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Hii, long time no see. This one took awhile and it's not even long. Summer's around the corner, so I doubt it'll ever take me this long to write again (even though it was just a few weeks)
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Jake finally made it to his house when he opened the door to see his sister collapsed on the ground. His father, mother, grandfather, and Fu Dog were surrounding her, looking panicked. Naturally, Jake instantly grew panicked as well.
"What happened?" he asked.
"She's caught dragon fever," Lao Shi explained. "I don't think you've ever had it, Jake. But your sister unfortunately has it. It's very high."
Jake knelt down in front of his sister and leaned over to feel her forehead. She was burning up. Literally. It stung. "What can we do?"
"There's special medicine but I've run out. Oh, and the trip is so long." His grandfather massaged his own temples in deep thought.
"I'll get it!" Jake told him.
He looked up at his grandson. "Can you manage on your own? It's a day at least."
Jake gulped. "A day?"
"Yes. Two if you take your time."
He thought about Rose standing at the airport all alone. In his mind she looked lost, frantically looking around as people passed her by without helping. "I'll still go. For Haley."
His dad patted his back. "That's my boy."
"One thing, though. Please pick up Rose at the airport at 7. She's coming to see me."
His mother clasped her hands together cheerfully. "That's wonderful, I'll make sure to pick her up right on time."
Jake smiled at ease; glad to have a family like his, as chaotic as they are.
Before he left, Lao Shi made sure to give him a few items and of course his mom packed his some snacks, which Jake thought was cute. Just like that, he was off. Deep down he could not wait to get back home to Rose. That and his sister's health made him fly at 100%.
Jake's three best friends made it home safely. The sun was already making its way down, leaving behind an orange hue in the sky and on Trixie's face. Her brown skin and eyes glowed as she walked home alone. Her headphones were in, softly playing hip hop.
She walked to the beat of the music and hummed along all the way home. The door was already open. Trixie hoped it wasn't her grandmother forgetting things again.
She walked in the house and threw her backpack to the side. "Grandma, you forgot to close-" her voice went from a yell to dead silence. There stood her mom in the living room with her arms crossed. "Mom?" Trixie asked in disbelief.
She nagged, "Is this what you do? Throw your bag on the floor like that?" Yup. That was definitely her mother. Dorothy Carter.
Trixie put her hands on her hips. "Chill, I was gonna pick it up."
"'Chill'? 'Gonna'? Trixie, what happened to using proper English?"
"You mean talkin' normally?"
She shook her head. "And what are you wearing? What happened to all those clothes I bought you?" Her mother began walking around. "And this house is a mess. Can't you help your poor grandmother out?"
The teenager slouched in annoyance. Every year she grows older her mom expects more. Her mom use to be so kind and happy. Now it seems that every time she comes home she finds a new reason to hate the world and dump it all on Trixie.
Trixie picked up her bag and hoisted it over her shoulder. "If that's all, I'll be in my room," she announced. Her mother didn't answer. Trixie mumbled, "Hello to you, too."
She entered her room and shut the door angrily, just enough not to slam it. The last thing she wanted was to hear her mom nag her some more.
Trixie took off her shoes and hopped on her bed, quickly taking out her phone to distract herself from things. Nothing was interesting, not even Tiktok. She scrolled through her contacts even though she didn't feel like talking to anyone.
She wished she had a boy to distract her or something. Maybe even something like Spud and Alicia had. Anything in that moment felt like it would be better than this. Something in life just felt empty.
Her thumb stopped at her most recently added contact: Alicia. She wondered what she was doing. She figured it was probably something cool like magic training or creating new spells and potions. Trixie believed it would've been fun to be a part of the magical community.
What Alicia really was doing was having a similar problem as Trixie. The witch was having a stare-down with her own mother, who randomly decided to show up as well.
"Aren't you going to say hi back, dear?" her mother asked. She was tall and beautiful with a smirk stained on her face.
"Hi, Carol," Alicia said.
Carol's glossy lips pouted cutely. "You're calling me by my first name? I know I look too young to be it but I am still your mother." She flipped her curly hair playfully.
"Yeah, whatever." Alicia began to walk to her room.
"No hug for mommy?" she teased, pulling out a pocket mirror to reapply her dark purple lipstick. "Honestly, Cia. I don't know why you are so upset."
Alicia turned around midway up the steps to face her mother. "Maybe because her mom made her move agian then left her home alone for days to go on her secretive business trips."
Carol closed her pocket mirror and walked by Alicia, temporarily putting her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "When you're older you gotta do what you have to. It's the truly interesting part of being a witch. You'll understand one day." Her mom swished her hips back and forth as she traveled up the rest of the stairs. Alicia mentally growled and ran up the stairs herself, locking herself in her room. Alicia loved her mother but she hated how she never considered her: what she thought, how she felt.
Alicia's worse fear was moving again eventually after making these amazing friends. Spud, Trixie, and Jake were the only friends she has had in her life that knew about her secret. It felt relieving to have that, especially since one was a magical being himself. An important one at that.
Her mother wanted her to be something she was not willing to be. Her mother was this sexy witch who seduced men into getting what she wanted. Sure, that was cool in retrospect, but not to Alicia. She didn't care for the flashy powers or the handy witch abilities. All she wanted to do was be normal.
Jake flew to his destination, hair flowing through the wind, tickling his forehead. The dragon balanced the things his grandfather and his mom packed for him on his back. It was a long trip; took him hours. He often took short breaks and his wings cramped a few times. Sure, he had flew fast before but never this long.
Jake changed back into his human form. He had to find a flower. A dark purple flower to make into medicine for his sister. He had a picture from his grandfather and looked at it before he began his search.
This forest in the magic realm was dark. It didn't look like it could contain such a beautiful flower. Jake shook his head, his sister definitely owed him for this one.
He moved a branch out of his way, revealing two - no, four eyes glowing in the absence of light. Jake held his breath, mentally preparing himself to fight. Lao Shi never mentioned anything about danger. Instead he said, "the forest may deceive you" but the forest seemed to be matching its creepiness. Jake swore his grandfather made things complicated on purpose. Why couldn't he just tell him things bluntly?
The eyes traveled closer until Jake's eyes adjusted to the dark. He could make out two figures. "Oh, Jake! Is that you?" a cheery voice asked.
He raised an eyebrow. "Is that . . . Sara?"
She turned on her flashlight and revealed it was her and her sister: the oracle twins. "Yes! Wow, what are the odds in seeing you here?"
"Actually, I predicted earlier that we were gonna see you," Kara explained, gloom lingering in her voice.
"Aw, Kara. I wanted to at least seem surprised."
"Nothing is a surprise for us."
Jake tried to smile to be polite. "At least it was from you, Kara. So that's good news." If he was honest, wanted to run far away from those two. They were interesting and kind, but they always brung some sort of disaster.
Jake ended up deciding to travel with them. It was better than being alone in that eerie forest, plus they agreed to help him look for the flower. The twins seemed to have known the forest well since this was where they take walks occasionally to "clear their heads", which Jake found weird since there was nothing calming about the place.
He tried to make small talk, "How have you two been?"
"Great!" Sara exclaimed.
Kara scoffed, "Shitty."
Jake rolled his eyes. Should've saw that coming. He tried continuing the conversation, "It's been so long."
Sara beamed, "Yes, it's has, hasn't it? How are your friends?"
"They're how they've always been." The three walked over a river on a wobbly, poorly made bridge. "You think this is safe?"
Sara nodded. "Oh, yeah. We walk on it all the-" her eyes glowed. "Jake falls off the bridge," she happily stated.
Jake stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait, what-!" The bridge swayed too much to the side and the three slid, only Jake falling into the water. The twins grabbed onto the side of the bridge, hoisting themselves back up. Sara couldn't help but laugh and laugh and laugh while Jake stood in the shallow water. Hair wet, sticking to his face and muddy leaves on his head. Even Kara smirked a bit.
"That happens a lot but Kara and I are prepared," Sara explained. "We should have warned you, sorry!" Jake wanted to scowl at her but her genuine smile made it hard to stay mad.
Eventually he got out of the river and followed Miss Doom and Gloom. He trotted behind, miserable in his wet socks. Water trickled down his neck, itching him every time. "Are you sure you know where this flower is?" he asked.
"We're certain," Kara said. Her monotoned voice made it sound like sarcasm. Her eyes flashed. "Also, you'll trip in about two seconds."
Jake groaned, "How is that even good news-" and like she said, he tripped. His face planted into the dusty ground. He rolled over and spit out some dirt. "This sucks," he mumbled. That's when he saw a dash of purple in the dim forest. He moved all the plants in its way immediately and sure enough, it was the flower. He picked it out of the ground and held it in his fingertips like it was the most precious thing on Earth.
"So tripping into the flower was good news after all!" Sara cheered.
Her sister blinked slowly. "I'm never wrong."
Jake did a little happy dance. "Yes! Now I get to go back home! Not that you two aren't, uh, wonderful to be around," he lied.
"It's okay, we know we're a handful," Kara said.
Jake smiled, he actually meant it. "Without your help, I would've never known where the direction of the flower is. So thank you."
Sara smiled back. "Aww, take this as returning the favor for protecting us years back." Her eyes glowed. "Also, Rose breaks up with you!"
Kara added, "That sucks."
Jake's heart sank. "What? Did I hear that right?"
"Yup! I have great pronunciation. I got an A in public speaking!"
Jake couldn't move. He almost dropped the flower. "You're kidding me, right? Please tell me you're playing a joke."
She giggled. "Why on Earth would I do something silly like that?"
"'Cause you are silly," Jake snapped. "All you do is tell a shit ton of bad news like it's a joke. You know how insulting that is?" He changed into his dragon form, wanting to get as far away from these two as possible. "Rose and I won't break up. Rose and I can't break up, we've been through so much." He took off, flying straight up into the clouds.
His eyes were met with a beautiful sky and clouds so fluffy it looked as if you could sit on it. This view was calming for Jake. He held on to the flower delicately. "No way we're breaking up," he said to himself. "There's just no way."
Spud sat in his living room, bored and flipping through channels. It was almost midnight and every channel seemed to be playing reruns of things he was just not interested in. No one was home, they all went on some trip without him per usual with the excuse of "you have school" even though it was the weekend.
Spud was use to this. He was just really different from his family. Different interests, different hobbies. He wished he had a loving grandma like Trixie or an interesting family like Jake's. It was all too exhausting to think about. Sometimes it's just better not to think.
When Spud was about to give up on cable TV and move onto scrolling through Netflix, his phone dinged twice. A text message shown on his screen. It was Alicia. She asked if it was okay to call and instead of replying with yes, Spud called her instead.
Alicia picked up on the other line, "Hello?"
"Hey. Why'd you want to call?"
"Need to get my mind off things. My mom's home," she said in an annoyed tone.
"I'm assuming it's a bad thing."
"Good and bad. I like that I'm not alone but she's just . . . hard to explain. What are you up to?"
"Bored. Family's gone so I'm all alone." Spud laid back on his couch. "All alone," he repeated.
"I should come over," Alicia suggested.
Spud smiled. "Really?"
"Yeah, we can invite Trixie and bring some snacks, like a movie night!"
Spud's smile faded. "I was thinking it could be you and me."
Alicia shook her head as if Spud could see. "Spud remember what I said earlier?"
He corrected himself, "As friends, as friends!"
Alicia tried not to laugh. "I still think we should invite Trixie."
"Okay, fine."
"You say that like she's a bother. I'll call you back." Alicia hung up and called Trixie.
The phone didn't even finish its first ring before Trixie answered. "Hey, Ci Ci."
"Hi, Trixie. I know it's late but do you wanna go to Spud's and watch a movie?"
"I don't know 'bout all that, I don't wanna be a third wheel." Trixie laughed. She didn't even have to see Alicia to know she was making an annoyed expression. "I'm kidding! I'll come. Anything to get away from my mom right now."
"Your mom's home?"
"Yeah she's a fight attendant and decided to come home all of a sudden just to boss me around. I hope she'll let me go. Prolly not."
"My mom's home, too. I don't think she cares enough to notice me leaving."
"My mom cares too much."
"Wish I was like you," Alicia sighed.
"No way, I wish I was like you!" Trixie sighed, too.
Carol stood outside Alicia's door and smiled, which is never good. "You wanna be like your little friend, hm? Fine."
After she said that Alicia swung open the door. She jumped up, surprised to see her mom right in front of her room. "Mom! Were you spying?"
"Glad to see you're calling me mom again," she said, changing the subject.
Alicia exhaled slowly and decided to leave it alone. "Can I go to my friends' house?"
"You can't," her mom chuckled. "You're spending the night with me, your mother dearest."
Alicia lips slightly parted, shocked. She was not expecting that response. "But mom, I told them I'd-"
"Tell them you can't." She walked down the stairs, leaving her daughter to angrily call Trixie.
"I can't go," she told her.
"Me either," Trixie rolled her eyes, "and I knew it, too."
"Yeah. Guess this whole night is destined to be ruined. I'll go tell Spud."
"Maybe we can FaceTime and play a game, I don't know."
"I can't. My mom wants to spend time all of a sudden." Alicia slowly exhaled one last time. "Hope you have a nice night."
"'Night, Ci Ci."
Jake made it home surprisingly fast before it was the afternoon of the next day. He put all his anxiety into flying home. Jake a few hours ago would be so happy just thinking about going back home to seeing Rose. A beautiful girl like her surprisingly didn't post much on social media, so Jake didn't know much of what she currently looked like. Just a few selfies she'd snap him once in awhile.
But now, Jake was a nervous wreck. Half of him didn't even want to see her. That half of him didn't even want to open the front door he had been staring at for about five minutes. He was dry from the river and his hair was still a bit messy. He just hoped he didn't smell or anything.
The other half of him wanted to see Rose more than anything. That side made up a head canon that Rose would be playing a little joke on him. Maybe she was secretly a YouTuber with a hidden camera filming a "breaking up with my boyfriend prank". That half of him hoped for anything.
The door swung open before he could open it. There she was. The person he'd been longing to see. The person he was fearing to see. Rose.
She wore khaki cargo pants and a hot pink crop top. Jake was glad to see she was still into pink. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail with tiny bangs on the sides of her forehead. She squealed the second she saw him and gave him a huge hug. Jake slowly hugged back.
"Jake! I've missed you so much," she said against his neck.
This didn't sound like someone who wanted to break up, so Jake calmed down a bit. "I've missed you, too, Rose. You have no idea." He held her awhile longer before letting go.
"Your mom explained to me why you couldn't pick me up. Is that why you smell like fish?" she teased.
Jake tensed up. "I smell? Ugh, that river!" he groaned.
"River? Seems you had a lot of fun."
"Not really." Jake looked at the flower. It was a bit crushed but still in tact. They walked inside. When they got off the stairs Jake realized Rose and him were now the same height.
No one was in the kitchen. Jake closed the door behind them before Rose acknowledged, "Jake. You look so different."
Jake turned around to look at her and nervously played with his stringy hair. "Is that a bad thing or?"
"No," she walked closer, "you're so handsome."
That got Jake excited. He cupped her face. "You're still as beautiful as ever."
The two leaned in for an overdue kiss when Haley came downstairs. "Ew, get a room!" she yelled in her sick voice
The two stopped what they were doing and moved away from each other. "We had one 'til you came in here," Jake said. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"This is a more public area of the home, find somewhere private. And to answer your question, I'm hungry." She walked away with her head held high to make a sandwich.
Jake slid his hands down his face. "Sorry about my sister."
That's when a flash went off. The couple looked at the stairs again to see his parents coming down. His dad held an old school camera and his mom followed behind.
"Aren't you two so adorable?" his mom gushed. Rose giggled.
"Nope. This is too embarrassing." Jake opened the front door. He tossed his mom the flower. "I know I smell like fish but let's get out of here," he told Rose, taking her hand and running out the house.
Done οΈ