Candid

Chapter 59

*Gasp* Did I just post a day early? You're damn right I did!

Two more... I have no words. This is getting harder and harder, these characters are my babies, I've had them in my life for just over 3 years.

This chapter is long because it is, I have no excuse and I feel no guilt.

Please please excuse the cheesy-ness of the graduation speech, we don't do that kind of stuff in my country, lol.

Enjoy

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June

My bedroom door banged open early in the morning. My mother ran inside my bedroom, followed by Sophie, and dived on my bed. Confusion pulled at my face as I turned away from my desk to face them. "What are you two doing?" I inquired warily.

My mother flailed around the bed and lifted the covers, exposing the pillows I had kicked around last night. I waited patiently. "We were trying to surprise tackle you," my mother said with a pout on her face.

"Why?"

Sophie crawled off the bed and hurtled for me. "Because you're graduating today!" She squeezed me into a hug. "What are you doing awake?" She leaned over my head and scanned the paper sitting on the desk.

I lightly wrapped my arms around her. "Just my speech," I answered casually and moved to stand up.

My mother sighed from where she had made herself comfortable on my bed. "I knew with having six kids at least one of you had a shot at being a nerd," she teased.

I bent over to the floor and picked up one of my flip-flops and threw it at her. She squealed and ducked under the comforter.

"Is everyone awake?" I asked, picking up my scrap papers and sorting them out.

Sophie chuckled. "Well seeing as the little ones are here, yes, they're all awake."

"Cool," I said absentmindedly, "Can you round up just the siblings?"

She lifted her chin in question. "Yeah, sure, do you want me to facetime Char?" She asked with a grin.

I checked the clock on my nightstand and shook my head. "Nah, I'm sure she's probably still sleeping." New mothers tended to be exhausted the first couple of weeks after birth.

Ten days ago my mother and father had to catch an emergency flight to New York because we had gotten a frantic call from Jackson that Charlotte's water broke. Her due date wasn't for another two weeks so his tone was urgent and stressed.

Twenty hours later, which gave my parents more than enough time to make it to the hospital, Noah Hartley was born.

I already had more than fifty photos saved in my gallery and most of them looked exactly the same because he was barely two weeks old and didn't do much other than breastfeeding and sleep.

Sophie clicked her fingers at me. "Gotcha, where do you want us?"

"In here is fine," I said with a small smile.

She left the room with a wink. My mother slowly climbed off the bed and came to stand next to me. We glanced at each other, a silent conversation passed between us. "Need dad and me here?"

I nodded my head silently.

She brushed a hand through the end strands of my freshly cut and dyed hair and left the room, calling out for my father.

One by one the siblings trudged into my bedroom, clearly upset about the fact that Sophie had pulled them away from their breakfast. Tessa raised a silent brow and I nodded my head subtly.