She's Bad News

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Corinna’s POV

“How many chances are we going to give her, Donald?”

“Come on Sandra, it was the first time she broke curfew since she’s been here and it was a Friday night. Let’s just let it go this time.”

I listened from the foyer as their slightly muffled voices reached me from the kitchen. Sandra let out a long suffering sigh and I could practically hear her crossing her arms over her chest in disapproval. “Fine, but if she broke curfew once it’s only a matter of time until it happens again. We all know how she is, Don.”

“She’s trying to change,” Don said softly and I heard the scrape of chairs as they took their seats at the dining room table. After that they changed the subject and I focused on lacing my shoes.

“Reena?”

I looked up to see Jake standing in front of me with a frown on his face, his hair messed up and his school outfit already had a stain on the blue shirt. “What’s up buddy?” I asked a wide smile automatically spreading across my face at the sight of my little brother.

“I didn’t come to see you this morning,” he said quietly, wringing his hands together and looking up at me through his eyelashes, tears collecting at the corners of his eyes.

“That’s okay, did you sleep in?”

He shook his head, his frown deepening as he sniffled. “Mom told me if I went to your room, she’d give me a time out.”

Trying to ignore the flash of anger in my chest at his words, I reached out and ruffled his light brown hair, the exact colour of Sandra’s and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m not mad, little man. I would feel guilty if you got a time out because of me so you did the right thing, okay?”

He sniffled as a tear trailed down his cheek but he gave me a wobbly smile before nodding. “I hate time outs,” he said quietly, his grin widening, showing the gap where his front teeth should’ve been. “Freddy and I will come see you tomorrow, we promise,” he said in a hushed voice.

I gave a little chuckle and reached out to pull him into a hug, feeling my heart swell with love for the little boy. “All right but tomorrow I’m going to win the pillow fight,” I said as the door beside us swung open.

I was still grinning when I turned to see who was coming in but it changed to a smirk when I saw Flynn standing there, a slightly unfocused expression in his eyes as he looked down at me. “Flynn!” Jake shouted, pulling from my arms to fling himself at Flynn who automatically reached out to lift him up and plant him on his hip.

“Hey Jake, how’s it going?”

“Good, tomorrow I’m going to beat Reena in a pillow fight!” Jake said, his eyes alight with happiness as he stared up at Flynn with adoration.

Flynn raised an eyebrow, sending a smirk in my direction before focusing on Jake again. “Really? Is that difficult?”

“Not really,” Jake said, puffing out his chest in pride. “I’m undefeated.”

“That’s all going to change tomorrow,” I said, straightening and putting my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes to give my brother a mock glare.

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said in a serious voice, his eyes flashing with competition making my lips twitch.

I cleared my throat and bit my lip, trying to keep the laughter at bay but I had to cough to cover a chuckle that managed to escape. “Jake, are you almost ready? Peter’s mom is going to be here any minute,” Sandra said, coming into the living room, her eyes traveling over the space until they focused on the three of us standing in the foyer. “You’re still here, Corinna?” she asked her tone quite a few degrees frostier.