Chapter 14: Hide Away

Why did I agree to this? The little voice in Edie's head kept asking her.

Oh shut up. It's too late to take it back. You're going to have to do this. Whether you want to or not, Edie's "voice of reason", as she called it, scolded her.

Edie turned to look at Sid. He had fallen asleep.

Then, a voice came over the airplane loudspeaker, "ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts. We will be landing shortly."

"Just great," Edie mumbled as she shook Sid.

"Sid, wake up, the plane is landing," Edie told her sleeping son.

Sid woke up at those words and fastened his seatbelt. Edie did the same.

Just think, in mere minutes they'd land in the small town of Glen Oak, California.

Ruthie was sitting at the kitchen table in the Camden family kitchen. She was watching her mother put the finishing touches on their Thanksgiving dinner.

Lucy entered the room. She looked to be in a hurry. She rushed over to Ruthie.

"Ruthie, we need to talk," Lucy said quickly and then grabbed Ruthie's arm and pulled her out of the room.

Lucy pulled her into the hallway that lead into the kitchen.

Ruthie just looked at her, "what is it?"

"It's about Lizzie," Lucy said.

"What about Lizzie?" Ruthie asked.

"Well, she was acting weird yesterday. Like, she avoided Kevin and me a lot. Then she skipped dinner. And then last night, I tried to talk to her, but she had her face in a magazine and seemed anxious for me to leave her alone. It was all so unlike her," Lucy replied.

"I get what you're saying. In fact, yesterday we were in my room talking, then she left the room, then she came back, then left again, then she came back again, and left one last time. I didn't see her until dinner, but she hardly talked to me then. And I haven't seen her all day," Ruthie said sounding concerned.

It was about one o'clock in the afternoon and Ruthie hadn't seen Lizzie once. Which was weird, because they had the day off from school today, being that tomorrow was Thanksgiving.

"Well, I think we should keep a close eye on her," Lucy suggested.

"Yeah," Ruthie agreed.

The two sisters shook hands and went in their separate directions.

"She sounds really nice," Roxanne told Chandler, referring to Eileen, while they were in the car on the way to the airport to pick up Edie and Sid.

"Yeah. She is. I think you would like her," Chandler replied.

"Ok, why don't you invite her to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow?" Roxanne suggested.

"You'd be ok with that, I mean, wouldn't mean you'd have to cook more?" Chandler asked.

"I can take it. Besides, I made a lot of food. There is plenty for everyone," Roxanne replied.

"Ok. I'll call her later," Chandler said as they pulled into the airport parking lot.

Annie had finally finished making Thanksgiving dinner. She was very tried and very stressed. She was about to sit down and relax for a minute or two when the phone rang.

Annie picked up it up, "hello. Camden residence."

"Mrs. Camden. It's me, Cecilia." Cecilia Smith's voice replied.

"Oh, hello Cecilia," Annie replied.

"I just called to tell you something. My parents were invited to a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I was too. But they told me I could still go to your house. Is that ok?" Cecilia asked.

"Sure," Annie replied.

"Also, can I invite a friend of mine over with me? His name is Martin Brewer. He lives across the street from you," Cecilia asked.

"Ok," Annie replied.

"Thanks, Mrs. Camden," Cecilia said and then hung up the phone.

Annie placed the phone back down. She knew one thing: she had to tell Simon about this.

Simon Camden walked down into the kitchen. He came down to get something to drink.

"Simon…" Simon turned to see his mother.

"Yeah Mom," Simon replied while getting a soda out of the fridge.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that Cecilia's parents won't be joining us for Thanksgiving dinner. But Cecilia still is. And she's bringing a friend, Martin Brewer, from across the street," Annie told Simon.

"Ok…" Simon said quickly and darted up the stairs.

"Oh my gosh, that Gilligan!" Lizzie blurted out as she broke into a fit of laughs. She was watching a classic, and funny, TV show called "Gilligan's Island".

She had been sitting in her room all day just watching TV.

She heard a knock on her door, "who is it?"

"It's Ruthie," Ruthie's voice came through the wall.

"What is it?" Lizzie asked.

"I think we should talk," Ruthie replied.

"Look, you've been talking to Lucy, haven't you? Ruthie, don't listen to her. I'm fine. Nothing is wrong. Ok. Now, please, just leave me alone," Lizzie said focusing on her attention back on the TV.

"Fine. But, eventually, Lizzie Kinkirk, you're going to have to unlock your bedroom door and face everyone and whatever you're hiding," Lizzie heard Ruthie's footsteps fading away.

"Whatever," Lizzie mumbled returning to Gilligan.

"Where could they be?" Chandler wondered out loud.

He and Roxanne were still looking for his mother and brother.

"I have no idea," Roxanne replied.

Just then, he spotted an older woman with bleached blonde hair in a designer outfit carrying no bags. Close behind her was a figure carrying a bunch of bags. Yep, that was definitely Sid and Edie.

"Mom, Sid...over here," Chandler called.

Edie turned to see her son calling out to her. Behind him was a blonde girl. Probably his fiancé, or whatever she was supposed to be.

Edie and Sid walked over to them, "hello Chandler. Long time, no see."

"Yeah, I agree. But it's great to see you again. And you too Sid, well at least half of you," Chandler said, motioning towards Sid's huge pile of luggage.

"Haha," Sid placed down the luggage and hugged his brother, "it's great to see you again, too."

"Here, let me help you with some of that," Chandler said, picking up some of the bags.

"So…who's she?" Edie asked, pointing towards Roxanne.

"Mom, Sid. This is Roxanne, my fiancé," Chandler said.

"How nice," Edie replied, "now, where's your car parked?"

"This way Mom," Chandler said.

They all headed towards the car, luggage and all.

"Ok, I'll be there," Eileen said to Chandler over the phone.

After him, Roxanne, Edie, and Sid had arrived back at the house Chandler called Eileen to invite her to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night.

"Ok, see you then," Chandler replied.

"You too. Bye," Eileen hung up the phone.

So, in conclusion to this chapter: tomorrow is Thanksgiving. And everyone has a problem.

Let's see…Lizzie won't talk to anyone about what she did and is slowly pushing away help.

As for Lucy and Ruthie, they want to help Lizzie, but she won't let them.

Simon has to face Cecilia and her new boyfriend Martin.

Roxanne and Chandler must tell Terry, Sid, and Edie about the baby.

Annie is feeling the stress of life.

Peter is hopelessly in love with Lizzie and won't tell anyone about it.

Cecilia is too dumb to dump Martin and get back together with Simon.

And as for Kevin, Sid, Terry, and Edie …they are all about to become victims of shocking news.

Ah, good old Thanksgiving. This shall be one to remember.

Why are we keeping our secret?
Why are we hiding ourselves away?
Anyway, we can't hide away
I don't wanna fake it
I wanna make you believe what I say
I won't let you hide away

Songs Used: "Hide Away" by Hilary Duff is not mine.