The Summer Room
Prelude to the Winter House Trilogy
AN: As promised, here is the prelude to the "Winter House Trilogy"! I'm really proud of it so far…R&R…and enjoy!
Summary: The last little bit of sophomore has finally arrived for Millie, Sam, and Lizzie, and they couldn't be more excited…with only two days left, the thing that they have to look forward to is Summer Vacation. Only, here's a small problem, through a mysterious line of circumstances, the three best friends and their pal, Marley, have somehow ended up in Middle Earth and are now part of a company of 13 dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard!
CHAPTER 1
OF CLARINETS AND FAVORITE DWARVES
MILLIE
The last bell of the day rang and I stepped out of classroom into the hot June sun. I fanned myself with my notebook, it sure was hot…but at this point…I didn't care how hot it was because we only had two days left of school before summer vacation! I looked down at the screen-saver of the phone in my hand, a black and white picture of Thorin Oakenshield from "The Hobbit". I swear, he fits perfectly with the description of a "Hot Dwarf"…and Kili too. I quickly went through my favorite characters from the movie in my head, Kili…hot, there's no other word that could describe him, Thorin…cute (maybe a little hot), okay, hot, he sings bass clef! Next, Bilbo...cute and funny, Ori...cute in a puppy sort of way, Fili, he's just…a boss, he has swag I tell you! Then there was Gandalf…a man-pretty old man (you judge, I kill). I smiled to myself as I came toward the band room. "What are you so happy about?" came a voice from behind, I turned, behind me came my crush, Lance. My face flushed scarlet and I quickly ran my hand through my wavy, strawberry blonde hair. We hardly ever talked, and he never came this way. "Hey Lance, what's up? I was just thinking about some of my favorite movie characters."
"Oh, cool, I just needed to ask Mr. Carter to sign my yearbook." Mr. Carter was the music teacher. Lance was in advanced choir with one of my best friends; Elizabeth Douglas.
"So you excited about Summer?"
"Heck yes, I'm just about done with school."
"I agree." We walked inside, "See you Lance."
"Bye." We went our separate ways, I went to the back of my room to join my besties by the instrument lockers and Lance made his way to Mr. Carter's office. As usual, my best guy friend Marley was bugging my besties, Sam, his fraternal twin sister and Lizzie. And of course, he was standing in front of my locker, blocking the doors. I put my phone in the pocket of my light denim Bermuda's shorts, shoved him aside, crouched down and opened one of the doors. I took my two instruments, Tenor Saxophone and Clarinet from the locker, set them on the ground in front of it and took out my music, I set that on the ground on top of my saxophone, then went over to the three, and tried get Marley to stop hugging Sam, Sam hated hugs, especially when they were forced on her by him. Sam was small, either a really tall hobbit or a really short dwarf, and Marley towered over her like Gandalf over Frodo. "Let her be Marshal, and bug someone else." I said, using his full name. He let her go, looked at me, then ran over to my instrument pile and grabbed my Clarinet. I tried to grab it but then he held it over his head to where I couldn't reach. I put my hands on my hips and shot a light-hearted glare at him, "Marshal Grayson Carlyle give that back!"
"Nope." He turned and bolted toward the corner practice room. Like I already said, he was tall, with shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses which sat upon the bridge of his nose. He also had a higher voice than most boys his age. Lizzie, Sam, and I chased after him, myself in the lead. I grabbed the other side of the case handle and jerked it toward me, he yanked it back, and so forth, suddenly, I about pulled Marley off his feet. He grabbed hold of the wall, and was sucked straight in! I was immediately pulled afterward, followed by Sam and Lizzie's horrified yelps. The two clutched each other's hand and jumped in afterward.
I was falling, falling, churning colors were all about me and my vision was blurred. I was trapped and felt sick. I had no idea where the portal was going to take us…what if we never saw home again? What if we never came back? We wouldn't be able to finish sophomore year and move on with our lives. Frick. I thought to myself. Suddenly, there was a great flash of light; I was blinded for a second, and bang! I crashed onto the ground; actually, I crashed onto Marley. I heard a scream from above and Elizabeth crashed onto to us, and then came Sam.
"Okay, oww!" I exclaimed. We groaned and got out of our pile and stood up. We were standing in front of a small gate, and inside the yard were stairs and a green hill with a green door whose knob was in the center.
"Is that…what I think it is?" Sam said, studying the door closely.
"Bag End." I answered.
"That weird wall brought us here?" Elizabeth wondered aloud.
"No shiz, Sherlock." Marley said. Elizabeth smacked him in the arm with the back of her hand.
"Shut up!" she replied, her voice jumping an octave to a squeak, like it always did.
I exchanged glances with Sam before walking toward the door. "I'm knocking." I said. Sam followed after me with Elizabeth and Marley shuffling behind. I unlatched the gate and swung it open, even though I could've most likely jumped or even stepped over it. I took a deep breath and knocked lightly but loudly on the door three times. I heard a voice on the other end. "No! No! I am not letting any Dwarves inside my house, there are already far too many!" I smiled to myself, it was Bilbo, I could tell by the voice. He opened the door and we saw that he was about three feet tall with curly, slightly messy light brown hair and brown eyes. His hair was a little bit curlier than Marley's shaggy locks, I decided.
"Oh…umm...you're not dwarves…" he said.
"Nope," said Elizabeth, "Just a bunch of teenagers who are about to finish tenth grade.
Marley did a face-palm and said, "He's not going to know anything about any of that."
"Thank you very much, I realize that." Lizzie replied. Bilbo looked at us like we were insane. I elbowed them in the ribs, and said to the hobbit, "Don't mind them, they're insane." I apologized.
"Umm, well, uhh…"
"Bilbo, who are you talking to?" inquired a different voice. An old man leaning on a staff in grey robes with long grey hair, a long grey beard, and blue eyes appeared in the doorway, it was Gandalf.
"Well bless my beard," he said jovially, "Who might you be?"
"Uhh…" I began, I froze up. I've always admired Tolkien's characters…but meeting them…well it was something totally different...and I was a little bit on the shy side...okay, really on the shy side.
"Millie, Sam, Lizzie, and Marley, sir." Elizabeth said, pointing to each of us.
Gandalf smiled warmly, "Well don't just stand out there in the cold, come on in, join the party, I think there is still some food left." He motioned with his hand for us to enter.
We girls smiled, "Okay!" we ran in, leaving Bilbo trying to protest, but Marley stayed behind.
"C'mon!" Sam urged.
"Okay, fine." He said, rolling his eyes and slowly following.
"Watch your head." I said. Too late. Thump! His forehead hit the top of the door; he ducked in, clutching it.
"Oww, son of a-" Thump. There went his head on the chandelier.
"Okay, this place is too small!" he exclaimed, steadying the chandelier. We snickered and made our way in.
