A/N: I keep having feeling that there's something wrong. Seriously! I read somewhere that people always feel like something's wrong days before they die. Oh dear. What the heck am I thinking? Anyway, here's chapter 2! And for those of you who've read Letters, here's Maddie! (You'll get her description as we go on.) Hope you'll enjoy this!
Chapter 2. Why not both?
"Here's are your SIM cards, darlings. Now go choose your own bedroom." My mum smiles at Anna and I, as she gives us 2 tiny SIM cards. Then Anna turns to me.
"Rock paper scissors? The winner gets the bigger room?" She grins.
"Anna, you know I don't care about the sizes of the rooms anymore. I can stay in the attic as long as it looks cozy."
"But there's no attic in this house apparently…" My dad cuts in, "And every bedroom has the same size so you can't have the biggest room, sweetheart."
"Wow… You actually prevented this year's annually sister's war! Thank you!" I smirk. I guess he can never forget the last time we moved, when Anna and I literally wrestled each other for the biggest room… That was a decade ago by the way.
"You're welcome, my love. Now go choose your room, while the paint is coming." He says. My eyes and Anna's are opened wide.
"Paint? What for?" Anna asks with a high pitched voice.
"Well I thought you might want to decorate your bedrooms yourselves… So I left the walls white and ordered some paint."
"…Oh my chocolate cake." I force myself to speak while being overwhelmed with excitement. I never love drawing pictures, but painting my own room is a completely different story.
"You're the best dad ever." Anna and I say in unison. Wait…
"Jinx! Double Jinx! Triple…"
"Girls! Shouldn't you be choosing your rooms by now? The paint is coming soon." Mum hushes us.
"Yes ma'am." We say in unison again, and then walk away as we can't stop giggling.
Our rooms are huge! And white. And apparently each room has a queen-sized pure white bed with no mattress on. Hmm... How can I describe this? It's like everything has freshly fallen snow on it. Like Jack's hair… Oh dear. Jack. I totally forgot about him! I pulled out my phone, quickly reject the old SIM card and put the new one in. Then I start banging on my phone to get it to work. (I don't know why but I always treat my phone so badly.) Yay, it works! Now start typing!
"Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! It's me Elsa. I'm in Seattle now and this is my new number. I'm not floating in the mid of nowhere! Love Els xxxxx"
About five minutes later, I hear my phone buzzing.
"Ellie pooooooo! Glad to hear/read that my love of my life hasn't become a mermaid lol. So yea Maddie started hitting on me again cuz she knows that u're gone. But don't worry my love! Cuz you know how much I hate Maddie and her skanks. Love u 4ever! Jack xxxxxx"
Aww Jack… how can you texts be so overly dramatic and cute! And so hard to read sometimes. Wait, is he drunk? Probably not. Jack can hardly drink coke, leave alone alcohol. And-
"Elsanna! Your paint tubs and brushes are here!" I hear my dad combining our names from downstairs. Ooh, just about time! I just have to send Jack one last text.
"Guess what? I get to paint my own room. BE JEALOUS while I'm creating a masterpiece! See you on Skype at eight in YOUR place! Xx."
Ugh, I hate different time zones. They are so confusing.
When I come down, I see three tubs of paint that have my name on them, and the other tubs with Anna's name.
"Now I know why you asked us about our favourite colours a week ago." I say, looking up and Dad raises his eyebrows at us.
"Oh dear. You are so clever, Elsie. You figured out my whole plan!" Dad bursts out laughing.
"Now if you excuse us, we'd love to start filling our rooms with girly colours right now." I say with a posh accent which makes Dad laugh even harder. I know I can never act posh anywhere unless I'm starring in comedy series.
Later that day…
"Hey snowflake. You alrigh- Whoa." Jack is shocked as soon as he sees a part of my room's wall. It is candy floss pink near the ceiling, but then it turns to baby blue near the floor.
"How did you do that?" Jack points to the screen, but it looks like he's pointing at the wall. I put a finger on my lips, acting mysterious.
"It's… top secret." I went down and asked my mum if she has a three-meter-long piece of sponge so I put paint in it and dab it on the wall. (A/N: I get this idea from the gradient nail art…)
"Aww… You've got to tell me!" Jack protests.
"Just search it online! I get this idea from the internet!"
"Okay…? How to mix the colours together without making it look weird…?"
"Ugh, I give up. Just type in 'Gradient nails tutorial' and watch a random video."
"Nails? You are a super genius." Jack widens his eyes. Yes, indeed I am! How can you not realise that sooner?
Jack sees the look in my eyes and chuckles. "So…" He says, "Want to hear about my today at school?"
"What did Maddie do this time?" I go straight to the point. Maddie was, WAS a good friend to me until she knows about my friendship with Jack. That's when she started bombarding me with tons of questions about him and started wearing 50 kilograms of makeup and perfume. Ooh and guess what, she ripped my favourite prom dress when I was in year 11 just because I had a dance with Jack. Who the hell does that? Oh stop thinking about it, Elsa. Calm yourself down. I look up to see Jack preparing to sound and act exactly like Maddie. Oh it's always hilarious to watch this scene.
"She waited for me at my locker and she was like 'Sooooo Jackson, since your best friend is gone… *rolls eyes* how careless she is… anyway… *pouts* mustn't you be very sad? Depressed? Well… Obviously I am the only one here who can cheer you up…*points to the screen* Anyway, got to go. See ya. *winks*" (A/N: Just imagine the combination of Ursula in The Little Mermaid and Cruella de Vil in a much younger and voice… and then Chris Pine mimicked that voice.)
I can't stop myself from laughing. Jack just has a knack of making me laugh uncontrollably. And believe me, he does that all the time.
And so we continue talking about my room, Seattle and the lovely ferries (I will try going on a ferry tomorrow), Jack and his school days, and how much we will miss each other's presence, what will we do without each other, and I ask Jack whether I should be a new person or stay the same.
"Why not both?" He asks.
"Whoa, what? What do you mean 'both'?"
"You can be sociable and making bad puns, but you can still be quiet and write novels. You know, socialising is not just about talking to people. It's about… getting people to know who you are inside. Not that kind of 'I like rainbows and unicorns and you'. It's not that simple, trust me."
"…Wait, so you're saying… That I should let my friends read my novels? But-"
"I know you pour your emotions and feelings into any novel you write. That's what I'm talking about. Let the people know how you feel. Let them in. Besides, that's why your novels are unique. If you show them to the right person, they might make you the greatest writer ever! Who knows?" Jack shrugs. And then he yawns.
"Good chocolate lord! It's already midnight here!" He looks at me. "Well, you should go to bed. Sweet dreams! And thank you for the advice." I say.
"Okaaaaaay. You're welcome. Good evening my Ellie poo…" He says, pouting. It's only four in my place.
"Have a lovely dream about me." He winks before hanging up.