I just want all of you AMAZING readers (who have given me the most AMAZING feedback! THANK YOU!) to know that I do not own anything, that the ages are a little jacked up because of the timeline I have started things at, and that I love you all for clicking the link that lead you to this crazy story. Thank all of you that reviewed and/or favorite-ed and/or followed my story.
Important-ish: The joke with the pennies isn't really much of a joke or prank, but basically it is a very popular 'prank' to do when graduating. When getting their diploma each senior will hand the principle/dean/or whomever a penny so that by the end of the ceremony the person given the pennies will have close to two, three sometimes even four dollars worth of pennies.
I'm sorry, I thought that it was popular in most places.
Chapter 41: Church Tomorrow
Three weeks had past since graduation and Nicolette had never played more music in her life. A big time record label had gotten one of albums from Brown's Academy Pop/rock band that Nicolette had joined and then promptly begged them to change the name from Brown's Punk.
The band had been renamed as Cosmic Angels, which wouldn't have been Nicolette's first choice but it was much better than most of the names that the students were shouting out.
Either way the Cosmic Angels CD somehow found its way into the hands of hotshot music producer Alvin Greyson. Who instantly loved the girls' voices, and called up the one and only Christian Grey who set up a meeting with three lawyers not including Nicolette's grandfather. And two hours later the Cosmic Angels were officially found, and their first album being made.
Nicolette, however, was not memorizing thirty new songs. Instead- after the album's songs had been recorded, and burned into a CD, the girls were getting a three month break to see how well sales would go before pushing further in their career- she was packing her suitcase for Haven. The 'farmers dry run'.
She was sure to pack a camera first.
After throwing some of her shorts, leggings, sundresses, shoes, hair brush, comb, earrings, make up and undergarments Nicolette grinned. Before promptly placing her tooth brush in the bath bag to.
They were leaving the next day at six-thirty in the morning.
Great.
Nicolette placed pictures of her adoptive parents and then her new parents inside her bag, before zipping in closed- and heading to bed.
The airport was packed with students and parents. It seemed like nobody was exactly sure that they wanted to go on the trip, Max was assuring parents and her girls were saying goodbye to her parents.
With the final call, Nicolette hugged her parents- knowing that Ryan and Strong would be flying down the Haven on her father's private jet with the two little boys who had already been told to behave themselves, and made her way to the airplane with Mr. Max Hartsville by her side.
The plane had practically been dead silent the entire trip to Haven, the students were sleeping through most of it. Max and Nicolette had curled up in each other's arms in first class, but when students decided to sit in some of the empty seats they had to separate.
By the time the plane touched down in Haven, Nicolette was already over the trip, but one peek at her beat up black jeep Nicolette was hyped.
Leaving her bags with Max- who would take them even if she hadn't grabbed it- Nicolette rushed to her best friends who hugged her.
Shelly, Terrance and Rockie shifted uncomfortably at the sight. After the girls got done with Nicolette they squealed and hugged Max- who laughed.
"Who are they?" Rockie asked Nicolette who returned to the group.
"EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" Everybody stopped chattering to look at Nicolette.
"MEET LEE ANNE AND TARA!" Nicolette walked over to the three guys plus Max who were doing their 'man hug' thing. "NOW MEET THE ANDERSON BOYS, LUKE, MATTHEW AND GREGOR!" Nicolette shouted at them, everyone mumbled their hellos.
"Girls, put your things in Matthew's truck bed and climb in- cab first and then climb Tara's car, four of you will most likely have to ride in the bed of Gregor's truck. Boys put your things in Luke's truck bed, climb in- cab first and then pile into the cab of Gregor's truck, before climbing into the bed of Gregor's truck." Max hollered.
Nicolette put her things in the back of her jeep- which Lee Anne and Tara had brought over- and climbed into the driver's side, not bothering with the door and waved Rockie, Shelly and Terrance over.
"Have you put your things in the truck bed yet?" Nicolette asked, the girls nodded. "Great, climb in." Rockie took the passenger's side while Terrance sat behind Rockie and Shelly sat behind Nicolette. Tara and Lee Anne sat with their legs between the two girls, their backs pressed against one bar and holding onto another.
They were about to leave when Max wandered over to the jeep. He pressed a kiss to Nicolette's lips and smiled.
"Be safe my love."
"Promise." Nicolette grinned, kissing him again.
"Put your damn seat belt on." Max grumbled, Shelly, Rockie and Terrance shifted at the amount of PDA they found themselves witnessing. Sure they hung out with their teacher and his girlfriend together before, but usually they didn't kiss where they could be seen and kept the nicknames to a minimum.
"Yes, sir." Nicolette mocked, pulling her seat belt on and buckling it.
"Love you." Max whispered again.
"Love you." Nicolette pressed a kiss to his lips. They parted when Lee Anne broke the moment.
"Yes, we all love each other. But I want to beat the other girls to the house, so leave your girl alone and I'll make sure I let you two have three hours of alone time tonight, huh?" Lee Anne offered, the three girls from Seattle going wide eyed when their teacher raised his brows twice before kissing Nicolette again. Leaving her to drive off.
It somewhat bothered Terrance at how comfortable her friend was at the moment. Her red hair tied back in a bun- so it didn't blow in the wind- one hand casually draped on the steering wheel with the other out of the vehicle. She listened as Nicolette joked around with her old friends.
"So have you and Max- ya know- done 'it' yet?" Lee Anne asked, the girls minus Tara- who was laughing-, gasped and coughed in shock.
"Lee Anne, how is that any of your business?" Nicolette laughed.
"You're my best friend babe. I just wanted to make sure that he's wrapping it before he's tapping it." Lee Anne grinned, as Nicolette shook her head.
"Once... since ya know, him... haven't done it since." Nicolette answered honestly.
"Why not? I mean, you finally got over the fear right? You didn't have a panic attack did you?" Tara asked, getting in on the very personal conversation.
"No, I didn't have a panic attack." Nicolette shook her head.
"Then what?" Rockie joined in, getting caught in with the gossip.
"My dad caught us." Nicolette groaned, pulling right off of Main Street and heading down Harris Avenue, when the girls started laughing.
"OH MY GOD! Like caught doing 'it' caught?" Tara asked in hysterics.
"No, after, we fell asleep- naked- and my dad had security check the cameras to the tree house to see what we were doing and we were asleep, naked, in the same bed." Nicolette answered, as she accelerated past the twenty miles per hour speed limit, causing a struggle for Lee Anne and Tara- who grinned at the challenge and held on tighter.
The girls laughed some more before Nicolette pulled into the drive of the new house she inherited. It looked nothing like her old house, instead of a small shack like house, an over sized house stood in its place. Barely any farmland had been taken by the new house, which was made from red brick with a large porch that had a swing towards the east- Nicolette knew that the porch on Max's new place would have a swing facing the west- so that anyone could watch the sunset/rise. A door made from a cherry tree's wood. Pressing the button on the garage door opener, which had been left in a cup holder, Nicolette pulled into the new garage. Before exiting the car and grabbing her things from the back.
"You might want to call your rooms now." Nicolette offered, the three girls from Seattle nodded and walked off quickly. The inside looked much different as well. There was a complete sitting room with leather couches and wood flooring, a complete kitchen with stainless steel appliances, a long hallway towards the left and right and a stair case right before the left hallway. Each door- also made from cherry- held a white board, Nicolette supposed it was for who's room was who's and each girl would write their name on the board.
Bathroom's were labeled 'bathroom', and coat closets labeled 'coats'.
Nicolette grabbed her stuff and headed up stairs, again there was a small sitting room. Each bedroom had a white board, and only one had writing on it. The last room on the far left hall had the name, 'Nicolette' written on it already.
Shaking her head and keeping her rolling suitcase off the wooden flooring, Nicolette made her way to the room.
Opening the door she smiled at the decorations. Pictures of her, the girls, Max, and other teens from the town outlined the headboard of her bed, again cherry wood, the surrounding walls were a light turquoise, fairy lights outlined the collage of pictures. The wall with the door held a dresser, while the wall opposite held her bed and doors to a small stone balcony which faced the backyard- that had totally been redone. There was a permanent fire pit, in the middle of the yard with stone seats surrounding it in a circle. The grass was totally green and she could tell that some of the old ladies had planted their hearts out with the small garden outside.
Nicolette looked at her suitcase and started to unpack. She put her shorts, swimsuit, undergarments, and socks in the dark colored wooden dresser, and hung up her shirts and Sunday dresses in the closet- which sat on the right wall. The left wall was home to a guitar, flute, and violin that hung off the wall securely. Her Air Mac laptop sat on the bed and Nicolette knew that security had beaten her here.
Come to think of it, a few doors on the bottom floor were already labeled 'security'.
Noises from downstairs alerted Nicolette of the girls arriving and she hustled downstairs, not before noticing the last family photo of the Johnson's. She was only eight years old at the time.
All fourteen girls were downstairs awaiting instructions while the fifteen (including Max) were waiting bored by the side.
"Alright ladies, there are rooms upstairs as well. No fighting and no erasing names from white boards. Mr. Hartsville and I will come around with dry erase markers so you can write your name on the white board on the door of the room you want." Nicolette spoke, walking down the stairs and handing Max a green dry erase marker.
"Who put you in charge, farmer's wife?" Jessica asked snottily.
"Nicolette Grey is in charge of the girls' house. She knows more about this place than you do, Jessica." Max said coolly, all of the girls nodded- knowing that it was probably a good choice and went in search of the perfect room.
Thirty minutes later the guys were leaving the girls alone in the house.
"Whatever you guys do, don't let Max cook dinner." Nicolette warned, the guys chuckled in disbelief before peeling out of the yard.
"Get some dinner and then sleep gals, we have church tomorrow." Nicolette grinned, before leaving the girls alone- not hungry at the moment.