Alek went to slam the door in Dimitri’s face, but his foot shot out, effortlessly holding the door open. He crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing me.

“In my house, and in my sister’s room,” he said, chuckling.

“Dimitri! Go away!” Alek snapped, pushing against the door again.

Dimitri’s food slid a little, but he steadied himself against the wall with his hand and continued to keep the door open. I just couldn’t stop staring at him in shock.

“You said you didn’t know him! And you acted like you didn’t know her!” I cried, finally finding my voice as I stared between the two.

“Ah, yes, that. Aleksandra has forbidden me from making our family relations known. Such a shame,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “My own sister, keeping her fabulous little brother a secret.”

“Dimitri’s not a liar, not unless he has to lie.”

Kim’s words came back to me as I lost my voice to shock again. Alek was Dimitri’s friggin’ sister?! What the hell?

“You’d be in for quite a surprise if I introduced you to my sister, little Theodore.”

Now Dimitri’s words replayed in my head. How he kept saying that only Galen looked like him, and that his sister didn’t look anything like them.

“Dimitri, move your foot before I break it,” Alek snarled.

“But Aleksandra, mother dearest requests your presence for dinner,” Dimitri said, smirking wider as he pushed the door open even move, just to piss his sister off.

“Fine! Just move your damn foot!” Alek said, releasing her hold on the door and stepping back.

Dimitri slowly pulled his foot away. He glanced between the two of us and let out a little laugh as he turned and disappeared down the stairs.

“What?” I asked, beyond confused.

“Don’t tell anyone he’s my brother. Please Theo,” she begged.

“But he said his sister was a year older than him!” I said.

Alek nodded. “I am a year older than him. But when I was in kindergarten, I had to have surgery on my leg. It went wrong, and I had to have another surgery. I missed so much school that I got held back, putting me in the same grade as Dimitri.”

“Dimitri Ivanov is your brother. Oh my god,” I said, letting out a disbelieving laugh. “How the hell did I not figure that out sooner?”

“Theo, I am begging you not to tell anyone. You’ve seen Dimitri. He’s a glittery freak. He’s a heartless man whore. I don’t want people knowing he’s my brother,” she said, her voice desperate and pleading. “I never tell people my last name, just because everyone knows Dimitri. And I made the freak swear to act like we don’t know each other.”

So yesterday, I had been kissing Dimitri. Today, I had been kissing Alek. And now I was finding out that they were siblings.

Scarred. For. Life.

“I won’t tell anyone,” I said at last.

“Thank you,” she said, relief flooding her face. She grabbed my hand. “Come on; let’s go eat. Just ignore him.”

She pulled me out of her bedroom and downstairs. We entered the dining room, and Galen looked up at me in surprise.

“Theo!” he said, pointing at me. He turned to Dimitri. “What’s he doing here? And why is he with Alek?”

Now I realized why he had sounded so familiar. It wasn’t because of his accent. It was because he had been asking Alek to let him into her bedroom the first time I had come over.

“Why, little Theodore helps Aleksandra with her homework,” Dimitri said, placing his hand on Galen’s head. He was so tall compared to his little brother.

“Oh,” Galen said. He ducked away from Dimitri’s hand and reached up, twining their fingers together and pulling over to the dining room table. They sat down next to each other.

Alek’s mom entered the room. I recognized her from when she had been asleep on the couch the other day.

She paused as she spotted me. “Hello there!” she said in a thick accent. “Who are you?”

“Why, that’s little Theodore,” Dimitri said, smirking at me.

“Shut up Dimitri. I’ll introduce him. I invited him over. He doesn’t even like you,” Alek said flatly. “Mom, this is Theo. He was helping me with some homework.”

“Alek, don’t be mean to your brother,” her mom said with a frown. “But it’s nice to meet you Theo. I’m Mrs. Ivanov.”

A man entered the room carrying two boxes of pizza. I had to work hard not to let my mouth fall open as I stared from him, to Dimitri and Galen.

When Kim had said it was creepy to see them together, she wasn’t kidding. This man was obviously Mr. Ivanov.

It was creepy as all hell to see him in the same room as his sons. It was like watching someone grow up right before your eyes, literally. From a child, to a teenager, to a man.

There was hardly any difference between the Ivanov boys. Just the youthfulness of Galen’s face, the adolescence of Dimitri’s face, and the adulthood of Mr. Ivanov’s face.

“Dad, this is Theo,” Alek said, gesturing to me. “He was helping me with homework.”

“Hi Theo. Nice to meet you,” Mr. Ivanov said, his voice just as thickly accented.

He set the pizzas down and passed everybody a paper plate and a napkin. He left the room and returned with milk and glasses. He and Mrs. Ivanov sat down together.

“Dimmy, hand me a piece. I can’t reach!” Galen whined.

“Galen, say please,” Mrs. Ivanov said sternly.

“Please hand me a piece,” Galen amended.

“Well of course,” Dimitri said, stretching his long arms to grab pizza for himself and Galen.

I sat there, staring around the table at the family, still in shock. Dimitri and Alek were actually related!

“Little Theodore, would you like food?” Dimitri offered.

“He can get it himself Dimitri,” Alek said, glaring at her brother.

“I was simply being polite, Aleksandra,” Dimitri said, looking amused and smug.

Galen looked at all of us suspiciously. “Alek, are you and Theo dating?”

Alek blushed. “No, we aren’t Galen!”

“Well, I would certainly hope not,” Dimitri said and snickered. I shot him a glare.

“But why are you with Theo?” Galen pressed. “I thought him and Dimitri-”

“Little Theodore and I are friends,” Dimitri said cheerfully, shutting Galen up before he could mention our kissing.

“No, you’re not,” Alek said. “Theo doesn’t like you, Dimitri.”

“Sure he does! Right, little Theodore?” Dimitri asked, glancing at me with a smug, knowing look.

“No. I don’t,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him and trying to ignore my slamming heart. Alek couldn’t find out I was kissing Dimitri, and Dimitri couldn’t find out I had kissed Alek.

“Dimitri, he’s my friend. Leave him alone,” Alek said, trying to get her patience back.

“I think we could all be friends, Aleksandra! That would be wonderful,” Dimitri said, smirking and taking a bite of pizza.

“I mean it. You better leave us alone while Theo’s over,” Alek said.

“Why? Dimitri and Theo are friends,” Galen said.

“No they’re not, Galen. You know how Dimitri always needs to be obnoxious and bother me and whoever I’m with,” Alek said.

“No, Dimmy and Theo really are friends,” Galen insisted.

“He’s right, you know,” Dimitri said with a nod. “Little Theodore simply adores me. Him and his sister.”

“Hey! Leave my sister out of this!” I said angrily, trying to fight down my jealousy. He had been flirting with my sister, and then kissing me!

…Oh dear god I am such a hypocrite.

Dimitri leaned back in his chair, his smirk growing wider. “But Thalia dear just adores me. She and I are friends. Only, she doesn’t deny it, little Theodore.”

“Dimitri, go away!” Alek snapped, looking like she wanted nothing more than for Dimitri to topple over and crack his head open. “We. Don’t. Like. You.”

“That’s enough,” Mrs. Ivanov said in annoyance. “Alek, Dimitri, stop fighting.”

“But mommy, Dimmy’s right!” Galen said.

“Galen, you would say Dimitri’s right even if he said you were a woman,” Alek said, rubbing her temples.

“Goodness,” Dimitri said. “I’m not sure I could handle having two sisters.”

“I hope you know how hard it is to resist the urge to strangle you to death,” Alek said.

“I’ve been told,” he said, smirking and biting into his pizza.

“Alright, alright. Enough. Galen, I don’t care who’s right. I just want the arguing to stop,” Mrs. Ivanov said, shooting her children a stern look.

“Anything for you, mother dearest,” Dimitri said, slinging an arm around Galen’s shoulders. Galen nodded, glancing at me and frowning, suspicion back in his eyes.

“Dimitri, you got sauce on your vest. You can be such a sloppy eater,” Mrs. Ivanov said with a sigh.

Dimitri looked down at his vest. “Oh, how completely unfabulous,” he said with a dramatic sigh, grabbing a napkin and dabbing at it.

I couldn’t help but stare at Dimitri’s parents. How could they just talk to Dimitri so casually when he was dressed so outrageously? We’re they at all ashamed of their flamboyant son?

I forced myself to look away and quickly ate a slice of pizza. Alek stood up, glancing at me with a desperate look.

“Want to go upstairs?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, standing up.

“Leaving us so soon, Aleksandra and little Theodore?” Dimitri asked, watching us in amusement.

“Don’t follow us, and don’t you dare bother us,” Alek said. “Mom, make sure he doesn’t bother us.”

“Oh Alek. Be nice to him,” Mr. Ivanov said, rolling his eyes.

“Wait, wait! I need to talk to Theo!” Galen said, jumping up. He came over and grabbed my hand. “Come with me.”

“Galen, what are you doing?” Mrs. Ivanov asked him curiously.

“It’ll just take a second mommy. I promise,” Galen said. He glanced at Alek. “You stay here.” He turned to Dimitri. “You stay here too.”

He pulled me out of the kitchen and around to the living room. I looked at the pictures hung up, nearly face-palming myself as I recognized Dimitri in most of them. I hadn’t look at the pictures the first time I had been in the living room, because I had noticed Mrs. Ivanov instead.

There was a large family portrait over the fireplace, and it looked as if it had been taken last year. Dimitri looked as close to normal in it as I had ever seen. He was wearing his white jeans with the pink polka dots, and a neon pink vest over a black dress shirt, his hair up in the usual purple fohawk.

I looked over at another picture, and my mouth almost dropped open. It was a picture of Dimitri. “Dimitri, 2nd grade” was scribbled in the corner of the picture. He looked exactly liked Galen, except he was wearing a bright pink shirt over yellow pants.

“Stop staring at pictures. I need to talk to you,” Galen said, snapping in my face impatiently.

“Okay, okay,” I said with a sigh. “What did you need, Galen?”

“Why were you in my sister’s room?” he asked suspiciously. “Are you kissing her too?”

“Do you not like your sister?” I asked, deciding to distract him so that I didn’t have to answer the question.

“I like her. She’s just mean to Dimmy, and I don’t like her when she is,” he said, frowning. He held up his pinky. “And you better not be mean to him too. You even pinky swore you wouldn’t, Theo. Dimmy really likes you. He told me.”

“I like him too Galen,” I said, a bit bitterly. “I won’t hurt Dimitri.”

“Good,” he said, relaxing a little. “I’ll kick your butt if you do.”

“Joy,” I grumbled.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the dining room. He released my hand and nodded at me.

“Okay. Now you can go with Alek. Just remember what we talked about,” he said, wandering over to Dimitri and pulling himself into Dimitri’s lap.

“Galen! Sit in your own chair. Dimitri is trying to eat,” Mr. Ivanov said.

“He’s fine, father dearest. I’m done eating. Since I’ve been banned from spending time with my little Theodore, I’ll just spend time with my darling little brother,” Dimitri said, wrapping his arms around Galen’s wait to hold him steady.

“Freak,” Alek said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the room before her parents could say anything. She pulled me upstairs and shut her bedroom door, locking it.

“I am so sorry about that Theo. God, I shouldn’t have brought you over. I just thought since Dimitri’s been tutoring lately…and he normally goes over to Kim’s house everyday…” She shot me a miserable look.

“How doesn’t anyone know he’s your brother? You guys share the same last name. Wouldn’t that be enough to give it away?” I asked, sitting on her bed.

She sat next to me and shook her head. “I always ask my teachers not to say my last name because I don’t want people knowing I’m Dimitri’s sister. Every teacher in the school knows him, so they’re usually pretty good about not saying it. I also never show up for yearbook pictures, so I’m not in the yearbook,” she explained.

“Does anyone know?” I asked.

She nodded. “Sadly, a few people. But not many. Just a few of my friends, and Kim.”

“So…Zoey. He had sex with one of your friends?” I asked.

Alek shook her head. “Zoey wasn’t really my friend. She’s my best friend’s cousin. Last year, Dimitri had sex with her a few times and then just dropped her like she was nothing and moved on to some guy Kim was friends with. Dimitri makes me sick, the way he does that.”

“Don’t your parents do anything about it?” I asked. Did they just let their son sleep around like that without even trying to stop him?

Alek shook her head, looking disgusted. “I’ve tried again and again to tell them he does it, but they refuse to believe me. They won’t even let themselves think that Dimitri isn’t a virgin. They believe in abstinence until marriage, so they just pretend that Dimitri is still a virgin. The worst part is that they won’t ever ask him about it, because they know he’ll be honest.”

“Wow. And they let him dress like that?” I couldn’t help myself; I had to ask.

Alek nodded. “They believe in the whole ‘right brain is creative’ myth. Dimitri is an incredibly talented artist, and I would never deny him that. He actually drew that Lion King picture you commented on. But they think that he dresses and acts the way he does because he’s a right brain individual, and it’s his way of expressing himself.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s just their precious, talented son.”

“Wow,” I said, shaking my head. And I thought Kim would be able to answer my questions about Dimitri! “But didn’t they find out he wasn’t a virgin after that whole Kayden thing?”

Surprising me, Alek’s face paled a little. “You know about that?”

“Dimitri and Kim told me,” I said.

“Kayden tried to tell my parents what Dimitri had done. But considering the fact that Dimitri was nearly unconscious on the ground and had a broken nose, my parents weren’t exactly listening to him. I really thought my dad was going to kill the guy,” she said. “He chased him out of the house and they took Dimitri to the hospital. They never asked him what exactly had happened, because they didn’t want Dimitri to tell them the entire truth about it, and they knew he would.”

“That’s irresponsible parenting,” I pointed out.

“Tell me about it,” she grumbled.

I checked the time and sighed, standing up. “I should probably head home. I promise I won’t tell anyone that he’s your brother.”

“Thank you Theo. You have no idea how much I despise Dimitri. And it’s even worse, because Galen looks up to him. I’m usually busy with sports, so Dimitri spends the most time with Galen. I swear if he turns Galen into a glittery, promiscuous freak, I’m going to kill him,” she said.

“Well, this has definitely been an interesting and disturbing experience. Bye Alek. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, sighing and waving to her.

I let myself out of her room and started walking down the hallway, staring down at my feet. I was lost in my own thoughts.

“Little Theodore.”

I looked up, and jumped back, realizing I had almost run into Dimitri. He was standing right in front of me, holding Galen’s hand. Galen was glaring at me, that suspicion still in his eyes.

“We need to talk, little Theodore,” Dimitri said, releasing Galen’s hand.

Galen looked at him, fear in his eyes. “Are you taking him to your room, Dimmy? Are you sure he’s not like the mean boy?”

“Positive, dear. I’ll be fine,” Dimitri promised, ruffling his hair.

Galen nodded nervously and moved into a bedroom, slowly shutting the door. Dimitri grabbed my hand and pulled me back down the hallway and into the bedroom across from Alek’s. He shut the door and locked it.

I looked around the bedroom in shock. Beautiful, realistic drawings were taped up along the walls, along with photos of Dimitri with his family and friends. The walls were pink with random splashes of color stylishly decorating them. His bed had bright yellow colors with neon green pillows.

Dimitri led me over to his bed and we sat down together. “You were kissing my sister,” he said, chuckling.

I blushed. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I’m not an idiot little Theodore. I suppose it’s karma for me flirting with your sister,” he said, looking amused instead of jealous or offended.

“You’re not mad?” I asked cautiously.

“No. You’ll find that it takes a lot more than kissing my sister to make me mad, little Theodore. Besides, did you enjoy kissing her?”