Jealousy Makes You Nasty

Chapter 53

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We come up the Ward's driveway and come to a stop behind all the other cars lined up. I stare up at the house as we climb out of the car.

"Why do I have to be at this stupid thing?" Olivia asks as she pulls on her dress. I smack her hand away and she scrunches her nose at me.

"Because you are my emotional support," I inform her with a grin. Sebastian walks up to us, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows.

"You look gorgeous," Sebastian leans over and kisses her cheek softly as she grins.

"Gross," Tessa mumbles, as she pushes past us.

"Oh, don't be so grumpy, little one," he smirks at her discomfort. That's right, Tessa is wearing a dress.

"Stop enjoying this," she threatens, tugging on the hemline.

"Tessa's in a dress, Tessa's in a dress," Maddie skips over to us, singing.

"Stop it, twerp," Tessa threatens, stepping forward. Maddie's eyes dance with laughter as she smirks, twirling in her dress.

"You two, stop it," mom hisses at the two of them as they get out of the car. We all meet in front of the car and head towards the doorway.

"I don't want to be here," I whisper to Olivia who is walking next to me while holding Sebastian's hand.

"Just relax, I'm sure it'll be fine," she gently rubs my arm. I nod my head as we all walk up the driveway in a group.

The house is lit up and voices are carrying through the closed front door. Dad stands on the doorstep and knocks heavily due to the noise.

"Okay, everyone be cool. I want best behaviors from everyone," Mom says nervously. We haven't seen any of the Wards since Nathan and I broke up so she's a little tense. "Tessa put the Sharpie away!" We hear a grumbled 'Fine' and I can't help but smile at what she was thinking of doing with it.

The door opens in a flourish. "Clara, Peter! It's so good to see you, come in, come in!" Katherine exclaims with a grin. My mother and her exchange hugs and we slowly move down the line of greetings until her eyes land on me.

I'm silently analyzing her face to watch for when her smile changes to a grimace and she kicks me out before I can get through the door but her smile doesn't waver as she pulls me into a tight hug.

"How are you, darling?" she asks, gently pulling back but not letting go of me completely.

"I'm good-great actually. I'm great," I stumble over my words and smile widely, hoping to show nonchalance.

"That is wonderful to hear, I'm so happy you could make it, and congratulations on getting into Columbia, that's amazing!" she smiles sweetly at me as she lets me go so that I can walk into the house behind the others. "Oh, Tessa, sweetheart, we have the kids room all set up for all the kids, so you and Maddie can just head down to the basement when you're ready," she informs Tessa with a smile, shutting the front door behind us and wanders back into the house to the rest of her guests.

Tessa whirls around in the foyer and faces our mother, enraged, "Kids room? Are you kidding me? I'm a teenager, I deserve to be up here with the rest of them!" she whisper-yells at our parents.

"They have a chocolate fountain downstairs," my dad replies with a blank expression as he fixes his tie on his suit.

Tessa stands still, "Yeah, okay, see ya suckers," she grabs Maddie's hand and speed walks to the kitchen, turning back to look over her shoulder, "Call me if there's any drama," she points at us, making sure we all heard her.