Chapter 7
River opened her eyes to bright daylight and the smell of pancakes. Sitting up, she stretched, arching her back. She jumped up, happily reaching for her black skirt with one hand as she simultaneously stripped off the socks someone-probably her brother- had forced her into.
Suddenly, the events of yesterday hit her hard. She grabbed for her bedframe, forcing back a scream. If she screamed, it would hurt Simon, and the whole point of this visit was to make Simon happy.
"Focus on Simon," she whispered to herself. She dropped the black skirt and picked up a pink skirt that she had put in at the last minute. She didn't like pink, but Simon did.
She hurriedly yanked on her clothes and then exited her room, heading towards the smells and laughter that were coming from the kitchen. Her bare feet made no sound on the wooden hallways.
When she got there, she cautiously stuck her head around the doorway. Her brother was sitting between Kaylee and an empty chair that was obviously meant for her, he always sat next to her. He could take so much looking after.
Glancing up, Simon smiled at her. "River, I didn't know that you were up." River gave him a hesitant smile and ran over to him, dropping into the empty chair.
"I smelled pancakes." She said, looking up at him. Kaylee leaned across the table towards her.
"My mom makes the best pancakes this side of the 'verse." River returned the smile, refraining once again from stating the obvious, Kaylee had no way to judge on the ability of her mother's cooking, since she probably hadn't sampled a pancake made by everyone in the 'verse.
A pancake dropped onto the plate in front of her with a loud plop. She glanced up at Kaylee's mom, then glanced back down at the pancake to see two eggs, sunny side up land next to her pancake.
"Eat while it's hot!" cried Kaylee's mother, already back at the stove and cooking more pancakes.
River poked the pancake, and then yanked her hand back, curiously examining the small burn on her index finger. She looked at Simon, but he was to busy feeding Kaylee pieces from his pancake. He had cut his in half, releasing a cloud of steam.
She was reaching to do the same when she noticed her eggs.
"Simon," she whimpered, loud enough to catch his attention, "The eggs are looking at me." Simon looked at her plate, then quickly slid the eggs off.
"There you go mei-mei, no more eggs." River smiled and reached for the maple syrup. At that second, the door opened, and in walked Katrina, followed closely by Kaye, Katherine, and Karen.
River noticed guiltily that Katrina had a large bandage across her nose and both her eyes looked like she had been punched.
They noticed her at once. Their mouths, which a moment ago had been laughing and talking, closed with a snap. They reminded River of a cage.
"Don't need to use a trap to keep the teeth in." She said helpfully. They stared at her like she was a bug they wanted to squash. "Sorry." She said, directing her apology at Katrina. "Didn't mean to." The girls kept looking at her.
Simon intervened quickly. "I apologize for being so angry yesterday. I was upset that River was upset and I reacted badly." He looked at them each in turn. "River didn't mean to, and she's already apologized."
Katrina suddenly nodded. "You're right River. It's alright." She smiled, beckoning with her hand. "Come on. Let's go play." River beamed and got up to follow them, stopping only when Kaylee placed her hand on her shoulder.
"River," her friend said gently, "Be careful. Katrina ain't the forgiving type." Her mom spoke up from where she was standing at the stove.
"She's right. That girl has a vindictive streak a mile wide." River refrained from rolling her eyes until her back was turned. She darted out the door. Behind her, she could hear Simon, Kaylee, and Kaylee's mom talking.