Together Forever
By SenritsuBaroness
"Oh, Sai Saici!" Cecil exclaimed, delighted to gaze into his almond-shaped scarlet eyes. "I missed you!"
"Cecil! Cecil!" Cecil blinked sleepily and threw off the fluffy pink and purple comforters of her bed. "I'm coming, Hans!" Cecil called down, angry that her brother had awakened her from sweet dreams of her beloved. She grabbed up her pink Hello Kitty hairbrush and quickly brushed her hair into a halfway decent style. She stuffed her feet into fluffy, fuzzy pink slippers and scrambled down the stairs into the kitchen.
Her handsome brother stood at the cherry oak kitchen table, holding a yellow envelope. "Here's a letter for you," Hans smiled at his sister, handing her the envelope. Cecil broke into a huge smile; for the letter was from her dear Saici.
"Thank you Hans!" She ran back upstairs, eager to read about the adventures of Sai Saici at the Shaolin temple.
" 12 June, F. C. 61
Dear Cecil,
Great news! I can come visit you in Neo Denmark for my vacation! I can't wait to see you again. We just now got all the paperwork done. I'm packing now, but I stopped to write this. I hope things are cool with you and your bro. Tell him I said what's up. When I get there you'll have to show me all the sights. Take care! See you in a couple weeks!
Love ya lots,
Sai Saici"
Cecil smiled and dug under her bed, pulling out a blue box with blue and red gems on it. She opened the box and put the letter inside, along with all the other letters Saici had written to her. Glued to the box's inside lid was a picture of Saici smiling and holding up a "V" for victory sign.
"Oh, Saici!" She sighed happily as she closed the lid and put the box back under her bed. She jumped up and down and squealed like a six-year-old. Saici's coming to see me! She thought excitedly. She rushed over to her desk and could hardly contain her excitement as she opened the top drawer and took out a sheet of lavender Hello Kitty stationery paper and a metallic blue gel pen with a Hello Kitty cap.
After she'd drawn hearts all around the edges of the paper, she wrote:
"17 June, F.C. 61
Dear Sai Saici,
That's great! I can't wait to see you again! We have a guest room in our house; you can stay with us! I'm so excited to know that I'm going to see you again, I can hardly write this!
How are things in Neo China? Things here haven't changed. I'm back in school and Hans is back to his old job. My grades are slipping 'cuz all I seem to do is think about you when I'm at school. Ha ha!
Can't wait to see you! Take care!
All My Love,
Cecil Holgar"
Cecil opened her desk drawer once more and took out a matching lavender Hello Kitty envelope. She neatly folded the letter, put it in the pink envelope, and sealed it. Then she pulled out her Hello Kitty bank from underneath the desk and opened the lid.
"Let's see . . .I have one 100-euro bill, and three 10-euro coins. I think that's enough to pay for out-of-country postage." Cecil put the money and the envelope into her purse, shaped like a red heart with little angel wings on the side. She then went to her closet; she'd forgotten that all this time she was still in her pajamas. She selected a red turtleneck top with a white mini jacket, a black skirt, and black boots. She ironed her clothing and rushed down the hall to the bathroom.
Saici's coming to see me! I'm so happy I could just die! She thought as she jumped into the shower and lathered up with strawberry scented body wash. She poured some shampoo onto her hair and continued scrubbing.
When she was done showering, she dressed and styled her navy blue hair into the usual two ponytails. Then she went and got her purse. Delicious scents wafted up from downstairs. Yay! Hans is making pancakes! Cecil thought. Hans's pancakes were the best in all of Neo Denmark.
She entered the kitchen to see Hans placing a plate with pancakes and bacon on it in front of her placemat. He put another plate on his own placemat and sat down. "Good morning, Cecil," Hans smiled warmly. "Did you sleep well?"
"Until you woke me up," Cecil answered, giggling.
"Do you have enough money? Do you need some money for lunch?" Hans asked as he chewed on a slice of bacon.
"I think I have enough," Cecil replied, politely shaking her head as Hans offered her two 500-euro bills. "That is too much money, and you know it."
"Well, here. You don't have much money, I know, since the school went up on the price of lunches." Hans handed her three 100-euro bills. She took one and handed him back the other two. "This'll do fine. Thank you," she smiled at him.
They finished up their breakfast and Hans cleared the table. Cecil went over to the little message board by the door to write what she was doing that day. The little board was her and Hans's way of keeping up with what each other was doing and where each other were. Beside her name she wrote:
"going to the mall and post office
be home early"
She noticed that Hans would have to work late that evening. He appeared next to her, still smartening up his hair. "You can use my train pass if it gets too late for you to take the trolley," Hans said, handing Cecil the maroon piece of plastic.
"Thank you, Hans," She smiled and silently reminded herself to buy Hans a tin of Danish cookies. Hans loved cookies, and Cecil knew it had been a while since he'd had some. Hans did so much for her and he deserved something nice in return.
"Bye, Cecil," Hans leaned down and kissed her forehead. "There's some chicken in the refrigerator. You can heat it up if you get hungry. I'll try to pick us up something for dinner. How about Mexican food? I'll be home around 9:00. Be good."
"Okay, see you later!" she called after him. A moment later she heard him starting up the old Mercedes-Benz.
She shut the door and locked it, then skipped down the concrete steps and stood at the sign to wait for the trolley.
DING! "Hi there, young lady!" The trolley operator smiled at Cecil as she handed him her 10-euro coin and took a seat. The trolley began to move, and she closed her eyes as a gentle breeze lifted her navy ponytails off her shoulders.
DING! "First stop, downtown Copenhagen!" The trolley operator chimed. Cecil carefully stepped off the trolley onto the scarlet-bricked street.
Downtown Copenhagen was a breathtaking sight. Cecil loved nothing more than to ride the trolley – or drive, when Hans would let her – to downtown Copenhagen. The buildings were large and friendly, with large display windows in front. The glass on the street lamps was sculpted into the shape of tulips, and cheerful, polite people crowded the sidewalks. In the center of all the hustle and bustle was a fountain of an angel, set in a small stone pool.
Cecil crossed the street over to the post office. A blonde-haired woman sat at the front desk. She greeted Cecil with a smile.
"Hi there, Cecil!" the woman said. "Got another letter for your boyfriend?"
Cecil blushed. "Yes, ma'am," she nodded. Geez, I blush so easily! She thought.
"That'll be 20 euros, please," the woman smiled as Cecil handed her the two 10-euro coins. "Thank you, dear."
The woman stamped the letter and put two postage stamps on it. She then put the letter onto a conveyor belt to her far left. She motioned to a lotus-shaped candy dish on the right edge of her desk, filled with orange-slice gummy candies. "Won't you have some candy?"
"Yes, thank you!" Cecil took three pieces. The candies were sweet and gooey and melted in her mouth. "Well, I'll be on my way now. Thanks again!"
"You're welcome, sweetie," the lady waved as Cecil bounced out the door.
On Monday, Cecil found herself at school again.
"Miss Holgar!" Ms. Ribbentrop snapped at Cecil. "Stop daydreaming and pay attention!"
Cecil blinked, realizing that everyone was staring at her. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered out as her cheeks blazed crimson.
"Now, as I was saying before Miss Holgar decided to pay a visit to Dreamland," Ms. Ribbentrop continued as she pulled down the projection screen and turned on the projector. A large map of Europe popped up on the projection screen. "This is Europe during World War One. Here is Denmark, and here is Germany. Here are the Kingdoms of Saxony and Bavaria. And here is where the Hohenzollern dynasty lived, now in present-day Neo Poland. . . "
Cecil blinked several times, trying to pay attention to what Ms. Ribbentrop was saying. She hated history and therefore did poorly in it. Cecil felt her eyelids grow heavy. . .
"Miss Holgar!!" Ms. Ribbentrop was yelling in a shrill voice. "My class is not the place to catch up on your beauty sleep!"
Cecil slowly sat up, as several of her classmates giggled.
"You are by far the worst student I've ever had. All you ever do is daydream and sleep and doodle in your notebook. Every homework assignment you hand in has hearts with some weird name scribbled in them . . .Saycii or something like that."
Cecil narrowed her eyes. "It's Saici. Sai Saici."
"Whatever," Ms. Ribbentrop snapped. "You need to stop acting like a lovesick little girl and pay more attention to your academics. You'll never be anything more than a delinquent if you keep this up. Besides, your dear Saici will probably just get you pregnant and leave you for some other, prettier girl."
Again, several of her classmates laughed, but Cecil was furious. "How dare you talk of him that way?!" Cecil demanded. "Saici loves me and he cares about me! And I care about him! He would never do something like that to me!!"
Their argument was interrupted by the PA. "Cecil Holgar to check out, please," the PA crackled.
"Hmmph," Ms. Ribbentrop snorted. "You got lucky this time. See you tomorrow."
Cecil angrily gathered up her things and stormed out the classroom.
Hans took his eyes off the road to glance at his narrow-eyed little sister. Ever since he'd checked her out, she'd had that pouty, angry look on her face.
"Did Ms. Ribbentrop yell at you again?" Hans asked as he turned left.
Cecil nodded.
"She sure is mean," Hans said. "Don't worry about it."
Cecil folded her arms across her breast.
"You'll cheer up once you see where we're going," Hans smiled.
They pulled up at the airport.
"Why are we here? Are we going out of the country or something?" Cecil asked.
"No, you'll see." Hans smiled.
They walked into the terminal, which was crowded with people. Cecil spotted a head of ebony black hair with a long silky ponytail following behind. Excitement bubbled up inside her and she blurted, "Sai Saici!" To her surprise, the head turned.
Is the person Sai Saici? Find out in Chapter Two.