A/N I am soooooo sorry about the wait - but not gonna make excuses. Camdengirl – I'll try and make the chapters longer from now on, or put up more than one at a time. Thanks for all the reviews. Keep 'em comin'!
The dining room was quiet. The only sound heard was that of Madison's fork clinking against her plate. Andy tried to break the awkward silence.
"So!" Everyone looked up; the sudden word was surprising. "You're all in the same class?"
"Yup," said Madison, eyeing Amy suspiciously.
She smiled smugly. "Ephram sits behind me." Amy smiled sickly sweetly round at everyone.
"Good for him," Madison muttered sarcastically under her breath.
Amy raised her eyebrows. "What was that?"
"Idiot says what?"
"What?"
The Browns, Madison and Nina tried to stifle their laughter.
Amy shook her head. "That's just sooo immature."
"What did you call me?"
Amy looked up, slightly nervously. "Well – you – you called me an idiot!"
Madison smiled. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear. What did you call me?"
"Immature! Okay? Immature!" Amy glared at Madison, blushing furiously. She was extremely embarrassed.
Madison nodded. "Just thought I'd make sure. I wanted to know for sure that you, Amy, who came here with some fake story about your boyfriend to try and hit on Ephram, are calling me, Madison, the one who has been hired as a babysitter, immature."
Nina felt that this was the right time to cut in. "Maybe you should…"
Madison got up. "You know what? Forget about it. I'm going upstairs to hang out with mature, 9-year-old Delia." A/N – sorry if it's the wrong age!
Again, there was silence as Madison left the room. Nina exhaled.
"Wow! Uh, Hannah, maybe you'd better go. Your parents are probably worried about you."
Amy looked shocked. "But…I…"
"Yeah, I think that's best," Ephram cut in. "After all, you've just been through a rough break-up…"
"And you'll probably want to be alone with your thoughts," Andy finished.
Amy nodded, trying to come across as if she understood. "Oh. Uh…ok." She then batted her heavily mascara-laden eyelashes. "Ephram? Maybe you could walk me home?"
"Actually, I think I'd better clear the table…"
"Wash the dishes," said Andy.
"Prepare dessert!" said Nina.
Ephram turned to look back at Amy. "Sorry."
Amy swallowed. "Don't worry about it!" she said, her voice higher than normal. "See you later, Brown," she whispered, giving him the eye.