Manhunt

Chapter 26

"Wait, wait, wait!" She nearly cried out, jumping off her bed. "I haven't had any since that time I went with Caroline! I have to go."

"You have three hours to do it." She replied, checking her watch. "Think you can manage to finish by then?"

"Heck yeah," she assured her, silently sending here love to Red. "Tell her I can go—please?"

"Okay, but make sure it's all done."

"It'll be done, I promise!"

"Good." When Emma left, Julia grabbed her school bag from next to her bed and moved to her desk, pulling out all the necessary components needed to complete her homework.

"Isn't it a bit sad that your mother had to basically bribe you to get you to do your homework?" Aiden asked her, removing the drill from the window and inspecting his work. When he was satisfied, he placed it inside his large toolbox.

"Blame Caroline, she got me addicted."

"Speaking of Caroline," he started, getting up from his crouching position. "She called earlier asking to do something for your birthday. We approved as long as it wasn't the day of. Does that work for you?"

Caroline, that sneaky little—

"Yeah, that's fine." Julia stated in defeat, although smiling for their consideration. "Do you know what they're planning, though?"

"My lips are sealed."

"Oh, come on! You hid the firecracker thing from me!"

"I didn't think they would actually do it!" He retorted, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. "Cake exploded on me too, you know."

"Not on mom."

"I don't know how she did it—she was right next to me." He shrugged, picking up his toolbox and starting to walk out of the bedroom. "If you need help with anything, just tell me. The syllabus you're learning right now is preschool stuff to me."

"Yeah yeah, Mr. I-graduated-from-an-ivy-league-school-in-three-years-so-I'm-a-genius Evans." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Bye."

"Your intelligent response hurts me," he shot back sarcastically, laughing. "Just kidding. Bye." Resisting the urge to say something back, Julia inhaled deeply before taking out her history homework. It was a thick packet of questions that each student had to answer after reading a lengthy chapter about ancient Chinese civilization. It wasn't difficult, but if she'd left the reading for the last minute, it would've occupied most of her time. Fortunately for her, she'd read it all during school.

Completing the packet in forty-five minutes, she moved on to her English homework, which consisted of writing an essay about one of the novels she read. She managed no to distract herself and finished the essay in about an hour, leaving her hand aching from the pressure of writing so much. Finally pulling out her Calculus textbook and papers, she stared at her homework for about ten minutes before slamming the side of her face onto the desk.

She couldn't understand a single word or number.

She stayed in that position for a few minutes, contemplating on whether she should do it at school or leave it entirely incomplete. She'd read the whole chapter on what they were doing back at school, and she still couldn't understand what the hell was right in front of her. Sighing, she laid there in her misery for a few more seconds.

"Dad!" She yelled out, resorting to her cocky genius of a father to help her. "Dad, I need help!" Screaming now, she made a few dying whale noises before shutting up, waiting for him to come.

"Were the noises after that necessary?" He asked a few moments later, walking into her room with a chair. "Alright, what do you need help with?"

"Math..."