Splinters: Part One

Part One | 16

"C'mon, Grady," Andrew shouted. Grady and I both turned to him in shock. "We'll have fun," he added.

I smiled. His effort was awesome at the moment. Andrew threw the ball to him which nearly knocked him over.

"W-what are we playing?"

Andrew glanced at me. "We'll go with Horse."

...

Surprisingly, Horse was fun. Grady wasn't really good in the beginning, but Andrew helped him. When we were all kind of worn out, we went inside. Melissa had taken Edaline and Annetta to Edaline's American Sign Language Learning appointment which left Ursanne, Odera, and Isabeau at home. Greg was working.

When it was around six, Grady, Andrew, and I entered the kitchen for something to eat. I was surprised to see Ursanne standing at the stove making Mac & Cheese.

"Hey, Ursa," I said, making our presence known.

Ursanne jumped and turned towards us. "Oh, hey."

"What are you making?" I asked, taking a seat on one of the three stools behind the island. The boys followed suit.

Ursanne turned back to the stove. "Um, just making Mac & Cheese. Do you guys want any?"

"I'm gonna have a sandwich or something." I hopped off the stool and went for the pantry. Before entering, I looked back at my friends. "What about you guys?"

"I'm not that hungry," Grady said which was a total lie.

I waited for Andrew to answer me, but he was just staring at my sister which kind of made me annoyed.

"Andrew?"

He glanced at me. "Oh, uh, I'll have some of Ursanne's Mac & Cheese."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you sure?"

He smiled at me. "Yep."

I shook my head and looked for some peanut butter and some bread, and then I went to the fridge and got out some jelly. While I made my sandwich, I noticed Andrew look at Ursanne every once in a while and it was beginning to bother me.

"So Ursanne," I said, maybe a little too loudly as I spread the jelly on my bread. "How are you and that Brody guy?"

Ursanne turned, a little taken aback at my question. "What?"

"Brody. Aren't you two together?"

She discreetly glanced at Andrew behind me. "N-no. Why do you think that?"

"Well," I shrugged. "Maybe you should consider it. He seems pretty cool, and he's your age, you know?"

"What does that mean?" she questioned, turning off the stove and then going through the cabinets to find some bowls for her and Andrew.

"I don't know. It was just a thought."

After finishing my sandwich, I resumed my spot on the stool and ate away, watching carefully as Ursanne asked Andrew how much he wanted and if he wanted a big or small spoon. He'd smile at her and reply and I didn't like it.

Shouldn't Andrew be into girls his own age?

Jealous? No. Overprotective? Maybe. I didn't want Andrew getting her involved with anything, especially with Zech and Collie. I could only imagine what kind of things would happen and I wasn't exactly prepared for it.

...

I closed the door on Andrew's way out. Grady left about thirty minutes before so it was just me and my family. Melissa had returned with Eda and Net and Greg came home from work so everyone was in.