WHAT IS UP? My name is Stevenspielbergwriter3 and I am BACK with chapter 4 of "My Treasure". The story has been very well received so far so I'm going to continue it, despite the fact that I don't have a ton of free time.
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Chapter 4: Overtime
Tears flowed down Brittany's cheeks, partly because of the large amount of freshly cut onions sauteing in her pan and partly from the frustration of her daughter getting kicked out of school. Laney had locked herself in her room as soon as they had gotten home. Brit hadn't tried to disturb her yet. Even the car ride home was completely quiet. Truth be told, Brittany didn't have the slightest clue on how she would talk to her daughter. Should she be firm? Should she punish her? At any rate, she figured she had given Laney enough time to reflect.
She left the burner on a low setting, ensuring that the onions wouldn't overcook while she was away, and began walking towards Laney's room. Once she got there she pressed her ear against the plain white door. She could hear the distinct sniffling of her crying child inside, which only upset Brittany even more.
Brit knocked on the door and entered. The young chipette quickly stopped crying, wiped the tears from under her eyes and spun around to look at her mom. "Laney?" Brittany chirped.
Laney almost looked more annoyed than anything as she pulled her eyes towards her bedroom floor. "What is it?" she responded to her mother.
"I was just wondering if you could tell me everything that happened today," said Brittany, still only halfway inside of the bedroom.
"Why?" Laney asked, wiping snot off the tip of her nose.
Brit thought about this for a second. "Well, I guess I just figured it'd be easier for you to open up to me. You know, without Julie there. Or her mom, or Mrs. King."
"Why does it matter?"
"Because it matters, Laney," Brittany retorted, putting her foot down on the issue.
The young chipette sighed, "Julie and her friends were bullying me. They were calling me names, ruining my drawings. They said bad things about you and auntie Jeanette."
"Was there anyone else there who saw them do this?"
Laney shook her head. "No, it was just Julie and her friends. I was by myself in the baseball field."
"Why were you out there by yourself?" her mother questioned her.
"Because," Laney said shrugging. "No one else wanted to play with me. No one else wanted to talk to me. They all just wanted to point and stare and laugh at me."
"I see…" Brittany trailed off in thought, shifting her eyes towards the floor, having no clue how to respond to what her daughter had just told her.
"Is daddy home yet?" Laney asked.
"No sweetie." She checked her watch, and it read 6:34 pm. "Which is really weird. He's usually home an hour ago."
"Where could he be?"
Brittany sighed, deep in thought. "I don't know Laney." All of the worst case scenarios began playing through her mind before the finally shook them away. "Are you excited to go to Aunt Jeannies' house tonight?"
Laney shrugged. "I guess."
"You know it's a very big night for your aunt, don't you?"
"Does she really want to ruin this country?" Laney asked her mom.
"N-no! Who told you that?" Brittany gasped, chuckling in surprise. Laney didn't respond for a few moments. "It was Julie, wasn't it?"
Without looking up from the floor, Laney nodded.
As if on cue, the sound of the front door of the house opening excited Laney to the point of hopping off of her bed and sprinting out into the hallway. Brittany sighed as she followed her daughter towards Alvin. "Daddy!" Laney exclaimed as soon as she had a view of her father, who was still by the front door taking his shoes off.
"Aw, Laney sweetie!" he chuckled. Without waiting for him to finish peeling off his socks, she jumped into his waiting arms. He lifted her off the ground and held her close. "How you doing baby? How was school?"
The smile immediately faded off her face. All she could muster up as a response was "uhhh…"
Before Alvin could press her for an answer, his ears perked up and he sniffed loudly twice. At this point he turned to Brittany, who was standing with her arms folded across her chest a few feet away, and said, "is something burning?"
Brit's eyes widened. "Oh shit!" she exclaimed as she started jogging towards the kitchen.
"Do you need help, baby?" Alvin called out to her as he set his daughter gently back down on the floor.
There was no response.
Alvin sighed and followed his wife into the kitchen, where she was busy scraping and stirring the contents of a pan and turning down the heat. "Brit? What is it?"
"It's the onions," she muttered back without looking at him.
"Onions? What for?"
"For the soup." She finally turned around to face him, only to see the confusion on his face. "Did you really forget about the party at Jeanette's tonight?"
Alvin chuckled nervously. "Of course not."
Brittany rolled her eyes and went back to focusing on the food she was cooking. "So why are you home so late from work?" she chirped at him in an accusing tone.
"Boss gave me a tight deadline," he tried to explain. "I'm gonna have to go in tomorrow, too."
She raised an eyebrow at Alvin. "Tomorrow's a Saturday."
"I know. Gotta get some things done. I just can't stay at Jeanette's too late tonight."
"Fine," she groaned as she turned her focus back to the food.
"Hey, Brit, can we talk?"
"About what?" she snorted.
Alvin sighed, before noticing his daughter staring at the two of them from a distance. "Laney, can you go to your room for a bit, please?"
The young chipette nodded her head obediently and walked off. Alvin waited until he heard her bedroom door shut.
"Brit," he said solemnly, "I really wish you had talked to me before having that photoshoot."
Brittany shrugged. "Why's that?"
"It's not a good look when you walk in on your coworker stroking one out to pictures of your naked wife on his work computer," Alvin said gruffly, crossing his arms.
She glared at him with disdain. "Well those photos sell, Alvin. I made nineteen hundred dollars for that one shoot."
"I still think I deserve to at least be given a heads up before you go ahead and do that again."
"And why is it any of your business?" she snapped at him. Not getting a response after a moment, she pressed, "huh? What gives you the right to control what I do?"
"I… I just want you to think about what if Laney accidentally sees those photos one day?" he pleaded.
"Don't do that!" she lifted a warning finger at him with anger beginning to swell in her eyes. "Don't you dare fucking do that! Don't bring our daughter into this!"
"What if she sees it?" he pressed. "What kind of questions will she have? How're you gonna explain it to her?"
Brittany wiped a single tear off of her face and turned back towards the onions. "I'm just trying to make some more money, Alvin. Laney deserves a good Christmas and God knows without a Christmas bonus you won't be much help."
Alvin's eyes widened. He had no idea how to respond, so he simply gulped down his shame and walked off, leaving his wife alone.
…
The car rounded the corner into the driveway to Simon and Jeanette's house. It was long and beautifully designed. The house itself was three stories, made entirely of red brick, with a four car garage, surrounded by palm trees, and just had such a grand feel to it that Brittany quietly mused to herself how it looked like her dream home.
The car parked in front of the garage door, and it was almost immediately hounded by members of the media flashing their cameras at the young family and yelling questions at them about Jeanette. As Alvin exited the van, he couldn't help but let a smirk creep across his face, as he hadn't gotten this kind of media attention in a long time.
"Alvin!" one of the women called out. "Can you comment on Jeanette Seville's chances?"
"Do you support her stance on eliminating universal healthcare?"
"How likely are we to get a public appearance from her tonight, Mr. Seville?"
Overwhelmed, Alvin said, "Um, I don't have any comment right now. I'm just going to be enjoying tonight with my family. Whatever happens, happens! Thank you."
With that, Alvin took his wife and daughter under his arms and walked towards the front door of the house with the paparazzi swarming behind them. As they approached the stone steps that led to the door, they noticed a red, white, and blue sign which read "Jeanette SEVILLE for US Senate". Brittany walked ahead of them and rang the doorbell. The three of them waited in anticipation for about fifteen seconds. Finally, a faded image of a chipette wearing a violet hue dress appeared from inside behind the pretty frosted glass in the white wooden front door. The rate of flashing of the cameras grew intensely. There was the click of the door unlocking, followed by a light creek as it opened. The reporters suddenly went wild, screaming questions at Laney's aunt.
"Aunt Jeanette!" Laney exclaimed.
"Aw, Laney," Jeanette chuckled as she bent her knee to embrace her niece in a warm hug.
Once Laney finally broke away, Jean rose to her feet and proceeded to hug both her sister and her brother-in-law. "Here," she said, "come in! Come in! Sorry about the circus out here."
"Oh, it's no problem," Brittany assured her as they walked inside.
"Jeanette! Jeanette!" one of the reporters heckled. "Any comment on how you're feeling going into tonight?"
Jeannie turned around and faced the horde of reporters and cameras. "Myself, my husband and my staffers feel very confident that the voters of California have made the right decision. But the polls are just minutes away from closing, and we will be watching the results come in with great anticipation. I will make a statement after the election has been called. That's all I have for now, thank you!" And with that she threw up a charming smile and wave before turning her back to the cameras, strutting inside, and shutting the door behind her.
She smiled at her family, who looked at her in amazement. "What happened to the shy, overcautious Jeannie?" Alvin chirped.
"She grew up," Jeanette giggled. Suddenly she noticed the large pot of soup that brittany was clearly struggling with carrying under her arm. "Oh, Brit! I'm sorry, let me help you with that!" She rushed to her sister's side, taking the pot in both her hands. "Let me show you the way to the living room. We'll set up bowls and spoons."
The new house was simply magnificent, and it left both Alvin and Brittany jealous. The hallways, the rugs, the wall art, everything was so elegant and obviously had a considerable amount of money behind it.
Once they finally made it to the living room, complimented by a beautiful scarlett carpet, a white reclining leather couch, and an 80 inch flat screen smart TV. Simon, who sat on the couch, watching local news coverage of the election results, spun his head around. As soon as he saw his wife struggling, he hopped to his feet and helped Brittany and Jeanette set the pot of soup onto the coffee table in the middle of the living room.
Simon chuckled at their collective weakness. "Hey. Brit," he said, going in for a hug. "Long time no see."
"What's going on, Si," Alvin piped up, "or should I call you, 'the science Munk'?" he chuckled after pretending to sound epic.
Simon didn't really seem to know how to respond, but Jeanette interrupted by saying, "Simon, honey, could you please go and grab bowls and spoons? And napkins while you're at it?"
He smiled at her warmly and said, "but of course, my dear." And with that he walked off towards their kitchen.
Jean turned to her three guests and said, "please! Sit down! Make yourselves at home."
"Aunt Jeanette, your house is so nice!" Laney gasped, marvelling at her surroundings.
Jeanette giggled, "thank you, sweetie." And with that, she turned up the volume of the TV.
Jaime Scott, the late night reporter, was talking about none other than her. "Welcome back to 'Election Night USA' here on NBC. Tonight the most high profile campaign in the entire nation is happening right here in California. Jeanette Seville is looking to knock incumbent Gary Martin, and by doing so she hopes to become the first Republican to win a state-wide election in California since Arnold Schwarzenneger in 2006. Her campaign seemed to have virtually no chance at victory, until about three months ago when allegations of sexual assault surfaced against Senator Martin."
It was at this point that Simon returned with the bowls, spoons, and napkins. He watched the TV as he carefully set down everything on the table.
The news anchor continued, "but things may have taken an unfortunate turn for the Seville campaign when it was reported this morning that her older sister had posed in a semi-nude photo shoot made available to the public online."
Everyone's eyes widened as blurred pictures from Brittany's shoot were exposed on live television. Laney didn't seem to know how to comprehend it all. Jeanette seemed to be concealing some rage because of the poor timing of this whole thing.
"This incident has some of the voters in California now asking, how does Mrs. Seville have the high ground when it comes to sexual morality? This morning, she had a slight lead in our polling. But this controversy might have been just what Gary Martin needed to pull out a victory and hold on to his senate spot. Back to you in the studio, Joe."
The reporter hadn't even finished by the time Brittany had picked herself up and walked off, doing her best to hold back tears as long as she could. She made it all the way to the bathroom which she closed the door to behind her. And then the tears started flowing without any attempt to control them by Brit. Her daughter had seen her posing like that for a camera, on live television. And not only that, but her sister, and Simon too. And Alvin, he had been right about Laney seeing those pictures. To top it all off, she might have just screwed her sister's chances at getting elected, and she didn't know if she could ever be forgiven or if she could ever forgive herself if that's how it turned out.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Not now, Alvin," Brittany murmured.
"It's not Alvin," came the response on the other side of the door.
Brittany sighed. "Simon, I need some space right now."
"You should really let me in, Brit," he said, "we need to talk."
And THAT was chapter 4! Sorry again for how long it took to get out to you guys! Hopefully you all think it was worth the wait! If you made it this far, obviously you have some opinions on the story up to this point. I'm literally never gonna stop saying it: drop a review! Let me know all your feelings surrounding my story. It'll help make it better for future chapters and it helps get the chapters out even faster! ANYONE can leave one but if you don't feel comfortable leaving a review you can also PM me.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!