Disclaimer: I'm pooor. If I owned Covenant, I'd be non-poor. Nuff said.

Note from the writer: Sorry I left you all for so long! Nursing school is crazy. Finals were hectic. I had about 5 nervous break downs between the last chapter and this one. I'm still recovering from finals. Oh! I did change some things about the last chapters. I changed from the detached third point of view, to first person. I honestly can't write third person. It sounds too much like a detached, scholarly sort of thing. I get enough of that during the school year. So, to preserve my sanity and to make this story easier to write: we're now using 1st point of view. =)

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I felt bad about being rude to my brother, Liam, but only for a second. I was mad at him. Why did he have to come here? He was overprotective, and wouldn't give me any space as long as he was in town.

I frowned and made my way back to the group. Reid smiled slash half smirked at me—I honestly think that's just the way he smiles—and got up so I could slip back in to the rounded booth. He then resumed his place next to me.

"Who was that?" Tyler asked me. I wasn't sure if he actually wanted to know or if he was trying to change the subject from what was being talked about in my absence. Seeing the look Caleb gave my cousin, I think the latter was more accurate.

"Liam," I answered. "Apparently he's in town and needs a ride from the airport." 'A ride' my ass!! The boy has more Power under his belt than the energizer bunny. He could have just teleported home. No, he wanted to corner me in the car when I picked him up so he could ask how I was doing. Nosy prick.

Tyler's eyes lit up. He and Liam always got along well. "Oh! Do you want to go pick him up?" He sounded rather overexcited. Great. No understanding ally from my beloved cousin.

"Nope. I'm going let the boy suffer. He can walk to the house. Or he can wait for dad and the wicked witch to come get him," I responded.

"Wicked witch?" Tyler asked, confused. Then the Edison light bulb in his brain flashed on. "You mean your step mom."

"Yes, the wicked witch, or 'bitch,' as Lei and I say."

"Nice," Reid nodded approvingly, his naughty-boy smirk playing on his lips. He got a look from Caleb—which was a common occurrence—and he shut his mouth. Although, it was quite obvious to me—who was sitting next to him—that the clenching of his fists meant that his mind was saying what his mouth wouldn't.

"Are you still mad at him for going out with that one gi—" Tyler began before I cut him off. Honestly, the nerve! There were people around, and he was going to make me sound like the resentful sister who wouldn't share her brother.

"No!" I interrupted. "He can date whatever fat bimbo he wants."

"She isn't that fat…" Lei defended.

"If her BMI isn't at least 40, then someone changed the mathematical formula to get your BMI. Oh wait, or maybe it's just her ego that has a BMI that huge." To be honest, the girl wasn't physically fat. She just had an inflated ego.

"That's just mean," Lei frowned.

"No, it's the painful truth," I stated. "My brother is dating a whale."

"She's not a whale."

"A shark whale then."

"No, not a shark whale."

"KING KONG, and don't argue with me!" I frowned and flicked a fry from Tyler's plate at her.

A few of the boys snickered and the others were least trying not to smile too much. Lei, however, was not doing either. She looked like she could kill something at the moment—specifically me—without even touching it.

Tyler's phone was now ringing. He answered, "Tyler. Who's this?...Oh! Hey man!" It's your brother, he mouthed to me. I rolled my green eyes. "Oh, no. No drinking, just chilling…Like I'd let her drink! I remember the last ti--…Here she is." He handed the phone off to me and I frowned.

"Yeees?" I answered. I promptly rolled my eyes in response to what he said, "No one abandoned you…You can totally walk…Call Dad…BS…I'm. Not. Coming. Bye." I hung up and handed the phone back to Tyler. He started to say something, but I gave him a pointed look and he decided not to press the matter further. One thing he knew about women was when they were even slightly irritated not even vats of chocolate would help, and talking did no good. Best to take the hands off approach.

Reid, however, apparently knew nothing about women. "So, you're not picking up your bro because he's smoozing a snob?"

"That about sums it up. But I'm not that vain. She's also a 'bee with a big itch.' She had the nerve to tell my mother that when she married Liam, she'd find a way to keep us three girls from getting anything of my mom's. I'll just leave it at none of us girls being too happy about our brother's choice in life partner." My frown deepened, "Then, when my mum died, she had the nerve to waltz into our house with a notebook. She wrote down what 'she was getting' and what we were getting."

Lei's eyes began to fill with tears, but she was a strong girl and held them back. Despite her having scolded me, she really did dislike our brother's girlfriend. "She's not even married to Liam—and as far as we know Liam's not going to marry her—and yet she already thinks she's getting some—if not all—of our mother's things."

Tyler looked sympathetic after Lei spoke. "Wow, I didn't realize that that was why you hated her."

"Well, that's why we hate her. The reason we're not too happy with Liam is because he lets her do it," I explained.

"Plus, he's nosy. He was never like this before our mom died—wanting to know what we were doing, who we were friends with. It's honestly like having two dads around with Liam in the mix. He thinks he's making up for mom being gone by being the extra parental."

Lei had pretty much summed up the whole situation. It was A.K.A. for, "Liam is a bossy know-it-all with a crazy biatch for a girl."

But that was okay. If he wanted to stay at the house that was fine. Lei and I had already applied for dorm space anyways. Spenser had an entire room available that we were taking. Of course, they tisk-tisked that we weren't going to dorm with class mates, and 'peers our own age,' but honestly? Who cares? Lei and I are tight despite the two years age difference.

So, that was our night on the town. It ended well. We had sodas, fries, chicken wings galore and plenty of pool. I liked being back in a small town.

However, later on was a different story…

Reid drove us home—he'd made a bet with Tyler and won; the prize was getting to drive the Hummer, plus a pant load of cash—and the entire time Ty was cracking jokes. It was a good time. Even Lei joined in on the joke making.

When we rolled into the driveway of my family's home, though, hell broke loose.

Liam was home—need I say more?

He'd apparently told our father that I was out 'drinking and carousing'. Tyler vouched that we'd only had soda and pool ball, but of course, Liam was the oldest so he must have been the more truthful of us.

I was grounded. For a month. This month would include the first three weeks of my stay at Spencer.

The grounding stipulations were as follows: No friends. No money. No internet. No phone. No TV.

Really? Thanks, Dad, for cutting me off from the world. And thanks, Liam, for making my already awful life worse. You're an awesome brother. Please, go die in a hole.

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The end! Of this chapter at least. I honestly think that my keyboard is sticky. Oh well. Leave reviews, please.