The Girl Next Door Chapter 52

“Katie, it’s time to wake up!” Sarah said early the next morning.
“Mmmph,” Kate moaned into her pillow.
“I know how much you don’t like your dad’s family, but I need you to pick them up at the airport in an hour and a half so I can finish getting things ready.”
“Who am I picking up again?” Kate asked her mom.
“Grandma Hanson, and ‘that family,’” Sarah moaned.
“Oh god,” Kate moaned. “All of them at once?”
“I know, but that wasn’t my decision.”
“I’d rather stick pins in my eyes, Mom.”
“I know, but remember most of my family comes in tomorrow, and they’re sane.”
“Yeah, and then psycho Aunt Mary and normal Uncle Paul come tomorrow too,” Kate said, referring to the rest of her dad’s family (her dad’s other sister and brother, her cousin Bobby’s dad).
“We just need to survive this week, Katie, and then it’ll be okay.”
“Can I hang out with Sidney tonight? Please, I am picking them up from the airport and I’m stuck in a car with them.”
“Sure, I don’t have a problem with it. They might, but I’ll be so sick of them already I’ll just want to piss them off some more,” Sarah said.
“Fine, I’ll get up,” Kate said, throwing the covers off as her mom left the room. She hopped in the shower, and got ready to go.
*****
Kate knew the next few days would be hell as soon as she saw her relatives come down the escalator at baggage claim. But, Kate put on her best fake smile when she saw them.
“Kate!” her cousins yelled as they ran towards her.
Kill me now, Kate thought. “Hi, you guys!” Kate gave everyone hugs as she greeted them.
“How are you, grandma?” Kate asked.
“Oh, I’m fine,” her grandma, Marie, said. “Just fine.”
“Was the flight okay?” Kate asked everyone.
“Oh, sure,” her aunt Megan said. “It wasn’t too bad.”
“Well, let’s find your bags and get home,” Kate said.
They got their bags pretty quickly, and then they walked to the car and got in. At that point, the questions began and it seemed as if they would never end.
All of them talked on the way home and by the time they got there, Kate was ready to die. She felt like she had answered a thousand questions, and having her cousin continually kick her seat hadn’t helped much either. She greeted her mom with the look of death as they unloaded the bags.
“Do you guys have your pool open?” Andrew asked.
“Yes, Andrew, it’s open,” Sarah said.
“We’ll go in it later, Andrew,” Megan said. “But let’s unpack first.”
At that moment, Kate got a text message. It was from Sidney.
“Are you dead yet?” it said.
Kate laughed, and typed back, “Almost.”
Sidney was about to go out to lunch with Ray Shero, and was also being interviewed by the media about worlds and everything else that had happened since he had left Pittsburgh over a month ago.
“What’s so funny Katie?” Jack asked, peering at her phone.
“Oh, nothing,” she said as she clicked it shut.
She helped her relatives move their bags inside and to their rooms. Her aunt, uncle, and cousins were staying in one room and her grandma in another on the 3rd floor. Her dad’s brother and sister that were coming tomorrow would be staying at a hotel, along with some of Sarah’s family that was coming tomorrow too. Her mom’s mom, her Grandma Grengs, and her godmother (her mom’s sister Sue) her husband Larry and their daughter Kristen would be staying at the house, and taking up the final rooms, since Neal would be coming home on Friday for her graduation on Saturday (his graduation was the following weekend). Kate unwillingly spent the afternoon with her relatives, and Sidney called her around four to say that he was heading home.
“Hey Mom, can he come pick me up in half an hour?” Kate asked her mom as she watched her cousins in the pool.
“Sure, not a problem,” her mom told her. Then, her mom leaned in and whispered, “Stay out as long as you want. Your dad will be coming home soon, so I won’t have to deal with them by myself for too much longer.”
“Thanks Mom.”
Twenty minutes later, Kate got up and got ready to go out, and ten minutes later, she was waiting in the driveway for Sidney. He pulled up, and Kate hopped in, thankful to get away from her relatives.