The Highland Kids: Closet Space

Chapter 30

We got home and I took Katherine upstairs so she could choose her room.
"Here's one floor of bedrooms. You can pick out any one that doesn't have someone's name on i-"
"I want this one."
She picked the room that was closest to her.
"Alright and this one is pretty interesting because it's smaller than the others so there's a loft bed with a desk underneath."
"Great, I'll take it from here."

She shut the door pretty hard at that point.
"Okay Katherine, I'll be back in an hour to give you a house tour."
I didn't get a response so I decided to head into the kitchen to eat one of Aidan's "welcome home" cookies. He makes different ones every time and this time they were pumpkin spice cookies cut in the shape of pumpkins.

I started nibbling away and Aidan joined me shortly after.
"I see you're eating one of my cookies, made without love."
"Good thing you didn't spit in these ones. But when you do add "love" please tell me which ones contain "love". I don't want to accidentally eat a "love" cookie."
"Don't worry, I'll always tell you which ones contain love. Now eat up, the sooner everyone eats all the pumpkin spice, the sooner I get my hands on peppermint."
"Ah peppermint, the flavour of Christmas. Do you know any good Christmas cookies other than the classic gingerbread?"
"I do, I know how to make sugar cookies two ways and candy cane shortbread cookies."
"Sounds yummy, I have shit I have to do now. So, enjoy your cookies."

I headed upstairs and started doing the shit I had to do.
The first thing I had to do was a maths sheet on triangles and angles. Two questions with two parts, easy enough and I was done in twenty minutes. As a reward, I decided to help myself to another one of Aidan's cookies.
I passed Katherine's bedroom on my was down and I remembered that I never actually gave her the tour of the house.
"Hey Katherine, do you want a house tour now? I could come back la-"
"Leave me alone!"
"I....Okay. See you around then."

I didn't feel like eating a cookie anymore, so I went back upstairs and decided to erase the butterflies on my wall that had been there for far too long and draw something else.
On my wall so far I've only ever drawn flowers and butterflies but this time I wanted to draw something that actually meant something to me. Unfortunately, artist block hit hard and I had decided to pull out my phone and take it up with a professional.

Me: Jackson!
Jackson: What? I'm across the hall
Me: I want to draw something on my wall that means something to me
Me: But I don't know what to draw
Me: Can you help me out?
Jackson: How about a pair of scissors?
Jackson: Like a gothic pair of hair-cutting scissors
Me: Bloody brilliant
Me: Jackson, you're a genius
Jackson: My grades say otherwise

With that idea in mind, I looked up some image references and pulled out an old friend of mine: a projector that was originally in the basement but I inherited it when Meredith upgraded it last spring. I plugged it into my laptop and got the image on my wall. I also put my headphones in so I could work in peace.

Once the song started to play, I pulled out my chalkboard marker and got to work.

__________

I don't know how long I was working for, but eventually my song was interrupted by a text from Arty.

Arty: Beep beep not-motherfucker
Arty: Dinner's ready

I turned off the projector to admire my handiwork and headed downstairs for dinner.
Aria and Meredith had prepared a chicken dinner with mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, and a basket of rolls. Meredith put the roll basket at the end of the table opposite of me because she knows I always take a few in case I get hungry later and she wants me to break that habit.
"Now that everyone is here, before we start eating, with Christmas just around the corner, all that I ask is that each of you make a list of low-cost things you would want. And I want each of you to get the others one thing. Simple enough?"
"Yep, seems simple enough." Jackson helped himself to a roll. "Is there an individual day planned where we go shopping?"
"Not set in stone, however I plan to go the first week of December. Now dig in."

Everyone started eating to their heart's content. Katherine took her medications and ate a smaller portion than everyone else and left the table as soon as she was done. I knew that she would need time to adjust to living here, but could she at least try to be nice?