I sat towards the back of a funeral. Out of sight so no one could see me, so he couldn't see me. I loved the woman they were burying like my own mother, she was the only one who truly loved me and didn't ask for anything in return, but I couldn't face her sons not yet.
"God you're such a coward" I yelled whispered to myself so no one would look at me.
I watched as Evelyn Mercer was lowered into the cold frozen ground. I saw Jack crying, I saw Jerry with his family, I didn't see Angel anywhere, and I saw Bobby the man I'm trying to avoid. You see Mama Mercer, as I called her, had four adopted sons each with their own sad story. There is Bobby the oldest, Jerry the voice of reason, Angel the player, and Jack the baby and my best friend. I haven't seen them much except for Jerry since we both still live in Detroit. I watch his kids sometimes when he and Camille need time for themselves. I email, text, and call Jack almost every day, we always kept in touch. I remember the first time I met the Mercer brothers. I was 10, Issi was 7, Jack was 8, Jerry 11, Angel 9, and Bobby was wasn't under the best terms.
My baby sister, Issi, and I were at the local ice rink skating with a couple friends just goofing off having fun like teenagers should. A group of guys began to enter the rink to start a pick-up game so we got ready to leave. I started to skate ahead of Issi to leave. I was right at the exit when I heard Issi cry out in pain. I turned to see a kid with blonde hair standing over her, she was holding her wrist. I didn't think about it, but I skated as fast as I could to her and rammed my body into the kid causing him to fall over. I didn't pay attention to him at all, so I bent over to pick up Issi being careful with her wrist, three more guys who were with the kid skated over to help him up, but I ignored them as well.
"Are you okay?" I asked Issi, looking her in the eyes, they were puffy from crying.
"I think I broke my wrist" she replied with a sniffle Anger flooded my veins at her statement. Our conversation was cut off by one of the boy's friends yelling.
"Hey, what the hell's your problem" the mystery guy yelled. I turned to look him in the face and placed Issi behind me. He was a lot taller than my 5'1 frame. He was also pretty handsome, but my anger outweighed my interest.
"I could ask you the same question." I challenged. He skated forward closing the distance and I pushed Issi back a little out of pure instinct.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" he asked while looking me in the eyes
"I think I'm the girl that knocked your friend on his ass." I said while glancing toward the blonde. I saw a look in his eye that I recognized in the mirror every day. It's a look you gain after years of abuse, I immediately felt horrible. The guy stepped forward even more causing my regret to vanish.
"That guy isn't my friend, he's my brother and I don't take to kindly to people hurting my brother, even if you are a girl." He said while giving me a once over. I glared even harder
"Well I don't take too kindly to people who hurt my sister" I replied sarcastically. The guys behind him shifted and my eyes snapped to him and I think I saw him flinch and he began to talk
"I think this is just a big misunderstanding-" I cut him off
" what's there to misunderstand? Your brother ran into my sister, who got hurt, so I ran into him." The older brother who I was fighting with earlier stepped closer to me. he was only inches away from me.
"Well if she wasn't in the way, maybe she wouldn't have gotten hurt" he said while leaning down to my height. My eyes narrowed and issi must have seen since she stepped forward ang grabbed my arm
"Devan, Please he's not worth it." she pleaded. I felt the anger fade from me. the boy that hit hurt skated over. I looked at him with sadness in my eyes.
"I'm sorry for running into you, I just didn't see you." He apologized sincerely.
" it's alright and sorry about Devan, she can be Very over protective" issi answered with a smile. I rolled my eyes, she knew exactly why I was over protective. The boy laughed
"Yea she's got guts. I mean I've never seen anyone go toe to toe with Bobby before" he said. Issi giggled "Yea she's like that. I'm Issi Sanders and that's my sister Devan by the way." She replied. she motioned to me the stuck out her uninjured hand which the boy took. "Jack Mercer, and these are my brothers Jerry, Angel, and we all know Bobby." Jack replied while pointion to the guys. The guy who tried to stop the argument was Jerry, Angel had the Afro, and Bobby was the guy I yelled at. The guy all shook hands with Issi and me, except Bobby and I didn't shake hands we just nodded in each other's direction.
"Well now that we all met, let me check your wrist" I told Issi. I began to feel and bend her wrist. She winced a couple of times.
"It's not broken, just sprained" I informed her. I lifted my shirt slightly to unwrap the ace bandage that supported my bruised ribs.
"Devan no! you need it more than I do" Issi said with a worried look. I ignored her and wrapped her wrist anyways. I looked over at the guys when I was done. they all had a look on their face and I knew that they had questions.
"Long story." I sighed. Jack met my eyes and I knew he understood, more than the others. I looked at Bobby and the look in his eyes shocked me, he just stared at my ribs and he had this angry look, his eyes met mind and he looked protective of me.
" so do you girls want to eat at our house. Our mom loves guests and it's the least we could do." Jerry said while breaking the silence. We agreed and headed to there house.
That was the day we became part of the Mercer family. Evelyn took us in and became Mom in my eyes, even more than my biological mom, Mama Mercer always told us that she wanted a daughter and she got two. Jack and I became best friends since we understood each other better, do to our experiences. He and Issi began to date when they were 10 and 11. Bobby and I began to spend more time together and ended up dating I was 13 and he was 15. Then a lot of stuff happened and now I'm here hiding in the back at her Funeral.
