Hey everyone. I know it often takes me a while to update. I'm just so busy with work and other things sometimes that there isn't much time to write. But you're lucky. I've had a bit more time and felt somewhat inspired. So here is the next chapter. I can't promise you another one as soon as this, but I try my best to update as soon as I can. Let me know how you like it. Have fun reading.
Chapter 9: Changes
The rest of the school year passed by quickly and the chicken pox disaster was long forgotten. Carol was still struggling with her husband's infidelity. So far her decision only had been that she wouldn't divorce him as she didn't want to do that to their kids. She tried to act like everything was normal but it took a lot of her energy. She noticed herself getting more easily annoyed by small things Danny, Piper or Cal did, which weren't intended to upset her but every now and then she just lost control and everything got too much. The kids surely noticed that but she couldn't explain it and kept doing what she had been getting better at for the last year: ignoring things.
Piper didn't like her mom's current behaviour and started spending more time than ever at the Vause's house.
"Did I miss you moving in, Piper?" Diane one day asked her half jokingly.
"Uh, no. I just prefer being here. Then I don't have to be at home." Piper said quietly and rather serious.
Diane turned serious, she noticed the change in Piper's demeanor. "Why? What is going on?"
"Ugh. Not much actually but it's a lot less stressful around here." she just said. For now Diane let it go but she wanted to know what this was about. She knew that Carol was going through a tough phase and Diane had told her how she thought about the situation and advised her to get a divorce if her husband couldn't keep his marital vow to her. She offered Carol to help her with whatever she would need but her friend was very reluctant or even deprecating to take the advice.
In Alex's room Piper and Alex laid on Alex's bed and talked.
"What is so stressful?" Alex asked as she had heard Piper talk to Diane.
"My mom is. She is annoyed by literally anything. I don't know what happened but she is different. She is yelling at us for the smallest things. Sometimes I get the feeling that just breathing too loud can upset her. I think that she is angry about something but can't let it out and it accumulates and then she explodes like a time bomb with minor things. Like last time I asked her if I could have another ice tea. She always makes us ask for that, because she wants to control how much sweet stuff we're having, so I didn't want to get yelled at because I didn't ask. But instead she was super annoyed by me asking and not just taking it and yelled at me as if I had asked her if I could bring a weapon to school and hurt someone or something equally bad."
"Wow. Do you have any idea why?" Alex asked.
"That's the point. I don't. But her outbreaks are unpredictable. So this is why I'd rather spend as little time as possible at home where I can be the target of her anger." Piper said sad.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Alex told her.
"Thank you. Distract me please!" she begged Alex.
So Alex thought for a bit but soon had an idea on how to do that. "Come with me." Diane, Louis and Felix were dressed as if they're leaving. Diane saw the two girls come down and smiled.
"I was just about to find you. We are headed to the playground. Do you girls want to come?" she asked.
"Uhm, we'd like to stay here, actually if that's okay?" Alex answered with a look at Piper who nodded assuringly.
"Okay. I got my cell phone with me if anything should happen or if you need us, okay?" Diane said.
"Okay. We'll call if needed." Alex replied.
"Have fun. I love you." Diane said to Alex.
"You too. Love you, too." Alex answered and her parents and brother were out the door.
"So what are we going to do?" Piper was curious.
"How do you feel about baking?" Alex asked.
"You wanna bake a cake?" Piper smiled at her expectantly.
"If you want to?!" "Sure." They went to the kitchen, got a bowl and Alex told Piper what to get her.
"Flour. Sugar. 5 eggs. Butter and a bit of vanilla sugar plus a bit of salt." Alex and Piper collected everything, measured it and mixed it in the bowl.
"You know how to make this by heart?" Piper looked at Alex admiringly as she noticed she had no recipe laying anywhere.
"Yeah." Alex just replied and put the batter on the baking sheet and put it in the oven.
"When it is gold brown we take it out, make little holes in the surface with a fork and put the sour topping on which we are going to make now." Alex told Piper.
"Okay." Piper was amazed how Alex did all of that so easily. Her mother barely showed her how to make anything.
"So. you cut those two lemons in half and I'll get the powdered sugar. Then we'll mix the juice of the lemons with the sugar and have our icing." Piper did as she was told and cut the lemons and squeezed out as much of the juice as she could. They were done with the icing before the cake was ready. About twenty minutes later they took it out and put it out to cool down a little.
"Did your mom show you how to do this?" Piper wanted to know.
"My mom isn't the biggest baker, actually. She is a really good cook though and showed me how to make a few things. Dad is the one who likes to bake though. He taught me how to do this." Alex explained.
When the cake was a bit colder they took forks and had a lot of fun sticking it into the cake to create little holes. "Why are we doing this? Couldn't we just put the icing on and be done with it? Why these holes?" Piper wondered.
"Because with the holes the sugary lemon juice is not only on top of it but also has a chance to go into the cake which makes it a lot better, believe me." Alex replied.
When they were done and put the icing on top they put it outside again to cool down some more and waited for Alex's parents and brother to return. They kept talking until about half an hour later they heard keys open the door.
"Mhm. It smells amazing in here! What did you do?" Diane said as coming in.
"We made the lemon cake." Alex replied. "It's ready and waiting for everyone to eat it."
"What an amazing surprise!" Louis said smiling widely.
They ate the cake and made coffee and hot chocolate for the kids. They kept chatting about everything that came to their mind and had a fun afternoon.
"Thank you, by the way, Alex and Piper for making the cake. It was great. I think even better than my version." Louis said to the two girls.
Piper felt so content and happy that afternoon and completely forgot about the situation at home. However when it was getting later she knew she had to go home at some point.
"So I guess I gotta go home." Piper said sadly.
"Your parents would surely miss you if you didn't." Diane said. She would really have to talk to Carol soon. She couldn't let her kids get affected by her indecisiveness like that. She saw what effect it had on Piper and surely it wasn't much different for Danny and Cal.
XXXXX
Diane had a long talk with Carol and she promised she would do her best to not take her feeling bad out on the kids. Piper, Danny and Cal noticed the change in their mother and had hope that things had resolved and everything would go back to normal. However Carol's tries to be as she was before her husband cheated on her and to stay away from alcohol which made her grumpy and caused her yelling at her kids, only lasted for about two months and Piper gave up hope that her mom would be how she used to. She had always liked the connection she had with her mother but during the last year they had lost it. Even though Piper hoped they would be able to get it back but wasn't sure. For now she decided it was better to leave it and she tried to stay away from home as much as she could.
Couple weeks later it was the girls birthday again and even though they were looking forward to it something was different this year. It made Piper sad that her mother couldn't just be happy for her and celebrate her eleventh birthday with everyone who was at the party. Also her dad had been there in the morning until afternoon but told her he had an important business dinner he had to attend to and wasn't there for most of the party. When he said that she saw her mom's face twitch a little and she left the room. The party was good. Even though the party was happening Alex, Piper and Nicky soon disappeared into the tree house that Piper's parents had given all three of their kids as a christmas present couple years ago.
"How are you doing, Nicky?" Piper asked her. "We haven't seen each other much and had much chance to talk since your parents got the divorce and you moved with your mom."
"It's okay. I don't really see my dad and sometimes miss him. But at least now they don't fight anymore. It's so quiet in our house now." the ten-year-old said.
"Maybe you can come see us more often?!" Alex offered.
"Yeah, we miss seeing you." Piper added.
"I miss you guys too. I'll ask my mom." Nicky said. "How about you? What's been going on in your lives?"
"Everything as usual." Alex answered. It was true, her life was the most consistent compared to Piper's and Nicky's at the moment. Which had it's good side, because the Vause family was one of the places Piper felt at home. More than at her own parents house sometimes.
"Well. I don't know where to start. My mom's constantly yelling at us. And I've got the feeling she is drunk quite often. My parents don't talk to each other anymore other then who drops off me, Danny or Cal somewhere. Every time my dad has a business dinner my mom gets even more upset." Piper explained adding "Maybe they should get a divorce too?! Maybe it stops this sometimes even hostile environment in our house. I don't know if I really want that, but I'd do anything for this to get better."
"Wow. That's a lot." Nicky said.
"So. You two finished your last year at your dad's school. Where are you gonna go next year?" Nicky wanted to know. She had gone to a different school and as she was a year younger than Alex and Piper she was in the grade below them. She however hoped that after she finished the following school year she could maybe go to the same school as Piper and Alex.
"We'll still go to the same school. But we don't know yet if we're going to be in the same class. They said they can't promise that. It's just on the other side of town. Actually pretty close to where you live now." Alex provided the information Nicky was looking for.
"That's cool. Hopefully I'll go there too next year." Nicky said.
"That would be cool." Piper said.
XXXXX
After the summer break the new school year started and as it turned out Alex and Piper were in different classes. As they finished their first day they promised each other to spend breaks together and see each other after school to talk, play and spend time together. As the weeks went by they stuck to their promise with spending the breaks but eventually some more kids came to spend the break as both girls found friends in their class. The school year went by and it was only a month left until Alex turned twelve and and a month and a half until Piper's birthday. Sara had asked her to go to a movie together. At first she was reluctant, especially as Sara didn't like Alex and sure wouldn't like if Piper asked if Alex could come. But then Piper told herself that even though she was best friends with Alex she could also go and see a movie with Sara and do something without Alex for once.
So she agreed to go with Sara. So the following saturday afternoon Piper and her friend Sara stood in front of the cinema waiting for the older boy, they had asked to get them tickets, to come back out and give them their tickets.
"Piper, will you please take off those stupid glasses?" Sara asked annoyed.
"Fine, but stop saying my name. I'm Zoe. Call me Zoe." Piper insisted.
"Okay, Zoe. Here he comes." Sara said.
"Here you go. Two tix to Dazed and Confused. Have fun." the boy said when he handed them the tickets and left.
"Thanks." Sara replied politely.
"What if it's rated R because something really inappropriate happens, something that scars us for life?" Piper was still not sure if they should go see a movie they weren't expected to see. To be honest she was a little scared.
"Will you stop? We've got the tickets. It's all cool. Why not try to enjoy it?" Sarah was getting annoyed.
Piper looked across the street and saw her father leaving a diner. He wasn't alone though.
"Oh, my god, my father!" Piper said to Sara.
"Yeah, right. Quit being such a spaz." Sara though Piper was slowly getting a bit paranoid.
"No, seriously, look across the street." Piper pointed to the other side of the street. "That's my dad!"
"Oh, shit." was all Sara said to that.
"See?" Piper knew she was right.
"Oh, shit." Sara replied when they saw Piper's father get closer to the car being very close to the woman who accompanied him.
"Who is that?" Piper asked, not being sure if she really wanted to know, when he kissed the woman and they got in the car. Piper's dad didn't see her standing on the other side of the street. Piper suddenly felt really sad and angry at her dad. What he did was cheating. That woman he just kissed was not her mother. And he was married to her mother. This was wrong. He shouldn't do that!
"Maybe the movie will take your mind off it. I gave the guy 10 extra bucks to buy the tickets for us." Sara said and tried to make Piper come to the movie with her. Piper wasn't so sure if the movie would help her not to think about what she just witnessed. If her mom knew? She couldn't, right? She wouldn't let that happen. Men shouldn't kiss women they're not married to.
When returning home Piper had thought a lot about her dad's action and whether to tell her mother and came to the conclusion that is was best to tell her mother. This wasn't right. Her dad definitely shouldn't do anything like that.
A few days later she had found enough strength to tell her mother. She found her mother in the kitchen. "Mom?" she cautiously said.
Carol held out her hand having the grocery bags on the kitchen counter. "A hand would be nice." she said.
"Mom, I have to tell you something." Piper was still cautious. She didn't really want to make her mom said but thought she needed to know.
"What? Oh, good heavens." she said looking out of the window towards the neighbours. "The Neals finally decide to repaint and they choose that colour? I've gotta call Barbara."
"Wait, Mom?" Piper couldn't wait for her mom to finish that phone talk. This was way more important than some house colour. And she needed to do it now because she wasn't sure if she would have the courage to do it later.
"What?" Carol asked impatiently.
"I really wanna talk to you about something I saw." Piper answered quietly.
"Was it worse than the Neals' puke-green house?" Carol wanted to know.
"Yes."
"Well, that's saying something. What is it, dear?"
"Well, the other day, Sara and I went to the movies at the Suffolk." Piper quietly started.
"Sara B. or Sara H.?"
"Sara H." Piper answered, not sure why this was important.
"Hmm. Go on." Carol listened and moved closer to Piper.
"I, I saw Daddy." she said shyly. She wanted to back out but knew that now that she started she also needed to tell everything to finish what she started.
"Okay."
"He was with someone. A lady someone. He kissed her." Piper said almost apologetically.
Her mom took a moment to react, just shortly shook her head a little and asked Piper: "What movie did you and Sara H. see at the Suffolk?" Piper could hear her mom's voice trembling but her expression on her face didn't change at all.
"Um, Dazed and Confused, but…" Piper was confused. How could her mom be so calm?
"Piper Elizabeth Chapman, you're grounded." Carol said rather breathlessly.
"What?" Piper couldn't believe this. Why was she getting grounded? Her dad did the wrong thing! Was this the gratefulness she got for being honest with her mother?
"That is an R-rated movie and you are not 17, and I did not give you permission to see that movie. How do you even get tickets? You know, I don't want you hanging around with that Sara H. She is a bad influence." Carol turned back to cleaning and acted like nothing happened. Piper was deeply confused about her mother's behaviour.
"Please put away the groceries while I call Barbara. You know, that color is actually making me feel nauseous." was all Carol added and Piper followed her orders and put away the groceries. She wasn't so sure anymore if telling the truth always was so crucial. And then it slowly dawned on her that maybe her mother knew about her cheating father already. Maybe this explained the weirdness and anger of the last year. But a whole year! How could her mother just ignore completely that her father was unfaithful to her?
Now that she was grounded there was no way that she could ask if she could go over to Alex's. So she went back to the kitchen where her mother just finished talking to Barbara on the phone.
"Mom. I know I'm grounded, but could Alex maybe come over, if she got the time?" Piper cautiously asked.
"You know the rules. You'll see each other in school tomorrow." Carol shortly answered and left the kitchen. Piper knew there was no sense trying to change her mind so she would have to wait until the next day to speak to Alex.
The next day Piper quickly found Alex during their first break.
"Hey Alex. Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked to get her away from the group of girls from her class she stood with.
"Sure." Alex replied and followed Piper to a rather quiet area of the yard.
"Could you maybe sneak into our tree house this afternoon? I'm grounded cause I went to see a movie last weekend that I shouldn't have. I'll tell my mom that I'll go reading in the tree house. That's the only place I'm allowed to go outside of the house as long as I'm grounded." Piper told Alex.
"I'll try to. But why? What is happening? Can't you tell me now?" Alex was curious.
"Not here. And I need to talk to you. Without anyone else being able to hear." Piper said.
"Okay. Sure." Alex said. "You wanna join us for the rest of the break? Get whatever this is off your mind for now? You seem to be upset about something."
"Yes. Please I need some distraction. I'll tell you later in the tree house why." Piper was thankful for the offer.
This afternoon Piper quickly collected something to drink, some sweets and her book in a small bag and headed towards the tree house. She'd wait there until Alex would be able to sneak in and at the same time avoid her mom. She was surprised though when she saw Alex already sitting there as she made her way into the little house.
"Hey. You're already here." Piper stated the obvious.
"Yeah. I came as soon as I could. Whatever you wanted to talk about seemed important." Alex explained.
"It is. I brought us something to drink and some sweets. Help yourself to whatever." Piper said and didn't really know how to start telling Alex about what was on her mind.
"What is it you wanted to talk about?" Alex asked after Piper didn't say anything for a while. So Piper reluctantly started to tell her best friend how she had been to the cinema the other day and how she saw her dad.
"Oh wow. That's big. What are you going to do? Does your mom know?" Alex looked at her eyes wide open.
"I don't know. And mom knows. This is what is most disturbing about all of this." Piper said and told her how she had told her mom after deciding it would be the right thing to do and that she didn't react to it at all. "So I concluded, that this isn't new to her. But how can she ignore that? I guess that is the reason she's been so upset about almost anything the whole last year!" Piper said and felt herself get angry.
"Oh shit." Alex just replied. While talking they had been sitting next to each other. Now Alex laid down and held her arms up to Piper pulling her down. So they laid next to each other in a hug and didn't say anything for a while.
"Maybe your mother doesn't want to get divorced from your father because she wants you three to grow up with both of your parents?!" Alex tried an explanation.
"Maybe. But you know how it is around here. Or better how it was. Before all this happened. And I don't know. Maybe a divorce wouldn't be that bad. If they don't love each other anymore, which I guess is the case, as my father goes out with other women, they shouldn't be together anymore, right?" Piper concluded.
"Maybe. That's very idealistic." Alex chuckled. "I think your mom got her reasons to do as she does."
"I guess she does. Using big words now, huh?" Piper chuckled. "Aren't we supposed to be idealistic? I mean, if I don't believe that people should be honest to each other how can I know who says the truth and who doesn't?" Piper asked.
"Now you're getting philosophical. I don't know, Pipes. But I can promise you I won't ever lie to you." Alex told her sincerely.
"Thank you. I promise you I won't ever lie to you either." Piper said and the whole talk with Alex had calmed her a lot. Alex was the one she could always talk to. She didn't trust anyone as she did trust her and was so happy to have her.