The Heart of Nine

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

I wake up Saturday morning to someone pounding on my door.

“What?!” I yell at the person on the other side, angry with them for ruining a very amazing dream.

“Mikayla! It’s already 11 o’clock! We’re supposed to be at the show in an hour! And it takes like two hours to get there!” Seth yells from the other side. Damn, I forgot I was taking him to an art show today.

I climb out of my warm, comfy bed and walk up to the door, opening it to reveal a very irritated and already dressed Seth. “It only takes thirty minutes to get there Seth, calm down.”

He throws up his hands in frustration, “I don’t want to be late! You know I’ve been looking forward to this for the past three weeks and I know you have too!”

I raise my hands up in surrender, “Okay, okay I’m gonna go get ready now, we’ll leave here by 11:30 at least. Fair enough?”

He visibly relaxes his tense stance, “Yeah that’s fair.” He starts to walk away but after a couple of steps he turns back, “You look like crap by the way,” he says and walks away.

Shaking my head I start heading down the hall, towards the bathroom, when I see Nick quietly sneaking out of Kim’s room. Confused, I walk up behind him and grab his arm. He turns quickly in surprise shock and fear written on his face. When he sees it’s me he frowns and pulls his arm out of my grasp, “What?”

I look at him in disbelief, “What do you mean ‘what’? What the hell were you in my sister’s room for?”

His eyes flash with some emotion too quickly for me to see, “What are you talking about? I wasn’t in her room.”

“I’m not an idiot you know. I just saw you walk out.”

“I wasn’t in her room,” He denies, then walks back down the hall.

Instead of going after him and get no information what-so-ever, I walk straight into Kim’s room, too irritated and suspicious to bother knocking.

As soon as the door opens she turns around in shock, quickly getting up from her bed, “Mikayla, what the hell? Don’t you know how to knock?”

Ignoring her whining I give her a stern look, “Why did I just see Nick walk out of your room?”

Her face immediately pales, and her stance tenses, “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know. I just saw him walk out of your room. What was he doing in here?”

“It’s none of your business.” She says defensively.

I raise an eyebrow at her, “Of course it’s my business. You’re my sister Kim, how do you think I’m supposed to react when I see a boy walk out of your room? Our step-brother no less!”

“We weren’t doing anything. We were just talking,” She says in a small voice, looking anywhere but me.

“Just talking?”

“Yeah, we were just talking. I actually get along with him! Unlike all of you! Instead of trying to make him feel comfortable here you shun him like he’s the freaking plague!”

My eyes widen in shock as her words ring true. She’s right. None of us have ever made a move to make him feel welcome. Sure our dad just dumped him here, and sure he’s out step-brother but… that’s not really his fault. “You’re right, we’ve never really taken the time to talk to him or anything.”

“You think? Now get out of my room, and go shower or something. You look like crap.”

I give her a blank look, “Gee thanks.”