Love thy neighbor as thyself.
Leviticus 19:18
"Honey, we have to go," Kendra Block called across the marble floored kitchen with a beautifully decorated fruit basket in hand, "hurry!"
"Mommy," six-year-old Massie Block wondered up behind Kendra and dragged on the hem of her mother's velvet blue empire waist dress.
Kendra whirled around in surprise and laughed at the adorable girl. She kneeled down to join Massie on the ground. "Yes?"
Massie pulled a stubby thumb out of her chubby cheeks—a habit she had not yet out grown—and spoke, "I got a stain on my dwess."
Kendra looked down at the grape jelly that had smeared across the front of Massie's silky floral dress.
"Oh, Massie," She frowned animatedly, as if the purple blotch made her extremely angry, "we don't have time to change. We'll just toss a jacket over that, OK?" Kendra pulled a denim coat off the beige barstool and wrapped it over Massie's small shoulders. "There."
Massie blinked her gleaming amber eyes twice then simply shrugged and wriggled her round arms into the sleeves of her highly fashionable baby jacket. "OK, let's go." She smiled brightly up at her mother and slid her fat fingers into Kendra's smooth, long ones.
"William," Kendra bellowed loudly, her steady voice echoed, "We're leaving, meet us there!"
"Alright honey," A thick, strong voice boomed back from the direction of what seemed like the office, "Bye Massie honey, have fun! I'll be there in a little bit."
Massie's cherry lips formed a V shape as she led her mother out the door. "Bye Daddy!"
As they stepped out of the house, a sweet gust of flowery air welcomed them into Westchester springtime.
"Alright, are you excited to meet our new neighbors?" Kendra watched Massie skip along the concrete sidewalk, which bordered the long rows of cleanly shaven front yards.
Massie's head bobbed enthusiastically, allowing the sun to catch the gloss of her thick curls and illuminate them even more.
"They have a boy your age, you know?"
"Yay!" She yelped, new playmates were always welcome into her large clique of friends.
When they approached a massive estate, equal in size to the Blocks', Kendra paused for a short examination. "So, are we ready?" She asked while scanning her daughter, making sure everything from the rosy hair clip on her head to the tiny pink ballet flats on her feet were nice, and luckily intact. Massie had not exactly proven to be an organized child, and even to date she hadn't managed to loose all her baby habits.
"Yup," She nodded, levitating herself up by the tippy of her toes and quickly dropping down again.
"Good, let's go," Kendra lowered her hand again for Massie to grab, but the vivacious six year old had already raced to the wraparound porch, leaving a shrill squeal to trail behind her.
After a few (dozen) rings to the doorbell, a tall, slim woman answered the door. She smiled down at sweet Massie and quickly welcomed her in.
"I'm sorry, my daughter is very excited to meet all of you," Kendra appeared behind Massie, gripping her in place by her shoulder, "as you can see."
"It's quite alright," The blond woman extended her thin arm out to Kendra, "I'm Laura Harrington, nice to meet you."
"Kendra Block," Massie watched as her mother returned the gesture, they shook and laughed as if securing a newfound womanly bond through the quick entanglement of a pair of matching perfect manicures.
"Please, come in," Laura invited again.
Once Massie and her mother had slipped out of their "outside shoes" and stepped into plush "house slippers", Laura placed a hand on Massie's back and declared, "Derrick has been very excited to meet you as well."
"Who's Dewick?" Massie's innocent eyes wondered the enormous house, decorated with delicate antiques and modernized furniture all wrapped up in a pleasant mix. The Harringtons had surely hired a master interior designer.
"That's my son, sweetie," Laura exchanged another round of giggles with Kendra before she called for him, "Derrick."
Within a few seconds, a small blond boy dashed into the wide main room like a Chicago breeze.
"Hello! I'm Derrick," He announced proudly to no one in particular.
"Hi, I'm Massie," Massie quickly stepped forward and declared loudly, as if trying to prove herself superior. She would have stuck her hand out but she found that an exchange only between…taller people—like her mother and father.
"You're very fast," Massie marveled at the quick yet grand entrance Derrick had performed.
"Thank you," Derrick puffed up his chest and smiled broadly, showing off a straight row of sparkling white teeth. "And you are very…" He seemed to be searching his mind for the right word, "pretty." He grinned proudly, having remembered the adjective his mother had taught him to say to "get the affection of any girl." Whatever that meant.
"Thank you," Massie beamed, "and you're very nice."
"What are you doing?" Massie Block popped her head out of her large window and glared across the street at the Harrington's front yard.
"Mowing," Derrick grinned up at Massie with a moaning lawn mower trembling wildly in front of him.
"Why?" She narrowed her eyes as if mowing the lawn was beyond slave work.
"To keep the lawn clean," Derrick answered blankly, stating the obvious, "we would probably be kicked out of the neighborhood if our grass grew awkwardly." He laughed at the demeaning life of high society.
"I know, but why are you doing it at," Massie quickly ducked her head inside and examined her alarm clock, "six o-five in the morning?"
Derrick only shrugged and quickly stalked across his lawn. "Cause I want to."
Massie stared at him for a while in disbelief. Was his only mission in life to harass her? She didn't exactly remember how, but over the years the two of them seemed to be butting heads more and more. "Well, could you stop?" She finally suggested, with the clear intention of persuading him to do so.
He paused for a moment, and looked up at her. Massie instantly felt self-conscious. Her hair was most likely an unpredictable mess and the bare tank top she had on was probably ten times more see through then she meant for it to be.
"Hello?" She waved her hands around, trying to distract him from the blush quickly creepy cross her cheeks.
"Huh, Mass," Derrick nodded mischievously.
"What?" She questioned him suspiciously with her eyes.
"You're really turning into a woman," He grinned widely as a new shade of scarlet—unknown to human civilization—erupted across Massie's entire body.
"Oh my God, you perv!" Massie wrapped her arm around her chest protectively. She quickly grabbed for the heaviest object she could find in arms length, which was sadly a five-pounded paperweight, and aimed at Derrick's head, but missed miserably.
There was a moment of silence between them as Derrick stared at the boxy object that had landed at least ten feet away from him, next to the broad sidewalk.
Massie watched in confusion as Derrick slowly hunched over, with a hand wrapped around his stomach, and began shivering wildly. The worry she had felt spurring up inside her was quickly washed away by a loud and sudden bust of laughter—and who would have guessed; coming from Derrick. Within a few seconds, his head was completely thrown back and his mouth was wide agape in a downward D shape.
"Almost got me!" He exclaimed pointing at the dumb paperweight lying lamely on the stiff ground, then doubled over again in undying laughter.
"Derrick!" Massie finally yelled, after the humiliation and embarrassment she felt finally hit it's maximum point, "just stop with the mowing!"
"O-o-oh," Derrick held up his hand in a "hold on" gesture as he tried to collect himself. "OK, I'm sorry," He continued grinning, "I'll stop with the lawn mowing."
"Thank you," Massie humphed in a frustrated manner and slammed her window shut before returning to her warm and cozy bed.
Finally. Peace. And. Quiet.
Just as she got settled in her velvet sheets, Massie heard a loud rumbling coming from outside. It wasn't exactly the lawn mower. It sounded a lot more high pitched and screechy.
As she sat up and pressed her back against her bed frame, Massie heard the faintest trail of Derrick's words, "Hope you like Weed wackers, sucka!"
"Jerk!"
AN: Don't worry, Derrick and Massie are friends, don't jump to conclusions.
This is just a spin I put on Lisi Harrison's story "The Clique" (too lazy to underline). It's kind of like a prequel and sequel wrapped up in one. I jump between childhood times and current times, to show how these characters became "who they are."
THIS IS JUST AN IDEA.
I have no intentions on stealing Lisi Harrison's characters. I will mold them, so they may be somewhat different from the book, but I will try not to stray from the originals too much.
Hope you guys like the idea~
::HTW
PS: comment :)
PSS: I tend to misuse commas and have a lot of run on sentences in my paragraphs so if you guys detect any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes PLEASE TELL ME.
Thank you~