Around noon we were all fresh and ready. Jamie and Jessa bonded quickly and seem to share the same dislikes. I now see what Jimmy meant by Jessa being similar to Jamie. Judy was sad that we were going but I promised her that we would meet soon. She gave me a tight hug as we left.
"Seems someone likes you," Ri whispered in my ear as we were moving towards the car.
"Yeah, we share a mutual love for cars-"
"I wasn't talking about Judy." She said and glanced towards Jimmy who quickly looked away. I did the same trying to hide my blush.
"I don't know what you are talking about," I said and averted my gaze. Where is Jessa, can't she unlock the car already!
Ri gasped.
"What happened?" I asked
"You tell me! What happened between you two? Jimmy can't keep his eyes off you and you look like a bright red tomato." She gasped again " Did you-"
"No Ri, nothing happened! Leave it."
She smirked and wiggled her eyebrows.
"You are a bad liar. Just wait till I tell Jessa that you kissed, oh it's going to be fun."
"Are you kidding me, Jessa will kill both of us!"
"Ha! You didn't deny anything." She said and started laughing.
Shit.
"Ri at least wait till we are alone and Jimmy is not in hitting distance"
She laughed again.
"Awww, don't worry sweetie. I won't do that to you."
I breathed out in relief.
"Ok, let's go," Jessa said while waving to Judy.
We all piled inside her car with me and her in the front and Ri and Jimmy in the back seat.
Throughout the ride, Ri was giving both me and Jimmy weird kissy faces whenever Jessa wasn't looking.
I was getting more anxious as we were nearing the place.
I leaned back on the car once we stopped. Jimmy closed the car door and stood beside me and grasped my hands.
I suddenly felt a lot calmer.
He squeezed my hand but didn't let go.
"Shall we?"
He said while sweeping his hand towards the entrance.
I weekly nodded my head and we moved inside.
All my cousins were there and so was Ashu, they were standing in a semicircle in the doorway with their hands crossed in front of their chests as if waiting for me. Their expressions ranged from a frown to anger to sadness. Even Alex looked angry and he never does.
My friends thoughtfully stepped aside and so did Jimmy.
I glared at them.
Wussies.
"We saw you from my room's window," Sasha answered and then sighed and engulfed me in a hug.
"We were so worried, why didn't you tell us anything?" She said while stepping back.
"Guys I am fi-"
"Grace what happened to your feet?" Ashu asked. He looked the maddest of all.
"It's nothing," I said and tried not to wince because standing hurts.
"Listen guys I am sorry I didn't tell you and you have the full right to be mad at me-"
"Who said we are mad at you?"Peter said and others murmured in agreement.
"You are not?" I tilted my head in confusion.
"no honey. But who we are really mad at is grandma and believe me she sure must be regretting everything she did. Special thanks to Markus." Shasha smirked
Everyone snickered.
Oh no, what did they do?
"We still don't know the full story but we knew enough that we were happy to contribute." Markus winked at me and high-fived peter.
"Who is that?" Alex asked while pointing towards Jimmy.
I turned towards him.
"You want to tell or should I?" I asked him
"Let's see if these idiots have a good memory or not."
"Did he just call us idiots?" Peter asked while squinting his eyes at Jimmy.
Jimmy raised his hand for Peter to shake. Peter still squinting shook his hand.
I don't know how he did it but one moment they were there shaking hands and the next peter was on the ground with his hand twisted behind his back and Jimmy's left knee on his back.
I think everyone in the room was shocked except Markus and Ashu.
"I thought you looked familiar," Markus said after Jimmy helped peter get up.
"I am always going to regret not taking those defense classes with you," Peter said.
"Welcome back dude," Ashu said and gave him one of those bro hugs where they side hug and pat each other's back.
"I will get back to you, now come here," Peter said and hugged Jimmy.
"Is that really Jimmy? The who had a cru-, I mean the one who crushed those middle schooler's nose? Look at you all tall and hot." She hugged him too and then whispered something in his ear to which he nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.
"If you guys are done with the hugs we have a group of adults waiting for us in the common room," Lucy said.
Always the smart one.
"Oh right, everyone is kind of waiting for you to come back," Sasha said.
"Then what are we waiting for, lets humiliate someone a little more," Peter smirked and rubbed his palms together.
"Hey, Alex!" I called.
"Yeah?"
"Can you take Ri, Jessa, Jimmy, and all other little kids somewhere far away from the common room? I don't want them to hear."
"Sure." He said.
I looked at Jimmy and gave him what I hoped was an encouraging smile.
"I have heard so much about you!" I heard Alex say as he reached Jimmy. Alex was behaving like he was Jimmy's biggest fan.
I saw them going towards the garden and then made my way towards the common room.
"Please make this bearable." I closed my eyes and mumbled before opening the door.
The room was packed. All my uncles and aunts were sitting around my grandma, who was sitting in the center.
This looked more like a courtroom than a common room. I almost laughed out loud when I saw Grandma Hilda.
