Chapter 1
The Slumber Party
2009 PA
"This is the most stupid thing, I ever heard of," Tiffany huffed as she stretched out on her bed with her legs on the wall, "I mean aren't you almost fifty?"
'Damn, she said the 'F' word' and to Jackie that was worse than the actual 'F' word.
"It's not stupid and I expect you to help out." Jackie slapped her legs off the wall.
"Goody."
Ever since she turned thirteen two years ago, Jackie noticed a shift in Tiffany's whole attitude. Most teenagers go through the "my parents are idiots" phase, but Jackie was afraid that it wasn't just a phase. She seemed to reject everything she taught her except for "Don't play in traffic" and "C is for Cookie".
"You better put a smile on your face when our guests arrive."
'What guests?' she rolled her eyes, 'It's just Donna and Megan'.
They came all this way for her Mother's idiotic idea for a slumber party? Megan was probably the only one in the group who could possibly get something out of this party and with all of her limitations Tiffany figured this was a nice time out for her. But to have to spend this whole weekend with two adult females and her stupid half-sister it was going to be sheer Hell. She'd rather be with her Dad, Eric, and Hunter in West Virginia at a comic book expo as one of Hunter Hyde's hobbies was a love for a comic books and a natural gift of drawing that both Hyde and Jackie encouraged.
"Yeah." She replied tiredly
Jackie left Tiffany's room, 'thank God' Tiffany thought as she put her legs back on the wall.
"Tiffany, get your legs off the wall!" Jackie called out from the corridor
'Does she have eyes in the back of her head?' She left them there anyway as she put on her headphones on maximum volume and picked up a real rock [not manufactured pop crap] magazine.
Hannah Kitty Hyde looked like a female version of her Father. She had to get her curls relaxed because she had a sprinkling of her Mother's vanity. Even though she was nine years old she was more girly-girly then her half-sister. She looked out the window waiting for Donna and Megan to arrive. Jackie opened up the bag of chips and poured them into a glass bowl. Jackie and Hyde were both proud of Hannah for becoming friends with Megan, they didn't tell her to, it was just something that she did on her own when they were old enough to communicate with each other. Jackie remembered when Megan threw her book down on the floor because she was frustrated that she couldn't get the "big words" it was Hannah who picked up the book and read to her and from that moment on they had a special kind of friendship. It was based on childhood, which was the best kind of friendship there was.
"Where is your sister?"
"Sulking! I'll get her, Mommy!"
Jackie was going to pick Donna and Megan up at the airport, but Donna didn't want Jackie to go out of her way, besides, she couldn't picture Jackie driving a specially equipped van, she'd take out small farm animals for certain! Jackie put on her lip gloss which met with an eye roll from Tiffany who was supposed to help out by making the punch, the only thing that could make the punch taste better was if it had a little help from her Dad's liquor cabinet. The doorbell rang and Jackie greeted Donna and Megan with her perfect smile-on hostess face.
"Hi, Donna and Megan!" Jackie exclaimed
Megan liked Jackie she was sparkly and bubbly the total opposite of her Mother who wore jeans and sneakers around the house.
"Hi, Megan." Hannah said
Tiffany waved, she wasn't in the talking mood between her Mother and Hannah she wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise. But she had to ask her Mother a question anyway.
"If this is the 'party', you speak of," She did the quotes gesture with her hands, it seemed familiar to her and Jackie wondered who she picked that up from, "Can I go back into my room and log on to my IM?"
"No," She was spending way too much time talking to Adam, Eric and Donna's paperboy, "Tonight is our slumber party!"
"We got the 'Jessica Taylor' DVDs!" Hannah poured Megan a cup of punch.
Tiffany wanted to slice her wrists with a steak knife. 'Jessica Taylor' was nothing but a Madison Avenue creation for little impressionable girls to buy things, the DVDs, the books, the magazines, the make up line, and the trendy mall clothes. She also had friends named 'Heather' and 'Tiffany' which made Tiffany hate her name even more.
"I am not watching that crap!" Tiffany protested
"You two can watch the movies later," Jackie said to Hannah and Megan "Come on, Donna help me get the pizza out of the oven."
"You made pizza?" Donna asked
"Mommy put the oven on!" Hannah revealed
"How's school, Megan?" Tiffany asked
"She doesn't want to talk to you." Hannah offered
Tiffany balled a stiff napkin up and threw at her. "Shut up, you moron! I wasn't talking to you."
"School's okay," Megan hated seeing Tiffany and Hannah argue. If she had a sister she never would have fought with her.
"Don't call me a moron."
"Okay, this fighting stops now," Jackie entered the parlor, "Come into the dining room the pizza's ready."
"Do you need me to push your chair for you?"
"No, I can do it myself."
Tiffany admired that. She wished Megan were her sister instead of Hannah. She loved Hunter, but couldn't stand Hannah. She represented everything that repulsed her about girls. She wasn't in the mood for pizza she wanted to 'talk' to Adam online and write her online diary entry about younger girls that have crushes on older men. She couldn't believe who her friend Kate had a crush on, but she was also secretly guilty of it.
"Mommy, what's a facial?" Megan asked, after Jackie brought it up.
"Something your annoying 'aunt' Jackie does that she thinks is fun for all. It's a treatment for your face to make the skin feel softer."
"If you're expecting me to walk around like a ghoul, then you are barking up the wrong tree." Tiffany said
Tiffany picked the pepperoni off her pizza. Was her Mother not on the same planet when she told her earlier this week not to buy the pepperoni pizza? but Hannah liked it, so of course, she'd get it for her. That was always the way.
"Tiffany, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I just thought you'd like to spend time with all of us." Jackie replied
"She wants to IM her BOYFRIEND." Hannah made kissy noises
"That's NONE of your business, jerk!" She threw pepperoni at her sister.
"Stop throwing food at your sister."
"Fine, I'm taking my pizza and eating it in my room."
Tiffany wrapped her pizza in a paper towel; she could grab a soda out of her Dad's mini fridge in her parent's room.
"Fine. I suppose you guys can watch your movies after you eat your pizza." Jackie said. It was just a phase, right?
"We're done." They said in unison.
"Wash your hands, first." Jackie said
"Come on, Megan," Hannah unconsciously pushed her chair, "I got rid of my stupid sister." She whispered in Megan's ear.
Megan had to wear a hearing aid as she only had forty percent of hearing in her left ear and ever since she was three years old she had to wear prescription glasses, she couldn't see a thing without them. But her parents always treated her like she was a normal person, but she knew better. When she was little she hated seeing Hannah, Hunter, and all the other little kids run and play, she wanted to be able to run and laugh through the grassy fields like any other normal kid. She hated being the one in the wheelchair. The one who always had to 'Miss Out'.
"Donna, I'm sorry, this party isn't going like I thought it would." Jackie put the dishes in the dishwasher.
"It's not your fault. Are you sure Tiffany isn't going through something else besides adolescence?" Donna asked
"I don't know, she never tells me anything. My sweet little girl isn't little anymore and she isn't sweet, either. All she wants to do is talk to that Adam kid, I don't like him, and he reminds me of a more intelligent Michael."
"He's an all right boy."
"Then-I know I shouldn't have but she had her computer on and I just happened to be in her room putting her clothes away, when I read one of her emails, where she said, that she likes an older man, but didn't mention him by name. I think I know who it is. Her history teacher Paul Lopez-Steven thinks we have nothing to worry about, and I want to believe him, but I'm a Mother so I can't stop worrying. How would you like it if Megan acted cold towards you?"
"No loving Mother wants that." Donna said, however Donna wouldn't take Megan giving her attitude, either. She was not raising a brat.
"She used to adore Hannah, now she thinks she's nothing short of the anti- Christ."
Jackie took the dip out of the refrigerator for the chips.
"Look at this way, she won't be a teenager forever," Donna took a diet soda out for herself as her phone rang.
"I bet it's Eric. Steven and Hunter phoned me earlier."
Jackie left the kitchen with the dip so Donna could have a private phone conversation with her Husband.
"Hi, Donna."
"Hi, Eric, how's it going?"
"Good," She could hear sports on the hotel room TV, "How's Megan?"
"She's fine, she still doesn't like planes, but the people were very helpful."
Eric wasn't the only one who would give someone a verbal kick in the head for mistreating their daughter.
"You sound tired."
"That's because I am. And Tiffany is fighting with Hannah and I swear Jackie is going to have a meltdown any second now. I'd rather be with you in that hotel room."
He smiled, "I second that. At least Hyde and Hunter are close."
"I have to go, Eric, Jackie is calling me. I love you. Call me, tomorrow."
"I love you, too."
Donna hung up her phone and left it on the counter.
"You rang, Jackie?"
"Can you watch Hannah and Megan while I attempt to talk to Tiffany?"
"Jackie, I don't think that's a good idea-you should let her be alone for awhile."
"Why? So she could think of even more ways to alienate herself from me? No way."
Donna sighed, "Good luck, then."
She went into check on the girls thinking that she was in no hurry for Megan to turn fifteen years old.
Jackie wanted to burst the door open and ask Tiffany in a yelling voice, "Just what is your problem?" but instead she quietly knocked on her bedroom door. She figured she had to have her headphones on because she didn't even scream at her Mother to "go away". She quietly opened the door to find Tiffany sleeping on top of her bed. She didn't look like the same girl who needed an attitude adjustment. Jackie took a light green blanket that was on her hope chest and covered her daughter with it. Tiffany was rebelling against something, yet she couldn't figure out what it was. Her and Steven were pretty permissive as parents. He wasn't the mean Father some people might have assumed he'd be, such as ex-schoolmates. They didn't beat her; they didn't verbally abuse their children. What could Tiffany possibly have to rebel against? It wasn't normal to HATE your Mother. Jackie almost missed the pre-Steven, post divorce from Brad times when it was just Mother and daughter schlepping around the city streets of New York and living in their luxe apartment. Yet, she couldn't imagine life without Steven and the twins. Still, she wished she could go back in time for a just to moment to when her daughter didn't resent her, there might have been subconscious clues as to what was to come, such as hating the formal little girls clothes and wanting the boys toys with her giggle meals. She was so sweet back then. She never gave her any lip and always wanted a hug from Mommy before bedtime.
"Who's there?" Tiffany opened up her eyes for a second, noticing the blanket.
"Me. I just came in here to see if you needed anything?" Jackie lied, it didn't seem right to have "The Talk" now.
"I'm fine, provided you aren't going to make me go back out there, Mother."
Jackie didn't like how Tiffany said "Mother" in a rather snobby tone of voice.
"I'm not, sweetie." Jackie resisted the urge to kiss her on the cheek; if her daughter pushed that away she would just die a little bit more on the inside.
Donna couldn't help but smile knowing that Megan was actually enjoying Jackie putting the rose petal infused mask on her face. She was somewhere in the middle of girlishness, she wasn't anti like Tiffany and she wasn't drenched in it like Hannah. She thought the facial mask smelled "pretty" and could hear her Mother tell Jackie "to be gentle" as she held her daughter's glasses.
"Okay, Megan, step one is almost done," Jackie picked up the egg timer that no one used to time eggs with, "I'm going to set this timer for ten minutes to set the mask before washing it off. "
"Are you going to put cucumber on my eyes?"
"If Donna says I can."
She seemed to have awoken Donna out of a dream thought, "Sure. But I'd prefer it if the seeds were picked out." Just in case.
Donna and Eric didn't keep Megan sheltered, but they still couldn't agree to her every whim if there was a risk involved.
"Wait until you see yourself with your soft new face!"
Jackie was glad to have this opportunity to bond with Megan and her youngest daughter; it was great to feel wanted.
"Mommy, are you going to let Jackie give you a facial next?"
"Uh, I don't think so, baby."
"I actually have a brush with FIVE rotating heads that would do wonders for you." Jackie added as she gave Megan the cucumber slices to put on her own eyes.
"Thank you, Jackie."
"You're welcome," she kissed her head, "Now you can't talk for ten minutes, and when the timer beeps, we can wash it off."
"Now, it's MY turn-do you have that serum in the green bottle?" Hannah asked
'How does she know that?' Donna thought
"We don't use that for facials. That's for your Mother's wrinkles."
Donna wanted to burst out laughing. Sure, she had fine lines, they both did, it was just the way that she worded it, and the fact that her nine- year-old Daughter wanted the product. It made her feel glad that the only thing she let Megan fool around with was some cheap drugstore brand clear lip-glosses.
"Donna, do you have a comment that you'd like to share with the 'class'?" Jackie put her hands on her hips.
"How long exactly does it take you to get ready-wait, how many products do you use before you go to bed?"
All she used was Heaven forbid Ivory soap on her face and Oil of Olay at night; she had the same regime since she was sixteen years old. It was Eric who had his "secret" stash of "unisex, Donna, they're unisex." products in the bathroom cabinet. Of course, she did use the samples Jackie would send her. Now that she owned her own salon a mile and a half away from here she actually was able to send her more stuff then when she worked at one of the department stores in New York City.
"It depends-tonight is the night I do my facials and heavy duty wrinkle treatments."
"Oh, with your brush with the five rotating heads?"
"Shut up, you Amazon!" Jackie threw a cotton swab at her
"And you wonder where Tiffany gets the throwing stuff from?"
Jackie did her trademark smirk. "Laugh all you want, Donna, but Steven doesn't complain."
"Probably because you have two bathrooms."
"When I get 'old' like Mommy, I'm going to use stuff, too." Hannah said as her Mother put the facial mask on.
Donna laughed, even though Hannah didn't mean it in the malicious way she knew that would get Jackie being called 'old' like that.
"I'm not old. I'm younger than Donna!"
"Not by much."
"Mommy, do I look pretty yet?" Megan asked
"You're always pretty to me."
The timer went off and Jackie quickly set it for Hannah's time before soaking a soft washcloth in a bowl of water to remove the mask from Megan's face.
"What do I do with the cucumber's?" She asked
"You can eat them if you want."
"It'll probably be the healthiest thing she put in her body since breakfast." Donna added
"After this can we watch another DVD?" Hannah asked
"You can save the rest for later, I have a surprise for the both of you!"
'Oh, Lord' thought Donna
"Tell us now." Megan politely asked
"Soon," She pat dried her face with an equally soft towel, "Wait until you see!"
"My glasses."
Donna put them on for her and kissed her soft and nicely scented forehead.
"Ta-Da!" Jackie held up a mirror to Megan's face
"I look the same," then she put her hands on her cheeks, "It's soft! Thank you."
"Can you tell us our surprise now? I'm dying, Mommy!"
"Okay, I was going to wait until we went back into the dining room, but I found my old Mystery Date game from when I was a kid."
"Mystery Date?" Donna remembered playing that with Jackie, while on one hand it seemed utterly stupid on the other hand, she knew it was a better choice than them watching those 'Jessica Taylor' films. The only purpose of those films was to buy more product thankfully Megan wasn't into them that much where she had to support the whole empire.
"You girls are going to love it. Can you remove your own mask, Hannah? While Donna and I set up the game?"
"Okay!"
"Hannah-"
"Yes, Megan?"
"Can you check the pouch in the back of my chair? Did Mommy put my cell phone in there?"
Donna never in a million years would let a kid under the age of sixteen have a cell phone but it just seemed like something Megan would need if she ever had to get in touch with someone very quickly in the case of an emergency.
"Yeah, she did." She handed her the phone
"I want to call, Daddy. He programmed the hotel number in the phone for me before he left. All I do is have to ask for his room."
"It's under the name Steven Hyde." Hannah proudly replied
"You look funny with your mask on!" Megan stated
"Just because you're in a wheelchair doesn't mean I won't kick your ass." Hannah joked, they were best friends, and she'd never harm a hair on her head.
"Good, because I hate special treatment that I'd run over you if you didn't kick my ass." She replied as she dialed the telephone.
WV
"Hello, honey. How's the party?" asked Eric who was half-asleep
"Fine. Jackie gave us facials, but Mommy didn't want one."
Eric laughed that sounded like Donna all right
"I bought you a t-shirt from the comic book expo." He couldn't resist telling her, his little girl deserved all the happiness in the world.
"Awesome. Mommy's here, she wants to know who I'm talking to."
"Tell her your handsome Father."
"Hannah and I are going to play Mystery Date with Jackie. Mommy wants to talk to you---"
"Love you, sweetie, goodnight."
"I love you too, Daddy."
2009 PA
"This is the most stupid thing, I ever heard of," Tiffany huffed as she stretched out on her bed with her legs on the wall, "I mean aren't you almost fifty?"
'Damn, she said the 'F' word' and to Jackie that was worse than the actual 'F' word.
"It's not stupid and I expect you to help out." Jackie slapped her legs off the wall.
"Goody."
Ever since she turned thirteen two years ago, Jackie noticed a shift in Tiffany's whole attitude. Most teenagers go through the "my parents are idiots" phase, but Jackie was afraid that it wasn't just a phase. She seemed to reject everything she taught her except for "Don't play in traffic" and "C is for Cookie".
"You better put a smile on your face when our guests arrive."
'What guests?' she rolled her eyes, 'It's just Donna and Megan'.
They came all this way for her Mother's idiotic idea for a slumber party? Megan was probably the only one in the group who could possibly get something out of this party and with all of her limitations Tiffany figured this was a nice time out for her. But to have to spend this whole weekend with two adult females and her stupid half-sister it was going to be sheer Hell. She'd rather be with her Dad, Eric, and Hunter in West Virginia at a comic book expo as one of Hunter Hyde's hobbies was a love for a comic books and a natural gift of drawing that both Hyde and Jackie encouraged.
"Yeah." She replied tiredly
Jackie left Tiffany's room, 'thank God' Tiffany thought as she put her legs back on the wall.
"Tiffany, get your legs off the wall!" Jackie called out from the corridor
'Does she have eyes in the back of her head?' She left them there anyway as she put on her headphones on maximum volume and picked up a real rock [not manufactured pop crap] magazine.
Hannah Kitty Hyde looked like a female version of her Father. She had to get her curls relaxed because she had a sprinkling of her Mother's vanity. Even though she was nine years old she was more girly-girly then her half-sister. She looked out the window waiting for Donna and Megan to arrive. Jackie opened up the bag of chips and poured them into a glass bowl. Jackie and Hyde were both proud of Hannah for becoming friends with Megan, they didn't tell her to, it was just something that she did on her own when they were old enough to communicate with each other. Jackie remembered when Megan threw her book down on the floor because she was frustrated that she couldn't get the "big words" it was Hannah who picked up the book and read to her and from that moment on they had a special kind of friendship. It was based on childhood, which was the best kind of friendship there was.
"Where is your sister?"
"Sulking! I'll get her, Mommy!"
Jackie was going to pick Donna and Megan up at the airport, but Donna didn't want Jackie to go out of her way, besides, she couldn't picture Jackie driving a specially equipped van, she'd take out small farm animals for certain! Jackie put on her lip gloss which met with an eye roll from Tiffany who was supposed to help out by making the punch, the only thing that could make the punch taste better was if it had a little help from her Dad's liquor cabinet. The doorbell rang and Jackie greeted Donna and Megan with her perfect smile-on hostess face.
"Hi, Donna and Megan!" Jackie exclaimed
Megan liked Jackie she was sparkly and bubbly the total opposite of her Mother who wore jeans and sneakers around the house.
"Hi, Megan." Hannah said
Tiffany waved, she wasn't in the talking mood between her Mother and Hannah she wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise. But she had to ask her Mother a question anyway.
"If this is the 'party', you speak of," She did the quotes gesture with her hands, it seemed familiar to her and Jackie wondered who she picked that up from, "Can I go back into my room and log on to my IM?"
"No," She was spending way too much time talking to Adam, Eric and Donna's paperboy, "Tonight is our slumber party!"
"We got the 'Jessica Taylor' DVDs!" Hannah poured Megan a cup of punch.
Tiffany wanted to slice her wrists with a steak knife. 'Jessica Taylor' was nothing but a Madison Avenue creation for little impressionable girls to buy things, the DVDs, the books, the magazines, the make up line, and the trendy mall clothes. She also had friends named 'Heather' and 'Tiffany' which made Tiffany hate her name even more.
"I am not watching that crap!" Tiffany protested
"You two can watch the movies later," Jackie said to Hannah and Megan "Come on, Donna help me get the pizza out of the oven."
"You made pizza?" Donna asked
"Mommy put the oven on!" Hannah revealed
"How's school, Megan?" Tiffany asked
"She doesn't want to talk to you." Hannah offered
Tiffany balled a stiff napkin up and threw at her. "Shut up, you moron! I wasn't talking to you."
"School's okay," Megan hated seeing Tiffany and Hannah argue. If she had a sister she never would have fought with her.
"Don't call me a moron."
"Okay, this fighting stops now," Jackie entered the parlor, "Come into the dining room the pizza's ready."
"Do you need me to push your chair for you?"
"No, I can do it myself."
Tiffany admired that. She wished Megan were her sister instead of Hannah. She loved Hunter, but couldn't stand Hannah. She represented everything that repulsed her about girls. She wasn't in the mood for pizza she wanted to 'talk' to Adam online and write her online diary entry about younger girls that have crushes on older men. She couldn't believe who her friend Kate had a crush on, but she was also secretly guilty of it.
"Mommy, what's a facial?" Megan asked, after Jackie brought it up.
"Something your annoying 'aunt' Jackie does that she thinks is fun for all. It's a treatment for your face to make the skin feel softer."
"If you're expecting me to walk around like a ghoul, then you are barking up the wrong tree." Tiffany said
Tiffany picked the pepperoni off her pizza. Was her Mother not on the same planet when she told her earlier this week not to buy the pepperoni pizza? but Hannah liked it, so of course, she'd get it for her. That was always the way.
"Tiffany, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I just thought you'd like to spend time with all of us." Jackie replied
"She wants to IM her BOYFRIEND." Hannah made kissy noises
"That's NONE of your business, jerk!" She threw pepperoni at her sister.
"Stop throwing food at your sister."
"Fine, I'm taking my pizza and eating it in my room."
Tiffany wrapped her pizza in a paper towel; she could grab a soda out of her Dad's mini fridge in her parent's room.
"Fine. I suppose you guys can watch your movies after you eat your pizza." Jackie said. It was just a phase, right?
"We're done." They said in unison.
"Wash your hands, first." Jackie said
"Come on, Megan," Hannah unconsciously pushed her chair, "I got rid of my stupid sister." She whispered in Megan's ear.
Megan had to wear a hearing aid as she only had forty percent of hearing in her left ear and ever since she was three years old she had to wear prescription glasses, she couldn't see a thing without them. But her parents always treated her like she was a normal person, but she knew better. When she was little she hated seeing Hannah, Hunter, and all the other little kids run and play, she wanted to be able to run and laugh through the grassy fields like any other normal kid. She hated being the one in the wheelchair. The one who always had to 'Miss Out'.
"Donna, I'm sorry, this party isn't going like I thought it would." Jackie put the dishes in the dishwasher.
"It's not your fault. Are you sure Tiffany isn't going through something else besides adolescence?" Donna asked
"I don't know, she never tells me anything. My sweet little girl isn't little anymore and she isn't sweet, either. All she wants to do is talk to that Adam kid, I don't like him, and he reminds me of a more intelligent Michael."
"He's an all right boy."
"Then-I know I shouldn't have but she had her computer on and I just happened to be in her room putting her clothes away, when I read one of her emails, where she said, that she likes an older man, but didn't mention him by name. I think I know who it is. Her history teacher Paul Lopez-Steven thinks we have nothing to worry about, and I want to believe him, but I'm a Mother so I can't stop worrying. How would you like it if Megan acted cold towards you?"
"No loving Mother wants that." Donna said, however Donna wouldn't take Megan giving her attitude, either. She was not raising a brat.
"She used to adore Hannah, now she thinks she's nothing short of the anti- Christ."
Jackie took the dip out of the refrigerator for the chips.
"Look at this way, she won't be a teenager forever," Donna took a diet soda out for herself as her phone rang.
"I bet it's Eric. Steven and Hunter phoned me earlier."
Jackie left the kitchen with the dip so Donna could have a private phone conversation with her Husband.
"Hi, Donna."
"Hi, Eric, how's it going?"
"Good," She could hear sports on the hotel room TV, "How's Megan?"
"She's fine, she still doesn't like planes, but the people were very helpful."
Eric wasn't the only one who would give someone a verbal kick in the head for mistreating their daughter.
"You sound tired."
"That's because I am. And Tiffany is fighting with Hannah and I swear Jackie is going to have a meltdown any second now. I'd rather be with you in that hotel room."
He smiled, "I second that. At least Hyde and Hunter are close."
"I have to go, Eric, Jackie is calling me. I love you. Call me, tomorrow."
"I love you, too."
Donna hung up her phone and left it on the counter.
"You rang, Jackie?"
"Can you watch Hannah and Megan while I attempt to talk to Tiffany?"
"Jackie, I don't think that's a good idea-you should let her be alone for awhile."
"Why? So she could think of even more ways to alienate herself from me? No way."
Donna sighed, "Good luck, then."
She went into check on the girls thinking that she was in no hurry for Megan to turn fifteen years old.
Jackie wanted to burst the door open and ask Tiffany in a yelling voice, "Just what is your problem?" but instead she quietly knocked on her bedroom door. She figured she had to have her headphones on because she didn't even scream at her Mother to "go away". She quietly opened the door to find Tiffany sleeping on top of her bed. She didn't look like the same girl who needed an attitude adjustment. Jackie took a light green blanket that was on her hope chest and covered her daughter with it. Tiffany was rebelling against something, yet she couldn't figure out what it was. Her and Steven were pretty permissive as parents. He wasn't the mean Father some people might have assumed he'd be, such as ex-schoolmates. They didn't beat her; they didn't verbally abuse their children. What could Tiffany possibly have to rebel against? It wasn't normal to HATE your Mother. Jackie almost missed the pre-Steven, post divorce from Brad times when it was just Mother and daughter schlepping around the city streets of New York and living in their luxe apartment. Yet, she couldn't imagine life without Steven and the twins. Still, she wished she could go back in time for a just to moment to when her daughter didn't resent her, there might have been subconscious clues as to what was to come, such as hating the formal little girls clothes and wanting the boys toys with her giggle meals. She was so sweet back then. She never gave her any lip and always wanted a hug from Mommy before bedtime.
"Who's there?" Tiffany opened up her eyes for a second, noticing the blanket.
"Me. I just came in here to see if you needed anything?" Jackie lied, it didn't seem right to have "The Talk" now.
"I'm fine, provided you aren't going to make me go back out there, Mother."
Jackie didn't like how Tiffany said "Mother" in a rather snobby tone of voice.
"I'm not, sweetie." Jackie resisted the urge to kiss her on the cheek; if her daughter pushed that away she would just die a little bit more on the inside.
Donna couldn't help but smile knowing that Megan was actually enjoying Jackie putting the rose petal infused mask on her face. She was somewhere in the middle of girlishness, she wasn't anti like Tiffany and she wasn't drenched in it like Hannah. She thought the facial mask smelled "pretty" and could hear her Mother tell Jackie "to be gentle" as she held her daughter's glasses.
"Okay, Megan, step one is almost done," Jackie picked up the egg timer that no one used to time eggs with, "I'm going to set this timer for ten minutes to set the mask before washing it off. "
"Are you going to put cucumber on my eyes?"
"If Donna says I can."
She seemed to have awoken Donna out of a dream thought, "Sure. But I'd prefer it if the seeds were picked out." Just in case.
Donna and Eric didn't keep Megan sheltered, but they still couldn't agree to her every whim if there was a risk involved.
"Wait until you see yourself with your soft new face!"
Jackie was glad to have this opportunity to bond with Megan and her youngest daughter; it was great to feel wanted.
"Mommy, are you going to let Jackie give you a facial next?"
"Uh, I don't think so, baby."
"I actually have a brush with FIVE rotating heads that would do wonders for you." Jackie added as she gave Megan the cucumber slices to put on her own eyes.
"Thank you, Jackie."
"You're welcome," she kissed her head, "Now you can't talk for ten minutes, and when the timer beeps, we can wash it off."
"Now, it's MY turn-do you have that serum in the green bottle?" Hannah asked
'How does she know that?' Donna thought
"We don't use that for facials. That's for your Mother's wrinkles."
Donna wanted to burst out laughing. Sure, she had fine lines, they both did, it was just the way that she worded it, and the fact that her nine- year-old Daughter wanted the product. It made her feel glad that the only thing she let Megan fool around with was some cheap drugstore brand clear lip-glosses.
"Donna, do you have a comment that you'd like to share with the 'class'?" Jackie put her hands on her hips.
"How long exactly does it take you to get ready-wait, how many products do you use before you go to bed?"
All she used was Heaven forbid Ivory soap on her face and Oil of Olay at night; she had the same regime since she was sixteen years old. It was Eric who had his "secret" stash of "unisex, Donna, they're unisex." products in the bathroom cabinet. Of course, she did use the samples Jackie would send her. Now that she owned her own salon a mile and a half away from here she actually was able to send her more stuff then when she worked at one of the department stores in New York City.
"It depends-tonight is the night I do my facials and heavy duty wrinkle treatments."
"Oh, with your brush with the five rotating heads?"
"Shut up, you Amazon!" Jackie threw a cotton swab at her
"And you wonder where Tiffany gets the throwing stuff from?"
Jackie did her trademark smirk. "Laugh all you want, Donna, but Steven doesn't complain."
"Probably because you have two bathrooms."
"When I get 'old' like Mommy, I'm going to use stuff, too." Hannah said as her Mother put the facial mask on.
Donna laughed, even though Hannah didn't mean it in the malicious way she knew that would get Jackie being called 'old' like that.
"I'm not old. I'm younger than Donna!"
"Not by much."
"Mommy, do I look pretty yet?" Megan asked
"You're always pretty to me."
The timer went off and Jackie quickly set it for Hannah's time before soaking a soft washcloth in a bowl of water to remove the mask from Megan's face.
"What do I do with the cucumber's?" She asked
"You can eat them if you want."
"It'll probably be the healthiest thing she put in her body since breakfast." Donna added
"After this can we watch another DVD?" Hannah asked
"You can save the rest for later, I have a surprise for the both of you!"
'Oh, Lord' thought Donna
"Tell us now." Megan politely asked
"Soon," She pat dried her face with an equally soft towel, "Wait until you see!"
"My glasses."
Donna put them on for her and kissed her soft and nicely scented forehead.
"Ta-Da!" Jackie held up a mirror to Megan's face
"I look the same," then she put her hands on her cheeks, "It's soft! Thank you."
"Can you tell us our surprise now? I'm dying, Mommy!"
"Okay, I was going to wait until we went back into the dining room, but I found my old Mystery Date game from when I was a kid."
"Mystery Date?" Donna remembered playing that with Jackie, while on one hand it seemed utterly stupid on the other hand, she knew it was a better choice than them watching those 'Jessica Taylor' films. The only purpose of those films was to buy more product thankfully Megan wasn't into them that much where she had to support the whole empire.
"You girls are going to love it. Can you remove your own mask, Hannah? While Donna and I set up the game?"
"Okay!"
"Hannah-"
"Yes, Megan?"
"Can you check the pouch in the back of my chair? Did Mommy put my cell phone in there?"
Donna never in a million years would let a kid under the age of sixteen have a cell phone but it just seemed like something Megan would need if she ever had to get in touch with someone very quickly in the case of an emergency.
"Yeah, she did." She handed her the phone
"I want to call, Daddy. He programmed the hotel number in the phone for me before he left. All I do is have to ask for his room."
"It's under the name Steven Hyde." Hannah proudly replied
"You look funny with your mask on!" Megan stated
"Just because you're in a wheelchair doesn't mean I won't kick your ass." Hannah joked, they were best friends, and she'd never harm a hair on her head.
"Good, because I hate special treatment that I'd run over you if you didn't kick my ass." She replied as she dialed the telephone.
WV
"Hello, honey. How's the party?" asked Eric who was half-asleep
"Fine. Jackie gave us facials, but Mommy didn't want one."
Eric laughed that sounded like Donna all right
"I bought you a t-shirt from the comic book expo." He couldn't resist telling her, his little girl deserved all the happiness in the world.
"Awesome. Mommy's here, she wants to know who I'm talking to."
"Tell her your handsome Father."
"Hannah and I are going to play Mystery Date with Jackie. Mommy wants to talk to you---"
"Love you, sweetie, goodnight."
"I love you too, Daddy."