Chapter Twenty-six
Amadeus
That weekend, more bizarre news confronted Paige Bennet in the form of a beautifully wrapped, European chocolate bar left on the kitchen table. The wrapper said Toblerone.
Amadeus Bright was an Austrian exchange student. His homestay family had been given the wrong dates but Mrs Bennet had agreed to host him until his original family returned from their vacation. Even though the Bennet house was not overly large, it was always welcoming.
The more the merrier was the Bennet motto, but Mrs Bennet hadn’t expected to find Amadeus sunbathing on the roof or playing Euro pop music at two in the morning or asking for wine at dinner.
That morning, Amadeus was sitting on their doorstep waiting for someone – anyone – to let him into the house. Rebel, Sia and Mrs Bennet had gone to Third Street Promenade and completely forgotten about his imminent arrival. Senta was at the library (as usual) and Amadeus waited patiently, dropped off by the group bus that picked him up from LAX, asleep in the sun. He woke mid-afternoon and was waiting on the porch of the ramshackle looking Bennet family home, glasses on top of his nose, playing a computer game on his phone and waiting for his ‘host family’ to arrive. When he saw the eldest Bennet sisters his face lit up. And perhaps simply because he saw Shiloh first (she walked in front of Paige), he liked her best.
“We’re so sorry we are late,” Shiloh apologized. Paige was finalizing her debate strategy over lunch and they’d somehow managed to forget about Amadeus.
Now, it’s not that Amadeus was not good looking – although he wasn’t in the traditional sense – he was very skinny with red hair and wore glasses. He gravitated towards Shiloh from that first day until Mrs Bennet told him about the pool party and suggested he take Paige as Shiloh, “already had a partner.” This was news to Shiloh but Mrs Bennet had a feeling Shiloh wouldn’t be alone at the party for long.
Amadeus smiled at Paige who reluctantly introduced herself.
The exchanged student responded with, “hello” and looked very grateful.
Paige realized Senta would have to bunk in with Rebel and Sia (sure to cause chaos) but she quickly arranged everything.
The exchanged student responded with, “hello” and looked very grateful.
Paige realized Senta would have to bunk in with Rebel and Sia (sure to cause chaos) but she quickly arranged everything.
When she was finished, she found a large Swiss box of chocolates on her bed.
“Thank you,” Paige said.
“You are welcome,” Wolfgang smiled. He had a very high pitch laugh and snorted simultaneously but he meant well enough.
