The Nerd and the Jock (1st bk of Nerd Series)

Chapter 22- Bailey

After a while, I stopped crying and leaned against the person, feeling exhausted from my crying episode. "Sorry," I said, pulling away from them. I cleared my throat and rubbed my eyes before I looked to see that it was Blake, his eyes filled with pain and sorrow.

Blake shook his head. "Don't be," he said, offering me a small smile. He stood and held out his hand. "You needed it. I have no idea how long you had been keeping that wait on your shoulders."

I shrugged and placed my hand in his, letting him help me up. "It's always been there," I admitted. I cleared my throat again and wiped my eyes before I looked around to see that the kids were not there, and the animals that Mimi had decided to bring in were not on the floor either. "Where are the kids?" I asked.

Blake cleared his throat and took his hand out of mine, a sting of hurt flashing through my body, but I made sure that he couldn't tell that I was hurt when he did that. "They went upstairs," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. He studied me and cleared his throat again. "They're "claiming rooms" and trying to find the best one for you."

I bit back a chuckle and started to make my way up the steps with Blake right behind me. I walked into a room, my old room, and saw that they were gathered on the bed with a scrapbook in their hands. "What are you all doing?" I asked, noticing that Trevor was with them.

"Looking at the pictures of when you were younger," Mimi said. "I didn't know you were blonde."

"I was a dirty blonde," I replied. "It turned darker as I grew older." 'With the help of some hair dye to make it darker than it was,' I added silently. I walked over to the bed and watched as they shifted for me to sit down.

"Why do you have a page of stickers?" Mimi asked, pointing to the page that had a lot of stickers placed on it. "And just stick them on here?"

"They were places that my dad had traveled to for work or when we were going on vacation as a family. It was his way of getting me excited," I said. I tapped on the one that said, 'Hello from New York.' "That was the last one he had given me. It was for a family vacation up to New York City. He... wanted to show me to show my mom and me, Julliard. He had made friends with someone somehow and had said I was interested in dancing." I shook my head and chuckled with my heart breaking in grief. "I don't remember the details. I just remembered being excited and not being able to sleep for days."

"Did you go?" Ryan asked. "Did you get to see the college?"

I shook my head and sighed sadly. "No," I said, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat and licked my lips. "They were killed three days before we had to leave."

"Will you go?" Michael asked.

"I don't know," I replied, honestly, even though I wanted to go. I patted Mimi's leg and cleared my throat. "I have you four to worry about now and a support system that will watch you when I start college courses." I shrugged. "Besides, I am the owner of two businesses and have to stay here to help them out."

"But... you're giving up your dream," Ryan said. He furrowed his brows and cocked his head. "Doesn't that make you sad?"

The smile on my face wavered a little, but I kept it up. "A little," I replied. "But if it is to let you all have a "normal" childhood, then I know that it is worth it." I cleared my throat again and stood. "Come on. Let's get everything else out of the cars and then go exploring. There are some places that I think you all will like."

***

"What is this place called?" Ryan asked when we made it to the basement. He looked around in wonderment, at the old flat-screen television in one corner with a wall of video games that had been my father's while I was growing up and an old console.

There was a pool table, ping pong table, and an air hockey table in the middle of the room, all of them looking brand new but was still as old or older than me. However, there wasn't any dust on it, and looked as clean as my parents kept it.

"The activity room," I said, furrowing my brows. I had noticed that the house had been well kept and wondered who had been doing it, especially since I hadn't been here in years. I walked over to the pool table and studied it.

"So, you own all of these now?" Ryan asked.

"Uh, ya, ya," I said. I swiped my fingers across the pool table before rubbing my fingers together, not feeling any dirt. "All of this is mine to do whatever I want with it."

"What is it?" Ryan asked, seeing my confused look. "Is everything ok?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't know," I replied. "The house looks as it had the last time I remember it, better actually." I shook my head. "I expected some dust or maintenance work, but it doesn't look like it needs any."

"Have you contacted anyone to keep it clean?" Chrissie asked, and I shook my head, no. "Did your lawyer?"

"I thought he would have told me if he did," I replied. "Even if my money is being used."

"Well, call him and ask," Chrissie said. "Right now, we are going to play on this old tv and play some video games."

"Ok, have fun. Just don't break anything, please."

There was a loud rip before a thunk, startling me, and I turned in that direction to see Michael halfway through a wall with his feet hanging out. "Ow," he said. "I'm ok. I just thought that this was a real wall."

I shook my head and walked over to him. "No," I said, followed by Skylar, Blake, and Mimi. "It's fake." I grabbed his hand and helped him up before I looked into the room, where the back half was just made of mirrors.

"What is this place?" Michael asked. He stepped in through the hole in the wall with Blake following through. He turned around and around, studying the design of my very own dance studio before he stopped and looked at me.

"What does it look like?" I asked, stepping through the hole, making a mental note to ask Mr. Dawson if he knew someone that could fix it as well as who kept the house nice and clean.

"It looks like a ballet dance studio," Michael said. "It makes me want to dance." He started to dance dramatically and stupidly, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes and smile. Michael stood on his tiptoes and twirled around, and I started laughing because Blake decided to join him.

"See?" Blake asked while he jumped around, flinging his arms around like a ballerina. "I told you that I could dance."

Again, I laughed and turned away from them. "Yes," I said, turning back around and smiling at the two idiots still "dancing" around the studio. "If that is dancing, then I am glad that I don't know how to do that."