This is Charlotte reporting live from around about the middle of our summer and as predicted, it's been fairly underwhelming so far, but it's got to that point where we just don't really care. Okay, so we don't like staying in and being bored as much as the next person, but since we can't do much about it, we might as well just lump it. Georgia here; the bit where Connie says she hates peppers is true for me because whenever Mum makes a curry she has to plate me up a portion and then add in the peppers. As for Charlotte, guess who might be facing surgery tomorrow? Nothing life threatening, just might have to have a tooth yanked out, which is terrifying when you're scared of needles and have only had them out under general. Peace Out! TG101 :-D x
"Alright, who is ready for a sleepover?" Joy asked enthusiastically to a not so enthusiastic response.
"Staying up all night with a group of girls who will judge everything we do? No thank yew," Disgust responded from where she was reading a beauty magazine.
"I don't like sleepovers," Sadness whimpered, already sniffling. "They make me cry."
"Everything makes you cry, Sadness," Fear stated bluntly, making her burst into tears. "I rest my case."
"Hey c'mon! It's going to be great! Eating pizza, watching movies-"
"Being sick in the middle of the night," Disgust scoffed, gagging a little. "Honestly, I don't even know WHY we bother! It's not like we're the most popular."
"It's not a school sleepover, Disgust," the yellow emotion explained. "It's a hockey sleepover. Also, I'm a little surprised at you," she added knowing how vain Disgust was.
This got her attention. "Why are you surprised?"
"Well, you know, it is a good way to boost Riley's popularity, but obviously you're not interested, so you're right. Why bother?" Joy asked nonchalantly shrugging, giving a silent cheer as Disgust stood up.
"Uh - uh. If you think you're letting this opportunity of a lifetime slip through our fingers, you can think again, honey," and with that, Disgust sashayed to the control panel, mumbling to herself as she took control.
Joy gave a little cheer. Everything was going according to plan and this was going to be the best sleepover ever!
Right?
"Why did I agree to this plan again?" Disgust asked, making Riley look around the bedroom she and four other girls were going to be sharing.
Dark blue in colour, there seemed to be posters adorning the wall depicting everything from bands to a brown haired man peeking out of a blue telephone box.
"This place scares me," Fear whimpered, hiding behind Sadness who fell on top of him. "I mean, there could be rabies, poisonous bites and is that a rat?!"
Riley looked in the corner of Connie's bedroom to indeed find a rat in a cage, the flashback of the dead mouse from when she first moved in suddenly in her mind.
"Is that a rat?" she whispered, shuddering a little.
"Yeah!" Connie grinned, making her way over to the cage. "His name's Wilbur and that's his brother, Orville."
"There are two in there?!" yelped Fear, clambering onto the nearest item, which happened to be Anger who once again punched him so he fled off and ended up in a corner of the headquarters.
"I don't really like rats," Riley apologised, chuckling a little. "Hey, when are the others getting here?"
"Erm, pretty soon I think? Mom said once everyone's arrived, we can make our own pizzas."
"Cool," she responded, smiling. "As long as there isn't broccoli, I think I'm good."
Connie pulled a face. "Why would you put broccoli on pizza? That's so gross! It's like putting peppers on pizza, I mean yuck! Whenever Mom makes curry she has to add in the peppers after plating up my portion."
"I know, right? The pizza place near my house does that. Then we realised it was vegan."
"Were there places like that back in Minnesota?" Connie asked as they went down the stairs.
"Not really, no," Riley responded, shaking her head. "I mean, we had pizza and pizza places, but never a full vegan one. I think there was a vegetarian place once but it didn't do very well and closed after a year."
"That's cool! Oh hey, Anya's here!"
Meanwhile in Riley's head, the emotions were starting to calm down, especially Fear. "Okay so we don't have to look at the rats AND there's no broccoli on the pizza. I see that as a win win!" he declared, clapping his hands in triumph.
"Fear, just because there's no broccoli doesn't mean there's not other things. Just be thankful Riley doesn't have those HORRIBLE feetie pyjamas!" Disgust said, pulling a face. "I don't care if they came back in fashion a few years ago, unless you're two years old or drinking excessively, they should never be worn. Thankfully we're not drinking until we're twenty one and we still have all our dignity in tact."
"I don't want to think about that...it's nine years away!" Sadness wailed, suddenly coming to terms about Riley's age. "We're already halfway to twenty four! People die at twenty four!"
"What is it with you and dying?" Anger asked, pushing her out of the way, making her cry even more.
"Anger!" Joy scolded, making sure Sadness was alright. "What was that for?"
"It's all she goes on about! Seriously, if I had a quarter every time -"
"Hey, here come the others!" Joy interrupted, taking over the control panel as the other girls came into the house, each of them sporting a pillow with a various amount of blankets,bags and food.
"Hey there guys! Mom says we can set up in the living room for now," Connie grinned, giving each of the girls a small hug as they went in. "You coming, Riley?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Yeah!" she smiled back, heading to where the other girls were getting out their sleeping bags. "I get the couch!" Riley laughed, jumping onto the leather sofa.
"She didn't get out the cockadoody car!"
"I don't like this movie," Fear whimpered from behind his seat. He yelled again as all of the girls squealed in unison as the character seemed to go crazy at the man in the bed.
All of the emotions were hiding away apart from Anger who appeared to be in his element, scribbling hastily into a notebook, a maddening smile on his usually angry face.
"What you talkin' about? This movie's great!" Anger responded, laughing as something happened on screen. "We should have seen this years ago!"
Later that night, all the girls were asleep apart from Riley. She couldn't help but think of the movie over and over again with one particular scene standing out. The one where the woman snorts unattractively at the captor made her particularly scared. It didn't help that the guy who did it also wrote a one about a girl who had telekenetic powers and killed her entire school.
She had thought about calling her parents to come pick her up, but not only would they be unhappy with her, but she would never hear the end of it; especially from Gabrielle, who always found something to tease about.
Knowing what to do, Sadness pressed a few buttons, a soft blue glow emitting from the control panel. It was her turn for Dream Duty that night, but seeing as how she wasn't asleep, the others were still awake, albeit almost on the brink of falling asleep themselves. Sighing, Riley pulled out her phone and realised her Mom had sent her a quick text a couple of hours back.
Hope you're enjoying yourself Monkey! Dad'll pick you up in the morning, love you so much! Mom xx
Sadness smiled a little as she read it through the screen. Pulling a lever, she allowed Riley to shed a few tears - not so many to make herself heard, but just enough to make Connie notice, who sat up half asleep.
"Riley?" she mumbled, her head dipping. "Wh - why you cryin'?"
"Nothing...it's just that I've never had a sleepover in LA before so it's a new experience I guess," Riley admitted lamely, looking up to see Connie's reaction. Instead of making fun of her, Connie sidled up to her friend and gave her a hug,making Riley relax immediately.
"If you were scared why didn't you say anything?"Before Riley could answer, Connie cut in. "Anywho, it doesn't matter, what matters is you're feeling okay."
Riley giggled feebly, sniffing "Yes Mom."
"Thought so," she smiled confidently, squeezing her hand. "If you want, I can get my Mom to take you home?"
Riley considered this for a few moments. As much as she wanted the comfort of home, she also wanted to prove her independence by staying here. If she chickened out now, her dad would never let her go to another sleepover again.
"I'm good," she finally said, nodding."I'm sure."
In Riley's head, the emotions were celebrating. "Yep, that's our girl!" Joy sighed, grinning as a memory orb came rolling in and a glow came from the friendship island.
Riley was going to be okay. She just needed a little comfort from friends from time to time.