German Boy

Chapter 8: The Family

After their car arrived, I saw his parents getting out that day and approached him. I smiled at them and they both smiled back at me. Despite that, I was searching for her sisters who were nice to me the other time but I didn't find them.

His dad looked at his feet and found the bandage on them. "Hey! Are you okay? What happened?" He immediately leaned forward to take a look at it and frowned when he saw a few specks of blood on it.

I was scared that he would get mad, so I just stood up and gulped as I looked at them all. "It's my fault, I'm so sorry. I forced him to play with me and when he was chasing me, he tripped on the ground. I'm really sorry about this. None of this might have happened if I didn't force him." I explained.

My heart was beating too fast that it reached my belly. I was nervous. I was thinking they would be mad and cuss me out or scold me. So I did my best to apologize. His dad gave a soft smile which was the opposite of the way he looked at me. The moment I began staring at him, he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

Wow.

Those things were supposed to be done by his sisters.

Not him.

I wasn't stereotyping the actions a guy should do but the fact that he was grumpier than his teenage sisters was weird.

"Nah, don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault." With his words, I calmed down and gave a real smile without nervousness.

"Yes, that's right. You guys are meant to play so it's not your fault." His
mom added.

Great.

At least they were on my side.

I faked a bow and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. "Thank you so much." I was a little kid who was very nervous about something wrong I did. But realizing how kind they were, I was relieved.

"Oh, there they are." I frowned after hearing his dad speak and look behind me. They were all looking in the same direction so I looked there as well and found his sisters smiling and waving at us. Selena, Gigi, and Taylor.

I waved back and smiled too. "We're going to have our lunch now, do you want to have lunch with us in the house?"

My eyes had stars on them when he said that. I was excited. But Ven looked like he didn't feel the same about it.

"Sure!" I answered. Ven didn't feel happy with that. And his facial expression was the proof. Even if he didn't complain about it and defended his side, I saw in his eyes how much he hated the moment.

There wasn't any show of crankiness on his face. But he looked like he didn't want that thing to happen. "That's great, we can talk about a lot then. So let's go."

He took Ven's hand thinking he couldn't walk right but he walked faster than us and was the first one to enter the house as he left his dad.

I followed his mom's footsteps as I felt someone's arms being wrapped around my shoulder.

I looked up to see who it was and found Selena.

I smiled.

"Do you like pasta?" She asked all of a sudden.

"Umm, yeah." I energetically asked.

"That's what we have for lunch today." I saw the effort she put into her words just to make sure I would understand her words as a kid.

That's what grown-ups usually do. They try their best to make us, children understand them. And often times we do though we see the filter on their words. "Oh, I love that!" I replied.

Moreover, we sat at the long table and their parents put the pasta on the table as they served us with forks and spoons. I only asked for a small amount since I was not that hungry at that time.

"How old are you?" His dad asked after taking a fork or spaghetti.

"I'm six years old," I replied.

"That means Ven is two years older than you, right?" Selena concluded.

I nodded.

"What's your name again?" His mom inquired.

"I'm Jaraiah Carpenter." My answer as I was trying to spin the pasta around the fork without making any type of mess.

"Nice name. It's my first time hearing a name like that." Gigi praised.

"Well, my mom named me after her. Her name is Jeremiah so she turned mine into Jaraiah." I introduced. My mom didn't tell me that. But my uncle Jerry did. He's very talkative to me and always talks to me about my life when I was a kid.

How he used to carry me around, how I used to cry out loud when I don't get what I want, and most especially, how he scolds me for not speaking English most of the time and speaking in our native language instead.

I was just six years old those days but he already treated me like a grown-up with all his stories. "That's very smart." Taylor complimented.

"Do you study?" Gigi looked at me as I nodded.

"I'm in first grade."

"Oh, great. Ven here is in 3rd grade."

Speaking of that guy, ever since I arrived here, he hasn't talked. But I was staring at him for such a long time. I just couldn't stop it.

I liked how he looked so much. So I watched him all along without even being noticed by anyone around.

I wasn't keeping it a secret or something but they didn't catch me in the act.

"Are you guys moving here?" I asked the same question I asked Ven before expecting him to be grumpy and scold me saying I already asked him the question before. But he probably forgot since he didn't respond.

"Nah, we're just here for summer with our grandparents. Actually, that's what we came from before arriving back home earlier." So far, I saw that Selena was the most talkative one out of them. Also since she was the oldest one I guess.

"Oh, that means you'll come back to your actual country?"

"Yes."

"Where do you guys really live?"

"We're from Germany."

"You all are German?"

"No. Not pure. Just half. Our dad is Australian and our mom is German. We're here today because we are visiting dad's parents." Taylor explained.

What a nice family.

I thought getting close to them was a stepping stone for getting close to Ven as well.

...And I was right!