Speak Now

Chapter Two

Knock, knock, knock.

Madeline’s eyes snapped open. Who could that be? she thought as she felt around for her glasses on the nightstand beside her. She groggily put them on and got out of bed, grumbling to herself over who could be bothering her since she didn’t ask for a morning wake up call. She opened the door rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and quickly found out who her disturber was. “Maddie!” The familiar German accent of her good friend, Julchen, hit her ears at an alarmingly loud volume. Her friend was an odd sight, being albino and all. And her sense of style – while Madeline never objected or complained – was quite eccentric in itself. Her outfit was cute, though her long, knee-length white hair made her quite a sight: she was wearing black high-heeled combat boots with buckles in the front. She had on faded black ripped skinny jeans tucked into the boots, and a baggy, white and black vertically-striped semi-long sleeved see through shirt on. Her Prussian cross hung from a chain around her neck. Madeline quickly looked around the hallway, checking to be sure her friend didn’t disturb any other hotel guests, and quickly pulled her into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Madeline had Julchen sit on the bed while she washed her face. Madeline wiped off the water, and reached for her glasses. She quickly brushed her hair as she took in her appearance. She head a tamable case of bedhead, and she was clearly wearing pajamas: a white fitted t-shirt, with a pair of Coca-Cola red polar bear pajama pants that Alfred got her for Christmas the previous year. She sighed, at least it was just Julchen.

“Did jou just vake up?” Julchen asked as Madeline walked out of the bathroom.

“Yes, I did,” Madeline responded tiredly.

Julchen chuckled, “Vell, come on! Get dressed! Francis vanted us over at noon for lunch, und I don’t feel like being lectured for being late. By mein bruder or zhat bastard Francis.”

Julchen stood up, putting Madeline’s suitcase on the bed for her. Madeline walked over and picked out her clothes: a thick tan cardigan with a white t-shirt, blue denim skinny jeans, her thick, dark navy blue scarf, and light brown riding boots. She got dressed in the bathroom leaving her pajamas in a pile under the sink. While she was putting her socks and boots on, Julchen sat behind her brushing out Madeline’s long ash-blonde hair. “Do jou vant me to put jour hair in pigtails for jou, Maddie?” Julchen asked.

“No, that’s quite alright. I think I’ll leave it down today,” Madeline responded. And with that said, Julchen simply put a hairclip in Madeline’s hair – a hairclip she’d been meaning to give to Madeline for quite some time now. Madeline brushed her fingers over the delicate clip, then quickly ran to the mirror.

“Oh, Julchen it’s beautiful!” Madeline exclaimed, running out of the bathroom to hug her precious friend. A silver maple leaf sat on top of navy blue lace, and in the center of the leaf was a beautiful array of small diamonds. “You really didn’t have to!”

“Oh but I did! Just zhink of it as a zhank jou for being mein friend,” Julchen smiled.

Madeline blushed, slightly nodding her head in understanding. The two had been very good friends since high school. Julchen came to Madeline’s school as a student teacher through the college Madeline’s senior year. Julchen was a foreign exchange student from Germany, and even though there was a bit of an age difference – seven years - the two bonded almost instantly. Even after Julchen went back home, the girls kept in touch through email and Facebook. They’d been good friends for almost five years now; Madeline just couldn’t how much time had flown by!

Julchen jerked her away from her nostalgic memories, and out the door – but not before grabbing her friend’s purse and keys.