That weekend, the five siblings were over at Troy's house. Troy wanted them to be away from the house as much as they could and inviting them over was one of the ways to do it. He looked over at the siblings as they were in his backyard, he noticed Chad playing with Imogen and Jasmine playing with Gabriella, the girl obviously wanted to spend time with her older sister. He frowned slightly as he noticed Lachlan was by himself shooting hoops on the basketball court and walked over to him. "Hey Locky."

The boy stopped the ball and turned to him. "Hey Troy."

"Why aren't you with your brother and sister?" When the boy only shrugged slightly in response, Troy gestured for him to sit. "Can we have a chat?" Lachlan nodded in confusion and sat down opposite Troy.

"So what did you wanna talk about?"

"Look I've seen how Chad and Gabriella are with the two girls and I completely understand why they are. I'm gonna have a guess at what you're thinking and you wanna tell me how accurate it is?"

"Sure why not."

"Ok, well, given what you guys go through at home, Chad and Gabriella try to shelter and protect the girls as much as I can, which is understandable since they're only five. They spend a lot of time with the girls and fuss over them quite a bit and in the end, they tend to monopolise most of their time. Good so far?" Lachlan nodded in response. "Because of that, I'm guessing that you feel as if you're pushed to the side a bit, that they're so busy with the girls or trying to figure stuff out together that you feel like you're stuck with no one."

Lachlan looked down. "Am I that obvious?"

"No, I've just been observing quite a bit. How about you tell me what you're thinking and I'll get to the overall point of this conversation after."

Lachlan nodded in response. "Well you already know that our dad left. They divorced when the girls were born but he'd still come visit every weekend to make sure we were ok and taken care of. I wasn't entirely close to my dad but I didn't hate him either, I guess I was just kinda indifferent. Anyway, he disappeared a couple months back and we haven't heard anything from him except for the support payments thankfully. Because of everything wrong in our family, Chad and Gabi have had to grow up quite a bit and have taken to protecting us all, which isn't a bad thing. I guess my issue is that I'm only two years younger than Gabi but I'm still treated on the same level as the girls in the sense of them having to protect me, they don't see me as a teenager, they see me as their younger brother that they need to protect. I hate it because I'm not helpless, I want to be able to help them protect the girls and be one of the males in the family but instead it's Chad and Gabi doing everything.

It just - it gets to moments like this when I look at them playing with the two girls and I feel like kinda the outcast of the family. They run to Gabriella whenever they see her and if Gabi isn't around, they'll go to Chad. I just feel like I'm a last resort and I'm just kinda there. I love all my siblings and I know they love me too, I just wish I didn't feel like an outsider in my own family."

His words made Troy sigh. "That's tough Bud, but I had a feeling that was how you felt, which was why I brought it up. I guess I just wanted to tell you that, besides being Gabriella's boyfriend and Chad's friend, I'm also there for you Locky. You're a good kid – I don't mean anything by that, let's be honest, we're all still kids until we turn 18 – you're a decent person to talk to and you're not a jerk. I just want you to know – as girly as it sounds – if you do need anything and you feel like you can't talk to Chad or Gabriella about it, you can come talk to me or I can help you out with whatever it is."

"You'd do that?"

"Of course Dude."

Lachlan smiled. "Thanks Troy, I really appreciate it."

Troy nodded in response. "What do you say, a game of one-on-one?"

"Why not, I know I'm gonna get whooped."

"Nah don't worry, I'll teach you a few tricks to take into your games."

Gabriella looked over as Troy and Lachlan's game was drawing to a close. She smiled at the relationship her boyfriend seemed to be forming with her younger brother and grabbed Jasmine's hand. "Come on, how about we say hi to Locky and Troy." The girl nodded and they walked over to the boys. "Hey guys, good game."

Lachlan smiled. "Thanks Gabi." He nudged Troy with his elbow. "I'll let you guys have some couple time." He turned to his younger sister. "Ready Jassy, you gotta be quick. I'm gonna get you and you're gonna be all sweaty."

"Yuck." She yelled and ran away giggling as Lachlan playfully chased her, leaving Troy and Gabriella some time to themselves.

Gabriella and Troy moved to sit on the basketball court and she leaned over, placing a kiss on his cheek. "Hey Wildcat, how was your game?"

"Hey Baby, it was good. Locky has definitely gotta be the best on the JV team."

"Yeah he's a good kid." Troy's hand cupped her cheek, his thumb caressing under her left eye. The bruising had gone down though it was still kinda purple but she didn't feel the need to cover it with makeup, feeling comfortable around Troy and her siblings. At his touch, she looked down. "Troy, it's fine, it's almost gone."

He sighed. "It shouldn't even be happening in the first place. I know what I promised and I'll keep it, I'm staying out of it as much as you guys want me to, but I hate the fact that you're getting hurt."

She placed her hand over his and smiled. "That's really sweet Wildcat but I'm fine. Let's just not worry about it, we're all here at your house and I wanna spend time with you."

He nodded and that's what they did, they spent the rest of the afternoon spending time with each other, by themselves or with her siblings.