Targeting the Teacher

Part 20

Chapter 20

The glares on their faces didn’t waver an inch as Amy smiled up at them, and she felt a sudden urge to pull her hand out of Jaxon's.  Tightening her grip in determination, her smile only widened.  There was a problem though.  Her parents saw right through that smile; they had been able to from the beginning.  That meant they knew something was wrong.  They knew, without a doubt, that everything hadn’t turned out as Amy had wanted it to.

Her smile dropped a little despite the fact that she was doing everything she could to keep it in place.  Everyone staring down at them saw the action, and those glares softened a little as if they wanted her to realize they weren’t meant for her.  She wanted to roll her eyes at the lot of them, because no matter what she did, she knew they wouldn’t give her a look filled with so much dislike, and the fact that they were sending one to Jaxon ate at her nerves the longer that she stood there.

She glanced towards her brothers and was shocked to see a variety of emotions on their faces.  Whereas she had expected glares to match her parents, some of them actually looked amused.  Carson seemed to be taking in everyone else’s expression while a small smile pulled at the corner of his own lips.  Spencer just looked amused by the entire show down.  Logan looked at her apologetically, and she knew that he finally realized the real reason why she hadn’t wanted to ride home with him.  She turned away from him, looking at her older brother, who, with a small amount of relief, she realized was glaring at Jaxon.

What Jaxon had done to win over Carson and Spencer, Amy didn’t have a clue, but as soon as she got those brothers alone, she was going to ask them.  She put the thought to the back of her mind, knowing it’d come back later on, and focused on the people in front of her.  Her father, with his curly mop of red hair and green eyes, had a glare on his face that would send most men running for the hills.  Beside him, with her shortly cropped black hair and bright blue eyes, her mother looked just as ready to defend her daughter, if there was anything to defend her from.

“I see where you get your height.”

Everyone’s eyes widened when the words slipped out of Jaxon’s mouth, and by the shocked expression on the man’s face, he hadn’t meant for them to do so.  Amy turned towards him, and despite the tension in the air, a small laugh escaped her mouth.  “I tell Dad all the time that he should have married a taller woman, maybe I wouldn’t look like a kid when I’m standing next to the rest of them.”

Her mom glanced between Amy and Jaxon, and seeing something she must have liked, smiled largely.  “And I tell Amy countless times that the men need to feel like they have something over us.  God made us short because we’re better than them in every other way.”  Her mom winked at the long standing joke, and just like that, the tension in the air left, filling with laughter.

Despite the joke, there was an underlining truth to her mother’s words.  Maybe she was being a little bias, but to her, Amy’s mother was wonderful personified.  The woman had been her role model throughout life, showing Amy how someone who came from almost nothing could amount to something more.  She was the reason why Amy kept fighting.  She was the reason why Amy would never give up. 

“Come on,” her father said, with his slight Irish burr that he inherited from his grandfather.  “They have all of your rooms ready for you.  I know you all must be tired.”  When Amy opened her mouth to protest, her father raised an eyebrow at her.  “Don’t tell me you aren’t, Amy Lynn, I can see it in your eyes.”

“Amy Lynn?” Jaxon said with slight amusement in his voice.

“Jaxon Franklin,” Logan shot back, making Jaxon’s amusement instantly die down to something more wary.