Page 9 of Nanny for the Rockstars

“Don’t care to hang out with those pricks,” Terry says. “But you’re cool, and we wanted to go out with you. What do you say?”

“Well…” I hesitate. Finally, I can’t take it anymore. “Are you trying to trick me?”

“Trick you?” Julian asks. “Why would we trick you?”

“Because guys like you don’t hang out with girls like me. And all three of you wanting to go to the movie with me just makes me feel like this has to be some sort of sick joke,” I say. “And if this is a trick, I want to know now.”

“Not a trick,” Terry says. “One-hundred-percent, we just want to go out with you.”

I’m still not sold, but I figure if they are trying to play a prank on me, then they’re really pulling out all the stops to make me fall for it.

“Okay,” I say. “I don’t have a car, but if you want to pick me up at six, I’ll go.”

“Great, see you then,” Caleb says as he tosses his hair out of his face.

The other two say something similar, and I’m left reeling with confusion. I’m excited about the idea of going out with those three. I’ve secretly crushed on them for a couple years. But this is the first time I’ve ever spoken to them, let alone had any real conversation, and they asked me to go out.

It doesn’t add up, but they don’t seem to be making fun of me. Still, I decide I’m going to proceed with caution and see what they really want from me. There has to be some catch to this. I still can’t see them wanting to spend time with me just for the sake of it.

How wrong I was.

From that day on, they lavish me with little sweet gestures. I’m walked to school with one of them holding my hand. I’m given little presents. I’m treated like a princess for the duration of my junior year.

We don’t come out with the news that the three of us are dating, but by the end of the school year I’ve slept with all three of them, and I’m madly in love. They know me better than I thought possible, and the sex we have is incredible. I never thought I would have sex before college, but I’m so glad I have given myself to these three.

And I’m certain we’re going to be together forever.

Over the summer we drift apart a bit. I’m stuck working as hard and as much as I can to get out of the house as soon as I can, and they are determined to be a real band one day, so most of their time and energy goes into making music and putting on little concerts for their friends and family. I don’t go to many of these shows with my insane schedule, but I do sit in their garage for my own private concerts as much as I can.

I’m sure we’re going to pick up where we left off when school starts again in the fall, but I’m wrong again.

I don’t know what happens, but they flip a switch at some point, and the three lovers I had during my junior year become my biggest bullies going into our senior year. And there’s no warning—nothing to tell me that I’ve done anything wrong or why they changed their minds.

I’m bullied relentlessly.

They pull pranks on me almost every day, and every chance they get, they ridicule me. Whether it’s what I’m wearing or who I’m talking to, or what I’m doing after school, I’m sure there isn’t a thing I can do right.

It culminates at the senior prom.

I’m made to believe I’m the prom queen, and when I get up to accept the crown it’s announced that there has been a mistake, and there’s no way I’m the one who really won. The real winner is revealed, and the entire time I’m being filmed by those three—and they’re laughing at me.

I remember going home immediately after, feeling alone in the world. I have no one to talk to, and I become excessively reclusive. I don’t trust anyone, and I refuse to go out with friends. I work harder than ever, and I do what I can to erase all the memories of high school and anyone who was part of that nightmare.

Along the way at some point I hear that they’re making it big and going on tour, but I don’t care. By that time I have my own life, and I don’t listen to the kind of music they play anymore because of the memories it stirs up in me, so I don’t hear any of their songs. The only thing I know about the Simmons brothers is that they have a band and are making it big. But I care about as much as I listen to their music.

Which is not at all.

Now, as I stop in front of the three of them, I’m sure I’m about to get some sort of tongue-lashing or ridicule. I can’t see how the past ten years has done anything to remedy the situation between us. I know for a fact that I have stewed over the pain and suffering they’ve caused me, and I can’t stand them now. Even looking at them in front of me is enough to make me want to gag, but it’s pure desperation that forces me to stand in front of them, waiting for someone to make the first move.

“Jeanette!”

Julian is the first to speak. They might be identical, but I still recognize them all.

“How are you? Wow, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen you,” he says.

“I hardly know what to say,” Caleb chimes in. “And to think that you just so happened to apply for this job, crazy.”

“So,” I say, “who is the dad?”

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