After the much needed shower, I stepped out of the bathroom to find Kylie still there.
"Don't you have your room or you just decided to keep being the annoying pest you are?" I asked her.
"I had a fucking long trip and I am just exhausted. My room wasn't cleaned earlier so I'll just crash here for a while if that's okay with you," she said staring up at the ceiling.
"No, it's not okay with me."
"I knew you wouldn't refuse. Thanks little sis. You are the absolute best," she said laughing. I ignored her as I went to my bed.
"I thought you left with your mom. Where is she now and what exactly made you return?"
"My mother is gone."
"Gone as in, she ran to Chicago this time. Or maybe New York?"
"Nah," she said laughing. "Gone as in dead. You're mental you know," she said still laughing.
"And somehow it's amusing that your mom is dead?"
"Not really. I just refused to care," she said shrugging. I fell silent for a while feeling a bit sorry for her.
"Does this TV work? I haven't seen you even glance at a television for once in your life. Why do you even have one to begin with? Could you pass me the remote?"
"I don't think I know where it is. What do you want to watch?"
"I don't know, anything on box office or maybe YouTube."
"Anime?"
"Eww... No. That stuffs for three year olds. Don't tell me you watch those."
I shook my head. "No I don't. But I watch cartoons."
"You? I highly doubt. Someone like you would rather watch a celebrity preparing to attend something as hideously boring as a met gala or even the history of some stupid place people care less about or more likely read about some serial killer than watching cartoons."
"Serial killer?" I asked laughing. She shrugged before joining me in laughing.
****
Three days since I got suspended and I was sure as hell enjoying it. It was more like a much needed break from my psycho roommates although I still had a psycho sister to deal with.
I still hadn't said a word to my mother and she also hadn't attempted to do so.
Alesscia texted saying that she was at home. I decided to go to her house for the first time since I really didn't have anything to do at home.
"Hey Steph! I am going to a friend's house today. I don't know when I'll be back but I will try to come back before it's late," I said to Stephanie who seemed to be the only person at home.
"Is the friend from your school?"
"Yes. She is."
"Isn't she meant to be in school? It's a Thursday," Stephanie said.
"I think she might be sick."
"Okay. But you will have to wait for either your mom or Kylie to come back."
"And why do I have to wait?"
"They both went with the drivers so there's no one to drop you," Stephanie said.
"Can't they drive?" I asked annoyed. They both could drive and had two functioning hands and feet. Why couldn't they drive themselves? Stephanie just shrugged returning her attention to her electronic reading device.
"I'll drive myself then," I said causing her to look at me.
"No!" She said in a tone of finality returning her attention to her electronic reading device.
"Why shouldn't I drive? Why else do I have a license?"
"Just wait for the driver would you?"
"No, I won't," I said and started heading to where car keys and remotes were kept.
"If you crash any car, your mom is going to be mad," Stephanie said nonchalantly maybe deciding to let me drive myself but giving me a warning to justify her conscience.
"She has enough money to fix it!" I yelled exiting the house with a bunch of keys since I really didn't have any idea which key was for which car.
After about five trials, I finally unlocked the car I reasoned should have been the least expensive. My mom was probably less likely to kill me if I crashed a 4Runner than if I crashed a Ferrari LaFerrari.
I didn't exactly like the idea of driving a huge car and would have rather driven a small one but I still loved my life no matter what. I hurried back to the house and dropped the remaining car keys. I glanced at Stephanie who was still busy reading. I wondered why she didn't just simply offer to drive me since she didn't want me to drive myself.
I returned to the car and after starting the engine, I kinda panicked as I switched the gear to drive. I couldn't remember the last time I drove. It might have been the day I last learnt how to drive. Taking a breath, I slowly eased the accelerator.
****
I don't know how I ended up at my destination but I arrived with few scratches on the car. I actually felt proud of myself. I turned off the ignition and stepped out of the car.
I stood by the car waiting for Alesscia who I saw a few minutes later.
"So you actually found your way," she commented on her arrival.
"That's your definition of finding my way because my destination was supposed to be your house but I am practically in the middle of nowhere," I said.
"This isn't nowhere. My house is barely a few miles away," she said with a smile. "Where is your driver by the way? Did he leave already? Because I don't think there is anyone who could take you home at my place. It's like everyone left with a driver. Makes me wonder if they can't just drive themselves."
"Tell me about it. The same thing happened to me. I had to drive myself here!"
"Are you serious? I really didn't know you could drive. How old are you anyway?"
"Seventeen."
"Okay. I am just glad you didn't kill yourself."
"Ha ha. Very funny. Will you take me to your house or are we going to stand here talking nonsense?"
"Of course but you have to walk just a little bit," she said. "And you also have to hurry cause I left my two younger cousins all by themselves."
****
"This is your definition of ‘just walk a little bit’?"I asked Alesscia after we had walked for like ten minutes.
"We are almost there," she said and I glared at her. She had made that same statement three times in the past minute.
"If..."
"We are here!" She announced. I initially only saw empty land and was about to ask her to stop joking with me when I saw a large gate. The gates opened as we walked in and I noticed the guards standing there like robots.
"So sorry dear but we need to do a bit more walking or if you like we could get a ride to the main house," she said as I finally took note of the large compound. The land there was enough to build an estate.
"I think I should rather get a ride," I said after imagining how badly my feet would hurt if I trekked the distance.
"Okay. Hop in," she said getting into... I had no clue what it was but it had four wheels. In a couple of minutes, we were finally in front of a well exaggerated house.
"Woah! Your house is..."
"Huge?"
"More like voluminous! And I thought my house was exaggerated!" I said wondering what it would be like to live here.
"I gotta take a selfie!" I said whipping out my phone from my gown's pocket to take a picture.
"You take selfies?" Alesscia asked the most bizzare question I must have ever heard and I would have normally ignored the question.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I do."
"Not really.... Just be quick though we still need to go into the house," she said.
"Okay. I am done," I said putting my phone into my pocket.
"Only one picture?"
"What is your problem? Aren't you the one that just said that we still needed to go into the house. So what's your problem with the number of selfies I take?"
"Geese! Sorry. Let's go," she said leading the way. When we got into the house, I heard crying sounds coming from somewhere. We entered the living room and there I found the most adorable little girls I had ever set my eyes on.
One was holding a tablet and the other one was crying. They both looked almost the same age and the were SO ADORABLE!
"Are those your cousins?" I asked Alesscia who was tiredly staring at the two girls.
"Yes. And somehow, I just ended up babysitting them. They are soooooo annoying," she said going to take a seat not even trying to check why one of them was crying.
"Won't you check what the problem is with her?" I asked.
"I don't even have the strength. Don't bother yourself because you will be so disappointed," Alesscia said.
"Really?" I asked looking over at the crying girl whose cries only grew by the second.
"You can do whatever you want. I care less."
I went to where the two girls were sitting and sat beside the girl who was crying.
"Hey! What's your name?" I asked.
"Alexis," she said sniffing and wiping her face with her tiny hands.
"That is a really lovely name. Girls with lovely names shouldn't be crying. So I want to know why you are crying and ruining your adorable face," I said in a soft voice feeling a bit weird. This must have been the first time in my life I was talking to a five year old.
"I don't want Mr. Frank!" She said bursting into tears again. I stared at her confused.
"What?" I asked confused. She just kept crying while pointing her tiny hand to the second girl who had a tablet in her hand and was playing Subway Surf. I glanced down at the girl and back at her not understanding the point.
I looked at Alesscia who was busy going through box office. She barely glanced at me probably wondering whether to help me or not.
"Frank is a game character. Her and Ashley share that tablet and apparently she doesn't like Frank and wants any other character but him. But it's Ashley's turn to play and Ashley doesn't want to use any other character but Frank. That is why she is crying," Alesscia explained not looking at me. From the bored expression on her face, I concluded that she had witnessed a similar episode before.
"Who is older between Ashley and Alexis?"
"Ashley is six. Alexis five."
"Okay. Why can't Ashley change Frank to any other character?"
"Wow. What a wonderful idea! Why don't you try that!" Alesscia said sarcasm dripping from her words.
I attempted to collect the tablet from Ashley who put up a little struggle.
"Can you please give me the tablet for a while dear, I will give it to you right now," I said and she finally let go of the tablet. I was still trying to change the character when she started crying.
"What's wrong dear?" I asked getting annoyed by the constant cries.
"I only want Mr. Frank," she said rubbing her eyes as tears fell. I was so annoyed I would have actually broken that tablet there. Rather, I just handed it back to Ashley as Alexis started crying.
I left them to sit beside Alesscia.
"Look who decided to come back. Do you now understand why I said you should ignore them before?" Alesscia asked.
"Yeah. I think I finally remember why I don't like children," I said and Alesscia gave me a look.
"You don't like children?"
"Sometimes."
She glared at me. "Well that's just dumb you know because you were once a child," she said.
Well typically she was right. I was once a child although I never remembered having a childhood as much as I tried to recall. I glanced at Ashley and Alexis wondering if I had been giving the luxury to be this stupid as a child.