When My Sister Comes To Town

By Aditi Chokshi

"Sarah! Wake UP! It is 12:30. I have some good news to tell you. ." my dad yelled anxiously from downstairs. "I'm coming!" I said groggily in a rather mean tone. I slowly crawled out of my bed and brushed my teeth. I quickly combed my hair with a couple strokes of my hair brush and trudged down the stairs. Waiting to hear my dads "exciting" news.

As I walked down the stairs I started to worry. Every time my dad calls me to tell me that he has some good news it's always something horrible. Like last summer, he called me downstairs to tell me that he had got me a sweater. You must be thinking, what's so bad about a sweater? You don't know my dad. He has the worst sense of style. The sweater was pink and frilly with little hearts on the side and in big letters in the middle there was daddy's little girl. I shuddered just thinking of the ugly sweater.

As I got to the bottom of the steps I saw my dad grinning from ear to ear. I was starting to dread ever waking up. This was going to be a big one. My dad decided to go for it and tell me right off the bat.

"Sarah, you haven't seen your mother or your sister since your mom and I got a divorce."

"And…." I said not understanding where this conversation was going.

"Your mother and I decided that instead of you and your sister, Abigail switching houses, we decided to have one big "family" get together"

"WHAT!" I screamed.

"We are all going to get together. You, Abigail, your mom and I ."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I HATE ABIGAIL!" I was bawling now.

" I'm not done Sarah, wait, since your mom is a nurse its hard for her to take days off, at the last minute, the hospital called her and told her that she needed to come to the hospital, so…" I could see my dad was starting to get nervous and antsy. His face was sweating and he was biting his lip.

"What? Is the picnic cancelled?" I said excitedly. I was suddenly starting to feel better thinking that maybe for once in my life I was having good luck.

"Actually your mom is going to stay at the hospital and…" my dad seemed a little hesitant to say this.

" WHAT?!" I am an impatient girl and I needed to know what he wanted to say!

" Your sister is coming alone." My dad whispered so quietly I had to strain to hear him.

"WHAT?" I screamed so LOUD I think our neighbors could hear me screaming.
After that I just wanted to get away and I didn't want to hear anything more my dad has to say. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and slammed my door with a big bang. I ran to my bed and grabbed my diary. I wrote in my neatest handwriting even though my hand writing looks like Chicken Scratch.

Dear Journal,
I AM SO MAD! My dad planned some kind of "family get together.
I was kind of happy when he told me that I was going to see mom again. Then he told
me that mom was on call at the hospital and that only ABIGAIL was coming. I HATE Abigail
more than anyone. All she does is harasses me. You see, she is older than me, so she thinks that
she is the boss of me. She pulls my hair and plays mean tricks on me. I'll have to ask my dad later when
she is coming. I hope its not very soon. Maybe I will be able to get away at a friends house?
3,
Sarah.

I quickly shut my diary as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I dont want to talk to my dad, so I quickly went on the computer to log onto AIM so he couldn't bother me when he came in. Luckily, Bella was online, my best friend.

Bells123- Hi!
ItsSarahh- Hey! I've got some news to tell you.
Bells123- What is it? Is it one of your dad's "good news"
ItsSarahh- Yes.
Bells123- Tell me.
I heard a knock, oh no, this must be my dad.I thought. Sure enough my dad stuck his head in the room.
"Sarah? Can I come in?" my dad asked.
" No, I am on AIM talking to Bella, talk to me later." I told him.
" Ok, but just to let you know, your sister is going to be here in 1 day,March 9.
" Okay. I'll be ready." I mumbled.
My dad closed the door, and I heard him slowly walk down the stairs. By this time Bella had sent me 10 IMS asking me what happened and where I went.
ItsSarahh- Sorry my dad came in the room to like tell me something.
Bells123- So what happened?
ItSarahh- My mom and dad planned a family get together, with my mom, ABIGAIL, my dad, and me. Then my mom got a call from the hospital saying she needed to be in the hospital. So now its just ABIGAIl coming. She'll be here in 1 day.
Bells123- OMG! Sarah I'm so sorry! Your sister is going to tear you apart!
ItsSarahh- I know!
Just then I heard a soft squeak come from across the room. I quickly looked across the room, I saw my guinea pig sitting impatiently. I realized I hadn't played with her all day!
ItsSarahh- I got to go, I'll talk to you later.
I logged off of AIM and went to go and play with my guinea pig, Misty. She is so cute, she has brown around her eyes and then white on her back, then its brown from there on. I love multicolored guinea pigs! I took her out of her cage and put her down she immediately RAN for under the bed,her favorite place to hide. I shrugged and went to go and read my book on my bed, I left the cage open so she could get in when she was done running around. 30 minutes later, Misty ran back in her cage. I closed her cage and took a nap. I slowly slipped into a deep sleep.

"DING-DONG!"The loud doorbell rang. I ran to go and answer it there standing there was my sister Abigail. She had curly, light brown hair. It was really frizzy, she looked like mad scientist. She was wearing the ugliest shirt ever. It was bright yellow with white lace on the bottom. It had IN YOUR DREAMS written on the front in dark red. Her pants were an ugly color of green, they had bright pink polka dots all over them. She slowly stepped in to give me a hug. She opened her arms and then gave me a hug squeezing me so hard I couldn't breathe. She let me go and I fell to the floor with a THUD!

"WHOA!" I woke up with a jerk. I shook as I slowly got up to check the time. It was 6:30 PM. I quickly got out of bed and combed my hair. I went downstairs to eat some dinner. I didn't want to eat with dad so I just warmed up a frozen dinner. I didn't want tomorrow to come. I knew my sister was going to be here bright and early. I ate my dinner and then decided to just go to sleep so I didn't think about tomorrow.

I laid in bed for about 45 minutes and then I finally fell asleep.

I woke up from my sleep on Monday,March 9. Today was going to be the worst day of my life. Today was the day that Abigail came. I quickly got out of bed knowing that I soon would wish I didn't. I brushed my teeth and went downstairs. My dad was sitting at the dining room table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Good Morning Sarah." my dad exclaimed brightly.
"Good Morning Dad." I mumbled.
" Abigail is coming today." my dad said. I dont understand what part of I HATE ABIGAIL my dad doesn't understand.
"I know. What time?" I asked.
"She will be here, at 12:00 thats two hours from now." my dad said.
" Okay, and how long will she be staying here?" I asked.
" I am not sure, as long as she needs to." my dad said.
Oh wow this is worse than I thought. She could stay for a whole year if she needed to and my dad wouldn't care.
"Dad? I am going to go upstairs to go and get ready." I told him.
"Alright." He said from behind his newspaper.
I went up the stairs and straightened my hair,and then picked out the best outfit I could find. I picked out a pretty plain gray shirt that had FITCH NY 92 written on the top. I slipped on some dark blue pants. I pulled out posters of singers that I like and posted them all around my room. I had to make my room look good for Abgail so she has one less thing to tease me about. I was finally ready. I looked at the clock, it was 11:50 that gave me ten minutes to spare. I thought of Bella and decided to talk to Bella on the phone. I dialed the numbers.

" Hello?"
" Hey, its me Sarah."
" Oh hi, How are you? Is Abigail over yet?"
"No not yet, but she will be here in a couple of minutes."
" Oh,well you know that if you ever want to come over you always have the offer?"
" Aw, thats so sweet. I will take that for granted. Don't worry."
" She should be here any minute now. I better go."
" Alright, Good Luck. I hope you don't get beat to pulp!"
"Your such a good friend. The last words you say to me are going to be I hope you don't get beat to pulp!"
"Haha, Bye Sarah."
"Bye, Bella"

As soon as I hung up the phone, the doorbell rang. "DING-DONG!" This time I was sure I wasn't dreaming. I went downstairs to open the door. When I opened the door, I gasped in horror.