Thank you EVERYONE for all the positive reviews! I love you all!
Let's get on with the show...I'll try to make this chapter longer than the last one.
The door behind me swung open, revealing a middle aged man. "Ugh..." I thought. He was head to toe in Armani, with his hair slicked back. A woman, clad in a long, Prada dress, lolled on his arm. It was obscene, how covered in diamonds she was.
"Rrrrrrrrhonda, doll. Your Father and I are meeting the VonSnatt's car outside! We'll be home around midnight!" sang Rhonda's mother. She seemed to over dramaticize every word. Like we were in a soap opera. She also seemed to be looking me up and down, with a pinched frown on her face. Hey, was Nadine with her bugs so much better than me?
"Have fun with your friend dear! Er....what's your name?" drawled her father
"Why would you care?" I asked sweetly.
"Er...what was that?" asked her father. I glowered. "Nothing...". They left in a swoosh of velvet and silk. I looked out the window, and saw them running to fire-red, snazzy convertible. Nice.
"Helga!" Snapped Rhonda. "Get to work! These are my fifteen cats, Snowy, Whitey, Blackie, Fluffernutter, Yum-Yum, Cutie, Molly, Prissy, Lady...
"Awful, Yucky, Ugly...." I thought.
".....and Cottonball." finished Rhonda. "Every day, each of them needs to be fed, groomed, excercized, and talked to. You feed them Prissy Kitty MOIST cat food, in a martini glass. It MUST be the tuna flavor. You need to brush each of them, except Blackie, one hundred times a day. They need a bath every other day. The litter boxes have to be emptied every six hours. You simply MUST walk them every five hours. You must bring them to the backyard, and let them play. Finally, you must talk to them for one hour, every day! Got that?"
I blinked.
Rhonda raised her eyes heavenward, and let out her breath in a sigh. "Fine."
"Rhonda?" I asked, with a little sarcasm dripping on my words.
"Yes, Helga?"
"How am I going to, say, walk your cats every five hours. Because if you think that I'm going to stay after school for five hours, you've got another thing coming, princess!" I glared at her, and put my hands on my hips.
Again, Rhonda sighed. "Fine! You only have to stay two hours after school, and three on the weekends! After school, one hour will be for my cats, and the other hour for my chores and homework. On the weekends, One hour to my cats, and the remaining two hours to helping me shop."
"Helping you SHOP!??" I yelled.
Now Rhonda blinked. "You will accompany me to carry my packages."
There was no use arguing. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Alright, Helga." Rhonda pointed a manicured finger at me. "Tomorrow is Saturday. You BETTER be here by ONE PM." She jabbed her finger at me to puncutate.
I crossed my arms and sneered at her. There was no use trying to get out of this one. But five months of this...Oh well. I was'nt doing anything else, anyway.....
I turned sharply on my heel, and left.
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The next morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table, chewing on Super-Sugar Blasto Puffs. Miriam was asleep on the couch, with the TV blaring, and Bob was still asleep. Wait! No, we were not! For once, Everyone acted normal, and sat around the kitchen table, gnawing on a buffet on pancakes, blueberry muffins, bacon, scrambled eggs, and sausages.
Olga was still here.
And she was still in the kitchen.
"Haven't had food this great since college!" growled Bob. "Yesss Honey, It'sss reallly gooood...." lazed Miriam. I just sat like a statue in my place, stiffly chewing a blueberry muffin.
Olga swept out of the kitchen, already perfectly dressed, make-upped, combed, washed and dried. Since six in the morning. "Ooooh Mummy! Daddy! Thank you soooo much! It's just soooo great being here for Christmas!"
"And I'm soooo going to throw up!" I muttered under my breath.
The sudden jerk of Olga's arm around my neck came. She was cuddling my...face. "And you toooo baby sister! I just love being with you! Your idea of me teaching underpriveleged inuit children was the best! How's the breakfast? You seem quiet!"
Wow. That was one of the longest running sentences I had ever heard. Every word seemed to have an exclamation mark.
But, it was time to go to school, thank goodness. I grabbed my coat and lunchbox, and stomped out the door. "Bye, everyone!" I called sweetly behind me, Olga-style.
It was snowing pretty hard. Big, downy wet flakes were slowly coming down towards earth. It was kind of pretty, in a wet, cold sort of way. Very Christmas-like.
The school loomed up in front of me. There were a few small snowball wars going on. the bell obviously hadn't rung.
SMACK! A snowball whapped the side of my head, dripping the cold, crystal flakes slowly down my neck. I whirled around to see who it was. A grinning Wolfgang stood behind me, tossing another snowball into the air, and catching it.
"Oh noooo! Little girl not gonna cry is she? Waaaah waaah! Little bitty fourth grader!" Wolfgang whined. His gum-chewing friend stood behind him, tapping his shoulder. "Uuuuuhh, Wolfgang, that's not such a-" Wolfgang shoved him off. "Shut up!" he growled.
So of course, being me, I had to take advantage of this sudden distraction.
I charged at Wolfgang, and knocked him, and his friend into an empty trash can. "Wha-" he stuttered.
"Nighty-night!" I said, before shoving snow on both their faces.
The bell rang.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
"Boys and girls! I have a super-special surprise for everyone!" chirped the cheerful Mr.Simmons.
Oh, boy.
"The school wants to do something for the holidays, so..."
Whoop-dee-doo.
"We're going to put on a holiday pageant! Isn't that special? It'll have skits, songs, and a lot of other stuff, all written by our own class! We'll feature Kwanzaa, Christmas, and Hannukah!"
Always politically correct, huh Mr.Simmons?
The class was moderately excited. Buzzing about costumes, skits, and the like were discussed. Mr. Simmons looked pleased.
"If you're interested, please see me in the auditorium, after school. We'll have auditions, and idea proposals."
"But Mr. Simmons?" asked Stinky "How'll we audition with no lines?"
"Hmmmm." hummed Mr. Simmons. He popped his finger into the air.
"I've got it! If you are interested in writing for the pageant, please see me after school!"
Hmmm. That piqued my interest. Writing IS one of my natural talents after all. I could probably come up with a few ideas, and maybe even be IN the pageant, too. It could be ok. It's not like I have anything better to do.
Wait a minute. That sounded familiar.
Oh, crap! Rhonda!
I swiveled around in my chair to glance at her. She glared. I threw a glare right back. She shook her head no.
Oh, was she gonna get it.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
AFTER SCHOOL, AT RHONDA'S
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Bru-ROOOOOOOOOOOOWR!! Scratch, scratch.
I hate Yum-Yum. I make one mistake in brushing, and she practically kills me.
Yeah, this was fun. I had already emptied the litter boxes, and taken them all out for a walk. I had almost finished brushing all of them. Just 76 more strokes on Yum-Yum the devil cat. Then, i could go home. Wait! No! Then it's time to do Rhonda's chores. Luckily, Mr. Simmons gave no homework.
I brushed Yuck-Yuck a few more times, until she attacked again.
"Screw you, cat." I had better things to do.
Suddenly, Rhonda whirled into the room. She was painting her fingernails, and each one shone like a miniature sun. "Done with the cats Helga?" she drawled. "Well, time for chores. I need you to clean up my room. Hop, get to it!"
I silently trodded up to her room. Luckily, nothing feline followed me.
I creaked open the door. "Pheeeew..." i sighed. Her room wasn't too bad. At least it wouldn't be too hard.
I picked a few books up, and set them back on the shelves, put stuffed animals back on shelves, stuff like that. Boring, but not backbreaking. I had a feeling that would be the key for the next few months. I was just dreading the weekends.
As I opened the drawer of her desk to put away a calculator, something caught my eye. A ordinary piece of paper, with scribbles on it. I don't know what I noticed about it right away, but I am sure glad I did.
I fingered the edges of the paper, and my mouth split into a wide grin.
This was too good.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
So, better? Sorry it took so long. Cliffhanger, cliffhanger! Hahahahaha! More reviews, and I will write faster, I promise!
Let's get on with the show...I'll try to make this chapter longer than the last one.
The door behind me swung open, revealing a middle aged man. "Ugh..." I thought. He was head to toe in Armani, with his hair slicked back. A woman, clad in a long, Prada dress, lolled on his arm. It was obscene, how covered in diamonds she was.
"Rrrrrrrrhonda, doll. Your Father and I are meeting the VonSnatt's car outside! We'll be home around midnight!" sang Rhonda's mother. She seemed to over dramaticize every word. Like we were in a soap opera. She also seemed to be looking me up and down, with a pinched frown on her face. Hey, was Nadine with her bugs so much better than me?
"Have fun with your friend dear! Er....what's your name?" drawled her father
"Why would you care?" I asked sweetly.
"Er...what was that?" asked her father. I glowered. "Nothing...". They left in a swoosh of velvet and silk. I looked out the window, and saw them running to fire-red, snazzy convertible. Nice.
"Helga!" Snapped Rhonda. "Get to work! These are my fifteen cats, Snowy, Whitey, Blackie, Fluffernutter, Yum-Yum, Cutie, Molly, Prissy, Lady...
"Awful, Yucky, Ugly...." I thought.
".....and Cottonball." finished Rhonda. "Every day, each of them needs to be fed, groomed, excercized, and talked to. You feed them Prissy Kitty MOIST cat food, in a martini glass. It MUST be the tuna flavor. You need to brush each of them, except Blackie, one hundred times a day. They need a bath every other day. The litter boxes have to be emptied every six hours. You simply MUST walk them every five hours. You must bring them to the backyard, and let them play. Finally, you must talk to them for one hour, every day! Got that?"
I blinked.
Rhonda raised her eyes heavenward, and let out her breath in a sigh. "Fine."
"Rhonda?" I asked, with a little sarcasm dripping on my words.
"Yes, Helga?"
"How am I going to, say, walk your cats every five hours. Because if you think that I'm going to stay after school for five hours, you've got another thing coming, princess!" I glared at her, and put my hands on my hips.
Again, Rhonda sighed. "Fine! You only have to stay two hours after school, and three on the weekends! After school, one hour will be for my cats, and the other hour for my chores and homework. On the weekends, One hour to my cats, and the remaining two hours to helping me shop."
"Helping you SHOP!??" I yelled.
Now Rhonda blinked. "You will accompany me to carry my packages."
There was no use arguing. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Alright, Helga." Rhonda pointed a manicured finger at me. "Tomorrow is Saturday. You BETTER be here by ONE PM." She jabbed her finger at me to puncutate.
I crossed my arms and sneered at her. There was no use trying to get out of this one. But five months of this...Oh well. I was'nt doing anything else, anyway.....
I turned sharply on my heel, and left.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
The next morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table, chewing on Super-Sugar Blasto Puffs. Miriam was asleep on the couch, with the TV blaring, and Bob was still asleep. Wait! No, we were not! For once, Everyone acted normal, and sat around the kitchen table, gnawing on a buffet on pancakes, blueberry muffins, bacon, scrambled eggs, and sausages.
Olga was still here.
And she was still in the kitchen.
"Haven't had food this great since college!" growled Bob. "Yesss Honey, It'sss reallly gooood...." lazed Miriam. I just sat like a statue in my place, stiffly chewing a blueberry muffin.
Olga swept out of the kitchen, already perfectly dressed, make-upped, combed, washed and dried. Since six in the morning. "Ooooh Mummy! Daddy! Thank you soooo much! It's just soooo great being here for Christmas!"
"And I'm soooo going to throw up!" I muttered under my breath.
The sudden jerk of Olga's arm around my neck came. She was cuddling my...face. "And you toooo baby sister! I just love being with you! Your idea of me teaching underpriveleged inuit children was the best! How's the breakfast? You seem quiet!"
Wow. That was one of the longest running sentences I had ever heard. Every word seemed to have an exclamation mark.
But, it was time to go to school, thank goodness. I grabbed my coat and lunchbox, and stomped out the door. "Bye, everyone!" I called sweetly behind me, Olga-style.
It was snowing pretty hard. Big, downy wet flakes were slowly coming down towards earth. It was kind of pretty, in a wet, cold sort of way. Very Christmas-like.
The school loomed up in front of me. There were a few small snowball wars going on. the bell obviously hadn't rung.
SMACK! A snowball whapped the side of my head, dripping the cold, crystal flakes slowly down my neck. I whirled around to see who it was. A grinning Wolfgang stood behind me, tossing another snowball into the air, and catching it.
"Oh noooo! Little girl not gonna cry is she? Waaaah waaah! Little bitty fourth grader!" Wolfgang whined. His gum-chewing friend stood behind him, tapping his shoulder. "Uuuuuhh, Wolfgang, that's not such a-" Wolfgang shoved him off. "Shut up!" he growled.
So of course, being me, I had to take advantage of this sudden distraction.
I charged at Wolfgang, and knocked him, and his friend into an empty trash can. "Wha-" he stuttered.
"Nighty-night!" I said, before shoving snow on both their faces.
The bell rang.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
"Boys and girls! I have a super-special surprise for everyone!" chirped the cheerful Mr.Simmons.
Oh, boy.
"The school wants to do something for the holidays, so..."
Whoop-dee-doo.
"We're going to put on a holiday pageant! Isn't that special? It'll have skits, songs, and a lot of other stuff, all written by our own class! We'll feature Kwanzaa, Christmas, and Hannukah!"
Always politically correct, huh Mr.Simmons?
The class was moderately excited. Buzzing about costumes, skits, and the like were discussed. Mr. Simmons looked pleased.
"If you're interested, please see me in the auditorium, after school. We'll have auditions, and idea proposals."
"But Mr. Simmons?" asked Stinky "How'll we audition with no lines?"
"Hmmmm." hummed Mr. Simmons. He popped his finger into the air.
"I've got it! If you are interested in writing for the pageant, please see me after school!"
Hmmm. That piqued my interest. Writing IS one of my natural talents after all. I could probably come up with a few ideas, and maybe even be IN the pageant, too. It could be ok. It's not like I have anything better to do.
Wait a minute. That sounded familiar.
Oh, crap! Rhonda!
I swiveled around in my chair to glance at her. She glared. I threw a glare right back. She shook her head no.
Oh, was she gonna get it.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
AFTER SCHOOL, AT RHONDA'S
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Brush.
Bru-ROOOOOOOOOOOOWR!! Scratch, scratch.
I hate Yum-Yum. I make one mistake in brushing, and she practically kills me.
Yeah, this was fun. I had already emptied the litter boxes, and taken them all out for a walk. I had almost finished brushing all of them. Just 76 more strokes on Yum-Yum the devil cat. Then, i could go home. Wait! No! Then it's time to do Rhonda's chores. Luckily, Mr. Simmons gave no homework.
I brushed Yuck-Yuck a few more times, until she attacked again.
"Screw you, cat." I had better things to do.
Suddenly, Rhonda whirled into the room. She was painting her fingernails, and each one shone like a miniature sun. "Done with the cats Helga?" she drawled. "Well, time for chores. I need you to clean up my room. Hop, get to it!"
I silently trodded up to her room. Luckily, nothing feline followed me.
I creaked open the door. "Pheeeew..." i sighed. Her room wasn't too bad. At least it wouldn't be too hard.
I picked a few books up, and set them back on the shelves, put stuffed animals back on shelves, stuff like that. Boring, but not backbreaking. I had a feeling that would be the key for the next few months. I was just dreading the weekends.
As I opened the drawer of her desk to put away a calculator, something caught my eye. A ordinary piece of paper, with scribbles on it. I don't know what I noticed about it right away, but I am sure glad I did.
I fingered the edges of the paper, and my mouth split into a wide grin.
This was too good.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
So, better? Sorry it took so long. Cliffhanger, cliffhanger! Hahahahaha! More reviews, and I will write faster, I promise!