Chương 23: ~°~Chapter Twenty-three~°~

I let out a small involuntary whimper, retracting my wrist from Virgil's now slack hold.

"What did you just say?" Virgil growls in a voice so low that it's a miracle anyone hears it, reaching out to pull my hand into his again.

Elise eyes darkens at his tone but she does the unexpected, she backs down at his expression and walks away with her crew.

What the hell just happened??

My mind is blown again and I haven't gotten into my first class yet.

Has school always been this way?

But I didn't see it because Virgil and Shana finds a way to protect me?

I don't even know anymore.

We get to our first class and I'm too absorbed in trying to comprehend what the teacher is saying to worry about dances or mean girls, I even forget for a second about Dale and Virgil.

The rest of the day ends uneventfully, thank goodness but then I remember my promise to myself.

"Do you mind if I come over to your house?" I ask Shana as we make our way through the hallway, it's classes over now and the boys said we should meet them at the parking lot.

Shana pauses and takes a look at me.

I cringe into myself, I hadn't expected this frigid reaction, maybe I shouldn't have asked.

"I can't believe you even had to ask Hay, you're welcome to my house, anytime." She gushes, grabbing my hand and pulling me along as she hurries out of the school premises suddenly eager to get home.

"I can't wait to show you off to my mom and my big brother, my mom's sister and my adorable cousin…"

I die a little more as she starts to rattle off relatives staying with her.

"T-They all l-live in y-your h-house?" I ask in shock, beyond surprised.

"Yes." She chuckles nervously, scratching her head. "That's why I didn't invite you over, I know how you don't really like crowded places."

She's right, I don't like crowded places but I was the one who asked so I couldn't say no. Besides if they were all nice and down to earth like Shana I was pretty sure we would all get along, I had met her mom before, we all grew up together it was inevitable but I'd never actually been to her house before and it was a whole new concept to me.

"I-It's fine." I reassure her nervously. "I-I um, I c-called my m-mom already and told her t-that I would be coming over to your h-house so we could go right n-now." I inform her shakily.

"Awesome!" She cheers, we're outside now and she starts in the direction of the parking lot. "Virgil and Dale are coming over too so we'll all go together!" She says excitedly and even though I'm turning a little green, I try to act happy with her.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any issue with her happiness or her family but Virgil and Dale hadn't factored in any of my plans to visit Shana and now that I tried to fit them in, it produced nothing but chaos and these were just mental simulations.

"O-Okay! W-Wait, wh-where are w-we going?"

She smiles at me when I ask this. "Dale brought his Escalade so he's driving us there." She informs me.

I choke at this little piece of information, my eyes wide. "Dale has an Escalade??" I half yell.

"You know you're easily impressed for someone who owns a couple yachts and a personal heli." She says drily.

I use my free hand to cover one of my ears, my head down. "I can't help it."

She just laughs at this mumbles out a 'cute' and points to a gleaming car that has Virgil leaning against it, Dale is sitting in the driver's seat looking really important and I have to fight the urge not to laugh at their ridiculous poses.

"What took you guys so long?" Virgil asks as we come closer, opening the door for me.

I blush discreetly at this but quietly slip in.

"Well some of us prefer not to dash out of school like barbarians." Shana sasses him, going around to open her door herself. "The day you open a door for me is the day I grow a tail." She mutters under her breath while getting in.

"I tried opening the door for you this morning..." Dale starts to say.

"Even though I clearly warned you not to." Virgil interrupted.

To which Dale waves a hand and continues his narration while carefully backing out of the parking slot the car was in, green eyes lighted with mirth. "But you kicked my shins and told me that and I quote, 'I'm neither blind nor stupid and I can open the fecking door all by myself!' unquote."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't need to hear you say all that." She drawls.

"That's why I wasn't saying it because of you, tiny demon." He fires back at her.

Virgil just ignores their arguments, obviously already used to it because apparently Dale drives them to school everyday, instead he looks back at me and reaches out his hand to me.

I don't think before slipping my much smaller hand into his and he just lets our joined hands hang, while he leans back against his seat and closes his eyes.

Soon we arrive at Shana's house and even though I've seen the large storied building before, I'm still staring awestruck at it.

It had to be built big because apparently most of her relatives preferred to stay in what they called the family house and I know this is why Shana loves to stay over at my place a lot.

I can't say I blame her, I wouldn't survive a day surrounded by so many people, even if they were family. Virgil comes over a lot because his dad is rarely home and so are his brothers and even when the twins are home, they make his life a living hell so when I think about it, staying over at my house does my best friends a lot of good.

"We're here!" Shana announces.

"Like we can't see your giant ass house right in front of our faces." Dale replies.

"See this is why we argue, I say something meaningful and you come from nowhere with your snarky remarks that nobody wants to hear."

Virgil ignores them again and steps out first as soon as Dale parks to come around and open the door for me, again.

Dale grinds his teeth at this but does nothing, Shana wasn't letting it blow over so easily.

"Okay!" She speaks up before we could make our way in. "Two things, maybe more, definitely more." She counts off her fingers. "One, no subtle fighting over Hayden, my relatives will find out and then the whole pack will know."

I frown at this, 'pack?' who calls their family a pack?

"Pack?"

"That's what Shana calls her family, because they're a little bit crazy." Virgil says.

I nod at this.

"Two, no obvious fighting over Hayden…"

"But you just said that." Dale interrupts.

"The first was subtly and the second is obviously, there's a difference and the third, no fighting over Hayden, period." She slashes her arms to emphasize her point.

"You could have just said that from the start." Virgil complains, unimpressed.

"With how thick your skulls are?? I feel like I have to say it a couple more times so you'll get it."

"Let's just go in." I say quickly, breaking up their silly argument.

"Fine." Shana agrees, leading the way up the front stairs.

Virgil is still holding onto my hand and Dale holds the other one and they start to try to subtly pull me closer to them.

Shana turns around with a done look. "What did I just say??" She threw her hands up, her peach blouse riding up her flat stomach. "As a matter of fact, none of you will get to hold Hayden's hand for the rest of this visit." She pronounced, snatching me from their middle. "I've got my eyes on you two." She threatens them before huffing and continuing her journey inside.

The door opened up to a hallway and we walked down it for a while, passing lots of rooms and other passages.

Soon burst out into a wide and airy room that looks like a kitchen, a dining room and a living room all rolled up into one, it's bright and noisy, delicious scents wafting around.

"Hey Mom!" Shana greets going over to hug someone that was being buried by pots. "I brought my friends over for a visit!"

"Hi Aunt Daphne!" She crosses the room to greet another lady that sits across the room on a rocking chair.

Shana's mom comes around the counter to meet us, she's a small lady, slightly taller than I am. A lacy apron is wrapped around her and her red hair is in a bun.

"Hey Mrs Colt." Virgil greets easily, already familiar with her.

"Oh, Hi Virgil, how are you love?"

"Just fine." He mumbled, already moving away when it looks like Mrs Colt would like to snatch him and place smacking kisses all over his face.

Dale greets her as well and she replies to him too, obviously used to seeing him as well.

"Hi Mrs. Colt." I greet shyly from behind Dale, where I had been hiding all this time.

"Oh my, you must be Hayden!" She exclaimes, snatching me into a warm hug before I can protest or escape. "I'm pleased to meet you, oh look at you, you're all grown up. When was the last time I saw you now?..." She starts to ramble, squishing my cheeks.

I nearly die from the attention but Shana saves me, like she always does.

"Mom, don't overwhelm him."

"Shanwa!!!" An adorable little voice screeches and a tiny child rockets into the room from an entering I'm yet to see, right into Shana's open arms.

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Chương 24: ~°~Chapter Twenty-four~°~

"Nicolai!!" She exclaims, picking him up from the ground and twirling him around."How are you baby?" She tickles him a bit, making him burst into happy giggles.

"Higher Shanwa!!" The little boy orders, stretching his chubby hands to Virgil.

Virgil makes a face at this but soon finds his arms full of a squirming child as Nicolai scrambles to climb his head.

"Oy! Nic! You'll fall…"

"Why don't you take a seat." Mrs Colt offers, leading the way to the far side of the large room where there was a fireplace.

Shana's Aunt Daphne sat on a rocking chair in front of it, quietly knitting a colorful piece of fabric over her greatly distended stomach.

Dale and I settle down on two of the many cushions scattered around, Virgil is still struggling with Shana's three year old cousin that she might have mentioned.

"Stop humoring him Virgil." Daphne laughs lightly, rocking her padded seat. "It's because you spoil him that's why he keeps wanting to go higher."

"There's a dance coming up, mom." Shana informs her mother, opening the fridge to take out an apple to bite into it. "The Spring Dance."

"So soon!" Her mom clasps her hands together, her knitted blouse moving with her. "You're all growing up so fast!" She exclaims, teary eyed.

"Mom!" Shana complains, coming over to meet us. "You promised you wouldn't say embarrassing things."

Her mom pouts like a child and I stifle a laugh behind my palm. "You are only saying it because Hayden is here, you never asked that before even when Dale started coming over."

"But you didn't even regard my wishes." Shana insists, placing a hand over her heart like she was deeply hurt.

"I didn't even say anything yet or are you embarrassed Hayden love?" She turns to me with a warm smile.

I shake my head with a small smile too caught up in enjoying the peaceful scene before me to remember my social anxiety.

Virgil had sat down on a cushion a while ago much to the disagreement of Nicolai who was currently standing on his chest.

"See." Mrs. Colt fires on. "I mean in a few months you'll all be eighteen and that's it!"

"Mom?" Shana warns again.

My head bobs slightly from the chuckles I keep suppressing and suddenly I feel someone latch onto my hair.

"Fluffy." Nicolai giggles, practically falling out of Virgil's lap to get a better grip on my hair.

The room goes quiet, even Mrs. Colt swallows back her retort as everyone watches what Nicolai was up to.

"Don't grab his hair." Virgil ordered but the adorable three year old just ignores him, standing on his tippy toes to thread both pudgy hands in my long hair.

"But it's so swoft." He whispers in awe, immersed in gently pushing his palms through my hair.

The cushions are low enough that he can manage to do this without much of a struggle but soon he decides that he wants more and starts to crawl up my lap.

"He's all over Hayden on his first day of meeting him??" Dale exclaims in obvious shock, staring wide eyes at Nicolai who is still struggling to climb up my lap.

I gently pick him up and place him in my lap, with which he quickly wraps himself around me and buries his face and arms in my hair. "He says it's soft." I shrug with a self accomplished smirk, feeling soft as the child cuddles even closer.

Dale just scoffs, rolling his eyes. "And that's why he looks like he wants to eat you, he wouldn't even look at me for the first five times I came over." He complains darkly, crossing his arms in a pet peeve.

I just laugh at his dramatics.

Daphne gets up first, her full stomach bobbing with the movement. "We should leave you kids to yourselves." She smiles and her face glows, she looks so happy about the child growing inside of her. "Come on Nico." She urges the child still nestled in my hair, he'd moved down to my neck and was breathing so deeply I was starting to think he'd fallen asleep.

"Nuh uh." A mumbled reply floats out and Dale's mind is blown yet again.

"Nico?" His mom repeats, starting to get slightly impatient.

"I don't wanna." Nicolai insists, holding tighter onto me.

I'm at a loss for words at this, I've never particularly been special around children, I mostly stayed out of their way as a matter of fact and they did the same so I was as shocked at this extravagant display of affection.

"Sweetie, why don't you come to Auntie." Mrs Colt tries, patting her skirted thighs in encouragement. "We could go get ice cream."

His head lifts slightly at this but he buries it back immediately, shaking his head in disagreement.

"Hay-Hay smells pwetty." He mumbles from the recesses of where he has his head buried in the crook of my neck. "Like vanilla an' flowers." He lisps in his adorable baby voice.

I pause at this, 'vanilla and flowers?' I frown at this description because I don't even have perfume on, all I have on is a spray on deodorant which has a light scent because my nose is really sensitive.

"Come on Nico, I promise we'll hug later okay?" I try to persuade him, unaware of how still the room had become.

He looks up at me with huge, brown eyes when I say this. "You really mean that?"

"Of course but you have to listen to what your mom and Aunt tells you or no more hugs." I say sternly.

He actually looks so devastated by this that I have to hold myself back from breaking out of character and telling him that I'll hug him forever if that is what he wants.

"Okay." He nods seriously, then scrambles off my legs to run to his mother who gently leads him out with Mrs. Colt in her wake.

"Aww, he's so cute." I sigh, watching them leave.

"Um Hayden?" Dale calls to me and I turn to see him rubbing his cheek nervously.

"Hmm? What is it?" I ask distractedly, still on the waves of the cuteness I had come in contact with just then.

"Do you have perfume on?"

I blink at this random question and then I remember Nicolai's remarks again. "No? I don't even if I did, I don't see me going for vanilla and flowers." I reply, finding it cute and funny.

No one replies my smiles though and I clear my throat. "Um… i-is so-something wrong?"

"What? No! Not at all. Why would you ask that?" Shana says quickly, while Virgil and Dale quietly watch me and I unconsciously frown at this - they were acting...weird.

"Uh, sure?"

Shana quickly brings up a new topic to dissipate the tension still lingering in the too bright room and I stay on the fringes of the conversation, it's not hard to do this as I have no idea what event they were discussing so my silence didn't stand out at all.

I try to think back to what happened after Nicolai said I smelled like vanilla and flowers - I mean of all alluring scents I could have had, it had to be that of a sweetshop on a spring morning.

Everyone sort of acted weird even though they had tried really hard to hide it - I think - maybe they were just shocked at his words too, I mean I was.

My friends quickly forget about it though as we fall from topic to topic, Shana even offers to bring out a board game.

If it were so important, they wouldn't have forgotten about it so soon, right? So I too forgot about it and just enjoyed their company.

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