Notes and Disclaimers: This story is about Eileen Pierce's summer between "Father Figure" and "Eternal Knight", she visits several of her friends and learns some interesting things about them in the meantime. Each chapter of this story will be about a different person she's staying with and the secrets they indulge. The characters starring in this short story are: Eileen (of course), Cheryl and Gregory Applegate, Artemis Prewett, Lucas, Page, and Roderick Beowulf, Fred and George Weasley, Remus Lupin, and Severus Snape. Special thanks to Starr and Otaku for helping me find my inner New Yawkah! XD Enjoy and make sure you read it, some of this might be referenced in the next story! ~_^
Chapter 2: Cheryl
"Thank you, good sirs!" Eileen called out as she stepped off the bus.
"Don't mention it! Mind you we don't make rounds here in America, you'll have ter take one o' the local Middy Buses ter get back!" Stan shouted before the doors shut and the bus zipped out of sight.
"Middy Bus?" Eileen muttered to herself before glancing around at her location. She stood on a rather dismal looking street corner under a dim street light, the scenery less than welcoming. Buildings all along the street were run down and looked as though they'd been deserted for a while. Obscene shouts from within them told her otherwise and she subconsciously pulled her cloak tighter around her body. She heard the click of heels approaching behind her and turned quickly to see a rather scantily clad woman in red pumps walking toward her, eyeing her curiously through her thick lashes.
"Whatcha doin' out hea, kid? Go home to ya mutta!!" The woman said, her accent quite thick.
"I'm sorry, ma'am but I think I'm lost. Is this 'the Bronx'?"
The woman let out a barking laugh, saying, "Mayum? What ah ya, some kinda damn aylien?"
Eileen blinked in confusion, hearing a discussion drift through the night over the rumble of cars. She wasn't sure why they were so enthusiastic about breaks in walls and gardening tools but they seemed to be very intent on informing the whole neighborhood of it. Trying to focus on the conversation at hand, she said, "I'm from England, actually, I'm looking for - "
"Eileen! There you are!" Cheryl came running up just as a gunshot rang out in the distance.
"Hello, Cheryl. This is an interesting neighborhood you live in." Eileen said calmly as her friend approached.
"Yeah, let's get inside, okay?" Cheryl said quickly, grabbing Eileen's arm as she eyed the hooker who looked a bit annoyed by all the young girls invading her street corner.
The girls took off down an alleyway where a man stood waiting in the shadows, a cautious look on his face as he glanced around to make sure they were alone.
"This is Eileen! Eileen, meet my pops!" Cheryl said cheerfully, despite the gloomy aura of the outdoors.
"I'm glad you got here safe, we should have arranged a meeting place. Let's go while were still alone." The man said, holding out his hand to the girls.
Cheryl took his without question and Eileen did as well after a moment of consideration. Swiftly, the group apparated to a bright apartment that was much quieter than it was outside, most likely thanks to magic.
"Welcome to my home away from Hogwarts! I think you call them flats in England, its not much but its home to me!" Cheryl said, waving her arm around the small apartment.
It didn't seem like a place a wizarding family would live, compared to the Weasleys' house it appeared quite normal. A sitting area was placed near the door around a strange little black box with a window in front, the kitchen was at the other end of the room in one corner with a couple doors in the opposite corner leading to bedrooms and baths. The green and mahogany color scheme made the place feel earthy and natural, framed moving and still photos on the walls displaying all sorts of people waving cheerfully from their enclosures.
Eileen marveled at the serene feel of the place as Cheryl explained what each part of the apartment was before leading her to her bedroom.
"And this is my room, its kind of small but it's my sanctuary when I'm home. I set up a cot, you can use my bed." Cheryl said, sitting down on the cot parallel to her own bed. The room was surprisingly girly, the walls a pale pink and the carpet a dark cranberry color, accenting the white and hot pink furniture. She had a couple shelves filled with books and pictures, along with odd thin plastic books she did not recognize. There were also various paraphernalia sitting everywhere that gave the room a cluttered feeling, but everything seemed to have its place and wasn't taking up unnecessary space. On the walls were large still photos of people, some done in an art style Eileen was not familiar with. One of them was a rather androgynous figure with purple hair that looked as though a weed whacker had been taken to it, wearing a black and white vest with its bare chest showing to indicate it was male. Another of the photos was in black and white; it was an older man with a somber expression on his scruffy face, his haunting eyes seeming to follow Eileen into the room. Upon closer inspection of his eyes, she noticed that they were similar to hers.
"His eye..." Eileen pointed to the picture distantly, lost in the mans gaze.
"Eh? Oh, that's David Bowie! He's a London-born singer," Cheryl hopped up and trotted over to admire him as well, "Isn't he pretty? Hey, now that you mention it, his eyes ARE like yours! He got in a fight when he was younger and some guy popped him good and it was never the same after that."
"It's just like mine." Eileen touched the picture gingerly, running her hand over the eye that was hidden partially behind his messy hair.
"Yeah, I guess it is! Your eyes are a lighter blue though. Like a husky dog!" Cheryl grinned before whirling around and collecting some sheets out of her closet, "So you want another blanket? You're kinda skinny, you might freeze to death in here, pops likes it cold at night."
Blinking out of her trance, Eileen turned at looked at the bed setup, "Oh, I don't want to impose, you don't get to sleep in your bed all year. I use a cot at home anyway, I can take it."
"Are you sure? Pops said I need to be courteous and give you my bed while you're staying here." Cheryl whispered, leaning back to make sure her father wasn't in the hallway eavesdropping.
"It's fine, thank you anyway." Eileen smiled, sitting her bag down next to the cot.
Cheryl yanked a pile of sheets down and tossed them at the cot before hugging Eileen suddenly, startling her for a moment as she said, "Thank you! I miss my bed so much!"
"That's a strange thing to say but you're welcome." Eileen muttered, stiff in the girl's embrace.
Cheryl quickly released her and pounced on her bed, causing the neatly made sheets to fly up from the impact before slowly settling back down. She spread her arms out as if to hug the bed, moaning her muffled enjoyment of the fluffy comforter in her face.
Eileen smiled and sat down on her cot, saying, "Shall we sleep now? It is quite late."
"Are you tired? I usually stay up late on the computer." Cheryl said, sitting up and crossing her legs.
"What's a computer?" Eileen looked clueless.
"Geez, doesn't anyone in the wizarding world use Muggle technology?" Cheryl sighed, "A computer is this little box that stores information like text, pictures, music, anything! It's really great, I'll show you tomorrow but if you want to go to bed now..."
"I am a bit tired, it was a long drive." Eileen yawned.
"Okay, I'll let you change while I tell pops we're going to bed!" Cheryl leapt off the bed and ran out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
Eileen sighed as she opened her bag and rummaged for her sleeping garments, missing the presence of her kneazle whom usually slept with her. Quickly undressing, she shimmied into her nightgown just as a knock came at the door and Cheryl called in.
"Ya decent?" Cheryl bellowed.
"Yes." Eileen shouted back, feeling silly yelling from such a short distance.
Cheryl came in with a smile and a bundle of fur in her arms, saying, "Look who I found hiding in the kitchen!"
"You have a cat too?" Eileen perked up at the sight of the white and black lump curiously eyeing her from its master's arms.
"Yep, her name's Oreo, cause her butt and head are black and her middle is white!" Cheryl laughed before plopping the cat down on the floor and turning to close the door, "She usually sleeps with pops but since I'm home, I get her company!"
Eileen crouched to pet the cat, stroking it gently as she smiled, imagining her being Mephistopheles. Glancing up, Eileen watched Cheryl take down her dirty blond hair for the night.
She had it twisted up and pinned in back with a large barrette, the ends of her hair flared out in a fan-shape on top.
As she unclipped the barrette, her hair tumbled down free across her back, coming to the base of her shoulder blades in wavy locks. Tousling it before turning to face Eileen, Cheryl let out a sigh and said, "So what do you want to do tomorrow? I know you mentioned wanting to see my old school and such but we can tour the city before that. You're still staying for two weeks, right?"
"Unless you get sick of me before then." Eileen smiled.
"Me get sick of you? There's more chance of that happening the other way around!" Cheryl laughed, climbing into bed and sitting cross-legged on the covers.
The gentle thud of a door closing sounded in the hall and Eileen asked, "Where's your mother?"
"Oh, it's just me and my pops, no mom around here!" Cheryl beamed but it seemed more forced than real. Before Eileen could ask anything else, she threw the covers up and quickly hid underneath, saying determinedly, "Best to get some sleep, long day tomorrow! Good night!"
"Good night..." Eileen muttered as she reluctantly crawled under her sheet and nestled into the pillow, letting her hand hang over the edge of the bed to lightly stroke the cat curled up on the floor. Tomorrow indeed would be a long day and it was best not to start it off on a sore note so she dropped the subject of parents.