5
Curl, Silence, and Pups
"What were you thinking?!"
She sighed, placing her chin on her fist, rolling her eyes at her dad's voice.
"You could've gotten hurt! You could've gotten killed! Hell, I thought you were kidnapped before I found that letter!"
She glanced at England, seeing that he was sipping at his tea, staring blankly at a wall.
"What if someone found your curl?! You could've-"
"Alright!" She screeched, "Don't even talk about that! I have it hidden, clipped back- see! But, man, it was bad talking about it with Penny, but my dad? Stay off that topic please!"
America sighed, finally sitting down, "Sorry, I was just so worried."
"I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Ava grumbled, crossing her arms as she leaned back in her chair.
"Ava..." She didn't look at him when he placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know you can- but I still can't help but worry."
She shrugged his hand off and stomped out of America's house- trying to get as far out of New York as possible.
"Don't worry, Alfred," England spoke up after a few moments, "This is Maryland we're talking about. Let her cool down and she'll be fine in no time."
"I'm not sure..." Alfred mumbled, "She seems different..."
"She's growing," England sighed.
It was silent for a few minutes after that.
"She reminds me of you."
"Huh?" America raised an eyebrow.
"Headstrong, thinks she can do anything," Arthur started to list, "too brave for her own good, won't take no for an answer, keeps pushing-"
"Alright, alright!" America grumbled, "I get it..."
"Now," Arthur sighed as he stood up, "We should go and make sure she isn't going to get herself into trouble- you know how she can get when she's pissed off."
"...That's what I'm worried about."
"And he thinks he can order me around! Seriously! I look nine, but I'm truthfully over hundreds of years old! I should finally be able to have freedom- we should all be able to!"
Pennsylvania only sat in silent amusement as his younger sister paced back and forth as she ranted.
It was only about ten minutes ago when he heard someone pounding on his door and he opened it to the furious younger state. She instantly went on a rant about their father and he calmly sat in a chair in the living room, letting her get it all out- he has been putting up with it for a very long time so he knew what to do.
"Well, he is our father, Maryland, and he does care for us deeply. You know that."
"Yeah, I know he's our father- okay? But that shouldn't give him the right to lock us inside and never let us out to explore! He gets to explore! Damnit, he went all the way to the other side of the world and back! It's not fair!"
Finally, Pennsylvania sighed and stood up, carefully placing his hands on her shoulders and staring her in the eyes, "I know, Mary, I know. And I feel the same way, but we have to listen, trust me. This is for the best."
Before she got the chance to retort, there was a cheerful voice calling out, "Howdy!"
"Oh, no," Avara let a small laugh out as Ryan went to open the door.
"How are y'all doin'?" The cheerful young state hopped into the house, grinning back and forth between the elder and younger.
"We're doin' just fine," Mary commented, mimiking Mississippi's accent, "How are you doin', Missi?"
"Oh, Ava," Nelly joked, "you are so mean to me."
"I try my best," Avara laughed, changing back to her own voice.
As Ryan and Nelly stood side by side- Avara's smile dropped just a tad bit, she realized how much similar they looked and how much she looked different.
Although Penny looked twenty one and Missi looked fifteen, they were almost exactly alike. Both had brown hair- although Missi's was longer and held in two pigtails- and the greenest of eyes.
Penny had on a regular old t-shirt and faded blue jeans. He wore plain old tennis shoes. He wasn't really too special, but he was perfectly happy that way. He was fine with his plain face- but, he did have a rather nice complection.
Missi wore a red and black plaid crop farm shirt and blue short shorts with two pockets on the front and back. She wore light brown/tan cowboy boots and freckles lined all over her face- over her nose, under her eyes, a few on her cheeks.
"So, what brings you to my part of the country?" Penny asked her.
"Well, Allison told me to come visit y'all down here 'cause I haven't been down here in a long time. I was gonna bring Hilary and Cheyenne, but Hil had cleanin' to do and Chey was taken care of Miley 'cause she's been sick for a little while now, so I came alone this time," Mississippi smiled whole heartedly at her two siblings.
Penny smiled, "Well, you are welcome here anytime, Nelly."
"Thanks, Penny," Mississippi giggled then noticed how Ava had a far off look. "He still hasn't talked to you?"
Avara blinked then turned away, "Not like I care, that idiot. He doesn't want to talk to me- fine. I don't care. Just he better not come cryin' to me or anything saying he misses me or some shit like that 'cause I'll slam my door in his face."
"I'm sure he misses you," Pennsylvania smiled.
"Then why is he ignoring me?" Mary snapped, glaring daggers at them. Mississippi tried her best not to step away, but Penny stared right into the sea blue eyes that had fire in them and spoke sternly.
"I'm not sure. But I'll speak with him if he doesn't talk to you by Friday- and that's three days, alright?"
After a few moments, Maryland finally relaxed and nodded, "Alright..." She then started heading towards the door, "I'ma head over to Orlando's, I haven't seen him in a while and supposedly him and Ronnie are together now, so this should be interesting."
"Bye!" The two elder siblings called out and waited until she made it out of earshot before they started talking.
"Why haven't you told her?"
"What am I supposed to say? Delaware hasn't been talking to you because he's in love with you?"
"Yeah!"
"...I can't."
"And why not, Pennyslvania?!"
"I'm afraid what might happen. Let's just continue on and I'll talk to Aiden on Friday like I said and we'll get it all sorted out, alright?"
"I'm just afraid what she'll do until then- you know he and Ariana are together now- and have been for about three months and she's only heard about it about a month ago. She's still clearly upset about that and it's been almost five months since we've seen them together."
"Don't worry, Nelly, we'll get this all straightened out."
"Ryan!"
"Papa!" America got a nice shock when a young girl came flying out the doors and slammed into him, making him stumble a few feet backwards. He smiled as he stared down to a freckled face.
"Hey there, Nells."
"I haven't seen ya in a while, papa!" She spoke with a skip in her voice and her smile never once faultered, "You should come and visit the farm sometime soon- Duckie's a proud mama now and she has four beautiful pups! Ya gotta come see 'em soon, do ya promise?"
"Of course, Nelly," America promised the energetic state, "I'll come by sometime this week."
"Good! 'Cause Rooster won't leave Collie alone and I don't need anymore pups, four is enough so far- we almost lost one but Mama saved her. She's a survivor!"
America could only laugh as Mississippi went on and on about the new baby pups until Ryan finally came out and saved him.
"Come on, Missi, dad has probably come to talk about something important. You can talk about the puppies afterwards. Now, go on inside while we talk, alright?"
"Alright!" She bounced, skipping inside to the living room.
"This is about Chesa isn't it?"
Alfred didn't answer for a few minutes, but he sighed as he did, "Yeah..."
"You should've known one of us would've done it someday. If it wasn't her, it probably would've been Tyler or Dakota or Rickie- hell, I probably would have done it one day. You couldn't of hidden us forever."
"I know, but I tried my best. I only wanted to protect you- all of you. Not only Riles, each of you had a part of it."
"I know, dad." Ryan sighed, turning to look in the side window- where he could see Nelly happily sitting on the couch watching Spongebob. "And we understand that- but we also need our freedom. We each have grown to put up with each other, adapt to each other. We've been locked up in this country for a very very long time, it's time to let us go and learn how to live with all the others."
"How did you grow to be the wisest?"
"Someone had to," Penny smirked, then laughed, "I just try to keep everything under control around here- if no one had, we'd probably be in complete choas- hell, we're about to with the election coming up..."
It was silent for a few moments.
"I've decided to let the world know about you guys." Penny shot his father a confused look. "Since Germany and Italy found out, I'm sure the others won't be far behind. So, I'm gonna take four of you to the World Conference coming up soon- of course you're one of them... And I've also decided Avara will be another."
"Is that a good idea?"
"Yes," The country stated firmly, "It's best for them to meet her now than later."
"And the other two?"
"...I haven't decided yet."