Picture Perfect

Chapter 19

Alessia POV

I was on my way home from school on Tuesday afternoon when I got a call. Without looking to see who it was, I quickly answered and kept my eyes on the road.

"Hello?" I asked after putting it on speaker.

"Hey, Alessia. It's Jonathan."

"What's up? I'm almost at my house, I'll see you in a second." I began to turn into my neighborhood, stopping at the gate.

"About that," he started. "So my mom is having to stay late for work, so she needs me to pick up and watch my siblings."

"Oh, okay." I waved at the security guard in the booth as he buzzed me in.

"I'm sorry. I hate to cancel last minute again."

"It's fine. You know I can just meet you at your house," I offered. "My mom should be fine with it. That way you can still get paid and we don't get behind." If I was being honest, I just didn't want to be home alone again. My mom already mentioned earlier she wouldn't be home til later today. And after the week I had, being by myself was something I avoided.

"Oh if you're sure," he said slowly.

"Yeah, text me the address. Bye," I hung up before he could give me a different answer. I pulled into my driveway, quickly running in my house to get a snack and some of my books. When I got back into my car, Jonathan had already sent me his address. Plugging it into my gps, I pulled into his driveway ten minutes later.

In front of me was a cute white one story house. It had a front porch, full of potted plants. Surrounding the walkway was bushes and flowers leading up to the house. Jonathan's mom must really like to garden. I walked up to the door and knocked.

"Hey," Jonathan opened the door, his signature smile on his face and Anna on his hip. "Sorry about this."

"It's fine, dude," I walked into his house. It was a pretty open concept with the front door in the living room, connected to a kitchen and dining area. On one side was a hallway, probably leading to the bedrooms.

"Um we can work at the table, so I can keep on eye on these troublemakers," he ruffled Anna's curls. She let out a playful laugh before jumping down.

"Hi, Sasia," she grinned up at me.

"Hey, cutie," I bent down and smiled back at her. "Is it okay if I hang out with your brother today?"

"I guess so," she shrugged. "You are really pretty, Sasia."

"Thank you. So are you, much prettier than I am," I laughed. "You can call me, Sia. All my friends do."

"Ok, Sia. Are you my brother's girlfriend?" This girl went from hardly talking to interrogating me. That's kids for you.

"Anna," Jonathan exclaimed. "She is just a friend. Now go get the boys and tell them to do their homework in the living room." The little girl hurried off into the hallway.

"Sorry about that," he said as I stood back up.

Placing my bag on the table, I shrugged. "Everyone at our school thinks we're doing it. This is nothing. Plus she's cute." Jonathan blushed red at my candor, as I took a seat at the table. It was true. After the whole scene with Becca, rumors started to fly, majority probably coming from her. My favorite so far was one about how Damian was a gang leader and it was a forbidden love, so right now we are using people to make each other jealous. How cliché is that. As if that would actually happen in high school.

"What's up Alessia?" Zach appeared in the doorway, followed by Noah and Anna.

"Hey dude, what's up with you?" I smiled at the eight year old.