Once Again

Chapter 2

Emory

The last couple days have been a bit, hectic isn't the right word, maybe different was the best way to describe it. Jessica had been in her bedroom mostly, and Anthony had been a bit erratic. When he wasn't at work, he was fixing things around the house, the leaking toilet handle, cleaning the gutters, changing all the lightbulb to the more eco friendly ones, he even power washed the driveway. Aria, had been quiet and I know that we had been trying to be more sisterly towards each other, but I didn't know what to say. Georgie had been cranky, he was very upset that both his parents and his sister weren't there despite physically being there. Anthony's mother had been over quite a lot, she was so excited to finally meet me but also solemn at the same time.  Then Thursday morning as if something shifted things started somewhat going back to normal but it wasn't the same. Anthony's mother was still around but Jessica had been in the kitchen sitting at the island drinking coffee while she made breakfast.

When I walked in, she handed me a plate, and I smiled, "thanks Mrs Jacobs." I say as I take the plate of pancakes to the counter.

"Now I've told you several times, call me Grandma, I don't want none of this Mrs Jacobs stuff anymore." She says sternly staring me down but I just take a bite of the pancakes. "You don't call your parents Mr and Mrs Jacobs, do you?"

I shake my head, "I call them Anthony and Jessica." Aria walks in just as her grandmother narrows her eyes. 

"You're being smart, aren't you?" I smile when she says this, about to be real smart in a second when Jessica levels me with a stare and I frown looking back at my food.

She then turns her attention to Anthony's mother. "Emory calls us by our names, Anthony and I are both fine with it, we don't want to rush her or make her feel forced in any way."

Aria snorts at that and under her breath says, "and that's why she lives with us."  I laugh at that and both women look in our direction.

I shrug, "she has a point." This makes Aria smile too.

Jessica just shakes her head, "you two should hurry up and then get dressed, you're going back to school today."

Aria puts her fork down, "what about the reporters?" There were a few reporters parked outside, in an attempt to catch us alone so they could ask us questions. It reminded me of when the switch first came out to the public. I remember them waiting outside my apartment building asking my aunt what she thought off of it meant for our lives. I also remember them being banned from my middle school because one of them attempted to sneak in during lunch with the hopes of interviewing me.

"My car is parked in the garage, and your grandmother is going to drive you." She says picking up Georgie as he walks into the kitchen, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Mommy, I missed you," he says as she carries him out of the room to get dressed." Aria and I head up stairs not long after to get dressed too.

"You okay?" I ask as we walk up the stairs.

"Hmm?" Aria seems lost in thought, "oh yeah, I'm fine." Somehow I got the feeling she wasn't though.

Since everything happened I've felt so lost on what to say. So I usually just stay quiet, I was actually looking forward to going back to school, even if multiple uncomfortable conversations were waiting for me.  So after the uncomfortable car ride to school, which consisted of Anthony's mom telling us all about high school back in her day, I was ready to get out of the car. When we finally did get to school, Aria stood there awkwardly, she was used to Bentley greeting her.  One thing I've noticed about Aria's best friend, she definitely had golden retriever energy most of the time. At first I kind of thought it was a bit annoying, but then it grew on me. Then when it stopped, it felt wrong, and I felt responsible. I had to fix things with her, not just for me, but Maybe for Aria too. Which meant having an awkward conversation with Bentley today about what happened last week.