Prologue

Shawn's pov

This is it, we are in our home.

Gosh, I can't believe I'm in this house. It feels so weird. It's a big 3-story home empty. It's really pretty and so much better than what we had before but I don't know, I don't know what to feel.

I've never moved in my life, yeah, I've always lived in the same little cozy house and the same town but now I'm in an entirely new house and a new town.

Oh well, now I know what it feels like. I'm undecided about whether I like it or not.

I've always liked my old town, I used to be super close to other members of my family and my parent's friends like my aunt and my cousins but as they are getting older they are all busy with University and their own lives. So, I don't have much left back there. Though, I'll miss them for sure.

But even if starting anew seems appealing it really is not. I hate it when all attention is on me and I am sure that is exactly what is gonna happen at my new school.

I'm happy my dad got a big promotion but did it have to be in a city hours away?

I wish I was more optimistic about this like my dad instead of indifferent but I just don't feel the heart to for some reason.

I just don't know what to expect. Am I gonna like it here, as much as I did back home? I have no clue. It's a big change after all.

I jump slightly once I hear the front door open right behind me.

"Hey, I don't know what you're thinking about but you should defo look at your face! It's hilarious!" What kind of face am I making this time?

Oh yeah, my twin. No, I do not live all alone with my dad but sometimes I wish. Gosh, Jasper's so annoying but I still like them.

Yeah, I have a twin Jasper and they could not be more different than me. Geez, they are so optimistic about moving out that it's crazy. It's even more than Dad which is kinda surprising. Where did they find the heart to be this optimistic? I just don't.

Anyways, we look similar because we're twins but we're not identical. I mean it's basically impossible when they were born biologically a girl. I hate thinking about that as much as Jasper hates it but even I can't hide that fact, especially when everyone keeps pointing that out. Regardless, we don't even have the same eye colour or hair colour but you can still tell we're siblings.

Honestly, Jasper has always been way cooler than me even if my dad likes to deny it. I've always been in Jasper's shadow even if everyone likes to deny it.

I mean look at Jasper. Jasper is this cool person who just makes you smile, even when I'm mad at them I can't help but smile at their dumb jokes and trust me it's happened multiple times in the past.

Looks wise, Jasper is quite the look, I mean my dad loves to say so. Jasper has dirty blond hair with dark blue highlights that are cut short, shorter than mine. Jasper's hair is so messy you can't pinpoint what kind of hairstyle it is. Regardless, unlike me, Jasper inherited the devilish blue eyes of my dad. I just have boring brown eyes, just brown.

At least I have an advantage over Jasper, I'm taller. They are only 5.4 ft. Yet they always find a way to be superior to me and tease me.

"Hello? Earth to Shawn? Have you finally lost your mind?" They smirk and there is no way I'm letting them go with this one.

"Oh come on, I'm totally sane. I was busy thinking."

"Yeah right, thinking." They tease.

"I swear I'm totally sane. You're the one I should be worried about."

"Nah, I'm fine. I've lost my sanity ages ago." They exaggerate.

"Yeah, agreed."

We hear the door and I almost expect Satan herself but luckily it's just our dad with more boxes to move in the house.

"Hey, you two. What are you doing standing in front of the door? We still have more stuff to unpack."

"Right..."

"Come on, I just want to take a break," Jasper whines.

"No, we still have things to move in the house, we don't have the truck the whole day."

"So annoying."

"What did you say, Jasmine?" Oh no, Dad is mad. He hates it when Jasper gives attitude but he uses Jasper's dead name. That's not going to be good.

"Did you just call me Jasmine?" Jasper says dead seriously.

"Yes? That is your name. Don't start to change the subject to get out of this."

"Stop changing the subject? You expect me to show you some respect but you can't give some in return."

"I asked nicely, I don't understand why you are making such a big fuss about this."

"Are you kidding me?!" Jasper yells out entirely appalled.

Geez, I need to put an end to that or else they'll argue for hours.

"Hey, let's just go take more things. Dad's right, we need to unpack ASAP. This talk can wait later." Jasper glares slightly at me but gives up.

"At least I still have a kid to count on," Dad says in relief.

"Hey, what about Alice? I haven't seen her in a while."

"Oh, you didn't see her? She went to unpack and decorate in her room."

"Wait what? How did I not see her?"

"I don't know dude. You were so busy thinking that you forgot reality." Jasper says.

"Wow, ok. I didn't think it was that bad."

"Enough with this chit-chat, go pick up some boxes."

"Yes, Dad."

——————-

For the rest of the day, we continued to unpack things and now most is done. Before dinner, I've decided to head to my new room.

I go up the stairs and find myself in a hallway with a few doors.

All of the doors have nothing on them except one door, the door that says no one allowed. Of course, that's Alice. She's something else.

Yeah, I have two siblings, Jasper and Alice.

While I'm close to Jasper, it's not so much the case with Alice. I don't hate her but she's getting at the age where she's distancing herself from us. I did the same when I was her age but she's extra. She's such a mini-boss that it's frightening. Not even my parents can get through her and she's 12. She thinks she owns us or something.

She's always been bossy but it's more frightening the older she gets. I don't know if it's because she's the youngest or something but she needs to relax sometimes.

Regardless, Jasper and I call her Satan. She's basically a mini demon. Despite her frightening attitude, she's tiny. She's not even 5 ft but I think she'll remain small forever and she's light as a feather.

With how tiny she is, I should not be scared of her and honestly, I'm not but the way she can easily command is creepy so she'll remain Satan for now.

Through, she looks nothing like Jasper and I. She was adopted as a baby, so she's lived her entire life with us.

Her origins are Indian, so she has beautiful dark tan skin and long black hair. Yes, she keeps it long and I don't know what she does with it but it's so shiny I swear. I wish I had her hair. At least she has brown eyes like me and it's dark too.

My parents tried to show her the Indian culture in the past but she doesn't seem to like it for some reason.

So, she looks Indian but she has completely absorbed our culture.

Anyways, Alice is not my concern right now. Getting in my new room for the first time is.

Ok, I already went in to put some stuff but it doesn't count.

I open the door next to the bathroom and find all my packed stuff in the room.

There's already my bed frame and the mattress thanks to my dad but I need to make my bed.

Everything feels so empty minus the boxes and bags.

It feels so different from my old room. It's bigger but I guess once I unpack my stuff and decorate it, I'll be more like me, yeah probably.

I start taking some of my stuff and start unpacking. I also start putting up my keyboard. Yeah, I play the piano, though my parents had to get rid of the big piano because we had to move, at least, I still have my keyboard.

I unpack quite a bit but there is still some of my stuff that hasn't been placed yet.

Though, it isn't for long before I hear my Dad yell that dinner is ready.

Gosh, first dinner in our new house...weird.

I get out of my room and come downstairs.

Already compared to earlier, it's less empty. There's a couch not too far from the stairs and a few tables.

Even if it's that, I walk into the dining room. I didn't expect my parents to assemble the table today but I guess it did. There was no way we wouldn't eat together, Dad's favourite time of the day.

"Hey, how's your room? Do you like it?" My dad asks.

I sit down on a chair in front of my Dad.

"Yeah, I like the big window and the sunlight coming through, it's pretty."

"Glad to know. Ready for tomorrow?"

"Dad, don't remind me about school."

"Oh come on, aren't you at least a bit excited? You'll be the new kid and grade 11 too, next year you'll be a senior."

"Not really, being the new kid sucks."

"Same"

Jasper comes in the dining area and sits down next to me.

"Wow, I thought you'd be on board with me."

"I mean it's a bit exciting but literally no one likes being the new kid."

"Ok, ok. Got it, being the new kid sucks."

"You two, Brandon? Don't bring the kids' hope down."

My other dad gets out of the kitchen.

"Hey, I'm not a kid," Alice says irritated.

"Yeah, yeah." Jasper pretends they agree smiling and Alice glares at them but it gets interrupted by my dad Brandon.

"I mean they're kinda right."

"No, you two will be just fine and by the way don't forget you have to wear your uniforms."

"Uniforms really?" Jasper protests.

"Uniforms? It's so ew." Alice says disgusted.

I almost forgot about that. I was willing to accept the change but uniforms? As far as I'm aware, it's not a private school. Well, that won't be fun.

"Don't tell me you three forgot about that."

"But why do the schools in this city have to have uniforms?" I ask.

"I'm glad they do actually. It's gonna be a nice change. Besides, the bullying was getting out of hand and everyone wearing the same thing will be a good thing." My other dad looks straight at Jasper and Alice.

I get that, Jasper used to be bullied a bit, while Satan herself, of course, to no surprise to everybody was a bully, though she totally still is.

"Seriously, you don't think uniforms are a bit too much? Which school needs uniforms anyway?" My dad Brandon says.

"Brandon, I thought we agreed on this."

Wait, why are they talking about this in front is us? I get we're older but still, I don't want to hear that.

"I know but can we all agree uniforms suck?"

"Yes" We all say in unison except my other dad.

"Seriously you guys. Uniforms are not that bad. You'll learn to like it. It's just a piece of clothing."

"Yeah, yeah, as if, it's literally an attack to freedom," Jasper says.

"Yeah, I don't want to look like trash," Alice says.

"Yeah, it kinda is an attack on freedom." I agree too.

Just thinking about it makes me remember the argument Jasper had with my other dad on it about not wanting to wear a skirt for the uniform. In the end, Jasper won their case and they will be wearing the pants just like me. I bet other girls will do the same, time has changed.

"I get that you're all used to wearing your own clothes but in this new town things are different, you'll have to get used to it just like I did in high school."

And there we go, my dad has wandered into his memories and won't stop talking about it.

Yeah, my other dad is a bit old school and it's a bit annoying, but just the fact I have two dads balances that out.

Regardless, we start eating and at least our dad Brandon seems on board with us, as he winks. Sometimes I wonder how he puts off with Dad.

I know their story by heart but I can't help it.

As obvious as it is now, I have two dads.

There's my dad Brandon and my dad Garrett. I both call them dad and sometimes it is a bit confusing but we got used to it over time. We all know how to differentiate.

My dad Brandon has almost completely gray hair, same with his beard and my dad Garrett's dirty blond hair is slowly turning into gray. I don't know how considering my dad Garrett is 57 and my dad Brandon is 52.

My dad, Brandon originally had chestnut brown hair, which is a bit of a darker shade than mine, but I don't have his devilish blue eyes, I have the dark brown eyes of my dad Garrett. While, Jasper has the blond hair from my dad Garrett, well technically my aunt but oh well.

Through, sometimes I look more similar to my dad Garrett because we both wear glasses but his is probably due to his eyesight getting worse as he gets older. He didn't wear glasses for the first few years of my life and the same thing in his photos when he was younger.

For the longest time, I had hopes I would be as tall as my dad Brandon but no, I'm just slightly taller than my dad Garrett. Yeah, no 6ft for me, I'm just a 5.10 ft guy.

I believe Jasper and I are a fair mix of our parents but personality-wise, Jasper definitely takes after my dad Brandon and I'm more like my dad Garrett, albeit different.

Anyway, they have quite the story but you won't hear it from me, you can ask them instead, I'm sure Dad Garrett will love to tell everything about it.

Regardless, other than the fact I have two dads, my dads are quite old. They aren't in their forties even if they act like it. They are in their fifties.

We have been questioned on it in the past but it's fine, most people accept it since they are a gay couple.

The truth is, Jasper and I were born via surrogacy thanks to my aunt.

My parents could have had kids way before but apparently, my dad Brandon wasn't ready to be a dad, heck, he didn't want to be a dad before. Yeah, he told me that and I'm dead meat if I say that to my dad Garrett.

So, yeah they had us old.

Through, for the longest time, I was confused about Alice.

I've always been told that they are proud we are both biologically related to them but Alice is adopted.

For the longest time, they just said they wanted us to have a younger sibling and be a complete family and that my aunt Amanda was too old to have another kid, which is true but still didn't make sense.

It wasn't until a few years ago, that my dad Brandon told me that they wanted another kid but not via surrogacy. Apparently, my dad Garrett was interested in adopting but my dad Brandon was not keen on it. However, they concluded that they would adopt a baby.

That still confuses me that my dad Brandon agreed but oh well, he's quite the surprise, you never know what he's thinking.

Even if moving into a new house feels weird so far, it's not that bad.

Now I just dread tomorrow. It's back to school and for the first time in my life, I'll be the new kid, at least Jasper will be too but still...

I don't know what to expect for tomorrow. I've always been a bit of a nerd who plays piano. I've always kept a low profile in my old town and I hope to do the same in this new school too but I don't know.

Then, there's Jasper. I'm sure they'll like Jasper even if they have a grudge style. It's Jasper's chance to start anew and I hope it goes well for them.

I just hope tomorrow is gonna be fine and I'll survive as the new kid in that new school.