Living in a House Full of Ten Crazy Boys(completed book 1)

Chapter: 24

Twitter: @liahfotcb_dream

Chapter 24: Dress Shopping, and Horse Riding

<<<<<<CLEO'S POV>>>>>>

It's been almost a week since the incident with Christian happened, and I've managed to skillfully cover up my bruised face with some makeup I have. I was scared that I would run into Christian at school somewhere, but surprisingly, I have only seen him once, and we barely even exchanged eye contact.I don't know how I happened to keep it a secret from Jacklen without her finding out, but I have, and as far as I know, she has no clue about what happened. I don't want to burden her with another thing to worry about, she has already taken me in, and that's enough for me. The bruising on my face has gone down in size, and now instead of looking like a darker purple, it is more of a yellowy orange color which is easier to cover up with makeup. The scratches on my back, and scrapes on my knees are practically invisible now, so that's good.

I am currently sitting on my bed working on some French homework, when I heard someone knocking on my bedroom door. I instantly knew it wasn't Colton or any of the other brothers because they never knock...ever, they just barge right in. I dropped my pencil, then said

"Come in."

Without hesitating, the person opened to the door, and in walked Jacklen. She looked neat in her crisp looking white button down shirt, and knee length black pencil skirt. It never occurred to me until now, but now that I'm actually thinking about it, I have no idea what she does for a living, nor Charles. I've been living with them long enough to where I should probably know what they both do for a living right? It must be something special, because I mean come on, they own a mansion, super fancy cars, and I only see them sometimes because they both go on trips quite a lot.

As I was thinking this, Jacklen approached me with a huge, bright smile on her face, which is kind of unusual for her. Yes she smiles a lot to me, but never quite like the smile she is wearing on her face right now, so I am curious to know what is making her grin so happily. She took a seat next to me on the edge of my bed, and said

"Hello Cleo, how are you?"

Her voice had a little bit more pep in it, so now I knew that there is something 'exciting' she wants to tell me. I responded with a simple

"I'm good, just finishing up some Friday homework."

She nodded her head in understanding, then began saying

"So...there is this annual event my work holds every year, it's a ball, and the family always has to come because I am one of the main employees that helps with it, and since you are part of our family now, I was wondering if you would like to come? If you do, then we need to go shopping now because the ball is on Sunday."

A ball.

A real ball. I always remember when I was younger, Sidney and I would dress up as princesses, I would no matter what be Cinderella, and she would always be Ariel. We would pretend to have a tea party, then we would invite our imaginary princes over to our imaginary ball. We both dreamed of going to a real ball dance, but I never thought I would have the chance to actually go to one in real life. So, slightly surprised, I said

"A ball? You mean like where all the ladies dress in ball gowns and the guys wear tuxedos, that kind of ball?"

She chuckled a little, then said

"Yes Cleo, that kind of ball. Well, other than the fact there is no Prince Charming that is. Since I'm a lawyer, our head boss likes to throw a special ball each year, and every year, I have always had to get dressed and ready by myself because I have never had a girl in the house before, so that's why I was wondering if you would like to go."