hot water before it's gone.

I turn on the water before stripping out of my clothes and turning on my music. I step into the shower letting the warm water relax my muscles before shampooing my hair.

After I'm done with my shower I step out wrapping a towel around my body and my hair. I toss my clothes into the laundry basket before opening the door and heading into my room.

I throw on a large oversized t-shirt that runs to my mid thigh along with a with a small pair of shorts. I brush out my damp hair which immediately waves back up before hearing my name being called.

"Marlee! Help!"

I roll my eyes and walk out of my room to the living room where I see Connor holding Ella, who's crying and screaming, at arms length. All the other boys look distressed.

"What did you do to her?" I question walking over and scooping her into my arms. Her crying dies down to sniffles as I rock her slowly.

"She wouldn't stop crying" Theo explained plopping onto the couch exhausted.

"We tried everything" Cam adds doing the same as Theo.

"Nothing worked" Connor agrees.

"You guys are her brothers" I mention shaking my head and sitting on the couch.

"Doesn't mean she likes us" Cam huffs crossing his arms over her chest.

"She just likes you" Grayson grabs the tv remote and turns it on. I smile down at her pinching her cheek lightly.

"That's because she has taste." I reply holding her up so she could stand. She bounces her legs looking around.

"Yeah, bad taste" Theo snorts. I reach over and hit the back of his head harshly. Ella laughs even harder pointing at Theo.

"That's my girl" I mutter holding her fist up with one hand and fist bumping it with the other.

"We're home" I hear Dave's voice and the squeak of a door but I'm too tired to open my eyes. I'm curls up on the couch with sleeping Ella on my chest.

"Awe, look at them" Sara coos. I feel an arm around my shoulder leading me to open my eyes. I angle my head up to see Cam sleeping above me.

I try to sit up when I feel Cams strong grip hold me down. I slap his chest, using my other arm to hold sleeping Ella still. "Wake up dumbass"

We all decided to watch the avengers. Halfway through the movies Connor, Grayson and Theo went to Graysons room to play a new video game. Cam and I stayed with Ella to finish the movie.

I guess we ended up falling asleep because that's the last thing I remember. Cams eyes open and he looks at me with tired eyes.

"5 more minutes" He buries his head into my hair and holds me tighter.

"Get. Up." I seethe. My serious tone causes him to groan and let go. I sit up stretching my legs and smiling at Dave and Sara. "How was work?"

"Same as always, a pain in my-" Dave starts to say but Sara shoved him. "Sorry"

I chuckle handing Sara Ella who rustles for a second before settling in her moms arms. I yawn looking out the window to see it's dark out. "Hey losers! Dave and Sara are here!"

I hear the boys get up and storm down the hallways. "Hey mom" Connor smiles. Theo chuckles and points to Cam who's snuggled up with a pillow.

I'm so glad they didn't catch us earlier. I would never hear the end of it.

Grayson grabs his phone and snaps pictures of Cam making sure to catch the drool dripping down his face. I walk over and smack him on the head with a pillow.

He sits up wiping his face and rubbing his eyes. "What happened?"

"It's time to go sweetie" Sara tells him. Handing Ella, who woke up, to Dave. "Is your mom working again tonight?"

"Yeah" Theo says as I send them a tight lipped smile.

"You guys want to stay at our house again?" Dave asks. I wrap an arm around Grayson who leans his head on my shoulder.

"No, we'll be fine." I tell them. They sigh looking at each other.

When we were younger we spent most nights at their house so we weren't alone. Now that we older we still spend a lot of time over there but can take care of ourselves.

They all leaving and my siblings each go to their rooms. I lock all the doors and double check to make sure their locked before heading to my own room. I go to my vanity throwing my hair into a messy bun and grabbing a canvas.

On my floor I lay out all my paints and start painting. I only stop when I can barley hold my eyes open. I quickly clean up my room and turn on my fan to cool the hot Georgia weather.

I leave my room and cross the hall to see Grayson doing homework. He's always been the smart on of the family, sometimes I need his help with my work.

"Homework on the first day?" I ask sitting on the edge of his bed.

"It's extra credit" He shrugs continuing to scribble down on his paper.

"It's getting late, you should head to bed" I take the work out of his hand and set it on the bedside table. He goes to protest but I hold up a finger. "It'll still be there tomorrow, don't worry"

I ruffle his hair standing up and walking towards the door. "Night Mar"

"Goodnight Gray" I whisper flicking off his light and leaving his room.

Next I walk over to Theo's room. I spot his scrolling on his phone with his feet dangling off the side. I walk over and plop onto his bed face-first letting out a muffled groan.

"Is junior year almost over yet?" I ask angling my head to I can speak clearly and my cheek is smushed up against his dark blue comforter.

"Not even close" He laughs turning off his phone and looking at me.

"Dang it" I pout sitting up slightly. "How disappointed would mom be if I dropped out and became a stripper?"

"1 gross, 2 very"

"What?! They make good money!"

I head back to my room after saying goodnight to Theo and checking to make sure the doors are locked one last time. I crawl into bed and flick off the lamp beside my bed. I scroll through my phone for a bit before finally closing my eyes and going to sleep.

The first week of school went by pretty uneventful.

Well, if uneventful meant me screaming at a girl in my class, or Cam punching a guy in the lunchroom, or Theo cussing out a group of kids who were talking about me.

The weekend came a went quickly. We spent most of it at the baseball field, the boys practicing while me and the girls watched.

Next thing I knew it was Monday morning and my sickening alarm went off signaling for me to wake up. I get out of bed and head over to my closet pulling out a cropped red shirt.

I head to my closet and match it with some black mom jeans and a black belt. I put on my checkered vans before brushing out my hair. My loose waves lay over my shoulders.

For makeup I do my classic lip stick, some highlight and mascara. After that I grab my back pack and my diabetes back stuffing it inside the bag and head to the kitchen.

The strong smell of coffee fills my senses. I close my eyes and inhale the scent before a figure bumps into me.

"What are you doing?" Theo asks dressed in a pair of jeans as usual and a hoodie.

"Smelling the coffee" I reply casually walking over to the coffee pot and pouring me a cup.

"You're weird" he says after studying me for a minute. He goes to the fridge and grabs a energy drink before snatching a pop tart out of the cabinet.

"You're just now figuring that out?" Grayson snorts walking in and snatching the pop tart out of his hand and stuffing it into his mouth.

The familiar honk of Cameron's truck beeps loudly. I quickly chug the rest of my coffee and jog outside trying to beat my brothers. We fight to get out the front door first but luckily I do.

When I get halfway through the yard I trip and face plant. I can hear all 4 boys laugh at me and the truck door open and close. I look to see Grayson in the front next to Connor and Cam who all cackle at me.

Theo, who's still laughing at me, reaches his arm over and helping me in the truck bed. Cam turns back and looks through the open window.

"Real smooth Mar"

"Just shut up and drive" I shove his head back and cross my arms. My head has a dull throb that I chalk up to the fall but by the time we pick up Miles and Brianna my head is pounding and I feel dizzy.

Instead of telling anyone I just push it down and head to first period with my friend.

"Hey Sara" Theo chirps walking into the room earning a harsh glare from her "I mean Mrs.Taylor" she rolls her eyes and throws an eraser at his head while he sits down.

I go to sit down when she pulls me to the side "are you feeling okay Mar?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." I lie putting on my best fake smile.

"Are you sure? I have some snacks for you in my desk?" She questions but I shake my head no.

"Promise" I say before sitting down. Class starts and I only feel worse. Eventually I can't handle it anymore so I raise my hand and ask to use the bathroom. Sara of course let's me so I stood up and quickly left the room.

I stumble into the hall and start walking towards the bathroom when I run into someone. I back up and look at Grayson who steadies himself. I quickly try to put on a strong front.

"Why aren't you in class?" I question. He holds up a pair of keys .

"Teacher wanted me grab some papers off of the printer" He explains studying me. He grabs my face and pulls it up to him looking into my eyes just as the classroom door opens.

"Marlee!" I hear Theo come up to us and stand beside Grayson grabbing my shaking hand. Something I always do when I'm low. "You're low"

"I have a juice box in my bag" Grayson says. I go to argue with them but I don't have the energy to. I try to take a step forward but almost callapse.

Both of my brothers grab me, holding me up and leading me to a little gap between 2 lockers that I slide down bringing my legs to my chest. Grayson hands me the juice box and I quickly take a sip.

After finishing the entire box of juice Grayson grabs it and throws it in the nearby trash can. "How you feeling?"

"Better, thanks." I smile keeping my eyes closed to calm the dizziness. "You guys should get back to class" I tell them.

"No way, we can't leave you out here" Theo protest but I open my eyes and shoot them both a stern glare.

"I'm a big girl now get your asses back to class before I beat you both with a old bat" I threaten. They both gulp and nod standing up.

"Sara knows you're low, she basically had to barcade the door to stop Cam from following me out" He tells me causing me to roll my eyes and chuckle.

"Get going, I'll see you guys later" I wave them off and make sure they go back to their classes before resting my head against the wall and closing my eyes.