Turning Over A New Leaf

Chapter 11

The table was silent. Not a comfortable silence, like the ones between friends, but an awkward one. Save for the occasional clicking of a fork hitting the plate, the only sound was chewing. Even Penny was quiet.

Scarlett glanced at the clock. It was almost 7:30 in the morning, on a Saturday.

And this was sleeping in, in Grandma Sophie’s house.

Luckily, the meal was quick, saving Scarlett from the awkward breakfast conversation that was bound to occur. Scarlett was put in charge of dishes, which were done by hand because Grandma Sophie thought that dishwashers were dangerous.

“Hey, Penny, pass me that plate, will you?” Scarlett asked, spotting a blob of dried ketchup on it.

“Okely dokely!” Penny chirped, grabbing the hideous plate. It was adorned with flowers all along the edge, and a pair of sickeningly sweet kittens. Not something you want to see, when picking up your last pancake.

Skipping over to the sink, Penny balanced the plate on the edge of the counter. Without looking, Scarlett reached for it – and hit her hand on the bottom. The plate careened off the edge of the sink, and smashed onto the floor.

“WHAT IN THE HELL?” Grandma Sophie screeched from the other room. With surprising speed, she hobbled into the kitchen and let out a gasp. Dramatically extending her shaking finger to point at the shattered plate, she howled, “Who did this?!”

Penny looked like she was quaking in her socks. Scarlett raised a hand. “It was me, I knocked it off the counter by accident. I’m really sorry!”

Grandma Sophie turned her death glare towards Scarlett. “You! Do you know how much this plate is worth?!” When Scarlett shook her head, Grandma Sophie continued, “Never mind that! It has sentimental value! I can’t believe you broke it!” Taking a deep breath, she seemed to make up her mind. “Get out! I can’t even look at you right now! Leave this household!”

Scarlett just stared, dumbfounded. Penny was bawling.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Get moving!” Grandma Sophie pointed at the door.

Is she serious? Scarlett thought.

Grandma Sophie grabbed the broom and started advancing threateningly towards Scarlett. Apparently, she was very serious. Scarlett hightailed it out the door and onto the street, barely stopping to pick up her shoes. She stopped on the sidewalk, shoving her feet into them hastily, before setting off in no particular direction.

Shoving her hands into the pockets of her sweater, she kicked at a rock, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. After all, she was turning over a new leaf. Aren’t teenagers supposed to not care?

Scarlett looked up. She was in front of a seriously decrepit playground, one that didn’t look familiar at all. Where am I?

 Turning around, she saw a wooden fence, one of the ones with solid paneling. It was only about 4 feet tall, and there was an open gate a couple feet from where she was standing. A dirt path ran from the gate to the playground, but it looked like it wasn’t a very popular playground, since the dirt path wasn’t anything but a line, where there was no grass.

She turned to look back at the playground. There was a cement canal running behind it, and after that it was just field.

Sauntering over to the swings, she plopped down on one and closed her eyes, slowly pushing her legs along the ground. She honestly had no idea where she was.

“Hi.”

Scarlett fell off the swing. Heart pounding in her chest, and cheeks red as a tomato, she pushed herself off the ground and whipped around to find the source of the voice.