I was sitting in the comfy armchair, all curled up with Teddy, a blanket, and my book, when Ryan reappeared carrying a massive sheet of paper, and a huge tub of coloured markers. Everyone's eyes were drawn away from the very intense car race to stare at Ryan with confusion.

"Are we playing posters, like in kindergarten, Ryan?" River smirked.

"No." Ryan shot him a glare. "I thought we could make a family tree."

"Why?" Nick grumbled. He was finally home after having fully taken advantage of his free time after finishing his university exams. Very soon, we would all be, hopefully, attending his graduation ceremony, and then my big brother would be a licensed dietician.

"I think it's a good idea." Austin nodded, getting up to help Ryan setting up the materials.

"Are we adding pictures?" River asked. "It's vital that my face be the centre shot."

"That's not how family trees work you idiot." Jonah smacked the back of his head.

"Watch it, or I might just hit you back." River hissed back at him. Nick laughed, only earning an even harsher glare, to which he was oblivious.

"We can all be stick figures. Blue for boys and red for girls, since we don't have pink."

"I do!" I went into my bedroom and brought back the set of textas which I'd bought when we went shopping for my school supplies.

Despite River's original disinterest, it seemed he was the most entertained by the whole idea, and the most avid arguer in which lines should be used for marriage and which lines should be used for siblings.

"We do not want that getting confused." He grinned.

"Shut up, River." Austin laughed. It had been ages since we'd done an activity together, since both Nick, River, and Ryan were all getting ready to graduate in less than three weeks. Everyone else had just seemed really busy, and I could see so clearly now that it was partly what had been making me feel so apathetic recently. Everything just reset and felt better once we all spent some time together. Even Jonah didn't seem to be in a bad mood, he was just hanging out with his brothers and being normal like the rest of them.

"Are you going to put your biological dad in?" Jonah asked, after having drawn his biological mum in.

"Not a chance in hell." Ryan answered, more than slightly aggressively. Nick and River exchanged a look, which didn't go unnoticed by me.

"It was just a question, mate." Jonah rolled his eyes. Ryan held his tongue.

"I dibs drawing Teddy and Abi." I smiled, trying to change the subject before I thought about it too much. Although I felt relieved to have told Ryan, it simultaneously stressed me out that he knew.

"Nuh-uh." River snatched my pen, resulting in a short-lived argument.

The whole design was really starting to come together, and I felt incredibly fulfilled seeing me fit in the picture and being able to add to my own mental representation of who my family was.

"Look at you all." A familiar voice gushed.

"Nana!" I squealed, leaping up from my seat, but stubbing my toe in the process. I shrieked as a buckled over, thankfully being caught by Nick.

"That was silly." He shook his head as I grabbed my foot and held on tight, as if that might relieve the pain.

"It's not funny!" I admonished, seeing River and Austin rolling around laughing whilst the others tried to contain their smiles.

"My poor baby." Nana stroked my hair, smiling. "I'll get an ice pack and then I want to hear all about what this creation is." Within a minute, she'd returned with a penguin ice pack wrapped in paper towel. Nick even held it on for me because I didn't like the cold on my hands.

"We're making a family tree." Ryan explained to her.

"I see." Nana mused. "I might be able to help with this." Before long, everyone once again had pens in their hands and were adding people, under Nana's direction. She added her parents, grandpa's parents, their siblings, and then masses of aunties and uncles and cousins, all of which I'd never heard of before. There was only one name which seemed familiar to me, and I put it down to Nick or River probably mentioning them before.

"Lucas and Orlando are the cousins I mentioned." Austin told me. "They'll be here for Christmas." Orlando. I recognised the name more than I felt I should have, and it made my stomach tie into a knot.

"The family will be all so excited to meet you, Ash." Nana interrupted my trance. I smiled, then was interrupted by a ringing phone, coming from where I'd been sitting. I dropped left Nick's hold, letting him hold the now-warm ice pack uselessly.

"Who's ringing you at this time of day? Everyone is here." Nick grumbled, whilst the rest of them watched me intently. I saw Levi's name on the screen and hurried into my bedroom, closing the door behind me, and ignoring Ryan's call asking what the heck I was doing.

"Hey!" I answered.

"Hey, Ash, how are you?"

"I'm fine now, thanks for bringing me my stuff earlier."

"Of course."

"What's up?" I asked, stealing the phrase from my brothers.

"Well, I wanted to call to check you're alright, so tick on that one." We both laughed. "And I wanted to see if you were around on Saturday? I've got a surf tournament on and it's not far from here. I thought you might be interested since you missed out on the last one."

"Yes! I'd love to." I grinned, even though he couldn't see me.

"I was hoping you'd say that." He chuckled. I liked his laugh. "My mum said she can drive you or you can make your own way, it's up to you. I'll send you all the details and you can let me know what you want to do."

"It sounds amazing, Levi. I can't wait to watch you."

"The surf is meant to be amazing." He continued to ramble about the conditions that were forecast for the day and told me all about his opponents. Only when I heard a dog bark and a little girl cry, whom I could only assume was Evie, did Levi say he had to go, and we hung up. I had to wait a few minutes, so I'd stop smiling before I returned to the living room, only to be met with 6 pairs of eyes staring straight at me.

"Um, I'm back. Sorry." I told them, uncomfortable.

"Was that the boyfriend?" River smirked.

"There is no 'boyfriend'." Nick huffed.

"Oh boys, don't get your knickers in a twist! Leave your sister to her lady business." Nana scolded, winking at me.

"It was him, though, right? What's his name again? Louis? Lemon?" River thought aloud.

"Who calls their kid Lemon?" Austin rolled his eyes at River. "Levi."

"Right." I nodded.

"What did he want?" Nick asked me privately once everyone had turned their attention to something else.

"He has a surf tournament this weekend."

"I'll take you." Nick nodded decisively.

"His mum said she could take me."

"No. I will." He shook his head, and that was that.