Bloo made it back to the foyer still lost in thought, but he could tell that nothing had really changed since he left.
"Is Cherry still in the office?" He asked.
"Yeah," Mac answered. "You ran off in a hurry. Is everything okay?"
"More or less. Could be better."
"What do you mean?"
"About making new memories...It'll be the hardest thing to do."
"I'm sorry, Bloo, but, did you go talk to Madame Foster?" Wilt asked.
"Cereza has no way of getting back her memories…?" Ed worried.
"I...I don't know," the blue friend answered. "She's a brand new Cherry...different from what we remember. We can try to test those memories with her, but...it's unlikely that they will stick."
They see Frankie surface with the pink friend from the office. Her expression seemed normal on the surface, but Mac could tell she was hiding something underneath.
"We're happy to have you, Cherry," she said, before turning her head to Berry. "She's all yours."
"Great." The magenta friend looked at her sister. "Let's get you settled in first. My room has a spare bed!"
"Awesome," she answered, shortly greeting the others. "I hope to see the rest of you again soon!"
After they ascended upstairs and we're out of sight, Frankie couldn't help but sigh while rubbing the space between her eyes.
"Is everything okay, Frankie?" Mac asked.
"Yeah," she answered. "It's...going to be awkward moving forward. It's like our lives just got reset."
"Coco coco coco coco coco? (Would we even try to reminisce about the past?)" the bird friend questioned.
"I think we should just play it safe. We don't want her to think we're crazy, especially on her first day back." Mac was heading to the door. "Better head home. Got school tomorrow."
"Sorry that we couldn't play through story mode like we planned, Mac." Bloo said, scratching the back of his head.
"No worries, Bloo," the boy smiled. "This weekend has been hard on all of us. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Upon closing the front door, more silence filled the area. It wasn't super late as it was past the dinner hour, so by then everyone kind of went their separate ways after sharing a few words. Now that Cherry is back, no one will know how the upcoming days will turn out.
Early Monday morning. The pink friend had opened her eyes to the ceiling. Small beams of light were seen shining through the bedroom's blinds, which was surprisingly enough to wake her without an alarm. Was her first day living life at Foster's. Seems pretty peaceful already, but the urge for being productive flowed through her body. She found herself glancing over at her roommate across the room still snoozing away. With a simple smile she had wanted to thank her, but she's in no rush to do that. Cherry quietly slides out of bed for a quick hygiene check before making her way downstairs.
She already knew where everything was because of last night's tour, but she was still fascinated by the colors and decor designs dressed throughout the walls. All the walking was quite the workout. Upon reaching the foyer she was about to enter the dining hall until she heard what sounded like someone struggling behind the front door. It was Frankie when she opened and closed it with her foot, carrying several stacked but unstable paper grocery bags. One of them began to fall over till Cherry moved in to catch it. Frankie couldn't really see who saved her due to a bag stacked in front of her face.
"Oh thank you," she said. "I didn't expect to see anyone up this early…"
"Were you planning to do this all in one trip? You could've hurt yourself, you know."
She nearly froze at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Is that you, Cherry?"
"The one and only," she smiled, putting down the one she saved before jumping to pull down the one blocking Frankie's vision. "Glad I was here in the nick of time. These were going to the kitchen, right?"
"Ah, yeah. Why are you up so early?"
"Excitement, I guess? It's my first day, so I probably couldn't wait to interact with the other imaginary friends."
"I see…" It still felt weird to be talking to her like they haven't met before. Trying not to bring up past memories is already a chore in itself. "Well, are you able to carry these to the kitchen then?"
"Certainly!"
Resting the bags on the kitchen island, the pink friend began to browse through what Frankie had purchased.
"You have a lot of breakfast ingredients in here," she commented. "Got something in mind?"
"More or less. I buy this much so that I don't have to shop as often. Before, it's been every day."
"No kidding...Doesn't that make you exhausted?"
"I'm always exhausted, but I'm used to it." She starts removing ingredients from the bags. "On top of caring for the other friends I've been doing this for years, so it's no problem."
"By yourself? That's awful…"
"Well, I do get friends like Wilt to help me once in a while. He's the very tall one from last night if you can remember."
"Ah, yes. I'm looking forward to talking to them again. They seem really nice."
"Yeah. Well I better get to work. Breakfast won't make itself."
"Um...Mind if I help?"
That question nearly stunned the teenager. She never expected it would feel like a deja vu, but she had to return to reality. She knows it's unintentional, but she worries about repeating history.
"Really? But I'm always handling the chores around here."
"I know that. You've had Wilt help you pretty often, so would it make a difference if I did the same?"
"You rather cook and clean instead of relax? I hardly ever come across friends exploiting those skills…"
"Then would you say you're glad that I came along?"
The teen was expected to give in after the friend's smile shot through her heart. It made her smile as well.
"Alright, alright," she shakes her head. "Just one condition: I'll call you whenever I ask for it, okay?"
"No problem!" Cherry scans through the ingredients.
"How about a silver dollar platter?"
"Silver dollar?"
"Mini pancakes. I can make multiple stacks in a short amount of time for service, but I'll need all the eyes on the stove to speed things up."
"You need all of them? Usually I need two for bacon."
"Use the oven. It will take some time, but can cook larger quantities without needing to flip them once."
"Really? That would definitely make things easier!"
"You have a lot of whole fruits and berries, too. We'll make the platters look extra pretty today!"
"Sounds good! I'm surprised, Cherry...How do you know all this?"
"Hmm...I'm not sure," she still continues to smile. "I'll just call it instinct. Now let's get the bacon onto sheet pans and into the oven at 450."
"Yes, chef!"
Cherry felt really alive to be here, even though it's her first day. Frankie shouldn't have had any doubt in the first place. Her appearance and personality were still the same, so was there much to miss? After the bacon was in the oven, she found it surprising that she could flip out batches of pancakes in half the time. Her organization was expedient, and that was one of the things the teen had missed.
But would she feel guilty if she was taken advantage of again? She remembered what the pink friend had said before...about how she wanted to help rather than have to. She had valued their friendship because she had another girl to relate to and talk with. She valued their friendship because she was finally able to make a living helping others. Her kindness...was boundless.
"Hey, Frankie!" Cherry called. "Do you need help with the fruit?"
It had only caused the teen to quit spacing out.
"No, I'm on it!" She smiled. "Didn't mean to space out."
Everything had soon been made and the breakfast platters were in order on the very tables just outside the kitchen doors. The initial cleaning before breakfast began was even a breeze...Cherry was just a natural and Frankie still can't believe she had missed this. The many imaginary friends entering were in awe by the spread and gladly helped themselves. Soon the chefs spotted Bloo and his friends entering the hall and preparing plates, and took the spare time to do the same and managed to sit with them. Cherry initiated her greetings while Bloo seemed so engrossed with the pancakes. Normally he'd be eating right now, but he just kept staring at them. It's been awhile since he's had pancakes after Cherry first left, but seeing them again did make him question:
"Are these...buttermilk?"
"That's an accurate guess!"
He nearly fell out of his chair due to being spooked by her voice. She had been sitting across from him, just like before. He couldn't determine how to really react, but it's not like she currently viewed him as boyfriend material. Regardless, he tried his best to hide the redness that spontaneously appeared.
"You sure know your pancakes," she continued, twirling the curl on her head. "I really hope everyone likes them. It's my first time making them here, so…feel free to critique me if you like. Oh, and Frankie handled the fruits and bacon."
She's not making it any easier on the blue friend showing her slight bashfulness. He was expecting to be red as a tomato by now before he made the plunge for one of the pancakes. The same sensation dazzled him once more like before. This must be a fluke. On top of it, Cherry was surprised to see a tear suddenly run down his face.
"What's wrong? Are you all right?" She asked him in worry.
"O-Oh...Sorry!" He wiped the tear off and smiled. "Just...haven't had something like this in a while. They're amazing."
"Well, I'm glad you like them." She smiles.
"So this is what you got up early for?"
Berry got down a few minutes later than the others and she found a seat next to Bloo still open, so she made her way there.
"Is your internal clock still on that early morning drive?"
"I told Frankie it must be excitement," she answered. "A first day means getting the chance to hang out with all of you, so I'm looking forward to that."
"You sure you don't want to take it easy?" Wilt asked.
"No way. The sooner I'm done here the better."
That's exactly what took place afterwards. When breakfast ended, she managed to hang out with all of them at different times of the day. The next couple days have been a similar routine, and everyone had admired her company. No matter what they were doing she was happy to join them, though Bloo still wasn't used to it. Her smile kept captivating him and he'd get flustered to the point of losing concentration in almost anything. It couldn't be explained as to why his feelings for her kept showing on the surface. Regardless, he knows that she doesn't feel the same way. Thinking about it only made him feel worse whenever she's not around. Despite always feeling conflicted, he was still happy.
The same feeling went for Berry. The hangouts have been helpful, as they were able to spend the most time together in years...not that this Cherry remembers. The pink friend was glad to learn more about Berry's talents and hobbies, and she was surprised that they had a lot in common. Spending time with her just felt...right.