12. These guys make me happy

Laraaaaa^^^^

Chapter 12: These guys make me happy

Kelsey's POV

*****

A smile formed on my face as my father's ringtone could be heard from my phone, signalling that he was calling.

The last time I had talked to my dad was about a week before, a few days after I arrived at the Walker house. I really missed having him around. I missed how he would order us pizzas on Fridays and we would play some board games whilst catching up with each other's lives, making sure that we were both happy. My dad had always been there for me, ever since my mom died he had just been trying so hard to act like both a mother and a father to me and I had always been so grateful for that. Not many are willing to do that.

"I miss you dad, so much," I told him.

"I miss you too sweetie. Make sure you take care of yourself baby girl. Don't work too hard, make some time for yourself okay? You're a teenager you need to have fun, just make sure that it's not too much fun," dad said, genuinely sounding worried for me.

I rolled my eyes at his last statement. I was babysitting children, 'too much fun' would certainly get me fired.

"Don't worry dad, I have had a lot of time to have fun here," I replied in all honesty, a smile forming on my face at the memory of all the crazy events which went down in just a couple of weeks. "And don't worry, not too much fun," I mocked.

I could almost feel him rolling his eyes at me from the other end, making me supress a laugh at the thought.

"Lara, give it back!" I heard Ellie scream in the room next to mine.

Well, fun some of the time.

"I have to go dad, the kids need something," I said to my dad, wanting to figure out what the fighting was all about in the girls' room.

"That's okay, you can go. I love you kels," he said.

"I love you too paps," I replied, before hanging up and walking out of my room and into the girls' room to see what was going on.

For as long as I had been there, I had never heard Ellie and Lara fight with each other. They didn't seem like the kind of sisters to do so, especially since they always looked out for each other. That was why it was so surprising for me to hear them fighting.

"Kelsey, Lara took Molly and she won't give it back. She locked herself in our bathroom and won't come out." Ellie pouted as soon as she noticed me entering the room.

Molly was Ellie's favorite doll and she would go crazy without it. She had dark braided hair and big blue eyes, and Ellie had a whole closet for Molly's clothes. Honestly, that doll dressed better than I did.

I couldn't understand why Lara would steal Molly away from Ellie, unless something was up with Lara.

"It's okay Ellie, I'll go talk to Lara and get that doll back for you," I said, kneeling down next to her and trying to sound reassuring.

I walked over towards the girls' bathroom door and knocked.

"Lara, baby, can you please open the door?"

"No!" Lara stubbornly replied.

There was something definitely going on with Lara. She never acted that way before, and the fact that she stole her sister's doll and locked the bathroom door meant that she was definitely not okay.

"Lara, you have to listen to me, open this door right now before I ground you," I said, pretending to lose my temper.

I wasn't really mad at her. I did not want to jump to conclusions and get furious with her, especially not when there could have been something much bigger going on. Despite that, I knew that she would have never come out unless she thought that there could be consequences. The one thing Lara loved more than acting stubborn was her television.

I smiled triumphantly as soon as I heard a clicking sound, instantly knowing that I had won. The door swung open, revealing Lara hugging Molly.

"Lara why would you take your sister's favorite doll?" I asked. "And were you crying?" I continued, noticing dried tear stains on her face, her eyes red and puffy.

"No I wasn't, you were," Lara said, once again acting stubborn.

"Lara, honey, what's wrong?" I asked, concern washing over me.

She didn't speak at first, but simply hugged me as tight as she could, before pulling away and looking directly at me.

"I miss mommy and daddy. I know I'm old now, and my friends say I shouldn't miss them, but I do. Molly reminds me of mommy. They have the same hair colour, see? Her hair is even braided, just like how mom likes to keep it," she said, placing Molly right in front of my face so I could 'see her better'.

My heart clenched for this little ten-year-old girl. I knew what it was like, not able to tell anyone about how much you missed your parents. It used to happen to me whenever I went to dance camp.

It seemed as if I was the only one who ever missed my dad.

The fact that her parents are often away certainly didn't help the situation. She wanted her parents around so she could spend time with them, but they were never there.

"Lara, it's okay to miss your parents. That just goes to show that they're important to you, and there's nothing wrong in missing them. You see, I really miss my dad too and I'm a lot older than you are, but it's okay to miss him," I said, trying to explain as best as I could while pulling her in to a hug.

I knew that all she needed in that moment was someone to empathise with her, and not someone who simply told her that 'it would be okay'. That phrase never helps.

"Tell you what, how about we do something fun tonight?" I asked her, trying to think of something in the meantime. "We can go out and do anything you guys want. That way, you won't have the time to think about being sad," I told her, wiping away a fresh tear that had escaped from her eye as I sent her a smile

She finally smiled and nodded her head, then walking over to Ellie and handing her the doll. "I'm sorry that I took Molly from you Ellie."

Ellie smiled at her sister, taking Lara's hand in hers and making me smile at how cute the gesture was.

"It's okay Lara. If it makes you feel any better, I miss mommy and daddy too," Ellie said, hugging Lara. "But hey, Kelsey does everything she can to make us have fun, and that makes me miss them a whole lot less," she continued, causing a smile to appear on my face.

They were really amazing, mature kids, and it was nice to know that they cared about me, even if I hadn't been with them for that long.

"Now, I have some breakfast to prepare and then we will figure out what we can do tonight" I said, getting up and walking out, before kissing each of them on the forehead, trying to show them that I cared about them as well.

****

"Kelsey! Kelsey!" Noah excitedly screamed, running in to the kitchen and making me jump.

"Gosh Noah, you scared me. What is it?" I asked him as I cleaned some of the milk I had spilled when Noah ran in.

"I got accepted into music camp!" Noah said, handing me a letter of acceptance.

Grabbing the letter in my hands, my eyes widened in surprise. I wasn't shocked because he got accepted, what I was shocked about was the fact that I did not remember him, or his parents, telling me about any music camp.

"Noah, when did you apply for music camp? Do your parents know? When do you leave?" I asked him as I read through the letter.

Noah remained quiet for a second and simply looked down, hinting at the fact that he probably did something he shouldn't have done.

"Noah, what did you do?" I asked him sternly.

He looked at me, shaking his head. "It's not a big deal Kelsey. The day mom and dad left, May gave me a flyer for music camp along with the application. Mom and dad had left so they couldn't sign it, and there was no way Ethan was going to sign it for me. He didn't even know that I actually loved music so much. So yeah, I might have maybe asked Meg to sign it for me. It starts in two days and lasts a whole week. I can learn so much, please Kels, please let me go," he said, sending me a hopeful smile.

For a second I felt betrayed that Meg would do such a thing without consulting with either Ethan or I first. We were the ones who were in charge of him, and things could end badly if his parents wouldn't be okay with it.

What was I even supposed to tell them?

Hey Mr and Ms Walker, Noah just got accepted to a music camp which he never told me or you about. In fact, he got Meg to sign the papers without me even realising.

That would have certainly gotten me a nanny of the year award.

"Noah, why didn't you ask me?" I asked.

"I didn't know you were going to be so nice. I thought you would have said no and acted like those annoying babysitters that make you eat your vegetables and not let you watch TV."

I sighed, looking at the letter for a longer while before looking back at Noah, contemplating what I was going to do.

"Noah, of course I'll let you go, but what am I going to tell your parents? I don't want them to get mad at me. I don't want them thinking that I was hiding this piece of information from them, and I also don't want them thinking that I'm an irresponsible babysitter that doesn't even know what's going on right under her nose," I said, trying to explain the gravity of the situation.

I didn't know how the Walkers would react upon finding out that their son was heading to camp without their consent.

"I'll talk to them right now if you want me to. Please let me go Kelsey," he pleaded.

I sighed, bringing my lower lip in between my teeth as I thought over the situation in my head for a little while.

"Okay, fine, but we're going to have to think about what to tell your parents, because if you tell them what you did they'll get mad at you and might not let you go, but if you tell them that I signed it for you they'll get mad at me for not telling them," I told him as I started preparing the table, my mind going to overdrive like it often did when I found myself in stressful situations.

I certainly did not want to lose my job over that, but I did not want to stand in Noah's way either. The kid was talented, and I was nobody to stop him from achieving his dreams.

"You could ask Ethan," Noah said after a while, whilst he was helping me set the table.

"Ask Ethan what?" I asked in confusion.

"He could tell them that he signed the form for me and forgot to tell them. They're used to that kind of behaviour, and Ethan does tend to get a bit forgetful sometimes."

The idea that Noah had come up with was quite good, however I felt bad for throwing Ethan under the bus like that. He was actually doing such a great job babysitting the kids with me, I didn't want his parents getting mad at something that he didn't do when he actually didn't deserve it.

I wanted his parents to see how much he had changed and how much more responsible he was, and not the other way round.

"I guess we could try and ask Ethan," I skeptically said, still unsure about the idea.

"Ask me what?" Ethan asked, coming from behind me as he grabbed a piece of bacon from one of the plates.

I looked at Noah as Noah instantly looked at me in a panic, pushing me forward near Ethan.

"Kelsey needs to ask you something," Noah said, flashing me a smile as soon as I looked at him in disbelief.

That traitor.

I knew that I had agreed to his proposal, but I still needed some time to think about how to break it in gently to Ethan. I didn't want him to get upset with me, and it was difficult to tell someone that you wanted them to take the blame for something which they didn't even do.

I sighed and tried to think about what to tell him to make him accept. Ethan might have become kinder with everyone, but I wasn't so sure if he would willingly accept to take the blame for something.

"Okay, so basically, your brother applied for music camp without telling your parents. He asked Meg to sign it without telling her that your parents didn't approve, and she did. Now he got accepted to camp and he starts in two days, but I don't know what to tell your parents," I told him.

"And you want me to tell them?" Ethan asked, trying to comprehend what I was trying to actually say.

I looked down at the ground, ashamed at what I was about to ask him before I shook my head as a reply.

"Not exactly. We were wondering if you could tell your parents that you were the one who signed Noah's forms and that you forgot to tell them," I said, all in one breath.

I was afraid to look at him, afraid to see his reaction. There were two plausible endings to that conversation. Either he was going to accept and be okay with it, or he was going to be very angry that I asked him to do something like that after he told me how he felt about being the oldest and his parents not trusting him.

"You want me to lie?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Basically, yeah" I said, nodding, realising how much of a bad idea it could be.

"Are you crazy? Do you want me to get in trouble?" Ethan said, sounding mad. "You know how hard it is for them to trust me. Why would I give them a bigger reason not to?" He asked, looking in between Noah and I.

I flinched slightly at his tone of voice, not blaming him one bit for how he was reacting.

"Please Eth, this is really important to me," Noah said, stepping in between Ethan and I, a determined look playing on his face as he clenched his knuckles.

Ethan kept staring between me and Noah for a second before letting out a sigh of defeat.

"Okay, fine, but if I go down, you're both going down with me," he dramatically said, pointing a finger at me and Noah. "But first, let's eat I'm starving," he continued, as he sat down and called for Ellie and Lara to go downstairs too.

I couldn't help but smile at his answer, finding it hard to believe that Ethan accepted so easily. No matter how much he tried to fool people regards how he didn't care much about other people, I knew that that wasn't the truth. What he was willing to do for his brother was enough proof of that

****

After breakfast, Ethan called his parents to tell them about Noah's camp. They were mad at first, no doubt about that, but they found it sweet that Ethan did something like that for his brother for once, and said that they were actually proud of him.

Long story short, Noah was allowed to go to camp in two days and it turned out to be a win-win situation.

I was glad that Ethan didn't get in trouble, and the circumstance lead to them seeing beneath his rebellious boy attitude, and allowed them to see slightly see Ethan for who he truly was.

"Thank you so much Ethan," Noah said, a huge smile composed on his face.

Ethan smiled briefly at his brother, the smile quickly dying out as he pretended to let out a cough. He always wanted to hide behind that careless bad boy façade. I could tell that he didn't want to show anyone his genuinely kind and caring side, and for me, it was a huge pity.

"Yeah yeah, you have the best big brother ever, but don't tell the girls or else they will start wanting favours from me. I have a reputation to keep little bro," he said with a wink, whilst stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

As if he wouldn't want to help them anyways.

That little softie.

"Kelsey!" Someone called out, running down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Can we please go to the funfair tonight? Please?" Lara said, making a puppy dog face which she knew I could never resist.

She just did it so well.

"I don't know Lara, do the others want to go?" I asked her.

I did want to make her feel better, and try to forget about how much she missed her parents, but I didn't want to agree to something that maybe the rest didn't want to do.

"Ellie and I thought about it together, so what about you guys?" She asked her brothers, hoping that they would say yes.

"I was going to hang out with Jake tonight," Ethan said guiltily, making her pout.

"Why don't you bring him then?" Lara said hopefully, looking at me as if to ask my permission.

I nodded my head at Ethan, signalling that I agreed with Lara's idea. She was really missing her parents, and as her big brother, I knew that Ethan had to help her.

I knew him well enough to know that he would have wanted to help her.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell him to come and we can all go," Ethan said, smiling cutely at Lara who squealed with happiness.

As Ethan started calling Jake, Noah tapped me on the shoulder, trying to grab my attention. "If Ethan's bringing Jake, can I bring May?" Noah whispered, trying not to make the others hear him.

I could tell that he was flustered just by asking his question. I instantly understood that even if he did like May, he was too ashamed to admit it to everyone else.

"Yeah of course, I'll ask her and I'll ask Meg to come too and we can all go," I whispered back, giving him a small wink.

Lara really loved Meg, and I also knew that Meg had a crush on Jake. That was the perfect moment to get them closer, give her an excuse to actually talk to him.

I knew Meg like the back of my hands, and for that reason I knew that despite her seeming confidence, Meg was really shy when it came to feelings. She wanted to talk to him, it wasn't like I was pressuring her to do something she didn't want to. The only problem was that, according to her, there was never a right time for her to do so.

That funfair was going to be the chance she had been looking for.

I'm such a great friend.

Lara suddenly hugged me and looked at me with a happy grin on her face. I couldn't help but think about how I wasn't too excited about this job at first, but then I instantly felt close to all of those guys already, and I would've done anything to make them happy.

Those guys made me happy.

A/N: Hey guys, I've never written an author's note on this book before but I guess there's no harm in starting now. Anywho thank you so much for taking the time to read this book, it really means a lot to me. I'm sorry that this chapter wasn't that good, it's kind of a filler chapter for what's going to happen in the next chapters. I hope you guys are enjoying the book and I hope that you're not getting bored with it. If you are I'm so sorry and I would love to hear your ideas to make it better. If you guys have any suggestions or anything that you wish to happen in the book feel free to comment I always love hearing ideas. Thank you guys so much

I love you

~M