Senior Year

Chapter 30

                  

I wait outside the main office for Mr. J. He told me yesterday that he might be a few minutes after the final bell so I take a seat. Ingrid agreed to let me babysit, and even gave me a later curfew than normal knowing the bus ride home itself will take half an hour at least.

"Emma, sorry about the wait, I was just finishing up a skype call with a member of the board," Mr. J explains as he walks out of his office.

"No problem, thanks for driving me,"

"Of course. Shall we?" he smiles, and walks me to his car. It's nice, similar to Killian's actually with the sleek black design although Mr. J drives an SUV, probably to fit his growing family. "Melody is excited to see you again. She was babbling about it all morning," he chuckles.

"That's cute,"

"So she's in bed by 7:30, and don't let her persuade you otherwise. Normally she only gives her mother, and I a hard time about going down, but she can get cranky. She loves warm milk, and it normally knocks her right out when she's in a bad mood," he explains.

"Ok easy enough. What about dinner?"

"She's easy, eats everything. Just prepare something easy like Kraft Dinner, or grilled cheese." Grilled cheese does sound good right now.

"We're here" he announces a little while later as we pull into the drive way of a large grey house. There's a double car garage, and a perfectly tamed garden with a cobble path leading to the front door.

"Wow, nice house," I say trying not to sound too taken aback when he opens the door to dark hardwood floors, and a large staircase leading to the second floor. He must be rich. Why is he a teacher then?

"Thank you, it's a bit unsightly at the moment with Melody's toys, and all of the new baby stuff that doesn't have a place yet,"

"No, trust me this isn't unsightly," I say wide eyed. I don't think I've ever been in a house this big, or this nice.

"Emma!" Melody squeals as she runs down the hallway at full speed.

"Melody slow down!" her mother scolds, running after her. "Oh, hi Emma nice to see you again," she greets me, and we shake hands. Her pregnancy is more obvious now because of her 6 month belly.

"Hi Mrs. Jones,"

"Oh, please call me Ariel, I'm not your teacher," she jokes.

"Emma look!" Melody yells, making me look down to her. She's already wearing her leotard for gymnastics. She slides down into the splits with a cheeky smile, clearly proud of herself.

"Wow, good job," I say holding out my hand for a high five. She happily reaches up high fives back.

"Where's Killy?" she asks, looking at me. I try to hide the heat that brings to my cheeks.

"You're with Emma tonight Mel, no Killy," Liam tells her. She looks at me as if she's confused why we aren't together. Smart kid.

"Um, anything else I should know?" I butt in before anyone can make anything suspicious from it.

"Alright you," Mr. J says picking up Melody, "You behave for Emma,"

"Mhm daddy," she nods. He puts her back down, and she runs off to the living room.

"If she misbehaves we have a timeout chair in the living room. She knows right from wrong, but she gets testy sometimes. She seems in high spirits, I wouldn't worry about it," he explains to me. I nod in understanding.