The Bad Boy's Nanny

Ch. 13 - Trust Fall Into the Pits of Hell

"Hey, Jonas, Nora and Jett asked us if we wanted to go see a movie today. It's supposed to rain all day."

"I'm not going to waste my day seeing some dumb movie with high-maintenance Nora and freakish Jett."

"Hey, what's your problem?" I ask.

He stands up to slam his bedroom door in my face.

Jonas is acting weird, for lack of a better term. It isn't like the quiet weird from when he was dealing with the bullies. He's just not acting like himself. His comments are rude and not in a jokingly and lovingly way. They're just flat out rude. The only positive thing is he's going to soccer practice and hanging out with more friends.

Back downstairs, I join Nora and Jett in the family room. Nora is playing with Bethany while Jett looks at the Kennedy's movie collection.

"Jonas isn't feeling well today," I lie, not wanting to hurt either of their feelings.

"What's wrong?"

I bite my tongue and think quickly. "Uh, he's just nauseous. It might've been something he ate for breakfast."

"Aw, poor guy," Nora says with a pouted lip. "Tell him we hope he gets better."

I nod, glancing towards Jett. He stares at the ground, a blatant frown on his face. I get a feeling he saw right through my lie.

Instead of going home, Nora and Jett stay over to make cookies for Jonas. Jett takes charge in the kitchen, eventually kicking Nora and me out. Nora tells me he won a cooking competition when they were in Dubai and he hasn't been humble in the kitchen since.

In my room-- I still have a hard time calling it my room-- Nora goes through some of the pictures I brought from home. I only brought them in case I got homesick. So far, I don't see any reason why I'd miss home. My mom and Steve would always be there, obnoxious and hurtful. Well, Steve was just obnoxious. My mom was the hurtful one.

"Is this your dad?" Nora asks, pointing to an old picture of me and my parents by the beach.

"Yeah."

"What a D.I.L.F.!" she jokes, or at least I'm hoping she's joking. "Who's this?"

"That's Josiah," I answer when I see she has found my mom's wedding photos. "The marriage lasted about five months. Maybe less."

"Did your parents get divorced?"

I nod. "My dad left when I was five."

"I'm sorry," she says with a frown. "I take back my comment from before. He's not even attractive."

I laugh lightly and look at the photos with her, quickly changing the subject. I don't feel like I'm still emotional about my dad or anything. I just don't feel anything, and that's why I don't like talking about it. People would just find it weird.

"That strange neighbor kid is in our kitchen making cookies," Elliott starts as he walks into my room. "Should I be worried?"

"Jonas isn't feeling great today, so Jett wanted to make him cookies," I explain.

"Hi," Nora says.

Elliott raises his eyebrows when he realizes Nora is here. "Hi. Oh, wait. When I said strange, I meant unique in like a good way. Great brother you have there."