CH 1
“Damnit!” Gia cursed as she slammed the palm of her hand over the tiny button on her persistently buzzing alarm clock. “Hey!” Marcus said. Gia rolled over in bed and sleepily looked at him. “Sorry.” She muttered. “You should get ready for school Gia, you need to leave in an hour.” Marcus said. “I know that, look you don’t have to wake me up, I’m used to getting myself up and going in the morning.” Gia said. Marcus shrugged. “Yeah well it’s going to take me a while to figure all this out. I’m not really sure what to do.” He said. “I know Marcus, you’re doing great.” Gia said as she sat up in bed and smiled at him. “OK well I’m going to get breakfast ready for when Jake wakes up.” Marcus said. Gia looked at him in shock. “You would do that? You don’t have to, I can when I’m done getting ready.” Gia said. Marcus smirked at her. “Gia stop, we’re going to help each other out OK? We’re a family, that’s what they do, they do things for each other.” He said. Gia laughed. “Really? That’s what families do?” She joked. Marc smiled. “Yeah, now get ready and then come get some breakfast OK?” he said. Gia nodded her head and thanked him.
Gia came downstairs, dressed in her uniform skirt, as her wardrobe was very limited, and small black baby tee, with her baby doll shoes on her feet, and short black socks instead of her stocking's. She would need to go shopping for some new clothes. Gia headed into the room that Marcus had set up for Jake. It was his old weight room, it was pretty small, but big enough for Jake. She glanced inside and saw that he wasn’t in his crib. That’s when she noticed the sound of his voice coming from the other end of the house. She approached her brother’s kitchen and stepped inside. “No I don’t have pop tarts but I have waffles and eggs.” Marcus said as he carried Jake around his kitchen. Gia smiled at them. “But I want Pop Tarts.” Jake whined, in a slurred style of talking that few could really understand because of his age. “Well how about this, we have waffles this morning and when I go to the market today, I’ll get some Pop Tarts OK?” Marcus said. “Kay.” Jake nodded in agreement. Marcus turned around at the sound of Gia’s chuckle. “Hey baby girl, do you want some waffles too?” He asked. Jake squealed when he saw his sister and Marc let him down. “Yes please Marcus.” Gia glanced up at him before she picked up Jake. “Lets go get you dressed buddy.” She said as she hugged him. Jake nodded and Gia took him to get dressed.
“OK so I can pick him up from Carol’s after work so you don’t need to rush to get back or anything. You just need to get him there because I won’t have time.” Marcus said as he handed Jake to Gia after breakfast. “Thank you Marcy.” she looked up at him. He smiled at her. “You haven’t called me that in years.” He said. Gia blushed slightly. “Do you need me to go to the market after school?” she asked. “No I can do it. You don’t have to do anything but drop Jake off at Carol’s and then go to school. Now stop worrying about it.” Marcus walked up and kissed her forehead. Gia nodded her head and smiled softly. “Well I’ll see you after school then.” Gia said. “Have a good day baby girl.” He said before he walked away.
Gia hadn’t heard from her boyfriend in a week, she promised that she would keep to herself for a while. She knew that his father was leery about letting him see her and she wanted to give him some time to catch up on some of his studies. So the fact that she was going to school today would be a surprise for Nikolas and she was looking forward to his reaction.
Gia hadn’t felt this carefree in so long, despite the fact that she had to go by her old house when she dropped off Jake. But leaving him went surprisingly easy. He was excited to see his old caregiver and was eager to play with his old friends. She walked casually to the bus stop now. She looked around and hoped to see Zander but didn’t see him anywhere. She got on a new bus, and looked around, she looked for an empty seat and took it; she sat down and gazed out the window as the bus moved to its destination.