Family tree (intro)
The foxes were sitting in the lounge room waiting for the twins to start talking. They sent a message to the group saying that they had new news to tell. Time goes by and no one says anything, everyone starts to get impatient.
"Are you going to say something or just...?" Allison begins to complain.
"We have a brother," Andrew says suddenly. He had been waiting for Aaron to tell the news but his twin didn't take her eyes off the ground.
Andrew and Aaron had a session with Bee yesterday. Although there was a lot of screaming and Aaron almost left, they came to an agreement. They would both move out of the college dorms and get a small apartment near campus. They would take care of Ashton together, not let him rot in the foster system. Aaron was nervous because the document said that Ashton was troublesome.
And if they couldn't handle it? What if Ashton hated them and misbehaved or ran away from them? But Andrew reminded him that he had been troublesome too and if Nicky could take care of two ungrateful teenagers who kept getting into trouble and complicating his life, they would be able to get closer to Ashton and make him part of his family.
They also had the support of Nicky, Kevin and their partners; and he knew that Wymack, Abby, and Bee would help them with anything they asked.
They only needed to fill out documents and the approval of a judge to be able to be in charge of his brother.
The foxes gasped in surprise and started talking over each other.
- Shh, shut up, this is important- Wymack interrupted them, once there was continuous silence.- I suppose you need my help to fill out paperwork.
Andrew nodded.
-How old is he? What's his name? -The foxes began to ask questions and Nicky was the one who answered with enthusiasm knowing that his cousins would not say anything.
—
Ashton started his day as usual. The first seconds of the day were the best when he still didn't remember who he was and what he had to do that day, then everything hit him at once.
He was the first in his room to get up, so he had time to be alone and collect his thoughts. He went down to the kitchen and made himself a coffee, put on his headphones and sat waiting for everyone to come down.
He walked to class every day and upon arrival he would lie on the table, where he would fall asleep. Usually it would take two periods before some angry teacher would wake him up. Then he spent hours drawing.
Before everything went to shit he was a good student and got straight A's, his father had always been proud of this. Now that he was on his own there was no point in keeping good grades from him. He knew that right now the only subject he had a chance of passing was physical education.
The recess hours were spent with a group of stoners, most days he smoked with them, unless there was exy training later. He didn't get along well enough with them to consider them friends, but they were the only company he found after refusing to sit with his exy team. Not that he had anything against them but he didn't want to get attached.
The best part of the day was playing exy. He felt strong, free, and in control. His position was offensive dealer.
He started playing when he was ten years old, his childhood best friend, Simon, introduced him to the game. They spent the summer learning to play. Simon made him watch all the games and introduced him to the best players. When the course began they both signed up for their school team. Ash missed his friend a lot and playing exy made him remember the good times they shared together.
The new team was good enough. Most of his teammates were typical stereotypical jocks: popular, good-looking, and with cheerleader girlfriends. Ash talked to them just enough. The captain of the Liam team tried to get closer to him and always asked him to stay with the rest after the games. Ashton always says he is busy and tries to run before he can ask him. The only person he'd had a conversation with that lasted more than three sentences was Emily, the team's goalie, who he'd made out with a couple of times. Although in high school they didn't even look at each other.
—
That afternoon when he arrived at the orphanage, Thomas was waiting for him in his room. Ashton liked him, he took him out for pancakes when her father was arrested and every time he was moved from houses.
When the man noticed Ashton he looked up from his phone.
"Why don't we go get some pancakes? Yeah?"
And before he could answer he left the room.
—
They entered a cafeteria and despite the fact that it was 8 in the afternoon, they both ordered pancakes.
"How's school going?" Thomas asked.
-Ummm... I don't know... aaa ..- Ashton doubted how to answer, he didn't want to say that he spent the day doing nothing. Although Thomas probably already knew that.
- Nah don't bother I don't give a shit, that's not why we're here.
- And why are we here then?
-I have news. You see, Ash.- he allowed Thomas to use his nickname, he already had enough confidence with him. -I have been reviewing your father's file and although he was not married to your mother, he was married to someone else.-Ashton listened with curiosity, his father never told him anything about being married.- That person had children with your same last name, so I went to visit them. And I asked them that if they wanted to take care of you they should do a DNA test. Congratulations, you have two brothers.-he said without any emotion in his voice.
Ashton said nothing. He couldn't process the information that he had just been given, for a moment he thought that he had fallen asleep and that his accumulated tiredness made him hallucinate.
Thomas pulled a folder from his backpack and placed it in front of him. Ash caught it with trembling hands. The first thing he looked at were the photos. Twins. They were identical, the only difference was that one of them smiled sheepishly at the camera and the other had a bored expression.
Ashton began to read the reports from him. They were 20 years old and they attended Palmetto State University. Andrew Joseph and Aaron Michael were part of the exy team of said university.
Ashton felt for the first time in a long time a hint of happiness. Older brothers who played his favourite sport. Suddenly panic invaded him. - What do they want?
-They want to be your legal guardians.
- Why? They don't know me. Plus they probably have family.
- Have you ever heard of the foxes?- Ash shook his head- I thought you were a fan of the exy.
-I like sports but I haven't followed the news for years, also I didn't follow university teams, only professionals.
-Well the fact is that the foxes is a team that is made up of athletes from broken houses, people who have not had an easy life, like you.
- They were in the system or something?
- It's more complex than that. It is better that they tell you everything, once they adopt you and you live with them.
-Do you really want to do it? They don't know me. What if they don't like me? Can they return me like the rest?
-No. If they adopt you, you will be their problem permanently. And don't worry about whether they will like you, I'm sure that with their past they will be more understandable than other people.- Ash kept silent, he didn't know what to answer and he felt a lot of emotions at that moment- Now eat your pancakes or me I will do that.
—
When he got to his room, all his roommates were already there. One of them offered him a joint, which he accepted. He wanted to relax. He climbed into his bunk and reopened the reports, he couldn't help but think that none of this was real. He took out his cell phone, it was very old and broken but it worked; he searched on YouTube "the foxes of palmetto". The first thing that came out was a game from a few weeks ago. He managed to identify his brothers, one in the goal and the other in the field, although he did not know who was who. They were good players. Ashton smiled, feeling the effect of the marijuana and letting his body go numb as he stared at the screen.