Gradual Change

School meeting.

“Erinna, time to wake up, Princess,” Jeff said, shaking Erinna awake. Jeff had already dressed up, and Heather had dressed too, as they had a meeting at the school. Erinna’s blood test results had officially reached the school. And the school notified them about a meeting yesterday. Surprisingly, they called again 10 minutes later, informing them about George’s upcoming transfer to the school.   
When Jeff asked what they meant, the school answered that they would explain everything when Jeff and Heather arrived. They had two meetings at 9 am and 10:00 am, and Erinna’s meeting would be first. So, Jeff left the easier task of waking George up for Heather, and he decided to wake up Erinna himself.   

“Just ten more minutes, please, daddy,” Erinna grumbled, burying her face in the pillow. She had been up late since Angelo had kept her awake, and Maria had fallen asleep earlier. Erinna’s cousins were going to leave today since school starts the day after tomorrow.   

“Well, Princess, I didn’t want to do this, but you left me no choice,” Jeff said as he was standing over the bed. Flipping Erinna over, he started to tickle her, making her squeal and giggle as she tried to get away from his hands. “Are you awake yet, Princess?” Jeff asked with amusement. Everyone knew that Erinna’s biggest weakness was tickling, and both Jeff and Heather used it to their advantage.  

 “Yes, daddy, I am up,” Erinna pouted as she sat up, crossing her arms over her chest.   

 “Go take a shower, and um... Do what you need to do. We have a meeting at the school, so your mom will come and put some clothes out for you to wear,” Jeff explained before Erinna got out of bed. Jeff chuckled and reached to kiss her forehead.  

Erinna left the bed, and Jeff was about to leave the room when she called him. Jeff turned around to see what she wanted. “Did uncle Robert call yesterday?”   

 Jeff looked into Erinna’s eyes; those eyes were just like her mom’s. As beautiful as they were, they carried a lot of emotions. Jeff could tell Erinna had a bad feeling about her uncle not calling or answering for a couple of days, and it worried him that, as her mother, her hunch was rarely wrong. “No, Princess, I am sure he’s alright. You know your uncle can get busy sometimes,” Jeff said, using his poker face. He couldn’t show his worry to his daughter since he was the parent.   
Erinna saw that Jeff used a neutral expression. She guessed that he was worried as well. Erinna shook her head and hoped for the best. She loved her uncle Robert since he was the only one she saw so much from her father’s side of the family. Her other uncle supervises a project in Canada, while her aunt is in Egypt on an archaeology excavation. She loved both of them, but she hasn’t seen either for a while now.   

 Erinna walked to the bathroom with a sigh, took off her clothes, and threw them in the hamper; she sat down and relieved herself. She was glad that her period was over by now; she didn’t have to use pads or tampons anymore. Erinna then turned on the water in the shower and got in to wash. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the time for a bath, though she had come to love bubble baths. Once she was out of the shower, she toweled herself dry.   

 It was also embarrassing that Maria had her first period two days later. Her cousins wouldn’t let them get away without teasing them about their periods. Of course, they wouldn’t kid them in front of their brothers since the three boys already had enough embarrassing material on the girls.    

 After drying herself and putting on her bathrobe, Erinna walked out of the bathroom. She walked to her vanity table, where she started to blow-dry her hair and then brushed it. She had a small makeup kit on her vanity table that she could use to practice, but Erinna wasn’t allowed to use anything more than lip gloss when she was out of the house. Heather wouldn’t let her use anything else.