In The Closet

9. Jemima Stone, And Yourself?

"You seem different," Natalie tells me about halfway down the lane.

"Oh?"

"It's probably just the new surroundings, right?" she suggests.

"Yeah, probably," I shrug.

We walk to the end in silence.

"The oldest sister's pretty. You'll probably like her," Natalie informs me, knocking on the door of the house.

A tall boy with, rather long for stereotypical male standards, dark hair and bright blue eyes answers. He sees Natalie and grins.

"Back already?" he says, his voice surprisingly high for his appearance. Not abnormally, more prepubescent. Maybe he's just tall.

Natalie laughs, weirdly. "Yup. This is my sister, Cath. Cath, this is Ryan."

Ryan.

"Hi, Cath," he smiles. "I was told you like horses? We have a lot of those."

I don't dislike horses, but I don't care for them that much. But, maybe me from this timeline loves them. "Oh, yeah."

"I'll show you ours," Ryan says, slipping out from the doorway to go around the back of the house.

Natalie looks at me, expectantly. I shrug my shoulders.

"Make a pun about how you're not straight or something. It might make him do something similar, if he's queer," I whisper. She nods, and runs forward to catch up with Ryan. I do the same.

There are five little stables for each horse, one of which is empty. The garden is ginormous, and backs onto several fields.

"Jemima's gone riding on Rhubarb Pie, I think," Ryan tells me. He looks at my face. "They're all named after sweets or desserts. Here we have Iced Bun, Toffee Apple, Chocolate Digestive and Caramel Slice."

"Those are brilliant names," I tell him with a laugh.

Chocolate Digestive snuffles at my arm. They're dappled grey and what I, someone who knows little about horses, a standard horse height. They have beautiful chocolate brown eyes, which must be how they got their name.

"She obviously likes you," Ryan says. He must get from my face that I don't know about how to refer to the horses too. "She, she, he, she, and Rhubarb Pie is a he."

I nod, and stroke Chocolate Digestive's nose.

"Do you own all of this?" Natalie asks. Either she's a telepath, we're mentally linked or it's a common question.

Ryan nods. "This part of the garden, obviously, and those three fields."

"And I thought my aunts were rich!" she comments.

"Spending all our money on land and animals means we aren't so much anymore," Ryan replies. "My parents are about as careful with money as your youngest cousin would be. At least we aren't struggling as much as a couple of years ago. But hey, you can't change the past, and we have pets and land and that's that." He shrugs and smiles. "So, you want to ride one of the horses?"

***

Our week of settling in at our home for the next few months is over, and me and Natalie are due to start at the local school today. There's no bother about uniform for me, as I'm in sixth form, but there's been a debate about what to do about Nat – she appears to be used to me calling her that. The conclusion of that was that she doesn't have to wear uniform specific to the school. She's wearing her uniform for the school we go to at home with a grey cardigan thing. I feel sorry for her. She'll stand out a lot.

We walk down the lane with Hayden towards the Stones' place of living for our journey to school. Lauren and Beth – the other woman – live so far into the countryside that there are no buses that will take us to school within less than two mile's walk.

Ryan's younger brother, Aaron, answers. I've met him and his brother, but never this sister they claim to have. He's in the uniform for the school we're headed to. He grins at Hayden. They must be friends.

"How will we all fit in the car?" Nat asks.

"They have an eight-seater," Hayden tells us. "It'll be a squash, though."

Ryan appears at the door, smiling when he sees Natalie. "Gotta wait for Jem now," he says, but not really to me. I ship.

Aaron rolls his eyes. "Jem, they're waiting!"

"Yeah, yeah, gimme a minute!" a muffled shout rings through. A girl appears at the door, slipping a silver stud earring into her lobe.

"Morning," she says, and slips past to get into the very back of the car. Like her brothers, she's quite tall and has dark hair and blue eyes. She's paler, and very skinny with rose red lips. Kind of like Snow White. She's in a hoodie and skinny jeans, a black top and knee-high boots.

As Natalie said, she's definitely pretty.

James, one of the dads, comes to the door. He smiles at me and Nat.

"It's about half an hour's drive," he says. It sounds kind of out of place, but he probably can't think of much to say.

"Can I sit in the front?" Hayden asks.

"Hey!" Aaron complains, but he doesn't seem too upset.

"Hayden asked first," James laughs.

Ryan walks over to the car, and slips in the back beside Jemima. Natalie runs quickly after to sit next to him. Hayden and Aaron go next. I follow, sitting in one of the middle seats. I want to meet Jemima. Properly.

James shuts the door, and starts the car.

"Think you'll fit right in, Natalie, considering that both Ryan and Jemima are gay as well," he says with a laugh. Never did I expect to be disappointed upon finding out an attractive girl was gay.

"I'm not gay!" both Ryan and Jemima shout at the same time.

I turn around to give them a confused look.

"I'm bi, and Jem's pan," Ryan explains. Jemima finally looks at me, slightly confused at first, then something must click in her head.

"I forgot Natalie had a sister," she says, laughing slightly. She leans forward, and holds out a hand. "Jemima Stone. And yourself?"

"Catherine White," I say, shaking Jemima's hand. It feels like something runs through me at her touch, but in a good way. "Pleased to meet you, Jemima."

Ryan says something sarcastic about the introduction, and within minutes Jemima, Nat and Ryan are all deep in conversation. I'm sat facing forward in my seat, thinking. Jemima Stone. It sounds familiar.

When it clicks, I nearly scream.

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a/n: realized that nearly every time I name a character who isn't the main character, I call them Jem. wow. I hope you liked this chapter! please vote, comment and share !!