Chapter 21

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"Nooooo!" Melanie screamed as she ran across the room with me behind her.

"Get back here!" I yelled as I chased after her across the room.

We ran around for a while till she finally ran out of breath and stopped next to the table. I hurriedly took hold of her and popped the pills into her mouth.

She gagged when the pills hit her throat and then I hurriedly uncapped the bottle and forced her to chug down the water.

"Guh, not fair.." she grumbled as she wiped her mouth.

"Well, it could have been easier but you chose to do it the hard way." I said with a shrug as I put the bottle back down on the table and sat down.

"Humph!" she humped stubbornly and sat down in the corner.

"Does this happen every time?" Henry asked as he stared at me with wide eyes.

"Melanie doesn't get sick a lot, but yes, this happens every time." I said as I stared back at him with a heavy gaze. "And stop looking at me like that."

"Wow, must be hard dealing with her then." Henry said with a small laugh.

*sigh* "It's probably harder for her to deal with me but, let's stop fooling around and get to work." I said as I stood up and stretched my arms.

"Right." Henry said and stood up as well.

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We sorted through all the books that were arriving. We had been working for almost four hours straight when Veronica decided it was time for a break.

I sat down on the grass with a sigh. The grass was illuminated in a golden light as the sun set down on the horizon.

"Guess we should head back now." Marcus said as he sat down next to me.

"Hmm." I hummed in response.

We sat for a couple of minutes in the cold breeze. Marcus stood up a second later and reached out his hand to me.

Taking it, I stood up and stood there for a couple of minutes while Marcus went inside.

Jason walked up to me with his hands at his back. He stood next to me for a couple of seconds before speaking.

"So, is Melanie OK?" He asked with a concerned tone.

"She's got a small fever, but other than that she's fine." I answered taking a deep breath.

"Oh, Ok, that's good to hear." he said and I could tell he was fumbling with his hands without even checking.

"Anyways, let's head back inside now. We should head back by now." I said and walked back to the door.

Stepping inside, I bumped into Marcus. Jason walked in behind me as Marcus apologized.

Just as Marcus's eyes landed on him, he sent a faint glare his way. I could feel tension brewing between them as I looked over at Jason and saw that he was glaring back.

I'm not liking my position here between the two. They looked like a cat and dog about to jump each other.

"Uhhmm, so are we leaving?" I asked Marcus with a small chuckle. What are these two even brooding over? Meh.

"Yeah, let's go." Marcus said with a small smile as he turned to me again.

He glared at Jason again as we passed him on our way out.

On the ride back, I rode ahead of the two who were glaring at each other. They were like that the entire ride back.

Stopping the peddles, I got off on the Willow house lawn and hurriedly left my bike to the side.

I ran inside and stepped upstairs. Since Melanie was sick we had sent her back with Finn a while back. I'd asked her to feed the babies since I wouldn't make it back in time, so I was very concerned.

Especially about the fact that Melanie was sick and I had asked her to look after the children when I should have asked her to rest.

I strode across the hall into the nursery to find everyone sound asleep.

I looked around at the table and saw that Melanie and Aliana were sitting there with their heads down.

Sighing, I walked up to them and patted them on the back.

They both looked up at the sudden motion of movement with a look of surprise.

I walked Melanie over to my room and made her lie down on the bed. Then I went over to Aliana and sat next to her at the table.

"Hey, should I drop you back?" I asked as I put a hand over her shoulder.

"No, I'll be fine." she said with a yawn as she sat up straight in her seat.

I sat next to her as she stretched her arms with a big yawn.

"You sure you'll be fine?" I asked with a worried expression.

"Yup, I'll be good. You should go rest as well." she said as she stood up and walked over to the door.

"Fine, fine." I said and got up and walked out behind her.

I walked behind her downstairs and up to the door.

"Bye." I said with a yawn.

"Good night." Aliana said and walked out into the dark.

I closed the door and went back upstairs to my room. Walking inside, I stared at Melanie who was sleeping on my bed and sighed.

I walked back downstairs and went to the lounge. I wasn't feeling so tired right now so I picked up a book from the shelf and sat down on the couch.

I sat reading and then fell asleep a while later right where I was.

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I woke up to some movement in the lounge and decided to ignore it and go back to sleep.

Just a second later, someone picked me up and started carrying out upstairs.

I opened my eyes a crack and looked up and saw that it was Marcus. For some reason he was wearing a mask.

I just closed my eyes and relaxed. What was the mask for anyway? Meh.

Marcus set me down on my bed in my room a minute later and tucked me in. He left after that. Hmm. Meh.

I just rolled over and went back to sleep.

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"Hey, wake up!"