Chapter 3:

Beckinsile's Point of View

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I miraculously survived marketing and history with both Danika and Oliver. Now I'm practically flying towards French. Madame Rousseau is sitting behind her desk with her wire rimmed glasses perching on the end of her nose. She has a textbook spread out in front of her and an attendance sheet in her hands. Madame Rousseau has been teaching at the school for almost forty years. She's about seventy and has gray hair that she always keeps tucked away in a neat bun. Her face is taut and emotionless. Madame Rousseau usually wears suits and is a no nonsense teacher. Most students, even the bad ones, respect her. I've taken French with her since freshmen year so she knows me by name.

"Hello Beckinsile," Madame Rousseau nods in my direction as I take a seat in the very front row.

I pull out a notebook and wait for the bell to ring. "Please let me have one class without Oliver," I think to myself as somebody plops down in the seat next to me.

"Beckinsile, fancy seeing you again."

"Please kill me now," I mumble and bring my head up to face the person sitting next to me.

"Can't do that love; if I killed you than I could never annoy you with my original insult."

"You've come up with an original insult already? I'm impressed, Olly pop." I applaud him silently.

"Very funny, Becks. When I do come up with one though, you will never hear the end of it; that's a promise." Oliver holds out his pinky for mine.

I lock my pinky with his and smirk a little. He'll never come up with anything that I haven't heard before. Madame Rousseau takes attendance and for once there is not a snicker when my name is called. I'm sure if someone had snickered she would've scared the living daylights out of them.

After attendance, Madame Rousseau begins reviewing what we were supposed to have learned last year with us. She makes us conjugate verbs in various tenses and watch vocab videos. It's boring but at least I've learned something. The bell rings in the middle of a vocab video and the class seems relieved to leave. I walk quickly trying to lose Oliver but that doesn't work out very well.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to get rid of me." Oliver smirks.

"You can't take a hint, can you?" I say in a teasing tone.

"Oh Beckinsile," Oliver shakes his head. I cringe at the sound of my full name.

I don't think anyone has ever said it that much in one day; not even my parents.

"I guess there's no need for me to come up with an annoying insult. The sound of your full name gets on your nerves enough." Oliver has a teasing gleam in his eyes.

"You are the only person who's said my full name this many times in one day." I shake my head and walk towards the front doors of the school.

I plop down on the curb and wait for Ed to come pick me up. It's become a tradition since Ed got his license last year. He'd pick me up and I'd let him hang out at my house after school every day and eat any of our food. It works well.

I watch Gabe walk up to his car surrounded by his friends and some blonde chick. My brother's taste in women is lacking by most standards. Most every girl he brings home has an IQ of below zero in my opinion. Sometimes it's a miracle that the girl can even breathe. My brother is obviously not one to pick girls for their intelligence or personality. A lot of the time the girls are so dumb it's laughable and believe me I have laughed at them. Gabe gets in his car and the blonde chick follows him in, taking the shotgun seat. "Nate's going to have a fit when he gets picked up." I chuckle to myself. Gabe cups the girls face in his hand and begins to kiss her. I make gagging noises and for a short period of time I think I might actually throw up.

"You okay, Becks?" Oliver looks down at me with a smirk.

"I can't believe I'm related to whatever's driving that car." I shake my head in an exasperated way.

"You're related to Gabe Williams? That guy's a legend." Oliver gushes and I give him a pointed look.

"Oh right, he's terrible. I'm so sorry you're related to him. It must suck having such a popular..." Oliver's voice trails off.

"He's my twin brother." I say with slight annoyance.

"What's so wrong with being related to him? I mean if you're willing to say." Oliver looks at me seriously.

"Well, I'm the only girl in my family besides my mom and I'm stuck with two Gabes because my younger brother wants to be exactly like him. Gabe brings home really dumb girls and always expects me to cover for him when he misses curfew or gets in trouble. I guess he just gets on my nerves like any sibling would." I sigh as Oliver plops down next to me.

"Do you have any siblings?" I turn my gaze towards him.

"Yeah, I have an older sister and an older brother but they're both out of the house so I'm an only child at the moment."

"That sounds amazing. Sometimes I wish I was an only child." I fold my hands into my lap.

"No you don't. Your siblings may get on your nerves but once their gone you feel empty. The house is always really quiet and you're lonely as hell." Oliver stares dead ahead.

"I guess you're probably right." I say as the atmosphere becomes quiet.

"I better go." Oliver stands up and pulls a helmet out of his backpack.

"Thanks for waiting with me." I give Oliver a genuine smile which he returns.

He zips up his hooded leather jacket and walks off towards a black Harley. Oliver straddles the bike and turns the key. The bike sputters to life and I watch as he speeds out of the parking lot.

The sound of a car horn brings me back to reality. Ed is sitting in the driver's seat and I slide into the shotgun seat.

"Where the heck have you been?" I shout at him over the blaring stereo.

"Had to visit a teacher."

"On the first day of school?" I stare at him incredulously.

"Yep; I'm amazing." Ed taps his fingers on the steering wheel as we leave the parking lot.

"How did you manage to piss off a teacher on the first day of school?" I smirk at Ed as we pass the middle school building.

"Oh you know me, Becks. My conversation was just a lot more interesting than the teacher's lecture. He catches me and I sass mouth him. It was epic until I got detention." Ed chuckles as we pull into my driveway.

"Edward Sheeran, can't you save your antics for the second day of school? I think I'm going to have to punish you." I smirk at him.

"How do you plan to do that, mom?" Ed pulls the key out of the ignition.

I fling open my door and fumble around my bag for my house key. I pull it out and run up to the front door. I open the screen door and keep it open with my foot as I turn the key. The front door opens soundlessly and I walk through behind Ed. He spends so much time here he could practically call it home. Ed slips off his shoes and walks to the kitchen as if he's lived here his whole life. I follow after him and open up a cabinet. I stare at its contents, hoping something appetizing will pop out at me. Ed has already found a snack and is sitting at the breakfast bar. I pull out a small bag of popcorn and join him. Ed and I are forced to eat in the kitchen because my mom is OCD about how her living room looks and would probably shoot me if something got on her prize sofa. After finishing our snacks we try to think of something fun to do.

"You want to binge watch crime shows on Netflix?" I wiggle my eyebrows at Ed, enticing him to give in to my whims.

"I guess," Ed follows me to the living room.

I knew it wouldn't take much to get Ed to binge watch TV with me, especially if it was crime dramas. I turn on the TV and enter my Netflix password. My most watched shows come up and I select a crime drama. The theme song begins playing as I sink into the suede of my mother's sofa.

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I bet we've watched at least five episodes by the time my mom comes home from work. Gabe had come home but only to drop Nate off before leaving again. He probably has some huge party to go to and won't be home until 1 A.M just like every night last summer. I'd invited Nate to come watch with us but he refused; I guess he's too cool to hang with his older sister anymore.

"How long have you two been sitting on that couch?" My mom laughs as she drops her keys on the kitchen table and hangs her coat up in the closet.

"Hours," I mumble as the cops on the show chase after a suspect.

"You should've gone outside and done something. It was a beautiful day." My mom gives me a smile as she searches the kitchen for ingredients with which to make dinner.

"I'm allergic to sunlight," I mumble with a slight smirk as the cops finally catch the suspect and cuff him.

"I'm mother to a vampire. I think I need to get some garlic and holy water ASAP. I'm seriously fearing for my life," My mom chuckles as she pulls out some meat sauce from the freezer.

"How does spaghetti sound, Becky?" My mom dumps the sauce into a pan and turns the stove on.

My stomach growls at the thought of it.

"Sounds great, Mother dearest." I call as the end credits begin rolling.

"Ed, would you like to stay for dinner?" My mom directs her gaze at Ed, who looks up from the TV and rubs his eyes.

"I'd love to Mrs. Williams but my parents were expecting me to come home for dinner; some other time definitely." Ed smiles politely and gets up from the couch.

I stand up with him and walk him to the door.

"Same time tomorrow, Detective Williams?"

"Same time tomorrow, Deputy Sheeran." I salute him and watch as he walks over to his car and slips inside.

A few seconds later, he speeds out of my driveway and down the street. I walk back inside with a small smile and shut the door. I can smell my mom's cooking as I make my way down the hallway. Nate has already stolen the TV. I groan as he switches to a hockey game.

"You have had the TV all afternoon." My mom gives me a meaningful look. I return it, grab my bag and walk upstairs to my room.

I sink into my plush comforter and pull a purple throw pillow close to my body. I'm about to fall asleep when my phone buzzes with an incoming message. I roll off my bed and pull my phone out of my bag. The banner says the text is from Gabe. Won't be home until late, can you cover for me?

"No surprise there," I think to myself as I unlock my phone.

You owe me big time, Gabriel. Your arse is covered for now. I press send and groan.

"Why have I been cursed with the inability to say no? Nothing good will come from me covering for him. I'll be stuck with the guilt and the worry and what's worse is that he'll keep doing it." I shove a pillow in my face and scream.

"Dinnertime, Becky!" My mother calls and I can hear the rest of my family, aside from Gabe, shuffling around downstairs to get to the table.

I try to think of an excuse as to why Gabe isn't present but nothing comes to me as I sit down at the table. My mom has already set the table and has food at each and every place except Gabe's.

"Do you know where your brother is?" My mom says in a level tone.

She doesn't like it when someone misses family dinner. I hate having to lie to my parents, especially when the someone I'm lying about doesn't deserve it. Nate gives me a look as if he already knows where Gabe is but doesn't want to say either.

"He's at a friend's house." I say which isn't a complete lie.

I bite my lip, hoping she'll buy it. My parents shrug and start asking us about our days.

"So Becky how was your day?" My mom twirls some spaghetti around her fork but her gaze remains on me.

"It was fine. People made fun of my name every time it was called." I stare down at my spaghetti with a forlorn look.

My mom knows the joking about my name upsets me but she always thought at some point it would end; which it didn't. She knows I blame her for the constant insults even though I love her. The conversation quickly moves onto Nate.

"Nate, sweetheart, how was your day?" My mom coos and looks at Nate, expecting him to continue the conversation.

"It was fine," Nate mumbles.

My mom looks disappointed that the conversation ended so quickly but moves on to ask my father about his day.