Ch. 14 "Finally!"

Dear Sara.

These were the words Lily had been helplessly staring at for the past eleven minutes. Her quill sat ready in her hand, and she hadn't yet removed it from her lap. After an idea popped to her head, she picked up her hand and wrote on the piece or parchment laying on her writing desk:

Hi.

Lily wrinkled her nose. That doesn't sound sincere enough,she thought. She dipped her quill in her pot of ink and drew a line above the period, so it now read:

Hi!

Ugh, now I sound desperate. Lily picked up her wand and removed the word. She sat still for another moment, thinking of what she could put in its place. Lily settled on, "Hello."

She wrote the period, ending the short sentence. Lily took a deep breath. She didn't think she'd get this far. Lily Evans was sitting in her own room at her nineteenth century French mahogany desk, which she adored. Her mother had pulled many strings to get this, and that only made Lily love her even more and miss her even more when they were separated.

Lily had been trying for the past three days to write a good letter of apology to Sara, and this was the first day she had actually put it on paper. But there was too much Lily had to say, and so little of it would fit in a letter. She really wanted to tell Sara this face-to-face, but until a letter was written, Lily was restricted.

Lily placed her quill to the parchment again, searching her mind for a good following sentence. After wasting another good three minutes, he wrote:

How are you?

No, that doesn't sound right either. Lily was getting frustrated. Why is this so difficult? It's just a stupid letter, for God's sake! Okay, I am making this much bigger than it really is. Just write something simple like . . . I'm sorry? I'm sorry! Ooh, that works . . .

So next to, "How are you?" Lily wrote:

I'm sorry.

She shook her head disapproval. I need more detail, she won't buy it otherwise. So Lily erased the period and wrote:

for what I did.

More . . .

When I yelled at you.

I was wrong. I really should not have yelled, it was and is all my fault.

Oh, I've got to have something better than that.

I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. About the werewol –

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Erase, erase, erase. Not yet.

night I fainted. It's something I need to keep to myself for awhile longer. Besides, I really don't see what the big deal is . . .

I want her to forgive me, not come over and personally murder me. Erase it . . . God, do I hate letters.

Well, I am really sorry, it is really lonely here with just Petunia and Vernon. Did I tell you about him? I'll tell you later. Just write back and I'll be so grateful. Please write back. Love, Lily

Lily thought the "love" part made her sound even more sincere. She set down her quill and held up the finished letter. "There," she said proudly. "Now that wasn't so hard."

She walked over to her owl's cage. Gingerbread ruffled her tawny wings and hooted softly. Lily gently lifted her from her cage and carried her to the window. "I want you to take this straight to Sara," Lily commanded as she tied the letter to her owl's leg. "No distractions, and don't leave until you get an answer. But if she gets really annoyed, leave, 'cause I don't want to anger her any more. But if she doesn't seem too mad and she won't write back, then stay. But don't peck her, or bite her or anything. Basically, just don't get on her nerves. But I really would like a letter back, so just try and make sure I get one, just as long as she's not mad. Got it?"

Gingerbread quickly flew out the window without a backward glance at Lily. Lily smirked and thought, I really wish she understood what I just said. Lily walked downstairs into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Lily heard footsteps approaching, and by the sound of the speedy tapping, she knew it was Petunia.

"You know," her older sister said to Lily's back, "you'll get fat if you don't stop eating so much. You're already looking a little chubby right now. Or is that just baby fat?" she sneered.

Lily looked at the bony little arm that was holding the fridge door open. Fat? Please, I'm barely even skin and bones. Less than that. "I'm only 110.7 pounds."

"That's a lot."

"I'm five feet seven inches tall."

"As if that makes a difference."

"How are you calling me fat? And when you're a walking skeleton yourself!" Lily said.

Petunia pursed her lips. She looked like a horse. Lily was half-expecting her to neigh. "I am naturally tall and slender, not to mention beautiful. You're just jealous."

"Oh, so now I'm jealous of pasty blonde hair, incredibly high cheekbones, and a neck a giraffe would be jealous of? Oh man, I wish I knew!"

Petunia's eyes narrowed into the slits Lily knew showed on her face. Those angry slits were exactly the same on both girls. The one thing they had in common. It's a little sad, actually, Lily thought, if that's the only thing. And it's not even an attractive feature.

"I know what this is all about," Petunia declared.

"Oh?" Lily asked, surprised.

"Yes. You're jealous of me and you know it. Except this time it's not about my good looks. This time it's because I have Vernon. We both know that you're alone, and you're afraid of being alone until you die."

"I don't need a man to complete me," Lily snapped defensively. She read that in one of her mother's women magazines, and it sounded appropriate.

Petunia scoffed and threw back her head. "Puh-lease! How can you not worry? I mean look at you! What man would possibly want you? You're ugly, too quiet, then you never shut up. You're too self-conscious, and you spend way too much time in your head! What guy would ever want that? I mean, seriously! Good luck finding one. Meanwhile, I've got Vernon." With one last smirk, Petunia snapped around and walked away from Lily, her hips swaying in a hopeless attempt to look sexy.

Lily was clutching the handle on the fridge door so hard that her knuckled were white. She quickly let go and stormed up to her room. She picked up the nearest object – in this case, a dictionary, and since she didn't have a mirror to aim at, she chucked it at the wall, causing the paint to crack. She stomped around the room, muttering every swear word that came to mind. After a few minutes of this, combined with more throwing and yelling, she calmed down. Lily admired her temper. She felt that it gave people a basic idea of how pissed she was.

Lily sat down on the bed and picked up her map of the world again. She had been looking at different countries ever since she had gotten back, looking for more ideas of where she was going to move to, because she definitely was not staying in England. Whatever country Petunia was in was deemed no good in Lily's head.

But, after all the places she looked at, Hawaii was the only place that sparked her interest. She sighed happily. "I can't wait to get out of here," she said quietly to herself.

Lily heard a tap on her window and her head snapped in its direction. Gingerbread was tapping at her window, a letter around her foot. Lily excitedly went to the window and let her owl in. she untied the letter and after watching the owl perch on her bedpost, read the letter hungrily.

Her heart sank. It was the letter she had written. There was nothing else on it. Not a note, a notation, not even a microscopic ink dot. Nothing. Lily turned the letter over with just the slightest bit of hope and squealed happily when she saw Sara's handwriting.

Evans,

The letter began with Evans. Lily was slightly disappointed. It seemed almost offensive, the way Sara made it sound. Lily continued on.

Fuck you.

WHAT?! Lily's mind raced. Sara had gone too far. Her heart sank and the oh so familiar pit in her stomach returned. "She hates me," Lily said miserably. Then Lily noticed that there was more, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to read it. She gathered up what little courage she had and read on.

Sorry about that, I just had to say it to someone. Anyway, Evans, I am still mad at you. I am only writing because I am good soul at heart and I am not a bitch. Most of the time.

I thought about it (your owl had that look in her eyes that she would peck me to death if I didn't) and the fight really is stupid. I don't care if you don't tell me, I just had a very nosy and conceited moment. So, yeah, I'm sorry. Uh, that's all I can think of right now. So . . . yeah.

Sara

Lily felt slightly better. Sara was never one for apologies. Lily quickly grabbed another piece of parchment and wrote:

Dear Sara,

Thank you so, so, so, so much for writing back. And you're right, the fight was stupid. Incredibly stupid. So if you're not mad, I was wondering if you could SAVE ME and let me com over your house for . . . the remainder of summer vacation? Two months isn't that long, really. I really have to get out of this house and away from Petunia. We got in another fight; this time it was about how ugly and pitiful I am. But anyway, PLEASE consider it, and write back ASAP.

"Evans"

Lily folded the letter and went back over to her owl. Gingerbread looked at Lily in annoyance and struggled before sticking gout her leg. "Oh, I know you don't want to go out again, but the flight isn't that long. And this is the last one, I promise. This one goes to Sara, too."

As Lily watched her owl fly towards the horizon, the smallest sliver of hope that she would get to stay at Sara's house for the remainder of the summer fluttered in her stomach.

Lily looked around her room, looking for something to do while she waited for Sara's response. Her stomach growled and she realized how hungry she was. She wandered down the stairs towards the kitchen, after leaving an open window for Gingerbread, her stomach growled again, this time even louder. "I would have eaten sooner if it wasn't for Petty," Lily mumbled angrily under her breath and she jumped down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

She made herself a sandwich and engulfed herself in Jane Eyre, a Muggle book that she adored and was now reading for the twenty-sixth time. Just as she was reading about another one of Jane's terrifying encounters with John Reed, Gingerbread swooped down the stairs and into Lily's lap. She untied the new letter, this time after affectionately petting and cooing at her owl. Gingerbread hooted gently and perched on the armrest of the chair Lily was nestled in. Sara's letter read:

Sure, you can come over. I just asked my mum and she doesn't care. BUT, you can come over on one condition.

And that was all it said on the front. Lily furrowed her brow in confusion and looked at the back.

MAKEOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lady Cantara: you like to scream alot, don't you? lol

InLuvWitRupert: who cares if you're a drama queen, we're the best ;)
no, i have not studied shakespear yet, but i think i will in like 2 years. yeah. but, my friend and her boyfriend have both read romeo and juliet, and i don't think they were forced. and he even quotes it! anyway, good luck understanding it!

GSCer: i wonder what your name means........anywho, yay i have another new reviewer! i hope you like the story! and yes, it is very confuzzling.

lilynjamesAAF: ANOTHER new reviewer! thank you for the review, i greatly appreciate it. i can't wait till lily changes either! lol

blonde-brain: who WAS down there with tanya? who knows. well me, duh. lol, same thing.