Protective Love

Ch. 15 - Cody's Questionable Behavior

---NEW UPDATED CHAPTER ---

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“Vi…” Sam whispers in my ear, gently shaking my shoulder to try to wake me up.
“..Hmmm…” I groan and slowly peel open my eyes. The bright light bothers my eyes and is giving me a headache, so I close my eyes again.
“Vi, sweetie, come on. Wake up.” Sam runs his hand through my hair, “Breakfast is ready downstairs.”
“My head…” I whimper
“Okay baby.” Sam throws the blankets off of me, turns off my breathing machine, takes my tube out and lifts me up in his arms.
I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my head in his shoulder. I feel him carry us downstairs and into the dinning room. I can hear my brothers setting up the table with the clinks of the metal silverware and plates being placed on the table. Sam sets me down on the chair in between him and Cody. I rub my eyes, peeling them open slowly as the bright light in here also bothers me. A glass full of water is placed in front of me and I chug down the cool liquid as I realize how thirsty I really am. I hear soft chuckling around me and I set down my glass and politely ask for more. Sam grabs the glass jar full of water and pours me and himself some water.
“Viviana, I want you to eat some eggs today please.” William pushes a plate filled with scrambled eggs towards me.
I fill my plate up with scrambled eggs with green onions, sausages and homemade waffles.
William clears his throat and announces, "Vi and Cody, I have received your school schedules in the mail today. I have a very important meeting today so I cannot accompany either of you to your schools, but Damon will. I want you both to get dressed as you will be leaving shortly."
“Yes sir.” We both mumble with our mouths full, earning us a glare from William. That just made both of us giggle.
After breakfast, I grab my plate and head into the kitchen where Dean is doing the dishes. I hand him my plate and am about to step out to get ready for the day when he stops me.
“You need to take your medication please.”
“Oh.. I forgot.” I turn back towards him and patiently wait as Dean dries his hands and takes out my medicines.
“Yeah, you’ve been doing that a lot lately.” He sends me a playful glare over his shoulder.
“What? Taking my medicine or forgetting?” I know exactly what he is referring to, I’m just not in the mood for another talk.
“Forgetting.” Dean hands me my medicine and a glass of water.
I take it all in one gulp and hand the glass back to him. “Can I be done now?”
“Yes.” Dean turns back to the sink to resume the dishes. “Oh wait, Vi!”
I stop mid step and spin back around to face him for the second time. My hand slides up to my hip in a very attitude way and I pop my hip to the side. “What now?” I sneer with attitude.
Dean’s left eyebrow raises up and he gives me a sharp, stern look. “I need to check you over before you head out. Go get ready and wait for me in the bathroom please.”
“Yes sir.” I huff out, spin back towards the stairs and start to head up to my room.
“AND DROP THE ATTITUDE!” Dean yells up the stairs to me.
I chose to ignore him and walk up the stairs towards my room. Once inside, I put on some clothes, brush my teeth and wash my face and apply sunscreen and moisturiser. I go into my closet and start to rummage around, finding my black vans in the very back of my pile of shoes. When I’m done slipping them on, I walk back into my bathroom and sit on the closed toilet seat. As I wait for Dean, I swing my feet since I can’t reach the floor yet and hum softly to myself. Dean walks in and chuckles softly as he watches me. He then places a bag on the counter and pulls out a thermometer. He hands it to me so I can place it under my tongue. He then grabs his stethoscope and starts to listen to my chest. The thermometer beeps and Dean takes it out of my mouth. He studies the tiny device for a second before washing it and putting it back. He feels around my arms and legs for any muscle cramps and such. When he’s done and satisfied, he lets me get up.
“I need you to be careful today Viviana. You might be going to check out some stuff at the school but that’s only because WE allow you to okay? You are to stay next to Damon the entire time. Also, if he lets you wander off, you are to stay next to Cody. I already pep-talked him.”
I roll my eyes, huff out, “Huh. Of course.” under my breath and walk out of the bathroom to find William.
“Viviana!” Dean clasps his hand around my arm, stopping me abruptly.
“What!” I snap.
“What is your deal?! Huh?! Do you want a spanking this early in the day??!” He sneers at me, shaking me gently to get my attention.
“No sir.” I glance at the floor in front of me but Dean quickly grabs my chin and lifts my face up to him.
“I want you to be respectful and drop this attitude you have going. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just please be good today.” Dean pulls me into a hug as he says that.
“I will. I promise.”
I grab my schedule from William and look it over: I have Miss Ewalt as my teacher and history class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and Math class Tuesday and Thursday at the University with a few other kids. There’s a note that says we are to leave after the music session we normally have after lunch. Cody's schedule is identical to mine.
“Now, you both can call your friends to meet you at the school if you want. BUT Viviana, you have homework to do when you get home.” William tells us both. I look over my shoulder at Cody’s schedule to make sure we were placed in the same class and thankfully see that we are both with Miss Ewalt. Cody takes out his phone and starts to call a couple of his friends and I take out mine.
*RING RING RING RING*
(V: Vanessa, C: Chris and Me: Viviana)
V: C: hello? Vi?
Me: Hey guys! Damon is taking me and Cody to school! He says we can invite our friends. Are you busy?
V: Hell yeah! I'll meet you there in an hour!
C: Na I’m not busy. Of course I’ll be over there soon!
Me: Perfect. Meet you both in an hour at the school. Bye
V: C: bye
"Vivi! Hurry up and get ready. You still have your medication to take." yells Cody.
“Nope, I took them already. And Dean checked me over too! I’m all ready.” I stick my tongue out at him and he rolls his eyes.
“Good.” He laughs to himself and walks off.
I go into the kitchen to grab some water. I see Damon laying against the fridge in my way and texting on his phone.
"Brother?" I ask shyly. Damon nods his head, too busy to even look at me I guess. "Excuse me."
Damon sets down his phone and looks at me. I feel like he is annoyed at me for making him move. “What is it you need?”
“Water.”
He opens the fridge and hands me a bottle of water. I take it from him and walk out, not even daring to say anything else since he just went back on his phone. Goodness, what has this world turned out to be?! After an hour, we arrive at the school and Cody’s and my friends are already waiting for us. Damon parks the car and I climb down and slam the door shut, texting Vanessa that we’re on our way to them.
"Viviana! Do not slam my car door!" Damon yells out.
I roll my eyes and continue walking towards my friends.
"Hey Vi! Already in trouble are we? hahahahah" mocks Vanessa.
"HA. ha. ha. Very funny." I hug both of them and we quickly exchange schedules.
Cody catches up to us and whispers to me, “Careful Vi. Damon is irritated at you.”
I shrug my shoulders and hand Vanessa my schedule. All four of us are with Miss Ewalt and we all have the university classes after music. I’m relieved that I get to be with them this year. Damon comes hurrying after us with an upset scowl on his face. He approaches us and our friends greet him. He says hello back and marches angrily into the building ahead of us. He stops shortly before we reach the front office and he turns to us, arms crossed over his chest and a determined look.
“Now, I need to do some business in the office. You four can wander around the school and search for your room and your cubby. I want you all back here afterwards.”
“Yes sir.” We all mutter back.
Damon lets out a loud ‘huff’ and turns towards the office, entering in without us. We start walking down the main hall searching for our lockers when Cody’s friends appear from around the corner. I don’t know the guys, I just know that they’re in the fifth grade and they play football and basketball during recess times. Cody sometimes goes off and plays with them. He starts to wander off towards them when I remembered my talk with Dean.
“Cody, I .. We need to stay together.” I yell out after him, walking up to him as he fist bumps his friends.
“Ha! Says who?” Cody’s friends behind him start to snicker and whisper to each other, making me more embarrassed then I already am.
I lean forward and whisper in his ear, “Dean told me I have to stay with you.. Remember he told you?”
“Oh shit… I forgot. Okay look, why don’t you go off with your friends and text me before you head over to Damon and I’ll just meet up with you before that? Nobody has to know.”
“Uhm, Cody, I don’t know. I’m already in deep trouble!” I whine out.
“Oh my god! I won’t tattle on you! I’ll be in as much trouble, probably more!” He rolls his eyes and turns his back to me. His friends are laughing at me and Cody laughs alongside them, walking off.
I saunter back to my friends, confusion wrecking my thoughts as I have never seen Cody act this way before towards me. It was like those guys changed my twin!
"Aw come on Vi, it's not that bad." Vanessa wraps her arm around my shoulder as we start to walk down the hallway away from Cody and his new group.
"How would you know? Damon is probably talking to my psychiatrist and you've never had a psychiatrist! My doctor recommended I had one this year for all the stress. This woman thinks she knows my kind of situation! Some stranger knows what happened to me Vanessa! It's uncomfortable. And Cody! I mean, what was that? He never leaves me alone like that!" I start playing with my hair and a stressed yawn makes my eyes start to water.
"Look Vi, I get it, I had a psychiatrist once when my dad left my family and me behind and my mother thought it was a good idea for me to get some personal issues off my chest. It isn't that bad, trust me. When I first started going, I hated it too. I would even ignore or mimic the doctor, I realized I was completely out of line and I was for sure. After like a month, the doctor would just sit there and let me draw and build things with blocks and Legos. I hadn't realized I was drawing my darkest fears and wrecking everything I built. Yeah, I was only six at the time, but it really helped me. Just give this woman a chance okay? She's only here to help." Cody says, smiling a little to try to cheer me up.
We had just made it to our lockers and I mumbled an "okay" to Chris. I guess he got frustrated with me because the next thing I know, he grabs me by my shoulders and turns me towards him and says, "Hey! I'm serious Vivi!"
I look him in his eyes and reply, "okay, okay. I'll try okay?"
Vanessa opens her locker and gently hits my head! I turn and glare at her.
"Hey! Stop chatting and look inside!"
Cody and I open our lockers and I see that my locker had a really pretty velvety zebra striped silk on the walls, a purple rug on the bottom, small purple leopard spotted curtains in the top corner with a beautiful white chandelier hanging from the top. Vanessa's locker was pretty too, black and white themed flowers for the walls and matching curtains in the top corner, a pink rug and pink chandelier and Cody's was all dark navy blue and black rug with no chandelier or curtains; I guess they're just too girly for him. I smile as I realize that Vanessa and Cody have arrived at school earlier than me to give me this surprise.
"Thank you both very much for this! It's amazing!" I hug them both tightly and they just laugh.
"No problem Vi. We wanted to do something special for you." Vanessa chuckles.
I reach into my purse and take out their gifts I got at the Grand Canyon. Chris got a pretty magnet with the view of the Grand Canyon and wild horses while Vanessa got a pretty necklace. They hugged me again and we laughed, momentarily forgetting all our stresses.
Our school is different from any ordinary school, this is a special school that costs a lot of money, but the good thing about it is that they give out a lot of scholarships for kids who can’t afford to pay. The school starts at first grade up to twelfth graders and it’s located right across the street from the University of our town. They have a special program that allows kids like my friends and me to take some classes at the local university, where Damon and uncle Stephan work. You have to apply and only like fifteen percent of the students are accepted. It really is an honor for a 12 year old like me to be here. They normally only allow students in grades seven and up to have their own lockers, but the only exception is the kids that are in the special program since we have to carry books to and from the university from school. Since it's a small college town, we have horse stalls everywhere! Including one near the school that belongs to the university. We do have to pay to use the stalls for the day, but Cody and I get one for free since Damon and Uncle Stephan work at the university!
After some time of walking around, we find Cody and his friends and head to the front of the school where Damon is with my psychiatrist. For some reason, I knew he was talking to her! I turn to Vanessa and Cody and give them a look that says ‘I-told-you-so’. They both laugh at me and follow me to them.
"Hello Viviana, my name is Dr. Kennedy and I am your new psychiatrist. I am very excited to meet with you. I have already given your brother the talk and our schedule.” She extends her hand for me to shake which I do.
“Hello.” I whisper out
“I just wanted to let you know that we will be meeting everyday for twenty minutes after your music class and before your college courses.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Well I've got a lot to do to prepare. Nice meeting with you Mr. Reyes." Dr. Kennedy shakes Damon's hand, waves at me goodbye and heads off to her office which is right next to the main office.
Damon opens the car door for us as Cody says his goodbyes to his new friends. We climb into the car and as we wait for Cody, Damon decides it would be funny to honk at him. He got startled and jumped. We all laughed and Cody shot us an angry glare. He saunters into the car.
"Okay kids, you will have forty-five minutes to get from your last class, which is music, to your college course. The first day of school I will pick you all up since you do not know your way around just yet. All the other days you can choose to either ride your bikes or walk or even ride your horses. I will tell you now though, during winter and harsh weather, you cannot ride your horses. I do not trust the school stalls." Damon tells us as he pulls out of his parking spot.
"Thank you Damon! How long will it take us to do each? With my psychiatrist appointment that lasts for 20 mins and all….” I reply with a sarcastic sneer at the end.
"Watch it young lady. She is only going to help you cope with the new environment and people around you. As for the time, you all should be fine. Walking is only twelve minutes, with your bikes it should be only eight minutes since it's all flat and downhill and on horseback it's only three to four minutes.”
“Damon, how can we ride our horses if we use the university stall?” Chris asks
“Oh hahaha good point. Actually the principal told me about a meadow next to your school in the back? You can leave the horses there as it is fenced off properly. But you guys will have to decide if you want to ride your horses to school the day before or not and check the weather also! I don’t want the horses to get sick or injured if you leave them outside waiting for you for the majority of the day.”
“Oh! Yea I’ve seen that meadow! The fence is new too! I saw them put it up last year!” Vanessa comments
“Don’t worry Damon, we’ll do what you said.” I respond
“Cody is going to wait for you every single time.” Damon glances at Cody from his rear view mirror for a brief second before returning his attention to the road, “As for the rest of you, it's your decision to wait on Vi and Cody or not."
"Of course we will wait! We aren't ditching anyone." Yells out Chris, who is kind of like the second leader of our group when Cody isn't speaking or around.
We arrive home and Damon parks the car in the garage. We all climb down, head to the family room and start to play video games.
"NO! No tv. Go make some lunch instead, huh? A sandwich maybe or some tacos, heck we even have ingredients for a homemade pizza! Just no tv. No video games. Do something productive for once. Please." yells out Damon as he enters the room.
Cody's eyes lighten up and Vanessa loudly says, "PIZZA! We can make some pizza, I've never had homemade pizza before."
We go to the kitchen and get out all the ingredients, the dough, already made, pesto sauce, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms with black olives, some bacon pieces, onions and tomatoes. We finish decorating the pizza and place it in the oven.
"We better clean up this place or Damon is going to be angry." Vanessa comments as she looks around the kitchen.
I look around and see that there’s sauce on the kitchen counters, the floor was messy with food and the sink is full of dirty dishes. I grab the broom and mop and start cleaning the floor, Vanessa takes on dish duty while Cody and Chris start cleaning the counters and putting away the food. After a half an hour, the kitchen’s spotless and we still had twenty minutes for the pizza before it was ready.
"Hey, let's watch a movie. Scary or Adventurous?" Cody says
"Adventurous!" I am the only one who yells as everyone else says "Scary!" "Sorry Vi, Scary movie wins. Don't worry, you can sit next to me, I'll protect you." Cody mocks and laughs at me.
I pout and stick my tongue out at him. Cody rolls his eyes and walks off with Vanessa to pick out a movie.
Chris hugs me tightly and says, "Oh don't mind him Vi, you can sit with me so I can protect you okay? Don't worry."
Chris grabs my hand and we make our way to the family room. The lights have been shut off and the curtains closed to give the room a scarier feeling. Vanessa goes into the kitchen and comes back with popcorn and sausages, chips and salsa and a few other snacks. I guess they chose to watch The Conjuring II. Yeah what a nice pick for me, I know I won't be sleeping tonight. The pizza was done by the time we had set up the family room with our snacks neatly placed on the coffee table and blankets laid out for us. Damon enters with our pizza on a pizza board and some paper plates.
“Vi, after the movie I want you to do your homework.”
“Yes sir.” I grab a slice of pizza and we start the movie.
In the middle of the movie, the most suspenseful part of it too, I am hiding under my blanket while Vanessa is covering her face with her hands. Out of nowhere, the main character jumps at the same time a phone starts to ring. I scream so loud Damon comes running and yells, "What? What happened?!'' It's not until some time after he realizes that we are all watching a scary movie and everyone is laughing. Vanessa screamed also and threw a handful of popcorn out of her hand! Damon rolls his eyes and walks away. The movie ended and it was late now. It’s 5:35 pm when the doorbell rings.
Damon calls out, “Chris! Your parents are here to pick you up!"
We all rush to the front room and say our goodbyes.
"Vanessa, do you want me to accompany you home? Your mom called and said that your aunt is over for dinner." Damon asks her.
Vanessa nods her head yes and says goodbye to me, giving me a quick hug. "I'll text you later for school okay? Maybe we can ride our horses sometime during the first week."
“Vi, please do the first page I left out on your desk.” Damon shuts the door behind himself after I told him I would.
I make my way to the library and find one sheet of paper sitting on my desk. I sit down and start doing it when Cody comes in also and sits down on the sofa in front of the fireplace behind me. ‘Just ignore him Vi, just ignore him.’ I tell myself as I finish the first five problems with no issue at all. It’s a math worksheet and it’s just a quick revision of last year’s math class. Not too hard so far.
“Vi, about today…” Cody mutters behind me.
“Not now Cody. I’m studying.” I finish the next problem and realize that I have only one question left! Only ten problems per page in this worksheet and Damon only wanted me to do one page? I remember how last year I struggled with this, but my math tutor had actually taught me a trick she says we don’t learn until later in the years ahead of me! Now I find these problems easy. I still show my work though for the full points. I finish the page and head over to Damon’s office, finding my binder on top of his pile of papers. I carefully open it and take out a few more pages.
“Vi, I’m so sorry! I don’t know what got over me. I just… I just didn’t want to seem like an idiot in front of my friends!” Cody stutters from the sofa.
“Oh wow, your new friends are so much more important than me!” I sneer at him as I make my way to my desk.
“No! It’s not that!” Cody jumps up from the sofa and blocks me.
“Oh god Cody. If it wasn’t then you would have stayed with me. You would have obeyed Dean and not left me alone. I don’t care honestly. The way you laughed at me was not okay though! That wasn’t you!” Tears form in my eyes and I angrily wipe them away with my sleeve.
“I’m sorry.” Cody’s voice cracks as he feels bad.
“I don’t care! Leave me alone!” I yell out at him.
He walks out of the library and I make my way to my desk, starting on the pages of math problems.
I hear the garage door opening and I quickly finish my last problem to go greet them. I stand up, grab my papers and walk out to the living room to see William entering with some dinner from a Mexican restaurant. Everyone else enters after him and I say hello to everyone and hand Sam my finished worksheets.
“Wow Vi! Four papers done? I only gave Damon one paper for you to do for today.” He looks over my work, impressed.
“I know, but it was easy so I did three more pages.” I mutter.
Dean and Damon give me kisses on my cheek and I erupt in giggles. After my brother's change, we gathered at the dining table to eat dinner.
"So, Cody, Vi, how was your day today?" Dean asks around a mouthful of food.
"It was amazing! We found our classes, and Vanessa and Chris decorated my locker with velvet zebra striped silk on the walls! Then afterwards we made pizza, cleaned the kitchen and watched the Conjuring II. And then I did some of the homework." I yelped excitedly.
"Wow, sounds like you both had a full day today. After dinner we need to speak with you Viviana, so please wait for us in the sun room." William says.
I nod my head, finish my soft taco and head to the sun room. Cody just stayed quiet throughout dinner, not uttering one single word. In no time at all, William and Dean are with me sitting down on the sofa in the sun room.
"We have been discussing your punishment Viviana and we came to a conclusion that you are not to be alone for a while. At school you have Damon, uncle Stephan and Cody to watch you. At home one of us will be with you at all times. We took your bedroom door away since you do not know how to respect and be responsible for the private time we have given you and you don’t seem to understand that slamming doors is not okay after repeatedly telling you to stop. That way you can figure out how important it is to have your privacy back again soon enough. For two weeks you are to not leave the house without one of us to supervise you at all times.” Dean starts off.
“What!? But that’s not fair! I’m not a baby!” I stomp my foot and cross my arms over my chest.
“Since you decided to act like a child during school and with us yesterday as we were talking with your principal, that’s the way we’ll treat you. As for your medication, it is to be taken at the correct times and with one of us to help you. We showed Cody how to give you your meds during lunch, so no disobeying him! I don't care if you are in front of the whole school or alone in private. No tv or computer until after your homework is done. Do I make myself clear?" William responds to my sassiness.
I moan and say, "Yes sir."
Dean looks at me with a stern glare and adds on, "No friends over either during these two weeks. No phone at home. You can have your cell phone when you leave for school but only use it for calling one of us. Early bedtimes as well. Instead of ten o'clock like your twin has, you will be in bed by nine o'clock NO arguing about it either."
He anticipated my next words so instead I say, "Yes sir, no arguing."
"Good, now go get ready for your medical bath." I nod and rush upstairs, stripping down and putting on my rob.
I see Damon already waiting for me in my bathroom and after a half hour of 'medical attention' as I call it, I am in my pjs and taking my pills for tonight. Dean picks me up from behind and sets me on top of the kitchen counter for my check-up.
"Thank you for cooperating, Vi. I know how you must feel about all of this but you have to realize that it's for your own safety. You have shown us how much we have been slacking off as your older brothers." Dean checks my breathing and heartbeat with his stethoscope. He then gives me a thermometer to check if my fever has returned. I sit patiently with the thermometer in my mouth, my feet swinging and banging lightly on the counter. Dean opens my mouth to take out the thermometer and also checks to see if I brushed my teeth.
"Did you brush?"
I nod my head and watch him roll up my shirt sleeve and get out a needle. He gets my medical shot ready and I take a deep breath to try to stay calm for my sake and that of my brothers'.
"On the count of three okay? One.. Two..."
All of a sudden I feel a pinch and yelp, "Hey! What happened to the three?"
Dean chuckles and picks me up, taking me to his room to cuddle and watch another movie. He knows that I have trouble sleeping after watching a scary movie, so he normally lets me stay with him that night. I ended up falling asleep an hour into the movie and William had to bring in my breathing machine and set it up.
"Thank you for watching her tonight Dean. I think maybe a family lunch at Ihop's will be a good idea tomorrow. What do you think? Especially before her doctor's appointment." William says to Dean.
"Yeah, that’s a good idea. After her doctor's appointment we can take Cody and her to the store for back-to-school shopping."
William and Dean continue planning out for tomorrow and the first day of school while I lay in Dean's arms, with the tube in my nose. My dreams are filled with sunny days and my beautiful black horse.