Hurray! I got to update! And you're lucky! Enjoy.
The Magic Porthole.
CHAPTER 11 - Realizations.
"Honey?" my Mom whispered in that small, light concerned 'Motherly' voice, placing her hand on my forehead. "Are you all right? Did something happen upstairs? Were you..." suddenly - she cast a furious glare in Stacey's and Linda's direction.
"Oh, my God!" she almost shouted, pointing an accusing finger at them. "If you two even thought of bringing drugs into this house - I swear-"
My friends' eyes widened with fright. Now my Mom thought we were smoking pot?! Is she crazy?!
"No, Mom! Stop! Stop!" I couldn't stand the sound of this, at all. She was being really a pain-in-the-butt lately, and it was beginning to get on my nerves. "You know I don't do that, Mom! Stacey, Linda and I are totally clean! Why would you ever say that?"
"Then what happened, Jade?" she snapped back at me, her hands on her hips, and a scowl on her face. I hate it when she frowns like that. It makes me feel insignificant, and that I've let her down in some way.
But this whole 'drug' thing wasn't worth explaining - because it doesn't need to be explained since there were no drug use in the first place!
"Never mind," I sighed, flailing my hands. "Come on, guys, let's go upstairs."
Right there, Mom was left behind in mid-sentence of a long, boring, 'say no to drugs' lecture, as we turned and headed back up the stairs to my room. We needed to figure this out. And we needed to figure this out, now.
---
Approximately an hour later, I was in bed, and Linda and Stacey were in their sleeping bags. In the dark, I heard Stacey's voice - again;
"This was, like, supposed to be one sleepover," she explained. "But we've, like, had a total of three sleepovers! Can't you, like, believe it?"
"Yeah," I groaned, half-asleep. Really, I didn't feel much like talking, now, but Stacey's mouth had been rattling on and on for about an hour. "Cool. Go to sleep, now, will you?" I rolled over away from her, and pulled the blanket up to my ear. Hopefully, she will shut the heck up for the rest of the night.
---
She didn't shut up. She kept talking and talking about why time had stood still, and how this all relates to the Chronicles of Narnia, blah, blah, blah. Finally, Linda had to sit up and scream "SHUT UP, STACEY!!"
That was that. And that was about 1:35 in the morning.
Now it was 7:13 in the morning. We were dressed, and ready to head outside to go hiking around the property for the rest of the day, since it was Saturday, after all.
"Oh NO!" I heard Linda scream from the bathroom, startling me enough to smear brown eyeliner I was applying to my right eye. "My necklace! Oh, my God, I lost my necklace! Where is it?"
"How should I know?" I snapped back at her, trying to wipe the line off the corner of my eye. "Did you take it off last night?"
"NO!" she screamed again. So, she was panicking, right now. She was panicked enough to throw the door open, wearing her matching purple underwear, and head into my room, rummaging around for some necklace she wore. I think it had a green pendant on a gold chain or something. Never noticed it at all.
"Don't you have another one?" I asked, fixing my error on my face.
"No, my grandma gave it to me for my 21st birthday, and I never, ever take it off!" she frantically explained. Finally, with an angry sigh, she threw down her jacket, and sighed again, trying to think. I could see her in the reflection of my 'magic' mirror I was using, just standing there, scratching her head, her back to me. I couldn't help but noticing a bright red heart with a ribbon around it, tattooed onto her lower back.
"Where'd you get that?" I smirked. Just wait until 'Grover' sees that one!
She turned towards me, puzzled. "What?"
"That heart on your back, where'd you get it?" I polished my lips with some pink clear lipgloss.
She looked down at it, and then sighed. "I got it when I was sixteen. My parents freaked out when they saw it, and they wanted me to use my college money to have it removed."
"So, obviously you didn't, as I can see," I smiled back at her.
"Right," she strode back to the bathroom. "So...they kicked me out."
What? Did I just hear her right? "Over a tattoo?!" I gasped, walking towards the bathroom, where she was pulling on a brown tank top.
"Yep," she answered. "They said that 'Ungodly' people wear tattoos, and pierce any part of their bodies - including their ears. They are total religious freaks."
"That's so wrong!" and it was, too. "My Mom and I are Christians, and we go to church, but we don't think that way! We accept each other's choices."
"I like your Mom," Linda grinned. "What happened to your Dad?"
Just the word opened up a fresh wound which just healed. My eyes teared up, and a hard lump formed in the base of my throat. Looking down at the hardwood floor, I just answered her as simply as I could.
"He died," I choked out. "Car accident."
Dang you, Linda! I wanted to scream at her, but I understood why she asked. She was just asking a simple question. People would think my parents are divorced, or something, but that was not the case. My parents loved each other dearly, and genuinely. It was a like a giant foot come out of nowhere, and crushed us when we found out what happened to him. I hated automobiles for a very long time, and refused to go in one for two years. That was when I had to go see a therapist about that weird problem. I still resented cars, but they're the only transportation that exists.
The only ride I enjoyed was the carriage in Lord Beckett's world...
Suddenly, as I was walking to the other side of my room for a Kleenex - it hit me! Carriages! The only world I knew of without vehicles was there! And I am the only person, outside of Linda and Stacey, that could...live there?
My heart pounded as I carefully dabbed my eyes with a Kleenex. I have a date with the guy tonight, and then maybe...he'd like me? I could live with him? Is that proper back then? Would I ever like him?
Rolling my eyes, I knew that would never happen, for it was way, way, way too soon to tell. Still, I had my placing the future with my 'information' I offered him, he could grow to like me.
Right now, thought, I have to like him for him to like me.
No, no, I don't need a 300 year-old-boyfriend, right now. I just need to be friends with him, first. Yes, that's a better idea.
---
We hiked in the woods for about an hour, then we decided to head into town to watch a movie in the theatre. On my way there, of course, Linda piped up. "You know, about that date with what's-his-face tonight, my neighbor makes costumes. I think she'll have a nice dress for you to wear."
"Really?" and really, I was interested. "Why don't we skip the movie tonight, and go there?"
"That would be, like, great," Stacey snorted. "Because I've heard that this movie is, like, boring."
"Yeah, let's go!" Linda agreed. "She's in the green house."
A moment later, we pulled up in front of her house. Someone seemed to be home, so we all got out, and headed towards the door. Linda was the one to knock, and a stout, middle-aged woman answered the door.
"Hi, Linda!" she smiled. "What brings you here?"
"I have a friend going to a...costume party...in Seattle," she answered hesitantly. "She wanted to be an 18th century lady."
"That would be me," I laughed. She smiled at me, as she looked me up and down.
"I think I have a very nice dress that would fit you," she answered, pushing the screen door open. "Come on inside!"
We stepped inside the house, and followed her to a large room in the very back, which was full of colorful costumes, in every theme and style that exists; Middle Ages costumes, Civil War uniforms, fairytale outfits, Peter Pan replicas, cheerleader uniforms, exotic dancer outfits (seriously!), and a gorgeous dark gray-blue brocade 18th century dress on a dress form. The front and cuffs were outfitted with dark blue ribbons, and the neckline and cuffs were trimmed with antique lace. It was magnificent!
As I stood there gawping, she walked right up to it, and pulled it off the form, revealing the 18th century 'underwear' beneath it. Oh no! A corset! Just my luck! Why do I have to wear that thing?
"Yes, this will definitely fit you!" she beamed, holding up the dress to the front of me. "And it goes perfect with your coloring, too! But after you use it, I want it back the first thing in the morning, free of any damages. Is that clear?"
I was so excited, I had trouble coming up with the right words to answer her with, other than:
"Inescapably."
