Rather Ordinary

•23•

"It's been a while since I was out of the loop." I hear Alma say when we reach the town of Cairnholm.

"When was the last time you were here?"

"The last time you saw me out here." She says and I look ahead at my old home in the distance.

"I'm really sorry again about not telling you. I wish I was able to before we left." I say and she smiles.

"It's alright, I'm just glad you're back."

We pass my home and once we do, I see a certain redhead come out. It turns out she took over her parents house when she was old enough and she was still living there.

"I just noticed that you're not in bird form." I say and she gives me a glance when she sees me quickly look away from the woman. "Are you able to come out here like this?"

"I can, not everyone thinks I'm some crazy woman." She says and I think back to the first time we met and laugh a little.

"Y/n!"

(I can't wait to stop talking about Sarah)

I avoid her gaze as I try to smile as I tense up. I feel Miss Peregrines glare on Sarah as we try to walk by.

"Y/n, who's the new one your showing around town?" She asks as she walks beside me. She nudges my shoulder to try to get my attention and I move away from both of them. "No need to be rude, especially in front of the new person." She holds out her hand, abruptly stopping Alma. "Hi, my names Sarah." She says and immediately she gives her a death stare that makes her move out of the way and follow me. "No need to be like her, dickhead."

I immediately turn and could feel my anger boiling.

"Hey!" She looks over at me and suddenly, I'm not even afraid of her no more. I just want to strangle her which is maybe worse but whatever. "You can do whatever you want with me, but leave her out of it!"

"Oh really? Looks like someone has a crush, wish it was me." She says with a fake pout that makes me cross my arms to keep from doing something out of hand. Her fake pout changes as she pretends to run towards me and I take a step back, almost falling over. With that she laughs and walks away as I storm off towards my house. When I go inside, leaving the door open for Alma, I head into my room.

"Are you okay?" I hear her ask as I start packing.

"Yes." I reply and dig out some of my clothes from the dresser. I didn't unpack much after moving in, that was really the only thing. After I finished packing I paused for a moment when I felt her eyes on me. I look behind me and see her leaned against the doorway giving me a frown. "What?" She moves from the doorway as she wraps me in a hug from behind. I can feel myself burn up at the sudden touch but let myself stay there for a moment. I smile with a small breathless laugh. "Really, I'm doing fine." I say and she doesn't let go when I clamp the suitcase close. "I can't carry you on the way back." I say and she finally gives me a smile as she laughs.

"Technically, you could." She says and turns into a bird as she perches on my shoulder. I laugh when she flys up on my head.

"You just want a free ride home, don't you?" I say and laugh when she pecks my head gently. "Alright, alright. I'll carry you, but only if you go back on my shoulder." She flys down to my shoulder as I finish grabbing my bag and turning the light off on the way out. When we reach the front door, I step out and shut the door, locking it. "Also don't go around attacking people." I add when I see her gaze locked on Sarah's as she works behind her house. She gives me a peck on the shoulder. "Hey, no pecking."

I start walking towards the loop and eventually we reached the cave.

"You think you can walk now? You're making my shoulder hurt." I say with a laugh and she flys off switching back as we walk through the loop.

"I brought things for the beach as well if the others still plan on going." I say with a smile and she laughs.

"I'm sure they do. They wouldn't stop talking about it during breakfast." She says as we approach the home. When we reach the door, I knock on it 3 times before opening where I see Olive standing by the stairs.

"Millard, knock it off!" She shouts and when she looks over to see me she immediately looked relieved. "Oh thank goodness you're here now." She says and I laugh a little as she runs upstairs. "Millard, get down here!"

"I wonder what he did now." I hear Alma mutter and she smiles when I laugh at the comment. Millard runs down and Alma walks over to him.

"Millard, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear Olive yelling at you a moment ago. Could you head up and tell the others to get ready for the beach?" He nods as he goes upstairs and I can only imagine how relieved he was that he wasn't in trouble. She looks back over at me. "You can go get ready if you want to. The other room is taken so you may use mine." She says and with that she goes into the kitchen.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready?" I say and she smiles.

"I am. If we're going to be down there for the day, I have to make a lunch to pack." She says and I nod. "I'll be up in a minute to get changed, go on ahead." I leave the kitchen doorway and head upstairs to her bedroom into the bathroom. I shut the door and change into the swimsuit I brought. I wish I would have had time to get a different one. The one I owned was a two piece and I never really wore it. My mother always told me that if I'm going some were to dress my age. Though I think she was making me grow up too fast. I didn't realize how long I was contemplating it, until I heard a knock on the door.

"Y/n, are you alright?" I hear her say and I take my towel, covering the front of me. I open the door and avoid her gaze. "Y/n?"

"Yes, I'm great." I say as I walk out the room, shutting the door behind me and rethinking this. I would just wear regular clothes to the beach but it's sort of too late now. I make my way downstairs and take a seat at the table, not noticing Emma in the other room. I hear footsteps coming my way and look up to see her.

"Hey y/n." She says with a smile and I greet her back. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine." I say and quickly change the mood. "Are you excited for today?"

"Yes!" She says with excitement beaming through her. "I'm so happy to hear you're staying." I smile at the remark. She looks up when she sees Miss Peregrine walk through the kitchen doorway. Emma smiles and says hi before going upstairs to get ready.

"What's going on?" She says and I can tell she was irritated from me barging out of the room. I still have the towel wrapped in front of me as she looks down at it. Her hard gaze softens when she can tell what's going on. "Dear, it's alright." She says and I look down at the ground. She walks over to me and places her hands on my shoulders. "No one in this household judges, I'm sure you look amazing as always." She says gently and before I can say anything, Jacob comes down.

"Oh sorry, am I interrupting?" He says and before Alma can say anything, I speak up.

"No, no you're not." I say and she takes her hands off my shoulders as she steps back. She was wearing a two piece as well, but the top was covering her stomach some as well. It was Navy blue along with all her other outfits.

"What do you need, Mr Portman." She asks and he rubs the back of his neck. Miss Peregrine sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes. "What did you do now?"

"I sort of don't have a swimsuit." He says. "But could I just wear one of my other outfits?" He asks and she nods. He runs back upstairs and then she faces me again.

"We're not finished here." She says and a blush creeps in. "I'm sure you look as beautiful as always." She says and I smile.

"That's a little too far." I say and she frowns, but it soon turns into a smirk.

"I think you're just a little oblivious to how stunning you are." She says as she crosses her arms. "Come here." She holds out her arms and I knew what she wanted me to do. I lower the towel a bit and drape it over the back of the chair but my arms covered myself instead. I walk over to her as she wraps her arms around me tightly.

When we hear footsteps coming down, I let go of the hug. The children came in, all in swimsuits except Jacob who just wore a t-shirt and shorts.

"Ready to go?" Alma asks them and she opens the door where they run ahead of us where it was just her and I walking behind.
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Me writing down y/n insecurities: yes I understand