Once upon a time, a long long time ago, there was a mystic land called the mystical island, this land was home to many fearless creatures big and small. But that's not where our story begins, no, our story begins with a young boy named Eli Smith, Eli was fifteen years old. He lived with his father, Charlie Smith, and younger brother, Luke Smith, you see, the boy's mother died when Luke was born. Eli on the other hand had dark brown hair with brown eyes just like their father, Eli's hair was medium length.

* * *

Eli was walking home from school one snowy winter day when suddenly he was pushed to the ground, Eli turned and saw his bullies Hank, Ben, and Emily Loom. They were triplets and the worst kids in Eli's school.

they had red hair and brown eyes. Emily was wearing a grey sweatshirt with black overalls which had chains on them, along with black sneakers and white ankle socks. Hank was wearing a red sweatshirt with a black leather jacket over the red, along with black ripped jeans and black sneakers paired with white ankle socks. Ben had a grey sweater on with blue jeans and white shoes with black ankle socks.

"What do you guys want?" Eli asked annoyed.

Hank bent down towards Eli and grabbed his white t-shirt, Hank pulled Eli close, "We told you to give us the answers on the quiz, but you didn't."

Eli pushed Hank off of him, "I told you I wasn't going to cheat."

Hank stood up and kicked Eli in the rips, Eli's arms flew to his stomach, and Hank kicked him again. Compared to all the siblings, Hank was the strongest. Ben walked forward and punched Eli in the nose, leaving his nose a bloody mess that started dripping on Eli's shirt. Emily had then decided to join in and kicked Eli as well, soon enough all three siblings were punching and kicking Eli. Eli knew there was nothing he could do to fight back.

* * *

Suddenly Eli heard a voice, "Hey! Leave him alone!".

The three siblings looked up and saw Lucy standing a few feet away from them, anger in her eyes. Lucy was Eli's best friend, she had blonde hair and green eyes, and she was wearing blue jeans with a green long-sleeved shirt.

Ben walked towards Lucy, "Oh yeah? And what do you think you're going to do?" he taunted, and the siblings laughed.

Just then a fist connected with Ben's face, leaving a bruise starting to form.

"Hey!" Ben yelled grabbing his face.

Hank walked towards his brother and swung at Lucy, who ducked and punched Hank in the gut. Hank doubled over in pain.

"Anyone else?" Lucy asked, the three siblings ran away, Lucy ran towards Eli, and helped him up, "Let's get you home."

"Thanks."

* * *

When Eli got home his father, Charlie, immediately looked at his wounds, "Who did this to you?".

"No one, I'm fine," Eli said.

"Don't lie to me," Charlie replied.

"I didn't, I'm fine," Eli repeated.

Charlie looked over at Lucy, "Do you know who did this?".

Lucy shook her head yes, "It was the loom kids again."

Charlie's eyes lit up with anger, "that's it!"

Charlie started walking towards the phone but Eli ran towards his dad, "Dad! It's fine. I don't care. If you call the school it's just going to make it worse!"

"No Eli, it's not fine, they need to know better." Charlie started to dial the school number, "Hello? Yes, this is Charlie Smith, Eli Smith's dad, my son came home today covered in blood, his friend told me that the loom children were responsible for it. Thank you. Goodbye." Charlie replied turning towards his son, "There, all better."

"No, it's not! I can't believe you right now!" Eli yelled, he then stormed up to his room.

"I'm going to head home, bye Mr. Smith," Lucy said, she then made her way out of the house.

* * *

After Eli ran up the stairs he ran into his bedroom and slammed his door, he walked over to his bed plopped down, and screamed into his pillow. Just then Eli heard his bedroom door open and he turned around and saw his ten-year-old younger brother, Luke, standing there. Luke was wearing a red and black striped long-sleeve shirt, with black pants, white shoes, and socks. He had short blonde hair and blue eyes, like their mother.

"What do you want?" Eli complained looking up at his bedroom's grey ceiling.

"I'm bored, will you play a game with me?" Luke asked.

"Depends. What do you want to play?" Eli replied.

"Pokemon?" Luke asked hopeful, he was holding up a handful of Pokemon cards.

Eli sighed, rolled over, and sat up, "fine, but just a few rounds."

"Yes! Thank you!" Luke ran over and hugged his older brother, he then ran out to grab the rest of the Pokemon cards.

* * *

A few seconds later Luke ran back and had a big brown, cardboard box in his hands, Luke sat down on the ground and opened the box, the box filled to the top with Pokemon cards. Eli joined his brother on the ground.

"You're obsessed with this game," Eli commented smirking at his brother.

Luke stopped setting the game up and stared at Eli who just greatly offended him.

"Shut up! I am not. I just like it." Luke paused, "Besides, You're the one obsessed with Catherine."

"Shut up," Eli replied.

Eli hit his younger brother on the arm, Luke then decided to tackle Eli, and soon enough the boys were wrestling.

"Get off of me, short stack," Eli yelled.

"Bite me, dorky," Luke yelled back.

After a couple more minutes of back and forth name calling the boy's father came into the room.

"What is going on?" Charlie asked, crossing his arms.

"Eli hit me and then I tackled him," Luke explained nonchalantly.

"Ah, I see. Well, when you two monkeys stop messing around, you can come join me for dinner." Charlie replied.

Immediately both boys ran down the stairs.

* * *

Once Charlie had made his way down the stairs everyone started to eat the spaghetti Charlie had made. there were meatballs with breadsticks, parsley topping the red sauce spaghetti along with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Luke moved his hand to steal Eli's breadstick but Eli slapped Luke's hand away.

"Hey, don't hit your brother," Charlie ordered.

"He tried stealing my food!" Eli argued.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Enough!" Charlie snapped, "Both of you behave."

The boys quieted down and just continued eating until there was a knock on the door. Charlie got up as both brothers looked at each other. When Charlie opened the door standing on the other side of it was one of Charlie's coworkers, Melinda.

Melinda had dark black hair along with brown eyes, she was wearing black pants with a white sweater, along with a black coat and black boots.

"Melinda? What are you doing here?!" Charlie asked.

"Hi Charlie, I'm so sorry to barge in here like this but my car broke down right outside, and the tow company won't be here till an hour, so I was hoping I could stay here until," Melinda explained.

Charlie opened the door wide, "Of course, come on in, we still have some spaghetti if you want some."

"Oh thank you," Melinda said.

"Here, let me take your coat." Charlie grabbed Melinda's coat and put it on the coat rack, "Boys, this is Melinda, my coworker."

Eli gave his brother a knowing look, "coworker huh?" Eli asked raising an eyebrow.

Melinda sat down next to Eli as Charlie scooped some spaghetti on a plate for her. Charlie handed Melinda her plate and then sat down next to Melinda and Luke.

"So, Melinda, what do you do at my dad's work?" Luke asked.

"I'm the receptionist, so I sit at a desk welcoming people who come in,"

The boy's father worked at a business place as a manager, so luckily the family never had to worry about money. They had spent the rest of the dinner eating and talking.

* * *

they finished eating and put their dishes in the sink, Melinda had gotten a notification that the tow truck would be two hours late so they all decided to watch a movie, they turned on Big Hero Six and sat down. Luke had fallen asleep during the movie so Eli carried him upstairs into bed.

While downstairs Melinda got another notification.

"Ugh! They won't be here till ten tomorrow!"

"Hey, if you want I can take you home." Charlie offered,

"Could you? Oh, that would be great Charlie, let me get my things!" Melinda said.

Melinda ran off to get her things when Eli came back down the stairs.

"Hey Eli, I'm gonna go quickly drop Melinda off at her house," Charlie told him.

"Okay." Eli said, "And dad?"

"Yes?" Charlie asked.

"I know you like her," Eli whispered.

"I do not," Charlie spoke, his voice raising a pitch up, which he always does when lying.

"You do too, and I'm okay with it. So is Luke," Charlie was confused so Eli explained, "he woke up once I got him in bed and I asked him how he would feel about it and he said he would love for Melinda to be a part of our family,"

"Are you guys sure?" Charlie asked.

"Sure are," Eli answered.

Just then Melinda came back in the room, "I'm ready to go, goodnight Eli."

"Bye Melinda," Eli replied, waving with one hand as he closed the door.

Melinda and Charlie made their way to the car in the snow that was slowly starting to fall. They got into the car and drove off.

Eli made his way up to his room and went on his phone. He texted Lucy.

'Guess what.' Eli texted.

'What?' Lucy texted back.

'My dad has a crush.' Eli replied.

'Omg! Who?'

'Her name's Melinda, you should've seen the chemistry!' Eli texted back.

'How do you feel about it?" Lucy asked.

'Fine, so does Luke. I think My dad is going to ask her out tonight.' Eli texted.

'Oooh, well I wish him luck, but it's late and I should go to bed, goodnight!'

'night.'

Eli turned his phone off and went to bed. It was around two a.m. when Charlie arrived back home. Charlie made his way up the stairs and climbed into bed, he then drifted into a deep sleep.

author note: one chapter will be posted a week, enjoy!