Spoiled by Eight Uncles

It was the weekend the very next day. Drake and Josh Crawford were generally disciplined by nature and were up by 7. Zachary and Hannah on the other hand were not morning creatures and would not wake up unless they were hungry.

Josh was in the study on the first floor, seated upright on a chair with a serious expression on his face.“Magnetic induction… B=F/IL…” Josh mumbled to himself. “If B is the force of the magnetic induction and the magnetic flux required to be on a supernatural frequency is phi… and B and F is…”

Drake, who was seated opposite Josh reading Shakespeare, looked up from his book. What was Josh calculating?! Drake wondered.

“Are you waiting for Lilly?” Drake asked. Josh usually preferred to stay in his own room since there was a large desk for him to work on his mathematical equations.

“Of course not,” Josh responded without looking up.

Drake smirked as he tapped on his cellphone. “You said yesterday you weren’t looking for her either, but I caught you going over to her room!” he

Josh’s ears turned red, but he did not crack. “Which eye of yours saw me going into her room? I wasn’t looking for her. I just happened to pass by her room.”

Drake refused to let his younger brother off the hook. He turned his cell phone screen in Josh’s direction and shoved it in his face roughly, accidentally hitting him on the cheek.

“Argh!” Josh cried out in annoyance and pain. “Fine, so what if I did look for her?” Josh had no qualms turning to Lilly for help since she was a genius. In fact, if Drake found out just how much of a genius Lilly was, he might even fight for her attention. No, Lilly was his! Josh eyed Drake warily before grabbing his math textbook and moving over to the other end of the sofa.

Drake thought Josh was being ridiculous and sensitive, as if he would even be interested in Lilly. Was that even possible? Drake scoffed as he restrained himself from rolling his eyes at his brother.

Just then, Lilly appeared at the bottom of the staircase, hugging Bunny in one arm and rubbing her eyes sleepily with the other. Josh immediately shut the math textbook he was reading upon noticing Lilly. “Lils, you’re up!” he exclaimed.

Josh. Wow, he gave

became even

you sleep a little longer?” Josh

direction. “A ghost scared me, and then I couldn’t go back

not help but recall the ferocity in Lilly’s eyes when she caught the ghost last night. How could she still be frightened of one? Just as Josh was about to offer Lilly some words of comfort, he noticed Drake looking at

her a hug. Instead, he merely patted her on the shoulder stonily as he said, “There’s no such thing… Ghosts are nothing to be afraid of.” He was just about to say there that was no such thing as ghosts, but he knew better

a tray of food. “Lilly, you’re up early!”

her vision

is the only thing that can wake you up, silly girl,” the old lady chuckled heartily. “Come, try some of these buns fresh out

teeth first!” Lilly exclaimed as she ran up the stairs two at

up the table for breakfast. Drake watched all of this in amusement. Josh never let anything distract him when he was concentrating on his arithmetic calculations.

help his brother out. Typically, chores like these were done by a servant and as the young master of the Crawford family, Drake never had to lift a finger. Family meals at the Crawford home never used to be like this. Back then, once the

how much had changed since this little sister of theirs entered their lives. All of a sudden, she did not

down the stairs, she missed a step and found herself in mid-air for a few seconds before landing on the ground with a loud crash. As she laid motionless on the ground, a parrot appeared from behind her, spreading its wings wide and shaking its little head. Instead of stopping where

as he watched the entire scene unfold. “What an

head. “Polly, you’re stepping on

head onto the ground and scampered around in circles. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! One more

to Lilly’s aid, lending her a hand to help her stand up on her feet. “Are

head.

his laughter. “Well, that’s some skill you

the Hatchers, no one bothered to talk to her, so she had to pull all sorts of pranks to get someone’s attention. Now,

Drake came over to take the tray from her. “Granny,