Hello fellow mischief-makers! So here's chapter ten. Kind of intense...spend my entire Monday working on this, so I hope it was worth it. I tried to keep everyone in character, but keep in mind that with time comes change; still though, we still maintain some qualities forever.
Nicole: I cannot put into words how much your reviews and your insight means to me. Thank you for sticking with this story. :) I hope it's worth it. You have a talented eye, and I would love to hear you ideas!
StardustTARDIS: Thanks for your support! I'm so glad you feel the emotion; an author wants the readers to feel things and take things away from them! You and Nicole are excellent examples. Thanks again!
Don'tBlink: Same thing for you; your support means so much to me! Thanks for everything!
RangeroftheForest: two words: you rock!
Randomsarcasm: Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoy it! And yeah I would love to hear your ideas and read your fanfic!
To all my Guest and other reviewers: I can't tell you how much ya'll mean to me. Please keep reviewing and giving me feedback and pointers. Thank you also for being patient. You are the best readers in the world. Please keep being awesome. This is for you to enjoy :)
Can anyone tell me what happened to Batty's wings?
Disclaimer: I only own the plot and some of the characters (aka not Jeffrey or the Penderwicks. Yeah. Their Birdsall's)
I hope you get lost in this story. :) Read away!
Skye yelled, "Darcy, what have you-!"
Darcy's mouth opened in disbelief, and her eyes narrowed. "Are you kidding me?" Darcy said, her voice filled with rage. She threw her hands up in the air. "I didn't even touch her! You always just jump to conclusions, don't you?"
But Skye wasn't listening anymore. She knelt down next to her sister. Jane grabbed her hand, and squeezed so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"Not—her," Jane ground out, her eyes full of pain as she managed to pull herself into a sitting position and stare down at her ankle, which was twisted at an odd angle. "There's a hole—over there. Stupid—fell into it—ankle twisted—"
Then Jeffrey was on Jane's other side, and Monique was kneeling down at Jane's feet. "Jane," Monique said patiently, but firmly. "I'm going to unlace your shoe. I want you to keep very still." Jane nodded. Monique slowly and careful unlaced her shoe. Even through the thick sock that her sister wore, Skye could tell that her ankle was swelling. Ankles weren't supposed to bend that way, either. Jane didn't make a sound, but tears streamed down her face. Jane, who rarely cried when she got hurt.
"Okay. Okay," Skye said, her breathing faster than it should have been. Skye refused to panic. She was the OAP right now; what would Rosalind do? "Jane, can you stand?"
Jane gave a small, breathless, humorless laugh. "I can try."
Together, Skye, Monique, Jeffrey and even Darcy helped Jane into a standing position. She tried to put weight on her left foot, but instead clenched her jaw and ground her teeth together to keep from crying out. Her foot definitely could not hold her weight at the moment. She leaned heavily on Monique and Skye as they walked her to the sideline. Scott brought forward a water bottle, and Skye noticed Kade shoot an anxious glance in their direction. Harold hovered next to Darcy.
"So," Darcy said. "Are we done playing?"
"Yes," Jeffrey said. "We're done. Jane's hurt, and I think it's time we—."
"No," Jane protested, as she was slowly lowered to the ground. "Kade can play for me. We should finish this game."
"What? Jane, that's ridiculous! You're injured, and we've got to get you to a hospital or something!" said Jeffrey incredulously.
"It's not fatal. And besides, Sabrina Starr always finishes what she starts," Jane said.
"Not with an ankle that looks like a bowling ball, she doesn't!"
"Seven minutes won't kill me, Jeffrey."
"Jane, are you sure this is okay?" Skye asked anxiously.
Jane opened her mouth to respond, but instead Darcy said, "She's sure. We'll get you some ice or something soon, Jane. But we should finish the game." Darcy grinned—it was almost a sly grin.
Skye glared at her, and Jeffrey frowned, but soon they were in the center of the field again. Skye had the ball and, when the whistle blew, passed ahead to Kade.
"Go Tornadoes!" Jane cheered.
Jeffrey stole the ball. Skye sighed as Kade looked around to see where the ball had gone, and sprinted after Jeffrey.
Up and down the field the two teams ran. Skye pushed herself even harder to dribble past Jeffrey, to intercept every pass. The sun beat down on the players, and sweat ran down Skye's back and legs and into her eyes. But if Skye was playing hard, then Darcy was a mad woman. Suddenly, she was everywhere and was determined to not let Skye or Kade anywhere near Monique's goal.
"One minute!" Harold called.
Kade approached the goalie box and almost outran Darcy, but she managed to boot it out of bounds anyway.
Skye jogged to the side lines to take the corner kick. She picked up the ball and saw Kade near the goal, guarded closely by Darcy and Jeffrey. Skye had to act fast. She could try to throw to Kade and risk the ball getting stolen, or . . .
"Scott!" Skye shouted. "Get over here!"
"Skye, what? Aren't I supposed to guard the-," Scott protested.
"Just c'mon!" Skye yelled, her brain whirling. This could work. This was it.
Scott ran down the field, and Skye told him to stand at the top corner of the goalie box. Jeffrey began to drift toward him uncertainly.
"Get ready Kade!" Skye said, and threw the ball as hard as she could right at Scott's chest; surprised, Scott let it bounce off. Skye, sprinting as fast as she could, allowed the ball to hit the ground once. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jeffrey shifting his attention from Scott to her, but he was too late. The inside of Skye's foot slammed into the ball, and, heart slamming in her chest, watched the ball soar directing over Darcy towards Kade. And Kade, with excellent timing, jumped high and headed it passed Monique's outstretched hands and into the goal.
"YES!" Skye shouted and threw her arms in the air. They had overcome the odds.. She heard Jane yelling something about Jacques Leroy and how he would be proud and Harold was blowing his whistle to signal the end of the game and she saw Jeffrey stretched out on his back on the grass, exhausted. She smiled and was about to walk over to him when all of a sudden Kade and Scott where there and they were hugging and cheering and jumping up and down and yelling "We did it!" and she was caught back up in the moment again. This was triumph, this was bliss, this was—
"Totally unfair!"
Skye stopped jumping and the euphoria began to fade as she turned to see Darcy stomping towards Skye and her team. Her face was red and her hair was coming out of its ponytail.
"You can't just bring the goalie out of the box like that! There has to be some rule against it! Right, Harold?" Darcy spun to glare at Harold.
Harold twisted the whistle string around his hand nervously. "Well, most likely. But Darcy—"
"See!" Darcy turned triumphantly back to Skye and her team. "That last goal was a fluke. There is no way you won fairly."
"What?" Kade said incredulously. "Darcy, this wasn't even a real game. Skye thought of a plan, and it worked. It's as simple as that."
Blood roaring in her ears, Skye forced herself to stay calm. "You scored one goal, and we scored two. We won fair and square."
Darcy gave a sarcastic laugh. "Fair and square, huh? When you have four players and we had three? I doubt you've ever done anything 'fair and square'," here she mimicked Skye's voice, "in your whole life! You're sneaky and a liar."
That was it. Skye snapped. "Me? Not fair? Me?" she said incredulously. "What about you? Tripping my sister just to stop her from scoring? That's low, even for you. And Harold's been calling the game in favor of your team the whole game! What did do to get you to make sure she won, Harold? Threaten you?"
Even Skye knew that that was a little too far of a stretch, but she didn't care. Harold began to open his mouth. "Don't be ridiculous," Darcy said hotly. The rage in the air was almost suffocating as Skye and Darcy faced each other head to head, temper versus temper.
Jeffrey approached and looked between Darcy and Skye. "What is going on?"
"Miss Princess over here is certain that we lost, when actually she was the one who cheated," Skye said.
Jeffrey turned to Darcy. "You did?"
She ignored this and approached Skye. "What is your problem? You've hated me ever since you came here."
"I've done nothing to you!" Skye spread her arms for emphasis.
"Hey! Let's stop this right—" Jeffrey tried to interject, but Darcy wasn't done.
"You're always talking about how you've been here most often, how you've known Jeffrey the longest. You can't stand to have anything any way but your own. You're selfish and arrogant, Skye. And you always try to be the best at everything," Darcy said furiously.
"Darcy, no," Monique said sadly, worry creeping into her voice.
"Skye, don't do this. It isn't worth it," Jeffrey pleaded, seeing the look on her face.
Skye blew out the breath she was holding, try to expel the feeling that she was about to explode and then said quietly, "You're asking for a fight, Darcy, and Jeffrey's right. A fight with you isn't worth it. Goodbye." Skye began to walk away, just barely containing her rage.
Behind her, with realization in his voice, Kade said, "Darcy, I think you're jealous."
"Jealous of what?" Skye heard Darcy scoff. "Her old shoes? Her hair? Not likely! I don't think her parents ever take care of themselves, because they obviously never taught their daughters how to!"
Skye hadn't felt this angry since two years ago, when Mrs. Tifton-Dupree commented to Jeffrey that her mom had probably run off at some point. Just like Jeffrey's mother, Darcy had gone too far.
"Darcy, cut it out! That's not fair. You have no idea—" Jeffrey was yelling now too, coming to Skye's defense. Skye was so furious thought that she barely registered it. Jane was now leaning on Scott, and Skye stalked right passed her and stuck her nose in Darcy's face.
"You can't understand a thing about my family or me. We're too different. You walk in here like you own the place, and make sure to be a real brat to me whenever you have the chance. You love to insult people, and love to brag that you're so good at this and so good at that. I can't believe I thought that, just for a second, you might be changing. I don't even know why you're here if you're just going to be rude to people! You should be at some family camp for rich people where you can all just be rude to each other!"
"This is exactly what I mean! You're so full of yourself," Darcy yelled, visibly shaking. "You think you know everything, but you don't!"
"Do I, now?" Skye asked, raising her eyebrows. "Geez, you're worse than Marissa. Atleast I—"
"Skye, that's enough," Jeffrey stepped in between the two girls. "This has got to end."
Skye knew this was wrong, knew that she was about to cross some invisible line. But her honor and her family's honor needed to be defended, and all her anger and bitterness was spilling out. She knew that her hot head was getting the best of her, but she was too far-gone to care.
Skye turned on Jeffrey. "And you. Jeffrey, I thought I could trust you. Penderwick family honor, remember? But instead you're making these kind of friends?" Skye said, betrayal creeping into her voice.
"Oh, Skye," Jane sighed quietly behind her, and her voice was sad. But her sister wasn't finished.
"So don't tell me stop, Jeffrey. Because you've done nothing about this, either," Skye said furiously, pointing an accusing finger at him.
For a moment, everything was silent. Jeffrey looked shocked and hurt; they had never fought like this before. Never. He said quietly, in an almost defeated voice, "You don't understand, Skye."
"You're right. I don't," Skye said stubbornly, and crossed her arms across her chest. Her ears were ringing, and they both knew she was asking for an argument. "Do explain."
His eyes narrowed. "Fine," he said, and stalked up to her. "You have a right to be angry, but you're being a little bit ridiculous."
"Ridiculous!" Skye scoffed.
"Yes, ridiculous! You're losing your head Skye. And over what? I've done everything I can to make this great, so what else to do want me to do?"
"You could've told me they were coming!" Skye cried, and threw her hands in the air.
"This again?" said Jeffrey incredulously.
"You haven't defended our friendship once!" Now hurt was in her own voice. "Either you can't see that she's being horrible to our family, or you just won't do anything about it. Be brave and say something."
"Be brave?" said Jeffrey slowly. "Is that what you're doing? Being brave? Looks to me like you're just losing your temper again."
Nobody spoke, not even Darcy. Skye felt something falling apart and spiraling down out of her reach, irretrievable in the midst of anger and hurt and misunderstanding. Furiousness at her friend was fading and was being replaced by frustration and self-loathing even as she said; "There was a time when you stood up for what you cared about, Jeffrey. To your family even. Music over military, right?"
Jeffrey shook his head and looked at the ground. "Talk to me when you're thinking straight," he said.
"Fine," said Skye.
"I don't want to have this argument. I'm done."
"Also fine."
"Maybe it was a mistake to ask you to come here, Skye," said Jeffrey, sadness and anger in his voice as he turned, followed by Darcy, and began to walk away.
Skye flared up again. "To ask me? To ask me?"
Soft hands grabbed Skye's arm and began to pull Skye back toward the cottage. "Skye, come on. Let's go," Monique said softly.
Skye allowed Monique to direct her away from the field, but still tried to turn and shout, "Holy bananas, you just won't—"
"Skye, you don't want to do this." Monique's voice was strangely reasonable and calm. Slowly, Skye caught her breath. She was almost done seething by the time they reached the cottage, and when Monique sat Skye down in a kitchen chair, a wave of guilt and regret washed over her. Skye kicked her chair leg. "I just can't hold my temper, can I?"
Outside, Skye heard her dad and Iantha helping Jane into the car to take her to the hospital.
"I mess up everything," Skye said guiltily. "Maybe I really shouldn't have come."
Monique sighed and pulled out a chair across from Skye. "All right, Skye, I'm going to tell you everything . . ."
.-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-.
Rosalind moved aside another few dresses. She pulled a red dress with a full, ruffle skirt off the rack and turned to Churchie. "What do you think of this one?" she asked.
Churchie poked her head out from behind another rack of clothes. "For who?"
Rosalind smoothed down the skirt. "Well, I was thinking Jane."
Churchie nodded and examined the dress. "We might need to take it in a little bit at the waist, but otherwise it's a lovely dress. How is Jane by the way?"
Rosalind laid the dress on a dusty box behind her. "She'll be alright, thank goodness," Rosalind said. "Daddy called before I came over; he said that the doctors think it's just a sprain, but they're going to take a few x-rays just in case. I wanted to go with them to the doctor, but Daddy wanted me to look after Batty."
"And Skye?"
"I'm a little worried about her," Rosalind admitted. "She was talking to Monique and asked me to leave them alone. She looked miserable."
Churchie nodded. "Darcy came home furious and Jeffrey wasn't in the best mood either. I think they had an argument."
Rosalind sighed. "Well, I hope it doesn't last. The ball is two nights away."
"Rosalind? Can I wear this dress?" Batty appeared around the corner, lugging a long, elegant navy blue dress that was much too big for her.
Churchie chuckled and took the dress from Batty. "I don't think it's your size, sweetheart," Churchie said, and patted Batty's head.
"Although," Rosalind said slowly, and held the dress up in front of her, "It might fit Skye." It was lovely enough for the event, but not too girly for her sister. Rosalind set it on top of the red dress.
Batty tugged on Rosalind's shorts. "Well if I can't wear that one, can I wear one with animals on it? Or a yellow one?"
Rosalind glanced up at Churchie, who was smiling. Rosalind knew she absolutely adored Batty. Rosalind smoothed her youngest sister's hair down and said, "Yes to yellow if we can find it, but I don't think Mrs. Tifton has a dress with animals on it." She didn't seem much like an animal person.
Batty shrugged and held her stuffed giraffe, which she'd let Ben cleverly name Giraffe, tightly to her. "Cool. I'll go look."
"Don't get lost!" Rosalind called after her. She shook her head and told Churchie, "I can't believe we're back here again; looking for dresses for Jeffrey's birthday party. It feels so familiar, but yet so surrealistic at the same time." Surrealistic was a word her best friend Anna liked to use a lot.
"You've all grown," Churchie said.
"And changed," Rosalind added quietly.
Churchie squeezed Rosalind's arm. "Not as much as you think." Rosalind smiled at her.
They continued to search through the racks and boxes of Mrs. Tifton-Dupree's old dresses that she had abandoned and left to the loneliness of Arundel Hall's dusty attic. Occasionally, Batty would come back with ridiculous costume gowns and even a flapper dress.
After a while, Churchie gasped. "Rosalind."
Rosalind spun around. "What is it?" she asked, thinking of broken bones and missing sisters.
But when Churchie turned around, she wasn't holding anything horrible. Instead, across her arms lay a shimmering gold dress. Rosalind's breath was gone; the dress seemed to glow in the dark, dusty attic. Rosalind held it up. It had a V neck-line and a fitted bodice. The skirt and sleeves seemed to float, and the material was smooth and shimmery.
"It's perfect," Rosalind breathed. She held the dress against her and twirled.
"You'll look beautiful," Churchie gushed. Rosalind took one last long look at the dress, and then put it carefully on top of Skye's.
"Batty?" Rosalind called. "Have you found anything?"
"Yes!" Batty's voice was small, as if it came from far away. "I really like this one."
Rosalind rolled her eyes, but a smile crept on to her lips anyway. "You liked the other ones too, Batty."
"I meant to say," said Batty as she came around the corner, "that I think you'll like this one." In Batty's arm lay a yellow sundress. Churchie took it from Batty and held it up.
"Oh, Batty, it's precious!" Rosalind said. With a bow that tied at the waist in the back, the dress was bright and adorable. Just like Batty, Rosalind thought.
Their mother would have loved it.
So. Waddaya think?
Keep your eyes open for an update. I didn't exactly see all this happening, but it all just kind of flowed. :) Sorry for any errors or rough spots; I'm still an amateur :)
Questions? Comments? I would love your feedback! P.S. FanArt is appreciated.
P.P.S. It blows my mind that I have over 80 reviews on this story. You can't imagine how much it means to me. :)
Rock on, readers.
xxShastafirexx