Manners. [[COMPLETE]]

Chapter Six.

Reader's POV:

After Mama left the house, Simon and I went to her study to see if there were any letters from a man named William. We looked in her desk drawers, but couldn't find anything. We looked in her bookshelf too, to no avail. We were about to leave the room, when Simon tripped over the corner of the mat, and landed on the floor, but from his chest up was in the fire place. I giggled at how he landed. I saw discoloured floorboards under the mat. I pulled on the discoloured floorboards, and they came up, revealing a secret compartment. There was a box, and in that box was letters addressed to Mama, from a man called William Whittaker.

I gasped. He put his hand up in the chimney. I threw a letter at his leg to get his attention. He retracted his hand, pulling a box down with it. He opened the box, and inside the box were more letters from William Whittaker. I showed him the letters that I found in the secret compartment.

We were just about to start reading the letters when we heard the front door open.

"(Y/N)?" I heard Mama call out.

I heard footsteps down the bottom of the stairs. My eyes widened, and Simon put the box back in the fireplace. I put the letters back in the compartment, and we quickly crept to my room.

Simon sat down on the bed, and grabbed trinkets off of my desk to fiddle with, trying make it look like we've been in here the whole time. I walked down the hallway, and saw Mama.

'Yes?' I replied.

"Mrs. Johnson will be coming over for lunch today, as will Mr. Johnson, Billy, and Norman." She said.

I nodded. Norman and Billy were the Johnson's sons. Norman was our age while Billy was Chrissy's age. I held back a grimace. Norman is the male version of Stephelia, and guess who he likes? Me.

'Okay Mama. Can Simon stay for lunch?' I signed.

Mama nodded, then walked downstairs, probably to tell Cook Milah that Simon was going to be here for lunch.

I went back to my room, and asked Simon if he wanted to stay over here for lunch. He said he wanted to. We told Cook Ally that Simon would be staying over my house for lunch. We went back over to my house, and went into the library to look around for more clues as the who William Whittaker was. We found another book, black leatherbound cover, with the name William Benjamin Whittaker engraved in golden cursive on the front. I opened the book, and a page fell out. It was Mama, holding a newborn baby boy.

I bit my lip in thought. Who was this little boy? Norman came into the library.

"It's lunchtime now." He stated, then walked back out.

I closed the book, ran up to room and hid it in my closet, under my clothes. I met Simon in the hallway, and we walked down the stairs together, into the dining hall, and sat down at the dining table. There was enough room for six people on the long sides of the dining table, and two people on the short sides. So there was enough room for 18 people altogether. Norman was on my left, Simon on my right, Billy next to Simon, Mrs. Johnson next to Billy, Mr. Johnson next to Mrs. Johnson, and Mama at the head of the table. Aurelia and Cook Milah were sat on the other side of the table. Simon and I swapped seats over to the other side of the table, to get away from Norman.

Simon and I ate our lunch, making small talk with the adults. Once we were finished, we took our plates to the kitchen, washed them up and put them away. We went upstairs, grabbed the leatherbound book, and went to Simon's Mother's garden. I realised that I didn't know Simon's Mother's name.

'Simon?' I started.

"Hmm?" Came his reply.

'What was your Mother's name?" I questioned.

"Cecilia. Cecilia Miranda Brown." He stated, and I nodded.

'Such a pretty name.' I said.

He nodded in agreement.

We walked into the hedge maze, and sat down on the porch swing. There were pictures of Mama, William, and the boy at the house I have never seen before, then there was a picture of the little boy, about five years old now, holding a newborn baby girl. Me. I gasped. It was the last page of the book, so we decided to go back to the house and look around for some more information on William. We ran out of the maze, not even bothering to lock the garden door. We ran out of the forest, and into my house.

Stephelia's POV:

A guy called Norman Johnson came over over to the Browns with his little brother Billy, and Norman and I instantly hit it off. He and I were sitting in the living room talking about Simon and (Y/N). It turns out that he liked (Y/N). I turned my head, and saw an interesting scene.

I saw Simon and (Y/N) run out of the forest near our house.

"Want to investigate?" I asked Norman.

He nodded, and we walked into the forest, and I saw footprints. We traced the footprints back to a door. I pushed open the door, and smirked. There was a garden.

"This garden must be really important to them if it's hidden, huh?" He questioned.

I nodded.

"Let's destroy it." He said, and we ran back to the house, and some chalk, and some paint.

Everyone else was busy with their own business so they wouldn't notice a missing axe, or some missing paint and chalk.

We ran back to the garden, and I cut down the swings. I smashed the railings of the gazebo, and Norman even managed to get some of the roof. I smashed the bridge, and Norman cut down some of the trees. I started to draw on the trees with the chalk and paint, and we painted and chalked the garden walls, the ground, and dumped paint and ground chalk into the lake. We ran back to the house, and cleaned ourselves up, making sure no evidence was visible.

I smirked at my reflection.

"Most bad girls are beautiful." Norman stated, then chuckled.

We walked back over to the Brown house, and started playing Blind Man's Bluff with everyone like we were innocent, and as far as anyone else knew, we were innocent.