Chapter 10

CHAPTER10

“What are we doing?” Cole asked as he dropped down on the bench next to Sebastian.

“Waiting for Mikey to finish running laps,” Sebastian murmured absently as he looked up from the textbook that he was already behind in to find Mikey holding onto her side as she stumbled past them.

“Where’s Elizabeth?” Sebastian asked as Mikey mumbled, “I can’t feel my legs,” as she went for her eighteenth lap.

“She grabbed a ride home with Dad,” Cole said as they watched Mikey stumble in a zigzag fashion as she struggled to keep going.

“And Chloe?” Sebastian asked as he watched Cole’s eyes narrow dangerously at the mention of the teenage girl who was driving him crazy.

“The little traitor ditched me.”

“You need to move faster, Campbell,” Coach Jackson said, not bothering to look up from his iPad while Mikey sadly mumbled, “I’m dying,” while she kept going.

“Nicole’s going to make her life a living hell,” Cole said as they watched Mikey do another lap around the track.

“Is that the blonde girl who couldn’t stop glaring at Mikey during lunch?” Sebastian asked as he closed the textbook and shoved it in his bag before grabbing the bottle of water he’d bought earlier from the school store while he’d waited for Mikey to change back into her gym uniform so that she could run laps.

“The very same,” Cole murmured as they watched Mikey stagger towards them.

“That’s probably not going to end well,” Sebastian murmured as Mikey, who was gasping and holding onto her side, finally managed to stumble over to them.

Without a word, she stole his water, finished it off, and shoved the empty bottle back into his hand with a gasped, “Dying,” before reaching down and grabbing her bag and stumbled towards the gate. With a sigh, they grabbed their bags and quickly caught up with her, mostly because her legs gave out and she’d been forced to grab onto the gate with a sadly mumbled, “My legs.”

Sighing heavily, Sebastian reached over and plucked the backpack off her shoulder and tossed it to Cole so that he could pull her off the fence and throw her over his shoulder. Once she was settled, they headed home with Mikey mumbling incoherently over his shoulder the entire way.

When they reached Cole’s house, he tossed Mikey’s backpack to him just in time to catch Katie when she tried taking him down with a tackle. With a yawn, Cole said, “See you tomorrow,” as he threw Katie over his shoulder and headed next door, leaving Sebastian to deal with the teenage girl pouting over his shoulder.

Ten minutes later, he was carrying Mikey into her kitchen past Aunt Kasey and settling her down at the kitchen table, where she mumbled, “I hate high school,” before she dropped down across the kitchen table chairs with a sniffle and did her best to curl into a ball.

“That good?” Aunt Kasey asked as Sebastian helped himself to a cookie off a cooling rack on the kitchen island.

“I made new friends,” Mikey mumbled sadly.

“That’s what I heard,” Aunt Kasey said with a sympathetic smile.

“They adore me,” Mikey muttered against the chair.

“I’m sure they do,” Aunt Kasey murmured as she made quick work of dropping cookie dough on a pan and placed it in the oven. “Do you have homework?”

“Probably,” Mikey mumbled, making him sigh as he reached into her bag to grab the iPad the school gave her, only to realize that it wasn’t there. Wondering why she was a pain in his ass, Sebastian headed upstairs and wasn’t exactly surprised to find the iPad still in its box along with her new laptop. Ten minutes later, he was setting them up at the kitchen table while Mikey continued mumbling sadly to herself.

After he finished creating logins for her, Sebastian started downloading everything that she was going to need for the week. That was followed by realizing that Mikey had fallen asleep at some point and deciding that he should probably head home and get started on his own homework.

“Her textbooks should finish downloading by the time she wakes up,” Sebastian said as he grabbed his bag.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Aunt Kasey asked as he headed for the door, helping himself to another cookie along the way.

“I should probably head home and get started on my homework,” Sebastian said before adding, “Thanks for the cookies.”

“Thanks for bringing her home,” Aunt Kasey said, making him chuckle.

“You’re welcome,” Sebastian said as he headed outside. A few minutes later, he was dropping his bag on the floor by his desk and sitting down, only to realize that Mikey was passed out in his bed. “Why are you here?”

“I’m not. I’m currently in my room doing my homework,” Mikey mumbled into his pillow before he could say anything as she grabbed his comforter and pulled it over her head.

“What happened at lunch?” Sebastian asked as he grabbed the thick science textbook out of his backpack.

“Stuff,” Mikey mumbled into his pillow.

“Does that stuff have anything to do with the really pissed-off blondes that were throwing a fit in the cafeteria after you left?” Sebastian asked as he opened the laptop the school gave him.

“Probably.”

“What are you going to do about it?” he asked, finding where he’d left off in the textbook.

“Let them adore me from afar,” Mikey said with a heartfelt sigh.

“Sounds like a plan,” Sebastian murmured absently as he shifted to get comfortable in his chair. “Are you going to do your homework?”

“Are you going to stop talking so that I can sleep?” she demanded, making his lips twitch.

“Brat,” Sebastian said, chuckling as he set to work. A few minutes later, Jonathan walked into the room and dropped down on his bed with a satisfied sigh. “Why’s there a lump in your bed?”

“Mikey’s doing her homework,” Sebastian said as Jonathan grabbed his iPad out of his bag and settled back on his bed.

“How was your first day back?” Jonathan asked as he toed off his shoes.

“Uncle Jason switched out my schedule for all AP courses, which means that I have to get two months’ worth of homework done by this weekend, and we played dodgeball during gym,” Sebastian said, glancing at his brother before adding, “with Mikey.”

He watched Jonathan swallow hard as he shot a panicked look in Mikey’s direction as he asked, “How did that end?”

“The football team is terrified of her,” Sebastian murmured as he glanced back at his bed to find Mikey glaring at them.

“As they should be,” Jonathan said, chuckling.

“Some of us are trying to sleep here,” Mikey mumbled, yanking his pillow over her head.

“God, she’s bossy,” Jonathan mouthed.

“I know,” Sebastian mouthed back, smiling.

“I heard that,” Mikey grumbled.

Chuckling, they went back to their schoolwork until it was time to go downstairs for dinner. They barely had a chance to sit down when Mikey joined them, carrying her iPad and grumbling to herself as she shoved Mathew off his chair and sat down with a sadly mumbled, “Pass the meatloaf, please.”

“How was school?” his mother asked as she threw Mikey a worried look.

“The girls struggled to hold back tears as they rejoiced upon seeing me,” Jonathan said with a heartfelt sigh and a muttered, “Not that I can blame them.”

“There’s something seriously wrong with you,” Jessica said, shaking her head in wonder.

“I’ve been saying that for years,” Mathew said with a glare aimed at Mikey as he sat down next to her.

“I can see why,” their mother murmured as she cleared her throat and shifted her attention to Jessica and Mathew. “How was your first day of eighth grade?”

“I’m stuck sitting next to this really annoying boy because we have the same last name,” Jessica said with a helpless shrug that had Mathew’s eyes narrowing on his twin sister.

“Okay,” their mother said with a sigh as she shifted her focus on him. “Sebastian?”

“They let Mikey play dodgeball,” Jonathan said, saving him and leaving their mother struggling not to wince as their father muttered, “Jesus Christ.”

“It was the best,” Mikey mumbled sadly as she reached over and stole the meatloaf off Mathew’s plate with the saddest freaking sniffle.

“What’s wrong?” his father asked as he reached over and scooped mashed potatoes onto Mikey’s plate for her.

“I think I’m going to need a tutor,” Mikey said with another sniffle as she stared helplessly down at the iPad in her hands.

“It’s only the first day of school, sweetie. I’m sure you’ll be fine,” his mother said, only to mumble, “Oh, my god,” when Mikey handed her the iPad.

Frowning, Sebastian plucked the iPad out of his mother’s hands, only to frown when he saw what was on the screen. “It’s only Geometry.”

Nodding slowly, Mikey said, “There is something seriously wrong with you.”

“I’ll tutor you,” Jonathan said with a heartfelt sigh. When Mikey only stared at him, he narrowed his eyes on her until, finally, he said, “You could have just said no.”

“I like to save time,” Mikey said, shrugging it off.

“You probably have work-study hours that you can use to tutor her. They offer academic scholarship students at my school the option of work-study hours to earn money by tutoring,” Jonathan explained, gesturing to the iPad. “You should check.”

“See? This works out for both of us,” Mikey said with a satisfied sigh as she gestured for Sebastian to get on with it.

“You really are a pain in my-”

“Sebastian!”