Imogen

Ch.10

"Okay but why do I have to dress up as a princess?" I asked my dad, Cam, before walking into the kitchen dressed in a tacky princess gown. He gasps and stare's at me in awe as try my best not to roll my eyes. "Now when you go out there make sure you impress Ashley W." Cam says grabbing dresses in plastic garment bags off the table. I frown in confusion, "Ashley W? I'm not going to try and impress-" Lily interrupts me coming in from the front door, "Come on people..! Ashley is getting moody cause we haven't left yet."

"You know I'm all for helping my dads when they need help but this.." I say to the camera grabbing the bottom of my gown and yanking it up a bit. "This is too much even for me. I genuinely think I'm the only sane one in this house." I cross my arms over my chest with a sigh. "Lily is lucky she's my sister otherwise this dress would be in the trash."

"Okay Mo, here is your tiara. Meet us in the bus in five." My dad says placing it on my head. They both leave the house and I mentally prepare myself for these bad ass kids. I quickly go to the liquor cabinet and take a shot from the bottle before going outside to the bus. "Oh and look who came to visit us..! Princess Dottie Bluebell..!" Cam introduces me as I walk on the bus having only half the girls cheer. "That's such an ugly name." I whisper to my dad pulling my dress down a bit. "Say that to Miss Jasper County 2009, she was beautiful." He says in all seriousness before continuing, "Alright, once Sophie boards the bus, we will be on our way to the princess park, where we will all pick out our princess costumes!" The girls start chatting in excitement as I go to the back of the bus to sit down. I'd rather be with my older lady friends than a bus filled with princess loving girls. "You're dress is tacky." I hear one of the little girls say beside me. I look over at her in disgust, "Yeah? Well good luck finding a cute dress at the park cause yours won't be cute either." I sass back before she scoots away and minds her own business. All of the sudden thunder crashes outside and the girls scream. "Oh, no! Is it raining?" Lily asks obviously concerned about her party being in the rain. "Not to worry sweetie. We have parasols." Cam says taking an umbrella out but before he could open it the thing went flying out of the bus. "Oh..." I slap my hand over my mouth trying to keep in my laughter.

We ended up going to Jay's place since the roads where starting to flood. Still in my princess costume I drop all the dresses onto the entrance table. "Sorry we were hoping to ride out the storm here." My dad, Mitchell, says to Jay. "Also, Dad, we're hoping to keep the princess theme alive, so if you could pretend to-" My dad begins to talk my grandpa's ears off so that was my cue to leave.

I ended up with Phil and Luke in front of the garage cleaning the gutters. I sip on my juice box I got from fridge after Manny walked away from it in a hurry along with Aunt Claire. "It's raining pretty hard out there..." I point out the obvious as Luke is just hitting the side paneling of the garage with a shovel not doing much. "So what's the plan Luke?" Phil asks from the top of the ladder getting drenched. "There are no bad ideas, but waving a metal shovel around in an electrical storm could have a downside, so let's put it back in the garage, huh?"  Phil voiced his concern but Luke doesn't stop. "Well I for one would find it pretty funny if he got struck, no offense." I add chuckling a bit at the end. "Why would I take offense to that? That would be awesome." Luke states with a bright smile. Thunder crashes again making me jump a bit, "Whoa, that was close!" Phil shouts while I sip the last of my juice. "Luke try hitting the garage with the rake. The shovel isn't doing the job." I suggested before tossing my empty juice box into the garbage bin that was in the garage. "Good idea." He said then turned around only to step on the end of the rake making the handle pop up and strike him straight in the face. I once again slap my hand over my mouth trying not to laugh. "Oh, my god! Not again!"

"I'm so sorry but did you see that?" I laugh and hold onto my stomach.

It was honestly sad to see my dads try to impress an eight year old which is why I ended up in the bus outside. Yes, that's how sad it was. The rain and thunder were relaxing but was soon interrupted by my phone ringing. It was one of my only friends who is the same age as me, Leo. "Why are you bothering me?" I asked after answering the call. I bring my legs up to my chest and balance the phone on my knee. "Okay rude. I was gonna see if you wanted to go to a party with me on Friday but if you're gonna be a cranky b-" I cut him off, "baby? It better be baby Leo." I say as I open my chapstick that was in my pocket. "Of course Imogen." He replies with a smirk.

"With Leo you can basically hear when he smirk's. He has a certain tone when he's doing so." I explain with a smirk myself and a playfully eye roll at the end.

"Wow look who's being rude now! Calling me my government name." I playfully shout with a smile. I put my chapstick away after applying it and lay down on the seats. "So? What do you say?" He asks ignoring my comment. "What?" I ask earning a faint 'oh my god' from him. "The party? I don't know...last time you invited me to a party we were crashing a Quinceañera, which you didn't even tell me we were doing." He stays quiet for a moment after I call him out. "That's true but this time I definitely know who's throwing the party. You can bring your cousins too if you want." Leo says and I hum softly as I debate if I should go or not. "There will be weed." He adds which makes me sit up. "Okay fine." I sighed and see my grandpa coming outside shouting. "Hey I'm gonna call you back." I tell Leo before hanging up and heading to the door of the bus. "Who the hell left the door open? Stella!" Jay shouts going around the house. "That damn dog..." I mutter just as Stella appears in front of the bus door. I open the door and grab her before shouting, "Grandpa! I found Stella! We will be inside!"

"Hey Mo, did you know I was struck by lightning?" Luke asks walking into the kitchen where I was getting a coke. "I mean it would make sense but I doubt that's true." I say opening the can and taking a sip. "No I'm being serious, my mom told me I was struck by lightning before. Which means if I didn't know about it that means you all have been making fun of me behind my back." He responds leaning on the counter. "Oh Luke stop being dramatic." I start. "You sound like my mom." He comments. I gasp, "How dare you? I didn't know you were struck by lighting." I reply before taking another sip of my coke. "Do you think getting struck by lighting can make you smarter? I think so...Maisie said she'd make out with me." He said with a smirk. "No and the girl upstairs with Alex? If she hangs out with Alex that means Maisie is like her." I say taking in a loud long sip. I can see him get grossed out. "Yeah you're right, I'm gonna go make Alex question everything." He excitedly says with a smile and heads upstairs. I was gonna ask him if he wanted to go to the party but knowing him he'd probably forget. Meaning I will have to tell him the day of.

"If I go to the party on Friday and it's in a back alley I'm not going. The first party Leo took me to was in an alley...we were fine it was just a karaoke bar. I just hate karaoke." I say grabbing the bottle of fuel and adding more to the fire in the pit. "They never have any songs I like to sing." I add glancing at the camera just before it pans to the princess dress burning. "Also why am I kinda jealous of Luke getting struck by lightning and living?"