"You're joking." Anna stated from her spot by the living room door. The center of the room was taken up by a fort constructed of blankets and chairs. To what looked to be the door of the fort, was pinned a pitiful sign made out of computer paper and green crayon. 'No Girls Allowed' was scribbled across it in Beyond's sloppy script.
B poked his head out of the door and met Anna's emerald eyes with his brown ones, "Can I help you, Anna?"
Anna frowned, "I want to play in the fort too." She said crossing her arms across her chest.
Beyond shook his head, "You can't. No girls allowed." He pointed to his poorly made sign for emphasis.
Anna stomped her foot, "That's not fair."
"Life's not fair." Beyond stated casually. Anna held her breath and stomped her feet more.
"That's no way for a lady to act, Anna." L chimed in, pulling back the sheet they were using as a door.
"I want to play too."
The ten year old shrugged his shoulders and looked to B, "Rules are rules, Anna. No girls."
Anna, still only nine, felt tars well up in her eyes, "You guys are so mean! I hate you!" She turned around and ran from the room. She pulled open a familiar door, not bothering to knock and threw herself onto the bed, "Andrew!"
The older boy woke with a start and sat up. "A-Anna, what are you doing in here? Why are you crying?" He asked rubbing sleep from his cerulean eyes. Anna managed to choke out her story about L and Beyond through her tears. Andrew simply sighed and ran a hand through his sandy hair. Being the oldest was hard. He pulled himself out of bed and shrugged on a pair of jeans before turning back to Anna, "Well come on then. I'll help you get them back." Anna ran over to him excitedly and grabbed his hand tight. She loved Andrew. Despite their four year age difference, the pair was close, regarding one another as a sibling. When they got to the door that concealed the living room, Andrew got down on one knee so he could be at Anna's level, "Alright. Are you ready to hear my plan?" Anna nodded excitedly and he whispered his plan into her ear, "Got it?" She nodded again and they snuck into the room, silently they went to opposite sides of the fort and gripped the edge of the top blanket. Andrew counted backward from three before they pushed the blanket off of the chair, collapsing the fort. The fort's two residents screamed while Anna and Andrew laughed loudly.
Beyond and L wiggled themselves out from under the pile of blankets quickly to find their attackers sitting quietly waiting for their reaction. L gave a halfhearted smile, feeling slightly guilty for not letting Anna play in the first place, but Beyond scowled unhappy about the destruction of his fort, "I hate you both."