Auriella Everleigh Soleil

When we arrived back at the houses two brand new identical ranger rovers were sitting in each driveway, both black with tinted windows. I knew they were both fully bulletproof and fireproof and had more modifications than necessary. The vehicle was made integrated with the technology that Xander and I had designed into the system of the car making it completely different from any other cars on Earth.

"Are those your cars?" Eleanor questions trying to figure out whether they're ours or if she had visitors.

"They're ours." Xander confirms, moving the door of his boot which opened when he put his fingerprint on the handle. When he opens it a couple of boxes and suitcases we weren't able to bring filled them. We had brought clothes and our necessities with us but these were filled files for work, computers, tech we were working on and blueprints for projects. He grabs two suitcases pulling them out and I grab some of the boxes from his car, following him. Eleanor opened the door for us faster . We declined her help. I set the boxes on the floor and looked around Xander's room for the first time. It had navy blue walls with a white bedspread and light wood floors that were covered with a rug that matched the colour of the wall. It takes us three trips to take everything of Xander's up before we start on my car which had my stuff. It takes us another three trips to take my stuff up, luckily Nicholas had remembered to give me a key before we left this morning. When we were done I had packed everything away. The only thing I had changed in the room was clearing one wall and setting up a projector. I also set up a small camera in that wall in case I used my projector for video calls or working like I sometimes chose to do.

An hour later we joined Eleanor for lunch who had made chicken burgers. "I spoke to Nathaniel earlier about what he likes and doesn't and he mentioned your allergies but are there any foods you chose not to eat?" I tried not to cringe, I struggled a bit with a number of foods. It wasn't that I was picky, I just couldn't deal with some of the textures and smells.

"I prefer simpler foods, I don't mean without flavour or spice but foods that I can see what's in them or separated. I don't mean to be fussy or anything but I'd prefer if I had my rice there, the chicken there and my vegetables there." I demonstrate.

Eleanor nods, but I feel guilt even saying it. I know it's an inconvenience. "I do plates like that for Ezra." Elanor tells me. "From what I can tell you eat and have a similar mindset to him. I cook a lot for your siblings, your parents often work late or are on business trips and I don't mind feeding a lot of you so I just wanted to check. Do either of you like cooking?"

"Nonna Valentina would have disowned me if I didn't." Xander scoffs.

"No she wouldn't have, your grandmother adores you, she would have disowned your father for being a bad influence." I laugh and he nods in agreement. "You should let Nate make you his homemade lasagna, he made his pasta from scratch and it's amazing." I boast.

"We'll have to try it one day of you don't mind." She smiles at him, he looks hesitant for a couple of seconds.

"Please?" I pout and he rolls his eyes and agrees making me smirk and I turn he flicks me softly on the cheek.

"I'll cook if you bake?" He bargains.

I shrug accepting the deal, it worked out for the both of us.

"You remind me of your father and I when we were in highschool." She smiles softly watching our interaction.

"You didn't grow up here did you?" I ask and she shakes her head. Her accent was different to everyone else's. "How did the two of you meet then?"

"I moved here when I was about your age, Everleigh. When I was sixteen from New York City, James was a cocky athlete. We hated each other at first, but then we got paired for some project together and we slowly started getting along. I used to help him babysit his little brother then he asked me to prom and then to be his girlfriend and eventually to marry him and the rest is history."

"You really love each other." Xander comments, truly meaning it. "Do you miss New York? We've been there quite a couple of times and it's a completely different atmosphere to what you have here, more like what we're used to."

"It was definitely a massive change at first but I think I like it quite a bit here, and my sister and some of my family still lives up there so we visit a couple times a year." She answers. "How many times have you been there?"

"Quite a couple." Xander shrugs. "It's not too long of a flight so Riah, Ev's dad used to take us on day trips when he had to fly there."

"And the passengers didn't mind?"

"He did more private transportation, if a business man needed some secret file or something he didn't want other people getting their hands on from one country to another they used to ask my dad, he used to fly them over."

"So you've been to a lot of countries." I nodded, that was an understatement. "How often did you travel?"

"I did more than Nate, a lot of the time it was only Papa and I. But I went at least once or twice a week. Our school was very flexible in the sense that I can submit my work from anywhere and they have all classes online but you still have to have a certain number of classes in person."

"Mrs Chester mentioned something, but I didn't bring it up, about how you're both still enrolled in your old school?"

"The school we went to offers classes right from preschool through university, so even though we are here for the school year we can still choose to do classes online and they count our lessons at your high school for our hours for the year, but it doesn't matter anyway because we've done all the compulsory hours at school for the year." Xander explains.

"Why don't you just do the regular classes at the highschool, won't it be easier?"

"Maybe, but RCA, or school offers more of a variety of classes suited for us, like Ev likes learning languages so she's doing a Persian course, and it isn't too much pressure, it's work at your own pace unless you're really not performing then the school will step in."

"That sounds pretty nice." Eleanor acknowledges.

I nod. "It is, they are especially accommodating to learning disabilities, our families have been going there for generations."

"It's so weird the thought of you both having separate families." We hear from behind us, we all turn our heads to face the older version of my boyfriend's comment, having been listening to our conversation. James takes a seat at the table we all sat, helping himself to the lunch we had now finished. "What are they like?"

"Do you want to know?" Xander asks, it was already a slightly awkward subject. When the question is confirmed I decide to start. They aren't necessarily my family so it shouldn't bring up any feelings just yet.

"Well, most of my family lives in France except for a few of my cousins. There's like some sort of genetic story that makes sure that there are only males born. My father is the youngest of six boys and between his five older brothers they have twelve boys. I'm the youngest out of them and obviously the only girl."

James looks amused at my tale. "They either hate you or adore you, huh?"

"They spoil her rotten, her grandparents, aunts and uncles who would have done anything for a girl and especially her dad." Xander cuts in. "Riah used to throw fits, saying she was his daughter and they should adopt their own."

"Why didn't they?" Eleanor asks. "If they seem like they want more girls?"

"It's not that simple." I shrug. "We haven't hidden that we come from money, but you don't know the extent. Both of us were adopted into old money families, the types of families that consider a couple hundred thousand dollars pocket change. My father and Nate's were surprise babies, they are years younger than their siblings and were kept out of the private eyes unlike the rest of their siblings who are often harassed by paparazzi. My cousins have to constantly watch over their shoulders. The supposed girl would have to have bodyguards on her twenty-four seven, at risk of getting kidnapped all the time for ransom, it wouldn't be worth it to put someone's life at risk like that. My dad has done everything to make sure I'm not leaked to the public."

"Would we recognise them?"

"Ev's family have hotels and resorts in America but my family hasn't ventured here yet." Xander shrugs at the same time my phone darts ringing.

"I think we summoned them." I whisper but they all hear me. Atlas's name flashes across my screen but calculating the time back home I'm guessing they are all having dinner together. "I'm going to go back to my room and take this call since they'll probably keep me for a while. Thank you for lunch, Eleanor, it was delicious."

"Your welcome, dear. Have a nice time on your call."

I smile at her, leaving the room through the back door and taking the path back to my current home. I answer the call, connecting it to my earphones and smile hearing the chatter

"Shh, she answered."

"Salut." I greet, a smile forming on my face hearing the various greetings. All of my cousins were connected together on this call for our Friday night catch-up, even though it wasn't night for me yet.

"Hey Sunshine." Atlas's deep voice greets me. Out of all my cousins, he and I have always been the closest despite him being six years older than me. His voice both simultaneously grounds me and makes me extremely homesick. I swallowed the thick lump that had formed in my throat. Sure, I travelled extremely often but I knew I was going to be home within a few days or weeks but this didn't have a date. "How's it going?"

"It's fine, we're settling." So much had happened it didn't feel like I had been here for just under twenty-four hours.

I was drained.

I sat sketching designs on my bed listening to the endless banter contributing every now and again making sure to get my opinion heard, which half always seemed to agree with me and the other half didn't and they made sure to voice their opinions.

"Okay, but you spoil movies by your predictions, Elle. You seem to always guess them exactly." Roland points out.

"Not my fault movies are predictable, and besides it's not my fault I see all the details you idiots are too dumb to process."

"You little brat."

"Oi." We hear through someone's phone making us all freeze. It didn't matter how far away we were, Lola Marisol's voice would always freeze us into submission. Having raised six of them and helped with the rest of us, the small woman knew how to command a room with a single look and nobody ever wanted to get on the wrong side of her. "Are you bullying my granddaughter, Roland Auguste Soleil?"

"No, Lola." He states at the exact same time as I reply with. "Ouais, Lola. They always bully me."

(yeah)

"We do not." Jaques defends them, his smooth French accent mixing into his English. They don't, all of us including my grandmother, know this, but it's fun riled them up. It's my source of entertainment.

"Do too." I taunt, like the loving little cousin I am. Lola smacks the back of Sylvian, Lucien and Romeo's heads in my defence, the three who are currently in her house.

"I love you, Lola."

"Love you too, darling girl." She smiles at me, with a smile completely opposite to the look she had just given the boys.

"It is completely not fair to have a favourite." Luis grumbles as she disappears from the screen.

"Isn't it, I'm the one with a boyfriend. The one that is most likely going to give her great-grandchildren first." That was a lie, even though I was in a relationship I was not having kids for maybe a decade.

"No you're not." Romeo grumbles and all my cousins make their agreements heard. They didn't like me having a boyfriend and often terrorised Alexander but I knew they all secretly approved of him.

I hear the front door open and close again, the tenth time since I had been back, proving there are more people in the house now making me groan.

"What's wrong, Rory?" Luis asks.

"This is going to sound a little silly." I warn and I can already hear the smile forming on their faces. They were so going to tell they were going to tease me about this for ages. "Some of my siblings are home from school and I feel awkward going down there to fill my water bottle but I'm thirsty." I rolled my eyes hearing the laughter I knew would come. "This is the exact reason I don't like telling you idiots anything."

"Is the fearless and terrifying Auriella Soleil actually scared of something?" Michael teases.

"I'm not scared." I defend myself. "I just don't want to, anyway I'm going right now." I stand up grabbing my bottle and walking to my door. "I'm putting you on speaker so I don't seem like I'm talking to myself so if you want to address me call me a nickname or Everleigh."

When I reach the bottom of the step I see Gabe, Ezra, Elijah and Emmeline. "Hey." I greet them, but keep my ears trained on my phone. Not knowing what my cousins are going to do, I listen to them talking about some person they're doing business with.

"Wait, Att. Do you know what exactly you're getting involved with when you go with the Ramos Family?" I ask, they were one of the European families that had a more behind the scenes type of family. "I haven't met Sebastian Ramos personally but I've heard rumours."

"Wait, is the Ramos family the Spanish Maf..." I mute my phone knowing there were people behind me and Sylvian can't be discreet to save his life sometimes.

"Sylvian." I chide once I know it's probably safe to turn my volume back up. When saying his name I automatically use a French accent.

"Yes, my sweet baby cousin?" That annoys me, Sylvian is closest to my age, only being eight months older but he loves to rub the age gap in my face.

"I'm hanging up now." I warn, they all voice their protests but I cut the call anyway and immediately my phone starts flooding with messages. I breathe out a sigh and turn around with a now full bottle feeling four sets of eyes on me. "Sooo... How was school?"

Ezra starts cracking up. "You're not very good at getting to know each other, are you?"

"What do you think? I've had the same friends since I was seven." I had met Adelina and Ambrosi at school and the four of us became inseparable. Even now, even though we're always really busy we always message one another or Facetime. I also had Julian and Demitrius, and even though we were close to them Xander and I are still closer to Addi and AJ.

"So you only have a couple friends?" Emmeline asks with a condeseding sort of sympathy.

"Besides Nate I have two best friends, another two really close friends and a whole bunch of acquaintances."

"Makes sense." Ezra nods, in terms of the way our brains work. I think we're honestly the most similar. Xander says it's creepy how alike we are. "Who were you talking to?"

"My cousin's, it's a Friday and we normally have dinner together but they called me since I'm not there."

"What are their names?" Gabriel asks, curiously.

"There's Atlas, he's the oldest and he has a younger brother Donovan. Then there is Jaques, Romeo and Cyrus from my dad's second oldest brother, then from the third brother there is Jakob, Roland and Sylvian who you heard me shouting at just now. Then his fourth brother had twins, Luc and Luis and the last brother before my dad had Christophe and Micheal."

"All boys? And I thought growing up with six brothers was a lot." Emmeline gasps, wide eyed.

"Well, I didn't necessarily grow up with them. I saw them a couple times a month but all except Atlas who went to boarding school in England by the time I was adopted, lived in France and most still do."

My phone kept on chiming, this time it was Alexander asking for updates instead of my cousins.

"You seem close." I lift my eyes up to meet Ezra's identical ones. Everyone else had left the room leaving only the two of us.

"I adore them." I leave the conversation at that, turning my attention to the guitar in Ezra's lap. "You play?" He nods. "Are you any good?"

"I haven't had any traditional lessons but I've done millions of YouTube lessons since Crew got this for me a couple birthdays ago." He shrugs, and then easily plays a hard riff. "Can you play?"

I held out my hand for the guitar playing the same thing he did but with my own twist on it. I slowed it down since I had never played that specific song before, in fact I had never heard this specific tune before. "Did you write that?"

He nods and I pass the guitar back to him. "How did you pick that up so easily, not to be cocky or anything but it's pretty complicated and you played it without a single mistake on take one?"

"My dad used to play guitar for me, mainly in the mornings to wake me up for school. He used to play these complicated songs but would never teach them to me, so I made it a habit of watching his fingers and strumming then replaying it."

"Why are you so good at everything? You play sports, can play instruments and you are overall awesome."

He's so sweet, but from what I can tell his self-confidence is on the floor, right with Elijah's and Grayson's.

"I didn't have the best life before I was adopted but it did teach me a couple things, some of which are to learn things as quickly as I can and do it perfectly. I have often been called a show off but it's trauma. And for most of the things I do know, I was blessed enough to get a father who had the will and money to help me do anything that interested me."

"So you don't think if you weren't taken you wouldn't be like you are now."

"No." Simple answer, my life was awful but I learned how to apply myself and understand a lot of things most couples fathom. The others had left the room when Ezra and I had started talking, leaving us alone. "You have a piano in the main hall, right? Why don't we work on another part of your song, have you worked on lyrics?"

I walked forward but turned back around when I noticed Ezra wasn't following me. "What?"

He looked at me with a huge smile and just shook his head, blue eyes gleaming. "Nothing, yeah I have lyrics."

I have been so sick this past week. My mom got me antibiotics and those made me feel worse so I have had no motivation to write or edit or anything.

Ezra is once of my favourite characters and I'm planning to feature him a lot in this book and I have a whole other book planned for