AN: Hello, friends! If you want an update on me, please read the last chapter, which I updated earlier. I have a lot of ideas stacked up for this story, hopefully I can finish it. I really want to, it has a lot of potential, and I'd love to be able to say that I finished at least ONE story on here. Anyways, here's the next chapter.
"Jeffery, I insist. We owe you for not having us pay rent," Mr. Penderwick said to Jeffery. The family sat around the kitchen table, discussing dinner plans. Mr. Penderwick wanted to take Jeffery out to dinner, and while the girls quickly agreed, Jeffery had been hesitant.
"Well...alright," Jeffery agreed. "I know this great Italian place called Luigi's, my mother used to take me there all the time...at least on the nights that Churchie had off."
Everyone laughed, remembering how delicious Churchie's food was.
"Erm, Jeffery, how...fancy is this place?" Skye asked, hesitantly. "I mean, any place your mother would go has to be-"
"Skye," Iantha said gently. "I'm sure you can get by with a nice, simple outfit, Jeffery?"
"Yeah, you'll be fine," Jeffery agreed. "Nice shirt, skirt, dress, whatever."
"Then let's get changed," Mr. Penderwick said, eyeing Skye's mud-covered converse, "and meet back up at 5:15."
"Okeedokee, Papa!" Jane exclaimed, saluting. She vaulted out of her chair, followed slowly by her sisters.
On the stairs, Batty looked up at Skye. "I hate getting dressed up."
"I know, Battikins," Skye replied, sighing.
Forty-five minutes later, Skye stood in front of the mirror in her room, judging her figure. By Iantha's suggestion, she had brought one dress, and Skye figured she might as well use it. It was a new black dress she has bought to replace the old one, accessorized with a gold chain around her neck and a pair of black flats. She had put on a little bit of makeup that she had learned from Rosalind-foundation, powder, eyeliner, and mascara. She had spent ten minutes attacking her hair and it now lay in long, loose curls around her shoulders.
Good enough, Skye thought. She ran her fingers through her hair and walked out of her bedroom to wait for the rest of the family.
"Jane! Skye! Are you two almost ready?" Mr. Penderwick called upstairs.
"I am!" Skye called back. "Jane, are you almost done?" Skye asked, knocking on the bathroom door.
"Almost!" Jane replied. Skye opened the door a crack. Jane was standing at the mirror, straightener in one hand, a tissue in the other, trying to straighten her hair and fix her eye makeup at the same time.
"Do you need any help?" Skye tentatively asked.
"No, no, I've got it, I'm almost done, I swear," Jane rambled.
"Ooookay," Skye said, closing the door. She walked downstairs and sat at the kitchen table, where Iantha and her father were waiting with Batty and Ben.
Ten minutes later, Jane came flying down the stairs in a peach dress with a long pendant necklace and a pair of blue-striped flats.
"Finally, you're finished!" Skye groaned, standing up. "I'm starving!"
"Me too!" Batty cried, putting her hands on her hips.
"I'm sure we're all hungry," Mr. Penderwick said, standing up. "Let's get going."
The Penderwick family-finally-walked out to the car, where they met Jeffery on his way up the path.
"Hey, Jeffery!" Jane called, waving. "Hey...Skye..." Jeffery was caught off guard for a moment. Skye took his breath away. She looked lovely. That dress showed off her figure so well, and her eyes looked bigger and brighter. She looked like a different person.
"Hi, weirdo," Skye said, shouldering Jeffery out of the way.
"Sh-geez, hi," Jeffery said. Skye smirked, then climbed into the car.
Jeffery opted to sit in the back with the girls instead of between the two youngsters, so it was a bit cramped, but none of the teens cared. Skye and Jane took turns trying to tickle Jeffery while he attempted to give Mr. Penderwick and Iantha directions to the restaurant. By the time they got there, Jeffery and the girls were out of breath from laughing so hard.
"What if I tried to tickle you back?" Jeffery asked Skye. Jane stopped laughing.
"If you tried to tickle me," Skye threatened, "I would-Jane, what's some sort of medieval punishment?"
"Hanging one by the toes, the stretching rack, being impaled by a box full of spikes," Jane rambled off.
"Are we going to hang Jeffery by his toes?" Batty asked worriedly, looking up at Jane.
"Only if he tries to get revenge for the tickling," Skye announced.
"Nobody will be hanging anyone by their toes, I hope," Mr. Penderwick said, holding open the door to the restaurant.
"Well, Jeffery, this was an excellent suggestion for dinner," Iantha proclaimed, wiping spaghetti sauce off of Ben's face.
"Yeah, that was kind of amazing. Maybe I'll reconsider hanging you by your toes," Skye said, licking the last bit of chocolate cake off of her fork.
"First of all, thank you, you're very welcome. Second of all, I didn't even do anything yet!" Jeffery replied, scooping up the last bit of his dessert, a rich peach gelato.
"Yet?" Skye said, her eyebrows rising.
"Well, I mean, I wasn't-"
"Good luck working your way out of that one," Jane finished, nibbling a cookie off of the large tray they had ordered to share.
"Could we stop by the hardware store on our way home for some rope?" Skye asked, shooting a smile at Jeffery.
"Can we paint his toes before we hang him by them?" Batty chimed in.
"Let's hang a sign on him that says 'Wronged' in fancy lettering and hire people to throw tomatoes at him!" Jane exclaimed.
"I won't visit tomorrow if I have the law chasing me," Jeffery said intimidatingly, eyeing Skye and Jane.
"I think we had better go before we start bartering over Jeffery's toes," Mr. Penderwick proclaimed, standing. Everyone at the table collapsed into giggles, knowing that the teens could be up all night detailing exactly what would go down for Jeffery's 'punishment'.
They managed to drop the toe-hanging once they made it out to the car, where Jane challenged Jeffery to an old Penderwick favorite, "I Went to the Zoo and Saw."
"I went to the zoo and saw...an aardvark," Jane began.
"I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark and a bluebird," Jeffery continued.
"I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark, a bluebird and a camel," Skye said.
They waited for Batty to go, but all they heard was silence. She and Ben had fallen asleep, rocked by the vibrations of the car.
"Okay, I guess I'll keep it up. I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark, a bluebird, a camel and a dingo," Jane said.
"I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark, a bluebird, a camel, a dingo and an elephant," Jeffery replied.
"I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark, a bluebird, a camel, a dingo, an elephant and a flamingo," Skye said, eyeing up Jeffery and Jane.
Seven minutes later, the teens were scraping for animals, always trying to one-up each other.
"I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark, a bluebird, a camel, a dingo, an elephant, a flamingo, a giraffe, a hedgehog, an impala, a jackal, a koala, a lemming, a Maltese, a nightingale, an okapi, a penguin, a quetzal, a rhinoceros, serval, a tarsier, a uguisu, a vulture, aaaaand...a wallaby. Your move, Skye," Jeffery challenged.
Skye took a breath. "I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark, a bluebird, a camel, a dingo, an elephant, a flamingo, a giraffe, a hedgehog, an impala, a jackal, a koala, a lemming, a Maltese, a nightingale, an okapi, a penguin, a quetzal, a rhinoceros, serval, a tarsier, a uguisu, a vulture, a wallaby and a xenops. Ha, ha, ha, and another ha for good measure. Jane?"
"Geez. I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark, a bluebird, a camel, a dingo, an elephant, a flamingo, a giraffe, a hedgehog, an impala, a jackal, a koala, a lemming, a Maltese, a nightingale, an okapi, a penguin, a quetzal, a rhinoceros, serval, a tarsier, a uguisu, a vulture, a wallaby, a xenops, and a yaffle!" Jane said triumphantly, throwing her hands into the air.
"What the heck is a yaffle?" Skye asked.
"What's a xenops?" Jane retorted.
Skye rolled her eyes. "Jeffery? Can you complete the zoo?"
Jeffery looked at both of the sisters, took a breath, closed his eyes, and recited. "I went to the zoo and saw an aardvark, a bluebird, a camel, a dingo, an elephant, a flamingo, a giraffe, a hedgehog, an impala, a jackal, a koala, a lemming, a Maltese, a nightingale, an okapi, a penguin, a quetzal, a rhinoceros, serval, a tarsier, a uguisu, a vulture, a wallaby, a xenops, a yaffle and a zander! VICTORY!" Jeffery pumped a fist into the air, and high-fived Jane and Skye.
"Booyah!" Jane cried.
"Aww yeah!" Skye exclaimed. "Wow, you know a lot of animals. Pretty impressive."
"Thanks. I've been reading up," Jeffery replied, smiling.
That face, that smile, suddenly twinged something in Skye. She shook her head, trying to clear the twisting in her stomach. What the heck was that? It was the same smile she'd stayed in touch with for the past five years.
"Skye. Skye."
"Hm? What?" Skye said, falling out of her cloud of thoughts.
"We're home. Get out of the car," Jane said, eyeing her. Skye had been thinking about something, Jane thought. The question is: what?
Skye scrambled madly out of the car, followed more carefully by Jeffery and Jane.
"Thank you so much for dinner," Jeffery said, shaking Mr. Penderwick's hand free hand, the other arm cradling the sleeping Batty on his hip. Iantha gave him a light kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks, Jeffery," Jane said, giving him a hug.
"Thanks, Jeffery," Skye said. She tentatively hugged him, noticing that the twisting feeling in her stomach was coming back.
"You're both welcome," Jeffery said, releasing Skye. He could feel that his cheeks were flushed red, and was glad for the dim night light. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," the Penderwicks chorused.
"Will you make it home alright?" Iantha asked, bouncing the snoozing Ben in her arms.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, it's just through the garden. I've traveled the path in the dark before," Jeffery replied. The girls smiled, remembering the infamous trip to the cottage on the night Jeffery planned to run away.
Batty sleepily blinked her eyes open. "Goodbye, Jeffery," she yawned, laying her head back down on her father's shoulder.
"Bye bye, Batty. Goodbye," he called to the rest of the family, waving as he disappeared into the darkness of his mother's garden.
Mr. Penderwick and Iantha turned to walk up to the cottage, but Jane grabbed Skye's arm before she could walk up the path.
"What do you think you're-," Skye started, but Jane interrupted her.
"MOOPS, my room, after Batty and Daddy and Iantha go to bed," Jane hissed.
"What for?" Skye asked, finally starting up to the cottage.
"Regarding the fact that I'm smarter than you," Jane insisted, disappearing into the cottage and walking upstairs. Skye didn't press her on the matter. Jane could be so weird sometimes or, as she called it, 'mysterious'.
Bonus!
Add 'wanelo . com' before the /p/ and remove the spaces.
Skye's Dress: /p/6948797/1229866065
Jane's Dress: /p/7385960/femme-crochet-lace-dress-forever-21-200 0051968
:) Stay tuned! Thanks for reading, and feel free to R & R!