Key To My Heart [Chase Davenport]

Chapter Six

It sucks that Leo, Bree, Adam, and Chase have to go back to school today. Their summer break is finally over, and today is the first day back to school for them, leaving me at their house with the rest of the adults (meaning my mom and sometimes Tasha and rarely ever Davenport). I thought that since Mom and I came here to visit, Tasha and Davenport would take a few days off of work to be with us, but they didn't. It isn't like they need the money, either, so they could have taken a few days off; it would not have hurt them in the slightest.

I have been wandering around the Davenport house for the last forty five minutes, and I keep stumbling upon new rooms. Well, newer rooms. Bree showed me around the other day, but it wasn't like I was paying much attention to each and every room. This mansion is huge, so much bigger than my house. For a second, I wonder what it would be like to have all this money. I quickly shake my head, though. Mom and I have it good with the money she makes.

My feet stumble over each other as I return to the room with the piano. It stares at me, begging me to come play it. I walk over to it and run my hands over the keys softly. The memory comes back to me while I touch the keys, and I immediately pull my fingers away from it. I can't do this. I can't play the piano again because I failed the last time I played it.

I head back to the living room and see Mom sitting on the white couch. Her head is bent slightly like she is reading something. I glance to the side, scrunching up my nose at the sight of my homework sitting on the island. It's not really an island, though. It's more like breakfast bar or something like that. That's where I set up my own school while the others went to actual school. 

"What are you reading?" I ask as I sit down on the stool in front of the bar. I swivel around, facing my mom. She glances up at me. "It has to be very interesting because you don't read that much at home."

She waves a magazine at me and says, "I'm reading up on Donald and his company, Davenport Industries. I was planning on doing that before we came, but I didn't have time."

"I don't think a magazine has all the answers you want," I say dryly. "Magazines are very biased and talk more about drama than anything else. I'd recommend you read news articles about him because they are supposed to be less biased."

Mom rolls her eyes at me and sets the magazine down on the couch next to her. "Thank you, Miss Smarty," she says with a laugh.

I swivel around in the chair, facing my math homework again. The problems on the page glare at me, and I sigh, burying my head into my arms. "I don't feel that smart right now," I say. "Why is math so hard for me?"

A hand touches my shoulder, and the gentle voice of Mom says, "You can't be good at everything, sweetheart."

"Why?" I whine. "I should be good at it. I'm good at science and English and social studies, but I'm terrible at math. Does that even make any sense?"

I sit up with a sigh, brushing my hair out of my face. I pull my scrunchie off of my wrist and throw my hair back, focusing my sights on my math homework. Mom doesn't answer my question, but she sits down next to me, grabbing the paper from in front of me. I glance over at her and see her face scrunched up in a frown. "What math are you doing again?"

"Geometry," I say, grimacing. "This is my second year in a row of learning geometry. Once isn't enough, apparently."

"I don't remember taking geometry," she says, giggling. I watch as her eyes scan over the paper, her frown deepening. A smile appears on my face when I see how she doesn't get it as well. "Well, I'm of no help. Maybe you could ask one of Tasha's children. I hear that Chase is really smart."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, I heard that, too."

"Oh, good!" Apparently, she did not hear my sarcastic tone. She clasps her hands around mine with a smile on her face. "You can ask him for help when he gets home from school."