Worth the Effort

Chapter 2 - ORIGINAL

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Stella

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. After a few episodes of Spongebob Squarepants, I helped Greta with her homework. Even though it was only Friday night, I think my 'No Procrastination' habits had rubbed off on Greta. Just add it to our list of similarities.

After a while my Mom, Dad, and brother came home. My mom worked as a personal assistant for the boss at one of the most successful companies in California, and my dad was a dentist. You could say we were pretty loaded.

Mom and Dad made dinner shortly after returning home, and when we were sitting around the dinner table we were having our usual discussion of the day's events when my parents turned to me.

"So how was your day Stella? Anything new?"

I was instantly reminded of my new student and groaned. Unfortunately for me, yes, there happened to be something very new.

"Yeah," I answered quietly, pushing my broccoli around my plate. "I was given another student to tutor."

"Oh really? That's great, sweetie!" My mother's face lit up. She would never admit it to me, but she was desperate for me to make new friends. It pained her dearly that her daughter was so socially awkward, since she was the exact opposite. Every time I got a new student she hoped I would gain a new friend. "What's their name? Is it a boy this time? You never tutor boys."

"It better not be a boy," my dad muttered under his breath. I rolled my eyes. So protective.

"Yeah, it is a boy actually. It's this guy named Christopher Dalton..." I trailed off, hoping my parents wouldn't recognize the name.

But my hopes were crushed. "Christopher Dalton?!" My dad said, sounding angry. He first looked at me then turned to my mother, pointing his fork at her. "Isn't that the boy your boss had to bail out of jail a few weeks ago? That's his son, isn't it?"

She simply nodded her head and glanced at me with an apologetic look in her eyes. Here we go...

"That kid is no good, Stella. I might be old, but I've heard the stories. You watch him close, you hear? He can't keep his shit together, and you don't need him trying to take advantage of you."

"Joseph!" My mom exclaimed, glancing quickly at Greta and back at my father.

"What, Danielle? It's true! That boy is trouble, and I don't need him messing around with my daughter. He's got nothing going for him except his father's credit card." Mom just rolled her eyes. Dad turned back to me. "Don't let him mess with you, now, you hear?"

I nodded my head in response. We all knew my Dad was a little over-dramatic, but I took him seriously this time. I totally agreed with him. Chris was a lunatic.

"Good. I could teach him a lesson myself..." My dad trailed off, muttering obscenities to himself. I hid my giggle with a cough.

The rest of dinner was fairly quiet. When we were finished eating, we cleaned up the kitchen, changed into pajamas and met in the living room.

Every Friday after dinner we always had a family movie bonding night, and tonight was Greta's turn to pick the movie. Tonight was Disney movie night, too, so Greta had to choose between Inside out, Up, and Monsters Inc. She chose Inside Out, despite my sneaking her extra popcorn from my personal bowl in an attempt to persuade her to choose Monsters Inc. She gladly took my popcorn offering but still chose Inside Out, the little devil.

By the end of the movie, Greta and Joshua had both fallen asleep on the couch. Josh usually stayed up until 1 or 2 in the morning on weekends, so he must've had an extra hard practice today.