Where to Begin

Chapter 11

"Flip..." I breathed. I looked down the hall and saw Sampson standing in the corridor, his eyes wide. I quickly rushed inside my room and then heard him laughing outside my door.

"What's so funny about it?" I asked, coming out after getting changed and I pulled on a shirt. Sampson was still in the corridor, leaning against the wall, quietly laughing to himself.

"Nothing!" He said with another burst of laughter.

"Sampson, tell me," I warned.

"Ok, ok. While you were in the shower, Max went to the toilet and neither of you noticed," he started laughing again. "Well, maybe he noticed but you definitely didn't!"

My heart dropped.

"What! Why would he do that?"

"I don't know but I was walking upstairs with him and he asked me to wait outside for him while he went to the bathroom, neither of us knew," he quickly defended. "Then he came rushing out and didn't say anything, he just laughed and pushed me back downstairs but I needed something from my room and that's when I caught you coming out of the bathroom and here we are." He crossed his arms. I heard a small laugh on my left and looked to see Connell, still sitting on his bed with his laptop, laughing to himself. I marched defiantly downstairs and found Max in the lounge with Sage, building something with Lego. I stood in front of Max with a stern face.

"What?" He asked looking up at me.

"You came into the bathroom while I was showering!"

Sage started chuckling.

"Stop laughing, it's not funny!" I said looking at Sage who started laughing more.

"It's not that bad," Max tried calming me down.

"Of course it's that bad! Did you not hear the water running inside before you decided to just come in?"

He just shook his head.

"You're such a bad liar." I started walking to the kitchen.

"Hey, hey wait!" I turned around. "There was so much steam that I didn't even see anything." He grinned cheekily and he and Sage burst into hysterics.

"Why are you laughing Sage? You're the one playing with Lego!"

I don't think I have ever felt more embarrassed in my entire life. Embarrassed and humiliated – ugh, boys!

"I would have expected something of that manner from Chase not Max..." Aubrey said while I sat in front of her on my bed. She got back quite early considering she had to drive double the length it took us to get here. I was on the verge of tears once I got back up to my room after confronting Max and didn't leave until I heard Aubrey's soft voice coming through my door an hour later.

"I didn't expect anything of that manner!"

She let out a small laugh.

"Ugh, I'm so embarrassed!" I sighed, my eyes burning from wanting to cry, and put my head in my hands.

"Hey, it's not that bad, I'm just sad I missed the water fight," she chuckled.

"It's not funny," I whined.

"What's not funny?" Calvin came to the door.

"Nothing!" Aubrey and I shouted at the same time.

"Oh, ok. Just calling you guys for lunch, Connell made us hotdogs."

"I don't think he made me any..." I said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Aubrey gave me a confused look as she sat up.

"Well, he kind of shat on me before I went in the shower,"

"What! What did he say?" She asked getting up.

"He just asked me where my parents were and what I was doing without them and that kind of stuff,"

"He's probably just holding a grudge because of this morning. Specs is known to hold long grudges,"

"But he has no right to be mad at me for anything!"

"Like I said earlier, maybe – he likes you?"

We went downstairs to find the boys sitting at the table outside, stuffing their faces with hotdogs fresh off the grill. Connell was standing at the grill by the pool, on the hill, just up the garden, laughing with Max and Calvin. I was too scared to go up to him and talk to him. Besides, what would I say? Hey Connell, I'm glad you shouted at me, I definitely do not feel terrible for being here.

"Ah, here, you go, Miss Celine," Chase said handing me a plate with a hotdog roll.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "Oh, look a ladybird!" I whispered excitedly as a tiny ladybird landed on my wrist.

"Do you mean a ladybug?" Dale looked at me confused.

"Whatever, a ladybug." I said correcting myself.

"Kill it," Wes said blankly before taking a huge bite out of his hotdog. Noah and Sampson giggled.

"No!" Calvin and I shouted together.

"You can't kill it, it's a living thing!" I got up to go put the ladybird in the pot plant next to the patio door. "Have you no heart?"

"No." Wes said frankly and the boys chuckled, their different laughs blending together to create a beautiful sound. Just as I was about to grab a sausage from the plate, in the middle of the table, another ladybird landed on my hand.

"What the hell," I laughed, getting up again to go put it in the pot plant.

"What are you, the ladybug whisperer?" Sawyer joked.

"Hey guys! I know what we can call Celine!" Chase shouted and everyone looked at him.

"Ladybird!" They all shouted together.

"Yep, that's happening, that's a thing!" Chase said triumphantly, putting some more tomato sauce on his hotdog while smiling to himself and nodding his head in satisfaction.

"I'm surprised you haven't called me Doc," I muttered, smiling slightly.

"Eh, we talked about it and it didn't sound cool," Dale shrugged. "It's a long ass process to come up with a nickname."

"Didn't take you that long to come up with Ladybird," I smiled teasingly.

Dale shrugged.

"I like it," Aubrey said nudging me.

"Do you like it?" Connell asked putting another plate of hotdogs on the table.

"What?" I looked up, shocked that he was actually talking to me normally.

"Do you like the name Ladybird?" He asked leaning on Noah's chair.

"Yeah, it's cool." I shrugged, picking up my hotdog. I was trying not to act like an idiot in front of them and kept a cool façade.

"Cool." He said, sitting down in front of me. I was so pleased to hear him talking to me; it almost made me lose my breath.