DECEMBER 3

I quickly changed into a pair of basketball shorts and a tee-shirt. Then I left my closet and went back into my bedroom. My room was pretty awesome. Along one wall was a loft bed, with built-in shelves on the left side. On the right side was actually a little alcove that led to my door. I'd put a couch under the bed, facing my desk. I had my laptop on my desk, of course. And a large TV hung on the wall just above it. The couch was perfect for playing video games with my friends.

Speaking of my friends, I was supposed to be meeting up with them for my birthday.

I was sixteen, finally.

And somehow, I'd managed to convince my mom not to throw any kind of stupid birthday party with the family. We almost always had family birthday parties. It was ridiculous, in a way, the amount of times that my family all gathered together. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but every now and then it was nice to do something without the rest of my family hanging around. So today, I was just going to hang out with my friends, maybe take my new car out for a spin.

A silver Jaguar.

I loved it. It was an awesome car.

I reached to get my keys from my desk, only to find them floating in the air in front of me.

I nearly growled. "Jaxson. Cayson. Stop it." My identical twin brothers poked their dark brown heads into my room, just as my keys fell to the floor. They were five years old, and complete demons. They were constantly trying to pull some kind of prank, with their magic. They were the only ones who had inherited Mom's magic.

"Hi, Stryker," they said together.

I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you two go use your magic to bug Bexley?"

They looked at each other, their green eyes sparkling with mischief. "Okay!" they yelled, and then they ran off. They loved annoying our sister even more than they loved annoying me. Bex was really easy to annoy. And she always had the funniest reactions. She usually screamed shrilly and threw things, which was always funny because her aim was terrible. She could kick a soccer ball with deadly accuracy, but her hands were useless when it came to throwing. Her screaming wasn't as much fun, because she sounded like a banshee. Seriously.

I shook my head, heading toward the kitchen. I'd have to go through the kitchen to get to the front door, so I figured I'd grab a banana on the way.

I paused when I heard my mom's voice. "I'm kind of freaking out, Alex."

Alex was my stepfather. But he and my mom had met when I was like, three. I was about four or so when they got married. So he was the only dad I'd ever known. And I'd always thought of him as my dad. I mean, he'd legally adopted me just before Bex was born.

"Okay, Mac. You need to calm down long enough to at least tell me exactly what it is that you're freaking out about. I have no idea what's going on."

Mom took a deep breath. "I'm…I'm pregnant again."

I covered my mouth before I could reveal my presence to my mother.

Pregnant?

Like I needed another freaking sibling. Three was enough, thank you.

"I don't even know how it happened," Mom groaned.

Dad chuckled. "You'd think after four kids you'd remember the process."

I gagged slightly.

"Shut up, Alexander. I know how it happened. I just…We weren't even trying. I never miss a dose of my birth control. We'd only wanted three kids. It was a big enough surprise when we tried for a third and got twins."

"Well, you do know that birth control is never one-hundred percent effective, right?"

"Yes. I just…I wasn't expecting this. Five kids, Alex. Five."

"We'll manage. We have so far. Don't worry so much, Mac. I know this wasn't in our plan, but…Well, I'm not upset. How far along are you? What gender is the baby?"

"Two months. I've known for several weeks now, I just didn't know how to tell you. It's another girl."

"Well, we've got our three boys that we always wanted. We just got two girls as well.

I'd heard enough. Ugh. My mother was pregnant.

Gross.

I rushed out of the house, not even bothering with the banana I was going to grab. I'd lost my appetite. I had to go up the stairs nearest me, since my room was the only one downstairs and right next to the freaking kitchen, and go back down the other set of stairs in order to avoid my parents. But there was no way I was walking in on them. No way.

I drove to the rec center a block away, which had an indoor basketball court, where I was meeting up with my three best friends. Of course, because I'd been distracted by my mother's news, I was the last one there.

Adrian Ross stood against the hoop, without a shirt for some reason. His mother was African American, and he had inherited her dark brown skin, dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. He kept his hair in a huge afro that he was quite proud of. Adrian was the crude one of the group. He and I had been best friends since kindergarten, when we'd bonded over Pokémon toys.

Then there was Tyler Bennett. He was tall and skinny, with blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He wore nerdy glasses. Ty was the guy to go to for homework help. I mean, we were all pretty smart. But Tyler was borderline genius. We had met in the third grade, where we sat next to each other all year.

And finally, there was Thomas Stewart. He was the shortest of our group, and the chunkiest, though I wouldn't exactly call him fat. His hair was just as curly as mine was, but his was brown whereas mine was black. He had hazel eyes. He thought he was the comedian. He really wasn't that funny. We'd become friends in sixth grade, during science class. He'd nearly destroyed the entire lab trying to be funny. But we somehow became good friends after that.

"Dude," Adrian complained. "What took so long? We've been waiting for hours."

Ty rolled his eyes. "You're such a liar. It's been fifteen minutes."

"Sorry, guys. I just overheard the grossest thing." I shuddered at the thought. "My mom's pregnant again."

"Ew," they all said.

"Wait," Adrian said, holding up his hands. "Your parents still do the deed? They're old."

I pushed at him. I had to defend my parents. I mean, I wasn't totally heartless. "First of all, please don't talk about my parents doing the deed. That's totally disgusting. Second of all, they're not really that old. Dad's thirty-seven, and Mom's only thirty-three. It's just…gross. And like I want any more siblings. Bex and the twins are more than enough."

"Suckage," Thomas said.

"I know."

Adrian shrugged. "Well, whatever. Can't change it. Let's get this birthday game for the new big brother started," he hollered, spinning the basketball on his finger.

I slapped the ball away. "Stop it. Jerk."

He just laughed. "Shirts against skins. Who's on my team?"

"Not me!" Thomas and I yelled.

Ty scowled. "Man, I hate being on your team. You suck, Adrian." Even though he was nerdy, he was actually a really good basketball player.

"Shut up, Ty. I'm a basketball god."

I nearly died of laughter at that one. And Tommy thought he was the comedian of the group.

Okay, so FYI, this is not the same house that they lived in after Mac and Alex first got married. When they found out that they were expecting twin boys, they decided to upgrade. They figured a twelve-year gap wasn't the best for boys sharing a room, and they only had three bedrooms in the last house. Their new house is pretty big, and has five bedrooms. Enough for all the kids (with the twins sharing).