The Sweetest Baker

Chapter 14--Old Friends, Not-So-Old Environment

By the time late August came along, I followed Nora and Bud having Mark, Henry, and Sarah with me so that Mark could give me directions and so that we could avoid a fight about who was holding what map. Kim, Jessica, and Jake were with Nora and Bud and everyone else was with Mom and Dad including Gunner. Charlie and Lorraine were in the midst of looking at apartments and had promised to meet up with me later.

Henry sat next to me in the passenger seat, the other two sitting next to each other in the back trying not to bicker under my command or else I would tell Mom and Dad. It wasn't like it was tattling or anything. Mom and Dad had asked me to give them a report on particularly Sarah. I wasn't too worried about the boys though. As long as she was good, they would behave.

"Come on, Henry. You're like totally failing," Sarah said playing with her iPod, our brother the same with his phone. I sighed realizing this would be harder than I thought. Before Henry could answer, I gave her a glare through the rear-view mirror.

"Do not start with him, Sarah," I commanded going back to the road.

"Dude! Are you kidding?! You're cheating," Henry shouted, not listening to my command. I shook my head at him starting to sound like Jake. That's what happens when you're around him too much like Sarah and Henry are.

"Guys! Quiet down! I need to concentrate!" Mark shouted over the loud video game noises. Henry listened but Sarah didn't.

"Sarah Baker! Do you want me to tell Dad?!" I asked hoping that would cause her to behave.
"Fine," my sister scoffed grabbing her headphones and turning her game down slightly so Mark couldn't hear.

"Thanks for that, Hunter," Mark said, the angel he is. I smiled at him through the rearview mirror.

"Anytime, Mark. Just be careful with what you say to her. We don't want another Fed Ex incident," I joked causing him to giggle.

"Don't worry. I will," he said giving me the thumbs-up signal.

~~~~~

"You just turn left here, Hunter," Mark said as Sarah and Henry, bored of their video games, looked out the window. I turned in the direction my brother said noticing the lake. I smiled seeing how big it was.

"You excited to do waterboarding this year, Sarah?" I asked no longer frustrated with her.

"With these waves? Duh!" she remarked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I smiled to myself at her. This was why she was so hilarious.......

I followed the lake excitedly as my siblings murmured their excitement to themselves. I wasn't too interested in the lake but I was just happy that my siblings seemed to admire it and that they seemed to be happy with the outcome. That was all that mattered to me. If I had thought they were happy a second ago, their mood changed when they saw the house. I had to admit. This was......different from what I remembered but I was just excited to be spending time with the family.

My hopes were demolished, however, when I saw the house right next to ours. It looked like it was the most expensive-looking house I had ever seen on Lake Winnetka. Surely, by the admirement on my sibling's faces, they were officially jealous of whoever owned the house even if they didn't know who they were. I opened the door along with my siblings as we met up with everyone else crowded around the house.

"It's a dump, Hunter! Look at it," Sarah told me walking beside me as I shoved her shoulder to the side an indirect way of getting her to be polite.

"This is it?" Nigel asked as if he was expecting more out of it.

"Remember this?" Mom asked trying to be optimistic about the circumstances.

"It looks......smaller," Mark added as I stood in between him and Kim.
"And more disgusting," Sarah mentioned as everyone but me, Mom, and Dad nodded in agreement.