Chapter 7 - Babysitting from Hell

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Chapter 7 - Babysitting from Hell

The next week in the Miller household went by fairly smoothly.  Ben, for the most part, attempted to stay out of my hair and kept to the shadows.  The only time I almost exploded on him was when he flirted with London purposefully, just to get under my skin.  It made me shake, but if I bit my tongue I was able to keep quiet.  The reality of it was that he wouldn't actually do anything with a fifteen year old.  At least I hoped not.

The longer I spent in the huge house, the more natural it felt.  At first I had felt like I was being swallowed up, but now it was almost normal to walk through the large front doors and into the front living room.  Savanna said it was only used for guests, but every now and then I saw the boys sneaking a little nap on the couch.

I had also gotten to meet Rosie, their twenty five year old maid who had the cutest little four year old ever.  His name was Justin, and I had taken to watching him while Rosie cleaned.  It kept him out of her hair and entertained me for most of the day.  Rosie was also fun to talk to, and was probably my favorite person to spend time with.  The Miller boys were fine, but there was something about Rosie that just made me feel at home.  

She also liked to make me cookies, so who could complain about that?

After we had been in the house a week, Savanna apparently decided we had been here long enough to be introduced to even more people than we already had been.  I had been in the bath, soaking in gloriously hot water that soothed my muscles, when the intercom beeped. "Could you girls please come down to the kitchen?  I have something to talk to you about and Rosie just made another batch of cookies." she said sweetly.

I was going to get fat, I swear.

I also swear I was in the bath when Savanna decided to call me downstairs.

Groaning, I pushed myself out of the tub and wrapped myself in a towel. "Be there in a second," I told her, letting my finger off of the button.  It had taken me about an hour to figure out exactly how the system had worked.  Every time I had tried to say something an alarm would go off; apparently the red button was the panic button, not the speak button.

After throwing my hair into a messy, drippy bun, I put on some baggy, black sweat pants and a crop top.  It showed half of my stomach, which Savanna would not approve of, but I was just too lazy to put on a jacket to cover up.  It's not like I was parading around in my bra, anyway.

When I jogged into the kitchen, all of my sisters were leaning on the island, hovering over a plate of cookies.  Rosie was in the corner, bouncing up and down as Justin wailed in her arms.  Frowning, I held my arms out and offered to take him.  She quickly shook her head, spinning on her heels and rushing out of the room.  Poor Justin, I hated it when he cried.  Someone so precious should never be upset.

"Shiloh," Savanna sighed, placing a hand on her forehead.  I bit my lip, giving her a sheepish smile. "We're never going to get anywhere with this, are we?"

"Sorry, Savanna," I said, crossing my arms over my stomach.  Even though I tried, it did little to cover it up. "My Gran let me wear stuff like this all the time.  I'm just used to it."

"Modesty isn't a bad thing," She frowned, holding out a cookie.  I took it gratefully, letting my hands fall to my sides. "I'm just not used to parenting girls, that's all."  Even though she meant well, I couldn't help but flinch at that word.  Parent.  I had known her for a week, this woman was not, and never would be, my parent. "Anyway, I called you down because I have something to tell you..."

"Is it bad?" Zoe asked, placing a hand on her hip. "Because we already start school on Monday and that's bad enough news." Winter break was ending, and that meant it was back to learning for all of us.  Starting a new school in the middle of the term was not the easiest thing in the world, and I definitely was not looking forward to it.  Every time I thought about it my stomach would clench, and not in a good way.

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