Hello! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! There's a lot of moving parts so try to keep up!!

I'm replying to everyone's comments for the next 48hrs and maybe more.

Who watched Hamilton on Disney+?? I didn't because I don't have Disney+ but I watched it live a couple years ago and I'm obsessed!!! Do you have a favorite song?

|| Chapter 23 ||

Our annual fourth of July party was in full swing by one in the afternoon. Dad and all his buddies were by the grill, cooking up a thousand different meat options while mom and her friends were setting up the salads and drinking cocktails.

Aunt Jenna is sitting with our three-year-old cousin, her son, Baby Josh, on the grass with a few toys around him. Abigail, our other cousin who is thirteen years old is standing with Maddie and her friends as they slide down the slip 'n slide my mother ordered off Amazon that has a small inflated pool attached to it. Sebastian and his friends, including Nathan, are jumping on the jumping castle throwing plush dodgeballs at Charlotte and her friends. Harry and a few of his childhood friends are playing a 'non-alcoholic' version, yeah right, of beer pong and Natalie, his girlfriend is surprisingly beating them all.

"I'm just like, in shock," Addison laughs breathlessly as she looks around my backyard. "I mean, you're rich, rich."

I roll my eyes with a small smile on my face, "Not a big deal, we don't like to flaunt it."

She leans her head back as she looks me in the eyes, opening her arms widely, gesturing to the yard, "Right because I mean six acres of property in California isn't a statement enough." She spins around on one foot taking it all in again, "What do your parents do again?"

"Mom's a neurosurgeon, dad owns a law firm," I shrug, trying to make it sound as uncool as possible.

"Fuck, I'm not smart enough for those jobs," she laughs, taking a sip of her soda.

I wave to my Aunt Jenna as we walk passed her and Addison coos over Baby Josh. "So, let me make sure I have all the information; Harry is the oldest, lives in San Francisco with his girlfriend," I nod my head, "Charlotte goes to Columbia in New York City, super fucking cool just by the way. Sebastian goes to school in Florida for engineering and he chose to be closer to his girlfriend, who is also Charlotte's best friend, Olivia?" She looks over and I nod my head impressed. "And Sophie is his twin who is dating his best friend Cole, and they look a-dorable just saying," she points over and I watch Sophie tackle Cole making him yell out and fall backwards onto the bottom of the jumping castle. "The there's Maddie, the bad bitch of the family even though she's ten."

"I mean Sebastian would fight you over giving Maddie the title of 'Bad Bitch' but yeah, you got it all right." She throws a fist in the air in celebration.

We walk further down the grassy hill, "Okay, now where are your friends? I'm dying to meet them, "Loretta would not shut up about your friends, and your family, apparently your family members are like legends in this town, just in case you didn't know," she winks, nudging me with her elbow and I roll my eyes.

A whistle breaks my train of thoughts as Isaac walks up to us with a glass in his hands, "Damn, your family really knows how to party."

I chuckle lightly, "Yeah." Addison stands there quietly a genuine smile on her face. "Isaac this is Addison, she just moved here."

Addison smiles brightly, holding her hand out for Isaac to shake. "You're the guy from the gas station! I'm the kidnapper!" She says this with such a cheery voice that Isaac seems a little lost for a few seconds before a smile breaks out on his face.

"A pleasure to meet you," his smile is a little flirtatious as he grabs her hand, shaking it. She lets go and her face is unfazed by Isaac's charm.

"I'm just going to run to the bathroom quickly, give me two minutes," she says to me, patting my arm and running up the porch steps.

"She's cute," Isaac comments, watching her run inside.

"Theresa," I cringe at the sound of my name and turn around to face my grandparents from my fathers side.

"Delilah," I nod my head curtly, trying to stand in front of Isaac to save him from their glares.

My grandparents don't like it when we call them 'grandma or grandpa' so we've opted for using their first names when addressing them which doesn't affect me since I don't have a relationship with them.

We stand awkwardly together and I don't offer up any words, hoping they'll just leave me alone if I'm quiet long enough.

Isaac steps forward, a polite smile on his face and his hand outstretched to my grandfather, "Hi, I'm Isaac, Tessa's friend."

Jacob stares at Isaac's hand looking like he's physically in pain at the idea of shaking his hand and Delilah just tilts her nose in the air, turning away.

I glare at my grandfather, "He's waiting for you to shake his hand, like a grown man."

Delilah sucks in a shocked breath and Jacob lifts his hand to shake Isaac's quickly before letting ago. Isaac glances at me out of the corner of my eye but I keep my gaze on my grandparents.

"Are you still training for your sports? Your father said you decided to take a break to relax this summer, pity if you ask me, so much potential gone to waste." Delilah's soft voice is filled with nothing but venom.

"Good thing I didn't ask," I reply. Isaac coughs loudly.

"Well Theresa, with the grades you have, you'll need to focus more on your sports if you have any hope of attending a good college," she says, smiling in a condescending way.

"Tessa, will attend whatever college she feels like, Delilah," My mom's mom, Grandma Vicky, places her arm around my shoulder and I smile leaning into her warmth.

"Yes of course, Victoria, I was only suggesting she place her priorities in the correct places," Delilah admonishes my grandmother's comment, wave her hand dismissively.

"Tessa's priorities are wherever she needs to put them, and she can do that without your help," Grandma Vicky says, squeezing my shoulder. She looks down at me, "Tess, Darling, mom asks if you could grab some more sodas from the garage."

"Sure, Grandma," I hug her and grab Isaac's arm, pulling him with me, looking over my shoulder only once to see Grandma glare at Delilah.

"Damn, who are those people?" He asks in confusion, stumbling after me into the house.

"Those people, are my grandparents, on my fathers side," I reply stiffly, walking through the spotless living room.

Isaac whistles with a grin, "Well they're a little high maintenance, huh?"

I stop and look at him with a serious expression, "They're racist, Isaac, that's why they didn't want to shake your hand."

His smile drops slowly, "Oh."

"Which is why my family hates them, we don't consider them family, just embarrassments," I smile at him and lead him into the garage with me.

We grab the sodas from a shelf and head back inside through the kitchen. The doorbell rings as we're walking through the hallway so I quickly turn around, telling Isaac to find my mother to put them where they need to go while I open the door.

Drew is standing there with two bags in his hands and a smile on his face. His eyes are covered from his signature aviators. "Hey."

I pull open the door wider, "Hey, what's in the bags?"

His grin turns mischievous, "Surprises." He opens his arms to me and I walk into them, hugging him tightly.

"Where's your mom?" I ask, looking over his shoulder for any signs of the She-devil.

He sighs, letting go and walking further into the house, keeping the bags in his hands, "Work, where else." Not a question.

"It's a holiday though."

"She knows," he says, following me to the backyard. He looks around the backyard with a small smile on his face at everyone just having a good time.

"Drew! It is so good to see you, Honey," my mothers voice drifts from the patio table as she stands up and comes over, pulling Drew into a tight hug. He returns it as best as he can with the bags in his arms. My mother pulls away, looking up at Drew, "You, mister, need to visit more, we miss you."

He just smiles, his face blushing slightly at the attention. He opens his mouth to say something but my mother gasps, quickly walking away, "Oh no, Olivia is talking to your fathers parents, one minute-OLIVIA!"

I look over in the direction she walked in and laugh at the horrified face my grandparents are sporting while Olivia smiles innocently, flicking a piece of hair over her shoulder. Sebastian is standing further away with some of his friends but has an eye on Olivia in case anything happens.

"Gotta love Liv," Drew shrugs with a grin, pulling my attention as we walk down the patio steps and further into the backyard where my friends are sitting in a circle. Addison is sitting with them, Isaac next to her meaning he must have brought her with him to meet everyone.

"Where's Brianna?" I ask him, thinking they would come together since I did invite her too, since I'm not a complete bitch all the time.

"Had a family thing," I nod my head absentmindedly, "I also told her not to come," my head perks up at those words and I find him smiling at me, "I needed to spend some time with my bestie anyway," he grins when I punch his arm at the term 'bestie'.

|| ✨ ||

It's a couple hours since Drew arrived and we're still sitting in the same circle they were sitting in. We jumped on the jumping castle for a while and some of the boys decided to try out the slip 'n slide. Drew's surprise ended up being water guns that were shortly taken away from us when Mateo accidentally sprayed a kid in the face and he started crying. Now, I have the honor of looking after Baby Josh since my Aunt decided that's what underage cousins were for when she wants to get drunk.

"Man, Baby Josh is a ladies man!" Jesse yells, hyping up the toddler in my arms while Alyssa, Addison and Kendall coo over Baby Josh who grins and hides his face in my neck. "Get it, boy!"

I scoff, brushing a hand over Baby Josh's curly brown hair, "He's a literal child, Jesse."

"With mad game, Tess. I mean look, the girls haven't even looked our way since he came here. Can I borrow him on a day out sometime?"

I glare across the space, "You are not using my little cousin as a chick magnet."

Baby Josh climbs over my legs and runs into the middle of the circle, looking around the space. He sees Drew, who he has met over the years and stumbles right into his arms with a giggle. Drew smile is wide as he leans back and lifts Baby Josh into the air making him laugh loudly. The girls pout at his cuteness and I just roll my eyes with a smile on my face.

A shout interrupts us and I see Sebastian sprinting over to me, frantically waving his arms in the air with Sophie and Charlotte next to him. My eyebrows furrow in confusion but they widen when I see Harry hand his drink to Natalie and sprint towards the patio.

I'm starting to push myself onto my knees to get up, glancing at my friends who are either looking around alarmed or confused. Sebastian stops behind me and puts his hands under my arms pulling me to my feet so fast I pitch forward and face plant in the grass. "Questions later, Aunt Ingrid's here," he silences any incoming questions from me as I slowly start to realise what's about to go down and start sprinting toward the patio.

I skip the steps two at a time and come to a casual holt at the top, slipping a hand in my pocket, stepping next to Harry, brushing some hair out of my face. Sebastian has his hands on his knees, breathing deeply forcing me to put a fist against my mouth to stop the laugh trying to escape.

"Anything good?" I ask under my breath to Harry.

He shakes his head subtly, his eyes observing the people around us. "She's just walked outside, talking to mom." He nods his head in the direction of my mother's strained smile while she talks to a stiff Ingrid, my fathers twin sister.

"How's our competitor looking?" Sebastian asks, eyeing Aunt Jenna, who seems to be on her second cocktail. She hasn't noticed Ingrid yet from the tipsy smile on her face as she talks to Nathan's mother Katherine.

"Not drunk enough to start a fight but definitely tipsy enough to insult," I remark, keeping a trained eye on the scene.

My brothers are standing on either side of me, arms folded across their chests just like me as we watch and wait with black facial expressions. Sophie and Charlotte, who are not taking this situation seriously, are standing by the buffet table, shoving their mouths. Maddie is lying on a lounge chair on the grass with her friends and Abigail.

"Everyone, this is Ingrid, my sister-in-law," my mother announces to her friends that are seated round the patio table.

Ingrid doesn't wave but nods her head once in greeting. Some of the women don't really know what to do so they just wave politely. My eye is on Aunt Jenna as a scowl graces her face, because she's already two drinks in she has no filter anymore...not that she had one to begin with.

Aunt Jenna stands up and Sebastian grips my arm tightly in suspense. "Ingrid, how great that you could make it," the sarcasm dripping from Aunt Jenna's words makes me grin. She look down at her bare arm pretending to look at a watch, "four hours late."

Ingrid's hands are joined and resting against her stomach, "Yes well, when you have an actual job, sacrifices must be made."

My mother sucks in a breath, glancing back and forth between her biological sister and Satan's reincarnation of a sister-in-law, her eyes wide.

"How is being a teacher, not an actual job, hm? Explain that logic for me," Aunt Jenna walks closer to Aunt Ingrid, her face pinched in annoyance.

Ingrid, being the uncultured person that she is, actually goes to open her mouth to explain it when my dad steps onto the patio. "Ingrid, glad you could make it."

Three collective groans come from my brothers and I. Charlotte and Sophie roll their eyes. A gust of wind blows over the patio and I tug my shirt down, trying not to put a show on for everyone surrounding.

"Why does he have to ruin everything?" I ask, holding the wooden ledge as we walk down the patio steps, knowing with my father there, that nothing of interest is going to be happening anytime soon.

We all stand at the bottom of the steps in a circle, deciding on watch times in case anything happens that we don't want to miss. My mother walks down the steps slowly, her eyebrows pinched. Sophie decides to take first watch and all the other siblings dissipate and go back to their friends.

"Tessa." My mothers voice is clipped.

"Yeah?" I ask warily, not sure what is going on.

She folds her arms across her chest, "Do me a favor and lift your shirt up for me."

I start to lift my shirt up but then remember that I actually have a tattoo and that's probably not the wisest thing to do right now so I quickly tug it back down.

"Tessa, what was that?" My mother asks, biting her lip with an expectant expression on her face as she waits for me to answer.

My lips purse, "A shirt?" I smile innocently at her but her face only gets angrier.

"Underneath the shirt."

Fuck me.

"Just Sharpie, you know I love drawing with Sharpies," I answer casually, shrugging my shoulders.

She stares at my face for a few seconds but I don't give anything away, I don't even blink. She gasps, letting her jaw drop, "You got a tattoo?"

"What? Where the hell did you get that from, I didn't even blink!"

"You're my child I don't have to blink to know your words are full of bullshit," she hisses, walking over to me and lifting up my shirt, staring at my hip. "You, young lady are in so much shit."

"Woah, cool tat Tess," Aunt Jenna decides that moment to come up behind my mom, looking at the tattoo on my otherwise bare skin.

My mother whips her head to face her sister, a glare on her face, "Jen."

Aunt Jenna raises her hands in the air, "What? You're going to tell me I'm wrong?" My mother rolls her eyes, shoving her sister to the side.

"You're on slip 'n slide duty until I decide what to do with you," she points to the slip 'n slide where all the kids are messing around.

"Mom, come on-."

"Don't you start with me, go." I slump my head in defeat and slump over to the slide. "And I want your fake ID on my desk before you go to bed tonight, that's right I know your ways, evil child of mine."

I groan loudly, throwing my arms in the air in my little tantrum.

"Whine like that again and I'll pull the baby album out for all your little friends, try me." Her threat makes me shut my mouth and stand up straight, walking over to the slip n' slide where Maddie and her friends have decided to come back. I pick up the hose pipe and water the blue mat.

"More soap, Tessa!" Maddie demands and I raise an eyebrow silently, waiting. She huffs, "Please?"

I lean back, holding the hose pipe in one hand, aiming for the mat and bend to pick up the giant bottle of soap, squirting it onto the mat, making it more slippery.

"Oh man it sucks to be you right now," Harry laughs. He comes to stand next to me, his hands in the pockets of his Khaki shorts. His friends are standing behind him, chatting amongst themselves.

"Shut up," I growl, the urge to spray him with the hose pipe almost impossible to control. He would just freak that I wet his fancy clothes.

"Ouch, good one," he snorts, folding his arms across his chest. "You should have hid it better."

"You should have hid it better," I mock in a baby voice, refusing to look at him.

Harry laughs, poking me in the chest, "Looks like the delinquent finally got caught."

I grab Harry's hand and twist it, shoving him so hard that he slips on the water slide. He moves quickly, flailing his arms around while the other kids stand and watch in amusement.

A few parents have stopped to watch, mom is laughing at him with dad shaking his head, a small smile on his face. Aunt Jenna is shoving her husband, Ian to the side so that she can zoom her camera in on Harry. Aunt Ingrid and my dads parents are scowling with their noses upturned like the arrogant and obnoxious people they are.

Harry hits the inflated pool attached to the slide and flops around in the water for a few seconds before getting his bearings and pulling himself up into a standing position, dripping wet. He's got bubbles all over his body as he carefully climbs out of the pool and walks up the hill, his fingers clenched into fists and his anger directed at me.

I have a fat smug smile on my face when he stops in front of me staring down at me like I'm tiny and not three inches shorter than him.

"What. The. Hell?" He speaks slowly, the words coming through his gritted teeth.

I place a hand on his wet shirt covered shoulder, the smile only getting better, "Payback for throwing me in a pool when I was drunk, big brother."

He mouth drops open, "That was a week ago."

I shrug one shoulder, "I hold grudges, you should know that by now." I look over my shoulder at Sebastian who is slowly shuffling to stand behind Olivia. I raise an eyebrow mischievously and he visibly gulps. That's right, fear me brother.

"The curse lives on!" Sophie announces with a laugh, holding onto Cole so she doesn't fall over.

"Harry, you got a little some thing riiiight" Olivia trails off, gesturing to her chin.

Harry has a particularly large bunch of bubbles on his face but he just flips her off, earning a reprimand from Grandma Vicky and a burst of laughter from Grandpa Joe.

The Hayes siblings cheer loudly, high fiving. Natalie has a towel in her hands, already helping get some of the bubbles off. Maddie stands to the side with a smirk on her face, watching her oldest brother. Nathan has his arms around Charlotte's waist, he's whispering something in her ear and she's laughing, leaning into his embrace. Good to see that that is working out.

A whistle breaks the entertainment and I whip my head towards the patio where Johnathan, Olivia's father, is motioning Olivia to come over with a wave of his hand.

Olivia's grins the excitement coming off of her in waves as she pushes herself away from Sebastian, jogging towards her father. Charlotte's expression is distraught and she turns her head into Nathan's shoulder. Sebastian starts scrambling for somewhere to hide but opts to drag Cole back into the jumping castle with his friends.

Drew comes to stand next to me, with a few other friends including Isaac and Addison. "What's happening now?" Isaac asks.

"I don't know about you guys but I am living for this drama," Addison laughs shaking with excitement.

"There better be Tequila at this party or I'm leaving!" My mouth drops open and I twist around, looking at the patio to see a hunched figure with a cane walking outside.

"Izzy."

|| ✨ ||

GRANDMA IZZY IS BACK BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes I regret making so many characters... so hard to keep up with all of them XD

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think!!

Until next time,

Sammipott xx