Chapter 21
I headed down for breakfast once I’d finished getting ready for school. I walked into the kitchen expected to see Trent and Grant lounging about as usual. Instead, I saw my parents. Dad was sipping some coffee from one of the mugs and Mom was sifting through a magazine. They looked so… casual, so at home.
“Morning,” I greeted. They both looked up.
“Hey sweetheart,” Mom smiled.
“Where are the guys?”
“Here,” Trent announced, walking into the kitchen. Grant trailed in behind him, revealing the fact that they were both wearing sweats.
My eyebrows furrowed. “Why aren’t you dressed? We’ve got to leave for school pretty soon.”
“Dad’s taking me to the game, remember?” Trent pulled out the tickets and waved them in my face.
“Yeah, I got it.” I batted the tickets away and leant back against the counter. “And what’s your excuse, Grant?”
“I’m going too.” He beamed.
“Good for you.” I congratulated sarcastically. “Who’s taking me to school?”
“The driver, he’s waiting outside.” Mom answered.
“The who?”
“You heard perfectly clear, the driver.” Dad spoke for the first time. “We hired him just this morning.”
I was about to reply when a middle-aged Caucasian man strolled into the kitchen. He was carrying five plates of food which he quickly distributed on to the table.
“Who’s that guy?” I hitched my thumb over my shoulder, gesturing towards the man.
Mom sighed as if I were asking a stupid question. “He’s our new chef, obviously.”
“Yeah, obviously,” I shook my head.
As soon as the plates had touched the table, Trent and Grant had sat down and began to dig in. I don’t mean that in a figurative way; they were literally shovelling the food into their mouths.
“Wow.” Trent exclaimed as he took a pause to actually chew his food. “These are the best eggs I’ve ever tasted!”
The chef bowed his head and disappeared out of the kitchen.
“You hired a chef as well?” I asked disbelievingly. “Why?”
“Who else is going to cook?” Mom’s expression was incredulous.
Trent furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Yeah Rose, what’s your problem?”
“My problem?” my voice became dangerously high. “My problem is that, ever since they came here, everything’s changed- including you, Trent.”
“Sweetheart, calm down,” my mother soothed.
“No. I’m not going to calm down. I thought I was okay with this, but I’m not. I’ll walk to school, thanks.” I made my way out of the kitchen when a voice made me stop.
“You do realize that it’s a two hour walk, don’t you?” I turned around to see a smirking Grant and rolled my eyes. I really wasn’t in the mood to ‘fight’ today.
I ran back up to my room to get my schoolbag, taking the liberty to scream into one of my pillows since I was up there.
Due to fear of losing my voice, I gave up pretty quickly. I grabbed my stuff and went downstairs, catching Trent on the way out.
“Have a good day at school, Rose.” Trent smiled.
Mom appeared behind him. “Don’t forget about our bonding day either,” she reminded.
“Trust me, I won’t.” I assured through gritted teeth, not wanting to believe this happy family act we seemed to have going on. “Bye.”
I escaped out the front door and took a deep breath, preparing for the two hour trek I had ahead of me. Then I saw the black SUV parked in our driveway.
“Oh. What the hell,” I muttered, walking over and getting in the backseat.