"The truth comes out... I think when you fight you find out who you are"
~Chris Weidman
Quynn's POV
I decide to take a rest in the garden after about an hour of sketching and drawing and I adjust my chair and my eyes briefly close. I don't know for how long I was out, but as I open my eyes, I see Joey with a blue plastic helmet, standing beside my chair with a mischievous look on his face. I properly glance at him and find him holding a bowl of dirt and a shovel in his hand.
"What do you want?" I groan loudly. Since Joey returned, he has dragged me into one problem or the other and I don't know if it's because he's having fun or if he's just trying to torment me and I didn't want to do that anymore.
It is bad that I can't call Anna and tell her the major change that has taken place, being Joey returning from school because that goes against rule #16 which I have broken so many times and trying not to anymore. She hasn't called for almost a week now and most days, I feel like my life is on fire. Joey wasn't planned for because Anna specifically told me he wouldn't be back until two more weeks and by that time, I would no longer be here, but here I am and here he is .
Well if he didn't break his arm while playing, he wouldn't be here.
"I lost my slippers while building my sandcastle." He explains with a sad pout.
Since he has been home, Eli has kept a keen eye on him, making sure that he's safe and kept out of harm's way. His arm has been in the cast since he got back and it would be a week before it would be examined by the doctor to know if he can start using it without the cast. Though he was recovering, it didn't stop him from being hand full.
There was no rule to follow not guidelines with him because Anna didn't anticipate his return. And just like I've done to those things which haven't gone as planned since I've been here, I created sets of new rules, rules that would be in line with the old rules. I tried to not get too close to the boy because even though he was cute and adorable, he was trouble and I didn't want to get attached.
The other day he asked for advice about a girl he liked at school and I gave it to him and he later came to me and said I was the worse of them all because my advice only made the girl mad when he called her. Eli who was beside me chuckled and said we were fun to watch.
If I had known Joey would return home, I wouldn't have agreed to stay at the mansion when Eli suggested it, but I did and here I am paying for that and having my peace of mind taken every single hour.
I glance down at his leg and I see that while the other leg is having a slippers on, the other has no slippers. I lay my head back on the chair, "No, Joey, go away, I'm not helping you find your slippers, go and ask Nneka to help you with that."
"Nneka is busy with Caleb and Rosalina is making dinner, you're the less busy one." argue the smart boy.
"I am not less busy Joey, I am resting." I groan and wave him off even though I know he won't shoo like I want.
"You said you were my friend, friends don't abandon friends when they need their help, friends help." Joey nags, sounding hurt and grumpy all at the same time.
Who the hell raised this manipulating boy?
Oops, that's Eli.
Being guilt-tripped into doing things I don't want to do because I absentmindedly agreed to be his friend isn't cool.
"Fine," I groan and roll my eyes when he cheers. "Where is it?"
He takes my hand with his that isn't in the cast and pull me along, "Over there, come, I'll show you."
Why do I have a feeling I'll be bitten in the ass because of this?
The mansion has an open beach in its back yard where I normally take a walk but Eli set up enough alarm just in case someone decides to wander too far away. It is nice and cosy and everything that a dream house should be, but this is all it can be a dream house.
This week started with me reminding myself to wrap myself up and get ready to leave even though deep down I don't want to. I have just three more days to be out of here and I feel excited and sad all at the same time.
"Here," he says, pointing to the little sandcastle he has built up after letting go of my hand and underneath the castle is his other yellow slippers.
"Your slipper is right there," I pointed to the slippers that anyone with eyes can see.
"I know," he replies with a guilty tone.
This little devil!
I roll my eyes and inwardly scold myself for letting him play me again. "Then why did you drag me here claiming you lost it?"
"I did lose it in the castle and I can't get it back."
I was already getting pissed at him and I don't think he notices, "Of course you can get it back, you just have to take it."
"That would ruin the castle, Anna." He points out in a scolding manner.
"That's what you get for sacrificing your slippers to build a castle."
He shakes his head in disagreement, "You don't have to sacrifice the castle to get my slipper, Anna, if that was the only way, I would have done it myself, but you're older and definitely wiser than that."
I'm not and now I feel insulted.
I purse my lips and stare at the boy who is staring at me with hopeful eyes and then back to the slippers trapped in the sandcastle. I study the castle closely, trying to find a way out for Joey slippers that don't involve tearing down his castle as a smart adult should. I had my nails done earlier today and the last thing I want is to get them dirty by getting them into the sands but I know that's the only way I will be able to get his slippers out without ruining his sandcastle.
"We have to dig under here to retrieve the slippers, and cover it up quickly so that the structure doesn't collapse as a result." I explain, pointing to the sand underneath the castle where stands.
"What do I do?" Joey asks, eager to participate in the mess we are about to create.
"Nothing, stand here, I've got it." I bend down and create a little hole underneath the castle and gently pull the slippers out of it before handing it over to the boy and covering up the space created with sand.
"Thank you," he said and put his slippers back on.
I get up to my feet and turn to him. "That's what friends do I was told," I say sarcastically and begin to head back because I am not properly dressed for a cosy evening and I'm beginning to feel cold.
He follows me behind instead of returning to his castle and he speaks. "You are a true friend," he commends.
"Yes I am, now do not disturb me for the rest of the day." I shoo him off.
He doesn't shoo, not like I thought he would harken unto my words anyway. "There's something else I want to tell you."
I pause but I don't turn back to look at him. "And what will that be?"
"I know you're not Anna," he said with a mischievous tone and I feel my world crash around in at that moment. I paused and turned to him with a surprised look on my face and I regretted that decision because the look on my face further proved his claims.
I laughed it off after a moment of silently staring at him, "Well played Joey, you can't tell me that I am not myself, if I'm not Anna then you're not Joey."
He gives me a ridiculous look definitely not having it. "I am ten years old, not stupid." He stepped towards me, his eyes deadly serious. "I know you're not Anna, you have been too different towards me, you care too much."
My eyes narrow, "That's because you had an accident, Joey everyone was caring towards you, Eli is now considering day school because of what happened, he has also changed too."
"That is different."
"If I wasn't Anna, don't you think Eli, Rosalina and grandma wouldn't have noticed that, already? Do you think I would be able to be around this long if I was not Anna?" I raised my brow trying to bury the boy that seem to be smarter than his age in confusion.
"I think you're smart and you have done this over and over and I see you with Uncle Eli, you act exactly like Anna towards him with your laughter and words but with me, you act so differently I could tell the first day I came home. You called me Joey, Anna barely even takes my name and when she does, she calls me Joe. Also, yesterday regardless of the fact that you were busy, you took time to give me some advice even though they were bad ones and now look at your hands, they are a mess. Anna has never gotten her hands that messy for me or anyone before."
I knew I was going to regret helping him out and now I am.
"We have always been friends!" I reminded him what he had told me the day he came back from boarding school. His word had prompted me to be a little caring and soft towards him. I thought that since Eli loved Joey like his son, Anna would have least tried to be his friend and when Joey said they were, you further confirmed it.
"I lied." He replies, his denial obvious.
My hands clenched into a tight fist, turns out all the Wilson's are as, manipulating and as deceitful as they come.
Look at the pot calling the kettle black.
My back was against the wall at the doing of a ten-year-old boy and there was nothing I can do about it.
The most important rule has been broken, I have been caught and all hell is going to break loose.