June//Crescent City

The noise kept getting louder and louder. It was so annoying. 

"¡Por favor te puedes callar!" Nat spoke to herself as she twisted and turned, trying so hard to fall back to sleep

Never had Nat gotten jet lag, then those other times she had a full meal either on or after getting off the plane, that didn't happen this time. Her stomach groaned and rumbled so loud it awoke Nat at six in the morning. Frustrated, she gave up on sleeping in and made her away quietly to the kitchen. On the last step of the stairs, Nat froze. A figure standing at the stove, flipping pancakes with casual air. She ducked back behind the wall before being spotted by the stranger. The scent of pancakes that filled the air made Nat's mouth water, and her stomach growl louder.

No estás ayudando, thought Nat, but she couldn't go hungry. Channelling her James Bond, Natasha sneakly entered the kitchen, grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, and rushed back to the stairs. Thinking she did all that unnoticed, the sound of something dropping to the floor made her stop in her tracks. High-pitched scream that probable woke the whole household, the stranger went on the attack with a rolling pin in hand.

"Get out my house!" yelled the stranger, taking a swing at Nat's head, yet she dodged

"¡Qué carajo loca!" cried Nat

They went in circles around the kitchen island, their movements cautious and fast, like a life-sized version of Tom and Jerry. The stranger wasn't backing down, they eyes never leaving Natasha whose eyes darted around the kitchen, looking for an escape.

"¿Es así como todos los estadounidenses tratan a sus invitadas?" Nat quipped

"I don't know who you are or what you want, get, out, of, my, house, NOW!!" The stranger went for another swing at Nat, but hand intervened and blocked the rolling pin from hitting her. The hand belonged to Weston.

"Whoa sweety, calm down, it's alright," Weston said, trying to pray the rolling pin from the stranger's hands

"Calm down!! Weston, there is an intruder in our house," said the stranger - which now Nat thought was Weston's wife - with daggers in their eyes

"She's not an intruder,"

Weston could've easily taken the rolling pin from his wife, given how muscular he was, but he didn't. It seemed he was only holding his wife back from becoming all He-Man.

"I said you could sleep in," Weston spoke to the person

"How was I when my stomach hasn't had food in twelve hours?" Natasha said

"Wait! You know this intruder?" asked Weston's wife, looking at her husband

"The intrusa has a name," Natasha remarked

"Mama, Daddy?" spoke another voice, more sweet and girly

All eyes went to the stairs where three people - two boys and one girl - stood half-asleep in their PJs.

"What's going on here?" asked the one of the boys. He looked to be around the same age as Nat

Weston looked he as if he was about to burst with sweat. He could only think of one thing.

"Family meeting," he said sheepishly

****

30 minutes later...

****

"You brought a stranger into our home!"

"That woman is dangerous. How could you trust someone like that?!"

"Do you realize the risk you've put us all in?"

"We're not some charity case!"

Slumped on a sofa, nibbling a piece of pancake, Nat watch the drama unfold. Already day one, and she created a scene. She didn't want to hurt this family or cause chaos among them. They seemed like wonderful people, yet Nat was Karma's favourite chew toy. Speaking of chew toy, the family's Bernese mountain dog placed a green toy on her lap and looked at her all puppy dog eyes. Of course the dog likes you, Nat thought. She looks at the toy, then to the dog, and back to the toy utterly confused. Shooing away the jolly dog didn't work, ignoring them didn't either, so she tossed the chew toy for the dog, and they went after it.

Happy with her success of getting the dog to leave her alone, she turned back to the family meeting. It wasn't going well. Weston's wife - an African American woman with hair a platinum blonde and eyes a rich fern green - and goes by the name of Genevieve, who was going on scolding her husband. First glance, she could've passed for a twenty year old due to her lean figure, yet Nat put her to be in her late thirties -- she's probably those fitness hippies that drink healthy junk and do home workouts with Jane Fonda whilst being a stay at home mother, a triple treat. 

*Squeak* The green chew toy landed back in her lap, and the playful animal wagged its tail. Nat picked up the saliva covered toy with two fingers. Disgusting. Seeing how excited the dog got when she picked up their toy, she knew they wanted her to throw it again, so she did, further away, meaning over the grey sofa where little Indiana or Indie -- as everyone called her -- was fast asleep. Cuddling her pink teddy bear so hard it might pop its head off, she was the carbon copy of her mother yet gave off the sweet, warm vibe like her father. 

Complete opposite one of her older brothers. Having the face of his father, yet the attitude of his mother, Damien -- which is such a nerdy name, spoke words that hurt Nat's brain, not to mention he wore the most clean cut blue flannel pyjamas set. Nat bet that he wanted to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and that he had a whole ass model of the solar system in his room that moved too.

The family dog came back again, much to Nat's dislike. This time, she noticed the brown collar around their neck and the silver hexagon-shaped dog tag dangling from it. She looked closely and read the name.

"Lancelot," said Nat, the dog barked at his name

"Look, perro tonto, I don't want to play with you," Nat exclaimed, Lancelot tilted his head in confusion

Giving up, she just throws Lancelot's toy for him to fetch. Yet the dog didn't go after the toy; he just happily stared at Nat, which totally annoyed Nat.

"Stop staring at me and fetch the toy, you dumb dog!" yells Nat

"Hey, don't speak that way to Lancey!" said -- if Nat remembered his right -- Caleb, walking over to her

"No hice nada malo," said Nat

"See, how can we trust her when we can't even understand her," said Caleb

"You could ask me to translate you comedora de duendes," Nat bite back

"What did you call me?!"

"Enough!" cried Weston stepping between Natasha and Caleb, "Okay look, we all are hangry and yes, I should've spoken and consulted with you all on my decision concerning Natasha, and yes, Natasha is the daughter of Claudia," he looked at his wife as he said that, it seemed bitter for him to say

"And yes..., I did sign an NDA when I agreed to chaperoning Natasha for the summer," Weston said

"That sounds so official, I see it as me attending one of your many. What's it called? I believe it's Campamento de verano," Natasha said

The Hayes family looked utterly confused.

"Urgh, no importa, you were saying Sr. Weston," said Nat

"What I'm trying to say is that we're all going to have to make adjustments. This summer is going to be different, and it's going to be challenging, but we need to make an effort to understand each other and respected one another, being patient, and open-minded if we're to survive next," he paused, "Three months,"

And for the second time this morning, hell broke loss. Nat just smirked.