Behind The Smile *[Skephalo Highschool AU]*

Chapter 14 (YES 14)

I walk back over to her and lay the outfit down on her bed. "Okay Mia, I know your sad, but we still have to get ready." I say in a calm voice, and she nods, wiping her nose on her sleeve and swiping away her tears with her hand.

She walks over to me and I help her get changed into the dress, and she insists she gets the tights on by herself. I let her, even though in the end I had to help. When she's all done I sit her in front of a small mirror to do her hair.

Since she doesn't have any hair clips, I choose the most colorful hair ties I can find. I put half her hair up in a ponytail and then braided it, repeating it with the other side. I've done Mia's hair since she was around 18 months old, so by now I knew all the hairstyles she did and didn't like.

The hairstyle I chose was one of her favorites, and I did it to cheer her up a little. "Okay Mia, why don't we go downstairs now and wait at the door to greet auntie?" I say, and Mia gives me a sad look.

Rachel, my moms sister, had 5 kids. Three of them were older (12, 14, and 15) and two of them were younger (4 and 6). Sadly, the younger two stayed in Mia's room when they came over, and Mia hated sharing her room. The 12 year old was also pretty violent, and tended to bother Mia a lot.

Some other bad things about Rachel and her kids coming to our house were the fact that the 14 and 15 year old had to come to my highschool since they were old enough (and they stayed for usually a month or so), and the fact that sometimes there's so much arguing that you can't even hear your own voice anymore.

Though, we still have to deal with them. I give Mia a happier look. "It's okay, they're only gonna be here for a month or two, we can survive that, right?" I reassure her, and she just nods, yawning.

I pick her up and rest her on my hip. She automatically places her head on my shoulder, obviously tired. Small amounts of anger towards my family still stay in me, though.

———

Around 10 minutes later, both Jake and my mother have arrived home. They were rushed the entire time, trying to clean the house. But somehow, I managed to make a sandwich only getting yelled at once.

When I finished making the sandwich I sat Mia on the couch and let her eat it. The tv was off now, and I wasn't allowed to turn it on because you could only use it for small amounts of time during the day (we didn't have enough money to use it full time) and Zarro just so happened to use up all that time.

But Mia finished the sandwich without a word, and I managed to get her to stand next to me in front of the door, waiting for the guests to arrive. Of course, it was my job to greet guests, and I couldn't leave Mia, so I had to keep her near me at all times.

And finally, after 5 minutes of waiting, the door swings open. In the doorway, stands Rachel and all 5 of her crazy kids.

Quick break: I sat here for a while wondering if I should leave this with a cliffhanger or continue, and you all should be glad I decided to continue.

The oldest (15) was on his phone with only a single duffel bag in his hand. The second oldest (14) was just staring angrily at something. She obviously didn't want to be here. The middle child (12) was getting held back by his mom so he wouldn't go running to who knows where. The second youngest (6) was crying, and much like his sister, seemed as though he didn't want to be here. And then the youngest (4) actually seemed somewhat calm, and was just staring at the ground.

Well this was gonna be a great two months.

My mom then comes running into the room. "Zak! Did you at least greet the guests?" she says, panting while staring at me. My eyes widen a little. "Oh! I'm sorry," I say, turning towards the guests. "Welcome?" I didn't mean to make it sound like a question, but it did, and that's when the family fell apart.