Precarious

Chapter 6

I felt my pulse increase as Adrian pulled into the driveway. After he parked the car and unlocked the doors, Cole got out and drove to his friend's house. When we entered the house, I tried to think of the best way to prolong Adrian staying here. I was scared of being left alone with Gavin.

"Sierra, I'm leaving now. Do you need anything before I leave?"

"I don't really need anything, but I just wanted to tell you that I got accepted into the Cheerleading team."

"That's great. Is class okay?

"Yeah, I'm working on a project for Mr. Johnson's class with other people."

"Good luck with that, then. I had Mr. Johnson last year and he didn't like me. There's some food in the fridge for dinner. I have to go now but Gavin and Sierra, please try to tolerate each other."

"Wait Adrian but –

It was too late. I saw Gavin sneer at me as Adrian shut the door behind him. Acting on impulse, I raced upstairs to my room and locked the door. I didn't care if I pissed Gavin off, seeing that I cared more about my safety.

"I don't care how long it takes, but I'm going to wait outside this door until you come out. And then you'll regret trying to hide from me."

I wasn't sure how to respond to his demand so I remained silent. Silence was good at something that I excelled in. I didn't care if I made him wait outside for a while because as of now, he didn't deserve my respect nor my obedience. To make the best use of time, I decided to text my friends that I was going to start the presentation.

The research wasn't as hard as I thought. I came across some images that I'd rather not recall but I managed to get my share of the slides done. Skylar, Diana, Layla, and I agreed that we'd each write two slides sometime in the week and make the title, transitions, and animations while in class. The presentation wasn't due until next week, which was good for us.

Unsure if Gavin was still outside, I proceeded to do the rest of my homework. Luckily, I already finished my math homework in school and the substitute in History didn't assign us anything. In English class, we were expected to read and annotate up to Chapter five but considering that the majority of students in the class, me included, had already done the work, we didn't have to finish anything for that class. For my elective, we had to do a worksheet which took around ten minutes to complete. After I finished it, I packed my schoolbag and made sure to add painkillers in one of the spare pockets.

Before going to the door and checking to see if Gavin kept his word and was still waiting, I made sure to take a painkiller. Unfortunately, my ribs still weren't healing and it made me wonder if medical attention was required. However, I learned that bruised ribs take at least six weeks to heal. As long as nothing happened to me until November, I would be fine.

On instinct, I felt that it would be alright to check if Gavin was outside. But to be safe, I found a broom that I could use as a last resort if he hit me. Surprisingly, he wasn't outside so I placed the broom back to where it came from. I probably should've gone back inside my room because he could return, however I was curious about exploring the rest of the house. This was only my third day here and I wanted to get familiar with my surroundings.

I knew that exploring each of my brothers' rooms wasn't allowed, so I ignored the third floor which their rooms were located on. There was a pool which was good for swimming in the summertime. There was also a tennis court that could be transformed into a basketball court. I knew that Cole was Captain of the Basketball team so he probably used it a lot.

After exploring for a while, I noticed that there was a basement. Although I was reluctant to enter it, I felt that it was now or never. Four out of the five brothers I had weren't home and there was a low chance that Gavin would be in there. Besides, on the weekend, I would have to go here anyway. I may as well get used to it now.