Arielle could barely think straight at school the next day. To concentrate on her school work after learning about Natalie and the kids was hard, and the teachers could tell that something was up. Neither of them questioned her, only warned her that her grades would suffer if she didn't start paying attention in class. Nodding to say she understood, she moved on to her next class.
At the end of the day, she was at her locker grabbing her stuff when a couple of guy's decided it would be funny to throw a football at her. It hit her in the back of the neck, and she dropped her books and papers, which went flying all over the place.
Brett was walking the hallway looking for his cousin when he saw the whole thing take place, and he was none too happy with it. He picked up the football and threw it back at the two of them angrily. " Why don't you pick on somebody your own size, or even better learn to treat people with respect? Arielle did nothing to deserve that."
She began to pick up everything as tears came to her eyes. To top off her already bad day, now she had a sore neck. " You two are assholes!"
The principle heard her remark as he stepped into the hallway, but Brett quickly came to her defense before she could be scolded about her language. He explained what he had seen, and only the two boys were taken into the office. Kneeling down, he helped her with her stuff. " I don't know what made them do that to you, but you are right about one thing. They are assholes."
" Thank you, Brett. I'm glad you were here to help out." She grabbed her science book, and put it into her bag. " If you are here to pick up Christina, you are here at the wrong time. She is in cheerleading practice."
" Well, I didn't know she was into that sort of thing. She never told me." He handed her some papers. " Your not into it yourself?" He asked, helping her up off the floor.
" No. Cheerleading is cool I guess, but it's not really my thing." She finished putting everything into her school bag. " She has about an hour of practice. Would you like to join me for a cup of coffee while you wait?"
" That's very sweet of you to ask, but I..."
" I meant just as friends. Christina told me you have a pregnant girlfriend." She interrupted him. " I just thought that since you have time to waste that we could have a cup together. I've had a long day and could use some myself."
He nodded, and the two walked out the school door's. " That would be great then, Arielle." Walking her to her car, he opened the drivers seat door for her. " My car is a couple spots down. I'll follow you."
" Thanks." She smiled at him. " Sounds great." She got inside her car, and he shut the door for her. He rushed to his car then and followed her to the nearest coffee shop.
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Ashley had been running around the house trying to clean it up to ready it ready for Natalie and her kids. They had two guest rooms to get cleaned up, and then the playroom where she figured Natalie could sleep while the kids took over the two rooms. But Arianna made a mess wherever she went. Everytime Ashley thought she was done picking up after her, there were more toys to pick up. Then there were the finger paints, which Arianna got all over the walls as well. She finally laid her down for a nap, singing to her until she was asleep.
After doing all of the vacuuming and cleaning up the playroom walls from the finger paint, she was more than ready for a nap herself. But her husband would be home soon with Natalie and the kids, so she wanted to have something fixed up to eat for them. Instead of laying down or even sitting down for a minute, she went into the kitchen to see what she could make.
She ended up making chicken picatta with rice and roasted potatoes, as well as ceaser salads to go with it. Within just a few minutes of setting on on the table, Taylor pulled up the driveway with them.
They all came running into the house, each of the kids giving her a hug as they entered. " Hey, I am so glad to see you all safe." She hugged them back, even giving Natalie a hug. " I am glad to see you are okay too."
Taylor was surprised to see Ashley give Natalie a hug. It meant that she was willing to put everything aside, and he was glad of that. " I want a hug too." He pouted playfully, and tapped her on the shoulder.
With a laugh, Ashley turned around to give him a hug too. Planting a kiss on his lips, she took his jacket from him and hung it in the closet. " There is food on the table. I made up a nice meal for all of us to enjoy."
" Thank you, Ashley. I appreciate you letting us stay here, and the food smells great by the way." Natalie gave her a small smile.
" Your welcome." She smiled back and led the way into the kitchen. " From experience I know this is what's for the best. It will give me and you a chance to get to know each other for one, and two you do need a safe place to go. I promise this is it."
" Me and Ashley talked about upgrading our security system, not to mention there will always be a security guard looking after you wherever you go. So everything should be fine." He went to the fridge and grabbed out a beer for himself, then handing Natalie a bottle of water.
" Can we sit down and eat? I am so hungry." Ezra asked, licking his lips as he glanced at the food on the table.
Ashley laughed. " Of course. You want some milk with that?"
Ezra nodded as he sat down, and started to help himself to the food. Taylor normally would have had him wait to say grace, but he didn't worry about it this time. It had been a long flight.
They all sat down to eat an early dinner and Christopher came home from school a few minutes later. A friend's mom had dropped him off, since Arielle hadn't been there to pick him up. He came into the kitchen to see them eating, and threw his school bag down on the floor angrily.
" What's wrong, Christopher? Are you okay?" Taylor asked, swallowing a bite of food.
" Arielle never showed up, and Troy's mom had to bring me home. Now I see you guy's having dinner without me! This day sucks." Christopher exclaimed.
" There is still plenty of food for you, Christopher. Calm down. I just wanted to have an early dinner ready for them when they got here. They had a long flight and I knew they would be hungry." Ashley explained to him. " But as far as your sister goes, I will have a talk with her when she get's home."
Taylor made room for Christopher to sit and fixed him up a plate of food. " Did you have an alright day at school?"
Christopher grabbed himself a can of sprite, and sat down at the table next to Taylor. " I guess it was okay."
The rest of the meal was pretty quiet. Taylor and Ashley grew worried as more time passed and Arielle didn't come home. When she finally did come through the door, it was 8:00 at night.
