Twelve

“Well, with Leah here, the teams are uneven now,” Carter said, but Noah shook his head after counting everyone.

“If we split into groups of 5, the teams will be even again.”

We then split into two groups of 5 and I had no say over who went where. Noah seemed adamant about keeping me on his team, which meant Ryan joined their group with Leah and Carter, and I got the twins, Isabelle and Noah.

“Oh yay, we’re on the same team,” Leah said and threw herself at Aiden.

He smiled down at her and it tore at my heart. I don’t know what compelled me to speak after that. “I hope you can keep up.” I had meant for it to come off as a joke, but my tone was too serious.

Aiden frowned but thankfully Leah brushed it off like it was nothing and turned her attention back to Aiden. We reset our boards and started our games, but I couldn’t help noticing how much of a distraction and poor player Leah was.

I could tell it was taking everything in my brother not to freak out or scold her every time she rolled