"Ella, are you hungry? We're here!" Her mom asked lightly tapping her to wake her up. Despite being too uncomfortable and tired to show it, she was excited to have finally arrived.
Since summer had just started, she hoped she didn't miss the annual mini fair they had (a/n: let's just pretend that was a thing). She knew about this because her mom would bring her here some summers when she was kid, fairs in Fresno were much too big and it worried them at the time to take her there, cause Ella often wandered. They thought the annual mini fair here and visiting the grandparents was a good enough getaway for the young girl.
"No." She said, exhausted.
"When's the fair?" She asked in the middle of the yawn.
"It's next week, I believe." Her dad chimed in.
Since she had arrived, she unbuckled her seatbelt, despite not being parked yet. She was so happy she didn't have to sleep sitting up anymore and had the freedom to use her legs.
"Yes!" She exclaimed as she saw her grandpas house becoming more visible by the second.
By the time they pulled in the drive way, her grandpa, her uncle, and to her surprise her little cousin Nancy, were all out of the door ready to welcome them.
They all got excited at each others presence and immediately went out to hug one another.
"Brunch is on the table if you guys are hungry, well we figured you guys would be.. had to have been a very long ride." My uncle smiled while messing her hair up.
"Ella, you got so big." Her little cousin, Nancy said, amazed at the now teenage girl. She never got to see Nancy much because her parents were in a custody feud, so Ella was surprised that the now 7 year old had even remembered her.
"Look who's talking, you like grew what, a foot taller!" Ella playfully exclaimed and put her hand to her height, leaving the little girl in fits of giggles. The whole family proceeded to walk inside the house.
The adults talked while they all sat at the table, but for Ella adults were a bore.. well, when there were kids around, anyway. She sat eating her plate on the floor by the coffee table, watching cartoons with Nancy and having small talk.
After Ella finished her plate, she went to put it in the sink and went back to Nancy.
"You wanna see a treehouse?" She whispered to the little girl and excitement lit in her eyes.
"Yea!" She shouted, but Ella put her index finger to her lips, motioning her to be quiet.
"It's top secret, you can't say a word a to a single soul." She pretended to say as darkly as she could. The little girl just nodded, almost like she was in a trance.
"Can we go for a walk to the park?" Ella asked the adults. The little girl looked over to her father with pleading eyes and he rolled his.
"You can take her if it's alright with your parents." Her uncle said and she looked over to her parents, who looked more worried then he did in regards of his seven year old kid.
"Are you sure your ready? Do you even know the place? What if you get lost?" Her mother started bombarding her with questions.
"You really think with all the times I've visited without you, grandpa didn't let me out at least once? I know this place more then you think mom, trust me." Everyone looked kind of shocked, Ella never really using that kind of tone to her mother.
"I'm sor-" she tried to apologize when she saw how shocked everyone looked.
"No, it's okay, your old enough.. you could go." She said, realizing that maybe she should tone the strictness down abit, with her daughter maturing.
