July 17th, 1991

3 0 0
                                    

It was supposedly the last day of school. Emmeline's mom had called the headmaster and told him she was sick and would be out for the last two days. Yesterday they didn't do anything but watch movies, went to the park, and then went and got her ears pierced. She got a plain white, a pair of light gray, dark gray, and black studs. They spent the next day however birthday shopping. She got a few new shirts, a plain black one, a yellow black and white plaid button down, a grey tank top with a sun on it that had sunglasses, a pair of aviator sunglasses, black jeans, a pair of black shorts, a black pair of overalls, and to top it all off; a pair light jean shorts. It was very productive, and they even got fish and chips inside the mall they went to. Emmeline had never had them before, so it was a new experience that she enjoyed. When they got home she saw she had two packages. When she looked at them and saw they had come from California, where she had previously lived. It was from Alex and Christine. Emmeline squeezed so loudly she was sure the whole block had heard her, but she didn't care. She immediately ran inside and forgot to even close the door. She could hear her mom yell from upstairs "CLOSE THE DOOR! " she yelled. Emmeline turned on her heels, and looked around. She waved her hand to the right and the door closed. Emmeline felt a sliver of pride. She had been able to do little things like that for ages, yet never told anyone. She had heard people talking about people who could do stuff like that, and it never turned out good. She'd head of people who'd been kicked out of their houses, lost their jobs, even imprisoned for doing magic. She'd heard of a girl who had to move because her parents had both lost their jobs and were forced out of their house. Before she left people poked fun, and wrote outrageous things in her notebook, and threw their lunches, pens, spitballs, crumples up pieces of paper; one girl even threw a stick at her and said to make it a wand.

People claimed her mom had made a little grow little horns on his head when she caught his teasing her daughter after school.

She first noticed things when she was looking for one of her dolls, then it aphungry? right in front of her. After that it was little things, closing the door without touching it, turning the TV on, same with the dishwasher. When her mom would run errands it was a great help with chores. Made cleaning up the living room way easier.
Emmeline grabbed her packages and sprinted towards the telephone on the table by the couch. She dialed in the house phone number. It rang for about three seconds before someone picked up. "Yes? This is Beth Fernandez, who's this? " Though Mrs Fernandez couldn't see it, Emmeline had a huge grin upon her face. "Mrs Fernandezn it's me" But before she could go on Mrs Fernandez had already answered "oh my goodness! Honey!! Hun!! Get the kids Emm is a on the phone!" There was a small pause "oh Emmeline dear how have you been? " She warmly asked. Mrs Fernandez had a warm and comforting voice. She had been like a second mom to her. She was even her godmother. "I'm really good! I just saw these packages and" Again cut off. Thought she had a warm voice Mrs Fernandez was VERY excitable. "Oh Lord have mercy! It's your birthday isn't!? Eleven aren't you!? " Emmeline laughed "you remember!?" Mrs Fernandez sounded shocked "well of coarse dear, you're my my favorite goddaughter after all. Plus your hair always smells quite nice."
Mrs Fernandez had her own candle, and spray, and lotion company. Fernandez Fragrances. Emmeline's favorite was 'Forest Pine' it smelled as it sounded. Like you were in a pine forest, it was very relaxing, almost like a vacation getaway for your nose.
"Haha thank you Mrs Fernandez! How have you been? " Mrs Fernandez sounded like she had just relaxed into a nice armchair. "I'm doing quite well. I just got a new fragrance for candles. Fresh cut roses. It's very delightful. I can't garden to so save my life, which really made Ms. Sprout irritate, but oh well. " Emmeline was confused "uh Ms Sprout? Was she a teacher of yours? " Mrs Fernandez paused for a minute. Like she was thinking of an excuse, to cover up something she shouldn't have said perhaps. Though it was merely a name, so it shouldn't be a big deal. "Why umm yes she was a teacher of mine.... She worked with uh well ya know in a classroom. She loved to garden" There was a pause, this one wasn't as long as the last. "Well that's good, she sounds nice"
"Oh she was! Very delightful. Not that I appreciated it when I was young, however I'm sure her and I would get along nicely today if I saw her again. "
It sounded like someone ripped the phone straight out of Mrs Fernandez's hand. "EMM! EMM! CAN YOU HEAR ME? " it was the excited voice of Christine. "Risty! Boy am I glad to hear you! I think I got your gift so I wanted to give you a call!" Risty was Christine's nickname since they were young. Since Emmeline couldn't say Christine sorrectly, Risty was all she could pronounce. It just kina stuck after a while. "Is Al there too!? " Christine sighed. "No he's reading History of Ma-OUCH oh history of uh... Merica, yeah he's reading history of America.... You know Al, always wanting to know I got things about, things. " It was strange how both Mrs Fernandez Risty were acting odd. Maybe it was nothing or maybe it was something. Either way it didn't matter " Well get his sorry butt down then! I want to talk to both of you!!" Though Christine had used her hand to cover the phone she could still hear her yelling "AL!! DANG IT AL!! EMM IS ON THE PHONE STOP READING YOU MAGIC BOOK! BUT DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THAT STUFF!! AL!!!!" Magic.... He was reading a magic book. Maybe to look for fun. Surely they weren't... Like... Goblins or elves in disguise were they? Emmeline could hear a distant yell that sounded like "fine just a second, I need to get pants. The thing with Alex was that he did his best reading.... Without pants, or a shirt. He also did his best thinking that way too. Not that he couldn't think well normally with clothes on, he just thought quicker and better so to say without them. He wasn't naked though, he had underwear thank god. Emmeline walked in on that once before and didn't want to see it again. After a few minutes you could hear him come up " You're on speaker Emm" Said Christine. "Oh hey Emm, how are today?" Emmeline chuckled " Well you see Al, I got this nice package here and it says it's from you. " Emmeline heard a gasp "well open it!" He said "haha okay okay I'm going" Emmeline opened her package and she saw a book. Not just a book, at photo album. She opened it and saw that it had lots of pictures. 40 pages in all. Photos from the time they were tiny babies, to ones taken at their birthday celebration months before. Emmeline had remembered how much she missed them, and started to cry as she looked at the pictures "oh dang it Al you made her cry" Whined Christine. Al sounded concerned and somewhat guilty "oh no Emm I'm really sorry I didn't mean to I swear" Emmeline wiped away her tears and took in a deep breath "I love it! Thank you it means a lot to me" You could hear an almost audible lift of spirit from both Al and Christine "okay my turn! " Said Christine. Emmeline opened the second package. "Oh my god Risty!! Risty!! " Emmeline let out a squeal. Inside was a Green Day shirt. Emmeline and Christine were in a music store and heard them, since then they both loved them. On top of that were a brand new shiny pair of converse. They were Emmeline's favorite shoe. She looked at the shoe rack, there were her old ones. They were really dirty, and had a few holes in them. She had them for about 4 years. Her foot size didn't go up that often so it was fairly easy to go shoe shopping. "Oh my gosh Risty thank you so much! You and Al are amazing! "
"You didn't find the other one? " Christian said questionably. Emmeline looked around more in the box. She let out an "awwww" It was a bottle of Fresh Cut Roses lotion, a spray of Forest Pine, as well as a Large candle of it. "Give your mom and big hug and tell her I say 'Oh man gash thank yah so mach" Christine laughed. They talked for another hour or so. They had to hang up when it was time for them to go to school. Emmeline had forgotten it was their last day. It was two in the afternoon for Emmeline, which meant it was around six am for the Fernandez family. They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.
Emmeline ran upstairs to her room, and packed a few extra clothes. Though she had some there already she liked to bring some just in case. She packed some extra shirts, more leggings and socks. Socks and jackets we're her favorite articles of clothing, so naturally she had an abundance of them. She couldn't were loads of jackets since it was the summer, so she decided to bring only half of her socks.
She brought her bag downstairs and looked around for her mom.
"Mom!? Mooooooommmmm??" She walled around the house, and down the Hall. She found her folding laundry and putting it either a black basket (which was hers) or a blue one (which was Emmeline's)
"When will dad and Elladora be here? " Her mom looked up with her with a slight panic. "I forgot..... I forgot to tell them you aren't in school today! Go put on your uniform and we'll get there before they do! " Emmeline sprinted up the stairs, and flung open her closet door. She put on her navy blue skirt, her black blouse, her black flats, and her jacket with the schools crest on the lapel. As she was coming down the stairs she saw her mom had changed as well. Now wearing a baby blue sundress with a pattern of; red, yellow, and orange flowers. She slipped on her white flip flops. "Should I put on some makeup. We got time..." Emmeline looked her up and down. " Maybe just light eyeshadow and some lip gloss." Her mom kissed her cheek. " Thank you" She walked down the Hall and went to the left and was doing her makeup. Fifteen minutes later she was back and ready to leave. She grabbed her purse and both of them went out the door.
It was only a ten minutes drive, and there was no traffic; which is always a good thing.
When they got there school hadn't yet ended yet. It was 3:52 PM and school didn't get out until 4:00 PM.
They sat in the car and listened to the radio. At 4:00 PM they heard the school bell ring. Her mom leaned over and gave her a hug. "Have fun with your sister and your father. And don't forget about me" She said with a slight laugh. " I will, and I could never forget you. I love you" She pulled away " I love you too honey. "
Emmeline opened the door and stepped onto the the pavement. She watched her mom drive away and waved.
"Well look who decided to show up. Her majesty decided to grace us with her presence"
She turned around and there was Jack Cook.
"The daft cow queen! " Everyone started laughing and mooing at her.  She couldn't take it.  Enough is enough.   " AND YOU! " she shouted "YOU GORMLESS MANKY GIT!  I SUPPOSE YOU ARE THE PIKEY KING!  PISS OFF YOU INCOMPETENT NUTTER!" Everyone was silent,  including Jack Cook; who turned and walked away.  When everyone had gone back to their business Emmeline wondered if she had gone too far.  I means sure he was snide,  rude,  and just plain mean; but had he really deserved it?  She hadn't really meant all the things she said.  She just wanted him to leave her alone. She hadn't meant to hurt him..... Well maybe a little but not a lot. She hardly even knew what those words meant,  she had gotten them out of a book she saw at the library.
After a few minutes she decided to go after him. Not long after wondering around she found him sitting and crying on the side of the school by himself.
"I'm sorry for the things I said... I didn't mean them" He looked up,  with blood shot eyes from crying so much.  "Yes you did.  And I'm sure plenty of other people were thinking the same thing. " Emmeline looked down and the grown and then back at him.  " I was just trying to get you off my back ya know? I didn't mean to... Hurt you" Emmeline thought for a second.  " How about next term we become... Uhh friends-ish" Jack scoffed.  "You?  Friends with.... Me?  Why?  D'you get dared to or somethin? " Emmeline shook her head, she could hear a car honking in the background. "no,  there's just no way that those rude idiots are actually your friends. " he raised his eyebrows "and what if they are?  You just offended my friends! " Emmeline chuckled "really?  They are your friends?  The same ones who didn't come after you?  Or the ones I saw just last week throw you into a trash can,  and the week before I heard them bragging how they shoved your head in a toilet? " Jack looked down almost embarrassed.  "They were just.... Just messin around" Emmeline rolled her eyes " Sure they were. Well" She extended her hand "here to something different.  Next term things can be different." he grabbed her hand and she pulled him up.  "Now if we're gonna do this you should no my name,  after all you can't just call me the 'daft cow queen' can you?  My name is Em-" But before she could finish she was cut off "Emmeline!! " We gotta go" Emmeline turned around.  Short pixie chestnut brown hair,  golden brown eyes,  freckles over their entire face, and a little bit taller than her.  Yep,  it was Elladora.  " Oh hi Ella " "hey" She responded.  "Who's this?  Your boyfriend? " Elladora asked.  Jack took a step back "no no he's just a possible friend" Elladora raised her eyebrows as if to ask a question,  but refraining.  "Oh well we gotta go. " Emmeline turned back to Jack,  "what's your number?  Maybe we can talk over the summer?  Or mail each other? " Jack nodded " Sure" He gave her his number and his address.  As the walked to the car Emmeline say her dad and they embraced each other in a warm hug. "Hey kiddo" he said warmly.  " how have you been?" Emmeline smiled and told him about the presents she got,  and the shopping she'd done.  "Mom says hi by the way" Elladora rolled her eyes. They started driving when their dad asked " You guys hungry? Ell and I haven't eaten yet. " Emmeline and Elladora both said "always" At the same time.  They turned on the radio but nothing came in.  So they relied on remembering songs and singing them.
Take on me by ah-ha,  Billie Jean by Micheal Jackson,  as well as thriller,  girls just want to have fun by the one and only Cyndi Lauper.  Since they hadn't lived there very long they didn't know of very many English Bands.  They decided to go to a place called Wimpy.  They had really good burger and fries there.  Emmeline and Elladora had both gotten a cheeseburger,  with extra onion.  Though they were different they were the same.  Elladora was quieter,  more sarcastic,  and more preserved; but she was nice all the same.  She had a good heart deep down,  but she won't let anyone else know that unless she trusts you.  For a while it was hard because both Elladora and Emmeline look alike. The same golden brown eyes,  the thick and bushy chestnut brown hair,  freckles covering the face.  The main differences are; Elladora is taller,  and thinner,  while Emmeline is short and chubby.  Elladora also has a short  pixie cut with bangs.  Emmeline has long wild and full hair.  However most days it was either in dual French braids,  or in buns. 
However Elladora has always seemed strange in some way to Emmeline.  Like something is off,  or the truth isn't fully being revealed.

Golden : First YearWhere stories live. Discover now