the spade brothers' little sister

eighteen

♤ ♤ ♤

The next morning, I was woken up by Jace knocking loudly on my door and yelling at me to get up quickly. It was obvious that the whole house was on edge because of the impending social worker visit. Suddenly within the past few months, everything had started to move really quickly and I felt like in the past four months I had grown up so much. 

I threw on comfortable clothes and made my bed, wanting to get that done before Jace asked me to do it. I left my room and walked into the hallway. Charlie was vacuuming the floors and Jace was buzzing around ordering Brady and Larson around, telling them what to do. Once he saw I was awake and dressed, he pointed to me. "Wipe down the bathrooms, Brenna."

Before I could even respond, Jace was gone. He was making so much noise downstairs, it sounded like he was banging on every pot in the kitchen. The social worker wasn't even coming over until after dinner, so I had no idea why Jace wanted to start our day so early. 

"He's nervous if you couldn't tell," Brady spoke, brushing past me with a dusting rag in hand.

"Aren't you?" I asked. 

"No," he replied simply. "Jace is a great guardian and the social worker will see that. No need to worry." I furrowed my eyebrows at his overwhelming sense of confidence. 

"But you got shot, Brady," I replied. "Don't you think that's concerning for a social worker?"

"No," he started. "Me and you just have to convince her that we're happy and safe here."

"I don't want to live with Dad." I sighed and thoughts started circulating in my brain about what would happen if me and Brady were sent to live with the man who left us a few years ago.

"You won't live with Spencer, Brenna," Larson said, pushing past me and Brady standing in the middle of the hallway. "Don't even say that." He raised his eyebrows at me and pointed a finger at me, waving it back and forth condescendingly. 

"It doesn't sound like cleaning is happening up there!" Jace shouted up the stairs. Me and Brady rolled our eyes at the same time, and we dispersed to do our assigned chores. 

After hours of cleaning and organizing and changing into more suitable outfits, it was finally time. The doorbell rang and we all sat in the living room while Jace answered the door. I sat in the middle of the big couch with Charlie on my left side. I was saving the right side for Jace when he came back from answering the door. 

There was some hushed whispering at the door before Jace walked in the living room with a woman at his side. She was a short brunette with heels so tall, I was surprised she could walk in them. She was obviously trying to appear younger than she was - she was probably in her late 40s. 

"This is Amelia, and she's the social worker who is doing our home visit," Jace spoke clearly. He turned to face Amelia. "This is Larson, and Charlie," he said, gesturing to them. "And you know Brady and Brenna." I put on a fake smile and pretended like I wasn't as nervous as I really was. 

"Great, lovely to meet you all," she said, her voice strong and pleasant. I glanced over at Larson who looked so weird to me. Jace made him wear a long sleeve shirt so that his tattoos were covered, and he actually had his hair brushed and gelled back. Charlie was the only one who looked normal, as he usually wore nicer clothes and was always the most presentable out of my brothers.

"Why don't you have a seat, Amelia?" Jace gestured to the open seat we intentionally left open for her across from the couch. Jace made his way over to sit next to me. 

"So," Amelia spoke, taking a deep breath. "Basically I am here to check on the welfare of Brady and Brenna and to make sure that the court's ruling from a few years ago about Jace's ability to be a guardian are still upheld." She shifted through some paperwork that was perched on her lap. "Obviously, there was an issue that led to these steps needing to be taken. Would someone like to elaborate on exactly what happened and how Brady ended up in the hospital?"