My Favorite Dancer

Chapter 4 - The World of Jones

Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. That's all I can think about right now. How am I going to keep this from Cici? She could usually read me like a book. I could only hope she was preoccupied with something and wouldn't notice my tear stained face that I had forgotten to wash. I slowly got out of my car, thankful that no one seemed to notice that I had gotten here. I looked around their farm with a smile. Behind their 2-story house was a garden that seemed almost ready to harvest. On one side of the house was the small pasture where they normally kept the goats and I smiled as one of the babies ran into its mother and fell over. On the other side of of the house and also me was the barn with another pasture for the cows, a fenced-in area for the pigs and a caged area for the chickens. As I looked around a kind of peace came over me that can only come from the comfort of open air and barnyard noises.

I grabbed my bag from the back seat, locked my car, and entered the Jones house. It smelled like...cheeseburger soup? And maybe pumpkin? Interesting smell combination but still delicious.

"You are most certainly welcome to stand there...or you could come out of the mud room and talk to the weirdos in this house"

I jumped and turned to find Cortlen looking at me in amusement. I glared at him in return.

"I was enjoying the smells of dinner thank you very much and I'm talking to you, which means I am most definitely talking to a weirdo of the house." I grinned triumphantly.

He just rolled his eyes and disappeared back outside. He did that whenever we....I...came over (hehehe...he...don't look too much into it..). In fact we didn't usually end up talking until we were at the contra dance. I shrugged it off and walked into the kitchen. Not seeing anybody I looked toward the living room to find them all sprawled out and frozen in place. I slowly stepped into the living room before figuring out that they were playing hush puppy statue. Aunt Rachel must've gotten tired of the noise, not surprising since there was six of them. All of their backs were facing me and Aunt Rachel (did I mention that Aunt Rachel isn't actually my aunt?) sat in front of them, facing me with a a face of stone knowing what I was about to do. Cici and Niko were closest to me so I chose them as my pray of choice.

"Boo!" I yelled as I jumped on them. All six kids screamed. It was the best thing I had ever done and started laughing hysterically.

Cici turned and glared at me until I finally stopped laughing.

"Are you done yet?" She asked with a look of annoyance.

"Yes and that was the best thing I have seen in my entire life." Cici and the other kids just rolled their eyes before turning toward Aunt Rachel expectedly. I noticed Cortlen sneaking in through the kitchen but paid no mind until he snuck a piece of fresh baked bread. He caught my eye and froze. I gave him a look that said 'you better put that back before your mom catches you'. At least, that's how I interpreted my look. How he interpreted it I'll never know for just at that moment Aunt Rachel did indeed catch him and stood up abruptly.

"Cortlen Thomas Jones!" I cringed. He was going to get it now.

"I told you dinner would be soon! Put the bread back and you can be last in line for dinner tonight." He nodded and replaced the bread. When nothing else came out of Aunt Rachel's mouth I breathed a sigh of relief. She can be quite brutal if need be. My brain stopped for a minute confused. Corlten always got his food last when we came over. Maybe he likes to be first when it's just his family for dinner? Yeah that makes sense. I halted in my mulling as Cici was trying to get my attention.

"Ah what?" I asked a bit confused. Cici again sighs in annoyance.

"Come help me with Tanner and Elise." Tanner and Elise were the youngest two at three and five yeas of age, Elise being the younger of the two. Tanner was standing beside Cici with his uncombed blond curly hair coming down around his face, and Elise was still playing the game of hush puppy statue, not realizing that the game was over and nobody had won.

"Sure." I replied scooping up Elise in my arm and dodging her straight black hair that came whipping toward me as she sharply turned her head. Seeing as she was about to complain I soothingly told her the reason of the disruption of her game. Once she heard they were washing their hands for dinner she seemed quite content to sit in my arms until we reached the bathroom. I set her on the stool in front of the sink and helped her wash her hands, washing mine in the process. As soon as we walked back into the kitchen , MD (their father) started praying over the meal. I helped Elise fold her hands and be quiet during the prayer. After dinner is when it stared getting crazy. Cortlen, Niko, and Adrian, went to their room to get dressed for the contra dance, Aunt Rachel and MD took Tanner and Elise to help them get ready, and Cici practicly dragged me upstairs to get ready. I grinned. I always enjoyed entering the world of the Jones household. Cici looked at me while we were changing.

"Have you been crying?" I froze. Well great. Here goes nothing...I take a deep breath and then froze.

"Well you see..."

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Hay y'all! What do you think of the Jones family? What is Evelina going to tell Cici? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote! Till the next chapter! Love y'all!