natcat

This Means War

I nodded as Daisy spoke, agreeing with every single thing she was saying.
"Definitely." I added once she'd finished speaking and added my two cents, "parents suck."
Joe mustered a smile. "Thanks guys. Appreciate it."
"Yeah, we do." Em said holding each of our gazes for a moment. "She's really hurting. It's difficult because we still love them but we're so angry at them."
"We think that's why she doesn't want us to reject them. She said they need us just as much as we need them..." Spencer drifted off and looked at Joe.
"I mean, she's not wrong, but how could they just decide they don't want one of their own children anymore.?" Em asked, her voice getting a little louder with the anger the clearly felt. "It's like, what if we all turned around and said we were gay. Would they disown all of us?"
Joe spoke up quickly, stopping Em before she went ranting angrily in front of the whole cafeteria. "I think they're just scared and they haven't had the chance to accept it yet." He looked at Daisy and I before explaining what he meant, "we got called out a few weeks after she told them."

This Means War

Daisy and I waited and watched as Em, Spencer and Joe all looked between each other, clearly wondering whether to disclose what their family issues were. I glanced at Daisy, hoping we weren't about to be kicked out of their lives because of our curiosity.
"I don't know if we should-"
"Nina's gay." Spencer frowned at Em, annoyed that he'd been interrupted, but she was only looking at Daisy and I. "Our parents disowned her after she came out."
Joe pursed his lips.
"That's why she wants to stay and fight." He said with a sigh. "She doesn't want to go home because she knows they won't take her back."
"I think she feels like she has to prove herself to them." Em shrugged as she shook her head, clearly unhappy with the whole situation.
"Obviously, we don't care. We love Nina, no matter what." Spencer said so intensely, as if daring us to reject Nina too.
"Obviously. We even told her we wouldn't go home to them," Em continued, "that we could get our own place and forget about Mum and Dad, but she won't."

This Means War

I shrugged. "Lets. I'm looking forward to watching their reaction when you ask what you've decided to ask." I laughed as I pushed my seat back and got out of my seat. "I just hope they don't hate us for it."
Moving around the back of Daisy's chair, I grabbed the handles and pulled her out from the table.
"Are you ready?" I asked as I turned her to face the siblings table.

This Means War

"I don't know." I said, shrugging as I looked back to Daisy. "Maybe if we ask... I don't know about you, but I'm not the kind of person who just volunteers my shitty family baggage on people I've only known for a few days." I shook my head slowly and then smiled, "If I were them, I wouldn't be explaining a potential sibling killing to anybody, let alone us."

This Means War

I looked at Daisy, frowning. "That seems a bit extreme... but, maybe? I mean, if you think about it we really don't know much about those four."
I looked back over to where the three of them sat. It seemed the anger had finally passed. Joe was smiling at his siblings and from where we sat I could see that all of three of them had visibly relaxed.
"What we do know though, is that they're good people. I don't think those three would still act like they did around Nina if she'd killed their brother or sister... It has to be something else."

This Means War

I shrugged my shoulders, trying not to glance back over at the three of them. Even though we'd all but forced Spencer and Em to go and talk to Joe privately, the need to know what they were saying was growing. "I have no idea... I kinda preferred them arguing in front of us though, at least we could follow along as best we could." I gave Daisy a guilty smile, knowing that wasn't what was best in a situation like this.
"I really couldn't say why their parents would disown Nina..." I thought of my own father, his distance from me since birth was obvious, but he never disowned me or wanted me dead. I knew he regretted what happened to my mother and blamed that on me. Maybe he wished that it were me instead of her that had died on my birthday, but if that was the case he was quiet with his anger and hate. He always gave me just enough to live off but never enough to enjoy living. "Maybe she did something to upset them... I couldn't imagine what though, she's always been so friendly."

This Means War

"I'm sure glad I'm not in their shoes." I said as I pushed my plate away. "I hate things like that."
From where we sat, Em, Spencer and Joe looked quite uncomfortable. I felt rude watching them as they started talking, whether it was in a good or bad manner I couldn't quite tell, but I at least they were speaking.
"Nina's said she's going to stay." I told Daisy as I turned in my seat to face her. I didn't know if she'd picked up on that yet, but I thought I might as well let her know. "The others are going... they're definitely not happy about it."

This Means War

I nodded along what what Daisy said. I didn't have siblings, but I definitely knew you couldn't let things like this lie. They all needed to sit down together and hash out whatever issues they had.
"Yeah, this war could take one of you at any moment. You would hate yourselves if you left it like this." I added. I knew maybe it was harsh but I knew they had to realise that.
Em looked sideways at Spencer before pushing her chair back from the table. Taking a moment to gather herself, she then stood and headed over to Joe's table. We all watched as she reached it and sat down straight away. Joe looked up briefly, catching Em's eye before she smiled gently at him, he then looked back down at his plate continued eating.

This Means War

"Yeah, there is." I said, remembering the one Isy had barely got the chance to show us before we demanded she tell us what was going on, resulting in her taking us to see the General instead. "I don't think it was too far from here." I was almost done with my breakfast and as I scrapped the last forkful of food together, I heard a crash behind me.
Looking over my shoulder, I spotted a few people crouching down on the floor, clearly cleaning something up. A few of them were glaring angrily in the direction of the person who'd knocked through them. I followed their gaze and found Joe stalking towards the canteen, grabbing a plate and piling bacon and eggs onto it. He couldn't care less about the mess he'd just made.
Once he was done, I half expected him to walk in our direction and come and sit with us, but he turned away and sat at an empty table in the corner on the other side of the room.
I pursed my lips, unsure of what to think. He was clearly struggling with what had gone down last night. I turned back towards. Em, Spencer and Daisy. All of who had witnessed exactly what I just had.
Spencer looked away from his brother and down at his food. I glanced down at his knuckles that were still red from last night.

This Means War

I nodded. "That's about what I expected." I said and caught the question Daisy had asked with her eyes. The only thing was, I didn't know how to answer it. "That's fine, it's probably better to take a break anyway, before getting back out there. At least we're safe here."
I looked at Spencer, wondering if it would be insensitive if I just told Daisy what Nina had decided to do. I paused for a moment before choosing a different approach. "What about you guys?" I started, "Do you think you'll leave anytime soon?"
He looked at me and then to his sister, thinking about his response. After a minute or so, he shrugged and sighed. "I really don't know. Em and I have to talk to Joe."
"Wherever he is..." Em added on and I caught her quietly rolling her eyes. "You haven't seen him have you, Daisy?"