Dear Me: The Reset Button

Dear Me: Two is for Tenaciously Sherlock Holmes (Part Two)

~Dear Me: Two is for Tenaciously Sherlock Holmes (Part Two)~

"Okay, kiddo, even though I know you're a little genius child and you probably don't need my help," Sierra starts,"do you have any homework that you want me to help you with?"

Sierra puts the petite seven year old girl down onto the high school library's floor. Then, afterwards, she pulls out the chair for her to sit in. Lia hops onto the chair, making it wobble slightly. Shocked for a second, Sierra's maternal instincts kick in, but are quickly softened after seeing the carefree child settled into the chair. She finally sits herself down onto her own chair whilst little Lia simultaniously checks her bookbag for her homework planner.

Lia points to today's date, a wednesday on September 2nd, and turns the planner with her free hand to slightly face Sierra. "Look, I already have all my homework checked off for today! The teacher lets us have time to do it in class," smirking, she continues, "and, I have all of this week's work done, too!"

Sierra claps with a proud, almost sarcastic, smile plastered on her face. "The genius kid does it again. How are you so much more responsible than I was? Heck, I even was the star student half the time."

"Sierra, I'm not a genius! How many times do I have to tell you that?" Lia whines, crossing her arms like the characters usually do in books.

Sierra scoffs. "Alright, alright. I know, there's a lot of actual genius kids out there, but seriously though, you're wise beyond your years." She leans over the table to give Lia a pat on the back.

"Well, thank you. That's definitely more logical than what you said before," the self-assured kid says, "But, anyways, the real reason why I did all my homework so fast was to show you this." With a big, cheeky smile, little Lia gets out her laptop and pulls up her google doc app.

Sierra clasps her hands together. "Ooh, is this more research on frog types?"

Her eyes brimming with enthusiasm, she responds, "Of course it is! Yesterday, I was just learning about the Dendrobates Pumilio, or the Strawberry Poison Dart Frog."

Nodding, Sierra responds, "Interesting! So, what did you learn about this frog, kiddo?"

"Well, it's a small frog with a plump body and thin arms, being about one inch long. It resides usually in Central America, making it a rain forest dwelling frog-"

Interrupting Lia, Sierra puts her hand on Lia's mouth, bending over to whisper in her ear that someone is coming. Loud footsteps line the hallway directly behind Lia, and, abruptly taking action, Sierra grabs her bookbag and takes out a science book. "Shh, sweetheart, I hear someone coming. Act like you're studying with me or else we'll get in trouble, okay?"

Lia responds with a nod and pretends she's a movie star.  The buisness savvy lady from earlier confidently strides into the room, checking on the two girls. She bends down next to Lia to try to get her attention. "So girlie, what has Ms. Wilson been teaching you?"

Little Lia doesn't acknowldge the tall woman's presence, as she is still absorbed in her acting.

Sierra bends over oncemore and gently taps her on the shoulder. "Lia, Mrs. Howard is trying to talk to you."

Perking up, she makes eye contact with the seventeen year old in front of her. She starts to tilt her head to the side, but ultimately droops her head so that she's looking at her science book.

Sierra looks up at Mrs. Howard, straightening up her posture in the process. "Sorry, she isn't really comfortable with eye contact. We've been reading her science chapter for her test on Friday."

Smiling rather forcedly, she gives a nod of approval. "Good job guys! Keep up the great work. It seems like you all are doing well, so I'll check up on you again soon."

Sierra watches her chemistry teacher sashay away, rolling her eyes in a way her sister would.

Finally, little Lia looks up again at Sierra, pouting. "Sierra, I don't really like that lady. She's scary."

"Me neither, kiddo. She's kinda fake." she sighs, "but, whatever. There's nothing we can do about that." Upon brief notice, she sees how disheveled Lia's appearance is. Her hair is knotted, unbrushed, and her clothes look messily put on. There's a couple of stains covering the back of her shirt, too.

How did I not notice this earlier? She looks awful. Why didn't her parents help fix her when she left home today? Not to mention, now that I'm thinking about it, her appearance seems like it's been progressively getting worse over the past few club days...

"Lia... who dressed you today?" Sierra awkwardly asks, looking intently into her eyes.

She furrows her brows and tilts her head. "Me, of course. Who else would dress me? I'm 7 years old, in case you forgot!"

Maybe she's going through one of those weird stages where they're like,'who cares how I look?'? Hmm... I mean, her parents would probably still yell at her. I don't know why they wouldn't.

She pulls out a brush from her bag. "Kiddo, would you like me to brush your hair? There's a lot of knots in the back of it right now."

"Oh, really? I didn't notice them. Sure, go ahead!" Lia gets up from her chair while Sierra turns hers around. Sierra tugs Lia's to the front of the table where hers is, turning them to face opposite to one another.

"Sit down in the chair, alright? I'll be really gentle." Sierra affirms while sitting down herself.

Listening, Lia does what she says and Sierra then begins the long and brutal war against the Kingdom of Knot. Kill me now.

"So, kiddo, is your laundry machine broken? There seems to be a lot of stains on your shirt." Sierra says whilst valiently fighting in the war of all wars.

"Hmm? No, I just don't know how to use it."

"Then why didn't your mom or dad do it for you?"

She briefly turns around to face her, pausing her strife. "You sound spoilt. My mama says that only spoiled kids get their parents help with stuff. She and Papa are working at the ship shop, so I can't be a brat and demand their attention all the time."

That's rather... harsh. I know she should learn to do some things on her own- heck, I was the most independent, stubborn kid on earth- but, really? She's a spoilt brat even just for asking for help?

"That's kinda rough. Well, if you need anything washed, I can always do it at my house for you. You don't want stains on your shirt, now do you?" She responds, resuming the great fight.

"No, I don't," Lia says,"you know, you're more like a mommy than my own mama. You brush my hair, help me with homework, and even offered to wash my clothes for me!"

"Aww, thanks kid." She finally got the majority of her knots out, becoming the victor, and begins to plait her hair into pigtail braids. "Does your mom ever do that stuff for you?"

Lia shakes her head. "No, never. I've always had to dress myself. It's really hard to wake myself up on time, too. They're always at the boathouse, so they never do anything. And my big brother works there now, too, so I don't see him either."

I've got a really-y bad feeling about this Matilda-esque situation. I don't know, but... maybe this was what the letter was talking about?

~~~

Author's Note: Ooh, what do you think the letter was talking about? Is that really what Lia's going through, or is she just going through a phase? Also, what do you think about the letters and Sierra starting to follow their advice?

Haha, I'm writing a lot of this as I go, for once, so it's really interesting for me to find out the mystery with you guys. I have a general idea of the ending, but there's still so much in the middle that I have yet to discover for myself. I hope you are enjoying the chapters as much as I am!

Question of the chapter: See the first paragraph of the author's note.