—Delilah Quinn—
Monday morning I woke up to the sound of eagerly aggravating children. Those children happened to be my siblings. They were overly hyped for whatever reason but it was way too early for all of this. I knew it and I could bet 50 bucks that they knew it.
I groaned before getting up from my bed. I slipped on my slippers as I yawned; standing in the same spot I was in from the start. When I looked over towards my left I could see Alona was still here. She hadn't moved from my bed ever since hearing the 'news' of her parents.
I wasn't judging her or anything because I knew if I had one of my mother's missing and the other unconscious for who knows how long, I would be devastated. I wouldn't be able to eat for weeks or probably move. My mother's were the best part of life. They made it worth living and that's what I valued the most but staying at someone else's house without showering? That had been the ultimate level of self disrespect.
When I got up I tossed over the pillow towards Alona as she groaned and almost fell off the bed. I grinned before walking out of my room and over towards my brother's room first. With the twins, they were so unpredictable, but Avery...we shared the same mind. If I went to tell her to get ready first then there was no telling how long she would take getting ready.
As for my brother... he wasn't too big on hygiene which he must have gotten from his donor father because there was no one in the house that enjoyed musk like him. It was disgusting.
I knocked at the door to give him a chance to open it and not intrude. There was no answer which made me question what he was in that room doing more. It wasn't until I heard a loud noise that I just let myself in.
My eyes wandered around the room seeing dirty dish bowls and he was in his pjs playing whatever online game my mother had brought him. It smelt like feet in here.
He had a good 30 minutes to get ready and most of it needed to be towards the shower. I already knew I was going to have a hard time with getting him in there and hoping to keep him from getting out.
I don't know how my mother manages to even maintain them. They're both hard headed and they have ADHD. Two 8 year old's with ADHD? My mothers had to be miracle workers or something.
Carter's eyes slowly turned over to meet mine as he knew he was caught. I shook my head as he smiled nervously.
"Okay, get in the shower. I'll clean this room and you better be as clean as possible when you get out." I told him as I started to pick up his dirty clothes.
He jumped off the bed as he held his headphones towards his ears,
"Later guys, I'm going to school." He says before turning off his game and running over to his closet to pick out his outfit.
Something told me that he was up all night. To say I was surprised? I couldn't. My siblings always took advantage when I was in charge.
I couldn't blame them. If I had an older sibling, I would take advantage too.
As he was getting ready and I was cleaning his room, Alona walked up towards the door frame as she yawned and stretched. She still had messy bed hair and my mother's button up work shirt on.
If anyone says this...they would be thinking quite the opposite of what happened.
"You are supposed to be in the shower. You use my shower while Carter uses the shower from the bathroom for everyone and then when you're done I could take one." I said, stressing as I paced back and forth to clean his room.
This was like a zoo here. Everytime I turned around there was more and more dirty clothes and trash. It's like the cleaning would never end.
Alona sighed before pulling me into a hug and resting her head on my shoulder. She then patted my back as if I was a baby trying to cure my hiccups.
"Calm down, Lilah. I got Avery up to take a shower and then I got next after Carter and you could always use your parents bathroom or just shower after Avery. There's no need for the stress and quite frankly it's not the energy I need, or the energy you need." Alona ranted on as I sighed.
She was right. I had no right to stress seeing as she was the one that had to go through more than I ever had. I was being a hypocrite and it seemed unfair to her. I didn't want to be unfair... to anyone.
"Okay, let me just finish cleaning this up and then I'll stop stressing. You can't expect me to be stress free cleaning a room like this." I pointed out.
She looked around before nodding letting me know she understood where I was coming from. She sent me a warm smile before Avery walked by with a head full of soap and a towel surrounding her body.
Both Alona and I looked at each other before looking over at her. She gave us a look of discomfort. In her head I could tell why she was probably questioning why we were having a staring contest in the middle of the hallway instead of using our time wisely. Honestly, I was feeling the same way.
"What the hell are you staring at?" Alona spoke up,
Avery looked from me and then towards Alona, "Two idiots with no self respect. You would never catch me babysitting kids on my days off,"
Alona rolled her eyes, "Why don't you take your sass back into that shower and clean out your hair, smart one." Alona crossed her arms giving her a challenging look.
Avery gave her a challenging look back. Both looked like idiots while I sat there waiting for them to be done. I then finally sighed getting the courage to tell them off but Avery cracked a smile first,
"I hate you so much" She says, the smile on her face not making her words believable.
Alona held her head up high before looking around. She then gave her a knowing look, and smirked bas her eyes still gave the challenge,
"I love you too, toothy. Now get your ass back in that shower." Alona demanded.
My sister carried on with her smile revealing the missing tooth she had before walking back towards the bathroom to finish her shower. Alona scratched the back of her head. She then shook her head and walked off towards my room.
Hopefully she was going to get dressed. After that little debate she just had with my little sister, I couldn't tell if she was tired of life again or if she was going to just cut me some slack and get ready so we'll have more time to get to school.
-
Turns out we were running late by a couple of minutes. I took a quick 15 minute shower with no music contest. I felt very sad not listening to my music early this morning but I promised my mothers that I could get the kids to school on time and it was my duty to not let them down. I just guessed I would have to be late this one time for school.
When I arrived at the kid's school, Carter gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as Avery gave Alona a fist bump before they ran into the school with their bookbag and lunch.
Alona and I gave each other a high five before I drove off and headed in the direction of my school. If there was no traffic then I would have an easy time getting there and I'll be on time. That was a big if.
"So, we still haven't gotten done with talking about Cartier. I know you like her." Alona teased.
I honestly don't know where she got that from or how she even got it. I didn't like Rosalie at all, I mean sure she was pretty and had a great aspect of being a sister but she had a shitty personality and she got mad easily which only made me believe she had anger issues. I didn't want that in my life. That was the last thing I needed.
"I've only ever spoken a few sentences to her in my life. She has a girlfriend, I don't like her attitude, and the way her brother speaks... I'm sure she doesn't respect anything."
"You don't know until you find out. Besides, Auntie Rorey stole your mother from your Uncle Oliver. History always repeats itself."
I rolled my eyes, "So, that means we are going to have some hot fantasy before I settle down with my significant other? I mean, your mom and my mom did."
Alona grinned, "You wouldn't even get a chance with me, Lilah. I'm quite hard to handle. Besides, I'm making it my duty this summer to get you with my short-tempered cousin. Besides, she needs to leave Emily alone."
The name took me back. I didn't know that Alona knew anything about Emily. I mean sure they both were on the cheer team and they probably had a few conversations here and there but I didn't think she knew anything about Rosalie and Emily.
"How do you know about them?"
"Everyone knows. They've been together since 6th grade. How did you not?"
I raised an eyebrow, "6th grade? I just thought they were close friends."
Alona snickered as we arrived in front of the school. To our luck, the whole school was outside and the doors seemed to close and Alona and I were definitely happy at this.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked as both Alona and I got out of the car and walked up to the crowd.
We stopped by OJ and our other friend, Lucas. They both were chatting over football and something about the summer. 9 times out of 10, just stupid stuff.
"Uh, the teachers are on strike and no students are allowed in school until a teacher is willing to teacher them. So, we are waiting to see if school will be canceled today." Lucas spoke up,
"Hopefully school is canceled. I could use a break from this all." Alona points out.
I sent her a comforting smile as Oj and Lucas just looked at us weirdly. Most likely because they didn't know what was going on with Alona and her parents.
Lucas just looked away and over towards the group that was across from us. He then nudged me into my side before grinning.
I looked over towards the group before my eyes caught Rosalie's. I then drifted my eyes towards Josh that stood next to her.
He was smirking at me. Maybe a little too much.
It didn't take long before he started to make his way over towards us.
I looked over at Alona and she was just as shocked as I was.
Following him were the others in his group. They seemed to all be just as worried as Alona, Lj, and Oj were.
When he got here he smiled and reached for my hand as I just looked at him. This had to be a dream or he must have hit his head hard.
"Hi, I'm Joshua killington. I am on the basketball team and you have taken my interest." He grinned at me.
"He's lost his marbles. We'll be going." Rosalie says as she tries to pull him away and go on about her day but he doesn't budge.
"Nonsense, I want to talk to this beauty." He says.
I smiled at him before taking his hand as he raised it up to his lips to kiss. He shot a wink at me before a blush roamed my face.
I could tell Alona rolled her eyes just at the way her body language changed. She was irritated but I didn't care. I liked the attention. It felt weird considering I didn't get much of this in my life.
"You wanna grab something to eat after this whole school thing is settled out?" He asked me looking directly in my eyes.
I was nervous. It felt weird. I've never looked someone in the eye romantically before. It had always just been my family or Alona.
My palms were sweaty and I was turning into a nervous wreck. I couldn't believe how much of an idiot I was being. Get it together, Delilah!
"I would love-"
My voice was interrupted by myself when Rosalie slapped Josh and I's hands apart as Emily sat there with a smirk.
She looked at Josh and glared before rolling her eyes. She then looked over at me with her teeth practically bleeding through her lip.
"Can I speak with you?" She asked harshly,
I was a little scared of her. I mean the girl was known for the fights she caused at this school and she literally just smacked the hell out of my hand; which hurted like hell.
If I was me; which I was; I would go with her. To save my life of course.
"Uhh...sure, why n-"
She pulled my arm and led me over towards a more distant spot than from our friends. I looked over at Alona for help but she was just grinning with a lollipop in her mouth.
Where the hell did she get the lollipop?
"You can't go on a date with him." She says plainly,
"Why can't I? He seems nice, and although I'm not looking...dating seems like something I'm interested in." I explained to her.
She had a fixed stare, like she was trying to solve some puzzle. She even looked uninterested in what I was saying to the most, I was boring her.
"Find someone else." She says before she tried to walk off but I grabbed her arm,
She looked at my hand on her arm and I immediately pulled it away. I was too damn scared to keep hold on her.
"I..." I started trying to figure out if I was going to take the disrespectful approach or the safe one, "I can date whoever I want."
She narrowed her eyes, "He's only trying to play you. He said it himself, he wants sex and that's it. He'll break your heart."
"You care because?" I asked
She scoffed, "I'm just warning you. You're no one special. If it was any other girl I would warn them as well."
I nodded fully understanding. I then pushed past her as my shoulder bumped against hers. I walked up towards the group and I smiled brightly at Josh.
"A date sounds nice."
Josh grinned before looking over at Rosalie and held up his thumb. Rosalie rolled her eyes before walking off in the other direction.
"Way to go genius." Alona rolled her eyes before grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the others.
I waved Josh goodbye as Lj and Oj followed Alona and I.
"You had one job and you fucked it up. Good job, Lilah. Good job."
"You wanted me to date someone and I'm giving Josh a chance. What are you mad about?" I rolled my eyes.
Just as Alona was about to speak, a car pulled up in front of us.
"Get in." The voice says as we all turned.
It was my aunt Cora. I hadn't seen her in a while.
"What's going on?" I asked,
"Your mothers sent for you. It's time we talked about the BMMC." She says at once.
Alona and I exchanged looks before raising our eyebrows.