Autumn

5: Comforting the Weak Spots

Emily's house was comforting enough. As she and her boyfriend play the "lovey dovey couple" on the couch, I stayed with her sisters, Clarissa and Jaclyn. We stayed in the room they both had to share considering there isn't that much room in the house for all of the Sanderson daughters to get their own room, which was disappointing for Jaclyn I bet. Jaclyn tried to fix my hair, even in it's tangled mess, while Clarissa talked to me about her classmates. "I'm telling you," Clarissa explained, "Me and Aviary are the only ones who read! It's tragic."

I smirk. "Well they do know how to read right?"

Clarissa laughs, turning over towards her littlest sister. "So Jaclyn, hows Marcus treating you?"

Jaclyn stopped brushing my hair. From behind, I knew she was having her little temper tantrum. I think I remember having one of those. It was for a good reason though. Mom wouldn't let me talk to her about my day at middle-school; She was talking on the phone with her friends and literally told me to shut up so she could hear the gossip between the neighbors. It had something to do with someone cheating with whoknowswho. I don't know. It was just really stupid.

"Marcus, is a deranged maniac with not sense of privacy." Jaclyn said. "I do not know where to begin about what he did today."

"What did he do?" I asked, now curious.

"Clarissa and her boooyfriend," Jaclyn purposly said longer than it should have been, making Clarissa this close to sticking up at her, Clarissa's middle finger. "were delivering papers to the teachers. When she came to my class, we were in the middle of literature, which is fine with me of course, I love reading. We were creating our own poems and so when ths idiot went up to recite his, he spoke of a girl named made named: Jacky, who is suppose to resemble me. In the end of his stupid poem we got together. It's so embatressing!"

Lucky for her, she doesn't know the limits of embaressing yet.

"It was soo sweet!" Clarissa said, ruffling her sister's hair. "I wish you appreciate him, at least once."

"You have no idea what I have to deal with, Clarissa!" Jaclyn screeches. She stands on the bed, making it shake with fear. "EMILY!"

In less than a few minutes or more, Emily comes crashing in, head first into the door, making Clarissa laugh a little.

"What's the emergency?!" Emily yells.

"CLARISSA'S TALKING ABOUT MY LOVE LIFE!" Jaclyn shrieks at the top of her lounges, tears forming in her eyes.

Emily sighs. "Aw, come here." Jaclyn runs into her sister's arms, bawling like a two-year-old. Emily soothes her, messing with her long curly hair. "Do you want to come and watch the movie with us?"

Jaclyn looks up at Emily. "Can I mess wth your boyfriend?"

Emily laughs.

"Only for a little while." After that, they walk out of the room, Emily giving Clarissa the death threat while she winked at me.

Clarissa exhales a large breath, followed by her plopping on her sister's bed. "That should keep her entertained for the next few hours." I turned my head to face hers, but from my view, I saw her entire body collapsed on the small bed. Clarissa looked a lot like Emily, except for he fact her eyes were a pretty shade of violet like their grandmother's (Emily explained this to me). Clarissa also had short curly hair that reached just to the top of her shoulders. She turned her head to face me. "Want to go to my sister's room?"

Nodding, we both get up, departing from Jaclyn's room in favor of Emily's. There, I sat on the bed, admiring her bookshelf (apartently all my friends like reading), while Clarissa went through Emily's drawers, where she stored mountains of unfolded clothes.

"So how is Winston doing?" I ask, now looking at the ceiling. "Must be interesting to have a boyfriend."

"He's fine." Clarissa says, "I'm quite fond of him actually, but..."

"But?"

"I'm not sure if he's my type." Clarissa explains. "I mean sure, we like reading and sometimes sports but we have nothing in common besides that. I once asked him about what he plans on doing in the future. I said theater, but he replied to either a doctor or a marine! I don't know, he's not that artsy or spontaneous guy that I always thought he was. He just doesn't understand sometimes about what I'm talking about." She takes a breath before continuing. "He's also very depressed."

"Depressed?" I ask. "I never heard this before."

"You know that funeral we went to two years ago? That was his parents. They died in a "car crash". Winston is always sad and expects me to help him when I have no idea what to do. We also don't talk very much, which is boring."

She sighs. Looking away from my direction, she looks as if she's in her own little world.

"Look I'm trying not to be a bitch about this. I am grateful, and I do love him-"

"I know," I say cutting her off. "But Clarissa if things aren't working out for you, then you do realize you have to break up with him. Right?"

"Yeah, I know, it's just..." She pauses. "I don't want to break his heart again."

My eyebrow rises.

"What do you mean 'again'?"

"Last summer, as this was before I had realized I had a crush on him, my friend and I were at a dance, I guess trying to get kids excited for the school year. We were trying to be friendly, dancing with other people. But at one point things got serious and one guy asked me to dance. Of course not to be rude, I said yes. We danced for a while but I couldn't remember if it was fun or not. I saw Winston staring back a me weirdly before he rushed out the building to the parking lot." Clarissa hands were now wrapped tightly around and under her arms. "I believe he wanted to dance with me, too, but before I could question him, he shouted 'I knew you would the be the one to break my heart'. And that was the it. He left and after a few minutes, I drove my friend and I home too.

"Winston still never forgot that incident though, but he loves me for it. He told me himself. I don't think I want to hurt him again, Autumn."

I sat up, and grabbed the girl by her arms.

"Clarissa, I'm not asking you to break up with your boyfriend. " I say sternly. "I'm just telling you to think about what you're getting yourself into."

Nodding, I think I hear Emily yelling at Jaclyn to let go of her boyfriend's hair.