Chapter 19

Muriel POV

"Elli is that you?" I called out at the sound of the door opening.

"Yeah" I hear her call back almost hesitantly, "I um brought a friend alright" she calls again and her voice almost sounds like she's pleading with me about something.

Well I must say the tone she is using has me curious and the fact that she actually invited someone over is rather interesting as well. Putting down my book I look toward the doorway into the family room knowing that she will be coming in.

As she steps in I let out a small gasp. Standing up quickly I move towards her and grab her face tilting it towards the light so I can get a better look.

"Who hit you? Damn it I thought you stopped fighting" I whisper slightly menacingly as I take in her black eye.

"Just leave it alone Muriel. I didn't get in a fight with any one and I don't want to talk about it. So just drop it alright" she says as she wrenches her face out of my grip and walks into the room ignoring me as I try to grab her again to really get a good look at the damage.

"Miss. Finster?" I hear a slightly familiar voice behind me causing me turn around and leave my charge alone for the moment. Only to get another large shock.

"Ashley A?" this is just too unlikely. How did my little tomboy become friends with the little princess? I study her for a moment taking in just how much older she now looks.

With the way things were going I really should have known that the biggest shock was still to come and that I should have prepared myself some how. I should have sat down or somehow predicted it. Unfortunately I didn't and I think I almost had another heart attack.

"Mommy?" a small voice dragged my eye sight down only to see a smaller version of Ashley A. My eyes shift back up to Ashley A quickly and just stare at her in shock. She slowly begins to shift from foot to foot as she used to when she was younger and in trouble with me. After a minute she looks down at the ground blushing like crazy making me break out of my daze.

Looking down at the child again I notice she is now trying to hide behind her mother most likely nervous of me staring at her mother like that. Damn. Alright I can do this. Putting on my nicest smile I crouch slightly down to get a better look at the kid.

Of course my nicest smile didn't work and now she is hiding completely behind Ashley. Damn. I hear a small snicker behind me and turn my head quickly to glare at my charge. She grins and just shakes her head at me. Little hooligan.

Looking back at the smallest one in the room I take off my smile which seems to scare her more then my scowl and try again to coax her out from behind her mom. Ashley kneels down as well and brings her daughter in front of her. Ashley of course still looks immensely embarrassed and won't look me in the eyes.

Boy is this going well.

Alright time to bringing out the big guns.

"Hmm I haven't had any one your size in this house for a lot of years. So I'm not to sure what to do with you. I don't suppose kids still like ice cream these days"

Just as I suspected the little blond head shoots up and instead of fear in her eyes she is now looking at me as if I'm her new best friend. No one has ever said that I don't know how to deal with children. Bribery always works.

"My name is Muriel and what might your name be?"

"Sa'a. Icream"

Ah yes I have yet to meet the child who I could not bribe to like me with ice cream. Looking up at Ashley I see her smile slightly although she still won't look at me.

"Is it alright if she has a bowl? Would you like anything?" I ask as I begin to stand.

"She can have a bowl. No I don't need anything. Thank you Miss. Finster." Ashley says finally looking me in the eyes but still looking uncomfortable. Pity that bribery with treats stops working on children over the age of eight.

"You can call me Muriel Ashley; we aren't on the playground any longer"

She nods slightly before I turn and leave the room towards the kitchen.

Returning a few minutes later with one bowl of ice cream and a bag of peas for Elli's eye I hear Ashley talking with Elli.

"But you really could have warned me you know. That your guardian was Miss…… Muriel. O God that is just so weird. I'm calling my teacher by her first name."

I decide to stop for a moment to listen for Elli's response.

"I didn't think I had to tell you. I mean I'm sure she told you all that I went to live with her back in what was it sixth grade. She would have had to tell kids something about where I was. And as for it being weird calling your teacher by her first name try having to call Principal Prickly by his first name. Muriel and Hank throw a barbeque once a year for all the teachers to come too and I spend most my time trying to keep away from him because I just can't call him by his first name." I snort softly as I think about those barbeques and how much fun Prickly has chasing Elli around because he knows that she can't talk herself into saying his first name.

"Well she didn't" I hear Ashley snap back "Yes she told us that your guardians had pulled you out of our school and taken you to a boarding school but she never mentioned that she was the guardian."

"My guardian made me? That's not what happened I just couldn't go back to our old school. I fought with Muriel to not have too. Wonder why she took the blame?" Hearing Elli again I decide to make my entrance only to stop abruptly when Ashley talks again.

"Do you want us to leave so you can talk to Miss…. Muriel about what happened with the eye?"

Good topic go with it girls. I know full well that if Elli doesn't talk about it right now with Ashley I will not know what happened.

"No…..no you don't have to go since there isn't going to be any conversation. Just what am I suppose to say? 'Hey guess what Muriel I saw Vitto today. Isn't that great but oh yeah I think he's hooked on drugs and I'm going to guess the very bad drugs cause he looked like crap. We barely had a conversation before he asked for some money then sort of got mad when I said I didn't have any. Well any way one thing lead to another and he punched me in the face then went extremely pale as he stared at his hand. Finally he grabbed my bag and ran.' Hm yes I do believe that would go over well."

O my God. I feel my legs buckle and lean against to wall to hold me up. Well that wasn't what I was expecting at all.

"Well you need to talk to someone about it. Why don't you talk to your old gang. I have no doubt that they would listen to you and be able to help you"

"They don't even know who I am. But I think they might be starting to guess. Hell tomorrow I'm supposed to go over to TJ's house with Mikey and work on a project. The way that the old crew is looking at me and keep whispering with each other has me thinking that they might be up to something. Not to mention they keep talking about back in the day and watching me for reactions. Any way I talked to you about it so everything is fine."

"The only reason you told me is because I met up with you right after it happened. And I meant talk to someone about how you're feeling about it and going into a little bit more detail then a simple step by step account of the event. And as for your friends maybe you should just tell them and stop running." I listen to Ashley reason and am slightly surprised that I find myself agreeing with her. When had she grown up so much?

"I am not running from anything or anyone. Just drop it alright. I really don't want to talk about it especially right now."

O Elli…. What have you been going through lately? Deciding it was time to enter the room I straighten away from the wall and stand there for a few seconds to make sure I can stand on my own. I put my nicest scowl on and walk into the room.

Elli and Ashley are sitting on the couch and Sara is on the floor completely oblivious of what is going on around her as she colors in a coloring book her mom must have brought with her.

Sara looks up when I enter the room and gives a small squeal of excitement as I place the slightly melted bowl of ice cream down on the floor with her not to worried about the mess she is going to make on the hard wood.

Looking up at Elli I throw her the bag of peas I brought her to put on her face trying to look as nonchalant as possible.

"So what are you girls going to do today?"

Elli answers me after staring at me slightly to try and figure out if I had been eaves dropping on their conversation.

"Oh I promised Sara I would let her play with some clay in my studio and Ashley gave me permission to do a couple of sketches of Sara as long as I promised not to completely ignore her" I nod at her reply feeling relieved that she obviously decided that I hadn't been listening in.

"Well I'll leave you girls to it then. Don't worry about the ice cream I'll clean it later." This of course means Hank will clean it later but that is just a detail; the man is a neat freak. I leave the room to find a silent place to think; the girls conversation has given me a lot of facts that I need to sort out.