3 weeks later
"Are you guys close?" I asked my mom as soon as I heard the tone that she's picked up the phone.
"We're pulling into the parking lot now." She said, a hint of laughter in her voice.
"Thank God. You can have the little demon back."
"Did you just call your sister a demon?"
"Yes I did. She's definitely transitioned from the terrible twos in a threenager and I'm done. Hurry up and get in here."
I hung up the phone and laid it on the counter, starring at Journi who was eating cereal.
"You're going home now." I said, crossing my arms.
"Good." She said, copying me and crossing her arms.
"And never coming back."
"Fine."
"Don't act like that." Ethan said walking around the corner. "You know you're going to miss her."
There was a knock on the door and I uncrossed my arms, walking over to it.
"Maybe. But right now, her and all of her sass can't leave soon enough."
I opened the door and my mom was standing there.
"Get your kid." I said walking away from the door and around the corner.
"What's her problem?" I heard my mom ask Ethan.
"She hasn't been sleeping a lot, and she's been getting a taste of her own sass." He laughed at the last part.
"I can hear you." I said, rolling my eyes and opening the guest room door, grabbing Journis suit case that was right beside the entrance.
I closed the door back and walked back to the kitchen, handing my mom the bag.
"Have fun at Disney. Stop by here before you go back home."
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" She asked, for like the fifth time.
"I wish I could but I can't. I have to go down to the school all this week. Plus I just went like a month ago. You guys have fun." I said, grabbing my water bottle off the counter and taking a sip.
"Okay. Well, we'll see you in five days then." She said, hugging me and kissing the top of my head.
"Okay. Bye." I sighed.
"Bye pain in my butt." I said, kissing the top of Journi's forehead before picking her up off the barstool and handing her to my mom.
"Bye dummy." She said, sticking her tongue out at me just before my mom closed the door and they were gone.
"Now that's she's gone and it's quiet....I miss her." I sighed, walking over to the couch and plopping down on it. "Not enough for her to ever come back and stay three weeks again, but I still miss her."
"She'll puppy dog eye her way into staying with us again sooner or later." Ethan said, walking over to the couch and sitting down, picking my feet up and putting them on his lap.
"Mhm. Yeah probably." I sighed, closing my eyes. "Do I time to take a nap before Gray gets here?"
"I don't know, probably." And just as he finished answering, the doorbell rang. "Or not."
"Why does he even bother? I know he made a copy of the key." I sighed, sitting up.
"Who's ready to build!" Grayson yelled, walking in the front door and shutting it behind him.
"We're just painting today." I said standing up as sliding on my crocs that were sitting beside the coffee table.
"But I brought my tool belt." He said, looking like a lost puppy.
"We might get around to building a shelf or two." I said and he instantly parked up. "But that's a big maybe."
"Yes! I'll be in your car." He yelled, before running out the apartment and down the sidewalk.
"That's your brother." I sighed, looking back at Ethan before stepping out the door.
"I didn't have a choice in that. You chose to be his friend."
"Yeah. But you gotta love him. He's like a puppy."
...........
"You're supposed to fit 30 kids in here?" Grayson asked, dropping his tool bag down on the floor.
"Yeah it's tiny. But kids are tiny too." I said, not even convincing myself.
"Do all of the classrooms look like this?" Ethan asked, playing with the broken pencil sharpener on the wall beside the door.
"Pretty much. No matter how nice the neighborhood, schools are seriously underfunded."
"That's some bullshit." Ethan and Grayson said at the same time.
"Yeah." I sighed, taking my duffle bag off my shoulder and laying it on the desk. The weight of the paint cans dropping onto the desk made the already wobbly legs collapse and the desk fell to the floor. I squealed and jumped back, hitting me head on something hanging on the wall.
"Holy cousin fuck that hurt." I said grabbing the back of my head and turning around to look at the fire extinguisher. "Why the hell is the hanging on the wall?"
"I'm sorry," Grayson said turning around to look at me. "Did you just say 'holy cousin fuck?' Who says that?"
"You know most people just say holy shit right babe?"
"I'm not like most people apparently," I sighed. "And now I need a new desk."
"I can fix it, or I could I build you a new. A custom one. Yes let me design you a desk with a bunch of drawers and built in organizational stuff and it'll be top of the-"
"If I say yes, will you stop rambling and start helping to knock down the cobwebs?"
"Why are there so many cobwebs?"
Ethan asked, looking around at the ceiling of the room.
"The principal said there hadn't been anyone in here in like three years."
"So there's probably more than just spiders in those cabinets and that closet over there." Grayson asked, motioning toward the back of the room.
"Which is why I brought two strong, brave men with me to help with anything that could be in there." I said, very monotone.
"Weren't you raised in a barn? You can get rid of the bugs and whatever else is in there." Grayson said.
"Unless there's snakes. I'm not doing snakes."
"You're joking right?" Ethan asked, grabbing a broom and stating at the door to knock down the cobwebs
"I guess we'll see if I'm kidding or not once we open them." I shrugged even though he couldn't see because his back was towards me.
"Well who's drawing the short straw to open them?" Ethan asked. I glanced over at Grayson and made eye contact before putting my finger up to my nose.
"Nose goes!" He yelled, also putting his finger up to his nose.
Ethan turned around and tried to put his finger up to his nose but he was already the last one so he had to do it.
"Good luck babe. Don't get bit." I said, my finger still on my nose.
"You owe me." He said, pointing at me before walking away to the back of the classroom.
"Wait!" I yelled, looking around for something I could stand on to get off the ground. I settled for a very wobbly reading table. "Okay, you can open it."
"Why are you standing on the table?" He asked, his shoulders slouching impatiently.
"Deathly afraid of snakes. Just taking precautions." I said, crossing my arms. "Go ahead, open it."
"You're ridiculous." He said rolling his eyes.
"You love me though."
"Yeah yeah." He said, unlocking the closet. He opened the door and turned to look at me. "Nothing but spiders."
"Okay, yeah. But check the cabinets too." Grayson said, now standing on a desk.
"You too bro?"
"She's got a point. I don't want to get snake bit."
"Well which one of you is going to suck the venom out of my leg when I get bit?"
"Haley, it's you classroom and ultimately your snakes, so you can suck the venom out of his legs." Grayson said, crossing his arms across his chest.
"What? No. You're his brother. His twin. His womb mate. You can do it if it happens."
"I'm opening these." Ethan sighed, bending down to reach the cabinets. He stepped to the side and stretched to open the door. Nothing.
"Good, only three more to go." I sighed, relieved.
He opened the last three and nothing was in them.
"See. Nothing." He shrugged. "You know, why did you think there would be snakes in there anyway."
"Two years ago the classroom across the hall from my moms has a snake come down..." I paused and stepped down from the table and looked up at the ceiling, "from the light fixture. It landed on a 7th grade girls desk and she said you could hear her scream throughout the whole school."
"What? You want me to check all the lights now?" Ethan scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"No. Don't be ridiculous." I said, glancing up at the ceiling and grabbing the broom that was resting against the wall. "I'm just going to take this, just in case though. We should start painting."
How many more chapters is she updating? The world may never know