.
Katie felt the cool air from her open window touch her feet, which were stuck out from underneath the blanket. She shivered, and re curled herself into a ball. She inhaled a big breath, then slowly let it out. She was so peaceful. It was so quiet in her house, for once. It was nice to be able to finally sleep in, for during the year, she had to get up every morning to help her little sisters get ready. This was the first real morning she had had yet this summer to really sleep and enjoy the peace.
She thought she heard someone up and moving around, but they were being quiet, so she burrowed deeper down in her covers and rolled over.
"Come on, wake up!" Judy said, yanking the covers off of Katie.
"AH!" She yelled.
"Get up!"
"Why?"
"We have church, that's why!" Judy said, and paced in front of her bed.
"Church?"
"Yes, we're going to make an attempt to be normal on this nice Sunday morning, and we're going to go to church. NOW GET UP!" She said, pulling her by the arms out of bed.
On her way to the floor, Katie glanced at her watch, and saw that it was indeed, seven am.
"Come on, I have to get up four more kids, and I'm already a the end of my string. Kristen cried all night last night. Let's go!" Judy yelled, and stomped out of Katie's room.
Judy ran down the hall to her room, and went in, and rummaged for something before emerging. A few seconds later, the shrill sound of and air horn filled the house.
If one person wasn't awake, they were up now.
Judy walked into the middle of the hallway, and stood. No one was out yet, so she decided to take drastic consequences.
"Alright, listen up!" She yelled at the top of her lungs into the intercom, which everyone had in their rooms.
"It is now 7:03. I expect to see everyone out and in the wagon, showered, brushed, and dressed in their Sunday finest at 7:20! Church starts at seven thirty, and I will not take any excuses! There are over eight bathrooms in this house and I expect to see you all in them! NOW!" She bellowed, and went back into her room to get dressed.
A few seconds later, six girls and one little boy scrambled out of their rooms to find a shower.
Katie and Morgan took turns in their shower, and then Katie went back to her room to get dressed. 7:10. Plenty of time. She walked over to her closet. She didn't have a lot of dresses, so this would be easy. She picked out a light green long skirt with different colored green stripes and designs running diagonal up the skirt. She picked out some nice leather sandals, and a light green tank top. She didn't know what the dress code, but she figured she couldn't go wrong with her selected ensemble.
She got dressed, and then looked at her clock. 7:13. She had a few minutes. She brushed out her wet hair, and then decided to just pull the top back. She took the top layer of her hair, and pulled it back. She made two little braids by her ears, and then put a barrette in the back of it to add something to it.
7:15. Okay, enough time for a little makeup. She didn't really wear a lot, but it was only church, so, another excuse not to wear much. She went into the bathroom, dug out her make up from a drawer, and began. She covered a few blemishes, put on a little eye shadow she liked, and added some mascara, and finally some lip gloss. That looked a little better.
She hadn't known that they had church, and she had stayed up until two setting up her computer and hooking it up to the Internet. She had gotten a new screen name, and a new e-mail address. She was not going to have any reminders of her old school with her when she started out here.
It was now 7: 18, so she remembered to lock her door, and she went downstairs to grab a bagel, and then high tailed it to the garage and climbed in the Wagon, as they had named it, which was really Judy's big, black, suburban.
She sat down in the back with Morgan, who was flipping through a magazine.
"You made it." She said.
"Actually I've been up awhile." She said, not looking up.
"You have? It's just now seven twenty, what were you doing up?"
"I was online talking to Taylor until four, and I just didn't get to sleep." She said.
"Oh. Just be glad we have more than two lines here." Katie said with a smile.
"Really." Morgan said, looking up with a smile.
"So you really like this guy, don't you?"
"I do." Morgan said.
"Does Judy know that you see him like this? Katie asked.
"I think she does, but she never says anything."
"Well that's good." Katie said.
"Yeah, I know. She could make me stop seeing him, but she doesn't. In fact, I kinda like Judy." Morgan said with a thoughtful expression.
"Yeah, I think I do too." Katie said.
"I know she freaks out Nicole." Morgan said, smiling at the memory of Nicole jumping whenever the name 'Judy' was mentioned.
"Yeah, but then again, Nicole is freaky. Speaking of her, does she go to this church?"
"I think so. I mean, she's our only family that's home in Tulsa, so…" She said, trailing off.
"What do you mean home?"
"I head Carol talking and she said that they all head over to Europe in the early summer for a few weeks just because. Our family and Nicole's are the only ones that didn't go."
"Why didn't daddy use all this money when he was alive?" Katie said, after a few moments.
"Because he was very smart. He and Mom had it saved up in case something was to happen to them."
"Do you think they knew that they were both going to die?"
"No, but I think they chose Judy to be our nanny for a reason." Morgan said.
"Why?" Katie asked.
"I don't know, but I just think that he did."
"But Carol just hired her around a week ago, right?" Katie asked. She was confused now.
"No." Morgan said. Krista was coming out to the car, and she climbed in the seat in front of them.
"We'll talk about this later." Morgan said quietly.
"Okay."
"All right, now you get out there, I have to go get Kristen, just get your little brother out there. Sandra! Hurry up or you're grounded!" Judy yelled, shooing Melissa and Madison out the door with Little Ben waddling behind them.
Judy ran back up to the living room to get Kristen who was ready and waiting, despite her being up all night.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Sandra said, opening her door.
"I want to sit by you!" Madison yelled to Katie.
"All right." She said, and scooted over on the seat so that the three of them were in the back, Sandra, Krista, and Melissa were in the middle, and Little Ben sat in the middle with Kristen, with Judy in the front.
"Okay, are we finally all here?" Judy asked, turning around.
"Yeah." Krista said.
"Four…five…six…seven…eight. Okay, we're all here. 7:22. Good job, troops." She said, and started backing out of the driveway.
They had a three-car garage for the most part, but so far, the third slot had just empty boxes from the move in it. We had two parking spaces beside the house, and some cars could be parked along the street. We had the Wagon and another car in the garage, and the third space was for Carol's car when she got home from her 'vacation'. Morgan had her car parked on the street most of the time, and Judy's car that was for sale was beside the house.
Then they were off for church, and Katie watched out the window at the houses that flew by. She noticed that Judy was a very fast driver. She wondered if she had ever gotten any speeding tickets, and smiled at the thought. What a nanny she had.
Katie sighed in nervousness when they reached the church. It was a lovely church, with lots of stained glass windows that were beautifully intricate and mindboggling. Whoever did the landscaping did a wonderful job, for the grass was well cut and lilies lined the walks and surrounded the church in a protecting, orchid colored border, she noticed.
They all paused when they parked. The pressures of acting somewhat normal were setting in. All the families were getting out, and they watched as they all filed into the church. It wasn't a very big church, Katie estimated that only around thirty or forty families attended, for the church wasn't very large.
"Now, I expect everyone to be on their best behavior, and I want no unnecessary talking during church. Only speak if it's an emergency, and even then do it quietly. Only talk to me if your bladder is three seconds away from bursting, or if you can show me blood." Judy said, making everyone let out a little nervous laugh.
There was a long pause before anybody said or did anything.
"Well, we had better get going." Judy said, and we all started to unload from the Wagon.
"I wonder if the kids in my Sunday school class will like me." Madison said. She looked adorable in her little peach colored sundress, and her hair was mostly loose and wild with shiny curls.
Katie took her hand. "Of course they'll like you. What's not to like?"
"The kids at my other church didn't like me." She said.
They hadn't been to church in eight or nine months, ever since their father had married Carol. They had just stopped going. Katie didn't really know why, but she didn't mind sleeping in on Sunday mornings.
"Well, the kids here will, I'm sure." Katie said, and took a hold of Madison's hand. Madison smiled up at her and swung their hands as she walked into the church.
Everyone was starting to sit down, and they all quickly filed into a pew near the center. Katie sat down next to Madison, and Morgan.
"Isn't that your little friend?" Morgan said, nudging Katie.
Katie looked over a few rows and saw Zac looking at her with a smirk on his face. He gave a little wave and she chose to ignore him. He laughed and turned around. The choir started singing, and then the opening prayer was said, then their family was introduced to everyone. Then it was time for the additional classes. The children got up and left Judy and Kristen when they went to leave for Sunday school.
They were separated into groups 16-18, 12-15, 9-11, 5-8, and 2-4. That left Morgan by herself, Katie and Sandra together, Krista by herself, then Melissa and Madison together, and then little Ben by himself. They all filed into their classrooms, and took their seats.
"Hey!" Nicole said, and came running over to grab a seat by her.
"Hi." Katie said.
She noticed that Zac casually took a seat behind her next to Jabin.
"So, you came to church."
"Yeah…" Katie said slowly.
"Well, I just never pictured you in church."
"Thanks." Katie said, laughing at her cousin's outwardness.
"No, I just meant…oh, never mind."
"Okay."
"Hello Nicole, Katie." Zac said.
"Hi Zac." Nicole said.
"Hello." Katie said coolly.
"Katie." Nicole hissed.
"What?" She asked, turning to the side to face Nicole.
"He obviously wants to talk to you."
"Well maybe he could have at least been civil to me yesterday, instead of coming off as a complete jerk." She hissed back, emphasizing the last word.
Zac just leaned back in his chair.
Katie looked at his chair legs longingly, wishing that she could just kick them out from underneath him, sending him flying backwards. She smiled to herself, then turned back around.
When the class was over, Katie was the first one out the door. She went into the main church to find Judy. All she wanted to do was go home. It had been a terrible first day. Zac had made snide comments after everything she said. Why was he suddenly being so mean? She couldn't figure it out. Oh well.
She spotted Judy getting Kristen and her things packed together, and Katie rushed over.
"Good first day?"
"Not exactly."
"Well, we're going home and you won't have to talk to Zac if you don't want to." Judy said.
"Thanks." Katie said, before realizing that Judy hadn't known about Zac.
"Wait…where did you hear about him?"
"Let's just say….I know these things."
Katie just stared at her.
"I was fourteen once too, you know." She said with a smile.
"Oh. Well, that's okay if you know, but you see, there's nothing to know." Katie said as coolly as possible.
"That's fine."
"Ok."
"Now help me locate everyone."
"All right." Katie said, looking for anyone in her family, especially Madison. She spotted her walking behind Melissa and Krista. She looked semi happy.
"Hey Madison." She said, ruffling the little girl's hair.
"Hi." She said.
"How did it go?" Katie asked, squatting down do talk to her.
"It went okay. I didn't really get a chance to talk to the other kids." She replied.
"Oh, well, was your teacher nice?"
"Yes." She replied.
"Well, we're going home now, so, let's go back to Judy."
"Ok." She said, following Katie.
Katie got quite the surprise when she turned back around. There was who she assumed was Mr. & Mrs. Hanson, along with Taylor, Zac, and a little girl and an even littler boy.
"That would be great. Are you sure you want all of us? I can tell the older ones to take a hike, or whatever is best." Judy said.
"No, no, that's fine, I think we have a few that are close in age anyway." She said, nudging Taylor, who was staring over at Morgan.
"Oh, ok. So, six o clock?"
"Yeah, that would be great, um, do you know where we live?"
"No, but you can just give me a general area, and we can figure it out."
"Okay, we live on 78th street, I believe that's a few down from you, and we're the first wooden house on the left." Mrs. Hanson said.
"Alright." Judy said. "We'll be there, and thank you again for inviting us over, that's very brave of you."
"Oh, nine more people won't make much of a difference." Mrs. Hanson said, patting her on the shoulder.
"We'll see you then." Judy said, and turned to see what Krista wanted.
The little blonde boy that had been standing behind Mrs. Hanson suddenly came out from behind her. He set his eyes upon Madison, who was standing a few feet away.
"Hi." He said unabashedly.
"Hi." She said.
"You're a babe!" He said laughing.
Madison gasped, and gawked at him, open mouthed at the laughing little boy.
Zac patted him on the back, and simply said, "Come on Mackie, we've done our job."
They laughed and headed out the doors.
"Oh, I could just spit!" Katie said.
"Okay, well let's not do that, and let's concentrate on getting everyone out of here and to the car." Judy said.
"Are we going to dinner at the Hanson's tonight?" Sandra asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact."
"Oh yes! I just know that that one likes me. He kept looking at me in class."
"Which one?"
"Oh, the blonde one."
"They're all blonde, Sandra!" Katie said. Suddenly it dawned on her. "Zac? You think Zac likes you?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." Sandra said.
"Oh, dream on, he's two years older than you."
"Well, I'll be thirteen in September."
"Whatever."
"You're just jealous."
"I'm jealous?"
"Yes."
"Jealous of what?"
"Me. And Zac."
"Oh, I'm sure."
"Well you are. You just don't want to admit it." Sandra said, opening the door to the front seat.
"Sandra, knock it off and get in the back. That's where little Ben sits." Judy said, opening her door.
Sandra just moved into the back with Melissa and Krista, not wanting to make a scene in front of all the families in the parking lot.
When they were all in and pulling out, Judy said, "So how was everyone's first day?"
And no one answered. They were just trying to get home without any more embarrassment.
"I got cookie."
We all turned to look at Little Ben. That was the third time he had spoken since their dad died.
"Well that's great, Little Ben, we'll have to go back there, won't we?" Judy said, pulling onto the main road.
He just shook his head yes and smiled.
" Well, at least one of us had a good time." Judy said.
Chapter 5
Chapter 3
my stories
Email: morisstories@hotmail.com