At Aunt Amy's

Chapter 4: Back to Avery

I woke up the next morning with the sun in my eyes. My mattress squeaks under my full weight. I lift the blanket off of me and realize that I fell asleep in the clothes I wore yesterday. Rolling off the bed, I unzip my large suitcase and start to sort through the not-so-neat box of all my clothes. When I pulled out another tank top, I took off my own.

And the door opened up.

"NOPE!" I yelled, covering my chest with the two tank tops. In the doorway was Aunt Amy. She didn't look shocked or close the door, she just continued to say, "Breakfast is ready, put a shirt on."

Then she closed the door and left. A little shaken, and muttered, "Shesh."
Throwing on the tank top (and covering my shoulders with a jacket), I strolled into the kitchen to find one omelet, one donut, and one bowl of cereal. The donut and the cereal were taken, so I sat in front of the omelet. Hazel whispered to me that there wasn't even any real cheese in it. The omelet wasn't folded evenly at all and was decorated with a single small leaf of...something. I cut off a piece and it started oozing. And when I ate it, it tasted like a foot.

"So...did you all sleep well?" Uncle Eric asked from the other side of the kitchen. Huh, I thought. Forgot he was there.

"I mean, I slept better than I th-" I began.

"Good morning girls, how did you sleep last night?" Aunt Amy announced, entering the room which her arms out.

"Great!" Brenda replied, her voice filling the whole room. Hazel rolled her eyes and stuck her fingers in her ears. But when Aunt Amy turned an eye to her, Hazel smiled.

"Your first day of school is soon. Aren't you excited?" Aunt Amy asked.

"Not really, but yes!" Hazel exclaimed.

"How would that even-" I muttered.

"Is your friend going there, Brenda?" Aunt Amy asked.

"Of course!" Brenda squeaked.

"And you Hazel? I mean, I know you have some trouble socializing."

Hazel shook her head "no" but blurted out, "Sure."

"And I hope this girl from a few houses down goes there," I said, reduced to a mumble at this point.

"Yeah, me too. Jenna seems pretty cool," Hazel told me. My shoulders tensed as I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Wait, how do you know her name?" I questioned. Hazel stared at me for a second, blankly, then got back to devouring her donut. God, what the hell is up with this kid, I thought as I took another bite of the pureed garbage known as an omelet.

When I was finished, I was told (yes, someone finally spoke to me) to load up the dishwasher. There wasn't a lot to load, so it did not exactly take me that long. When I exited the kitchen, Aunt Priss herself told me to go vacuum up some of the crumbs off of the kitchen floor. Once again, I reluctantly complied. But it wasn't until I was told to go and pluck all the dandelions out of the lawn that I got suspicious. Of course, I did it, but not without a grumble and a stomp.

After I finished chore number 3, I noticed Jenna walking out of her house with yet another heavy white garbage can. I matched right up to her, and she looked at me a bit odd at first. But when I stepped closer, she shook the thought out of her head.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's just..." she mumbled. "Nothing. It's nothin'."

"Okay..." I muttered back, giving up on asking. "So guess who literally has to sleep in a closet?"