Chapter Four

Jo glared angrily at the five-year-old in front of her. "What did you just say."

The little girl glared right back at the fourteen-year-old. "I said no. I won't go downstairs with you. You can't make me."

It was taking everything in her powering for the black haired girl not to lash out and smack Tammy across the face.

Out of all of the kids in the orphanage, why did she and Max have to be stuck with the most impudent of them all?

"Little girl," Jo said in a drawl, "unless you want to starve, I suggest you get you butt over here so that we can go downstairs and eat breakfast."

Okay. So it wasn't the nicest way to try to persuade a child to do what you want, but she never said that she was good with kids.

"No."

"Fine," Jo said as she picked up the small child and slung her over her shoulder. "If you don't want to come willingly, then I guess I'll just have to carry you down there like a sack of potatoes."

The five-year-old immediately began to kick and scream as Jo headed for the door. "Put me down! Put me down! I'm gonna tell Maxie on you!"

"Tell him! I don't care. But before you can do that, we're going to have to get downstairs."

Jo stomped down the stairs as she blocked out the outbursts and protests from the five-year-old. She never had been good with kids.

Looking at kids while their parents played with them in the park and saying how cute they were was one thing, actually taking care of them was something completely different.

They screamed and threw fits and always wanted things to go their way.

If she weren't afraid that she'd jeopardize both her and Max's grade, she'd gladly dump Tammy back off at the orphanage and never think about the little brat again.

"Wow, what's going on here?" Max's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Maxie!" Tammy cried as she opened her arms out to the blonde boy.

Jo gladly handed the girl over. "Nothing. She was just throwing another one of her fits."

The little girl buried her face in Max's neck. "Jo was being mean to me again, Maxie."

The fourteen-year-old rolled her eyes. What, was this girl five or…oh yeah.

Little kids were such crybabies.

Max lifted both eyebrows at the older girl. "Were you being mean to her again, Jo?"

The raven haired girl narrowed her eyes. "Me? I've never been mean to her…just firm. It's not my fault if she's never been disciplined before. And you're not helping any, Max. Spoiling her like that. Besides, she started it."

"C'mon, Jo," Max said with his soft smile. "She's just a little kid. She doesn't know what she's saying or doing half of the time."

Jo snorted and began her descent down the stairs once again, closely followed by Max and the now silent Tammy. "Puh-lease. That little brat knows exactly what she's doing and saying. She wants to drive me crazy."

The blonde laughed. "You're just being paranoid. She's never had any parents before, Jo. We just need to be patient with her."

"I've tried being patient with her. It just doesn't work, not for me anyway. She adores you. Maybe she just has a thing against me…or maybe it's just a thing against people with black hair."

"No," Max said with a shake of his head. "She seems to like Ray."

The black haired girl whirled around and glared at her partner. "You're not helping, Max! Maybe she just has a thing against people who wear glasses. Don't say anything!" she yelled when he began to open his mouth in response to her latest statement.

He sighed and, smartly, clamped his mouth shut and listened to her as she continued to rambled on about how aggravating their little charge was.

Marti sat the cup of apple juice down in front of Jacob as she watched him count the number of Cheerios that she had poured onto the napkin in front of him. She had never met such a smart kid before…and sometimes it really freaked her out.

"Twenny-free, twenny-four…" the three-year-old rambled happily as he popped each round 'O' into his mouth.

"We're going to have to work on your pronunciations while we're here, kid," the red haired girl said as she ruffled the toddler's hair.

The small brunette just grinned at her and went back to his earlier business.

"He's pretty smart," a masculine voice came from behind her.

The brown eyed girl whirled around and let out a relived sigh when she realized that it was only Ray. "Funny. I was just thinking the same thing a few minutes ago," she shook her head and looked the black haired boy in the eye. "I though you were cooking breakfast?"

He shrugged. "Hilary just got down and decided she'd take over for a few minutes. She wants to make pancakes. Said that she promised to make them for Tyson so that he would get out of bed."

"That's sweet," Marti replied. "Did she leave Tyson alone with Abbey?"

"Nah. Tyson's in there with her trying to fix a bottle. Hil is determined to make work for his grade."

"Mmmm."

"No. I refuse to hold her," Jo's voice wafted in though the kitchen and into the dinning room. "And it's not like she wants me to hold her anyway. This is why I'm glad that I don't have any younger siblings. They're so aggravating."

Max's voice soon followed hers. "C'mon, Jo. She's five. It's her job to get on your nerves."

Ray stepped aside as the blonde haired girl that was being talked about flew into the kitchen and sat down beside Jacob at the table. "Hi, Tammy."

The five-year-old beamed. "Hi, Ray," she then stuck her tongue out at Marti.

The young girl's keeper stepped into the room at that moment.

"Trouble in paradise?" Marti asked as a way to keep herself from pouring the carton of milk on the five-year-old.

Jo sighed and leaned against the table beside Marti. "Why couldn't we have gotten stuck with a good kid like you and Ray? Why did we have to get stuck with a spoiled brat that has a thing against females. I mean, it's not our fault that her mother is dead. Why does she like men so much? I mean, she even likes Kai more than she likes me."

The sound of someone clearing their throat caused the four teens in the room to turn around. Kai stood in the doorway with both eyebrows narrowed slightly as he glared at Jo.

"Do you have a problem with her liking me more?" he asked coolly.

"No. I just don't see why she likes you better when you hardly even talk to her…let alone play with her. At least I try! The ungrateful little brat!"

"So," Tika said as she showed up behind Kai with Pierson on her hip, "you're just jealous."

"Yeah," Marti said as she waved at the two-year-old clinging to Tika. "That's what I'm picking up too."

"Jealous? Why in the world would I be jealous? It's not like I like her or anything," the black haired girl replied indignantly.

"What is all the commotion about, people?" Hilary demanded as she entered the kitchen feeding a bottle to Abbey and with a very flustered Tyson close behind her.

"Jo is jealous that Tammy likes us guys better than you girls," Ray answered casually.

"Oh," she turned around and handed Abbey to Tyson. "Well, can I steal you Ray? I need help in the kitch---HOLD HER HEAD UP TYSON! ARE YOU TRYING TO BREAK HER NECK?"

Hilary's shout caused all of the children, who had been oblivious to the conversation going on around them, to tune into what the adults were saying.

Tyson immediately put his hand under the three-month-old's head. "Sorry, Hilary. I guess I still have a lot to learn."

Ray sighed. "I think we all have a lot to learn."