After about an hour of bickering between siblings, I decide to order a pizza. They all seemed pretty content with this. Well, except Ethan, who I will just make chicken noodle soup for.
"The Krusty Krab pizza is the pizza for you and me!" Jonas sings while helping me set the dinner table with plates and napkins.
"Jonas," I say politely, "do you think you could sing something else? You've been repeating that same line for the past fifteen minutes."
He squints his eyes. "Fine."
I sigh contently when he switches up the tune. The pizza-boy arrives just as I finish up Ethan's soup. Opening the door, I smile at the familiar face. "Hey, Martin."
"Ivy? What are you doing here?" he asks in confusion.
The question confuses me at first, but then I remember that I'm at Elliott Kennedy's house. To any old high school friend of mine, this would be a shock. "I'm nannying for the family while the mom is on a trip."
He nods. "Oh! Okay, that makes much more sense than what I was thinking."
"No, no," I assure. "Nothing like that."
"Yeah," he laughs awkwardly. "I was like.. Ivy? With Elliott Kennedy? It just-"
"Hey, Martin!" Jonas says excitedly and rips the boxes of pizza from the man. "Bye, Martin!"
Smiling, I hand Martin the money for the pizza. "Well, I should go make sure he doesn't eat both pizzas. Bye, Martin."
"Later."
I close the front door and head into the kitchen. Jonas stands over an opened box, mesmerized by the pizza.
"Can you go get your siblings for dinner?" I ask and heat up the soup for Ethan.
He nods and stands a little bit outside of the kitchen before screaming, "dinner!"
"There goes my hearing," I mutter to myself and get out a bowl for the soup.
The sound of feet pattering against the floor gets louder as the three kids come rushing in.
Ethan gives Jonas a high-five before going to his seat at the table. "Soup me!"
"Soup him," Jonas says in a deep voice.
"Souping him," I say in a similar voice, trying to be hip. I hand Ethan his soup and a rubber spoon.
Jonas just shakes his head. "That didn't work as well for you as it did for us."
The twins walk into the kitchen arguing over a doll.
"Apparently," Jonas explains, "Crystal always gets to play with this doll and Rosie doesn't think it's fair. Crystal claims it was a birthday present, but since their twins who really knows whose present is for whom. Rosie claims the doll looks more like her, which doesn't make any sense since they're identical twins."
"We look nothing alike!" the twins yell at the same time.
Addison walks into the kitchen and shakes Crystal's arm. "Hey, no fighting." She turns to me. "I just put Beth to sleep, so you won't have to worry about that tonight. Do you need help with anything else?"
"Uh, I don't think so," I say hesitantly. "Thank you."
She smiles and sits down at the table. I open the pizza boxes and allow the kids to take what they want. Jonas takes five slices and then precedes to explain that he is trying to stay fit before soccer tryouts. The twins split one slice, which is a little worrisome, but Addison said it's normal.
In the middle of our dinner, Elliott pops in through the backdoor that is connected to the kitchen. He has headphones in his ears, the music so loud that I can hear the beat.
"Liott!" Ethan exclaims in excitement to seeing his big brother.
Elliott nods his head towards the little boy before grabbing one of Jonas' pizza slices and taking a bite.
"What the heck?" Jonas yells. "That's mine!"
He shrugs and shoves the rest of the pizza in his mouth.
Jonas lets out a growl, standing up from his chair and moving to punch his brother. Elliott stops Jonas' fist with his hand and kicks the back of his leg, causing Jonas to fall onto the ground like a dead fish.
"Hey," I say to Elliott in my angry voice, knowing I had to at least do something about him hurting his brother.
He stops from walking out of the kitchen and turns around to face me. We're clearly both shocked I actually just spoke to him. His jaw clenches and unclenches, something that distracts me wholly.
"Uh.." Mind goes completely blank. "Say-say you're sorry."
With absolutely no change of facial expression, he turns and leaves. I awkwardly glance down at my pizza. I'm supposed to be the authority figure in this house, yet when my authority was most needed I was completely useless.
"Are you okay, Jonas?" I ask, trying to act like that didn't just happen and I'm not completely mortified.
"I'm fine," he mumbles and sits back in his chair. "Can you pass me another piece of pizza?"
I nod and hand him a slice. "Does.. Is he always like that?"
"Aggressive? Rude? Brooding?" Jonas throws out some adjectives. "Never! He's a pocket full of sunshine."
"You don't have to worry about him, Ivy," Addison says. "You're in charge of us, not him. My mom doesn't even have control on him, so don't sweat it."
I nod, picking at the crust of my pizza slice. "Okay."
~~
After dinner, the kids put on a movie. I clean up the kitchen, trying to get my mind off of the Elliott situation. I'm just embarrassed about the whole thing. Say you're sorry? I wasn't even thinking straight.
Addison said I can't try to control him, but I feel like I have to do something when he attacks his little brother. Sure, it wasn't that violent, but it wasn't out of love.
It isn't going to be that easy to ignore it the next time he "playfully" beats up Jonas. I am in charge of Jonas, which involves making sure he's okay. I can't just tolerate the whole bullying thing.
Yes, I might be blowing this out of proportion, but in all of my classes for babysitting, violence is a huge no. Also, Elliott completely disrespected me. I mean, I'm obviously not his babysitter, but he shouldn't completely ignore me. It's rude.
Unable to get it off my mind, I decide to talk to him. I'll just let him know that I expect respect, seeing we'll be living together for three months. He can do whatever he pleases, as long as it leaves the kids out of it. It'll be a nice and easy conversation that I have nothing to be worried about.
Yet, my stomach is still in knots when I knock on his bedroom door.
He opens the door, rolling his eyes when he sees it's me. "Are you here to ground me?"
This is the second time Elliott Kennedy has spoken to me in my life. The first time was our junior year when he asked for a pencil. He doesn't have a horrifyingly deep voice like you'd expect a brooding teenager to have. He has more of the class clown voice, which completely contradicts his persona. I guess that's why it throws me off.
I put a smile on my face and stick my hand out towards him. "Hi, I'm Ivy."
He glances down at my hand. "I know who you are."
"Right," I say and pull my hand back. "Do you have a second to talk?"
He leans against his doorframe, waiting for me to talk.
I nod and collect all my thoughts. "I'm obviously not here to babysit you, so you can do whatever you do with your life, as long as it excludes messing with the kids. I am in charge of them, so I do expect you to treat them kindly and not to involve them in any danger."
He laughs shortly. "Danger?"
"Yeah, no danger," I repeat, losing my focus since he went off the script of what I planned to say. "As I was saying, we-"
"What kind of danger do you suppose I'd bring them into?" he asks in amusement.
Again, not in the script.
"I don't know, Elliott," I sigh. "Look, I just-"
"You seem nervous," he observes and leans his head a bit closer, his voice dropping lower. "Is it because I'm.. dangerous?"
I take a step back. "Okay, no. Don't try and sound all.. you know." I try to keep it together, thrown off by all my girly feelings I don't need to feel. "Look, if you just treat your family right, we won't have any problems."
He smirks and takes a step forward, leaning his face close to mine. "And what if I treat you right, princess?"
I place a hand on his chest to keep him from moving any closer. "You treat me with respect and I'll respect you back, Elliott."
Holding in everything I feel, I turn around and walk into the room I'm staying in. Once the door is shut, I whisper a strand of profanities to myself.
Was he hitting on me? It definitely seemed like it with the sexual quality of his voice and all the leaning in. And the pet name princess? What was that?
God, I probably had a stupid look on my face that whole conversation. It just didn't go where I had expected. He was supposed to say "yes, ma'am" and close his door and that'd be all.
I wasn't supposed to have silly feelings like a little school girl talking to a boy she likes. Because on record, I don't like Elliott. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that. I just don't know Elliott.
Once I finally pull myself together and remind that I am a professional babysitter, I head back downstairs to check on all the kids. The movie is still running, but Crystal, Rose, Ethan and Jonas are all asleep. Addison looks like she's about to pass out as well.
"Hey," I say quietly. "Go up to bed. I'll take care of the them."
She smiles. "You sure? They can be difficult."
"I'm sure."
Once Addison is upstairs, I move to Jonas and poke his side. He whacks my hand away and continues sleeping.
"Jonas," I whisper, "you have to go upstairs."
"Shhh, I'm trying to sleep," he mumbles and keeps his eyes shut tight.
"I need your help carrying the others upstairs though," I say. "I can't carry you."
"Are you trying to tell me I'm fat?" he asks and sits up from the couch. "I'm telling my mom." He picks up Rose who is asleep next to him.
I laugh lightly. "Thank you."
Taking Crystal into my arms, I walk behind Jonas and Rose. As we're walking up the stairs, Jonas trips and drops his little sister.
"Jonas," I sigh as Rose begins bawling.
Instead of getting his younger sister, Jonas falls asleep on the stairs.
Gently, I set Crystal down on the stairs and go to comfort Rose. "Are you hurt, sweetie?"
"I'm so tired!" she screams with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Here," I say and pick her up in my arms, "I'll bring you to your bed."
After doing the impossible and climbing up the stairs and opening the twins' bedroom door all with an eight-year old in my arms, I set Rose down on her bed and pull the covers over her body. "Goodnight."
"Wait!" she cries. "I need a bedtime story."
"Let me get Crystal first," I say and go back outside to carry Crystal upstairs as I had with Rose. I don't have any upper body strength, so this is not my forte.
Luckily not dropping her, I am able to get Crystal into the twin bed next to her sister's.
"Don't forget the bedtime story," Rose says just as I'm about to leave.
"Right," I say and take a seat in the space between their beds. "Do you have any books?"
"Make it up," Crystal demands.
I nod and try to think of a quick story to share. "Alright. Once upon a time, there were two princesses, Cinderella and Rapunzel. Rapunzel was so tired, so Cinderella suggested she went to sleep. So, after Rapunzel fell asleep, Cinderella got so tired too and just fell asleep! The end."
The twins stare at me with blank faces.
"No offense, Ivy," Crystal says, "but that wasn't good."
"I'll try again tomorrow night," I say and stand up to leave. "Goodnight, Cinderella and Rapunzel."
"Night, but our names are actually Crystal and Rosie in case you forgot."
I laugh lightly and shut the door. Jonas is still on the stairs when I return. I step around him to go get Ethan from the couch. Only, he is no longer there.
Do not panic, Ivy.
First, I check under the couches and all the pillows. No luck. I go into the kitchen and check in all the cabinets and under all the chairs. I go into the basement to continue looking. After searching the whole downstairs area with no sign of Ethan, I figure it's time to panic.
Rushing to the stairs, I shake Jonas awake. "Ethan is missing!"
"Ivy," Jonas groans, "Ethan loves hiding. It's his thing."
"Well, I need to find him!" I exclaim in a panic. "Help me find him!"
He mumbles something before closing his eyes and falling asleep again.
I huff and walk upstairs to continue my search for the boy. Without waking up the twins, I look over every inch of their room. He's not there. I do the same with Addison's and Jonas' rooms. The bathroom is clear as well. He's not in his own room. Praying he'd be in mine, I'm disappointed when there's no sight.
All that's left is Elliott's room. I knock on the door and he gives a muffled, "he's not in here."
I sigh and turn to check the downstairs again. My heart nearly stops when I see Ethan standing directly next to me in the hallway. Since he threw me completely off guard, I let out a scream and back into a wall.
I hear Elliott laugh from inside his room.
"Ethan!" I gasp. "Where have you been?"
"Behind you," he says with a sweet smile. "Night!"
"Goodnight," I say in confusion. Behind me? The whole time? I need to sleep.
Trusting that Ethan will go to bed, I go into my room and fall asleep immediately. That was possibly the most stressful night of my life. Three more months of this isn't going to be easy, but I guess it can only get better from here.
A loud thud wakes me up from my sleep. I open my eyes, squinting from the bright light coming in through the window.
"Jonas, why the hell are you on the stairs?" I hear Elliott scream loudly to his brother. "Dammit, I think you broke my hand. I'm going to kill you!"
"Ivy!" Jonas screeches in horror.
With wide eyes, I jump out of my bed to save Jonas from his furious older brother.
It can only get better from here, I repeat to myself. It can only get better from here.
"Ivy!"
~~
AN:
this was a weird place to end it but what can you do
who is your favorite of the Kennedy's?
but hey Elliott spoke words to Ivy for the first (second according to Ivy but first time in the book) time! oh and I know the description of his voice was a little weird but did anyone catch my drift with the whole class clown voice?
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