I noticed where Minnie is mentioned the first time it says she is eleven years old. I don't know why it says eleven. Because the form that was filled up for her says eight. Anyway, changing it now. She's almost eight. I hope you guys can live with all of this confusion.
Thanks to Justice237 and GleeJunkie007 for reviewing.
I have made polyvore edits for how most of the rooms look now when the walls have been painted or put wallpaper on and the furniture and some things in the rooms. I still have a couple of ones left to make though. But the ones I've made are in the collection for edits for this story and the link is on my profile.
"I guess I'll go upstairs then." I finally said. "I helped choosing color and everything for our room. But it will be another thing actually seeing it."
I could see Mike was smiling at me in a distressed kind of way. I could understand him but what was I supposed to do? I couldn't waste all of one day's energy on worrying about what would happened to Elijah once he was born. Even though that was the most important thing right now I did still have a few months left and I was allowed to take five minutes to worry about something else.
"LEAVE IT BE." I could hear from inside Floss's and Minnie's room when I passed it. I couldn't help but frown when I heard the tone in her voice. I stepped closer to the door, that was only slightly opened and could see Floss and Minnie standing by what must be Floss's new bed. And it was covered in stuffed animals. "It's mine, it's mine, it's mine, it's mine. And don't you dare take one from me."
I could see, that while Floss had stuffed animals of all kinds, sizes and colors, Minnie was holding onto one purple, soft rabbit which Floss was just ripping from her hands and leaving a hurt look on Minnie's face.
"I was just going to look at it." Minnie said sadly. "And I thought that maybe, since you have loads of stuffed animals and I don't have none. Maybe you could let me have a single one. Because I don't have any and my birthday is next week."
"I don't care about your stupid birthday and you're not having any of my animals. Especially not Bessie the bunny. And…" Floss pushed Minnie out of my sight, but when Floss grabbed a crayon and started drawing on the floor I couldn't help but to feel bad for Minnie. As quietly as I could I tip-toed away from Floss and Minnie's room and downstairs.
"Mike." I knocked on the door to the office. "I have an idea for something. "But… Oh." When I came into the office there wasn't just Mike there. But also a large, black man who I didn't recognize. "I'll come back later."
"Oh no." Mike stopped me. "If you want to leave as soon as he is here you won't get much time in here. He's our new care worker. Well old-new. He used to work at the dumping ground years ago. Kenny- Duke. Duke this is Kenny. One of our older care kids at the moment. And… Well, I'll let you two talk to each other."
"Mike? I need to ask you about something…" Mike smiled, nodded and leaned back. "I've been noticing that… Well. Floss is kind of a bully. And since Minnie is the one she's now sharing with her, Minnie's the victim right. And Minnie's new and all of that but I thought. If it's okay with them and everything then maybe Tee and Minnie could switch rooms. That way I'll share with Minnie- I think she trusts me. And Tee can handle Floss."
Mike looked thoughtful and leaned back against the desk. He seemed to be thinking hard about something, even though the answer seemed clear to me. So was the answer that Mike gave me to the question.
"You do know Kenny. Sharing your room with Minnie instead of Tee would give you another kind of responsibility than what you do have right now. Since she's new and as little as she is you would have another kind of responsibility over how she is doing. And I'm not sure if I want to put that on you right now. With the baby and everything…"
"I'm not made of glass Mike." I protested. "And I think it's more important whether our newest one here is bullied by her roommate or not. Because I won't relax unless Minnie shares with someone who can at least treat her alright. Can we at least bring Floss, Minnie and Tee here so we can ask them before everybody has gotten all of their things into the rooms that they're not going to be living in… Look. I talked to Minnie the day she came here, I think she trusts me. Can't we at least consider this and if something doesn't work out then we'll change it back? I promise I will let you know if something doesn't work out."
Mike hesitated. We probably knew the both of us that if there was something that didn't work out I'd do my best to ignore and push through it instead of telling someone. Just like I had always done. But I wasn't going to get one minute of calm before I knew Minnie wasn't being bullied in this house.
"I'll go get them." Mike said at last. "Duke, Kenny. Talk to each other, get to know each other. I'll be back with Tee, Minnie and Floss in a second." He left the room and I turned to… Duke, was his name right?
"Well, hello." I said awkwardly. "I'm Kennedy LaRusso. But everyone calls me Kenny."
"Norman Wellington." He gave me a warm smile. "But everyone calls me Duke."
"Does that mean I'm going to have my own room?"
"No Floss. But that mean's you're going to share with Tee instead of with Minnie. Like I have already said, I know you want your own room. So does everybody in this house but there's just enough rooms for everyone to have their own."
Floss crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. But still seemed to be thinking hard about her options while she glanced from Mike, to Tee, to me and at last to Minnie and back to Tee.
"I'd rather share with Tee than with her." Floss said at last. "She's stupid and she…"
"FLOSS." Mike shouted and interrupted the red-haired girl. "You stay with me in here." His tone wasn't angry, but strict and he was dead serious. "You can go." He looked to the rest of us. "Tee and Minnie. You're in charge of moving your things over to the other rooms. Kenny, get some rest and Duke… do you still make that chicken risotto you used to? I think that will make a perfect dinner and all children will love it. Thank you. Don't even try it Floss. You're staying in here with me. And I'm being serious young lady."
"All of my things are still packed up in boxes from before we started painting. It will be quick. Minnie? Do you have a lot of things?" Minnie shook her head so her dark hair flew around it. "Well then. Maybe you can come and help me carry my boxes. There is one heavy one, I'll take that. But then there are four boxes with… Kenny. Mike told you to get some rest and I agree with him."
"And I don't care."
I stopped in the doorway to what would now be mine and Minnie's room. The walls had now been painted grey, and with two white beds that were of the same kind matching a big, white dresser, two paintings with different views of the Eiffel tower and one wall plaque that said "Paris" long, blue window curtains, and different sheets with prints from two different Disney movies.
"This is the first time I've gotten something to say about what kinds of things I want in my room. Minnie, do you want Lilo and Stitch or the little Mermaid sheets?" I lifted the Marauder's map blanket I had gotten from mum from one box. "It's okay. You choose. Lilo and Stitch or the little Mermaid? Or does Tee want hers and switch with the ones that you have in your old room?"
Tee just shrugged, if I knew her right it didn't bother her. But we had all gotten each new blanket (except for me then that I already had the new with a print from Harry Potter) and hers was already in one of her boxes which I, Tee and Minnie grabbed each one.
"Can I have the little mermaid ones please?" Minnie asked when we were back in our room. She had had so little stuff I, Tee and she could grab it all at once. While Tee grabbed her two last boxes she owned and I started opening my boxes and putting the clothes in the right drawers in the dresser. "I watched that movie once. It was really good."
"Well. It was nice sharing a room with you." Tee smirked slightly. "I hope you like it. I'll leave you two to your own."
"Thanks Tee. And yeah, sure. Lilo and Stitch is actually my favorite? Have you watched that one?" Minnie shook her head. "We'll have to watch it someday. It's one of my favorites. By the way. I heard you telling Floss, it's your birthday next week." Minnie nodded and started putting her (very few pieces of) clothes in her side of the dresser. "And that you might want a stuffed animal. Am I right?"
"Well, I'll be eight years old so I'm actually too old for stuffed animals. But I never really had one of my own. So I was thinking maybe now when I am not with… my mum anymore. There would be someone who would let me have a stuffed animal."
I couldn't help but frown. What parent on earth wouldn't let their kid have a stuffed animal?
I was woken up from my distressed thoughts when suddenly Minnie shot forward and hugged me tightly. The frown I was wearing couldn't help but to turn into a slight smile as I hugged her back and stroke the top of her long, black hair.
"Thank you for doing this Kenny." Minnie said politely and stepped away. "I think you'd rather stay with Tee because you two are friends and I'm only new."
"Yeah well." I sunk down onto my bed and Minnie pushed herself up next to me. "Maybe we could become friends. Maybe even best friends. If you tell me a bit about you and I tell you a bit about me. Okay?" Minnie nodded happily. "Okay. You start."
"Ehrm…" Minnie hesitated and I noticed she was tugging and pulling her long sleeves when she did. "My name is Soo-Min. But everybody except for my mum calls me Minnie. Mum calls me Susan but I don't really like that. I like… I like drawing and reading. And I like animals. I've never had a little animal of my own but someday I'd like to have a cat… or maybe a hamster… or a guinea pig. Or any kind of animal really… What do you like…"
"I…" I started then flinched in surprise when I felt the baby kicking hard all of a sudden. "Oh, oops." I carefully laid a hand on my belly and stroke it slightly. "Have you noticed that I am very fat? That all of me isn't fat but my stomach is huge?" Minnie shrugged. "Do you know why that is?" She shook her head slightly. "It's because I'm having a baby."
"A baby?" She said, carefully. Almost as if she might hurt him if she spoke too loud. "Wow. When I grow up and I am big I want kids to. Loads of them, at least three or four. I want a family of my own so I can take care of them all. Take care of them better than…" Minnie silent in the middle of a sentence. "Better than…"
Something seemed hard for her to say. And she seemed almost close to tears so I decided on something quickly and when I felt the baby starting to kick again I had it.
"Here, he's kicking. Do you want to feel it?" Minnie nodded only slightly. "Come, put your hand here. Next to where I've got my hand." She reached out and carefully laid her hand towards my shirt. "That's it. Can you feel it? He's kicking again and again and again." Just as I had said it he kicked several times and Minnie pulled away and almost jumped down from the bed. "It's okay. I bet he heard us and wanted to say hello."
"Really?"
"Really." I nodded. "I bet when he… I bet he really likes you."
"Really?"
"Yes silly. Of course."
"It's just that…" Minnie came up on the bed again and laid her hand on my belly while the little boy in there started kicking again. "…No one has really ever liked me before."
Aw. Poor Minnie. At least now she shares with Kenny and they're going to make the best of friends.
And guys, guys. Duke is back. Duke. You remember Duke right?
Well. To all of you who haven't seen the dumping ground or the Tracy Beaker series. The dumping ground is a sequel to Tracy Beaker returns which is a sequel to The story of Tracy Beaker. TsoTB is about when Tracy herself lives as a kid in the dumping ground. It's got five seasons. Duke's a care worker in four of them before he leaves in between the fourth and fifth season.
Random fact
In this, the movie Lilo and Stitch is mentioned. Now, when it came out I was seven years old, and when finding Nemo came out about a year later everybody were talking about those. And nowadays they're still talking about them and how nostalgic the movies make them and everything. Well that's everyone except for me XD. (Although I had a computer game with Finding Nemo that I used to play all the time) I didn't like sitting still and watching movies so I never really watched either of popular movies that came out.
(I watched a lot of Astrid Lindgren- movies though. You know, Pippi Longstocking and stuff. They were better anyway)
