The Miranda MacArthur Story

chapter 9

Miranda insisted to her best friends she wasn't going to replace them, but she was going to see Sabrina and Darcy's homes to help with her school project. Michelle and Layla felt a little sad about not being able to see Miranda a while, so they decided to have a slumber party until Miranda could start hanging out with them again. They were naturally born best friends with each other because of how Miranda's Aunt Mike was best friends with Layla's mother and Michelle's mother. 

Before the ones called Mee Mee and Lee Lee came into Dee Dee's life and basically took advantage of her, Dee Dee was happily friends with Mike and June, then she got accepted into the exclusive Dance School and met those two new girls and spent more time with them, not aware of how mean and horrible they actually were. Rumor even had it that Mee Mee's father was the Shadow Man known as Dr. Facilier. It was just a rumor, but due to how wild a world Megaville could be, no one knew for sure. Miranda went to Sabrina's house first and rode her bus home after getting a note to allow her to do so.

"Must be cool to have grandparents who lived in the jungle." Miranda said as she followed Sabrina into her family home.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Sabrina smiled, then opened the front door. "Mom, I'm home!"

"Oh, hey, honey, I'll be right there, just give me a minute!" a female voice called back, followed by humming and some hammering.

"What's your mom do?" Miranda asked.

"She mostly works at home, but she's a magazine editor, she's been doing it since she was a kid when she had an aspiration for it."

"Asp-what?"

"Aspiration," Sabrina repeated the rather big word for someone of her age to use. "It's basically when you have something in life you really wanna do."

"Oh, cool, your mom must be proud of herself."

"I'd say so, she also usually works on stuff for me, we usually go to Ocean Shores for vacations to visit my maternal grandparents and Uncle Otto, but sometimes we also go to San Lorenzo to hang out with my paternal ones." Sabrina explained with a smile.

"Your family sounds so adventurous, Sabrina." Miranda smiled, then found a picture of a blonde football-headed man. "That your dad?"

"Yeah, he's a paleontologist, kinda like your dad with being a military cadet, he's away most of the time, but I get a better chance to see him." 

"That's cool though."

Sabrina smiled, then looked over as a purple-haired woman came in. "Hey, Mom!"

"Hi, sweetie," the woman smiled, then looked to Miranda, tilting her head slightly. "Your friend looks familiar, but I can't say we've met."

"Oh, Ms. Bell made a project on getting to know friends better, so she paired me and Darcy with this girl, Miranda." Sabrina explained.

"I see," the woman then smiled. "Hi, Miranda, I'm Reggie Shortman, Sabrina's mother."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Shortman." Miranda shook her hand with a polite smile.

"Thanks, but really, you can call me 'Reggie', Mrs. Shortman makes me feel old." the woman chuckled.

"Okay... Reggie." Miranda then said, it felt very different to call an adult by their first name, but at least she had permission.

"Something about you looks so familiar, Miranda," Reggie kept studying the guest as she let the girls come to the house kitchen and have a seat. "Do I know your mother?"

Miranda shrugged. "I don't think so."

"What's your mother's name?"

"Jen MacArthur."

Reggie paused to think. Did she know any Jen's? Or for that matter, did she know any MacArthur's? Her mind was a blank right now, but she went to get cookies out of the oven. "How do cookies as an after school snack sound?"

"Great!" Sabrina cheered.

Miranda smiled as well. "That would be nice, Mrs--Reggie."

Reggie took the cookies out, but told the girls to wait since the cookies needed to cool. "I really feel like I know you from somewhere, Miranda... I can't think of from where though..."

"Maybe you knew my aunt," Miranda shrugged, knowing how famous her mother's younger sister was. "Michelene Mavinsky."

Reggie blinked, then turned to the auburn-haired girl. "Your aunt was Mike Mavinsky?"

"Yeah, you didn't know? Did you know Aunt Mike?"

Reggie smiled. "Oh, yes... One year during the summer when my brother Otto and I both lived in Ocean Shores, Mike came to spend her summer with us during her vacation when she was still in school."

"Were my mother and Uncle Jamie with her?" Miranda wondered.

"No," Reggie shook her head. "This was before Mike found out she was adopted and John and Miranda's child instead of Chuck and Mikhali's. Sorry about that."

"That's okay, I'm just glad to hear more about her, thanks, Reggie." Miranda felt special.

"Sure thing, Miranda," Reggie smiled, then grew sad as she remembered another thing about Mike. "Oh, I'm so sorry about your loss. Send my support and help to your mother."

"Of course." 

Sabrina and Miranda then happily ate their cookies. Miranda had to admit she missed hanging around with Michelle, Layla, and Devin, but it was nice to have a change of pace like Ms. Bell suggested when she paired her with Sabrina and Darcy instead of the girls she's known since birth. She just now wondered what it would be like at the Fenton household.