The Cherry Trees

Chapter Five: 2014

"Oh my God I can not stand this any longer!" Lexi screamed, running out of the clubhouse. I laughed as I watched her run back to her yard, rubbing her eyes like crazy. By now they were bloodshot and she could not keep her eager hands off of them. Unlike me, Lexi got insane allergies. She took her medication every day, but her eyes required some special drop things that she refused to take. I guess she paid for it.

We had been outside the entire day, which probably hadn't done anything good for her allergic reactions. But we couldn't resist our new Razor Scooters that our moms had bought us at Target the other day. They are so much fun to ride up and down the driveway on! Especially Lexi's steep driveway that her mom has trouble backing the car out of. Being the clumsy person Lexi is, Ms. Lotter had to be sure to buy her knee and elbow pads, too. I'm pretty graceful, if I do say so myself, so I had no need for them.

Soon enough, Lexi returned outside, like I predicted she would. Though her eyes were still a bit irritated, she hopped back onto her red scooter and we began zipping around the driveway again.

"Hey! We should make a little town!" Lexi shouted as she raced past me down the hill.

I stopped my scooter."What?"

"Yeah! Get some chalk and we can draw in the roads and everything!"

I shrugged. "Okay."

We went into her garage and soon enough we were down on our knees, drawing roads and getting our hands covered with pink dust. After drawing for about an hour, we got up and admired our work. The roads swerved and twisted, and stop signs lined the street where it was most appropriate. There were also "stoplights" and finally a parking lot.

"We should be architects," Lexi said.

"Um, road architects?" I questioned.

"Sure, whatever," Lexi said, hopping back on her scooter. I got back on mine, and we started twisting through all the narrow roads and obeying the signs and lights. When a sleek red car pulled up into the driveway, we were having so much fun we hadn't even noticed until the horn quickly honked twice. We looked up and I saw Lexi's older brother that had pretty much fallen off the face of the Earth. Or so I  thought.

"Lexi!" he yelled out the car window.

"Tommy?" she asked, a bit surprised.

"Hey little sis!" he said, getting out of the car and closing the door.

It was then when I realized there was another person in the car. Apparently Lexi spotted her, too.

"Who's that?" she asked, pointing.

"This is Leslie. She is my fiancee," he said, taking Leslie's hand.

"Hi," Lexi said bluntly. I was surprised she wasn't introducing herself like she always did. I felt in my pocket for my rubbing stone, and began to trace quick circles in it, relieving some of my nervous tension.

"Hey sweetie. I've heard a lot about you," Leslie ventured.

"Great. I'm just now hearing about you."

"Lexi. Don't be rude," Tommy said sternly.

Lexi whipped around and began walking into her house. "C'mon Anne," she said, grabbing my arm.

"I like your sidewalk art!" Leslie called, attempting to redeem herself. But to be fair, Lexi was being a little harsh.

"Shut up," Lexi hissed under her breath.

We kept walking until we reached Ms. Lotter.

"Mom! Mommmm!" Lexi called.

"Yes?"

"Tommy is here. With Leslie," Lexi spat.

"Who?"

"His fiancee."

"His what?!" Ms. Lotter cried.

"So you didn't know either? Okay, well that makes me feel better."

Ms. Lotter stormed out of the house until she saw Tommy and Leslie. They were holding hands, and he was helping her pull her bags out of the trunk.

"Tommy," Ms. Lotter said, obviously steaming, but trying to hide it in front of Leslie.

"Hey Mom," he sighed.

"Hi. You must be Leslie," she said, extending her hand. Leslie took it and smiled.

"Yes," she said. "Pleasure to finally meet you."

"I'll say," Ms. Lotter said.

I looked over to Lexi who was stood still, arms crossed over her chest, not looking at Tommy.

Oh boy, this could not be good.

"Hey I think I'm going to get home..." I said, starting back towards my house.

Lexi looked at me with pleading eyes. "No, stay!" she whisper- yelled.

"Okay."

"Why don't you two come on in so we can... talk," Ms. Lotter said, with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"C'mon, Anne," Lexi said, pulling me toward her room.

I followed reluctantly and she plopped down on her floor, muttering something I couldn't make out.

"This is just... annoying," she said.

"What is? So he's getting married, what's the big deal?" I asked innocently.

"The big deal is that we haven't seen him for like two years and then suddenly he is getting married to this girl we've never met and we had no idea until just now. That's the issue."

"Well I don't think you are going to stop them from getting married, so you might as well make the best of it."

"How oh Wise One?" Lexi asked sarcastically.

"Well, peasant, why don't you get to know Leslie instead of hating her at first sight? You may like her. ad, after all, she is going to be your sister-in-law."

Lexi rubbed her irritated eyes. "Fine."