The Nerd and the Jock (1st bk of Nerd Series)

Chapter 19- Bailey

I groaned in annoyance when I felt someone bounce on my bed early the next morning, not ready to get up.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up," the lump bouncing on my bed said excitedly. "Come on, Bailey. You need to get up."

"No," I complained and pulled my cover over my head. "I don't wanna get up. Lemme sleep." I groaned when more lumps started to bounce on my bed but ignored them to the best of my ability while I started to drift back into the land of sleep.

"No, you are getting up," a deep male voice said, pulling my covers off of my head before I could fully submerge myself into the dream that I had been through before I was rudely woken up. "Wake up. We have a lot to do today, Bay."

Sleepily, I opened one eye and found myself face to face with the man that had appeared in my dream. I scowled at Blake before turning my back to him and pulling my pillow over my head. "No," I huffed. "Lemme sleep."

Blake wrenched the pillow from my grasp and started to beat me up playfully. "Wake up, birthday girl," he teased. "You got stuff to do. Don't you have a meeting soon?"

"Yes," I mumbled, "but that doesn't mean I want to get up." I curled into a ball and covered my head, ignoring Blake beating me with a pillow. I was used to being beaten by a pillow because of my four kids, so him beating me with it didn't faze me like he thought I would.

"What about food in bed?" Blake asked, stopping because he finally understood that I wouldn't move with him beating me with a pillow. "Will you wake up for that?" He tossed my pillow back onto my bed and watched as I opened one eye to look at him.

"It depends," I said, sitting up. I grabbed my pillow and moved it towards the headboard before leaning against both. My stomach growled out in hunger, and my mouth watered at the smells that wafted through the room. "What is it?"

"Your favorite breakfast," Trevor said, holding a tray filled with French Toast, bacon, and fruit. "If you want it, Birthday Girl." He gave me a teasing smile, and I snorted.

I rolled my eyes and smiled at my cousin, glad that I shared a birthday with him. "Happy birthday to you too, Dimwit," I teased. "Why are you up early too?"

Trevor shrugged. "Thought I would surprise you," he replied, walking into the room. "The kids helped cook the food. They were well behaved and weren't that loud, so I am glad that you didn't wake up."

I glanced at the five smiling kids on my bed and smiled. "Good," I said. "Because if they weren't then, I would make them do the dishes and not eat with us."

"The dishes we used are in the dishwasher," Chrissie said, smiling. She scowled and pointed at my plate. "Now, eat because we need to eat too and go to school. You also need to finish eating and go to that meeting."

"Grab the other plates, and then I will eat when everyone is settled," I said, nodding my head towards the door, and both Chrissie and Ryan went to get the other plates with Blake's help. "Are you able to babysit, Trevor? I don't know what time I will be done with the meeting."

"Yep," Trevor said, putting the tray in front of me. "Just let me know when you are done. Are you going to move back to your old house or..?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It depends on what they say," I replied. I sighed and moved a hand through my hair, waiting for them to come back with the rest of the plates. I wanted to eat the food that Trevor had laid out in front of me, but I didn't want to eat in front of them, especially since Mimi looked at my food with an intense look. "If so, mind helping me move some stuff over tomorrow to the old house?"

Trevor shook his head. He walked over to my desk and sat down while the other children settled on the bed around me, Mimi laying her head on my shoulder and staring at a piece of bacon on my plate. "I don't have anything planned for Saturday," he replied. "Are you planning on taking the furniture?"

I shook my head and gave her a piece of bacon, and she squealed happily before eating it. "The place is already furnished unless someone broke into it. However, I don't think that happened. I know that someone had been watching the house, but it's been... years since I set foot in there. It couldn't have changed."

"What could have changed?" Blake asked, walking back into the room, followed by the other two kids. He handed out a plate to both his sister and Trevor before leaning against a nightstand near my bed and grabbed a piece of bacon from his plate.

"Bay's house," Trevor replied, glancing at him. "She used to live on Myers Lane."

Blake paused and looked at me before looking at him. "What?" he asked, shocked. "What did you say?"

"I used to live on Myers Lane," I replied. "Why are you looking at him like you had heard something bad?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. I had no idea why he acted like living there was something bad. I mean, my family had been rich, and we could afford to live there.

"I live on Myers Lane," Blake explained, looking at me when I was the one that answered him and not Trevor. He narrowed his eyes at me and studied me with an intensity that I didn't know if I liked or not. "I had moved there when I was around seven. Which house?"

I studied him, narrowing my eyes, feeling intimidated. "I used to live in that old brick house on the corner of Myers Lane and Roland Avenue," I replied. "You know? The one with the big rose bush in front. Why?"

Blake smiled and shook his head, looking down. He didn't say a word but took a bite of his food. He chewed it and had a thoughtful look on his face before he cleared his throat and looked at me. "I live across the street," he said finally. "On the other corner of Myers Lane and Roland Avenue."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Trevor, silently asking him if it was true.

"It's how we became friends," Trevor said, and Blake nodded his head. "You weren't home one day, so instead of going back to my house, I went to the new neighbors and, ya." He shrugged, and I nodded my head.

"Does that mean I get to see Mimi every day?" Sky asked. She clutched onto Mimi, Mimi clutched onto her, both of them looking at me with wide eyes.

"You already see each other every day," I said, and they rolled their eyes at me. "How would it be any different?"

"Well, she can see me at my own house, duh," Sky said. "We only each other here and at school."

"And dance practice and the gym," I replied. "Do you really want to see more of her?"

"Yes," they said in unison. "We want to do sleepovers."

"Please, no," Ryan groaned. He placed his fork on his now empty plate and grimaced. "They are annoying when they are together."

"Well, your head is annoying, so shut up," Mimi said, sticking her tongue out at her older brother.

Ryan mimicked her and closed his eyes.

"If you want to spend the night over at my place when they are over there, you can," Blake said, shrugging his shoulders. "My parents are usually out of town, so..." He trailed off and shook his head, grimacing.

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, and he instantly squeezed mine back. I offered him a small smile in which he returned and nodded my head.

Trevor looked between us and raised an eyebrow when I looked at him, staying silent. Curiosity filled his eyes, but he didn't say anything while drinking some of his orange juice.

And, after that, we ate in silence, with my hand still in Blake's and lost in our own thoughts of the rest of the day that was about to come.