"So as promised, I come bearing gifts" I place the wrapped up frame down onto the table and Grace looks at it curiously

I start to unwrap it. "I painted it in art this morning but then it was taking too long to dry so I had to use the blow dryer-.... Anyway, this is for you"

I present it to her and she widens her eyes with shock

I lay it down on the table, "And I could do so many more if you wanted to-

Grace surprises me with a hug and I widen my eyes as I process what's actually happening. After a few seconds of shock my face eventually softens and I hug her back with a smile on my face, I don't think I've ever been so excited about a hug before.

She pulls away after a few seconds before picking up her painting and smiling, "I'll go start dinner" I get up with the smile still on my face, Grace hugged me and I couldn't be any happier.

Melissa mentioned that Julia didn't have time to make her dinner tonight, she had somewhere to be. That's fine, I'll just put a pizza in the oven for today

Grace continues to draw on her own piece of paper, I would catch her looking back at the painting every now and then. As I sit down at the island I reply to one of Zoe's messages from before

I then scroll through Instagram since I'm pretty bored, I don't have a clue why Eliza's showing up on my feed. In one of her photos she posted something of Carter, I find it funny though because Zoe told me that he's never posted her before. Then there's a picture of her and June at the party with the caption

Forever ♾

I snort before proceeding to watch peoples stories for the next fifteen minutes or so, life gets like that sometimes. I took Grace's pizza out of the oven afterwards before cutting them into triangles and giving them to her on a plate, that was the same time that Carter got back. "Hey princess"

Grace looks back as he walks towards her, "What's this?" He looks at the painting rested on the table before picking it up

"Did Carmen make this for you?" He says surprised, she nods and he looks back at me

"Not bad Rodriguez" He says impressed

"Thanks" I reply before shutting the oven

At around 6:45 Grace went into the living room as that's her tv time, I decided to do my homework whilst she was doing that. It seems like Carter didn't get the memo, he sits opposite me. "Your doing it again" I say with my eyes on the page

"Shit, my bad"

Wait did he actually apologise

I sigh before putting my pencil down, "How's your eye"

"Better" Carter replies before taking a slice of pizza

How I would love to enjoy two slices at least

"So.... What happened?" I decide to ask

"I don't exactly get along with everyone on the team"

No shit

I snort, "Who had to feel your wrath today?"

"Jack Phillips is an ass hole, if it wasn't for Dylan I would've beat the shit out of him"

"You lost me at Dylan"

He looks at me amused, "What's wrong with Dylan?"

I close my homework book, "Nothing except that he must think I'm his slut for hire"

"Who have you actually fucked in our grade?" Carter asks curiously

"I'm a saint, Max Anderson and Malachai Wilson"

"You've fucked Kai?" He says surprised

"I have"

"And would that be your overall body count?"

I look at him amused, "Wouldn't you like to know"

"I would"

"Three guys, that's it" I reply

I fucked the third guy at some party last year, he went to another school and no I don't remember his name..... I think it was Phillip.

"I would've expected more"

"Why cause my brothers have a high count?"

"No because your sister does"

"Adriana's a sex addict" I reply

To be honest, I don't even know what my sisters body count is. "I see"

"I have another question" Carter then says

I sigh, "I'm failing to understand how my life is so interesting"

He half smiles to himself, "What were you and Enzo arguing about?"

I just knew this question was coming

I write down the answer to a math question, "He's sleeping with Sienna and now he's mad at me because I'm mad at her"

"What's wrong with them sleeping together"

"It's weird but even so, that's not what I'm annoyed about"

"So what are you annoyed about?"

"The fact that they lied about it. I asked Enzo if he was hooking up with Si and of course he said no. Then Sienna went radio silent for days and pretended that she was dating Michael which put me in an awkward situation because he had no clue what I was talking about when I asked him, then Sienna lies over text and says she was never at the party when she clearly was because I saw her tongue shoved down Lorenzo's throat and somehow I'm the one who looks like the fricking bad guy" I scoff annoyed

"How long have you been holding that in"

I huff, "Four hours"

"Anything else to add?"

"No I'm gonna go watch tv with Grace" I mumble before getting up

-

"You really love that painting huh?" I say amused

I hung it above her bed and surprisingly she hasn't got tired of looking at it, I pull the comforter over her, "Wanna know something?"

Grace lies down, "You give one of the best hugs in the world"

She smiles at me and I tuck a hair behind her ear, "I'll see you tomorrow Gracie"

I get up before switching off her light and shutting the door behind me, sometimes I forget that this is a payed job. "Your good" A voice says from behind me, I turn around

"Grace has never hugged any of her past babysitters, I guess that makes you a first" Carter says

"So I guess you can stop hating the fact that I'm her babysitter now" I reply

"Not quite"

I roll my eyes playfully, "See you later Miller"

~*~

The house was quiet when I got back, nobody was in the living room or the kitchen. I take a bag of chips out of the pantry before walking upstairs and opening the door to Santiago and Matteo's room. "Hi" Matty says from his bed

"Hey, did you do your homework?"

He nods and I look at Santi who's currently on his phone, "Did he?"

Santiago nods

"Good. And incase you fall asleep, night"

"Night" They both reply, I shut their door before walking down the hallway and opening mine.

I frown as I switch on the light, Lola's on my bed. I take off my shoes before sitting besides her, "Hey you ok?"

My sister nods, "Adriana's being too loud on the phone"

Typical

"I'll shower and then we can talk ok?"

"Yeah"

-

"So how is it being a freshmen" I say amused

Lola shrugs, "Boring"

"Any guys I should know about?" I ask as I lie beside her

"I don't think I'd be able to get away with that, especially with Santi and Enzo around" She snorts

"Santiago won't do shit"

"Enzo?"

"What he doesn't know can't hurt him"

"True... but what about you, how was work today?"

"I got a hug from Grace today" I say proudly

"Really?" Lola says surprised, I nod

"And how is it with Carter being around"

"I think I can tolerate him now" I say truthfully

"Ah so you're already folding"

I gape at my sister, "Not at all, he's with Eliza anyway "

She frowns. "Who cares about Eliza, the relationship is one sided"

"How would you know?"

"Everyone does except for her. They're just fuck buddies"

"Who are we to judge, as long as they're happy" I reply

"Are you happy?" She then asks

I frown, "What do you mean"

"Like.... Are you happy?" Lola repeats

It's funny because I've never been asked that question before, and now that I have I don't know how to answer it.

"Well I mean... yeah, I have all of you guys" I shrug

"That didn't sound convincing"

I snort as I nudge her, "Just let me be the big sister ok"

She raises her hands with surrender, "Fine"

~*~

Today was whizzing by quite fast actually, I pretty much slept through all my lessons so maybe that's why. I haven't heard from Sienna except for the time that I saw her during third period, she was talking to my brother of course. I think the only lesson that I stayed awake for was math, not because of the subject itself but because of Zoe. It seems that things are moving along with Aaron, I think they're going out this weekend

But as I was saying, the day was moving along quickly. It's lunchtime now, "Here" Zoe hands me a bottle of water before sitting down besides me

"Thanks. What did they have today?"

She grins as she shows me her tray. "Pizza"

Yum

Carter and Aaron pull out a chair before taking a seat, I frown with confusion. People around the cafeteria start to watch curiously, I guess they're also surprised that he's sitting here with us instead of with Eliza. Matter of fact she's watching from the lunch line with pure confusion.

Santiago, Adriana and Aaron are acting like Carter sitting here happens all the time, Lola gives me an knowing look and I roll my eyes at her

I know what she's thinking

"Ok seriously, what are we doing about Sienna" Zoe scoffs

"Waiting for her to apologise to Carmen" Adriana says

"Nah man, I'm team Enzo" Santiago disagrees

"Shut up" Lola scoffs

"I don't think she's apologising anytime soon"

"Nobody gives a fuck about an apology" Zoe says

"I would" Aaron shrugs

"It's a good thing it's not about you"

"It's not about any of you" I say amused

"Good point"

I'm honestly tired of hearing Enzo this and Sienna that, I just don't care anymore.... But they don't need to know that

"The pizzas actually good this time C" Adriana says with a mouthful of it

The bottom line is, I'm starting to hate food. It's annoying because I can't enjoy it the way I used to, if you were to give me an ice cream right now the first thing I'd ask myself is how fat would this make me.

"You know I don't eat the schools food" I say amused

Carter's eyes do a quick scan of the table before landing on my bottle of water, he then gives me an inquisitive look. Thankfully Aaron started talking and the subject switched over to him, I'm pretty sure he was telling us about how much Mr Peterson is a pervert or some shit like that

I'm honestly just counting the hours until I can go home