Musically in Love

Chapter 14

McKinley's POV

I had almost forgotten to call out of work on Sunday. All day yesterday was basically spent with Uncle Mark, who was kept in the hospital day an extra day for observation, but because of all that, I wasn't thinking about work today until I was laying in my bed, loving the feel of clean sheets beneath me and a dog curled into my side.

I scrambled for my phone, which had somehow gotten lost under my pillows last night. I hope I wasn't too late for Fran to find someone to cover for me. There was no way I could make it the two hour drive to work for my shift that started in half an hour.

I dialed my boss's cell phone number, knowing I'd have better luck reaching her there than on the office phone. Half the time she doesn't answer that phone if she's not in the mood.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Fran, it's McKinley," I started. "I can't come into work today. Sorry for the last minute notice. My uncle is in the hospital and I had to go home."

She sighed. "Are you expecting any lessons today?"

I had to think for a second. I didn't normally have any on Sundays. "No. Unless someone called up yesterday."

"Okay. That's fine. Hope everything works out."

"Thank you so much!" I was honestly expecting more of a fight from her. Since we had so few of us on staff, it was a struggle having enough people every day. But I guess hospitals are good for one thing after all.

"Are you talking to yourself or Daisy under there?" a voice said from my doorway, making Daisy start to thump her tail against my back when she heard her name.

I put my phone down, the conversation with my boss already over, and pushed the covers off my head. McKenzie was standing in my open doorway, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at me. "Neither?" I don't know why it came out like a question, but it did. "I just called out of work because I forgot I had a shift today until, like, two minutes ago." I paused for a second. "What are you doing?"

"Coming to wake you up. Breakfast is ready."

I sighed. "Thank god it's you and not Steph. I did not need that this morning." If Steph had come to wake me up, she would have jumped on my back and probably injured me somehow. It's, unfortunately, happened before.

"She's my next stop."

I threw my covers the rest of the way off me as I jumped out of bed, scaring Daisy in the process. "Let me do it," I told Kenzie, already practically in the hallway.

Because my house was so small, there were only four bedrooms for all six of us. Mom and Uncle Mark had separate rooms because they were the real adults and won't share with each other, which meant there were two rooms left for the four of us. Originally, all four of us had separate rooms before Mark and Steph moved in. Now, the three girls had to share the biggest bedroom, since I was lucky enough to be the opposite gender and no one wanted to share a room with me and my 'mess' as they put it. Oh well. I won that battle.

But, since there were three beds in one room, there was a set of bunk beds and one lofted bed, to maximize space. Steph had the lofted bed, which made waking her up in the mornings so much more difficult for me. I couldn't just jump on her like she does to me.

I was in luck this morning, though. Her foot was sticking out from underneath the blanket and hanging slightly over the side of the bed. I stepped on the bottom rung of the ladder as carefully as I could before hovering my finger above the bottom of her foot, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Don't you dare, McKinley," she muttered, not moving at all.

I groaned. "How'd you know I was here?"