Oh. My. Goodness.
It's finally that day.
The day that I have been waiting for.
I'm moving in with the Shradings. I have never been happier. Well, I probably have, but that's not the point. I did actually wake up at four-forty five this morning, it only took me until five-fifteen to get ready. I'm just so happy! I get to live with my favorite family for an entire month! Blunt and sassy Mia, cool and quiet Chase, adorably silly Lilly, and baby Jet, with a laugh that melts my heart. I love this family and I am so happy I got to watch them grow up. It's kind of funny really, how I've been with the Shradings since I was a little kid but I've never met Eva's oldest sons.
I was talking with Mia on the phone the other day, and she confirmed my suspicion that her two older brothers will not be there. Apparently, one's got college, and the other one has to keep his 'bad boy reputation'. Well, they both have a bad boy rep to withhold. The college boy is always with his friends and lives at the dorms, even though the drive to UCLA is less than an hour. Knowing that the boys won't really be here is a huge relief. I dont want anything to do with people who's own mother says that they are bad to be around. I look to see if anyone is awake yet, then make my way downstairs.
Mom said she was going somewhere for a few hours, so it's just me. What to make for breakfast...I know! I scramble some eggs and make oatmeal before waking up the kids.
First up are Talon and Pheonix. I am about to wake them up, but then I remember that I just have to set their alarms off. From my phone of course. I open the app that controls their alarm clocks and set off Talon's, Pheonix's, William's, and Kendall's.
Grace, it is then. The door to Grace's room creaks as I open it. Her room is a lavender color, with butterflies on her walls. Each butterfly is either a clear-ish blue, yellow, pink, cyan or dark purple. The butterflies are glued on, not painted, so they are 3-D. Her bed is a white twin-sized bed with ten million stuffed animals, white and purple bedding, and a canopy. A true princess set up. I step over toys and clothes as I make my way to the sleeping beauty.
Grace's hair is long and blonde, almost brown. My mother's hair is blonde and my father's hair is black. Very, very, black. He passed his black-haired genes onto Ryder, Beth, Talon, Kendall, Abby, and Abel. The rest of us are either blonde or brownish blonde.
Grace has a very peaceful and sweet face. She is like an angel. She really is the definition of grace.
"Gracie, it's time to wake up baby," I say as I gently as possible. She stirs in her sleep and I shake her once more. Her eyes flutter open and she looks almost confused.
"Mommy?" She askes and my heart melts and breaks at the same time.
"No baby, it's Bellie." I correct her. I tell her the nickname that all of the little kids call me since Bellie is easier than Clarabelle. The older kids call me Clare, Belle, or just Clarabelle.
"Bellie," She smiles. "What aw you doing heow?" She can't quite pronounce her r's, and it's adorable.
"It's time to wake up, lovely," I answer as I lift her covers and pick her up. She is light as a feather. I pick out a shirt that says "Sweet, Sassy, And Six" and some leggings. After I get her all dressed I send her to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
It's time to wake the twins. I walk into their bedroom to pre-pick out some clothes. Their walls are a light blue color with white, green, yellow, and pink polka dots. They each have a crib, Abel's is a black horse, with the bed built in the horse's back. Abby's a giant, pink princess carriage.
The closet, changing table, and toybox are all wooden and painted, with a dollhouse against one of the walls. Two toddler tablets and stuffed animals sit on some shelves by the door.
I choose to wake Abby first. I lean over the railing of her crib and kiss her forehead. Then I kiss her cheeks, nose, chin, and lips before she finally wakes up.
"Mamabadasamilandas," She babbles.
"Good morning sunshine!" I greet as I lift her out of her crib. I sit her down on the changing table to grab her clothes. A sky blue shirt saying "Too Cute For You" and some flower printed legging should do.
"What do you want me to do with your hair?" I ask after I have her all dressed. She responds by grabbing her in two hands like pigtails.
"Piggie! Do me, piggie Mama!" She says excitedly. I laugh at her when she starts dancing. I grab a brush off of her shelf. She thinks I am her mom. She'll learn one day.
"Can do, Abbyroo." I turn her around so that her back it to me and start to brush her hair into the pigtails.
"Abbawoo, Abbawoo, 'an noo Abbawoo," She giggles. "Abbawoo, Abbawoo, 'an noo Abbawoo!" I have created a monster. NOOOOOO! This will last for at least a week.
After I brush her hair and teeth I set her back into her crib so I could get Abel ready. As I pick him up and out of his crib, he makes the weirdest face I have ever seen. I almost fall over from laughter and he starts giggling along, without knowing what is so funny. After I get him all dressed and ready I sit them down on the floor and give them some toys to play with. Then I head into Hanah's room.
Hanah is literally the cutest baby on the face of the planet. Careful not to disturb her calm state, I pick her up out of her crib and take one last look around the house. All of the bedrooms are packed up, all of our belongings are stuff into suitcases and we are ready to go. This was so sudden and the amount of packing we got done in five days is amazing. I really don't know why Mommy made us pack so much stuff since we're only going to be gone for a month.
I carry her as I check all of the bedrooms to make sure no one is hiding. Sure enough, I find a little Grace hiding under her bed.
"Gracie, what'cha doing? We have to leave in a couple of hours baby," I tell her sweetly.
"But I don't wanna go! I don't wanna nevoh see my house again. I love Tilly," Tilly is what I named our house when I was little, and the name just kind of stuck.
"We are going to see Tilly again silly, we are just going on a little vacation. I sure love vacations, don't you?" I ask, knowing that I just made everything exciting.
"Yes, yes, yes! I do, I do! Let's go." She crawls out from under the bed and runs towards me and Hanah. "Bye Tilly!" She says as she flies down the stairs. Mission accomplished.
<>
"Roll call!" My mom shouts at us while I try to balance four kids at once. Grace on my back, Abel and Abby in my arms, and Hanah on my stomach (I am using Abel and Abby to hold onto Hanah). "Clarabelle, Talon, Pheonix?"
"Present,"
"Supalonly,
"I'm a savage," We all look at Talon and Pheonix who have had very odd ways of telling Mom they are present.
"Anywho," Mom gives a confused eye roll. "William, Kendall, Grace?"
"Renegade,"
"Juicy,"
"Chicken wing, chicken wing, hot dog and baloney, chicken and macawoni, chillin' with my homies." William, Kendall, and Grace also have odd ways of announcing their presence. I don't know how little Gracie memorized all that, but she did.
"Clarabelle, can you get the stroller?" Mom askes me. I don't know Mom, can I? I mean, I do have four children attached to me at the moment.
"Umm, well my arms are a little full at the moment."
"Did you just talk back to me? That is disrespectful, don't you dare do it again." She says sternly. I was just explaining why I couldn't grab the stroller. I hang my head and apologize.
"I'm sorry Mom, I'll go get it," I say and make my way over to the garage to get the stroller. It is a little difficult, seeing as I don't have any limbs left to put the little ones in the stroller with Grace still on my back unless somehow I figure out how to do it with my legs. Wait! I have an idea.
"Gracie, can you jump off my back for a second and grab the stroller for me?" I gently lean back and slide her off of me when she says yes. The stroller has a baby carrier that looks like a bassinet and two twin toddler seats in front. Mom had it custom made, so all of the different seats are customized to Hanah, Abby, and Abel. Hanah's seat is pink, with a mobile and some small toys to keep her occupied. Abby's seat is purple with a small Ipad attached to her seat, kind of like a pull-out Tv, complete with toys and a little bag of books. Abel's seat mirrors his twin's, except his is black and green.
Grace grabs the stroller and brings it over to where I am standing. Ok, now how do I get all three children in without dropping anyone? I go to the back of the stroller, where the handlebar is, and slowly lean forward until I can safely put Hanah in her assigned place. I can then set the twins in their seats, with the help of Grace of course, and wheel them out of the garage.
"Finally. Took you long enough," My mother complains. "Hurry up and load the car, and don't even think about taking as long as you did." I quickly nod my head and apologize again before getting started on loading up the car.
I didn't even take that long. My subconscious argues. I quickly shut her up. Sometimes she says very rude things.
We each have a good eight to ten bags, and so putting everything in one van is proving too difficult and time-consuming. I put the biggest bags first, which are me and the two oldest sets of twins bags, then the normal-sized bags, which are most of everyone's, and then the small bags, which are Hanah's, Abby's, and Abel's. I finally finished after about twenty minutes of stuffing bags into the car.
"Jeez child, it took you long enough," My mother complains once again. "Talon, Pheonix, Kendall, William, get in the car. Clarabelle honey, I'm sorry, but it seems like there isn't any more room in the van. You're just going to have to walk with the littles."
"But what about Gracie? You know she can't wa-" I begin, but Mom cuts me off.
"It sounds like you are complaining, Clarabelle." She raises an eyebrow, silently telling me off. I know that Grace can't walk for two hours straight, and Hanah's feeding time is soon.
"Sorry, Mom. I am going to need to get Hanah's bottle though, and a couple of snacks."
"Kay. Hurry up though, I don't want to have to keep Eva waiting. Love you, sweety. Bye!" She hurries the four of them into the car and speeds off, leaving me a two-hour walk.
<>
"Bellie, can you tell me a story?" We have begun our journey to the Shrading residence, and the kids were quiet for the first...five minutes. Hanah started crying, the twins got hungry, Grace had to pee, Abby started crying, Grace got tired of walking, then she got hungry, Hanah fell asleep, Abel woke her up by crying, and now, after an hour and a half, of continuously walking and stopping, I am about ready to cry.
"What kind of story, Gracie?" I ask her, exhausted.
"A magical princess story, where the princess falls in love with a pop star." She answers excitedly.
"Well since you already know exactly what the story is about, and you are much better at storytelling than me—" she gives a flattered smile "—why don't you tell the story?"
"Yes! I can tell the princess story!" She jumps around in circles holding her hands to her chest. I love this child.
"Go ahead," I encourage. The wheels turning inside of her head are practically visible, and I can see the light shining in her eyes.
"Once upon a time there was a princess named Bellie. Princess Bellie loved Harry Styles and Shawn Mendes and Tom Holland and Chase Hudson and..."
This is sure going to be interesting.
<>
Fucking shit.
Today's the day.
The day I have been dreading.
The Darlings are moving in with up. I was forced out of bed at ten in the morning by an over-excited Lily. I then took the longest I possibly could to get ready and now, at 10:45, I am getting dragged down the stairs by Mia.
"Elec! Come on, their going to be here in fifteen minutes." She whines.
"I don't fucking care," I spit. No one, and I mean no one, is allowed to wake me up before 1:30 on a weekend. When we lived in England, back before Eva married my dad, there was no one to wake me up. Ethan was—and still is—as lazy as me. Now with four younger siblings and a living mother, I had to allow myself to get woken up at some point.
"I don't fucking care if you don't fucking care, the Darlings are going to be living with us for the next month and me, Mom, Lily, Chase, and even Jet expect you to behave your ass or else." And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when you forget to use a filter around te—sorry, nine-year-olds.
"Jeez, chill," I try to calm the flame otherwise known as Mia. "I'll get up, just calm the fuck down." She huffs in annoyance and triumph. She pulls me down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Nith of you to doin uf Mr. Ewec." Lily greets with a terrible English accent and a bow. I fucking love her voice. She will have to learn how to pronounce the words correctly someday, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy it.
"Nice of you to welcome me, Miss Lily." I smile back.
"Elec! Breakfast! Now!" Eva shouts from the sink. She's washing the dishes. "You have approximately...13 minutes. Get your ass up and moving, lazybones."
Moving as slowly as possible, I grab a plate and fork, sit down at the island bar, and reach for some french toast. It smells amazing, not that I would ever admit that. The spongy french toast with maple syrup and a cinnamon/sugar mix is absolutely delectable.
"No," Says a sharp voice. Eva. I sigh dramatically and roll my eyes, before giving her the what do you want look. "You get one."
"Why?"
"Because we have people to feed,"
"But you made like eight million," I whine some more. Who cares if I'm being childish? You only get to live once, am I right?
"Let me rephrase that; we have ten more people than usual." She explains and messes with my hair when I roll my eyes. "Do I need to fill your plate for you like your five, or can you grab a reasonable amount of food?"
"Hmm, what to do, what to do..." I say as if I am contemplating different options, "I could A) Grab as many as I want since this is my house and I live here, but get my ass beaten," Giggles from Lily are heard while Chase and Mia stifle a laugh. They have always found my constant use of over-dramatic sarcasm amusing. "I could B) Do what you tell me, but have to suck up my pride, which is never going to happen," More giggles and stifled laughs, "Or I could C) Take as many as I can hold and run." And I do just that, but right before I run up the stairs—
Tap tap tap tap tap.
—the Darlings arrive. Well, this will sure be some hell of a ride.
"ELEC! They're here! Can you get the door?!?" My mother screams from the kitchen. I set the french toast down a table. As I walk towards the door, I notice through the window that some of the kids are missing. They might just be in the car though. I fling the door open and give my fakest smile.
"Fucking welcome, fucking Darlings. I am so fucking happy you are going to be fucking staying with us for three fucking months." Meghan looks outraged, while the only four kids I see are chuckling slightly. Just slightly.
"How dare you! Do you know how disrespectful it is to curse? Especially in front of children! You are a—"
"Where are your other children?" That went on for way too long. Something that I was not expecting was to see her eyes widen and her kids look at her. Except one.
"Well...umm...you see...she uhh—" I didn't cut her off, I swear it was one of her kids.
"Mommy said Clarabelle had to wa—"
"Kendall!" So I'm guessing that it's a secret.
"Sorry, why can't he know?"
"That's not important, so I suggest you shut your mouth." Wasn't this supposed to be the perfect family?
"Kendall! Pheonix!" Mia is suddenly standing right next to me and calling out to her two friends. Creepy.
"Mia!" The two girls yell in unison and they all run to hug each other.
Chase and Lily also magically appear out of nowhere. I swear children are secretly demons. All of them. Every single one. Chase walks over to the two boys and starts talking with them, but Lily looks around sad.
"Mif Meghan?" Her small voice askes.
"Yes, baby?" Meghan responds sweetly. Talk about two-faced.
"Wherths Gwafie?"
"She...umm...uhh...will be here soon sweetheart." Mia looks at Meghan suspiciously but doesn't say anything. Lily on the other hand nods excitedly and goes back inside. This is boring. Time to sneak some more french toast.
<>
DING DONG DING DONG
Ahh, so almost two hours later, the rest of the Darlings decide to arrive. Lily is in the living room, and all the rest of the children are in their rooms. Eva and I are in the dining room. I'm doing shit on my phone and Eva is doing God knows what.
"Elec! Can you get the door please?"
"I got it last time. Send one of your other children,"
"My other children are talking with their friends. Get the door."
"Lily isn't,"
"Lily is five and can't unlock the door. Open the fucking door before I cut your arm off and use it as a Halloween decoration."
"Fucking hell! Fine, I'll open the door." I walk to the door as slowly as I can without getting ripped apart by my mother. When I open the door, I see something I don't think I will ever see again.
A girl, a little younger than me by the looks of it, bottle feeding a very small baby whilst trying to calm down two crying toddlers and a very upset little girl. Holy shit. Looks like Meghan had the easy job. It would have made more sense for Meghan to have had the younger children in her care. The girl looks like she's about to cry.
"Hi, umm...c-can you uhh...l-like...umm...stop s-staring?" She doesn't look up at me, so I don't know how she knew I was looking at her. I don't think I have ever met a teenager with a voice sweeter than this chick's. It makes me sick.
"No,"
"W-well instead of s-sitting there being u-useless you can h-help me." the girl says angrily, but then her eyes widen and she covers her mouth with her free hand. "Oh m-my g-goodness, I'm so s-sorry that was ou-out of p-place and very r-rude. Can y-you f-forgive me?"
Good God, this girl is weird. I look at her like she's insane and slowly nod my head.
"P-please don't tell m-my mom, I al-already have been p-punished w-with pun-punishment 7-12, I d-don't want an-nother one." The worry in her tone confuses me, almost as much as the term "punishment 7-12."
"Gracie, you can go inside baby. I'm sure the weird boy dressed like his dad died will show you where Lily is." Did this girl just insult me?
"No! I'm gonna find Lily by myself!" The little girl runs inside and her big sister sighs.
"At least I don't look like I live in a church,"
"I d-don't live in a ch-church," She looks up at me confused, "I d-did live in m-my church for s-six months one time th-though." What the fuck?
"Why the fuck would you do that?" The girl glares at me.
"Language! Do not say that again," She shakes her head, but answers my question. "Mommy said I was g-getting on her n-nerves so she s-sent me to live at the-the church. The st-staff was v-very confused and said n-no one has e-ever lived at the church before. They l-let me stay th-there an-anyways." I am seriously worried about this family.
"Abel, calm down, there is no reason to be upset. When we go inside I promise that you and Abby will play with Jet." She tries to calm the screaming toddlers.
"Here, hold her for o-one sec-cond," And a baby is suddenly in my arms. She starts moving the stroller backward and then walks away.
"Uhh, take this child back. Now."
"I will," she looks at me, "Just n-not right n-now." She disappears behind the corner. For as brave as her words have been, she sure is a stuttering mess. Annoying.
The baby starts crying. Shit. What do I do in this situation?
Do what you always do to get people to do what you want
Thanks, subconscious.
"Shut up. You are giving me a fucking headache," She stops for a second, but then starts crying ten times louder. "I swear to fucking God if you don't shut your fucking mouth I will shake you so fucking hard you'll get shaken baby syndrome."
"Excuse me, sir," I look over to see the girl glaring at me much harder than the last time. The two toddlers in her arms are looking at her with interest. "I know that I did not just hear you say that,"
"Yeah actually, you did," Poor girl doesn't know who she's talking to.
"You will never, and I mean never, speak to any child like that again. If I hear you insult, yell at, or curse at any of them, even your siblings, I will not hesitate to not only punish your actions but tell your mother what you said." Huh, she lost the stutter. I think she is trying to be intimidating, but her cute face and soft voice betray her. Cute. I don't use the word cute. There was only one ti—
Holy fucking shit. That's where I know her from. School.
She's the fucking nerd.