Chapter 8.  Why she wanted a smaller chest.

Lake didn't expect to win but yes, he won this bet and he would rub it in Storm's face till he got agitated.

"It's fine okay," Storm blurted and waved his hands over his head. "You won. Happy?"

Lake rose and did their infamous chicken dance. "Nah, I'm not happy. I'm freaking proud of myself."

Storm lowered his head and muttered, "yeah, don't get too comfortable."

They had placed a bet on which house their mother would pick for them to live in. Storm had gone for a beach house while Lake had gone for a house not too big and not too small but comfortable and right in the middle of town.

Storm, being overconfident of the two, had been convinced his choice was the best but alas Sara Richards went for Lake's pick.

"Okay my beauties," Celia clapped twice and ambled into the room clad in her usual morning attire; an oversized cotton tee and short shorts.

They had all slept in the same room on the biggest bed which was meant to be Sara's bed because after managing to successfully lift and place all the boxes in the new house, they had all collapsed on only arranged which happened to be Sara's. Sara insisted on taking the couch when she noticed how exhausted her children were.

"Time to call bids on rooms," her voice came from the stairs. "Stormy, race yah there!"

The next twenty minutes were spent with Storm and Celia opening rooms and judging what they liked and hated about. On occasion, Celia would let out a string of unladylike swear words whenever she studded her foot on one of the boxes and Storm would warn her to pipe it down to avoid a good lecture from their mother.

"I trust you've all chosen your rooms," Sara was placing their pancakes in front of them while they helped themselves to a healthy amount of orange juice. "And don't forget to set your items up."

At her reminder, they mentally groaned and rubbed their eyes. Celia took a sip of her apple juice and swallowed slowly. She was dreading going to school. Her first day had been less than eventful. Everyone had been nice enough. That was until she was asked to introduce herself in the literature class.

As expected, the class remained silent when she cleared her throat. After naming the basics; name, she went back to her seat.

A scrunched up piece of paper hit the back of her head and being the curious cat, she unfolded the paper and her while body turned warm with part rage and part embarrassment at the message;

Nice tits;)

I'd tap that.

When she got home, she spent hours in front of the mirror wondering what the note meant. Pose after pose and she failed to make her chest look smaller. What was she thinking, wearing a fitted shirt on her first day?

"Celia?" Sara pulled her daughter out of her thoughts.

The woman noticed she had been chewing on her nails instead of chewing the pancakes, something she did when something was bothering her. Sara figured her daughter wouldn't talk about it in front of her older sons so she waited to when the two boys had gone out to drag Celia and have a quick word with her.

"Celia, what happened?"

Celia knew her mother had caught her but she still felt indecisive about it. "It's nothing mom."

Sara held her daughter's shoulders and scanned her face, "Celia, we both know that's a lie, now tell me what happened."

That was all it took for the barely held back tears to burst from her eyes and she pulled Sara into a tight hug. Sara tapped and smoothed her daughter's naturally straight Raven mane.

"It's okay now," she comforted still holding her in a tight embrace. "I don't know what happened but promise you'll tell me more about it when you get back okay"

The younger girl's head moved against her mother's shoulder in a nod before she sniffed and pulled out of the hug.

"Thank you, mum," she sniffed yet again. "I promise we'll talk about it when I get back."

Not wishing to argue, Sara nodded and handed a handkerchief to her daughter who rewarded her with a grateful smile.

"You okay Cee?" Lake could sense something was up but wasn't sure. Sara Richards didn't pull their sister apart from them unless they were talking about 'girl stuff'.

After securing the seatbelt around her, she shook her head with lowered eyes, trying to hide the reddish tint they held, "I'm fine. Now let's go, we don't wanna be late."

Lake's lips pressed together and he threw a knowing glance at Storm whose hands clenched at the steering wheel with his whole body tensed.

They pulled up at school and as if the car seat would set hey on fire, Celia unbuckled herself and jumped out of the car not bothering to give them a wave or say goodbye.

"I don't know what's up with Cee, " Lake said when they started their walk into school side by side looking like clones; good-looking clones. "It has to be something about school."

Storm nodded at the girls who either waved at them, sat straighter, and chested out when they saw them coming to greet them. Anything to get their attention. His brother remained oblivious to the chaos a flock of girls in skimpy clothing which should be considered below school standards, bounced and whistled at them.

"I don't know what one of the dickheads in her classes did but I can't wait to get my hands on them," he growled with tightly balled fists. "They'd wish they never existed once I pound the shit out of them."

"Calm down Tiger," Lake placed his hand on his tenses form. "We can't do anything until Cee tells us what happened if she will."

He muttered the last part to himself. The bell broke the pair apart but the full attention of the whole shameless female population refused to stop their staring.

Storm turned the corner and a small smile graced his features when he spotted the dark beauty from first period yesterday. He didn't waste time to skip to get side where she tapped her foot, glancing at her watch every second, clearly frustrated.

"Hey pumpkin," he invented another nickname. "Why aren't we in class?"

She ignored his new name for her. The thought of being called pumpkin irked her because that was one of the infamous 'comments' that were thrown at her last season and although she for rid of a good stone of the fat, she remained rounded with a slightly pushed out abdomen. In summary, she was still insecure about her size.

"Don't ever call me that again and what do you mean by we?" She inquired and continued avoiding his gaze.

He couldn't form an answer because he didn't have one but decided to stuff his hands in his pants pocket. Then and there, he decided to wait for her.

When he didn't move, she finally spared him a quick look. "Why aren't you going to class? You could get detention if caught outside classes."

"I could say the same to you," he fired back, still not satisfied with her deliberate avoidance of eye contact. "I'll ask again. What or who are you waiting for and why aren't you going to class?"

Adana opened her mouth to warn him and froze when she registered the for steps of no doubt a teacher and they sounded very close.

Without thinking, she pushed Storm's huge form into the nearest room which just happened to be the janitor's closet, and closed the door behind her.

The erratic beating of her heart accelerated when the footsteps sounded closer. Her eyes widened and Storm put two and two together. He bit back his comments and watched the vivid changes of emotions on her face. Well, that was something new.

"They're gone, phew," she breathed out when the steps faded. Great. Now she was not only late for first period but didn't meet Leilani and she was now stuck in a small space with Mister jerkface.

"I think we're safe now," she announced and placed her hand to twist the knob. That's strange. It didn't budge. She started to panic and yank on it.

His brows drew together. "Pumpkin, what happened?"

Warmth engulfed her back, rippling through her entire body. She shook her head to escape the spiderweb that was her thoughts, "I can't open the door."

"Let me try," he stepped closer and the heat behind hey increased before disappearing when he pushed her gently to stand opposite the door and attempted to open it.

Frustrated grunts escaped his lips when he couldn't get it to open. His body slid against the wall till be was sitting with his back to the wall and staring at the ceiling.

Adana tapped her pockets for her phone. It wasn't with her. Storm noted her dejected expression but he didn't bother to search for his because it was sitting safely in his locker.

"Awesome," he whispered loud enough for Adana to hear. "We're fucking stuck and we aren't with our phones. Must be my lucky day.