{93}✔️

Dahlia's POV

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"Garage sale is officially on for this weekend. Saturday, of course, and I think we're gonna make hella money. A lot of our friends agreed to bring some stuff over to sell and they don't mind letting us keep the profits." I explained as I fed the wailing baby doll in my arms. Ten more fucking days and then it'll be Thursday the fifteenth, and this project will officially be over and done with. I'm ready.

"What do you think I should do to keep Denny distracted?" Billie asked curiously.

"I have no clue. Maybe you guys could go baby browsing?"

"You want us to...Shop for babies?" She tilted her head. I rolled my eyes and let out a small laugh.

"No, Billie. I mean, like, browse for baby clothes and toys and shit like that. There's a really nice, huge baby store an hour away. That'll keep him busy for a while."

"Cool refried beans. Maybe after we finish shopping we can eat, see a movie, do something fun." She shrugged a little. "We could even go house hunting or something. Just text me whenever you're ready for us to come back."

"...Did you just say cool refried beans?" I furrowed my brows.

"Is that literally the only thing you paid attention to?"

"Well, how could I pay attention to anything else after hearing that?"

"Ladies, there doesn't seem to be much discussion about the project I assigned you going on." Mrs. East sent us a look as she stood in front of our table, looking down at Capone and Petrillo. "What the hell happened to those babies? They look like they've been run over by a bus!"

I blushed as I glanced at the beaten up babies we were holding. They've got scuff marks all over, the little bit of hair they've got is matted, they're dirty as shit, Petrillo's arm looks like it's about to fall off...Damn.

"It was actually a car, but--"

"Billie, shut the fu--"

"How the--How could you let your baby get run over by a car?!" Mrs. East gasped. "You girls are gonna get the worst grade in the history of this class the way things are looking, I mean, this is ridiculous. I can't believe--"

"Whoa, whoa, wait! Chill!" Billie cut in quickly. "I-I was just joking about the car thing!"

"Yeah, and we're not gonna get a bad grade because we've almost got our thirty pages done and I guarantee you're gonna like what we've written!" I added, laughing nervously.

"Okay, but the project isn't just about the report. You're also being graded on how well your babies are taken care of!" Mrs. East shook her head as she took Petrillo out of my arms. She looked over her and shook her head as the baby's head fell to the side. That is definitely not supposed to happen. "I like you two, but this looks like an F++ to me."

"Wait, we didn't realize we were also being graded on how the babies were taken care of! You never mentioned that!" Billie said, her eyes widening.

"Did you two even read the rubric? That's one of the first things on it."

"Did we read the rubric?" I laughed lowly. "Did we read the rubric?! Well, of course not, Mrs. East! Nobody ever reads the rubric! Why on earth--"

"Maybe you should've." She sighed as she pulled a clump of Capone's knotted hair out and held it in her hands. She pursed her lips and shook her head. "I have to laugh. This is ridiculous."

"But this isn't gonna hurt our grade too bad, right? I mean, the thirty pages--"

"It's fifty-fifty. Fifty percent of your grade comes from the thirty pages and fifty percent of your grade comes from how well your baby is taken care of. It's in the rubric." She repeated, cutting Billie off.

"You mean to tell me that thirty whole ass pages are only worth fifty percent of our grade?" Billie raised a brow. "That should be worth ten test grades by itself."

"Well, okay, so we haven't been taking the best care of the babies. I mean, we've been trying! We just...Um..." I tried to think of the right words, but I couldn't. I let out a small sigh and decided to just be honest. "We should be in jail for child abuse at this point. But we still need a good grade so...Can you just ignore the bruises on the babies or?"

"Look, when you guys get home you need to clean the babies up and make it look like you've been loving parents to them this whole time. And try to keep them from crying for the remainder of the project. A lot of the grade for them is based on how much they cried while you were caring for them. The less they cried the better your grade." Mrs. East explained.

"But they cry all the time! Especially the girl! And they cry for absolutely no reason!" Billie whined.

"Judging by their looks, it seems they've had plenty of reasons to cry." Mrs. East poked her finger through the hole in the shirt Capone was wearing. The same shirt he'd been wearing when she gave him to us. She gave us a few clothes for each of the babies, but we haven't changed their outfits... "You two are awful, you know that, right?"

"It's all her fault!" I pointed at Billie quickly. "She's a little weirdo who's afraid of babies and she tosses them around like they're nothing all the time! She spilled coffee on Petrillo the other day!"

"My fault?!" Billie hissed. "You dropped Capone in the toilet! Twice! And Prince Styles peed in Petrillo's mouth--"

"You left her in the litter box! Prince Styles had to go, don't you bring him into this!"

"You two let me touch a baby that was dropped in the toilet and left in a litter box?!" Mrs. East dropped the babies on the floor and then winced as she bent down to pick them up again after realizing what she did, but then she decided to just leave them down there as she wiped her hands on her skirt. "Yeah, your grades are not gonna be good."

"Well, it's not like we didn't wipe them off," Billie said in a matter of fact voice, rolling her eyes as she turned to me. "Get a load of this lady. She's so dramatic."

I nodded in agreement.

"Just make sure the damn things don't cry that much for the remainder of this project and we'll see if your grades are decent or at least passing. If not, we'll talk about extra credit...And pick them up." Mrs. East grumbled before walking away.

I sighed as I reached down to yank them up by their hair, gasping as they fell back onto the ground as more clumps of their hair came out.

"So...Anyway, the garage sale. I've been advertising like hell for it." Billie said, restarting our previous conversation.

***

"What the hell is she doing over there? Why the hell are they talking?" Cadence questioned as she turned to look at Billie's table. Billie was sitting on top of the table as usual, but instead of Bea being next to her as she usually was, Luna was.

Billie doesn't look annoyed with Luna or anything, but she doesn't seem like she's enjoying whatever conversation they're having too much. She just looks normal.

"I don't know." I mumbled.

"That little bitch is making me, UGH, sick!" Cadence pretended to throw up, copying Rickey Thompson, and I laughed loudly. "This is no laughing matter, Dahlia! That bitch is constantly hanging around your girl and it's obvious she's trying to get close with her again so that they can get back together, and Billie doesn't seem to be putting up a fight!" She growled.

"She's not my girl anymore, so there's nothing I can do." I shrugged. If she wants to hang out with Luna or get back together with her or whatever the fuck then there's not much I can do to stop her. Besides, I don't think she likes Luna like that anymore.

I mean, it's weird that Billie is talking to her, especially after everything she told me about her and everything that happened during the cabin trip. Luna literally used Bea, Billie's best friend, to get to me. Billie's girlfriend at the time. I don't know why she's still talking to her after all that, but it's none of my business.

"I have a huge ball of anxiety trapped in the pit of my stomach, and it's because of you." Cadence sighed. "It'll only go away when you and Billie get back together, you know?"

"Are you sure you don't just have to shit? You've had three burritos and we're only ten minutes into lunch." I smirked.

Caden had challenged her to a burrito eating contest and, well...Pretty sure he's already on his sixth one, but who knows how this will turn out. Caden eats a lot, but Cadence can definitely out eat him when she really wants to. It's just seldom that she does.

"Like Phil Dunphy said," She mumbled to herself before shoving half a burrito into her mouth. "Slow is steady and steady is fast. Slow is steady and steady is fast. Slow is steady and—" She stopped her chanting and made a face. "Oh, maybe I do have to shit."

"Yeah, and you can eat shit too. Burrito number seven, here I come." Caden laughed loudly before shoving his burrito into his mouth.

This is disgusting. I love my friends.

"So, why do you think she asked for that ring back?" Cadence muffled out.

"To pawn it? Get a refund? I don't know."

"She's rich, she wouldn't need to do that." She rolled her eyes.

"I don't know. Like she said, I wasn't wearing it anymore. It was pointless for me to keep it. Maybe she wanted to keep it and wear it herself? I mean, its got her name on it so why wouldn't she wear it?" I mumbled, my eyes flickering over to Billie again. She and Luna were laughing now.

"She already has twenty thousand rings on her fingers, she can't fit anymore."

"Why don't you ask Billie why the hell she wanted it back? I have no idea!" I huffed.

"Maybe she did it just to hurt your feelings. You know, just being petty. Why don't you ask for the scrapbooks you made her back?" Hudson asked.

I shook my head quickly. "No, I don't think that's why she did it and even if that is why I wouldn't do that. I can't ask for that shit back, it'd be way too awkward."

"This whole thing is so weird. I'd advise you to burn everything she ever gave you, but I can't do that because she's my friend and you can't do that because she's still your friend." Cadence sighed. "And how the hell does that work? Are you guys still actually friends or are you just pretending to be friends but you secretly hate each other?"

"I think we're actually friends." I shrugged. "I mean, we still hang out. Most of the time it's because we need to work on our project, but then we end up watching TV or listening to music or something. I think we're still legit friends. It's not even awkward between us most of the time. It's just like how we were before we started dating except there's less flirting and...no kissing."

"That bites," Caden mumbled. "Burrito number ten."

"You're a damn liar!" Cadence spat. "Slow is steady and steady is fast, slow is steady and steady is fast, slow is steady and steady is fast."

***

"I just think it's weird that all of the sudden Billie wants to hang out with me. Just me and her." Denver narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. I pushed past him and began setting the table. Josephine is coming over today to have dinner with us.

"It's all of a sudden, not all of the sudden, and why is that weird? She just wants to spend some time with you. You guys were friends before—"

"But why now?" He questioned.

"I'm not Billie. I don't know."

"Well, why come she wants to drive an hour away rather than shopping down here? We've got baby stores in our area, why do we need to visit one an hour away?"

"Is this the type of grammar you're gonna use around your baby?" I raised my brow. "Cause if so, it's gonna turn out to be dumb as shit."

"Wow, you're already an amazing aunt."

"Thanks. The baby store she wants to take you to is really nice. It's big too. Two stories."

"So? I bet they're overpriced and they've probably got the same stuff as all the other baby stores do...Something smells fishy."

"Dad's cooking fish." I pointed toward the stove.

"Dahlia—"

"Dahmer," I smirked, knowing the use of his first name would annoy him. "Why are you acting like she's trying to kill you or something?"

"Bitch, she might be!"

"No, she's not. I already asked if she would a long time ago and she refused. She said she's too pretty to go to jail, and I agree. Even though I'm sure she'd be, like, the head of a gang and she'd have plenty of girlfriends in there..."

Hmm. I could totally see Billie in jail. I bet in an alternative universe she is in jail. We probably both are! I'd totally be her bitch in prison.

"Haha, you're so hilarious," Denny grumbled. "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this."

"Yeah, I hear you like being a bottom." I snickered.

"Shut the fuck up you little turd, did Hudson tell you that?!"

"Hey, hey, hey! We don't need that kind of talk in my Christian kitchen!" Dad cut in quickly. He brought the pan of fish over to the table and started to put it on the plates. "And no talking about who's bottoming and topping while Josephine's here."

"Who's a bottom?" Cora asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Denver." I replied.

"I—I am not! Shut up you fucking rat!"

"No, you shut up before I grab a can of raid and end your whole life, you roach!" I slapped his shoulder and moved out of the way before he could retaliate, bumping into Cora as I did.

"I'd rather be a roach than a rat!"

"—Ow! Move, you fucking chicken head!" Cora growled as she shoved me away.

"You have fleas and you look like a piece of lice!" I insulted Cora as I pushed her back. "And you look like a tick!" I pointed at Denver.

"Oh, boy, am I happy I had children," Dad mumbled sarcastically. "You're all chicken head rats and roaches who have fleas, ticks, and lice. Now get upstairs and make yourselves look like you're not annoying, demonic little insects, and don't come back down here until you do!"

He patted us all on the butt and shoved us toward the living room. "And no arguing when Josephine gets here! It's not like I'm asking you kids to love each other, but damn it, the least you can do is pretend to!"

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A/N: IM 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽SO 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽ANXIOUS👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 I 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽COULD 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽DIE👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

can't wait to update again ily.