Respectable

"Andie, are you awake?" my mother asked, poking her head into my room. She didn't usually wake me up, but my digital alarm clock I usually used was packed and on it's way to my new home. I rolled over in my sleeping bag, pretending I didn't hear her, but she walked in anyway, her signature heels clicking on the bare wood floor. "It's time to go.""Why did we have to leave at three in the morning, again?" I groaned."That's when the plane leaves.""Yeah, yeah." I stood up and began rolling up the sleeping bag. My mother, who enjoyed working her life away, had gotten a promotion and been transfered all the way across the country, from Washington state to Washington DC. I was equal parts annoyed and excited about moving, though my sister Allie, and my brother Aaron were thoroughly against it. Allie, who was thirteen, insisted she wouldn't make any new friends, and Aaron, who was nine, only hated the fact we would no longer have a backyard. My youngest sister, Aria, who was three, didn't understand what was going on. "Andromeda, get a move on." my mother called, coming back in my room and grabbing my backpack from the doorway. The sleeping bag was the only thing in my room. The rest of my belongings were in a moving truck that was set to arrive in Washington DC eight hours after we got there.I tied off my sleeping bag and followed my mother out of the room."Get Aria dressed, will you?" my mother asked me as she took my sleeping bag from me and threw it down the stairs, where it landed in a pile of luggage.Aria was, par usual, making a mess, even with the small amount of belongings in her room. I picked up her scattered clothes and attempted to force them onto her. She squirmed angrily, but I pulled her tiny arms through her shirt."You look like death." a voice said from the doorway. I turned around to find Allie leaning against the doorway. "I'm sorry, as there are no mirrors in this house I can't see my face." I grumbled. Allie, at thirteen, was only four foot seven, and had a bit of a Napoleon complex that caused her to dress in clothes that were better suited on a Barbie doll. She was, at that moment, wearing a sparkly tight dress that should have been a shirt, heels, and enough makeup to make any Hollywood Star jealous. I, on the other hand, was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt for the plane ride."You could have borrowed my mirror.""I didn't want to. How long have you been up getting ready? You do know we're just going on an airplane, right?""You never know who's going to see you.""You're just embarrassing.""You're embarrassing. You look like you just rolled out of bed.""Because I did." I growled. "It's three in the morning." Allie just smirked, took Aria's hand and led her out the door. I sighed, exasperated. Most of the time I felt like the only sane person in my family.

The plane trip was long and tedious- halfway through the ride Aria decided she didn't like plane rides, and the mood of the entire plane took an automatic downfall as she started crying. I hid under my pillow pretending I wasn't related to them, and once the plane landed I stayed several feet behind my family, who resembled a circus. My mother, with her businesswoman suit and briefcase, my father, carrying everyone's luggage. Allie, in her shirt dress, Aaron's non stop yelling peppered with words a nine-year-old shouldn't know, and Aria stumbling along after them without a shirt on.We couldn't get to the house fast enough, but once we did I wanted nothing more to get out of it. In a fit of stubbornness and arguing from my siblings and I, I had been nominated to sleep in the smallest room, which was hot and humid, as well as six feet by six feet, with no closet and hardly enough room for my bed. The room had once been a kitchen pantry, and the only good thing about it was that it still smelled like cinnamon.The moving truck came at eight p.m., and I brought in my luggage as well as Allie's who refused to lift a finger. Once I had finished I locked the door to my room, turned the oscillating fan on full blast and attempted to lose myself in a book, but I only got a few pages in before falling asleep, the book on my face.

"Gretchen, it's time to get up." a soft knock on the door woke me, and I groaned, rolling over. The door opened and footsteps entered."Really, it's time to get up. Are you ill?" the voice said. Startled, my eyes flew open, which didn't do anything to help my sudden panic. Standing over me was a maid, dressed in a stereotypical black and white dress."Who are you?" I spluttered. The maid looked concerned."Gretchen, are you alright?""My name isn't Gretchen, it's Andie and what are you doing in my room?""It's me, Hanne. And you're name's been Gretchen since you were born.""Wait- Gretchen? Hanne?" my groggy brain jumped to an immediate conclusion. The book I had been reading the previous night was about a detective, Gretchen Marbury. "This isn't Marbury Hall, is it?'' "Of course this is Marbury Hall!" Hanne exclaimed. "And I've got a mind to call you a doctor.""You know you're a book, right?" I asked, choking over my words. Hanne laughed."Look around you, girl. There's no way not to know." she said. "Why?""Because I'm not Gretchen. My name is Andromeda Arbour and I was reading this book last night. This is a dream, isn't it?""Of course not, and that's not possible. Readers aren't allowed inside the books." Hanne said, pacing. "We can't let anyone know, of course- the characters will panic.""There's no way this isn't a dream." I shook my head as if to clear it, pinched my arm, and flinched. More than mildly freaked out, I stood up to find myself a good seven inches taller and wearing a long white nightgown. I chose to ignore this detail because I was already freaking out enough."Okay." I sighed, knowing I sounded hysterical. "Okay. So, just tell me how the story goes, and I'll play Gretchen's part.""No can do- I don't know.""How don't know you know?""Characters would get bored if they do the same thing over and over again- so we can't remember what happens each time. We only remember our backstories.""And how do you know what to say, then?""We were written for this part. Our lines come from our personality, therefore, they don't differ much when we're presented with the same situations.""Then what about me?" I asked, stunned that I was having such a normal conversation in such a ridiculous setting."Don't worry. Just say what you want, it will seem right to the reader.""That doesn't make any sense.""I wouldn't expect it to. Don't worry, though. It doesn't matter what you say. The dialogue will be just fine." Hanne said comfortingly. "You do need to get dressed now.""Okay." I said quietly, examining the large closet of complicated-looking dresses. "Can you help?""That's my job."