Chapter One Hundred and Forty: Sibling Rivalry

 “And you are now officially a Jones!” Belle handed Sunny the certificate while grinning at little Marcus, who gurgled and looked up at her with dark green eyes. “I don’t know whether or not to congratulate you!”

“Yes, well, kiddo is gonna get a crash course on managing unsavory family members.” Sunny put the pages in the safe that sat in the crockery cupboard of her kitchen. 

Melody watched the scene as she sat at the kitchen counter colouring in. “Is he my brother now?” She asked, watching as Belle held the little boy and booped his nose.

“Yes he is!” Sunny grinned. “Do you remember what I told you about my big brother?”

“I don’t like Uncle Daryl.” Melody turned up her nose.

“Exactly. So you have to be nice to your little brother so you don’t become an Uncle Daryl.” Sunny walked over to the little girl and ruffled her hair.

“Okay!” Melody agreed quickly, before returning to her drawing. “I’m making this for my brother!” She told Belle who was looking at the picture. 

“It’s very good! I bet he’ll love it!” Belle smiled. “You know, I have a baby brother too.”

“Yeah! Ozzie is your brother!” Melody said beaming. “And Maddles is your sister!”

“That’s right!” Belle handed Marcus back to his new mother. “You know, I didn’t get my brother and sister until I was really old.”

“Positively ancient.” Sunny sassed.

“I have to look after my brother.” Melody said firmly. “And I have to make sure he follows all the rules!”

Both Sunny and Belle looked at each other, worried.

–

“Hi Belle-Belle! I won the spell-a-thon at school today!” Oscar bolted into the house the next afternoon, dumping his bag by the door.

“Mate, you need to put your bag away before someone trips on it.” Belle laughed. 

“You’re not Mum, you don’t tell me what to do!” Oscar jumped on the couch in a huff.

“You still need to put your bag away and get your lunch box out sir!” Lara poked her head out of the kitchen. 

“Awww!” Oscar grumbled, before picking his bag up, getting the lunchbox out and throwing the lunchbox into the kitchen.

“Come on, you’re better than that!” Belle scolded her younger brother.

“YOU’RE-NOT-MUM!” Oscar yelled at her.

“YOU-KNOW-THE why am I fighting with an eight year old?” Belle groaned as Oscar stormed off with his bag.

Lara laughed. “You two will work it out. You’re siblings after all.” She returned to the kitchen to continue cutting carrots.

“SHE’S NOT MY REAL SISTER” Oscar yelled.

“Oh dear…” Lara frowned as Belle blanched. “Look, you sort out these carrots and I’ll sort him out.”

“No problem Mum.” Belle took Lara’s place in the kitchen.

“SHE’S NOT YOUR MUM SHE’S MINE!” Oscar yelled again.

“Ooooh boy…” Belle winced.

–

“To be fair, Ozzie DOES spend every second weekend with his father, and who knows what he puts into the kids head.” Charlie tried to cheer Belle up the next day as they had lunch at Bills restaurant.

“I know, but it still stings when he says I’m not his sister.” Belle sighed, poking her seafood pasta. 

“He’s young and lashing out. Neither of us had very good emotional maturity at his age.” Charlie pointed out as Lizzy brought out his burrito. “Besides, the whole point of siblings is you take out all your emotions on them, but then no one else is allowed to, isn’t that right Liz?”

“Exactly. You know we’ve had every fight under the sun, but we’re still siblings.” Lizzy set down their drinks. “Can I get you guys anything else?”

“No thanks Liz, we’re all good.” Belle smiled at Charlie’s little sister. Lizzy grinned back, before heading to the kitchen to get the next order.

“Siblings fight all the time, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.” Charlie continued. “It gets easier as you get older.”

“If you say so.” Belle started to eat.  Suddenly, Izzy burst in angrily, looking like she’d been crying.

“Iz?” Charlie got up.

“Don’t speak to me, either of you!” Izzy roared at her brother. She then rounded on her sister, who was waiting by the kitchen counter. “Why didn’t you tell me Hugo had called last night?!”

“Oh bother, I forgot.” Lizzy sighed. “Couldn’t he have messaged you though?”

“YOU KNOW HE WORKS IN A SECURE AREA WHERE HE CAN’T HAVE HIS MOBILE PHONE!” Izzy yelled. “I needed to call him back urgently to let him know about the Fortane Dinner tonight, and now it’s too late and I can’t go!”

“Shouldn’t you have had that organised before this?” Charlie raised his eyebrow.

“Shut it you!” Izzy snapped before turning back to Lizzy. “Hugo is furious at me and it’s all YOUR fault!”

“Well why WASN’T it all organised before now?! You and he are both adults!” Lizzy started yelling back.

“The Fortane Dinner isn’t such a big deal anyway, I’ve been going for years and no one important goes.” Charlie shrugged his shoulders.

“NO ONE IMPORTANT GOES?!” Both sisters rounded on their brother.

Belle slurped up her pasta as the fight got louder and louder between the three siblings. A pit was forming in her stomach at every insult. If this was the way the three Begly siblings treated each other, then what hope did the Masters siblings have?

What chance did the Jones siblings have?

–

“Oh they’ll be fine. The problem with Sunny and Daryl is that Daryl never had his sisters best interests at heart.” Tammy explained to Belle as they walked along the pier at Pleasant Lake. “Ozzie knows that you love him, and we all know Charlie and the twins adore each other. I mean, there’s times where I would happily end Sammy in a heartbeat, but I couldn’t because I love him to bits.”

“What about your other siblings though?” Belle asked.

“They don’t exist to me.” Tammy told her. “They’re another case of never having our best interests at heart. If it weren’t for Austin refusing to let me and Sammy in his car then Uncle Wallace would never have had us in the car when he crashed it.”

“Ah…” Belle looked worried.

“Our family is a mess, not gonna lie, but that doesn’t matter, as long as we have the Noble Knights of the Last Order.” Tammy smiled, although the smile wavered slightly.

“Not exactly filling me with hope you know.” Belle quipped dryly.

“Look, I know that we had problems with Dan, but we’re really tight-knit, honest.” Tammy defended her Knights. “We even have the Outer Knights working their magic!”

“Tam, I can bring down your argument in a single statement.” Belle rolled her eyes.

“Oh no you can’t!” Tammy laughed.

“Three hundred and fifteen runs for nothing.” Belle shot.

“Where ARE they, they were supposed to be here five minutes ago, I’m starving!” Sammy grumbled as he and the rest of the Knights were sat at Bills restaurant, wanting to order.

“Uh…guys?” Sunny looked out the window. “Tammy is trying to throw Belle into the Lake, and given Belle weighs 50 kilos soaking wet, she’s gonna end up in the drink shortly if we don’t get out there!” 

–

“I think I give up. Melody and Marcus are doomed.” Belle groaned as she sat in Charlie’s room, watching him polish the Lions Claw Blade. 

“It’s not THAT bad.” Charlie rolled his eyes. “Are you and Ozzie still at loggerheads?”

“He won’t talk to me.” Belle looked downcast. “And everywhere I look siblings are fighting.”

“It breaks out on occasion. It’s a full-moon thing.” Charlie shrugged. “You’ve fought with Ozzie and Mads before, it’ll be right.”

“Not like this. He’s adamant that I’m not his sister.” Belle said. “And if Ozzie and I can’t sort things out, what chance do Melody and Marcus have? They’re not blood related either.”

“It’s not about being blood-related, it’s about being stuck with each other for the rest of eternity. Sometimes that can get on peoples nerves.” Charlie said. “It’s only extreme cases like Daryl the Dumb that can never be redeemed.”

“Please don’t. I’m not looking forward to getting back to the office and having to deal with him every day.” Belle rubbed her eyes. The pair could hear Lara yelling at Oscar. “Poor kid.” 

“CHARLIE! IF YOU’RE GONNA LIVE HERE YOU HAVE TO DO THE LAUNDRY HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?!” They heard Betty screaming up the stairs, her words slightly slurry.

“I worry about your Mum.” Belle said as Charlie sighed and got up.

“I worry about her too. We’re in way too deep and her mental health can’t take much more.” Charlie replied. “I’ll chat with you later.”

“Good luck.” Belle replied, jumping out of the window into the tree, then springing over to her window. 

“Oh good, you’re home.” Peter heard the noise from his room and poked his head into Belles room. “Wanna go out and get some groceries for dinner tonight? Ozzie is sulking and Lara is slamming around the kitchen.”

“Sure.” Belle readily agreed.

The pair headed down the stairs, where Madeline was playing with her blocks, Oscar was sulking on the couch and Lara was banging very loudly in the pots and pans cupboard. “Things were so much easier when Bill lived here.” She grumbled.

“We’re just going out to the shops for your groceries love, anything else you want?” Peter took the car keys off the hook.

“Take Oscar with you!” Lara yelled.

“NO!” Oscar screamed.

“Oh boy.” Peter and Belle groaned.