“What in the world is wrong with you, Daniel?” Chunk says, slapping her pen down on the table.

I pause the drumming of my fingers against the wooden tabletop. “Nothing.” I didn’t realize my nervousness was so obvious. Especially to a thirteen-year-old.

“Something’s wrong with you,” she says. She pushes her homework aside and folds her arms across the table, leaning forward. “Did you break up with Six?”

I shake my head. “No.”
“She break up with you?”
“Hell no,” I say defensively.
“Get in trouble at school?”
I shake my head and look down at the time on my phone. Ten more minutes and I’ll leave. I just need ten more minutes.

“You get her pregnant?” Chunk asks.
My eyes dart up to hers and my pulse increases. I technically can’t answer that with a no, because . . . well.

“Oh, my god,” Chunk says. “You got her pregnant? Daniel!

Mom and Dad are gonna kill you!”

She pushes away from the table just as my mother walks into the kitchen. Chunk’s hands go up to her mouth in disbelief and she’s shaking her head, still staring at me. She doesn’t know my mother is behind her now. “Daniel, are you stupid? I’m only thirteen, but even I know what safe sex is. Christ, I can’t believe you got her pregnant!”

I’m shaking my head, too flustered to tell her Six isn’t pregnant.

My mother is frozen, staring at me with wide eyes. She covers her mouth with her hand at the same moment my father walks into the kitchen. Chunk hears him and spins around.

“What’s wrong?” my father asks. “You all look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Before I have the chance to defend myself or dismiss the words that just came out of Chunk’s mouth, my mother turns to face my father. She points at me.

“He got her pregnant,” she whispers disbelievingly. “Your son got his girlfriend pregnant.”

My father stares silently at my mother. I know I should be standing up right now—denying everything before they all get too worked up, but everything they’re saying is technically true.

I did get Six pregnant.

However, that was over a year ago and none of them know about that, nor do they need to know about it. But Six sure as hell isn’t pregnant right now. I know that for a fact. We’ve been dating for over three months, and I’m sure it’ll be at least three more months before she allows me to break that bread.

I don’t like that analogy. Doesn’t even make sense.

Jump that fence?

Nah, that’s not sexy enough.

Cross that finish line?
Nope. It’ll be more like a starting line.
Tap that ass?
Meh. Too tacky.
Poke that potato?
“Daniel?” my father asks, pulling my gaze to his. He doesn’t look happy, but he also doesn’t look angry. Which is weird, since he’s just been told he’ll likely be a grandfather, and he’s only forty-five. He’s looking at me like he’s confused. “How can Six be pregnant?” he asks, shaking his head. “Every time you’re with her you still come home and take those embarrassingly long showers.”

I swear to God. Why do these people continue to bring that up?

I look over at Chunk and shake my head. “Six isn’t pregnant,” I tell all of them. “Chunk just has an overactive imagination.”

A collective sigh comes from the three of them. My mother slaps her hand to her heart and releases a quick “Oh dear good lord, Jesus Christ, holy shit, thank god!” She blows out a calming breath after her slew of blasphemy.

Chunk rolls her eyes when she realizes I’m telling the truth. She takes her seat across from me and pulls her homework back in front of her. “Well, if she’s not pregnant then what in the heck are you so nervous about?”

Oh yeah. This little distraction almost helped me forget every- thing that’s about to happen. As soon as the night’s plans invade my mind again, I have to inhale slowly through my nose to remind my lungs they need air.

“What is it, Danny boy?” my father asks. “She break up with you?”

I drop my head into my hands, frustrated at how damn nosey they all are.

“No,” I groan. “She didn’t break up with me. I also didn’t break up with her. She’s not pregnant, we aren’t having sex, and I didn’t get in trouble at school!” I’m standing now, pacing back and forth. The three of them are watching me practically have a meltdown. I finally turn and face them with my hands planted firmly on my hips. “I’m just freaking out a little bit, okay? I’m supposed to be at her house right now, because she wants me to meet her brothers. All of them. Like right now.”

My father looks amused, and it kind of pisses me off.
“How many brothers does she have?” my mother asks. Her voice is soothing, like she’s about to give me the pep talk I’m desperately in need of.

“Four. And they’re all older than she is.”

My mother’s mouth presses into a thin line as she gently nods her head. “Oh, boy,” she says in a whisper. “You’re screwed, Daniel.” She turns around and walks into the kitchen. I’m stuck in the same position, wondering where her words of advice went.

My father is nodding his head, still with that annoying smile plastered on his face. “I really don’t like Six,” he says. “I’m starting to hate her, actually. Three months now, and she’s still holding firm to that trophy?”

“Stop, Dad,” I say immediately. “You are not allowed to talk about my sex life. And you’re especially not allowed to use shitty analogies to reference the fact that Six is making me wait.”

He holds his palms up defensively. “Sorry.” He laughs. “Besides, I forget that your sister isn’t an adult sometimes.” He pats Chunk on her shoulder. “Sorry, Chunk. I’ll never mention in front of you again how your brother’s girlfriend won’t allow him to kill that mockingbird.” He pulls out a chair and sits at the table. Chunk and I groan at the same time.

“Dad,” she says. “You just ruined my favorite book with that comparison. Thanks a lot.”

He winks at her before turning to face me again. “You’ll be fine, Danny boy. Just don’t be yourself at all, and they’ll have no choice but to love you.”

I grab my jacket off the back of the chair and pull it on as I exit the kitchen. “You all still suck,” I mumble as I walk out the front door.

•••

I don’t remember walking into her house. I don’t remember anything I said as I was being introduced to any of them. I don’t even remember how I made it to my seat, but here I am—being stared down across the kitchen table by four of the most intimidating men I’ve ever met. I was hoping we were going to make it through the meal with everyone stuffing his face and no one addressing me directly.

That didn’t even last a whole bite.

One of them just asked what my plans are after graduation, but I’m not sure which one he is. He’s the one who looks the most like Six because he’s the only blond, but he’s also the largest of the four. His hands make his fork look like a toothpick.

I look down at my hands and frown, because they make my fork look like a spatula. I set my fork down on the table before they notice how tiny they all make my hands look.

Six taps my leg under the table, reminding me to speak. I gently clear my throat. “I’m not sure.”

My voice sounds like a damn child’s, compared to the four of their voices. I’ve never even thought about my voice or how it might sound to an outsider until this moment. I’ve never really thought about how my hands might make a fork look until now, either. I’ve also never really thought about breaking up with Six before, but . . . nah. I don’t care how scary they are or how much they hate me. There’s no way in hell I’m breaking up with Six.

“Well, are you at least going to college?” Evan asks.

I know Evan’s name. He’s the one closest in age to Six. He’s also the only one who smiled at me when he introduced himself, so I made sure to remember him. That way, if the other three decide to jump me, I can scream Evan’s name for help, since he’d be the only one likely to defend me.

“I am going to college,” I say with a nod. Finally. A question I can answer. “I’m attending the same one Six will be at.”

“What if the two of you aren’t dating after graduation?” the big one says.

“Aaron, shut up,” Six says with a roll of her eyes. She squeezes my leg under the table. “Stop antagonizing him.”

Aaron’s eyes are still locked with mine. “Do you think I’m antagonizing you?” he asks coolly. “I just thought we were having polite conversation.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and shake my head. “You’re fine,” I say. “I get it. I have two sisters. Granted, one of them is older than me but I still give the douchebags she brings home a hard time. And don’t even get me started on Chunk. The first guy she brings home doesn’t stand a chance. I already hate him, and the kid probably doesn’t even know she exists yet.”

The brother directly across from me smiles a little bit. It might be my imagination, but I know for a fact he’s not frowning anymore. “Chunk?” Aaron asks. “Six said you give nicknames to people.

That’s what you call your little sister?” I nod.

“What do you call Six?” the brother across from me says. I’m pretty sure his name is Michael. I have a fifty-fifty chance of being right, considering the brother on the end could also be named Michael. It’s either that or Zachary.

Six bumps my leg again, and I realize I haven’t answered him. “Cinderella,” I blurt out.

They’re all staring at me now, waiting for an explanation for that one. I don’t think I want to give them one. How do you tell four brothers that you call their little sister Cinderella because you had random hot sex with her in the maintenance closet of a school?

“Why do you call her that?” Aaron asks. He turns toward the brother at the end. “Zach, didn’t you used to have a turtle named Cinderella?”

Zach. Zach is the quietest one.

He shakes his head. “Ariel,” he says, correcting Aaron. “I had a thing for the little mermaid.”

The one I can now assume is Michael, based on the process of elimination, says, “You didn’t answer the question. Why do you call her Cinderella?”

Six laughs under her breath, and I know she finds this extremely amusing, even though I sort of wish I would choke to death on a tur- key bone so I could be put out of my misery.

“I call her Cinderella because the first time I laid eyes on her, I thought she was so beautiful she couldn’t be real. Girls like her were reserved for fairy tales and fantasies.”

I’m proud of my own answer. Didn’t know I could bullshit under pressure like this.

The quiet one straightens up in his seat. Zach. “So you’re saying you fantasize about our little sister?”

What the . . .

“Jesus, Zach!” Six yells. “Stop it! All four of you, stop it! You’re just interrogating him to amuse yourselves.”

All four of them begin to laugh. Evan winks at me, and they all begin eating again.

I’m still not brave enough to pick up my fork in front of them.

“We’re just messing with you,” Zach says with a laugh. “We never get to do this, because you’re the first guy Six has ever let us meet.”

I turn and look at Six. I didn’t know this little fact, and I think I kind of love it. “Am I, really?” I ask her. “You’ve never introduced anyone to your brothers before?”

Six smiles and gives her head a small shake. “Why would I?” she says. “No other guy has ever deserved to meet them.”

I immediately pull her to me, and I give her a loud smack on the lips. “Dammit, I love you, girl,” I say, finding the confidence to finally pick up my fork again. It looks like a fork now rather than a spatula.

I dig in to the food and take a huge bite.
All four of her brothers are quietly staring back at me. All four are smiling.

•••

I fall onto Sky’s bed with a huge sigh, landing on my back next to Holder, who is propped up against the headboard.

“I see you survived the meeting of the brothers,” he says, looking down at me.

“Barely,” I say. “But I think I won them over in the end.”

“How’d you manage that?” Sky asks. She’s sitting on the other side of Holder, messing with her phone.

“I gave them all nicknames. They found me highly amusing.” Holder laughs. “Only you, Daniel.”
“Where’s Six?” Sky asks me.
“She didn’t feel like coming over.” I pull myself up to a standing position. “I just wanted to let Holder know I’m still alive. I’m gonna head back over there.”

Before I walk back to her bedroom window, I see a frown form on Sky’s face. I don’t like it, because she never frowns. She’s one of the happiest people I’ve ever met.

Come to think of it, I also didn’t like the fact that Six didn’t want to come over here tonight. It was weird, because she didn’t feel like it last night, either.

It hits me that something is up between the two of them. “What’s wrong, Cheese Tits?”
Her eyes shoot up to mine and she forces a smile. “Nothing.”

I take a step back toward the bed. “I call bullshit,” I say. “When’s the last time you spoke to my girl?”

She glances down at her phone again and shrugs. Holder sees what I’ve noticed, and he puts an arm around her.

“Hey,” he says reassuringly. “What’s wrong, babe?” He pulls her in close to him and kisses her on the side of the head, just as a tear falls from her eyes. She quickly pulls her hand up to wipe it away, but Holder notices. He sits up straighter and turns to face her at the same time I take a seat back down on the bed.

“Sky, what’s wrong?” he says, urging her to look up at him.

She shrugs it off, shaking her head. “It’s probably nothing,” she says. “I’m sure she’s just tired or something.”

“Who’s tired?” I ask her. “Six?”
She nods.
Her assumption confuses me, because Six isn’t tired. She seemed fine tonight.

“It’s just that she hasn’t been over here in the three days we’ve been out for Christmas break,” Sky says. “She also hasn’t texted or called me back. I think she’s mad at me, but I have no idea what I did.”

I immediately stand up. “Well, we have to fix this,” I say, some- what panicked. “She can’t be mad at you. Y’all aren’t allowed to fight.” I begin pacing the room. Holder is watching me with those narrowed, intimidating eyes of his.

“Daniel, calm down. They’re girls. Girls argue sometimes.”

I shake my head, refusing to accept it. I’m pacing again. “Not Sky and Six. They aren’t like all the other girls, Holder. You know that. They don’t fight. They can’t fight. We’re supposed to go to college together. They’re supposed to be roommates.” I turn and face him, coming to a pause. “We’re a team, man. Me and Six and you and Sky. Me and you. Six and Sky. They can’t break up. I won’t let it happen.” I’m already heading to the window. Sky is pleading with me not to make a big deal out of it, but it’s too late for that. I’m climbing in Six’s bedroom window and my heart is racing, and there’s no way I can let them keep this up for another day.

Six is lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She doesn’t turn to look at me when I enter her room. “What’s the matter?” I ask her.

“Nothing,” she says immediately.

Bullshit.

I kneel down on the bed and move toward her until I’m on top of her, looking down at her face. “Bullshit.”

She turns away from me, so I grab her chin and make her look at me again. “Why are you mad at Sky?”

She shakes her head, and I can see in her eyes that she isn’t mad at Sky. “I’m not mad at her,” she says, sounding offended. I want to feel relieved, but something is still bothering her.

She looks worried. Scared, even. I feel like an asshole for not recognizing it earlier, but she was more quiet than usual during dinner.

And last night. She was really quiet last night.
Shit. Maybe she’s mad at me.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. She looks up at me, confused.
“For what?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. For whatever I did. Sometimes I do or say really stupid shit, and I don’t even realize I’m doing it until I hurt someone’s feelings. So if that’s what’s wrong, I’m sorry.” I lower my head and kiss her. “I’m really, really sorry.”

She pushes against my chest, and I sit back on my knees. She pulls herself to a seated position in front of me. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Daniel. You’re perfect.”

I love that answer, but hate that I still don’t know what’s upset- ting her.

“It’s just that . . .” Her voice grows quiet, and she looks down at her lap. “If I tell you something . . . you swear you’ll never ever tell Holder?”

I immediately nod my head. As much as I’ll always be there for Holder, there’s no way in hell I’d ever break Six’s trust. “I swear.”

Her eyes meet mine, and she’s silently telling me I better be seri- ous, because whatever she’s about to tell me is a big deal.

I don’t like this look in her eyes. Luckily, she scoots off the bed and walks to her desk. She picks up her laptop and brings it back to the bed with her. “I want to show you something.” She opens the laptop and pulls up a minimized screen before turning it to face me. “And please never bring this up again, Daniel.”

I pull the laptop in front of me and begin reading.

Words like missing child and reward and dates and statements and pictures are all flooding my eyes. I’m shaking my head, because the words on the screen don’t make any sense when they’re referring to the picture of the little girl who looks just like Sky.

“What is this, Six?” I ask.

She pulls the laptop back out of my hands. “I’m not sure,” she says. “I left my computer here while I was in Italy. I just noticed a few days ago that this was in my search history from several months ago. I don’t know what to do, Daniel,” she says, looking down at the screen. “It’s her. This is Sky. I would ask her about it, but I think if she knew about it, she would have said something to me.”

I’m still trying to process what I just saw on the computer and all the words coming out of Six’s mouth.

“What if it was Karen who used my computer? Or Holder? Or someone else entirely? I don’t know for sure that Sky was the one looking this up, and I’m scared if I say anything to her, I’ll be bringing up something she doesn’t even want to know.”

I don’t even hesitate. I grab the laptop and stand up. “Six? This isn’t something you keep to yourself. If you don’t tell her now, noth- ing will ever be the same between the two of you, because you’ll feel too guilty to talk to her.” I grab her hand. “Come on. Let’s just rip off the Band-Aid.”

Her eyes are wide and scared, but I don’t care. She can’t keep something like this bottled up. And if this little girl really is Sky, she has every right to know.

We stand up but before we head to the window, I pull Six in for a tight hug. I kiss her on top of the head and tell her it’ll be fine. “It might not even have anything to do with her,” I say. “It could just be a coincidence.”

•••

We’re standing at the foot of Sky’s bed, watching her. Holder has the laptop and Sky’s hand is covering her mouth. They’re both staring wide-eyed at the screen.

They’re both quiet.

“I’m sorry,” Six says. “I don’t know what it is or who was looking it up . . . but I didn’t know how to tell you. I also didn’t know how not to tell you.”

Sky finally pulls her eyes away from the computer, but they don’t fall on Six. They slide up to Holder’s face. He looks at her calmly and expels a deep breath, then gently closes the laptop.

Their reactions are way too weird. I expected a little crying. A little bit of yelling, maybe. Perhaps a few flying objects I’d have to duck from.

Holder pushes the laptop back toward Six. “We don’t need to see it,” he says. “She already knows.”

Six gasps, and I grab her hand. Sky stands up at the same time Holder does. She walks toward us and places her hands on Six’s shoulders, looking at her calmly. “I would have told you, Six,” she says. “But if this ever gets out . . . it’s not me that would be affected. It’s Karen. That’s the only reason I haven’t told you.”

Six’s eyes are wide and hurt, but I can tell she’s also trying to be understanding. “So it was Karen?” Six whispers, backing away from Sk y.

Sky nods her head. “Everything you read about my childhood was true,” she says. She looks at Holder for permission to continue. He nods, but looks at me and shoots me that look. The look that tells me that whatever I’m about to hear will never leave this room.

“Karen did what she had to do because my father was a monster,” Sky says. Tears fill her eyes and Holder steps up behind her and places his hands on her shoulders. He kisses the top of her head, pull- ing her back against his chest. “I found out everything after Holder told me. While you were in Italy.”

I look over at Holder. “How did you know?”

He regards me silently for a few seconds. He looks as if he re- grets not telling me, but I don’t blame him. It’s not my business. “I recognized her. Me and Les . . . we used to live next door to them before we moved here. We were all friends. I was there when it happened.”

Six and I both begin to pace the room. It’s too much to take in. I’m not sure I even want to know something like this about them. That’s a lot of pressure . . . having this kind of knowledge in my head. I don’t like that they know I know this now. I liked how things were yesterday. I liked how easy it was, before all this new information was planted in my head. Now I have to bury it and pretend it’s not there, but it’s so huge. It’s too much for Sky and Holder to have to trust us with this kind of thing.

“I got Six pregnant!” I blurt out, feeling somewhat relieved that I’m giving them a secret, too. “Last year. She was the girl in the closet,” I say to Holder. I told him about her once before, so I know he’ll know what I’m referring to. “We had sex without even knowing what the other looked like. She got pregnant and found out when she was in Italy. She didn’t know who I was and she was scared, so she gave our son up for adoption and . . . yeah,” I say, pausing to face all of them. I drop my hands to my hips and take a calming breath. “We had a baby.”

They’re all facing me now. Six is looking at me like I’m suddenly not perfect anymore. “Daniel?” she whispers. “What the hell?”

She’s mad at me. She’s hurt that I would just blurt out the biggest secret she’s ever had in her entire life.

I walk to her and place my hands on her shoulders. “I had to make the score even. We had to tell them. We know this really huge thing about them and unless they know our really huge thing, it wouldn’t be even between us. Things would be weird.”

I don’t know if I’m making any sense to her.
“Six?” Sky whispers. “Is that true?”
Six pulls away from me and looks down. She nods, ashamed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Six looks back up at Sky. “Why didn’t you tell me your name isn’t even Sky?” Six says in defense.

Sky nods her head slowly, understanding that she can’t really blame Six and Six can’t really blame her. We’re all even now. We stand quietly, each of us absorbing everything that’s been revealed.

“Let’s spit on it,” I say. I hold my palm up and spit into my hand. “None of this will ever leave the room.” I hold my hand out between the four of them and urge them to do the same.

“I’m not swapping spit with you,” Sky says with a disgusted look on her face.

Six lifts her eyes to meet mine. “Me, neither,” she says, crinkling up her nose.

I shake my head in confusion. “It’s spit,” I say. “You don’t have a problem sticking your tongue in my mouth, but you won’t touch a little spit with your hand?”

She winces. “That’s different.”

Holder steps forward and holds up his pinky. I laugh at him. “Really, Holder? You want us to pinky swear?”

He glares at me. “I’d like you to know there is nothing wrong with holding pinkies,” he says defensively. “Now wipe the spit off your hand like a man and hold my damn pinky.”

I can’t believe I’m about to pinky swear. What are we, five?

I do what he asks and wipe my hand on my jeans, then we all step toward him. We wrap our pinkies together, and we all look each other in the eyes. No one says a word, because we don’t have to. We all know that no matter what happens, everything we’ve learned about each other tonight will never leave this room.

Once we all release our pinkies, we step back and observe the moment silently. After several minutes of awkwardness, I turn to Six.

“Want to go make out at the park?”
She nods and expels a breath of relief. “Yep.”
Thank God.
I turn to Holder and Sky. “We all still on for dinner at my house tomorrow night?”

Holder nods. “Sure. As long as you tell your dad he’s not allowed to bring up anything embarrassing.”

Has Holder not learned anything from watching me?

“He’s my dad, Holder. If I tell him that, he’d take it as a dare.”

Holder laughs. I step forward and pull him and Sky both in for a hug. I reach my arm behind me and grab Six, pulling her in with us. “Best friends forever,” I tell them. “I love y’all so damn much.”

They all groan and pull away from me. “Go make out with your girlfriend, Daniel,” Holder says.

I wink at Six and push her toward the window.

I know it won’t be tonight, but I’m still curious how long it’ll be before she finally lets me pop her cork.

Nope. Still not sexy enough.

Smash her burger?

Oh God, no.

Plant my flower in her garden?

What the hell, Daniel?

Make love to her?

Yeah. That’s it. That’s the one.

The end. 

Colleen Hoover's new book UGLY LOVE is on sale now! Download or pick up your copy today.