Wow, I haven't updated in sooo long and I have no excuse for that. I hope you guys haven't given up on me yet! The next chapter will be better I promise! R&R!
I must have fallen asleep, even though I don't remember leavng the balcony. I stretched luxuriously and groaned in satisfaction as my back cracked. Sunlight seeped through the large curtains and pooled on the wooden floor. I stood, my nightgown falling around my ankles. Yawning, I pulled the curtains to the side and stepped onto the balcony.
Fluffy white clouds dotted the blue sky and the blazing sun was already high in the sky. I must have over-slept, I thought hazily. I blinked down on the gardens, my eyes still adjusting to the light.
"Maddie! Are you finally awake, girl?" Carmen called up to me. I focused my droopy gaze down by the rose bushes to see Carmen lounging in a hamock with a book perched between her knees.
"Yes, I don't get up at the crack of dawn, and the time change is screwing with my head," I rolled my eyes even though she probably couldn't see me.
"Neither do I! It's lmost two in the afternoon! I woke up only an hour ago!" Carmen shouted defiantly.
"Girls, quit your yelling and come eat something!" Mikayla shouted from somewhere within the mansion.
I laughed and sauntered back into the confines of my room. My bags lay in a heap at the foot of my bed. I unzipped the red one while I kicked the blue one towards the wall. Clothes spewed from the red bag like a geyser and I grabbed a flowing white skirt in mid-air. I dug around until I found a black button-up with short sleeves, then I made my way for the bathroom.
The bathroom was all alabaster and marble, pure white and grey specked. I started the water and took a relatively quick shower. I dressed and smoothed down the hem of my skirt and spun in a circle. My black-and-gold eyes seemed to shine happily. I looked drunk, I realized with a start. My eyes were too bright; my hair ruffled and frizzy.
I yanked the hairbrush through my wild hair, trying to tame it into ringlets instead of frizz. I eventually gave up and pulled it back in two, low ponytails.
I padded barefoot into the kitchen and laughed as Carmen attempted to flip a pancake. It stuck to the high ceiling.
"Need some help?" I took the cooking pan from her and poured the batter in.
"I was doin' just fne. It wasn't cooperating!" Carmen scowled.
"Of course it wasn't," I grinned as Carmen put bacon strips into a seperate pan. "Where's your mom?"
"Working, I think," Carmen shrugged and poked at the bacon with a fork. "The guys wanna meet you."
"When?" Excitment rose within me and caused my heart rate to turn erratic.
"Tonight...There's a marathon at the drive-in, Hitchcock horror films," Carmen shuddered softly.
"I thought you love horror movies! All the blood and guts!" I giggled.
"I did. Things change." Carmen jabbed the strips with her fork and placed the on a plate. "Do you want to go?"
I pretended to contemplate the question, "Well, if you insist..."
She grinned and shoved a pancake into my mouth.
It must have been hours later, but time seemed to stand still in this mansion on the hill. Carmen had retreated to her room after lunch and I had snuck away to the library.
It was almost sunset when Carmen found me, sprawled out on the floor with a book in my lap.
"Dracula? Really?"
I flashed a grin before sitting up, the joints in my arms popping. "What time is it?"
"Almost seven. The sun sets later in the summer, you know," she added at my shocked expression.
"When are we going to the drive-in?" I asked.
Carmen smiled. "It starts at nine, so we should be ready by eight-thirty. We're gonna stop by the Curtis' place before."
I nodded, my stomach flipping. I stood and followed her into my room. "What should I wear?" I mused aloud. Carmen laughed and left me to ponder over my clothes.
The skirt was black with silver swirls down to just above my ankels. I spun a few times, watching the metallic flash in the light. I had paired it with a black shirt and silver ballet flats. Carmen had managed to yank my hair back so it fell in waves, not a heap of curls. Carmen stood beside me, professionaly appling silver eyeshadow to my eyelids. My black bangles clinked on my wrists whenever I moved.
Carmen on the other hand was wearing short, paint-splattered shorts that had a tear across the front pocket. Her tanktop rode a little higher than her waist, exposing a thin ribbon of skin. Two minature ponytails stuck out from her head.
"Why do you dress so differently now?" I asked, meeting her dark eyes in the mirror.
"What do you mean?" she questioned as she applied shiny lip gloss.
"You wear like, boy clohes now! I mean, compare what you're wearing now to my clothing," I shook my head.
"You'll find out why when we go out tonight. You have to pick sides in the War of the Social Classes," she murmured cryptically.
Before I can ask what she meant by that, she swore under her breath. "We're gonna be late!"
She raced me to my car, calling 'Shot Gun!'
"But I don't even know where this place is!" I protested, climbing into the driver's seat reluctantly.
"Just stick it in drive and go down the hill into town. Hop on the freeway and it's a ten minute drive into downtown Tulsa! It's simple," Carmen shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"May I?" she inquired reaching for the stereo system. I nodded and rolled my window down, enjoying the burst of warm air.
"Are you enrolling in school this year?"
"No, it's almost over remember? I'll start next year," I replied.
She grinned and turned up the music. We drove in silence, that is if you count Carmen singing Elvis songs at the top of her lungs silence. Every now and then she would shout a direction and I would usually have to break somesort of driving law to get onto the street she signaled.
"Stop!" Carmen cried out. I slammed my foot on the break and braced my self against the steering wheel. "We're here!"
I put a hand over my thudding heart and glarred at my best friend.
"Welcome to Casa de la Curtis," she said before jumping out of the car.
I turned my gaze to the house we had stopped in front of. It was small with a chain-link fence surrounding it. Carmen bekoned me from the fron steps and I climbed out after her.
"Oh, boys!" she yelled opening the door and sauntering forward.
"Hey, Carmen!" more than one male voice shouted back.
"Come on Maddie, they won't bite," Carmen assured quickly noticing that I was not leaving the front porch without some encouragement.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the house.