Life As A Whitlock

I decided to use Chapter 11 for many different reasons. For one, my friend
and I are writing the story together and our system is every other chapter.
So basically I have odds and she has evens. Another is because it is
something that may be relatable and has a bit more emotion to it.

What You Need To Know: Dani have a huge family(12 siblings). One of
her best friends(She doesn’t know but if you read the chapters before you’d
know) actually hates and decided to make posters to put around the school
that told everyone who Dani’s crush is(her other best friend). They end up
being thrown in the garbage when Dani’s sister, Maddy, finds out. Dani
found a poster and was surprised. Then, this chapter happens. Also, her
little brother Ross has a crush on a girl name Penny. Dani told him to tell
her that. That is also important.

Chapter 11: Admitting Secrets

12:00 pm, December 13, 2018

“Hey, Dani,” Jack says, sitting next to me. Jack Towell is one of Rachel’s friends that are in
my grade. He is really tall and a nice guy. He has brown eyes and chocolatey brown hair. Rachel
has a crush on him. Why does all my siblings have crushes that are probably gonna work out?
Why do I have 12 siblings? The world may never know.

“Hey, Jack,” I say. He looks nervous. I put down the article we were supposed to be reading.
“What’s up?”

“So, um,” he says, tugging a bit on the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “I need to ask you
something.” Why? I hate when people say they have a question for me because I get really
nervous. Just like when someone says ‘Can we talk?’ It freaks me out.
 “Okay,” I say, motioning for him to go on.

“I-um,” he says. “I really like Rachel and I was wondering if you could maybe help me ask her
out?” Yes! My ship is happening!

“Yeah,” I say, trying not to be visibly excited for my little sister. “What do you need?”

“How should I ask her?” he asks.

“Just ask,” I say. “And give her food. Or a stuffed animal fox.”

“Thank you!”

“No problem,” I say, picking up the article. I hope someone does something like that for me
one day.

*****

“Thanks, Dani,” Mrs. Henders the Librarian says.

“No problem,” I say. I look at the clock. 3:10. Well, darn. At least we don’t have practice today,
but that also means my siblings have been waiting for me for the last 10 minutes. I quickly
walk out of the library and to my locker. I open it and a picture of my family and I fell out. I
sigh and quickly put my things in my backpack. I go to pick it up when I see it’s gone. That's
when I notice Noah.

He is holding the picture for me. He gives me an awkwards smile. Some reason today he has
been acting weird. He’s been strangely quiet. Normally he is loud and a little bit weird. Sometimes I
find myself wonder why the crap I like him. Then he goes back to being the sweetheart he is.

“Hey,” I say. He puts the picture back in my locker. “Thanks.”

“Do you,-” he says. “Um. Do you have a crush on me?”

 “Huh?” I say. My mind instantly goes crazy. I can feel my heart stop. I always feared he would
find out. Should I run? Maybe I can live in the forest. Yeah, I think I’d survive. I’d then could find
a pack of wolves that could maybe take me in. Yeah, that can happen, right?

“DANI!” he exclaims. I notice he was waving his hand in front of my face.

“Hi,” I say, awkwardly. Gosh, why am I so awkward?

“Hi,” he says. “You good?” I nod my head. “So, do you like me?”

“I-” I start. I sigh. “How did you find out?”

“This,” he says, pulling a paper out of his back pocket.

And I think my heart stopped again. Oh my God! He found because of the posters. Crappity
crappertons. Why? Why did this have to happen? What do I say?

“Dani,” he sighs. “You’re zoning out again!”

“Sorry,” I say. “I-”

“I think I need to think about this,” he says. “Uh, sorry.” He quickly walks away. I hit my head
against my locker.

I walk towards the front of the school. All of my little siblings don’t have practice today in
any of their sports and other activities. They were talking. I quietly walk by, they notice. I can
tell that they are worried, but I’m too upset to say anything. I can’t believe that just happened. I
bet I just lost my best friend.

*****

I throw myself onto the couch downstairs. No one really hangs out down here so I don’t have
to worry about that. I can’t believe that’s how he found out. I grab a pillow and stuff my face
into it. I feel the warm tears coming down my face. I didn’t want to lose him. Even if it meant
we were only ever going to be friends.
 “DANI SHE LIKES ME!” Ross yells. I quickly sit up and wipe away the tears. I pray he doesn’t
notice I’ve been crying. I hate crying in front of people. I feel like a complete and utter loser.
Ross sits next to me, giddily. I guess the boy has tea.

“Someone is excited,” I say.

“Penny likes me!” He exclaims. Lucky. I wish my crush would like me!

“That’s good,” I say, trying to sound excited for him.

“We’re now dating,” he says. Ah, sixth grade love. Never had that.

“Cool,” I say.

“Dani, are you okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say.

“Dude, we have eight sisters!” he says. “I know that you are just saying you’re fine.” I sigh.
“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” I say.

“But won’t it eat you up inside?” he asks. I think about it. He might be right. Maybe talking
about it will help. But, it might not. I’ll probably just feel more depressed because I’m talking to
my brother about my boy problems.

“Maybe?”

“Seriously?” he says. “Dude, just give me an answer. Otherwise, I’ll just start telling you every
single dirty joke I know.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I say, emphasizing each word.

“Try me,” he says. We glare at each other. “Wanna know how to circ-”
 “Okay, I’ll talk about it,” I say. “Dear God, you need help.”

“Thanks,” he says. “Go on.”

“So, Noah found out about my crush,” I tell him. Ross gives me a confused look.

“Why isn’t that a good thing?” Ross says. “He obviously likes you. He told you that, right?”

“Ross, this isn’t a movie,” I say. “Just because I like him like that, it doesn’t mean he likes me
like that.”

“Dani, he stares at you all the time,” he says. “He flirts with you.”

“He doesn’t-”

“Aw, it’s okay, you’re younger than me,” Ross says, pretending to be Noah. That was actually
pretty convincing.

“That doesn’t prove anything!” I point out.

“He walked into our house,” he says. “And yelled ‘honey, I’m home’.”

“Yeah,” I say. “He does that all the time.”

“Only when you’re here,” he says. “When you were at grandma’s over the summer, he walked in
and said ‘hi’.”

“So,” I say. “He could be joking.”

“Dani, you are six feet from the edge of something that could be good!” he exclaims. “Don’t
blow it!” He stands up and goes up the stairs.

“He’s right,” Sam yells from our room. She walks out. “You really are bad at paying attention
to things.”

“Hey!”
 “Well, if you would look up, you would see that the dude likes you,” Sam says.

“Does everyone know this?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Sam says. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who didn’t know that boy likes you.”

“Yeah, Dani,” Vince says, walking down the stairs. “Noah likes you.” WHERE ARE THEY COMING
FROM?

“See, even Vince noticed,” Sam says, pointing at our little brother.

“Hey!” he says. “At least, I’m not as oblivious as Dani.”

“I’M FEELING SO ATTACKED RIGHT NOW!” I yell.

“Kids, stop arguing,” my dad yells from upstairs.

“So,” Vince says. “Where’s Maddy?”

“Why?” Sam asks.

“Revenge,” he says, showing us his water gun. Why is my family so weird?

“Thank God she’s out shopping with Annie,” Sam whispers in my ear.