Trouble-Maker

"Atticus," I heard my father shout as I walked through the front door of his Pasadena, California home, "Is that you?"

I nodded as I spoke, hopping up the stairs. "Yeah Dad, it's me."

I wandered into the baby's room and grinned at my dark-haired half sister as she slept soundly in her crib, her little ringlets framing her face. "Can you get the baby?" Dad called just as I picked her up and cradled her carefully in my arms, trying not to wake her up.

I carried her into my father's room without a word. He was standing, peering into his closet, trying to find something nice to wear and didn't turn around when he heard my footsteps. "Will you get Nico for me, Att?" he asked, fiddling with one of his cufflinks.

I chuckled and walked up behind him. "I'm already on it."

Dad turned around and smiled gratefully. He then walked over and pressed a kiss to my forehead like he had been doing since I was little. "I don't know what I would do with out you, Atti. Lord knows Max and Frida don't help out one bit around here."

I shrugged. "They're young. They don't need these responsibilities."

Dad gave me a passive look and then spoke. "You're young too, you should be out having fun instead of watching your baby sister all the time. But thank you again." He said quickly as he shuffled me out of the room and shut the door. "Can you drive Frida over to her friends house for me? I'm running late. I have a meeting with an old friend today. He and his band finally agreed to get on the label." He spoke through his bedroom door, knowing I was standing out there still.

I groaned and shook my head, my brown hair flying out around me and then landing back on my shoulders, "Can't Max do it?"

"Nope," Another voice spoke from my left side and I rolled my eyes at my 17 year old brother Max, who was just wandering around in his sweatpants, his curly hair in tangles that he didn't bother to care about.

I cocked my hip. "And why not, Maxamilian? It's not like you have anything better to do."

He attempted to run his fingers through his hair. "Actually," he started, "I do." Then he walked off towards the stairs and disappeared down them, in the general direction of the kitchen.

I groaned once again but then took a deep breath as the baby began to wake up in my arms. I grinned down at the one year old as she opened her eyes, revealing her brown, almost black, Gurewitz eyes.

"Morning, sweetheart," I murmured as she yawned.

I told my Dad that I would be right back and then I turned around and when back into Nico's room. I set her down on her bed and began picking out clothes for the almost two year old. About 20 minutes later, she was dressed in jeans, a tutu, and her favorite princess shirt. I grabbed her hand and walked to my dad's room again.

"We're leaving!" I called through the door.

Dad called out quickly, in between brushing his teeth, "Take Frida with you!"

I didn't say a word but instead wandered down the left side of the hallway and stopped at the second door on the right. I reached up with my free hand and banged on the door loudly. "Frida, you better be up and ready to go to your friend's house within the next two minutes or I'm leaving without you!"

I heard the fifteen year old scamper to her feet quickly and then the white door was pulled open to reveal a fully showered and dressed brunette girl. "I'm ready," she said simply as she strode past me and down the stairs. I watched after her with a mild shock.

"Okay, now we're leaving!" I shouted as I walked past my dad's door.

"Bye, girls!" came the reply from his and my step-mom's room.

I grabbed Nico's carseat from the garage where Gina, my step-mom, had left it before she left for work way early this morning. I asked Frida to hold Nico's hand as I strapped the seat in and then plopped her right down in the middle and buckled her in.

"Get in," I told my sister and she listened eagerly, climbing in the passengers seat with ease. The clock on the dashboard read 10:30 AM and I was hoping that Frida's friend was expecting her early so that the two of us wouldn't have to hang out for long, seeing as I had plans that would allow one kid, but not two. Especially not a grouchy teenager.

"Where to?" I asked once we were on the road.

Frida glanced to me and then back to her iPod with a bored expression on her face. "You know those apartments over by the Chinese restaurant we like?"

I looked at her like she was crazy. "In L.A?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. So? It's like a 15 minute drive."

I screeched, shaking my head at her. "But 45 minutes in traffic, Frida. I don't have the gas for that."

She rolled her eyes. "Then ask Dad for money when you drop off Nico later."

I sighed and shook my head, realizing that my other siblings were getting just a little too used to getting the things they asked for. "You know, adults don't just go ask their father's for more money when they run out. No matter how much he has. Adults get jobs and work for their own money." I said as I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, turning onto highway 110.

"Yeah," Frida murmured as she plugged her earbuds back in with a smile, "But I'm not an adult."

I rolled my eyes and turned up the radio. I glanced in the mirror at Nico and smiled when I noticed she was sitting and playing happily with a few of her toys that she had pulled out of her open diaper bag. The rest of the car ride was quiet, except for the rock music that was pouring out of my car speakers. The ride to Frida's friend's didn't take 45 minutes but it didn't take just 15 either. When I parked in the parking lot of a big blue complex, I shut the car off, much to her dismay.

"What are you doing?" she asked frantically as she yanked her earbuds out of her ears and turned to look at me.

"I want to meet the adult that I'm leaving you in the care of," I said simply as I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out. I opened the backdoor as Frida had a mini meltdown outside the passengers seat.

I pulled Nico out of her carseat as she spoke. "But why? Dad's already met Caleb's mom."

I shrugged. "But I haven't." I motioned for Frida to get going with a flick of my wrist and she groaned, but walked anyway, knowing that I wouldn't leave until I got introduced to a responsible adult, seeing as her friend was a boy and our dad only had one rule. No hanging out with boys alone.

I followed Frida up the elevator to the third floor and then to a black door with two numbers on it. This was apartment 33, Caleb's apartment. Frida knocked anxiously and the door pulled open just a quickly.

"Hey, Caleb," she said with a grin and gave him a quick hug.

"Hey, Frida. Glad you're here."

My sister nodded. "Yeah, well, are one of your parents home? My sister wants to meet them."

I rolled my eyes and then stuck out my right hand, the one that wasn't connected to Nico's. "Hi, I'm Atticus."

He shook my hand and offered me a smile. "Caleb," he said politely, "But my mom just left, she took my little brother to baseball practice. She won't be home for a couple hours."

I turned to Frida and gave her a knowing look. She sighed and grabbed onto my arm. "Please, Atticus," she begged, "Mrs. Dayton will be back later and I promise we won't do anything that Dad wouldn't want me to do. I mean, we drove all the way here!"

I considered it for a second and then my dad popped into my mind and I shook my head. "Sorry, Fri. You know Dad will kill me if ever finds out."

"But he won't!" she disagreed.

I looked down to Nico as she tried to tug away from me. When she saw she had my attention, she just stared at me. "Yeah, sweetheart?" I questioned.

She spoke in her little doll voice, looking up at me with big brown eyes. "Knows," she repeated, still not having worked out complex language.

I chuckled and nodded. "That's right, Frida, Dad knows all, now lets go. Maybe if you're lucky I'll bring you back later when one of Caleb's parents are home."

Frida's eyes lit up, "Really?!"

"I said 'maybe'," I smiled at my words just a little bit. Frida hugged Caleb and apologized for not being able to stay.

"I promise I'll come back later," Frida called as we walked away.

"Maybe!" I corrected as I tugged Nico down the hallway.