All of Me | Protector 1.4

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

       Since Mom and Dad were giving Matilda such a hard time about her low grades, she came to my house every Friday so I could help her out. She was lucky that one of her older sisters was a teacher.

       For the past couple weeks, her grades were improving slightly, but our parents, of course, said nothing about that. I felt really bad for Matilda. I didn't have to deal with them anymore now that I moved out and was living my life, but they were starting to be very controlling for Matilda.

       On the bright side for her, she turned eighteen the day after her high school graduation so if she could find a place, she could move out. She already had a job anyway, so that should help out.

       Matilda was sitting beside me at the table and Tony was sitting across from us as he marked his students' recent quiz. He stared at an answer on the current quiz he was marking and scoffed. "Oh my word," he said.

       "What?" I asked.

       "The answer to this question," Tony said. "The question is what is the powerhouse of the cell and you know what they wrote? The Facebook app."

       "What? Seriously?" I asked.

       "Yeah, seriously," Tony said. "I really don't get people at times." He marked the answer wrong and went to the next one.

       I continued helping Matilda out with her homework, which  was taking a while because she kept getting distracted by going on her phone. Tony was even able to finish marking all the quizzes before Matilda finished her homework.

       There was a knock on the door, so Tony got up from the seat to go answer it. "Surprise!" I heard the voice of Tony's sister say. 

       "What are you doing here?" Tony asked.

       "Like I said, surprise," Poppy said. "We haven't visited for a while, so we're here. Now let us in."

       Tony sighed and let Poppy, Grayson, and Ryder come in. I hadn't seen Grayson and Ryder for a while, so it was a bit surprising to see Ryder walking now. I think he was even about a year old.

       "Can we have food?" Poppy asked. "I'm hungry."

       "Why are you such a wonderful guest?" Tony asked. "Seriously. I'm just going to show up at your house one day and demand food."

       "No, that's so rude," Poppy said.

       Tony sighed and walked into the kitchen to get his demanding sister some food. In the meantime, Ryder began running around the house while he laughed.

       "Oh, by the way," I said. "Matilda, this is Tony's sister Poppy, her boyfriend Grayson, and their son Ryder. Guys, this is my younger sister Matilda."

       Poppy was about to say something, but then Ryder tripped and fell. I thought he was going to start crying, but he started laughing even louder.

       Grayson chuckled and picked up Ryder. "You are such a weirdo," Grayson said.

       "I funny!" Ryder said with a laugh before throwing his arms around Grayson's neck. "Hug!"

       "Aww, he's really cute," Matilda said. "How old is he?"

       "He just turned one last week," Poppy said. "And thank you."

       "It's because he came from my sperm," Grayson said.

       Poppy slapped Grayson's shoulder. "Stop telling people that," she said.

       "What? It's true," Grayson said. "That's why he's so cute."

       "You still think highly of yourself," Poppy said.

       "And you and I both know I'll never stop, Flower," Grayson said, giving his girlfriend a smile.

       Tony walked over and handed Poppy a bowl of chips. "Here," he said. "It's bacon flavor."

        "Bacon!" Ryder said. "Want bacon!"

       Poppy thanked Tony as she grabbed the bowl of chips from him. Grayson broke off a small piece and gave it to Ryder, who smiled brightly.

       While Tony visited with them, I went back to helping Matilda with her homework. She was still getting distracted from her cell phone, so I actually had to take it from her and kept it in my hand.

       When Matilda finished her homework, she closed her notebook with a sigh. "I just want to be finished with high school," she said. "It's so annoying."

       "Yeah, I know," I said. "Are you going to go to college?"

       "I'll probably take a year off first," she said. "Or at least half a year. I don't want to go into school right away."

       "Yeah, that's what I did," I said. "It depends on what you want to take in college because some courses you'll want to have fresh in your mind. Others, it can be fine if you take a year off. Want something to eat?"

       "Yes, please," she said, so I got up from the table and got a snack for her.

       "Hey, Tony, want to order in some pizza?" I asked. "I'm hungry and knowing Matilda, she'd rather eat her than with our parents."

       "Sure," Tony said.

       "Ooh, can we have some too?" Poppy asked.

       "Only because you're my only sibling and source of me having nieces and nephews," Tony said.

       "What a nice way to put it," Poppy said with an eye roll.

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Short chapter, I know, but one chapter left, and the epilogue, which I'll do either over the weekend or some other time where I have time.

I will then plan out Dedrick's book a bit more before getting int it BUT I won't start another book so when I'm ready, I can start Dedrick's.