The Tension Twins

Chapter 10

Emily marched off and walked off to a neighbor at the far end of the court at 4:15. She had filled up on scones and still had one in her hand, so she was fully prepared to non-stop make money until sundown (7pm). She looked around and saw a few people walking, a few lawns, grass that could be mowed. That's it! I can mow people's lawns for money! she thought to herself. She went to a nice woman, Ms. Wellby who one of her neighbour that had two kids around Emily's age. However, her lawns looks like it could use a mow. Ok fine, the grass wasn't at all tall but there is always room for cutting. 

She knocked a few times on the door and peered through the window to see what Sheila and Paul (her kids) were up to. Ms. Wellby had opened the door though and caught Emily staring through the window, "*Ahem*" she coughed clearing her throat. Emily straightened up in shock and pretended she didn't just do that.

"Ahh Ms. Wellby. I hope you are well but that's not what I'm here for. Because if you were unwell the sirens would be sounding and that'd be pretty obvious but ANYWHO," she rambled causing Ms Wellby to look horrified, "I wanted to help our neighborhood too by uh offering community service and earning a little money" she continued. 

"Hon, that isn't community service if you want money." Ms Wellby said plainly looking bored. Emily looked at her quizzically before shrugging and continuing, "Well whatever helping and earning money is called, I want to do that. So do you need any lawn mowing or things I can do for some cash?" she said trying to sound hopeful.  

Ms Wellby sighed and gave a small smile, "Emily, that is sweet you want to help the neighborhood but I am fine. You know my kids, Sheila and Paul can just give me a hand anytime and help around the house for free. Thanks for the offer though." she said shutting the door before Emily can try to reason. From the window she can see Sheila laughing at Emily. Probably because of the lemonade incident. Ugh kids she grumbled before moving on

She walked over to another house where they didn't have old kids to help them out. This neighbor is Ms. Lakoch. She has two toddler boys and is a very busy woman. She has two moods; she'll let you help or she says no and you better listen otherwise you may get smacked with a shoe. Emily approached the house and hoped that Ms. Lackoch was in a good mood. However when she run the doorbell, the sound of screaming toddlers echoed the house and Ms Lakoch answered the door looking angry.

"Hello, Ms. Lakoch, see I want to raise a little bit of money for some savings and I was wondering if I can help you out," she said nervously. Ms. Lakoch raised her eyebrows and then grabbed both her boys to hold.

"Emily. My boys were fast asleep before you decided to wake them up with the doorbell. Do you know how hard it is to put them to sleep? DO YOU? You cannot help me!!! You already woke them up so now I am busier than ever! Unless you can put them to sleep, do not ever come back here!" she said slamming the door. Emily stood there feeling stunned for a minute before walking to the sidewalk. She felt bad because she knew how reckless her boys were. But now was not the time to dwell on the past.

Emily came across a bachelor man who couldn't possibly give her any trouble. She knocked on the door and he came outside. Emily explained what she wanted and the man gave her a job surprisingly. Emily accepted it happily. The job was to weed the garden which was very weedy. She got her gloves and started to pull the weeds. It started to poke Emily badly and she got tired after 5 minutes so instead of pulling them, she just cut them really short so it's not noticeable, but will still grow back. After 20 minutes, she reported back to the man who seemed pleased and gave her 5 dollars. Emily wanted to ask for a lot more money and was about to complain when the man shut the door on her. How rude! Emily thought. She wasn't sorry for not doing her job properly for this amount of pay. Well, at least this covers 5 glasses of lemonade.

. . .

Meanwhile, Ella was still selling lemonade but not many customers were coming as her neighbourhood was small and most people either already got a drink or were scared because of Emily's drink. She glanced at Samantha, Grace and Ava who were chatting. Ella walked up to them, "Hey... wanna buy a drink?" she asked. Samantha and Ava nodded enthusiastically but Grace just looked at Ella judgmentally.

"Why are you selling lemonade? It's not like you to do something like this when you have better things to do," she said giving full eye contact. Ella bit her lip and looked down. Usually, having Grace say that was funny especially when she referred to Emily, but this time, Ella felt attacked.

"Well, me and my sister are having a competition on who can make the most money, with lemonade. Plus, I don't have any 'better' things to do. She's my sister and if I want to do something interesting," she said crossing her arms, "if you don't want to buy lemonade then it's fine."

Grace looked confused, "Ella, you've been acting weird lately. You're so different, you don't laugh as much and your defensive or little things. You used to love making fun of Emily. You never want to do the things we used to."

Ella faced changed and she felt like she'd been hit by a bus. Samantha and Ava's face changed from excited to concerned and scared. They both know that those two weren't the best of friends lately but knew even more that when Ella is angry or hurt, she can really make a statement

"You changed even more! You've become selfish and mean Grace! Yes, I used to tease Emily a little but we were eight! You enjoy gossiping and making fun of innocent people who did nothing! I grew up Grace! I don't like looking for ants, jumping on trampolines or saying that boys have cooties like you still think I do!" she shouted angrily. Was Grace really her friend if she wasn't understanding? 

The three girls were stunned with their jaws half open. Ava had slight tears in her eyes for she hated to see her friends fighting. Samantha's face hardened and Grace stood up so that she was taller than Ella.

"You think that I'm selfish? I'm the one who convinced Lea to still hang out with you! Because I still care about you as a friend even though you are so different from us. WE grew up Ella. We like to talk about boys, clothes, hang out at malls. We buy our own things and wear some makeup. I kept hoping you'd grow up like the rest of us so we can hang out more but no. You're the same old babyish you. I don't know why I even tried." Grace sneered. Ella was the one whose jaw was open. Her eyes were glossy and her lip was trembling slightly. How could she? was all she thought. Ava looked as if she was hit by a bus and immediately went to Ella and grabbed her hand.

"How could you even say that Grace? How could you spit those words at her as if she did something wrong? We are ELEVEN, barely twelve. We aren't supposed to think much about boys or like makeup. We are children, young, who like to just talk and enjoy the little things. You can't blame Ella for not liking things you may like." Ava said, her voice quivering slightly as she shielded Ella who couldn't find the words to speak.

Samantha walked beside Ella too and spoke before Grace could retort, "I'm sorry you decided to grow up so fast. I'm sorry you were raised and taught that someone being slightly different to you is not okay. I'm sorry that you don't care much about others despite what you say. I'm sorry you think that this is the right answer. But you cannot just hurt Ella like this and leave her hurt after this shocking thing. She's known you for so long and trusted you. Is this how you want to end things?" 

"and I'm sorry that you didn't think this through. Because you lost a great friend." Ella finished eyes burning with fiery passion. The three girls were holding hands and looking at Grace. Ava's eyes were full of confusion and pain, Samantha looked as if she wanted to teach Grace a lesson and Ella's were full of loss and anger. Grace was taken back with this level of support and backed away. She opened her mouth to retort but closed it. Her face was offended and hurt. She muttered something under her breath, gave a death glare and ran away.

When she was gone, Ella crumpled. She let out a few sobs while Samantha and Ava hugged her tightly. Ella opened her mouth to speak her appreciation and pain in her heart but Samantha shook her head and hugged her tighter. 

"We know"