Ch. 10: Friendship
"Hey Jerome. Did you know there are three things I particularly hate?" asked Lampwick, in an annoyed fashion.
"Really?" asked Jerome, looking uninterested in the conversation and focusing more on his studies.
"Yep. Sturdy Verny," looks at Veronica, "goody goody know it all bookworms," looks at Julietta, "and squares that are suck ups to grown ups." looking at Pinocchio.
"Is that so?" replied Jerome.
"So tell me. WHY DO WE HAVE ALL THREE OF THEM NEATLY GATHERED IN OUR CLUBHOUSE!" Lampwick in irritation. Indeed, he was not happy about this development. Their clubhouse was a place known only to the two of them, never allowing anyone inside are near it, with the exception of their parents telling them about lunch or if it was time to go back home. However, this time their clubhouse was being invaded by not only the wooden boy Lampwick was growing slightly accustomed to but not by much, but it was also housing two girls, one being a girl Lampwick wasn't very fond of.
"Hey, we were invited to be here by Pinocchio. He's our friend too, you know!" Veronica shouted in irritation. The boy in question was simply observing Julietta draw sketches of random objects she observes. He watched in awe as she captured each detail presented in each of her sketches. His attention to Lampwick was brought back when he grabbed Pinocchio and growled "I told you this was a secret hideout. NO ONE BUT US IS ALLOWED HERE!"
Veronica stepped in to defend the wood chuck with, "Don't take this out on him simply because he was nice enough to invite us in, unlike some people!"
"You don't get invited because you are not wanted. Why would I want some beefy gorilla 'girl' invading my territory!"
With that, Veronica nearly lost it. "Let's see you still call me that when-"
"Enough you two." interjected Jerome, not even bothering to look from his book. "Lampwick, they are here and here to stay. You might as well suck it up and let them be. And Veronica, try to be a bit more respectable. You may be a guest, but it would be unwise to arouse Lampwick's anger further." Both huffed and went off to separate to corners of the clubhouse. While the two pouted in their respective corner and Jerome went back to his book, Pinocchio once again gazed his attention at Julietta's drawings. The sketches drawn simply amazed Pinocchio, each one getting better than the last.
"You make some good pictures, Julietta." said Pinocchio. Julietta blushed and replied "You think so? I'm just drawing what I see, nothing special. There are tons of other artists that can draw better than me."
"Well, that just makes yours all the more unique." With that, Julietta turned her head to Pinocchio in shock. "Unique?"
"Of course. With the way you draw, every line looks like it is going to pop into real life, like me." Pinocchio added with a chuckle. "They're really pretty and the way you draw them is spectacular." Blushing even more, Julietta nodded with a smile. "Thank you. You're really sweet, you know that?"
Pinocchio looked confused, until he bit his arm. Julietta gasped in shock, while the others looked to see what was happening. "Why did you do that?" said Julietta in concern. "You said I was sweet, so I tasted myself to make sure you were right. I'm not so sure I am sweet though." replied Pinocchio in a confused manner.
The clubhouse was silent for who knows how long. 'Is he really that stupid?' thought both Lampwick and Veronica, suppressing their urge to laugh at the boy right then and there. "Um, I don't think that's what she meant by that." remarked Jerome, with a bit of a chuckle. Julietta simply laughed and said "You're so goofy."
Still looking confused, Pinocchio merely shrugged and laughed with her. The cheerfulness of the atmosphere was so contagious that the others began to laugh as well. The quintet began to calm themselves after a while, each looking at each other in a bit of a different light. Finally, it was Jerome who broke the silence. "You know, we may not have much in common, but there is one thing we can agree on as a group. Pinocchio is definitely our friend." Julietta nodded in agreement, as well as Lampwick and Veronica, with a bit of a slight shrug to it as well. Pinocchio, in question, seemed to be content now that he has so many friends to be with him.
TO BE CONTINUED...