Stormy Skies (On Hold)

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Sunday, June 21st

Sophie

      I can not believe her.

            She first acts all mean, and when I say something to her, she thinks she becomes my friend and tags along and does whatever I do.

            Then she goes and betrays my trust and tells Jonathon.

            As I think about her, lying on my bed, I realize how much I am annoyed by her. The way she blows her top so easily, when she never calms down, how she thinks she’s the best in her house, and most of all, how she thinks I’ll be by her side whenever she needs back-up.

            “Sophie! Are you coming down for dinner?” I hear Rena call from downstairs.

            “NO!” I yell. Do you think you could be a little more sensitive? I get so annoyed with Rena sometimes. Not to mention Ivy, too. I guess family is not made for me. Not that much people, either. I don’t even do that well with animals.

            Yeah, and you always forget to feed me, a snooty voice comes from my pillow.

            “Shut up, Toodles,” I mumble, giving my annoying cat a sidelong glance.

            I’m out of here. You just don’t get it, do you? You blame everyone but yourself... I hear a new tone in Toodles voice, but before I comment on it, she’s up and out of the room. Just after, I hear my door creak open. I see a figure enter the room, but I can’t tell who it is. It sits down next to me. I don’t look up from my feet.

            “Something’s wrong,” a soft voice says, whispering next to my ear. Not annoyingly right there in your ear, but a gentle, sweet voice.

            I look up, and to my surprise, Rena is sitting there, with a concerned expression. I look right back down. “Why are you in here?”

            “I saw you storm up here earlier on Thursday, and you’ve been pretty upset lately, so I thought maybe something’s wrong.”

            I give a laugh that sounds like a donkey bray. “If only you knew.”

            “Can I know?” I give her a look. “I might be able to help you through it,” she says. She truly looks interested.

            All at once, I start crying. I never cry, ever. Not when one of the boys rough-housed with me at the orphanage, not when I was old enough to understand my parents were dead. Not when I actually spoke to my mother in the afterlife, not when I realized someone out there wanted to include me in their family. Not when I found Adrianna was my cousin. But now, under all that weight and finally having someone who wants to share it, I cry. And Rena is here.

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Adrianna

            I have nothing to do. I had a friend, and then she disappeared. So now my life is pretty much nothing.

            Thursday night when I walked in soaking wet from the rain, everyone jumped on me.

            “Adrianna, are you okay?”

            “I saw Sophie walking to her house looking all angry!”

            “What happened?”

            “Sophie and I got in a fight,” I mumbled. Everyone hummed with sympathy.

            “Well, if it makes you feel any better hon, we’re having pizza for dinner,” Lisa said. I shrugged my shoulders and walked up to my room. I shut the door quietly and sat on my bed. I missed dinner that night.

            These past few days I’ve been thinking about it, and now that I realize it, Jonathon had the totally wrong reaction. Normally, if you overhear someone talking about aliens, you think they’re either pretending or crazy. Jonathon accepted it and just went about his normal life. Which in the end, ruined mine. So now I hate him. And now that I’m thinking about it more, I’m pretty sure he was just playing a joke on me! He was teasing! Which means I hate him even more than I did just a few seconds ago!

            My door opens, and in walks Jane.

            “I’m sorry about you and Sophie,” she says. Katie walks in right after.

            “Yeah, me too.” I shrug.

            “What happened to cause her to look like she wanted to rip somebody’s head off?” Jane asks. Katie gives her a pointed look.

            Should I tell them, or not? When Jonathon found out, Sophie blew up on me. If she finds out I told my “sisters”, she’ll be even angrier, and probably never be my friend again. Plus, they’ll just think I’m crazy. So I quickly make up a story.

            “She wanted me to be nicer to Jonathon, but I said no.” That’s not entirely false. She did want me to be nicer to him, but I actually said yes I’d think about it, and now she supposedly thought I told him about our alien sides of the family when he really just overheard, and was teasing me about it. Jane makes a scoffing sound.

            “Is she really mad at you for that? That’s it?” she says disbelievingly. Katie gives her another look. She turns to me.

            “I’m really sorry Sophie’s that sensitive. She shouldn’t be so judgmental of what you should and shouldn’t do. If you don’t like Jonathon, you don’t,” she says, much more gently that Jane. I’m beginning to think Katie is more than braids and dolls.

            “That’s really okay. I was thinking that I should’ve been easier on Jonathon too.” All of a sudden, my eyes tear up. Outside, thunder faintly booms. Lightning illuminates the room. The storm from Thursday night is back. But I’m really okay, because Jane and Katie are here with me. My sisters.

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