"Jim come out here, I have someone I would like you to meet." Dilbert called down the hallway to Jim's room.
"Great," Jim muttered to himself. "Right, I'll be there in a second." He yelled at Dilbert However, Jim had no intension of going to meet Dilbert's new step daughter. In fact, he was plain dreading meeting her. Clone of Amelia that he was supposed to hang out with all summer? No thank you.
"Jim, I mean it!" Dilbert entered Jim's room, letting the hallway light flood onto the floor. The brightness was piercing. I have to now explain Jim's room. Jim was one of those people who plain hate sun. He had covered his windows with black drapes, and piled sheet upon sheet until the sun was completely blocked out. So you can see how thrilled Jim was to have his room littered with the noon sunshine. He pulled his covered over his head.
"Jim!" Dilbert tugged at the blanket, playing tug o war with Jim. Jim let go, which made Dilbert fall out the door. As little as he let on, Jim was quite smart and he had planned his room in this fashion to allow people to leave if they wanted him to become awake.
"You win." Jim sat up, rubbing his eyes. "So can you close my door so I can put some clothes on?" Indeed Jim was quite naked except for his boxers.
Dilbertraised his eyes, not believing that Jim was actually going to get dressed and meet Amelia, her ex, and their daughter. "Listen Jim, if I have to meet Amelia's ex husband, you at least get to meet her daughter, so get some clothes on or I'll drag you out by your toes in your–" THUD. Jim had slammed the door on Dilbert.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Jim let out a huge sigh. Time to meet Amelia's daughter. Bet she was ugly and strict. Bet she doesn't know how to have fun. Amelia had been dragging on about her non stop. Her name is Esmerelda, Amelia had her when she was twelve. She since had stayed with the dad, but every summer was mommy-daughter bonding. Jim dug through his drawer... pants pants pants... where were all his pants? Laundry, right, he thought. Do I have another pair, ah, yes, here they are! He pulled out a pair of army green pants, the ones with eighteen different pockets. Anyways, mommy-daughter time just HAPPEN to fall on there trade route to Chicerra. Joy. A full six months with Amelia and her annoying daughter.
Jim pulled on his pants. Amelia never told him how old her daughter was, for all he knew, he could be forced to hang out with some loser twelve year old. He groaned, pulling on his shirt, black, with a jolly roger upon it. Then, feeling particularly rebellious, he hooked a dangling earing with a black skull from his ear, and ruffled up his hair into an extremely messy state. Jim moved towards the door, when Morph squeezed through the key whole.
"Ooooh!" he squeeled.
"What?"
Morph didn't reply with any transformation, as was custom, but zoomed up to Jim, cuddling with his cheek.
"Yeah, some help." He petted his little friend (A/N: I know that sounds wrong, deal.). "Well, here it goes." He opened the door and traveled down the hall. By the time he reached the stairwell, he had pulled on his jacket. His head was determindly staring at the floor. Until...
"Allo, Name's Essie." A feline looking pawish hand went into Jim's vision. He looked up at her, taking her hand–or was it a paw? She shaked his hand feverishly, quick, and jerky.
His first impression, as was expect, was of a miniature Amelia, but as he looked closer, he noticed some differences. For instance, Amelia didn't have any piercing, whilst Essie...
"Like 'em?" She asked to his look of surprise.
"Yeah, especially the one in your eyebrow. Did that hurt?"
"A little, why you thinking of getting yours pierced?"
"No, he isn't." Jim's mum cut into the conversation.
Other than her eyebrow, she had a ring around her lip. A bright silver ring on her right ear, along with one that dangled dangerously on top of her ear. Essie had redish brown hair with streaks of bright green.
"I have a tatoo too!" She said grinning at Jim's look of approval.
"Really?"
"Yeah!" Essie pulled down her neck line to reveil a dolphin jumping on her left breast.
"Cool!"
"Essie! What on earth are you doing?" Her mother demanded.
"Showing Jim my new tattoo!"
"You got a tattoo?"
"Yeah, dad let me."
Amelia rounded on a tall gangly man, and started giving him a stern talk. In the meanwhile, Jim continued to stare at Essie. She wasn't like other girls, he had decided. Her legs were covered by a tough brown material that were tucked into black combat boots. The boots were the same as his, except he hadn't doodled jolly rogers and random bones in white out all over his. She wore a green shirt that matched the streaks in her hair. The shirt laced up in a corset fashion. And the bow-Jim gulped-drew attention to the very large cleavage area that Essie was showing off. Yet Jim couldn't drool for too long, for an explosion of yells started from Essie's parents.
"C'mon," Jim muttered, taking Essie's hand.
"Where are we going?"
"To my favorite spot."
"So, why is this your favorite spot?" Essie said from the roof top. The two sat, overlooking Montressor, which stretched as far as the eye could see. It was a cloudless sky, making the roofs act as stoves. If it wasn't for there thick pants, they would have been dying of burns. "Sun bathe much?" She joked, for Jim was quite pale.
"The view."
"Oh yes, you can see that girl get undressed and the bum pick his nose." She said sarcastically.
"Really, there's a naked girl?" He grinned. "But really, view, and–" he opened the window, to renewed shouts. "It's the only place where I can hear my parents talk about me, and them not hear me."
"So it's your thinking place?"
"Yeah, I guess it is..."
"My thinking place is my basement. Dad never goes down there. It has a bunch of old stuff that mum and dad had when they were together."
"You mean married?"
"Never married." Awkward (A/N: what a weird word to spell) silence. "Mum told me all about you and how you saved her. And Dilbert. She really likes you, you know."
"Yeah..."
Essie shifted uncomfortably. Whether this was nerves or the heat of the roof, Jim couldn't tell.
"I really don't like it when people say 'yeah', it's as if they're rejecting conversation."
"Oh, sorry." Pause. "What's that on your arm?" Essie lifted up her sleeve to reveal a chinese character tattooed into her skin. "How many tattoos you got?"
"One more, but I'm not going to tell you where."
Jim grinned, intrigued. "Where?"
Essie responded by unzipping her boot. On her ankle was a skull and crossbones. "You thought it was somewhere dirty, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah. Why did you imply it?"
"Can I help it if you are gorgeous and I want you to think me interesting?"
"Interesting as in a prostitute?"
"You know, I get that a lot." And to Jim's utter disbelief, this feline giggled. GIGGLED! He didn't know what to think of this girl anymore.
Perhaps Essie noticed this spell of uncomfortableness, for she stopped to laugh, "Oh, sorry. Did I make you uncomfortable?"
"Eh, a bit."
She smiled, leaning back onto the roof. "I can be a bit... provakative." And with that she stroke a pose that was similar to those in PlaySpaceBoy. "But really, I'm as innocent as God (which isn't saying much because I don't believe in him), but still--" Pause. "Sorry if I talk too much."
"It's alright, I don't talk enough."
"No it's not." She turned on her side, facing Jim. "So tell me about yourself."
"What would you like to know?"
"Age, Zodiac sign, sexual orientation?" The last one she slipped in, hoping he wouldn't make a big deal of her question. You just never know these days.
However, her plan failed. "What?"
"Do you dig guys?"
Jim looked taken aback at this question. "No."
Essie looked a bit disapointed at his answer. He didn't question her look. "And I'm sixteen and a Leo."
"Seventeen, Scorpio." She paused to think up another question. "What was your first impression of me?"
Once again, it was Jim's turn to feel uncomfortable. He did think she was hot. "I thought you were a whore." He said, rather bluntly.
"Most people do." She paused. "My first impression of you is a sarcastic teenage, reblious due to a hard past. Something to do with your father now doubt, You're very insecure and need someon to love you but have ussues trusting pwople due to pass relationships. You work hard even though you resent it. You're outspoken, but all in all, you're a good guy." Jim gave Essie a hard stare. "What do you think of me now?"
"A good guy?" He laughed at this thought. "'fraidyou were wrong on that account."
"And you were wrong on the fact that I would sleep with you if I thought you were a bad boy. Cause I'm not and you are. Deal." That shut Jim right up.
The silence persisted, letting their ears fill with the sound of Essie's parents fighting.
To end the silence, Jim said an awkward, "So..." and then, "Where you from?"
"Planet Mapo."
"Haven't heard of it."
"That's because it's at the other end of the galaxy. Dad wanted to be as far away as mum as possible."
"What happened between them?" Something told him Essie wouldn't mind answering this. Amelia, on the other hand, would have smacked him.
"It's rather typical. At least on Harkronia. Very religious planet, you see. Premartital sex and sex for any other reason than reproduction is bad. Anyways, when Mum was twelve, her mum became suffocating, lots of pressure. That's where she met Dad, as some sleezy pub. They had sex, nine months later and here I am! Gram was furious with Mum. As I had told you, very religious people. Mum was able to stay long enough to kiss dad goodbye, give him all her savings, and me, before setting off on her boat to do something else. You want some gum?"
"No." Jim's head was boggling with negative thoughts of Amelia. "Must have been tough growing up."
"Not really... Dad's lackish. He let me do anything a guy would do, hence the tattoos and constant bitching about my corsets that mum buys me." She rolled her eyes. "So, what's your story?"
"Dad walked out on mum and I."
"Aha! I was right!" She seemed to notice his sad expression. "Oh, sorry about that."
"'s all right."
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not."
"Fine. Essie grinned crossing her arms. "You're telling the truth."
Jim laughed in spite of himself. He had forgotten why he was arguing with her completely.
"There, I like that smile." Essie grinned at Jim.
With those words, Jim's heart lightened considerably. He felt–and this could be false, he knew that–as if he could tell her anything and she would completely understand.
"I feel the same way." Essie smiled at him. Jim wrinkled his forehead in confusion and thought.
"Don't worry, I'm not physic, just really good at reading people."
Silence fell upon the two of them, but unlike before, it wasn't awkward, rather welcomed.
"She's too young to go on a ship! What if pirates attack?"
"I was twelve!"
"Well you were too young then too."
"You just don't trust me with our daughter. And..." Amelia lowered her voice in anger, so that Jim and Essie had to listen extra hard to hear. "You're afraid of that horny boy that's Essie fancies!"
Essie sniggered at the word 'horny'. Then sighed. "They always fight. Byt mum always wins. I guest you and I are going on the ship together!"
"R.L.S. Legacy tomorrow."
"Jim! Esmerelda! What are you doing on the roof?" Sarah called from outside, she had just finished watering the plants and had looked up. "Why don't you come down, I'll fix you some lunch!"