FEAR

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

When I opened my eyes, I saw that it was six in the morning and I felt awful. I had slept for sixteen hours, waking up only once. My mom came in around eight in the evening to get me to eat something. I vaguely remembered Nate coming in to tell me that they got everything we needed for the party. Then I fell back to sleep an hour later.

Dragging myself out of bed, I went to the kitchen and poured a bowl of cereal for breakfast. As I ate, I made a list of all the things I needed to do to get everything ready.

Once I felt organized and prepared, I put my bowl in the dish washer. It was only seven and everyone was still asleep. I decided to grab my armband for my I Phone and started to clean.

When my room was finished and every bathroom upstairs, Kaylee finally woke up. I got her bathed and dressed and brought her downstairs to eat breakfast while we waited for my dad. He was going to take her to the Zoo and spend the day with her while we had our party.

The whole house was clean a few hours later. I had no idea why my mom didn't want to hire a cleaning lady. We had one in New York and our house there was smaller than the one we lived in now. I didn't complain though. Cleaning kept me busy, giving myself no time to think about everyone who was going to be here.

After my shower, I got dressed in a jean skirt and an off the shoulder black crochet top. Putting on a little bit of make-up and adding a little gel to my hair, I decided that I looked good enough for people to meet.

I was getting ready to head downstairs when a soft knock sounded on my door. "Can I come in?" I heard Ethan on the other side.

"Sure." Ethan took one look at me and blushed. I had no idea why he reacted that way but decided to let it go.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"I just wanted to make sure you were OK. I also wanted to say that I understand that you don't want to tell the universe everything about you. I get that and I promise I won't say anything even though I don't know what kind of secret I'm keeping." He took a big breath and exhaled loudly.

I thought about everything that he saw and realized I was glad he was the one who knew even a little bit about me. Ethan seemed very loyal and those are the kinds of people I needed in my life.

"Thanks Ethan." I told him. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and headed downstairs with Ethan close behind.

Out back, there was already a bunch of kids hanging around. I saw my mom and Jack starting the grill while Nate was walking around being a good host. People were laughing, talking, swimming; some of the guys were even throwing a football around. It seemed like everyone was having a good time.

Instead of mingling, I got a plate of food from my mom and found a seat near the only tree in the back yard. I could see everything from my spot. I saw Ethan talking to some girl, she was pretty from where I was sitting and he seemed to be having a good time with her.

Becca and Sammy were walking around talking to each person. That was until Becca found Max. Sammy was left alone and she seemed annoyed by the fact. I liked Sammy enough but there was something about her that made me not want to trust her.

Watching Nate, I could tell that he was in his element. He made everyone laugh, threw his arms around random girls, and jumped on guys backs. No one seemed to mind. Nate was making friends left and right. It made me wish I could be more like him. Nate was so charismatic. It seemed so easy to just go up to someone and introduce myself. Truth was I was afraid. Maybe a couple of years ago I could have done what Nate was doing. Now things are different. I couldn't just let people into my life, too much has happened and I didn't know if I had any more room for drama.