Standing Up to Life

Chapter 19:

THE NEXT MORNING, I heard several of the other girls stirring and walking around. I decided that meant it was time to get up. I pulled myself out of my sleeping bag and sat up. We all gathered around the table for a breakfast that Mrs. Hancock had sat out. There were all sorts of food and things laid out on the table for us to eat, including cereal, bacon, eggs, muffins, and bagels.

"Morning Tiff." Amy said to me.

"Morning." I said.

We all ate and talked animatedly about the fact that we now had just a little under a week before we were going to Florida! "What are you looking forward to most Tiffany?" Nikki asked me.

"Kennedy Space Center. I've always loved space and stuff." I replied. "You?"

"Magic Kingdom, I can't wait to go by the castle!" She said.

Conversations went like that for a while until we all finished breakfast and changed into our regular clothes. We then helped clean up around the house so that everything was as neat as it had been when we had started.

Mrs. Hancock told my mom she could come a bit later than she had told the other girls parents – so I was the last one there. At that point Mrs. Hancock asked, "Brandon what do you want me to do with Tiffany's swimsuit and pajamas?"

I thought for a second, "Can you keep them here for when I stay over next time?" I asked.

"Sure. You don't have to wear them again though if you don't want to." She hedged.

"I know. Thanks for all of that stuff," I said.

"No problem. Hey Amy why don't you help Brandon get his nail polish off?" She told Amy.

"Come upstairs with me," Amy said. Once we were upstairs she helped me use nail polish remover first on my fingers. When we were done I almost thought about telling her to leave it on the toe nails, but decided I couldn't do that and wear sandals this week. She removed the stuff on my toes before we just sat and chatted for a while.

After about an hour of talking we heard footsteps coming up the stairs and my mom came in the room with Amy's Mom. "Brandon, are you ready to go?"

"Yes," I said and headed downstairs with her.

I saw Amy had put on some shoes to leave too. She must have seen that I was curious 'cause she said, "We're going to go get pictures developed."

"Brandon, if you want to come over Tuesday to work on scrapbooks with us you could." Mrs. Hancock said.

I looked at Mom and she nodded, "Okay, I'll be here!" I said to her. I grabbed my sleeping bag and backpack, and then we drove home.

Dad was sitting at the kitchen table when we got home. "Hey, how was the sleepover?" He asked.

"It was great!" I proceeded to tell them about the sleepover. I had thought a little about leaving out some of the parts – but had since decided to just tell them everything.

"So you had fun with them then?" Dad asked. There was definitely something I couldn't quite read in his eyes.

"Yeah, it was good. It's probably some of the most fun I've ever had." I replied.

Mom jumped in at that point, saying "That's good honey, why don't you go take your stuff to your room and put your dirty clothes in the hamper."

"Okay." I replied and took my stuff to my room. The clothes went in the hamper and I went through the rest of the stuff that was in my bag. I found my two Barbie dolls and put them in the doll house. I then remembered I had forgotten the teddy bear I had won from the scavenger hunt. Oh well, I'd be able to get it on Tuesday if not before.