story+2

slightly shaky voice. “Joshua,” Jasper said in an annoyed pleading voice that said, “Come on”. “Joshua, I thought that we already agreed that I was the better fighter that first time we fought. Do you really want a rematch out in public, where everybody will see you get your butt kicked, in front of them? Come on, you know I’m older and stronger. Even if I wasn’t as good a fighter, I’d still have the upper hand.” Jasper said, sounding like it would be as interesting as a chore. “That was a long time ago. I want a rematch.” Joshua said sounding a little surer this time. “Here and now?” Jasper said, finally agreeing to a fight. “No. Tonight on the hill in the park.” Joshua said making it up as he went. “Fine by me.” Jasper said with an edge in his voice. “Mind if we invite some people?” The gang’s leader asked. “Not if you don’t mind being beaten with an audience.” Jasper said very confidently. “Jasper, you wouldn’t really fight your brother, would you?” I asked worriedly. “Be there by five, and make sure your girlfriend doesn’t try to kill anyone with those crutches again.” Joshua said, pushing Jordan towards us. “Okay, we’ll take her crutches, but I can’t promise that it’ll slow her down enough for you guys to be able to defend yourselves. She’s pretty fast and strong so watch out when her ankle is back normal.” Jasper said grinning down at me. Then my crutches were gone. “Hey!” I opposed, as my knees buckled under the unexpected weight. Then somebody caught me, of course I should have known they’d catch me. I looked up to see who had caught me. “Shane, can you warn me when you’re going to take my crutches? You know Rose will kill me if I get grass stains on her latest design. And it doesn’t help healing to have a mad sister complaining about grass stains on her new designs.” I complained. Honestly, my legs were starting to get weak from Shane, Jacob and Jasper carrying me everywhere. Jacob just liked being the one to carrying this time, instead of being carried. Shane and Jasper were just good friends who liked embarrassing me and teasing me. They enjoyed stealing my crutches, so they could carry me around. “Rose-Marie? You’re related to Rose-Marie?” One of the guys asked. “Uh, yeah. If I wasn’t, I would be wearing sweats and a t-shirt. But she doesn’t let me out of the house without one of her ‘designer’ outfits any more.” I said wondering how she became known so quickly around here. “Would you put me down? I got my brother back; I’m not going to bash any more heads with my crutches.” I said getting sick of being carried. “Yes, I would. But even without those crutches you would stand a bit of a threat these boys.” Shane said with a grin. “Which one of you two is she dating? It’s hard to tell when you both flirt so consistently.” Joshua said looking a bit bemused. Then both Shane and Jasper looked at each other, realized that what Joshua said was true, and started glaring at each other. Joshua realized that he had just made an important fact known between the both of them. “Um…” I said, becoming very uncomfortable. Being the source of a feud between friends is always awkward. “I’m not dating anybody. I’m still getting over the damage the last one did to me.” I said trying to kill the silence that had fallen. It worked better than I’d hoped. “That’s something you’ve never told us about.” Shane said finally breaking the glower that had set into his face. “Yeah. He must have been what that poem was about.” Jasper said a frown still set on his face. “That was what had gotten Jeff’s interest on the first day of school. The reason why I got to catch you.” Shane said with a grin spreading across his face. “Yeah…We’re leaving now.” Joshua said looking like he was trying to announce himself sneaking away. But when he turned around to run, Jasper was in front of him. Joshua had already jumped into his first stride, so he ran head-on into Jasper. Jasper caught him in a way that looked oddly familiar. “You aren’t going anywhere. I’ve heard that they get into a lot of trouble with the police.” Jasper said. “No, Jasper. That’s their little leader’s older brother.” Shane said looking very frustrated. “Uh…Either way, you’re coming home.” Jasper said looking a bit ruffled. “No, I’m not!” Joshua yelled as he put up a good struggle. All of a sudden, I was gently set on the ground, and Shane was over next to Jasper. Then, Joshua hooked his foot around Jasper’s knee, and brought it around to throw Jasper off balance, and jerked to the left to knock Jasper over. Jasper landed with a huff from both him and Joshua. But then Joshua shot off toward his escape, and I realized that the other boys were just out of reach, watching to see if he would escape. But then he ran head-on into Shane. Now this, was a useless struggle. I got out my cell phone and called the rest of my siblings over. Then, I got up. I was wobbly, but the doctors always spaced out about minor sprains that healed in about two weeks. Shane and Jasper were closer than my crutches were. So I started wobbling over to them, while they were distracted with trying to contain Joshua. Then Rose showed up with the Violet and Jacob in the backseat of her new car. The van was moms, but she’d finally earned and saved up enough money to buy a new one. A convertible of course, and it was baby blue, her own custom paint job that she’d had done. I knew that had about five seconds till Jacob would reach me, and pick me up. So I tried to wobble over a little faster, but I tripped on a hidden tree root. I was about to fall when somebody caught me. “How many times have you scolded me for going on a bad ankle, and now you’re doing it? Hypocrite.” Jacob said tauntingly. He took me over to Shane, Jasper, and a still struggling Joshua with Violet and Rose next to us; Violet carrying my crutches, Rose carrying a well cooked dinner. Violet’s cooking could win anybody over, whether they wanted to be or not. When the struggling guys smelled the food they looked up to see next page