Who is Julie McDuck?!

Friendship Hates Magic!

(Julie's POV for this chapter)

I set a plate of sandwiches on the dining table in front of Mrs. Beakley. "Here you go, Mrs. B," I offered, sitting down across from her.

I let out a relieved sigh. "It's feels good to have a nice, quiet day with Cole and the boys helping Uncle Scrooge at the Bin, huh?"

Mrs. Beakley gave a small grin. "I've been meaning to ask you, how did your first outing with Cole go, Julianna?"

I blushed a little. "Well, I-uh..."

As if my prayers for a distraction had been answered, Webby came bounding into the room. "Granny, Julie, I have a friend coming over for a sleepover tonight! She speaks old Norse! I can't wait!"

"Good job, Webby! I'm so proud of you for finding a new friend!" I gushed, squeezing her into a small hug.

"Thanks, cuz!" she replied. A smile found its way onto my beak. She'd taken the chance to see me as her cousin very quickly.

"This is a big step given your past sleepovers," Mrs. Beakley spoke up. Webby's face fell a bit and I tried to signal her grandmother to stop bringing up her friendship with Lena.

Poor Webby had been devastated after her best friend had been lost to the Shadow Realm, and I personally don't blame her.

Now the girl began to freak out, hiding anything that screamed adventure around the manor in an attempt to prevent her from losing another friend. I managed to catch up with her before she hurt herself with a sword.

"Webs, look, I get that you're nervous about this. Heck, I'd be, too...but, you need to just be yourself. If this person doesn't like you for YOU, then they're not a good fit to be your friend."

My honorary cousin eyed the floor and I placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you want, I could hang out with you and your new friend...what's her name?"

"Violet."

"Right, I could hang out with you and Violet at your sleepover. Unless you don't want me crashing your-umph!"

Webby crushed me into a hug. "Thanks, Julie; I'd love that."

I patted her head. "No problem, cuz."

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Webby ran up to the front door and flung it open to reveal a young girl, wearing a bored expression and holding a pie.

"Big house. I run everywhere. Violet, hello!" Webby greeted, a huge grin breaking out on her face.

Violet looked past Webby and at me. "Strange, I thought that it would just be the two of us at this sleepover. Who's this?"

I reached out to shake the girl's hand. "Sorry, should've given ya a heads-up there. Hi, I'm Julie, Webby's older cousin."

Violet shook my hand, but as she looked at me, I got the strange feeling that I was being evaluated.

"Hm, yes, I believe Webbigail mentioned you at the library. Anyways, I brought pie."

"A pie! How normal. Come in," Webby replied, gesturing Violet to follow us.

As Violet walked into the manor, I could've sworn I heard someone talking. When I looked around, though, nobody was there. Weird...

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Webby flung open her bedroom doors. "And this is my room," she explained, watching nervously as Violet looked around. I resisted the urge to facepalm, as it looked like Webby had taken down anything and everything that she dubbed 'not normal'.