Chapter 4: First Day
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC.
At exactly five o'clock in the morning, Lauren's alarm clock went off. Seconds later, her wandering fingers slammed on the 'Off' button. Then she threw back the blankets and jumped out of bed, her feet jumping up and down at making contact with the cold floor. Lauren made a beeline to the restroom where she stripped off her clothes and jumped in the shower. She washed, rinsed, and repeated, shaved her legs and armpits, and washed her whole body before stepping out and drying her body and hair with a robe encasing her body in a cocoon. Once done in the restroom, Lauren walked into her room, selected an outfit, walked back into the restroom, disrobed, and got dressed. Then she hung up her robe and exited the restroom. Checking her clock, she saw that it was 5:30 am.
Checking her schedule, Lauren smiled. Frankie would be downstairs in one hour and would be in for a big surprise. That, and she would be able to make her date with Jamez with time to spare. Smiling, Lauren walked down into the lobby and began to mop and polish the floors. When she was sure the floor couldn't shine and sparkle anymore than it was right now, Lauren stood up and put away her cleaning supplies. Checking her watch she saw it was 6:00 am. Frankie should just now be getting up and would be down in a half hour. Lauren decided she could dust the library next so off she went into the library. She was almost done when she heard footsteps approaching her.
Turning around, she saw Frankie looking at her with a big smile plastered on her face. "You cleaned the floors and dusted the library already? How early did you get up?"
"I arose at five this morning in order to cut you some slack."
"You're too perfect. Hey, when you're done here, do you think you could come downstairs and give me a hand in the kitchen?"
"I would love to. Just give me another ten minutes and I'll be done. I have never seen so many books before! It's amazing!"
"I suppose it kinda is. See you in ten minutes." Frankie said before bounding out of the library and down the stairs before steering into the kitchen.
She began to prepare breakfast and was in the zone when Lauren stepped in, ready to lend a hand. Frankie beamed at the way that girl was getting to work. It wasn't even seven o'clock and
she was over an hour ahead of schedule! She couldn't wait to rub it into Mr. Herriman's furry face that she was finally doing better than he said she could do. Breakfast was almost complete when Lauren and Frankie heard the sound of footsteps coming in their direction. Both girls put down what they were doing and looked at the approaching figure. It was a short, cylindrical figure that was the color blue.
"What do you want, Bloo?"
"I just dropped by to meet the new girl." Bloo spotted Lauren and strolled over to her, a cheesy grin plastered on his face. "The name's Blooregard Q. Kazoo but you can call me Bloo. What's your name?"
"I'm Lauren B. Lieve but you can just call me Lauren. It's nice to meet you, Bloo."
"Isn't it? Now, what's for breakfast, Frankie?"
"You can find out at breakfast time. Now get out before you destroy all of it!"
"That's not a very nice thing to say, Frankie," Lauren told her.
"Yeah, Frankie. Listen to the new girl. You need to be nicer."
"Bloo! Lauren, you're new so you obviously have no idea what a pest Bloo can be sometimes."
"You know, Frankie, I don't like your attitude."
"Well, Bloo, I don't like you in general so I guess we're even."
"Yeah, but at least I can cook."
"So can I! Do you think I became a successful cook only because I make delicious food?"
"Your food is delicious?" Bloo asked Frankie.
She heatedly replied, "Yes! Now as I was saying, I don't just give you guys food, I give you an experience."
"Yeah, a horrible experience," Blood whispered with a smirk.
"And I give them a feeling of-"
"Indigestion?" Bloo finished for her.
"No! Will you please stop talking, please?"
"Agh, fine. I won't say another word about your yucky food."
"Thank you."
"No matter how disgusting it is."
"Thank you."
"Not another word, even though your food is terrible."
"Okay! Thank you. Now, besides experience and feeling, the food must also have a look."
"Yeah, it looks awful," Bloo replied.
Lauren snorted and Frankie scowled before saying, "Oh my gosh. Can you please be quiet for five seconds?"
"Okay, sorry, sorry. I got out of hand."
"Okay, thank you. Now, the food must also have a distinct taste."
"Yeah, it tastes horrible."
"You know what? You're done. Goodbye, Bloo!" Frankie said, shoving him out the door.
Lauren let out peals of laughter, clutching her stomach and bending over. "Is he always like that?" she asked Frankie.
"No, normally he's much worse," she replied.
"He seems pretty cool."
"Don't encourage him," Frankie warned before looking around. Her face fell. "Okay, problem. We're done with breakfast but it doesn't start for another hour."
"Just wrap tinfoil around whatever it is you want to keep warm. Then take it off when it's time to serve the food."
"Genius," Frankie said, grabbing two rolls of tinfoil and tossing one to Lauren. Once everything was wrapped in tinfoil, Frankie checked her watch. "It's seven thirty. We're over an hour ahead of the schedule. C'mon, let's work on laundry."
"Okay," Lauren replied as she and Frankie made their way towards the laundry room.
Once there, Frankie showed Lauren what to do. After a while, they had filled up the first few rows of laundry but it was getting increasingly difficult reaching the last rows. Frankie began
looking around for a step ladder but apparently, someone had borrowed it. "There's no way we can reach those last rows without that step ladder." Frankie sighed when Lauren got an idea.
"Be right back," she said, taking off.
Five minutes later, she returned with a trampoline.
"What are you going to do with that?" Frankie asked her, scratching her head in confusion.
Rolling the trampoline in on its side, Lauren explains, "I'm using it as a replacement step ladder. I'll jump up, open the washing machine door, come back down, you give me the clothes, I'll jump back up, stick them inside, shut the door, and get them washed."
"That's really smart," Frankie observes. "Okay, start at the far left and work your way to the right."
"Okay," Lauren said, moving the trampoline to the far left column. She jumped up and opened each door starting from the top to the last one that hadn't been open. Frankie handed her a load of clothes which she stuck in, shut the door, and turned the machine on. She did this several times until the whole far left column was complete.
After several minutes of jumping, Lauren was in the middle section of the washing machines when Mr. Herriman hopped in. "I say, what on Earth are you two doing?"
His unexpected visit startled Lauren enough that instead of opening up the doors, she fell back down with a gasp.
"Mr. H, the step ladder was missing so we're using a trampoline to do laundry instead," Frankie explained as Lauren stood up and dusted herself off. "And we're getting it done way faster than with the ladder," Frankie added as an afterthought.
Sparing his watch a brief glance, Mr. Herriman commends her, "Well, I didn't come here to chastise you, Miss Frances. On the contrary, I came to congratulate you on being an hour ahead of schedule. Keep this up and you'll get some time off tonight."
"You got it, Mr. Herriman," Frankie said with a smile before tossing Lauren another load of laundry.
"And good job to you as well, Miss Lauren." Mr. Herriman concluded before turning around and
hopping the way he came.
"Wow!" Frankie cheered when Mr. Herriman was long gone. "He never says good job, never! This is unbelievable!"
"Just keep me around and I promise that by the time I'm done, he shall be putty in your hands. Oh, and can you get me that last load? After that, we'll be done here." Lauren promised, catching the load of clothes before jumping, shoving them in the washer, shutting the door, and turning it on.
Then Lauren moved the trampoline against the wall but next to the washing machines so that she and Frankie could get the clothes when they were done washing and drying. "What's next, Frankie?" Lauren asked, wiping her hands off against her jeans.
Checking the list, Frankie informs her, "Cleaning the windows and baseboards."
"And how far ahead are we on the schedule now?" Lauren inquires of her.
Checking the time, Frankie grins before telling her, "About an hour and a half. And it's a little past eight which means we should go ahead and get breakfast set out since it starts at eight thirty. Then we can do the windows and baseboards with an hour to spare."
"Sounds like a plan." Lauren agreed.
The two girls walked back down to the kitchen and set out all the food, drinks, utensils, and napkins required. Then they went back into the kitchen to throw away the tinfoil that lay haphazardly on the floor. Once it was all cleaned up, Frankie lead Lauren back into the dining room and told her to take a seat next to her.
The room was soon filled up with friends. Madame Foster sat at the head, next to Frankie. On Madame Foster's other side sat Mr. Herriman. Beside Lauren, Bloo from earlier sat down.
In front of Lauren sat a tall, red in color, one bad eye, one-arm-missing imaginary friend who smiled and waved at Lauren before saying "Hi, I'm Wilt. It's nice to meet you."
Waving at him good-naturedly, Lauren replies, "I'm Lauren and it's nice to meet you too, Wilt."
Beside Wilt sat a frightening looking purple figure that was big and furry with sharp horns protruding from his head, sharp fangs, grey pants, and a big black belt with a large skull on it. He waved to Lauren as well and said, "Sĩ, it is very nice to meet you senorita Lauren. I am Eduardo."
"Oh, hello Eduardo. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Lauren tells him, earning a smile from Eduardo.
Beside Bloo and across from Eduardo sat an imaginary friend who was a mix of a bird, plane, and a palm tree. Her hair was a wild array of green locks, her body like a normal bird except for her torso which looked like a plane flying in the air. "Coco, coco," she said.
"It's nice to meet you too, Coco," Lauren replied, waving at her, when a friend who was yellow with an off-kilter looking face and encased in a black and white dress with strappy heels ran up to Lauren, her nose flailing around in the air.
"I smell money! I smell money!" the thing said in an irritating voice. The friend's nose was
on the ground, sniffing like a bloodhound, worked its way up Lauren's chair and smelled her face. The friend stood up straight and said to Frankie, "Introduce me! Introduce me!"
Frankie rolled her eyes but obliges the friend nonetheless. "Lauren, this is Duchess. Duchess, this is Lau-"
"Lauren B. Lieve! Daughter of Carlisle and Veronica Lieve, the best in the fashion and sports industry! Your parents are brilliant designers and fantastic athletes! Your parents are the third and fourth best in the world of tennis! Your father is a brilliant fashion designer and your mother is the most gorgeous model on the planet! And you are currently the best college tennis player in the world! Not only that but you also have the world's highest IQ score! Normally I would say the pleasure is yours but this time I say that it's mine!" And Duchess collapsed to the ground, bowing at Lauren's feet. "Listen, darling, we both desire the same lifestyle. For example, I love diamonds and you can afford them! I think you would agree that you and I are a perfect match!"
Lauren was speechless purely speechless.
Frankie laughed before helping her out. "Duchess, Lauren isn't here to adopt. She's here because," but Frankie was interrupted when Mr. Herriman stood up and beat his spoon gently, but loudly, against his glass cup. Frankie stopped talking in order to hear what her boss was about to say. Duchess left Lauren and sat back down.
"Attention everyone, attention! I have an announcement to make!" After a moment, the noise level in the house settled down. "Thank you. Now, as some of you are aware, we have a new member in the house. She is Miss Lauren," Mr. Herriman said, denoting to her before continuing. "And she will be joining Miss Frances in completing the chores around the house and other such duties. Now, there are a few matters in which I'd like to,"
He was cut off by Madame Foster who stood up and said, "Let's give Lauren a real warm Foster's welcome!"
Lauren ducked in her seat as everybody clapped for her. When the clapping settled down, Mr. Herriman just sat down. It was no use, everyone had gone back to talking. Sighing, he began to eat. Lauren couldn't eat. She was too busy looking at all of the imaginary friends. There was so
much to take in. Like a big green, dirty blob named George Mucus or an annoying, mean, slightly hideous friend named Duchess. Then there was a thin, stick-like friend named Jackie Khones and a pink squirrel-like creature named Fluffernutter. Fascinating.
When breakfast, Frankie washed the dishes while Lauren dried. When Frankie was done washing and Lauren was still drying, she put up the dishes.
"Wow!" Frankie said, looking at the schedule and then the time.
"What?" Lauren asked, dusting her hands off on her jeans.
"We're almost an hour ahead of schedule," Frankie explains, ecstatic by the news.
"Sweet. Let's go get those windows and baseboards cleaned. Although, I was thinking, and
it might be easier if one of us do the baseboards and another does the windows. What do you think?" Lauren suggests, hoping to finish the chores as soon as possible.
Looking over the list, Frankie observes, "Okay you take the windows, I'll take the baseboards and we should get it done in half the time. Once we're done, we should have enough time to take out the trash and trim the hedges before we have to prepare lunch which would put us another hour or so ahead of schedule."
"Cool. See you in an hour or so," Lauren says. The girls split up, then, and go their separate ways.