Hey y'alls! Quick AN before we begin: This one takes place two weeks after the last chapter. Here we go!
Chapter Six: Invitation
Gwen's POV
I close the car door and look up at to see four faces pressed up against the window in the living room, four sisters eagerly awaiting my arrival. I love my sisters. My sisters love me. It's awesome. I barely get to the door before it swings open.
"Ten-second rule," I remind them before they can jump on me. The ten-second rule is one I invented last year, explicitly stating that they must wait ten seconds before hugging me and so forth. I love that I have to have this sort of a rule with them.
"It's been ten seconds!" seven-year-old Ellie shouts, and she runs and jumps up into my arms. I just manage to catch her as she says "Hiiiiiiiii!" and starts squirming.
"Hey there, wriggly worm," I tease. She says she hates being called a wriggly worm, but I know better. "How was your day? Let's see…" I put her down and take a look at the costume she's wearing. She always puts on some sort of sparkly, girly costume after she gets home from school, for she hates the uniform as much as Jack. I make a note to myself to bring this up to him tomorrow. "Fairy princess today?" She nods, grinning. "Prettiest fairy princess I've ever seen. Lucy! How did you do on that spelling quiz?" I turn to ten-year-old Lucy, who goes in for a hug as soon as the area is Ellie-free.
"Perfect score!" she replies excitedly.
"Thatta girl!" I high-five her. "That's, what, six perfect scores in a row?"
"Eight," she reminds me.
"That's right, eight. You're a genius, missy. Remember that."
"I know," she grins.
"What are we, chopped liver?" Annie and Jubilee are leaning against the staircase, rolling their eyes.
"You're nuts, that's what you are." I go and hug them both, and then turn to Annie. "Oh mistress of sass, who received the sting of your tongue today? Besides Rhys." It is a truth universally acknowledged that Annie Cooper will at least once a day say something nasty about my boyfriend. Usually it's more than that. And Jubilee only encourages her. Even the little ones don't seem to like him.
"He was the only one today," Annie sighs. "I'm losing my touch."
"B-blubbermuffin," I improvise quickly. All four little sisters looks at me like, What the heck? "Totally a thing."
Jubilee laughs, shakes her head, and rolls her eyes all at the same time. This is a pretty typical Jubilee expression, one that I receive a lot. "Whatever you say, Gwen. Also, your phone's been going off. You have an email. Looks like it's important."
I glare at Jubilee because I'm sure she already knows the sender. The girl has an eagle eye and loves to spy on me. This time, though, it's like she knows a little bit more. Whatever. The twins are always conspiring against me, and aren't above getting Tosh and Martha involved as well. I swear, it sometimes feels like the twins and Tosh and Martha and Owen have some sort of secret club that I'm not a part of. I'd bet five quid that Ianto and Jack are being looped in as well. Anyway, I pull out my phone and open the email to see it's from Jack.
From: Jack Harkness
To: me, Ianto Jones, Martha Jones, Owen Harper, Rhys Williams, Toshiko Sato
Subject: Sleepover this weekend? :)
Hey guys! I was thinking we could have a sleepover at my place Saturday night. We have a basement with an Xbox and all that crap, and my mom's already promised to make cookies. Should be fun. Let me know if you can make it. Also, try to keep this on the DL; I only have so much room in my basement and my mom will kill me if this turns into some huge party.
See you guys tomorrow!
Jack
"You have a text, too," Jubilee says as I finish reading.
From Tosh: OH, MJ, IJ, and I are all going on Saturday! You should come! :)
To Tosh: I'll check with Rhys…
From Tosh: You realize you can go without him, right?
To Tosh: I'll get back to you
I'm about to put my phone away when my phone buzzes again.
From Rhys: You'd better not be going on Saturday.
I sigh. Figured as much. My phone buzzes again.
From Rhys: I'm a fucking saint, letting you hang around that bastard all the time. No way in hell you're going to his fucking house.
"I've gotta do homework," I lie quickly, and I grab my backpack and run for my room, knowing that the twins aren't buying it but not really caring. As soon as I get there, I sit down on the bed and text Rhys back.
To Rhys: Why shouldn't I? Everyone else is going!
From Rhys: Everyone else isn't fucking taken!
To Rhys: He invited you too. We can both go! Come on, it'll be fun.
From Rhys: I'm not going anywhere, thank you very much, and neither are you. Otherwise, we're done.
To Rhys: Don't be like that! Rhys, it's not a big deal. Everyone else is going; it'll be fine.
From Rhys: It's a big deal to me. Can't you respect that? Your choice. If you go, we're done.
To Rhys: We've been together two years, Rhys! Two years over a stupid sleepover?!
From Rhys: At that douche's house, yeah! Five years, even.
To Rhys: Why do you hate him so much? He never did anything to you.
From Rhys: Your choice. Gotta go. See you tomorrow.
It takes all the self-control I possess not to chuck the damn phone against the wall. Tears start forming and I flop down onto my bed, not sure what to do.
Jack's POV
My phone buzzes with a text. I open it to see that it's Jubilee, texting the Rhysistance.
From Jubilee Cooper: Gwen and RFW are having a text fight over the whole sleepover thing. :( what now?
From Tosh Sato: Knew that was coming. Nice going, Jack.
To Group: It was your idea! Don't blame me!
From Tosh Sato: No, it's great. More asshole revelation. No sarcasm.
From Martha Jones: Think she'll come?
From Annie Cooper: Seeing as he threatened calling it quits…
To Group: That rat-bastard!
From Annie Cooper: … she ain't coming.
To Group: I can't fucking believe this guy.
From Martha Jones: Welcome to the club.
From Tosh Sato: ^^ Literally :D #rhysistance
From Owen Harper: Tosh. Really?! Hashtags?! REALLY?!
From Jubilee Cooper: Annie and I should go - I can hear her crying in her room, we need to make sure the little ones aren't bugging her too much.
To Group: I swear I'm going to punch him for making her cry.
From Tosh Sato: Bad idea.
To Group: yeah I know. Oh, here comes an email from Gwen.
Indeed, my phone had just buzzed with an email from her.
From: Gwen Cooper
To: me
Subject: Party
Hey Jack
So sorry but I can't go the the party on Saturday. I really wanted to though :( have fun!
Gwen
The next morning - Tosh's POV
I walk out of English a bit nervous. Gwen's never been this quiet in English. It's her favorite subject, her best subject, and she didn't say a word. Not one. Didn't raise her hand, just stared at Romeo and Juliet the entire time. Even Miss Piper's now-daily rejection of Dr. Smith didn't get her to smile.
I know what's upsetting her, but she hasn't told me about what happened yet; I only know from the twins. If I tell her I know what's going on, the Rhysistance's cover will be blown. All I can do is wait for her to spill.
"Jack?" I look up to see that she's left my side and run up to Jack.
"Hey," he says with a slight smile. "What's going on? You didn't say a word in English."
"I… I just feel really awful about not being able to come," she sighed. "I wanted to, Jack, I really did, and I'm so sorry-"
"Don't be," he says gently, laying a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Gwen, really. I didn't expect everyone to be able to come, not on such short notice." Still she looks doubtful. "I'll have others, I promise," he grins.
"Okay," she sighs. "I should get to class. See you at lunch?"
"Definitely. See you later." He leans against the wall and watches her walk off.
"You really care about her," I say softly as I approach him. "I thought at first you just thought she was hot, but you really do care about her."
"Well, she is hot," he replies. "Very, very hot. But she's also incredibly smart and funny and kind. Not to mention loyal. He's lucky to have her."
"Very," I agree. "Very, very lucky. And so are her sisters. You don't even know how devoted she is to them."
"The world's lucky to have her." We turn to see Ianto, as usual appearing out of nowhere. "And she's lucky to have you."
"That she is," I nod. "Let's go to class before-" the bell rings "-before that happens. Fuck."
Hey y'alls :D Sorry for not updating; I've got sooooo much stuff on my plate.
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And, as always, love and ducks to the Lone Shippers, hugs to supporters, thanks to Eleonora, Noe, Hanul, and Kizzie, and cookies for all.
Love,
Ofelia xxxx