by Andrea Witt
“What is this little door?” Andi asked as she pointed to a little door on the house near the back porch. “My mom said it used to be a wine cellar”. I answered. We opened the door and looked in. “WOW!” It is big enough to hang out in! We took turns going inside. There was a wooden ladder in the door you had to climb down. Once we were inside, we sat on a long wooden bench. It was very chilly inside there! “What a perfect place to go in the summer when you are hot! Have you ever been in here yet?” she asked as she looked around with only her eyes. “No! I saw the door and asked my mom what it was. That’s how I knew. I didn’t want to explore stuff without you, though--so I waited!” I told Andi. “I cannot stress to you how amazing your house is! I would hide down here all the time, if I could! You are so lucky! Let’s go and see the rest of the outside stuff!” She said as we climbed out of the cellar. “Where do these doors go?” Andi asked as she pointed to two large gray, painted wood doors that laid flat over a stairway. I opened them up and showed her that it leads to the basement. I said, “The basement is boring so we won’t be exploring that today.” As I shut the doors up. We walked toward the pool. “I can’t wait until we get this all cleaned and filled! We moved too late during the summer to do anything with it this year, but next summer we will use it and you will spend all summer here! I demand it!” I said to Andi “No, I demand it!” she said back. We laughed. I took her to a long flat part of the yard and we started doing flips and cartwheels. We forgot we were running out of visiting time and were startled by my mom yelling for Andi. “Andi! Your mom is here!!” she said as she walked out of the back door with her. “Hi, mom!” Andi said and ran up and hugged her. “After seeing this house, I don’t think you will want to come home again.” Andi’s mom joked. “It’s true, though mom I want to stay!” Andi said back to her. “I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I am here to take to home with me now.” She said. I ran up and hugged Andi and thanked her for spending the entire weekend with me. “We will do this again very soon! I promise!” We walked inside and went upstairs to get all the stuff that Andi brought and to collect all the stuff that I gave to her. “Mom! Ginger gave me so many things so I can remember our weekend together!! She has this cool attic and I got to keep some stuff out of it! This weekend was so fun!! Thank you for letting me stay!!” Andi’s mom said, “I wouldn’t split apart 2 besties! I am so glad you had this time together!” She looked at my mom and said, “Thank you and John for letting Andi stay the weekend.” My mom said, “It is always a pleasure to have Andi. She’s like a 3rd daughter!” We helped them to their car and put the baby buggy in the trunk. It barely fit, but Jim lied it on its side and the trunk closed. I ran up and gave Andi one last hug! “I’m going to miss you! I hope you can come back soon!” I said. She shut the door and they drove away. I felt intense sadness aching in my heart while I watched my best friend in the whole wide world drive away. As the car got smaller and smaller, my heart ached more.
I guess I was standing there looking sad because my mom came up and hugged me. “Andi is always welcome here. She will be back for more fun times.” She said and turned around and went inside. Well, there was no point in staring at an empty driveway, so I went inside and looked in the fridge for that cold pizza. I really wanted a piece of cold pizza. Yay! Here it is. I stood in front of the fridge with the door open eating a piece of cold pizza. It was so good, I had a second piece, right in front of the open fridge. “Are you cooling the entire kitchen?” John said as he walked past me. “Oh, no. sorry.” I said as I swallowed my last bite, I wrapped up the rest and put it back in the fridge and shut the door. Yum. That was good. Emily came running down, “Hey! You better have saved me some!” she said as she flung the fridge open. I moved out of her way and said, “Second shelf on the right!!” John said, “Do me a favor and shut the fridge before feeding your face.” Emily laughed and said “Why, of course!” and she grabbed the pizza, shut the fridge and walked to the table. “I shall sit and eat like a civilized lady.” She said and sat down to eat her cold pizza.
I went up to my room and cleaned up a bit. I had clothes on the floor and a messy bed. I was so tired. I laid down on my bed after I straightened it up and I fell asleep! I woke up to Emily standing in my doorway saying, “Too much weekend for ya, old tired one?” “I slept for two hours! I must have been so tired! I don’t even remember falling asleep!” I said “Hey, check out facebook! Andi tagged you in a bunch of pictures!” She handed me mom’s phone since mine was dead and I stared smiling at our selfie we took in front of the creepy doll and she took pictures of the stuff I gave her and tagged me in those, thinking me for what a fun time she had this weekend! I hit ‘like’ on all of the stuff and I commented back to the selfie, “Nothing like a creepy doll selfie with my favorite BFF EVER!” “Hey, can I give mom back her phone now?” Emily said as she reached out her hand to take the phone from me. “I guess!” I gave it back to Emily. “I sure wish I had my own phone, like you, Em” I said. “But mom said you’re too young and it would be too expensive to add one for you right now.” Emily said. “Besides, it gives you something to look forward to.” She said. “I guess you’re right” I said. She added, “Besides, apparently, we are very lucky to have everything we have already. So what if you don’t have a phone right now. We have each other, our family, a new home, a great new school, and great friends.” “I stopped and thought about what Emily said. I was never able to agree that I had great friends. I always had a great friend. One. Now, I can truly agree that I have more than one. After thinking back to my fun times with Andi this weekend, though, even if Andi was still my one and only friend, I wouldn’t mind at this point because she is amazing, and I am lucky to have her.
“Girls!” Mom called upstairs. “Yeah, mom!” we chimed back together “I haven’t cooked dinner in a couple of nights, and I am going to cook tonight. I’d like some help with dinner from you girls! Oh! Sounds fun! Emily said, “I wonder what we are making!” and we looked at each other and headed downstairs to join mom in the kitchen. “Mom! What are we going to make?” I asked. My mom likes to watch cooking videos and she gets new, yummy ideas sometimes from facebook videos. Not tonight, though. “I thought we would have tacos tonight.” My mom said. “YAY! Tacos! WE haven’t had tacos since we moved here!” I said. My mom finished her orders out, “Emily, you are in charge of chopping stuff. Red, you are in charge of grating stuff. I will make the meat and Emily, you can put the shells on the baking stone after it heats and set the timer for 5 minutes.” I was excited to see that my mom bought all paper bowls so we would have less dishes to load into the dishwasher after dinner. “After the bowls are full, I need you girls to help set the table with sour cream, hot sauce, salsa, and the taco holders from the cabinet.” We worked together making a yummy taco dinner. It felt good to be in such a good mood. Even through all the weirdness of my medicine, I can overcome the symptoms, as long as I feel happy. This weekend has made me extremely happy and for the past couple of days I was able to forget that I am different because for 2 days I felt included--not only in Andi’s life, but also in Emily’s life. Emily and I get along mostly, but we have our moments of despair. Especially the moments when Emily doesn’t include me in her life--but, that didn’t happen this weekend so I won’t dwell on that right now.
My mom stood at the table admiring the taco buffet and said, “Ok! Dinner is made, now let’s whip up a fast dessert. Emily, cut 5 TBSP butter off a stick and melt it in the microwave in this glass pie pan. Red, open this pouch and dump it in the mixer and add 1.5 cups of half & half and mix on low for 2 minutes than high for 1 minute. Emily, after the microwave beeps, pour these crumbs into the butter and mix it up until you make a pressed down crust. Emily, after the mixer is done mixing, help Red get all the yummy stuff poured into the crust you just made. Scrape the bowl good and cover it with Saran and put it in the fridge. When it is finished and cleaned up, we will eat dinner.” Emily and I worked together making the JELLO Cheesecake dessert and then we cover
ed it up and put it in the fridge to set while we go have tacos! WE rinsed off our dishes and put them in the dishwasher. My mom went over to the intercom and hit the call button to contact John down in his workshop and tell him it was time for dinner.
John came up shortly and we all sat down to eat tacos. “You two look really tired!” John said to me and Emily. “Yeah! We did a lot this weekend!” I said. “Well, I hope you girls are happy in your new home. I know it took a lot of stress and guts to get to where we are, but I hope to think that we are all happy here now as a family.” John said. “I couldn’t be any happier right now! I just spent the weekend with my best friend, and even shared my sister with her! And now we are having tacos for dinner and cheesecake for dessert!? What could be better?!” I said and then crunched into a taco. Hot sauce dripped down my chin and everyone laughed at me. I laughed back. I knew it wasn’t a personal dig to my sloppy eating but a funny response to the trail of red running down my chin.
After dinner, I helped clean up the mess and I took a shower and put on my jammies. I couldn’t believe how tired I was! I was up in my room reading a book at my desk and my mom came up to say goodnight. “School tomorrow! Are you going to be able to get up ok in the morning after such an exciting weekend?” she said and sat on the end on my bed. “Yeah, mom. I think I will be o.k.” I said sleepily. “Get plenty of sleep tonight, Red. You don’t want to deprive yourself from sleep because you could have a seizure. Are you sure you are feeling ok after such a long fun-filled weekend?” “Yeah, mom. I’m fine. And before you ask, I just took my night medicine.” I whined back to her. MY mom looked shocked and said, “Wow, Red, you are growing up so fast. You always remember to take your medicine without me hounding you. I am proud of you. Keep it up. You re doing great.” She kissed me on the cheek, tucked me in and said, “Good night. Sweet dreams! Don’t let the alarm clock bite.” And turned out my light and went downstairs. I laid awake for only about 5 minutes. I could hear the quiet muffle of television shows downstairs as I drifted off to sleep, thinking of how blessed I am this very minute.
Chapter 6
A New Plan Emerges
Monday morning entered my life like a tornado. “BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP!” screeched my alarm as it brought me out of my cozy slumbering state of bliss. I jumped up and walked across the room to turn off the annoying sound and realized I couldn’t just curl back into bed and go back to sleep. School today. I threw on my jeans, favorite t-shirt and hoody and ran downstairs to grab a breakfast bar. I threw it down and went back upstairs to brush my teeth. I may have spent a few extra minutes in bed than I was supposed to because now I am rushing to get out the door and to the bus stop in time. “RED! Time to go!” Emily said as she grabbed her backpack. I grabbed mine, too and gave my mom a quick hug and ran out the door. As soon as we got to the bus stop, the bus pulled up. We didn’t have a minute to spare. “Perfect timing!” said Emily as she headed to a seat in the middle of the bus.
I got off the bus and went into my classroom. Mrs. Gromley was writing on the board and Sarah and Liz were standing in the corner talking about the weekend. I said hi to them and they asked me to go to breakfast with them. “Sure! I ate a breakfast bar but I will go and have some juice.” I said and threw my backpack on the hook and headed down to the cafeteria with them. When we got to the cafeteria, we saw Joyce. We all sat together. Since my First Day at Royal Village, we have been like the 4 Musketeers. Always together--at breakfast, lunch, and recess! “What did you do this weekend, Ginger?” Joyce asked as she grabbed a fruit cup from the ice. “I had my friend from Ellington stay the weekend with me.” I said as I drank my juice. “Fun! I want to stay the weekend with you!” Sarah said as she bit into her apple. “Me too!” said Liz. That sounds like fun, guys! I will have to have a slumber party soon and invite you all and let you meet my friend Andi from Ellington. “Oh, when!?! That sounds like so much fun!” Joyce said. Breakfast was over and we had to head back to the classroom. We talked about me having a slumber party soon on the way back and I wondered if Andi would be so open to meet my Royal Village Friends as they are to meet her.
I talked about the treasures we found in the attic. “I saw them in facebook.” Liz said. Didn’t you see me like the pictures?” Sarah joked. “I liked them, too” said Joyce. “I hope we can spend the night soon, Ginger. I think it would be really fun to have us all over! Let’s see... there are 4 of us, plus your other friend. What is her name again?” Liz asked. Andi. So, 5 of us with Andi.” Mrs. Gromley needed us to take our seat, so we stopped talking and paid attention in class instead.
At recess, we talked more about planning a slumber party. “Do you think your mom will let you? If I asked my mom to have 4 girls spend the night, she would probably say no.” Sarah said sadly. “My mom is so happy I am making friends in my new school, I don’t think she will say no.” I said with delight. We talked about how much fun we will have while we swung. We pretty much hogged the entire swing set since there were four of us. I started feeling dizzy so I got off the swing and finished recess with a drink from the water fountain and walking around with my friends. I am still so tired from the weekend. I’m fine. I just needed to stop swinging.
We finished out the school day and I passed my friends in the hall one last time before jumping onto the bus and heading home. Sitting on the bus with the whir of the engine and the sleepiness I felt, it took every ounce of energy to stay awake during the short ride home. I could feel my eyes trying to shut over, and over again as I fought off the sensation to snore. “SQUEAL!” The bus brakes came to a halt at my stop. I jumped up and got off the bus, ready to see if there is any more cold pizza in the fridge. I could use a snack if there was. “Wait for me! Why are you walking so fast?” Emily asked as she jogged to catch up from behind. “Last one to the cold pizza is a rotten egg!” I said as I opened the gate and ran into the yard and toward the house. “No fair! Wait up!” Emily said and caught up to me. We both dashed to the fridge only to find that my mom ate the last 2 pieces of cold pizza. “If you are looking for the pizza, its gone. I couldn’t wait any longer to have any! I finished off the last 2 pieces today and I don’t regret it because it was delicious.” She said as she evaluated leftovers for dinner. “Bummer!” Emily said. “Yeah. Bummer.” I said too as I headed upstairs to find the leftover chips. They were sitting on the sink counter, all rolled closed and still fresh.
“Guess what? I told Sarah, Joyce and Liz about having Andi here all weekend and they all said they want to stay a weekend, too! I wonder if mom would let me have a weekend slumber party with them and Andi sometime.” “Wow, Red, that’s a lot of friends to have over at once. That would be a lot for you to handle for an entire weekend.” Emily said with concern in her voice. I started getting upset, thinking Emily didn’t think I could handle stuff because I’m not “normal” like her and then she said, “It sounds like you may need me to hang out with you all too.” And I started to laugh, realizing that it was just an excuse to get her to hang out with us too. Then, I felt happy that so many people wanted to hang out with me. I said, “I think moving to Royal Village was the best thing I ever did in my life yet. So far, it has brought me more friends, this cool house, more confidence and closer to you. Now, the only thing that would make life perfect is a dog to fill that doghouse outside” I said to Emily. “What do you mean OUTSIDE?” Emily said. “If we get a dog, it’s going to live in the house with US!” she said and threw an entirely whole potato chip in her mouth at once. “CRUNCH!” it went and we rolled on the floor laughing.
“I think I am going to wait to ask mom about my slumber party. First, I want to run it by Andi and see if she would want to meet my new friends. I don’t want her to feel bad or replaced. It isn’t like that. I want her to feel included! Then, If she approves, I will ask mom. OH MY GOSH! I have an AWESOME IDEA! We will do it during the summer and have a POOL party and CAMP in my dome tent outside!!! OMG, EM! How fun would THAT BE!?!?!? That way, we won’t m
ake all the noise in the house for mom and it’ll be summer so a couple days wouldn’t even matter! What do you think, Emily!?” I said it all so fast out of excitement for my new idea. It was perfect! Emily looked excited and said, “Can I invite a couple friends too and we could camp in my dome tent and make it a bigger party? I could ask Kara and Bella! “That sounds so fun, Em! And mom can’t possibly say no to BOTH of us, can she? We can even offer to start scrubbing the pool in early May so we can have it ready for kicking off summer!” I was getting even more excited every minute I thought of it. “I only hope Andi agrees that it will be fun.” Worse case scenario, Andi won’t agree, and I won’t have her join us, but will have her over by herself another time. I hope that doesn’t happen though since I really want Andi to be friends with my new friends.” I said to Emily. “You already said that, Red. I have homework so give me some alone time now, o.k, Red.” She said as she went into her room and shut the door.
I laid on my bed with a book, but I had trouble concentrating on the story since I was so excited about my upcoming summer pool campout blast! I decided to run downstairs and get my mom’s phone from her and Snap Andi. I would have used my phone, but I forgot to charge it again. I snuck my mom’s phone off the charger and ran back upstairs. My mom didn’t even see me take her phone. I laid down and snapped Andi a cute shot with bunny ears and told her I have a huge plan I want to run by her. “Yeah!? Whatcha got?” She wrote. “How would you feel about meeting some Royal Village Kids?” I sent back. “Cool! When?” She said. “Maybe this summer. Picture it: Pool party/campout” I sent. “YESSSSS!!!” She sent back. Yup! Another reason I love Andi! She’s always so ready for fun! “YESSSSSS!!!!” I wrote her back. “RED!!! My mom called up the stairs. “DO YOU HAVE MY PHONE!?” “Yikes! My mom needs her phone back. I have to go” I typed. “K” she said “TTYS”. “Yes, Mom! I’m bringing it down now sorry. I had to write Andi.” “Next time, ask.” She said and annoyedly took her phone back.
