Edited 2019

AN: Short note tonight this is chapter 23 I am working on the next one. Read, Enjoy and Review.

Disclaimer: I write this for fun, not for profit.

Chapter 23

The only thing that I didn't like about sleepovers was the fact that Gran would still get up at about five-thirty in the morning. I think I slept for maybe an hour when she came in to have me help get food ready for both breakfast and lunch. The house smelled of barbeque and smoke. I must have missed it when she started it but at some point, the night before Gran started up the smoker and put in ribs and various other meats to smoke. I guess that explained why Gran was still up at 2:30, she was watching her meat. Gran also had the big slow cooker going with beans. She was mixing up a huge batch of cornbread when I made my way into the kitchen.

"Sookie dear you might want to go wash your face. You are a little smudged." She tried not to laugh looking at my face.

"Is it really that bad Gran, I haven't even looked in the mirror yet?" I asked my eyes widening in horror.

"Honey you look like a raccoon that was eating berries." Again, trying to stifle her laughter.

"I'll go wash my face and be back in to help." I walked back towards the bathroom. As I walked through the living room I had to smile everyone was still asleep in various locations around the room. I spotted the camera sitting on the floor next to Holly's foot. I just couldn't resist. I took several pictures of everyone sleeping. I think my favorite was one of Claude. He was using Tara's butt for a pillow and hugging it real hard. He always protested that he did not drool but there was a giant wet spot on Tara's shorts. I didn't think that she'd went the bathroom on the floor so, I had to assume that it was from Claude. Another picture that I really liked was of Godric, he was still on the sofa with one arm above his head and the other resting on his hip. He looked so peaceful, well, minus the makeup that made him look kind of sickly. I took the camera and put it back in Gran's room I knew that if I left it out Jason would get his hands on it.

Gran was right the black eyeliner and eye shadow had smudged and my lipstick bled, smeared over my chin and cheeks. I looked like one of those streetwalkers down in New Orleans after a really bad night. I got right to work cleaning up my face using a trick I had learned from dance and pageants. I took some of Gran's hand lotion and put it on a waded up tissue wiping the makeup off. When I was done, my face was clean and soft. Some of my hair had come out of the complicated bun/braid thing that the girls had put it in. I took it the rest of the way down. I then brushed it out and put it back up in a ponytail. I would make my hair look better when I took a shower later. I went back to the kitchen to help, only to find Claudine and Godric in the kitchen too.

"Seems you not the only one to wake up looking a fright." Gran gestured to the two of them. Claudine's hardcore punk look had smeared into something akin to what my face had looked a few minutes before. Godric's face had not really changed he just looked really pale with dark eyes like he'd not slept in a long time.

"Go get something for them to clean up with. When you are all done I need some help making breakfast since it y'all are waking up." I went back to the bathroom and grabbed the lotion and tissue box. I also got a few washcloths. I took it all back out to the kitchen.

"Claudine you remember how to get stage makeup off, you work on your own face, I'll help Godric with his," I said handing her some tissues. I was gentle when I was cleaning off his face. Once we were done, I handed him a washcloth so he could wash off his face.

"This makeup removing trick of yours will come in handy for the play later in the year. I don't know how many times we have had to change the way our faces looked for different scenes and only had a few minutes to get it done this will save us oodles of time." Godric said smiling at me.

"I am glad I could be of service. Gran, what are we making for breakfast?" I turned to ask her.

"Well, I was thinking of letting you three choose. We have time to make anything. I have the stuff for hoecakes, waffles or pancakes, and biscuits. I got bacon, sausage, and ham, oh and eggs. There is plenty of that fruit salad you made left and I got some cottage cheese. Any of that sound like something you want to make." She started to pour her cornbread batter into lined muffin tins.

"I am fine with whatever Gran, what do you two want?" I asked turning to Claudine and Godric.

"I would love hoecakes fried in bacon grease. You know how mom is about real food right now. I think the only time I get real food is when I go to school or come over here. I want grease and butter while I can get it." Claudine said. The triplets' mother has been on every diet you could think of. As of late, she was on a vegan kick. Not that there was anything wrong with that but it could be hard to deal with when she had them all on the Atkins diet just before.

"Those sound good but let's keep the fruit salad and cottage cheese in the mix too," Godric replied picking up a grape from the bowl and popping into his mouth.

Gran put her cornbread muffins in the oven and let me take over. I put Claudine and Godric to work mixing up the ingredients for the hoecakes. I fried up almost four pounds of bacon. I reserved the grease so we could use it. I think the smell of bacon and smoked meat must have woken everyone up because one at a time they would poke there head into the kitchen asking when they could eat. Gran had been out back shucking corn. I was starting to wonder if we would have time to make all the food she was planning. Once everything was cooked up we took it into the dining room with some paper plates and stuff. As everyone was finishing we took shifts in the bathrooms to get clean and ready for the day. I put on a yellow sundress that had white lace on the bottom as an accent. I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail and added a white ribbon to my hair. The boys came out of Jason's room around ten hunting for food.

"You got any of that left or are we fending for ourselves?" Jason asked yawning.

"If there is it is in the dining room. If what's left isn't enough, then just wait till lunch, Gran and I are making enough food to feed an army." I responded.

"Alright, but could you maybe make some eggs for me?"

"You got two hands, make them yourself, I am busy. We still got to work on dessert after this." I gestured to the pile of onion I was cutting. I was in the kitchen helping Gran make coleslaw. She had four huge heads of cabbage she was cutting up. I had a stack of carrots to get through too. Gran was planning to make two pies, three cobblers, and a cake. Jason cracked a few eggs into Gran's skillet to cook. "Jason when you get to the living room could you send someone in for help? Gran and I are going to need it to get the fruit peeled and stuff." I asked blinking away the tears from the onions.

"Jason I am going to need you two boys to help me with the meat in about an hour. Would you rather carry or cut?" Gran added moving a pile of shredded cabbage into her mixing bowl. She grabbed another one and went back to work.

"I'll carry, it's easier. What are you making for dessert anything chocolate?" He asked flipping his eggs.

"We are making a cherry pie, a lemon meringue pie, strawberry rhubarb cobbler, peach cobbler, a blueberry buckle, and a red velvet cake. If we need more we got the stuff to make triple chocolate chip cookies." I listed adding my onions to the bowl. I got to work peeling my carrots.

Jason grumbled about there not be enough chocolate as he left the room. About a minute later Holly and Lafayette came into the kitchen to help. Once Gran and I got the coleslaw mixed up and put into the fridge we started on the fruit.

She gave Lala the job of pitting the cherries and he had a great time. Holly and I worked together on the strawberries and rhubarb while Gran attacked the peaches. After we got all the fruit peeled, pitted, chopped and in their respective of sugar and spices. Gran started on the pie crust and had us work on the topping for the cobblers. Gran left us after an hour to deal with the meat, at this point we had the cobblers and buckle in the oven and were working on the fillings for the pies. Gran would be doing the cake last since it needed a different temperature.

I still hadn't spoken a word to Eric and was not looking forward to it. Gran recruited Claude and Godric to help with the meats too. The boys carried various containers of meat into the kitchen. Gran had pork to be shredded and brisket to be cut. The ribs were falling apart on their own and the chicken looked juicy. Gran had her own barbeque sauce ready to slather the ribs and pork. She put Holly, Lafayette and I to work on boiling up the corn. When the boys were done carrying the meat in she had them set tables and chairs up outside. I learned about have way through the corn, that the football team was coming too. I was wondering if we were going to run out of food. We got done with all the cooking and baking at 12:15 just as people started showing up. Claude had designated himself as the greater so he could fulfill his dare from the night before. I missed when Gran had made the three jugs of sun tea and a giant cooler of lemonade. The afternoon was great, everyone had plenty to eat. I was sitting at one of the tables with Godric, John and some of the girls. We had a nice lunch. Afterward, the guys decided to play touch football, so we ended up watching. I was having a great time until the girl that Eric had kissed the night before showed up with some of her cheer friends. She waltzed right over to him during one of the time outs and started kissing him. I just couldn't watch him with her, so I got up and went into the house. I was closely followed by both John and Holly. I flopped down on the sofa and tried my hardest not to cry. They both came and sat down with me putting their arms around me. I sat there with them quietly crying. After a while, Jason came in looking for John and found us on the sofa.

"Why the hell is she crying now?" He asked accusingly.

"Your dick of a friend was kissing that cheer hoe. Did you find out why he is so suddenly mad at your sister? He saw her and Godric coming out of her room yesterday. Their clothing was mussed so he jumped to the conclusion that they had been making out in her room. The truth is that they had been lying on her bed talking. Godric had carried her up when she had fallen asleep in his mom's car on the way home and they just stayed there talking till you both got home." Holly pause to take a breath, but John finished for her.

"He basically called her a slut, told her to forget about him taking her to the dance and then made out with Daphne last night after we won the game," John added.

"He is the reason I got to have the slumber party last night and why we had this huge lunch today. He didn't even let me say anything. I got so sad that Gran was using the parties as a distraction. Didn't you wonder why I sprinted from your room last night when Claude yelled time, it was my dare from Claude to sit on Eric's lap and if he tried to move me I had to kiss him. That's why I held on so tightly. I didn't want to kiss the guy who was so mean to me and wanted to get away as fast as I could. It's also why Claude tried to kiss Eric and is now kissing everyone in sight. I don't even know why I like Eric in the first place, he is mean and stupid." I was hysterical at this point I don't know if anyone in the room could understand me. I heard the back door bang on its hinges. I looked up and out the window in time to see Jason tackle and then start pummeling Eric. Jason may pick on me sometimes but if someone hurts my feelings he is right there to set them straight.

John stood up and said. "I should probably go break them up before they hurt each other. I don't think they will stop otherwise." I just nodded. No matter how much I wanted Jason to hurt Eric as much as his assumption had hurt me, I knew they need to stop. We could hear the three of them shouting from inside. When I was about to get up, John pointed into the house at me. Eric's head whipped up to look at me through the glass. A wave understanding and then guilt passed over his face. I could tell he was sorry, but I didn't want to hear it. I got up with Holly following and went to my room to finish my cry.