Dragged to my knees

Chapter 9

I've barely let my hand down by my side before I hear the clattering of tiny footsteps and the door opens to reveal a cute little girl. She has huge, brown, almond shaped eyes and her dark hair is held up in pigtails. In her pretty little lilac dress, she looks about the same age as Emily.

"Hello" she begins in a chirpy little voice. "Are you lost?"

"Uhh, no." I reply. "I'm here to see Adira, is she in?"

"Are you a friend of hers?" she continues.

I open my mouth to reply her but don't get the chance as someone screams "Babba!" whilst running down the stairs.

"What did I tell you about talking to strangers?" by now, she's making her way towards the door and I can tell it's Davina; birthmark check. It's such a relief to know who's who.

"Hey Davi, it's only me. There's no need to panic." I say, giving a short wave.

"Oh, hi Ricky." She replies, looking visibly relieved. "This is my baby sister, Ruby whom you've obviously already met. Everyone calls her babba though" She chuckles pointing at her sister. "Ruby, Ricky." She concludes, gesturing towards me.

"Hi Ruby." I say, smiling. "How old are you?"

"Seven" she says, holding up her fingers. "How do you know my sisters?"

"Oh, we go to school together." I reply. "And I live a few houses down."

"That's nice." She decides. "I got to your school too, you know. You should just call me babba like everyone else."

"That's awesome to know." I say but I can't help laughing. "And I will."

Ruby looks like she's about to talk again but Davina comes to the rescue. "Why don't you go call Adira?" she says and the little cutie saunters off.

"Oh, so rude of me Ricky." She gushes, realizing she hasn't actually let me in. "Come on in."

"It's okay." I reassure her. It's not like it's a big deal anyway. I let her lead me in and get seated comfortably as Adira and her little sister make their way down.

"Ricky, hi" she says grinning from ear to ear. She's dressed in really casual clothes and her hair is in a loose, tattered bun.

"Hi" I reply. "Nice to see you're barely awake." I smirk

"Saturdays are for resting." She wines. She is so like mum in that aspect. They would get along just fine.

"You, young lady, need to get dressed." I say.

"Why's that?" she replies, yawning.

"Jesus Christ Adira!" babba screams. "Do you want to swallow us all up?" She giggles

This cracks us all up and I give her a high five. Maybe little sisters aren't so bad after all.

"We're going shopping." I tell Adira. "We need to get stuff for our food and nutrition project, remember?"

"Who said we're making it at home?" she quirks her eyebrow.

"I just did." I reply, smirking

"Cocky, aren't we" she folds her arms and tilts her head to the side, but I can tell she's struggling to hold back a smile.

"Well, I try my best." I say smirking.

Adira's laughing too. "Just give me a minute." She says, going back upstairs.

"Sure thing." I reply, chuckling quietly to myself. True, the project isn't due anytime soon, but it makes a reasonable excuse to hang out.

Turning around, I see that Ruby has the TV on and is watching some funny cartoon. Davina, however, is looking at me weirdly.