Hey guys! Thanks for reviewing! Sorry it took a while to update. Im kinda really preoccupied with something that's going to take up almost 23/6 of my time. So im finding really hard to update. But thanks to everyone who is still sticking with this story. You're all the greatest!

Thanks to:

Erika F

COTTfan24

CompetiveSwimmaChick

Cindy

Paradox-Barbarian-Princess

Aveline

Irish-table

acting-singing-bella

And

Volvochick

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Chapter Eleven: School Troubles

"Come on Mayle! Wake up! You're going to be late for school!" Theresa heard Mrs. Parker scream up the stairs.

"Im coming mom im coming!" She yelled in return running down the steps and brushing past Theresa. She stopped and turned back around smiling. "Hi miss Theresa!"

"Hello Mayle. You should get ready for school." Theresa said smiling at the little girl.

"I am." She said smiling as she readjusted her shoulder strap of her back pack. "Im just a little late that's all.

"MAYLE HURRY UP HONEY!!"

"Im coming mommy!" The little girl replied although she did not move from her spot. Theresa giggled and pushed her encouragingly down the stairs. "Go on Mayle."

But the little girl just shrugged. "I don't see why I have to hurry though. Im not late for school."

"Now you are." Jay's voice said from the top of the stairs where he was smirking. "Its 7:25, the bus should be here any minute now."

"Holy Mackerel!" The little girl yelled running down the steps. "Imgoingtobelateimgoingtobelate IM GOING TO BE LATE!!"

Jay laughed slightly and walked down the stairs where Theresa was still standing giggling.

"Morning Theresa." He said smiling. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes." Theresa nodded smiling back. "The room you gave me was very comfortable. Thanks once again for letting me stay."

Jay shook his head smiling. "Your not going to stop saying that are you?" he said jokingly.

Theresa giggled. "Nope. Because you don't know how thankful I am yet. What you have done for me Jay-."

"Means so much to you I know." Jay said smiling and holding her hand slightly. "And you're welcome Theresa."

Theresa looked at him and laughed. "How did you know I was going to say that Jay?"

Jay shrugged. "Probably because you've said nothing else to me for the past few days." He said jokingly and Theresa punched his arm playfully.

"Jay! Come help me Mayle won't leave the house till you come hug her!" His mother yelled from downstairs.

"Coming!" Jay yelled in response jogging down the steps and motioning for Theresa to follow.

Theresa walked as fast as she could to keep up with him. When she finally got to the door she saw Mayle embracing her older brother tightly and Denzel tapping his foot impatiently.

"Hurry up Mayle we got to go!" Denzel snapped.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!" Mayle said releasing her brother and sticking out her tongue.

Denzel just rolled his eyes and looked back out the window next to the door.

"Im ready!" Mayle announced once she had stuffed herself into her boots jacket and snow pants.

Denzel nodded and walked towards his mother. He kissed her on the cheek smiling and hugged his brother. He turned towards Theresa nodding to her and showing a hint of a smile on his mouth.

Then taking his sisters hand he walked out the door.

"Have a good day at school kids!" Mrs. Parker yelled out the door smiling.

Mayle turned around and waved but Denzel seemed to walk faster then he was before.

But only Theresa seemed to notice the odd behavior that Denzel was showing. Maybe he always acted like this.

Theresa saw Mrs. Parker lean against the door and smile at her tiredly. "Good morning Theresa dear. Did you sleep well?"

Theresa nodded and smiled. "Yes Caytlin. Thanks again for letting me stay."

Mrs. Parker smiled, liking that Theresa called her by her first name. "Your welcome dear. Any time. Now would you like some breakfast?"

Theresa nodded and walked with Mrs. Parker and Jay to their cozy kitchen. Mrs. Parker began to walk towards the fridge. But when Jay saw the dark circles under his mother's eyes he began to speak.

"Mom," he said taking some eggs and milk out of the fridge. "You go sit down. Ill just make some pancakes for the three of us." He said smiling.

Mrs. Parker was about to protest when Jay put a hand on her shoulder. She gave a reluctant sigh and sat down at the table with Theresa.

While Jay was busy taking out the pancake mix and other various ingredients, Mrs. Parker began to talk to Theresa.

It was light and casual conversation, things like 'do you like the school your at?' or 'do you get much snow in Olympia?'

There was nothing really personal about her questions, and she mentioned nothing about her home life or what exactly they were doing in Olympia. She obviously didn't talk to Jay about it either. Theresa was obviously relieved about it, but she couldn't help but notice the look on Mrs. Parkers face as she talked about the school they were going to. It obviously hurt that she had been lied to by Jay, and Theresa knew that as soon as she left the room, Jay was in for a VERY big lecture. So she quickly ate the meal Jay had prepared for them, thanked him, and walked upstairs, not wanting to be in a middle of a private family dispute.

She entered her room that was going to be her home for the next few weeks and sighed. Kneeling next to her bags she opened each one and began to remove her things. She neatly folded her clothes on her bed and placed them neatly in the dresser drawers. Taking out the rest of her belongings she placed them orderly on the desk on the other side of the room. She might as well make herself at home if she was going to stay here for the next little while.

She couldn't help but feel guilty though. She had just barged in on their life, and although Jay's family had accepted her with open arms, she had just walked in on their life. What if they were just being polite and didn't actually want her there?

She already knew that Denzel didn't want her there. So why shouldn't the others not want her there? She sighed as she fell down on the bed and lay on the soft mattress. She didn't know why they invited her to stay with them. She was a stranger to every one of them except for Jay. Did his family trust him so much that in an instant they allowed a complete stranger to enter their home just because he said she was a good person?

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and she sat straight up, head turned towards the door.

"Terri? Can I come in?" Jay's voice said from the other side of the door. Theresa smiled slightly; perhaps Mrs. Parker and Jay didn't get in a fight after all. Hopefully they wouldn't get angry at each other later though.

"It's your house." She answered going over and opening the door.

As she opened the door she smiled at him and he smiled in reply. Theresa noticed he seemed slightly tense and that there was a faint hint of color on his cheeks. Theresa looked slightly confused about this but quickly re controlled her face. However she couldn't help but wonder why he was blushing.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go see a movie or something." He said shyly rubbing the back of his neck. That was starting to become a bad habit he had when he was nervous she noted. "And then maybe after I could show you around the neighbor hood or something." He said quickly in one breath.

Theresa blinked once, then twice, wondering if what he said was true. Did he really just ask that? She stuttered at first, opening her mouth then closing it, trying to retain her posture. Finally the shock had worn off long enough that she could say something.

"Um, sure." She said shyly. "Just let me get my purse and we can go."

Jay nodded looking away and blushing. Theresa had the courtesy to pretend not to notice.

Quickly bending down she reached into her luggage and dug around for her purse. She pulled it out as fast as she could. She stood back up and walked towards the door.

"Lets go." She said.

Together they walked down the stairs, barley looking at each other. As they got to the bottom of the stairs they put on their winter jackets and boots.

"Hey mom!" Jay said loudly looking into the living room where his mother was dusting. She turned towards him and smiled. "What is it dear?"

"Theresa and I are going out okay?" Jay responded back smiling.

"Oh." Mrs. Parker said smiling widely, her eyes lighting up. "Okay. Just call me when you're on your way back."

"Well, we might be a while. It's snowing pretty hard out there and I was going to show her around town after we see the movie."

Her eyes only seemed to go wider and her smile was even brighter then before. "Alright! See you when you two get back then!"

Neither of them couldn't help but notice how oddly she was acting. "Why was she acting like that?" Theresa said quietly at the front door.

Jay turned around worryingly. "Im not sure. She seemed, I dunno, she was just acting plain weird."

"Don't worry about it Jay." Theresa said reassuringly. "Maybe were just over reacting."

"Yeah, you're probably right." He said, "Maybe we are just over reacting. It's probably nothing." Theresa nodded and opened the front door.

"Not that way Terri." Jay said walking farther down the hall. Theresa looked at him with a confused expression. "What?"

"Where not going that way." Jay said smiling. "Were going to go through the garage. It's easier and quicker to get to the truck." He said walking towards the door that connected to the garage door.

Theresa simply closed the front door, feeling slightly embarrassed. She should have expected they were going to take a vehicle. Although they were in a subdivision, it would take them hours to walk into town. She felt like slapping herself for her stupidity.

They walked towards the side door that lead to the garage. Opening the door and stepping inside the large yet crowded shed was a large black pick up dodge.

"Come on," Jay said waving her over as he opened the door to the car and climbed into the drivers seat. Theresa walked around the side of the truck to the passenger's side door and opened it. She put one hand on the handle at the top of the truck and tried to pull herself into place, but as she did she had to bite back her lip from the pain in her splitting side. Jay immediately realized what was happened and leaned over the seat to help her up. Even with Jay's help, she still felt her side stain with the effort. But pretty soon they had got up into their seats and were alright. Buckling up their seat belts they opened the garage door and were off.

They had pulled out of the driveway, and were just on the way out of the subdivision when they decided to turn on the radio and hear what the weather was going to be like. And it was then that they heard about the large truck that had slipped on the ice and blocked the entire road that was in front of the movie theatre. Jay smacked his forehead when he heard the man on the radio reporting the accident. It sounded pretty bad.

"Don't worry." Theresa said reassuringly. "It will probably be cleared up by the time we get there."

Unfortunately they ended up waiting two hours in the car. Apparently the accident was a lot worse then either of them thought. With the harshly falling snow it was harder to clean up the contents and remnants of the transport truck and the entire road was put to a dead stop.

So the next few hours in the car consisted of bickering about how bad the radio was, flipping through random CD's and never finding a song to stop on and various games of tic-tac-toe and x's and o's. They literally screamed with joy when the accident finally cleared up and they were able to make their way to the movie theatre. But unfortunately fate was not kind to them. The second they were about to pull into the movie theatre parking lot there was a buzz in the front of Jay's pocket. It was his cell phone. Quickly he whipped out the small black mobile phone and opened it.

"Hello?" He said.

"Jay would you mind going to pick up Mayle and Denzel?" His mother said through the cell phone in a quick and dazzled voice.

"Uh sure mom." Jay said as he heard a crash in the back ground. "Umm mom are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah Jay im fine!" She said through the phone, although now she was panting. "Just go pick up the kids okay?"

"Um okay…" Jay had a worried look on his face. "You SURE you're okay? What's all that noise?"

"Oh nothing Jay! Umm mommy's got to go! Bye!" And she hung up.

Jay turned his head and looked at Theresa. "What was that all about?" Theresa said looking at Jay oddly.

"I don't know." Jay admitted. Quickly he changed direction and turned onto a different street. "But were going to pick up Mayle and Denzel."

"Oh okay." Theresa said, although she was slightly disappointed they weren't going to see the town.

"Sorry for the change in plans." Jay said apologetically. "My mom has a bad habit for making last minute changes to my plans."

"Its okay," Said Theresa giving Jay a small smile. "but perhaps we could go around town another time?" She said hopefully.

Jay smiled. "Alright. Promise."

It didn't take long for the two of them to get to the children's school. When they got there though, the real problem started to rise. As they tried to park the truck they looked around for the two children. But they only saw one little body running towards them. Mayle's little brown pig tails bounced feverishly as she ran and smiled widely.

"Hi Jay!!" She said opening the truck door and jumping in. "Hi Miss Theresa." She smiled her huge toothy smile.

The two smiled back. "How was your day Mayle?" Theresa asked politely.

She shrugged. "It was alright I guess. We only were allowed to party for about half an hour. Imagine that! The last day of school before Christmas break and we only get like 20 minutes for a party! It wasn't fair." At this she pouted causing both Jay and Theresa to laugh.

"Just wait till you get to high school." Jay said winking. "We don't even get a party."

Mayle gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth. "You don't get a party? How did you manage?"

Theresa laughed at the young girl's horror. "We had our own little party so it wasn't that bad." She reassured her.

"With your friends?" Mayle said curiously tilting her head to the side.

At that Theresa bit her lip, feeling a pang of homesickness. She couldn't help but miss her friends after being together with them for such a long time. She wanted to get back to their little brownstone apartment so badly.

"Hey Mayle, where is Denzel?" Jay said looking out the window, trying to change the subject.

"He'll be here soon Jay." Mayle said taking her backpack off her back and placing it on her lap.

But Jay just turned towards the window and scouted the playground for his little brother. The playground was filled with excited little children playing in the snow on their last day of school. But out of the hundreds of children playing in the snow with each other, not one of them was Denzel.

Minutes passed by, and soon, half an hour had passed. Jay tapped his finger nervously against the dashboard looking around anxiously for his brother.

"Where is he?" Theresa asked rolling down the window and looking once more.

"He should be here by now. He didn't go too far or anything." Mayle said looking around the snow covered playground.

"Where did you say he went?" Jay asked looking at Mayle.

"He said he forgot his backpack by the dodge ball wall, but he has been gone for a while."

"Do you think he is ok?" Theresa said worryingly looking around for the small ten year old boy. "I mean, it shouldn't have taken him this long."

"Denzel's fine. Im sure of it." Jay said calmly. But the look on his face told everyone other wise. He looked completely worried and Theresa put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Jay didn't even her notice her light touch though, because at the same time their skin touched he heard his little sister gasp and his head whipped around to face her.

"Denzel!" she said worryingly as she pointed to the side of the school, near the dodge ball walls where her brother was limping towards him, with his backpack torn up and hanging loosely off his back.

Jay gapped and immediately jumped out of the truck and running towards him.

"Denzel? What happened to you?" Jay said rushing towards his younger brother.

Denzel didn't say anything. He stared at the ground shame written all over his face as he tipped one way, then another. His clothing was slightly torn and there was blood coming out of his nose and mouth. He had stopped moving by now and Jay knelt down next to him. "Denzel are you okay?" Jay said worryingly.

Denzel opened his mouth to say something, but instead he let loose a weak breath and collapsed into his brothers arms. Jay barley had enough time to catch his balance so the two of them didn't fall back into the snow.

"Denzel!" Jay said loudly looking down at his brother anxiously.

"Jay….." Denzel said quietly, prying himself off of his brother and trying to get up.

"Don't worry Denzel, I got you." Jay whispered to his brother, wrapping his arms around him and stopping the boy from moving any more. He felt his eyes beginning to shake with unshed tears.

"Jay we should go, people are gathering." Theresa said looking at the group of school kids starring at them. Jay nodded and walked solemnly but quickly back to his black pick up truck. Mayle quickly moved over and allowed her brother to be laid down across the seat and her lap. Theresa helped to get Denzel into some form of seatbelt or at least in a safe position to be seated in while driving. Denzel weakly leaned his head against his sisters shoulders and Theresa saw the little girl's eyes fill up with tears and she put her hand on hers comfortingly before closing the door and jumping into the passenger's seat.

Jay immediately hit the gas and drove as quick as he could to his house. Trying to ignore his brother's labored panting coming from the back seat.

Hopefully ill be able to update soon okay guys? Review please!