Precarious

Chapter 8

"How was your second day of school, Sierra?" Adrian asked as he locked the doors after Cole and Gavin got into the car.

"It was good. Is it okay if I go to someone's house? I have to work on a project with them."

"Who's the kid?" Gavin asked.

"His name is uh, Jace Parker." I mumbled, knowing that Gavin would be pissed. He warned me to stay away from his friends, but I couldn't stay away when I was paired up with him for the rest of the school year.

"Why the hell are you working with Jace?!" Gavin yelled, not caring that Adrian would say something.

"The teacher paired us up for the rest of the year. I can't control who she pairs us up with."

"Adrian, ask Jett if he can do something about this."

"Shut up Gavin. Besides, we know Jace's family and we don't have any issues with him. When are you going to his house Sierra?"

"Most likely tomorrow, after school. If that's okay with you."

"Of course it's fine with us. Is there anything else?"

"My friend Layla and I have to do a project for Italian class. Can I go to her house sometime during the weekend?"

"I suppose so but Jett must approve of you going to her house."

"I understand, but why is Jett in charge of that? Isn't Stefano technically my legal guardian?"

"Yes, but he's busy. He has to manage multiple businesses while Jett has to manage us. Technically, I'm in charge of you and the twins but Jett has to make sure that it's safe to go somewhere else. The neighborhoods surrounding the school that we go to are safe but being cautious is a good trait to have in New York."

After Adrian parked the car in the driveway, I got out and went inside the house to do my homework. Checking my phone, I received a text. Seeing what the text was, I knew that it had to be from Jace. While adding his phone number to my contact's list, I replied to his text.

Putting my phone away, I proceeded to do my homework. Finishing the assignments, I packed my bag for tomorrow. Half an hour had passed, so I decided to get changed and go to the basement for a while to exercise. I had no knowledge of Gavin, Cole, or Adrian's whereabouts, so exercising was something to pass the time. Opening the door, I entered the basement and got onto the stationary bicycle.

After pedaling for an hour on the bicycle, I decided to use one of the mats that I found with the exercise equipment. Cheerleading practice was going to begin next week and I wanted to be prepared. Since being flexible, good at acrobatics, and staying in shape was important, I chose to practice gymnastics by using the mat. At my old school, they offered a gymnastics program that I participated in; I learned to do the basics and a few stunts that were intermediate. I wasn't naturally good at gymnastics, but based on practicing it for a while, I learned to get better at it. With some of the money that I saved, I purchased a mat. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring it with me.

I stretched for a few minutes and then started to practice forward and back rolls. They came naturally easy to me but doing flips didn't. It took a few attempts until I was able to do a flip without messing up. An hour later, I was finished with exercising. I went into my room, took a shower, and got changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. Feeling bored, I read for half an hour. When I was done, I texted Jace if he was available tomorrow. He said that he was, so tomorrow, either I had to walk to his house or someone had to drive me. Since I was done with today's work, I decided to explore the house more. I hadn't seen any of my siblings for a while, but they probably were in their rooms. However, what laid on the third floor made me curious; it was off-limits, but that didn't mean that I couldn't just see what was up there for a minute or two. I probably would regret exploring in a restricted area, but Stefano and Jett weren't home, so my chances of being caught were reduced. In addition, in his rules, he stated that I couldn't access their offices, not their floor.