Effacing

Chapter 7 : Compromise

"Well, yes, mom was coming for Christmas, but she just got promoted and she needs to stay at work. She felt so bad about all this that she sent you a gift," my dad said.

"Does mom work in California?," I asked, "did she buy us tickets to go see her?" This made me very happy. I get to travel, go on vacation, and see my mom! This is great! I can already envision myself on the sunny beaches, finally being with my mom. Me, actually feeling like part of the family, with my new friend.

However, my dad interrupted the perfect fantasy that I created in my head. "No," he said, "your mom works in New York." He must have noticed the sadness that his words brought upon me, because pity filled his face.

"Why couldn't she buy the tickets for us to go to New York?" I asked.

"It cost a lot more money to go to New York. And, well, even if we were to go to New York, we probably wouldn't be able to see her much. She really is busy," he responded. Then he added with a smirk, "Man, now you're making me jealous. What, am I not as cool as your mom? I'm not your favorite?"

"No, that's not it," I said in a monotonous tone.

After a moment of awkward silence, Savannah said, "So let me get this straight. I'm going to California?" Her face lit up.

"If your parents let you," my dad said, "you and your sister can have the extra tickets."

Savannah looked down, upset. "I doubt my parents will let me. I mean, I'll be so far away."

"Well then, I have some good news for you." my dad said. "I called your mom, and well long story short we had a thirty-minute long conversation over the phone and we came to a compromise. Since the trip is in about a week, your mom agreed to let you guys go if you do all of your chores within this week."

I couldn't tell if Savannah was happy or not. She looked at her sister and they both burst into laughter. "I guess we're not going, then," Anna said.

"I don't understand," I said. Why would they be laughing about not being able to go? Why can't they go?

"Well," Anna said, "it's not like we're going to finish all of our chores this week. I mean, we've been procrastinating and haven't cleaned our rooms in a while. . ."

"I still don't understand the problem," I said, "Can't I help you clean?"

Anna looked at me sincerely, then looked at my sister. "If you and  your sister help, I'm sure we can finish it."
We all looked at my sister, who had a disgusted look on her face. "Ugh, fine," she said, rolling her eyes with a smile.

So now that it was settled, we continued painting our flowers and discussing our glamorous vacation. We then discussed who would help who clean. We decided I would help Anna, and Breanna would help Savannah. This way it wasn't two kids cleaning versus two teens cleaning. This way would be faster. This way we could go to California for two weeks.

*******
Note from Author:
If you like my story, please just me know if you think I should continue. I'm not so sure it's coming out so great, and I'd love for feedback. Thank you!! :)