Chapter 6

       I mainly worked early mornings in the hospital, so Cleo asked if she could work late-afternoon and evening. That way, she wouldn't have to pay for daycare quite yet with me watching Celeste.

       Cleo was still new to Spruceworth and didn't have too much money, so I'd rather watch Celeste and let Cleo have a steady balance of money before she had to pay for daycare.

       While I was babysitting Celeste tonight, I had to head over to my family's house to have dinner with them, Calvin, Kenny, and Calvin's parents Martin and Esther. Dad felt like he hadn't seen his brother and sister-in-law in forever, even though we live in a small village together, so we were having dinner together.

       When I showed up with Celeste in the stroller, everyone was confused except for Calvin. I guessed I forgot to mention I was bringing a baby with me.

       "Aww, Josh showed up with his daughter," Calvin said.

       "Your what?" Mom asked, her eyes widened.

       "Oh, relax," I said. "I'm pretty sure you would have found out a long time ago if I was going to be a dad. This is just a baby I'm babysitting for my friend while she's working."

       "Just a baby?" Calvin asked. "That kid thinks your her dad."

       "No, she doesn't," I said, closing the door behind me before parking the stroller at the end of the table and sitting down beside it. "She just knows me very well because I babysit her all the time."

       "Uh huh," Calvin said with an amused smile.

       I ignored him, and then noticed that Dad wasn't at the table. "Where's Dad?"

       "He had to quickly do something," Mom said. "He said he should be back soon."

       Almost immediately after she said that, the door opened and Dad walked inside. "We have a problem," he said.

       "Aww, come on, I wouldn't call me a problem," my other brother, Holden, said as he followed Dad into the house. "In fact, I'm kind of hurt that you referred to me as a problem."

       Dad sighed. "You're not the problem, Holden. What you did is the problem."

       "Holden, what on earth did you do?" Mom asked.

       "He got kicked out of the boarding school," Dad said.

       "I believe she was asking me that," Holden said before looking at Mom. Dad is correct. I got kicked out of the boarding school. Something about not following the rules, not respecting teachers, blah blah blah."

       Mom scoffed and crossed her arms. "You're unbelievable, Holden."

       "No, you're unbelievable for sending me there in the first place," Holden said. "I told you, sending me there wasn't going to fix my attitude in the first place, and don't blame me for it. I'm just a simple, moody teenage boy who feels stupid because all his brothers are geniuses."

       "Geniuses?" Julian asked. "Noah got his head stuck in a toilet at a wedding."

       "Uh, if I recall, I was dared to do that," Noah said.

       "Yes, and the fact that you went through with it proves how dumb you are," Julian said.

       "Dumb?" Holden asked. "If anything, I'm the dumb one."

       "Holden, don't start with this again," Mom said.

       "Start with what?" Holden asked. "How you all have high expectations of me because Julian and Noah never gets anything less than ninety percent in school and because Josh graduated high school early and became a doctor at twenty? And what do I do? Get a C minus in every class."

       "Holden, we've told you that we don't care about your grades," Dad said.

      "Mom does," Holden said. "She gets so mad when I get anything lower than an eighty-five, and it's not possible for me to get a grade that high."

       "I get mad because I know you can do so much better," Mom said. "You're not even trying."

       "I am," Holden said. "Sorry for not understanding everything, and for not having a good enough memory. Tests are literally based on memory and even if I study for hours the night before, it does me no good. And sorry I'm nothing like your other sons. When are you doing to realize that I'm my own person?"

       "Holden...." Mom began.

       "I'm going to my room," Holden said before heading to the stairs, dragging a suitcase behind him. He then stopped and turned to face Dad. "Which one is my room?"

       "Second door on the left," Dad said.

       Once Holden was upstairs, I looked at Mom. "He's right, you know. Not everyone does well in school, and it isn't fair for you to compare him to us."

       "I'm not," Mom said. "I genuinely think he can do better, but he's not trying."

       I didn't even bother arguing with Mom. There was going to no way she would listen to any of us about Holden really not being able to do well in school when her other three sons do exceptionally well, which I think was entirely unfair for Holden.

       No siblings should ever be compared to each other, especially on how well they do in school. Everyone was different strengths and weaknesses, and it wasn't Holden's fault that school just wasn't his strength. 

       And I know he really did try. If he needed help with school, he would call and ask me. He just wasn't able to retain any of the information he learned.

       At least Holden was in his last year of high school so he only had to deal with it a bit longer.

       While we were eating dinner, Celeste started crying so I took her out of the stroller and gently bounced her up and down a bit before she stopped. She then looked up at me and smiled widely.

       "Aww, she's so cute," Mom gushed. "What's her name?"

       "Celeste," I said. "And I have to agree with you there. She's the cutest thing ever."

       "Uh, hello, I'm sitting in the room," Noah said.

       "Like I said, she's the cutest thing ever."

       "Rude."

       "Well, she looks like she's in love," Mom said. "She won't stop staring at you."

       "Nah, she just thinks Josh is her dad," Calvin said, which made me give him a flat look.

       "She doesn't," I said.

       Calvin snorted. "Okay," he said before going back to eating his food.

       Holden suddenly came down the stairs and headed towards the door to put his shoes on. "Where are you going?" Mom asked.

       "Out," Holden replied, not even looking at Mom.

       "Do you want some dinner first?"

       "Not hungry," was his only reply before he left, slightly slamming the door behind him.

       Mom sighed. "I don't know how to put up with him."

       "Here's an idea," I said. "Don't have high expectations for him. He's only seventeen, and it's like you're expecting him to be a lawyer by the time he's twenty."

       "What? No, I'm not," Mom said. "I let all my children choose their own career path."

       "I know," I said. "But the way you're treating him, it's like you're saying he has to have a specific career by the time he's twenty. Don't treat him like me. I mean, you don't see Julian and Noah graduating early."

       "That's only because we don't want to get started on a career too early," Julian said. "We're taking things at a normal pace."

       "Not helping."

       "Josh, I appreciate the concern, but I know what's best for Holden," Mom said. "You'd understand when you have a child of your own."

       My mom saying that made my heart sting a bit as I looked down. I should have had a child right now, but he or she didn't have the opportunity to live because their mom's life was taken away way too young.

       "Oh, Josh, I'm so sorry," Mom said. "I wasn't thinking."

       "It's fine," I said, placing Celeste back in the stroller. "Celeste's mom should be done with work soon, so I'm going to go meet her at her work."

       "Josh...." Mom began, but I didn't say anything before getting up and leaving the house.

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I added Holden in and wanted him to be seventeen but the twins were, so I had to lower the twins' age by a year. They're just sixteen now. If you ever re-read chapters and find a place where it says the twins are seventeen or in the final year of high school, can you point it out for me in the comments? I'm too lazy to look for it and when I do, I'm probably going to forget. cx

I'm officially an aunt now lol. Everyone kept saying how cute my nephew was and I'm like Dan and Kenny: "He looks like a potato."

He really is cute though, but that doesn't stop him from looking like a potato oops.