Disclaimer: I do not own Coraline or it's characters.
Chapter 8,
"I got my camera." Mariana said and Coraline gasped.
"Oh, wow. I can't believe you bought this." Coraline said, gingerly touching the familiar object.
"That looked professional." Wybie said and Mariana giggled.
"It is; or at least it was. Rebel retires." Mariana said and Wybie blinked.
"Rebel? Did you name the camera?" Wybie asked and Mariana shrugged.
"Well, sort of. See this is a Canon Rebel T6 camera. I just call it Rebel for short. And to answer your next question, it's retired because my dad use to use it, and he gave it to me. He's a professional photographer." Mariana said and Wybie nodded.
"Do you always take a camera out when you explore?" Wybie asked and Mariana nodded.
"I love taking pictures. I would love to work with film, but dad has never developed film and he doesn't want either of us to mess up my pictures. Maybe I'll get to work with film when I am older, but at least I get to take pictures." Mariana said with a smile and Wybie smiled back.
"Wait, Harry's not out here yet?" Mariana asked and Coraline sighed.
"I'll go in and get him." Coraline said, walking into the house. She entered the living room and she saw Harry standing beside one of the windows, staring out at Wybie and Mariana.
"Why do you look mad?" Coraline asked and Harry jumped at the sound of her voice.
"Man, Core, why do you scare me like that?" Harry asked and Coraline giggled softly.
"Sometimes you're too easy." Coraline said, walking over to Harry and putting a hand on the boy's shoulders.
"Come on, Harry." Coraline said softly and Harry looked at her.
"You're not gonna break your promise to me, are you?" Coraline asked and Harry sighed.
"Fine, I'll play nice." Harry said and Coraline smiled widely at him. Harry loved Coraline's smile.
"Good, now let's go exploring." Coraline said and the two walked out of the house. There they reunite with their other two friends and their boisterous laughter. Harry was rather suspicious of them laughing so hard, but Coraline stepped in.
"Alright guy. We're here to explore. What direction should we go?" Coraline said.
"Well, why don't we ask Wybie?" Harry said, gesturing towards the boy in the overcoat.
"Huh?" Wybie asked and Mariana rose an eyebrow at him.
"You want Wybie to decide where we explore?" Mariana asked. Harry crosses his arms over his chest and shrugged.
"Wybie was here before Coraline got here. And you've been here, what, all your life?" Harry asked and Wybie nodded.
"Yeah, I grew up here with my grandmother." Wybie said and Coraline smiled.
"Hey, maybe we could explore the area around your house." Coraline suggested.
"You guys wanna come over to my house?" Wybie asked and Harry tilted his head and smiled.
"Why so concerned? Is your house not 'company ready'?" Harry teased a little and Wybie sighed.
"Look, if you guys want to come over to my house, grandma would love to meet you. I know she'd get a kick out of showing Coraline her herb garden." Wybie said and Coraline gasped.
"Your grandma has a garden?" Coraline asked.
"She's an herbal apothecarist. She needs to grow some stuff to make sure it's fresh; so the garden is kinda necessary." Wybie said and Harry's eyes widened.
"An herbal apothecarist? Like someone who uses alternative medicine to treat various illnesses?" Harry asked, with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, exactly." Wybie said and Harry shifted a little.
"That actually sounds pretty cool." Harry admitted softly and Wybie smiled at him.
"Well, with that stamp of approval, follow me." Wybie said and the four of them started walking into the surrounding forest.
Harry was the slowest out of the four of them, mostly because he didn't want to go. He hated seeing Wybie and Coraline playing buddy buddy, but he did make her a promise. Mariana looked at Harry and fell back to talk to him privately.
"You're scowling." Mariana stated and Harry blinked at her.
"Well, maybe I am, is there a problem with that?" Harry asked and Mariana shrugged.
"Maybe not to me, and maybe not to Wybie... but It probably matters to Coraline." Mariana said and Harry sighed a groan.
"I don't mean to be a little storm cloud, raining on y'alls parade. I just don't know how to relax around that... boy..." Harry said stiffly and Mariana looked up at Wybie and then back at Harry.
"Listen, maybe you just need to sit down with Wybie and tell him how you feel." Mariana suggested. Harry was so disgusted at the idea that he wanted to puke.
"Over my dead body." Harry muttered and Mariana rolled her eyes.
"You don't have to get snippy about it; it was just a suggestion." Mariana said and Harry shook his head.
"I know, I'm sorry." Harry said.
"Harry if you don't want to have an open and honest conversation with Wybie, there's only one way I can see, your staying here, and getting better." Mariana said.
"What's that?" Harry asked and Mariana put her hands in her pockets.
"You can't overcome this hatred you have for Wybie until you stop thinking of him like some villain or enemy." Mariana said and the boy hesitated.
"I... I-I don't hate Wybie... I may not like him, but I don't hate him." Harry said bashfully and Mariana smirked.
"Ok, fair enough, you don't hate Wybie. Look, even if you don't tell him how you feel about Coraline and his relationship with her; you still got to talk to him." Mariana said and Harry paused.
"But, why?" Harry asked and Mariana rolled her eyes.
"You have to talk to him in order to see what you two have in common. If you find some similarities, and there are bound to be some, then that's something the two of you can talk about. Who knows, maybe when you two start talking, you'll even realize that you like each other and become friends." Mariana said and Harry sighed.
"I suppose anything is possible." Harry said. Mariana lifted her camera and snapped a picture of Harry.
"What was that for?" Harry asked and Mariana giggled.
"It's to symbolize the first real step in becoming friends with Wybie." Mariana said.
"What; deciding to talk to him?" Harry asked.
"Nah. Accepting that friendship was possible." Mariana said. Harry smiled and rolled his eyes.
"You're so silly." Mariana said and Harry shrugged.
"I'm cute, I can get away with being silly." Harry said and Mariana smirked.
"You think you're cute?" Mariana asked and Harry nodded.
"Of course, I do. Don't you think I'm cute?" Harry asked and Mariana scoffed.
"Not when you do stuff like that." Mariana said. Harry placed the back of his hand on his forehead and dramatically sighed.
"How can you tell this destroyed shell of a boy that he isn't cute, in his time of need?" Harry said flamboyantly and Mariana laughed.
"Just when you're obnoxious about it." Mariana said and Harry rose an eyebrow at her.
"Oh? Does that mean that you normally find me cute?" Harry asked and Mariana's eyes widened.
"Wow!" Coraline called out and they turned towards her to see what caused such a reaction.
"Oh, look at the flowers." Mariana said with a gasp. The forest had opened into this gorgeous clearing. It had a sweet looking cottage, with 20, 30, 50, 100 different types of flowers surrounding it. The cottage itself had two stories, lots of windows, two soothing balconies, and assorted greenery randomly spread on the wall and part of the roof. It was like something that stepped out of a classic fairytale, like goldilocks and the three bears, or Cinderella, or Snow White.
"That was a short walk. How could you live so close to Coraline and not have her over?" Harry asked and Wybie shrugged.
"I guess I didn't really think about it before." Wybie said and suddenly the sound of a bell rung out for all to hear.
"Wyborn!" Wybie grandmother, Mrs. Lovat shouted at him.
"Don't just stand there, like bumps on a log. Come over here and let me say hello to your friends." Mrs. Lovat said with a smile. The children giggled at the loving, yet slightly embarrassing display; and they walked over to the wise woman.
"Hello Coraline. It's nice to see you again. But who are these two?" Mrs. Lovat asked.
"These are friends of Coraline's. They come all the way from Michigan." Wybie said and Mrs. Lovat smiled at the children.
"Well hello, friends of Coraline." Mrs. Lovat said.
"Hi." Mariana and Harry said together.
"Guys, this is Mrs. Lovat. Mrs. Lovat, this is Mariana and Harry." Coraline said, giving everyone the proper introduction. Mrs. Lovat gave a small nod of acknowledgement.
"Are you all enjoying the flowers?" Mrs. Lovat said and Mariana swooned.
"I've never seen so many flowers in one place before." Mariana said and Coraline nodded.
"It's beyond beautiful, Mrs. Lovat. I can't believe you have so many." Coraline said and Wybie turned towards the followers.
"Grandpa started the tradition. He swore to grandma that her life would only get more beautiful the longer they were married." Wybie started.
"That's right. He planted a flower on our anniversary to help keep his promise. He did it every year, until he couldn't anymore. Since he's gone, I plant his flower for him, because he can't really do it anymore." Mrs. Lovat said.
"Yeah, 'sometimes promises need a helping hand', right grandma?" Wybie asked and she nodded.
"That's right. Why don't you all come in for a glass of icy cold lemonade." Mrs. Lovat asked and everyone, but Harry, smiled. She stared directly at the sour boy.
"If you're interested, I also made chocolate peanut butter squares." Mrs. Lovat said in a singsong tone- as if she already knew Harry loved chocolate and peanut butter.
"That's surprising. I thought you only made those for Thanksgiving and Christmas." Wybie commented and she nodded.
"I had a feeling that I needed to make them today. And it's a good thing too, because this one looks highly interested in them." Mrs. Lovat said, talking about Harry, who shrugged.
"I happen to like chocolate and peanut butter." Harry said nonchalantly and Wybie smiled.
"You do?" Wybie asked.
"That's right, you didn't show up until dinner time. Yesterday, Harry must have eaten 6 dozen chocolate peanut butter cookies, all on his own." Coraline said and Wybie patted Harry's shoulder.
"Sounds like we got something in common, Harry. You are gonna go nuts for these squares." Wybie said, gently guiding him into the house.
"Perhaps you're right." Harry said with a genuine smile. It was rather touching to finally see some common ground between the two boys.
Though one was still left with the question, how did Mrs. Lovat know that Harry loved peanut butter and chocolate, when Wybie didn't even know. And when the children entered her home, why did she scare the wooded area behind them, suspiciously, before closing the door?