Prompt: Write about a change that someone ends up being grateful for.
This is my first take on a modern AU…We'll see how this goes, I guess.
"Don't you want to get up today?" Iantha Joveson looked up from Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows to see her sister, Emma, staring at her.
"I dunno," Iantha shrugged, and went back to reading.
"It's Saturday," Emma pried Harry Potter away from Iantha's face, and waved in front of her nose. "What if you went out and did something for a change? You're going back to college next week."
"Yeah, and I have to socialize there as much as it is."
"What if we go do something?" Emma put the book down on the nightstand next to Iantha's bed, and tugged her arm so hard she fell onto the floor. "We could go out to lunch, and go shopping, or something."
Iantha made a face from her spot on the floor. "Since when do you care about shopping?"
"I don't. But I know you do, and I'll do whatever it takes to get you to go somewhere. You've barely left your bedroom since the beggining of the month, and you've only been to one party since you came home. Come on. Just this once."
Iantha sighed. She fidgeted. She played with the hem of her T-shirt. But finally, she answered. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt, just this once."
She watched as Emma made a noise somewhere between an excited squeal, and the sound of a mouse being trodden on. "We should see if Heather, Heyna and Weezie want to come."
"Okay," Was Iantha's reply. "Now go away. I need to shower."
Emma left the room, and Iantha stood up, and looked herself over in the full-length mirror on the bedroom door. She was dressed in mismatched fuzzy socks, a pair of sweatpants with an uncountable amount of holes, and a tie-dyed T-shirt that had most likely never seen the light of day. Her long, bright red hair was a rat's nest on top of her head, and her round glasses were hanging off of one ear. She wrinkled her nose. She really hadn't been out of her bedroom in a long time. She peeled off her pajamas, and took a sixty–second shower before combing her hair, jumping into a pair of jeans(without holes), and tugging a purple cable-knit sweater over her head. She braided her hair, placed her glasses on the right way, and headed downstairs to the kitchen. It was nearly ten O'clock, and Iantha popped an everything bagel into the toaster oven just as Whit wandered into the kitchen, yawning. He jumped as he noticed Iantha pouring a mug of instant hot-chocolate, and then smirked.
"She lives," He snatched Iantha's mug of hot-chocolate, and beelined for the living room.
Iantha sighed, and grabbed her second favorite mug out of the cupboard, a blue one, with bumble bees circling the outside. She poured in another packet of instant hot-chocolate, and sprayed the last of the whipped cream on top, along with a sprinkle of cinnamon. "I hope it tastes alright," She called after Whit's retreating back. "I haven't stirred it yet."
There was snow drifting down outside the window, and someone had lit a pumpkin spice candle in the middle of the dining room table, where Iantha sat, eating breakfast with Emma.
"What time should we pick them up?" Iantha asked between bites of bagel.
"Heather says she can do anything after eleven thirty, Weezie's good with anything, and Heyna has fencing practice from ten thirty to eleven."
"Got it, '' Iantha replied, draining the last of her mug. "Then I'll go start Junk Bucket, I guess."
"We're taking that?" Emma made a face.
"In case you hadn't noticed," Iantha replied. "I'm the only one out of all five of us who actually owns transportation." Junk Bucket was referring to Iantha's beat-up Minivan, Colored a neon green, complete with eight-billion bumper stickers and a Dukes Of Hazzard horn. But as Iantha herself liked to say: "She's a keeper." That, and the fact that it was the most affordable car in the entire dealership.
"Anyway," Iantha continued. "Heyward fixed the heat."
When Emma couldn't find an answer to that, she left to look for a winter hat, and Iantha bundled up to start the car. But when she turned the key in the ignition, the poor, decrepit piece of metal did nothing more than cough, sputter, and whine. Iantha muttered something unitelegable under her breath, and tracked snow all the way to the bottom of the stairs inside the house.
"Smalls!" She shouted up the banister. "You were the last person to use my car, and now it won't work. What did you do?"
Her brother appeared at the top of the stairs, looking very much like he didn't appreciate being woken up. "I didn't do anything." He replied. "But if you're that concerned, the jump cables are in the garage."
When Iantha tramped back out of the house, she noticed their next door neighbor, Heather Longtreader's little brother, playing in his front yard.
"Jacks," She called over the fence. "Is your dad at home?"
"Yeah, replied Jacks, without looking up from his snowfort. "He's inside, why?"
"My car won't start," Iantha tossed a snowball at him. "And I was wondering if he'd be willing to jump start it."
"Okay," Jacks returned her snowball with three. "I'll ask him." He disappeared into the house for a moment, and came back a few moments later, Whittle Longtreader in tow. Whittle waved to her, and then drove his car into the Joveson's driveway. Iantha already had the jump cables attached to her battery, and as Whittle raised the hood of the Longtreader family car, he flashed her a warm smile.
"It's nice to see you up and about, Iantha," He took the cables she was offering him, and clamped them onto the battery. "Try it now."
Iantha climbed back into Junk Bucket's driver's seat, and turned the key. The Grinch of a car spluttered, complained, but finally started. Iantha called a "Thank you," to Whittle as he scooched back into his own car, and his smile sent warmth tingling all the way down to her toes. Emma came out of the house, handed Iantha her backpack, and clambered into the passenger's seat. Junk Bucket lurched out of the drive, and creeped to a stop in front of the Longtreader's house, where Heather flew out the door, and climbed into the backseat.
"Hey, Emma," Iantha whispered as the snowflakes flew against the windshield and the radio played 'Marshmallow World,' "Thanks."
Emma reached over and squeezed her hand. "Anytime, Sis."