Note from the author: Total Words: 20,347. Words to go: 9,653.
This time when I wake up, I’m not disoriented at all. I lay in bed for a while, just lollygagging. I love Earth. No schedules. I check my emails and am rewarded by another email.
Good Morning Miss Char,
You probably aren’t even up yet, you lucky girl. My parents are fine with me coming, no worries there. Aww, Buttons. That’s a cute name. I’m a genius. I do have my license actually. I’ll help you…maybe…if you’re nice. Well, wish me luck today. I have a book report…ugh. I hate doing homework on the weekend.
Love, Matty.
I smile at his sunny email before responding.
Good Afternoon Matt,
You’re right, I did just wake up. Haha. Not to brag or anything, but I’m about to go downstairs and have Gus make me some chocolate chip pancakes. :P Oh good! I’m glad you can teach me; I think I make Amy too nervous… Tell me how the book report goes.
Charlie
I change out of my pajamas and flounce down stairs. I request some chocolate chip pancakes and Gus whips them up in a jiffy.
“Thanks Gus. You’re a peach,” I say jokingly. “I’m glad you’re here. I’d really miss you if you were still on the moon”.
“I’d miss you too, Charlie. It’s a relief to let you in on this little secret,” he responds.
“Mmmhmmm,” I reply with my mouth full of pancake. Gus leaves to prepare lunch and I make my way to Amy’s office. She showed me where is yesterday, but I still managed to get a little bit lost. Go figure.
I walk into Amy’s office but stay quiet; she’s on the phone. She motions that she’ll be done in a minute. I glance around the room. She has like six different computers and her room is very organized. All of the cabinets are labeled and everything is in it’s proper place. There’s a certificate mounted on the wall in a big bold frame. Upon further inspection, I realize that it’s the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Hey Charlie! I have something planned after lunch. How does a cooking class sound?” she asks once she hangs up.
“Awesome!” I reply enthusiastically. I once mentioned that I wanted to learn how to cook during one of our planning sessions on Moon Academy. I’m touched that Amy even remembered.
We head down to the kitchenette, gobble down our lunches, briefly, but genuinely thank Gus, then make our way to the garage. We get into the hovercar and off we go.
Davis drops us off in front of the grocery store. We walk to the back and enter the room set aside for lessons. There are about 8 stations. Almost no one is here; we’re really early. Amy pulls out two chef hats and I pull mine on eagerly. I don’t care if it looks dorky; I love it. We talk and people watch as our fellow cooking students filter in.
The teacher is really entertaining. First, she accidentally sets her apron on fire. Then she nearly slices off her thumb before grabbing a dish from the oven without a mitt. To top it off, she’s extraordinarily discombobulated. She introduced herself multiple times. Amy and I decided that next time, we’d ask Gus to teach us. Having said that, we left there feeling confident in our Crème Brule abilities.
When we get back home, we make the dessert before we forget how to do it. We are going to surprise Gus after dinner. Amy has to do a couple more things for work, so I go up to my room. I pet Buttons and check my emails.
Charles,
Ugh. I finished the book report but it took ages to finish. Chelsea invited me to one of her big bashes. I’ll probably have to go, won’t be able to sleep anyways. How were the pancakes? I’m jealous. What did you do today? Your first Saturday on Earth.
Love, Matty.
Oh Matty! I had a great day. The pancakes were delish. Plus, Amy and me learned how to cook, well, crème Brule at least. I’ll have to make it for you sometime. Say hi to Chelsea for me…not. I’ll see you in 5 days.
Charlie
When Amy finishes work, we all eat dinner together. Gus loves our Crème Brule. After dinner, Gus takes me out for a driving lesson. He’s not much better than Amy. Amy freaks out more, but Gus is way too lax. He’s really bad at giving instructions. “Okay hit the petal.” “Which petal?” “The break.” “WHICH IS THE BREAK.” “Hmmm. The one on the right maybe, but it’s okay, we already passed the stop sign.” Long story short, I can’t wait until Matt arrives.
I head up to bed exhausted. I turn on my makeshift nightlight, change into my PJ’s, tuck Buttons into bed, and climb into bed. I quickly check my emails.
Charles, I’m sitting on the same cooler that we met on. I’m exhausted, but this time, I have nowhere to go sleep. Bummer, right? Alexis offered, but that’d be weird. Well, wish me luck.
Love, Matty
Good Luck Matty! I can’t wait till we can hang out. I’ll email you tomorrow morning.
Night! Charlie
I conk out, utterly exhausted.
On Sunday, Amy takes me to see the Joshua Bell III concert. Wow. The man has got some serious skill, must’ve inherited that form his grandpa. I wish Matt could’ve seen it. He would have absolutely loved it.
On Monday, I went Cosmic Bowling. There were neon lights, disco balls, and loud music blasting. Amy and Gus whooped me. In all fairness, they’ve had more practice.
On Tuesday, I was super sore from the bowling. I helped Gus in the kitchen while Amy went to a business meeting all day. We cooked up a storm. It was awesome.
On Wednesday, I got an invite:
Dear Ms. Charlotte Manson,
You are cordially invited to Mr. Mathew Timber’s graduation ceremony.
It’s tomorrow at Moon Academy in room A of the outgoing hall.
The ceremony will be at 2 followed by an early dinner.
The shuttle will depart the Seattle dock at 9 am.
The shuttle will depart the Moon Academy Dock at 4pm.
We hope you’ll be able to attend.
Please RSVP below.
