What We Lost In The Winter

Chapter 15

“Becca, I’m dropping you off at the Maciel’s with Alaina.” Mom enters the kitchen. I can’t tell if I’m glad she missed our conversation. She must feel terrible knowing she didn’t ask my sister how her day was. Even if she knew the answer, or thought she knew the answer, Alaina was still her daughter. It was wrong. I decide not to say anything though, I don’t want to make her feel bad. I should probably speak up, but I don’t. I’m lacking the confidence.

“Okay,” I nod and bring my plate to the sink. I go back downstairs to brush my teeth and get ready and all that stuff. At 7:30, we pick up our bags and go to the car. Mom pulls up to the Maciel’s, and Alaina and I step out. Look at that. I’m going somewhere with my older sister. I try to hide my excitement. She’d probably find it stupid. I mean, who’s happy to do things with their older sister? Well, I am. If that’s weird, I don’t really care. My relationship with Alaina is weird.

I ring the doorbell because I’m the first one to the door. Mrs. Maciel answers it.

“Good morning, girls! Ready for your second day?” she smiles.

“Yeah!” I grin. That’s obviously the answer she wanted, and it wasn’t exactly a lie. I was ready.

“Amazing!” she turns towards the inside of her house and shouts, “Girls! Alaina and Becca are here!” then back to us, “Come inside.” We follow her instruction and enter the Maciel household. Camilla appears from the kitchen.

“Hey guys! Everyone’s in the kitchen, if you want to join us,” she says. I follow her towards the rest of her sisters. They sit at the table, eating not very quietly, which would be expected of five girls. I can only imagine how loud it is when Angie, the oldest who’s in college, comes home. From what I’ve been told, she talks. A lot. All the Maciels talk a lot, but they say Angie is the worst.

“It’s the Kingsers!” one of the girls shouts. I’m not sure who it was. Maybe Jada (fourteen years old), or Skye (Alaina’s age). I don’t know.

“Have you guys eaten yet?” Mrs. Maciel asks as she enters the busy room.

“Yeah, we have,”  I nod.

“Okay. Do you want anything to eat? Drink?” She has a rather frantic way of speaking. I guess that’s also expected.

“I’m good, thank you,” says Alaina, using her manners as always. Every time she speaks, her manners are strong.

“Same, thank you.” I try to have the same politeness, but I usually forget. I remembered that time, though. Good job Becca.

“It’s seven-thirty! We have to go!” Jada jumps up from her seat. Mya (seventeen years old) grabs her car keys from the counter.

“Alaina, you ready?” she asks.

“Yeah,” says my sister.

“‘Kay,” she turns towards the rest of her family, “Skye! Come on!” Within the next five minutes, the four high schoolers have gone. With only three of us left, it’s surprisingly quiet. I take a seat at the table with Camilla, Autumn, and their mother.

“Becca, do you know Caroline Freshy?” Camilla asks.

“Um, possibly,” I shrug. I met someone named Caroline before lunch, but I never learned her last name.

“What about Vivi Samy? Or Amy Raina? Or Payton Kish?” she says some more names.

“I know Amy, she lives on Hortenn, right?” I smile. I actually knew someone. That makes me proud

“Yeah! So do Teagan and Sammi, the girls you were talking to on the bus,” Camilla smiles.

Autumn interjects into the conversation, “Do you have an Instagram?”

“Yeah,” I let out a little laugh. That was random, but I’m perfectly okay with changing the subject.

“What is it?” she asks, reaching out her phone. So does Camilla.

“B-E-C-C-K-I-N-G-S-E-R underscore,” I spell it out for them. All the Homeschool Crew people had trouble finding it.

“I requested you!” Autumn smiles.

“Same!” adds Camilla. I pull out my phone and open my Instagram app. Sure enough, two people have requested to follow me. I quickly allow @autiemaciecie and @camillamahseal to become my 11th and 12th followers. I follow them back. Before I know it, the clock on their wall says 7:50. Time to go.

“Are we picking anyone else up?” Autumn asks her mom as we put on our backpacks.

“Yeah, we’ll have a full car. Camden and Kai will be joining our carpool today,” Mrs. Maciel says.

Camilla groans, “Seriously? Kai? He’s actually going to get to school early?”

“He can’t get a ride from his parents today, and he doesn’t take the bus in the morning. So we’re driving him,” snaps her mother. We pile into the Maciel’s minivan. Camilla’s in the front, and Autumn and I take the back row. This way the boys won’t have to climb over us. We pull up to Camden’s house and he gets in.

“You’re a part of this carpool now?” he asks me with an odd look.

“Yeah. I am,” I say curtly. He probably didn’t mean it in a judgemental way, but there’s no reason I shouldn’t be a part of this. I live directly across the street from the Maciels. He lives one road over.

“Cool,” he says. We pull up in front of another house— I assume it’s Kai’s. I was right. He comes into the car and sits in the middle row next to Camden. He doesn’t look at me, which I’m okay with.

We ride in silence up to school. Kai’s texting someone, I catch a glimpse at their name: Delilah <3. Delilah MacIntosh? Maybe. I wonder if they’re dating. It would explain the heart by her name. I’ll have to find out, maybe Teagan will tell me. Camden looks out the window quietly, Camilla texts some 8th grader I don’t know, Autumn texts a 6th grader. Everyone is texting. What a sad world we live in.

 A/N

Okay, so I can see that people have been reading the last few chapters and yet nobody has commented or liked anything. This makes me think you don't like it. I'm not asking that you comment long paragraphs or anything, but I've put a lot of time into this story. The reason I haven't been updating in so long is because I've been working on finishing it for all of you guys. If you could simply answer the question of the chapter or something, it would seriously be appreciated. 

Also, nobody has commented on the author's note chapter which is literally only one paragraph long and in return needs a one word comment. I know you're probably thinking that other people can do it, but if everyone is thinking that way then nobody will comment. Besides, what if you actually would like a sequal/short story type thing? As of right now, I'm going to write another selection of stories about Becca, but I won't be posting them. 

Thank you for your time. 

Question of the Chapter: Are Camilla and Autumn going to talk to Becca in school today or will they ignore her? What about Kai and Camden?