Hey everybody! Happy Tuesday, day after Memorial Day. I wish I didn't have to go to school all week. Goodness, summer needs to hurry the heck up and get here and bring the end of the horror story that is school. Ok, so a few people answered my sequel question. I NEED MORE ANSWERS! So far, the answers were all YES towards a sequel, and I am considering a possible sequel. I'll pose this question every chapter, and just try and answer, ok? Please!
I thought this chapter was just pretty darn cute. It had some sweet moments with Jim interacting with Wendy's little brother, I think that's ADORABLE. And Part 2 was pretty sad and annoying. If Andrina Triton drives you crazy by the end of this chapter, review it.
Thanks to: Flying By Wire, Avril Lambert, Miri, Guest, and SheKnows for reviewing.
Reply to Comments:
Miri: AAAAAAAAAAAAH, thank you so much!
Guest: Thanks a million.
SheKnows: Pic Collage is an app. Where you...make collages. It's pretty fun. :)
Avril Lambert: Yeah, now that I think about it, Char's cousin would be easier to type in.
Seeing Sarah makes me miss my own mother.
-Wendy
With Sarah Hawkins's permission, Wendy Darling moved entirely into the Hawkins house, and fit into their routine household.
Wendy had called her Aunt Millicent and asked her to kindly drop off her brothers at the Benbow Diner in a few hours. Aunt Millicent was just more than happy to get rid of the two troublesome boys.
"They've been drawing on my best evening gowns," she had spluttered over the phone when Wendy asked her politely how Michael and John had been behaving at her house in England. "talking nonstop of nothing but pirates and mermaids and Indians on the warpath. Where they get these foolishness is beyond me. From your stories, they say."
"Yes, ma'am," Wendy had responded, ducking her head, flushing furiously with embarrassment.
"A grown girl like you should stop this fairytale nonsense and learn to grow up, Wendy."
"Yes, ma'am," Wendy said again, automatically, winding the phone cord around her index finger. Sarah had stopped washing dishes to look at Wendy's distressed face. Jim was outside gathering wood for the Main Room fireplace.
"And they've been missing your stories dearly, Wendy, asking me to tell them stories about strange islands and love notes and stolen crystals and—oh! My word, are they spoiled to death, dear."
"I'm sorry," Wendy whispered.
"Don't you be apologizing," snapped Aunt Millicent over the phone. "And furthermore, all my electricity bills can just be merely discarded now that the boys have drawn these vulgar 'treasure maps' all over them. They have hidden twigs, rocks and weeds inside my house all over the place—even in my toilet tank and in my pillow. I didn't appreciate that."
"And did you as much as scold them?" Wendy asked with a nervous chuckle.
"Of course!" Millicent shrilled. "And what did they do? Next thing you know, my best country club high heels are gone, used as stolen treasure."
"High heels? Stolen treasure?" Wendy asked innocently. "Doesn't sound like my brothers."
Aunt Millicent snorted. "Don't play coy with me, dear. Right now I'm stationed in Boston at a hotel. I'll be dropping them off as soon as I can wrestle Michael into a proper pair of clothes and find John's shoes. Expect me at the door sooner than usual—I might just speed on the highway." Then she had hung up the phone.
When Aunt Millicent arrived, Michael and John rushed right into the Benbow. John made a face. "What is this place?" he demanded. "It smells like grill."
Wendy rolled her eyes. "Your new home. And be polite."
Wendy lifted up Michael and smiled at her aunt. "Hi, Aunt Millicent."
Millicent made a sort of huffing noise.
"How was the ride with the boys?" Wendy implored. "They didn't cause any trouble on the way here, did they?"
Millicent sniffed. "I started questioning my entire being back on the highway when Melman actually released urine into my car."
Wendy gasped. "He peed in your car?" She looked severely at Michael. "Michael, why didn't you say you had to go?"
Michael shrugged. "She wouldn't stop."
Millicent pressed her lips together. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get my car's interior washed."
"Oh, but won't you stay for dinner?" Sarah had appeared in the hallway. "I actually cooked dinner, hoping you'd—"
She trailed off, seeing Michael. "Oh, you precious little thing!" Sarah bent down, ruffling Michael's hair.
"You're pretty like our mommy," said Michael, his blue eyes going wide.
Sarah glanced up at Wendy with a smile. "Ohhh, I love him already, Wendy."
Wendy grinned. Jim appeared at the top of the stairway. "Hey. You must be Wendy's aunt." He flashed her a tiny sideways cocky Jim smile. "I'm Jim."
Aunt Millicent squinted. "Boy, is that...an earring you're wearing?"
Jim blinked, startled. "What?"
Aunt Millicent rolled her eyes. "Teenagers these days. Doing things that they think are 'cool.'"
Wendy flushed fire engine red. "Aunt Millicent, please."
Sarah picked up Michael, and Millicent backed out. "Well, I must be off," she said finally. "I have to be at Quality Inn as early as possible before the gangsters kick in. Plus, I have a plane to England to catch tomorrow at six in the morning. So, I bid you all the best, Wendy, and see if you can wrestle a rein onto those things you call brothers."
Wendy dipped her head in a gracious nod. "Sure. Thanks, Aunt Millicent."
Without so much as a backward wave, Millicent, with her frizzy white-blonde hair and her thin sharp features, headed for her red car in the driveway.
"That lousy scoundrel," John said, grinning and crossing his eyes in the hallway.
"John," Wendy reprimanded.
Jim still looked baffled at Aunt Millicent's critical judging.
Wendy turned to look at him, but couldn't from embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Jim," she apologized, blinking her eyes rapidly.
Jim shook his head. "Naw, it's fine, Wendy."
"Do you like cookies?" Sarah was crooning at Michael.
"With chocolate chips," he clarified.
Sarah laughed. "I'd love to give you some of the dessert I saved for Aunt Millicent."
John grinned. "She'd only sour it," he told Sarah, who laughed.
Jim wrapped his arm around Wendy's shoulders and led her to dinner.
Dinner ended rather quickly, with Jim clearing the table and Wendy sweeping up the front and giving customers ale if they wanted some.
Afterwards, Wendy and Jim went out on the porch for some alone time, and just as their lips were about to meet, Michael popped out through the screen door and asked that question only little siblings can ask:
"Are you guys gonna kiss?"
Wendy pulled away, furiously blushing and staring at her lap.
Jim leaned back casually. "Nah," was all he said, but he appeared to be a little caught off-guard as well.
Michael pointed across the porch to a thing resting against the railings. "What's that?"
Jim leaned forward. "What was that, Mike?"
Michael, apparently enjoying his new cooler nickname, grinned widely and repeated himself. "What's that thing over there? In the corner?"
Jim glanced that way. "My solar surfer."
Michael tilted his head. "What's a solar surfer?"
Jim stood up. "I'll show you."
Wendy rolled her eyes knowingly, Jim would never lose an opportunity to show off on that contraption.
He kick-started it, and set a dial on it, from solar to "lunar," and then the sails lit up with an otherworldly glow, and grabbing a long handle on the front, he raised it into the air, doing a spin, and a backwards flip while keeping his feet glued to the board. He grinned wildly at Michael. "You like it?"
Michael nodded eagerly. "It looks so cool! How do you do those tricks without falling off?"
Jim shrugged. "Practice, I guess? I won't even say how many times I fell off when I first made this thing."
Michael's eyes went even more wider with admiration. "You made this?"
Jim nodded, smiling at the little boy. "Hey," he said in a soft voice. "I could teach you how to make one of these, if you want."
Michael shrugged. "I'm a little scared of heights."
"We could fly around a bit tomorrow, if you want," Jim offered. "Low to the ground, and slow. How 'bout it, Mike?"
Michael beamed. "Okay. Then can you teach me to make one, if I like the ride?"
Jim nodded. "Sure, dude."
Michael let out a whoop of delight. "Hey, do you know how to do the airplane game?" he wanted to know. "Wendy used to do it, but she won't anymore."
"You've gotten heavy, Michael," Wendy said, leaning back on the Hawkins' porch swing. "You aren't as light as you were two years ago."
Michael looked up expectantly at Jim. "D'ya know how?"
Jim cast a confused look at Wendy. "The airplane game?"
Wendy smiled. "I used to pick him up and swing him around and around, spinning in circles, and then lift him into the air."
Jim grinned. "Aw, hell, I could do that."
Michael tugged on Jim's hand. "Please? Please, Jim? Can you please do the airplane game with me?"
"Alright," Jim gave in, and picked up the little boy under the arms. He began to spin him around, with Michael laughing so hard his breath came in little hiccups. Jim raised Michael high into the air, gripped him around the stomach, and swung him almost down to the ground, facefirst. Michael let out a terrified but delighted scream.
"Ah, no!" Jim cried. "The plane got shot! Mayday, mayday! We're going down! Aaaaah!"
Wendy giggled and pulled her knees to her chest as Jim swung up Michael at the last minute and seated him on his shoulders. Michael laughed. "Do it again!"
Jim obligingly repeated the whole "Mayday" thing, to Michael's extreme delight, and then swung him upside down and spun him in circles one last time, made sure he wasn't dizzy, then sent him off inside.
"You're not so rock-hard after all, are you?" Wendy teased him as he finally sat down.
Jim made a face. "Whaddaya mean?"
"I mean, you were so nice to Michael. That was so adorable back there. With the airplane game?"
Jim grinned. "I like little kids. Always have." His face darkened. "They don't judge, like adults do."
Wendy sympathetically rubbed his back. "I feel you. I've always been more at home with John and Michael than Father and Mother."
"I feel at home with you," Jim told Wendy, running his fingertips along her smooth jawline.
Wendy blushed and leaned forward, but clumsily lost her balance, knocking her forehead against Jim's forehead. The two of them laughed at her loss-of-balance all of a sudden, and then their lips met perfectly in between.
Michael stood behind the screen door and smiled.
He knew they were gonna kiss.
Is she embarrassed of me?
-Adrian
Adrian got the call from Arista, Ariel's sister, to get his ass down to Notre Dame Memorial Hospital because Ariel was hit by a truck.
Adrian's speedometer never dipped below eighty across the highway and into the hospital's parking lot.
He stopped to check in at the front desk in the lobby, and then ran to the Intensive Care Unit, where he stood in front of the window and stared at Ariel. Her red hair was frizzy and spread out along the pillow, and there were bandages wrapped around her head. The queen-bee Triton Girl looked unrecognizable, warped by wounds, pressure cuffs, IV needles and wires that held her to various devices and strapped her down to the hospital bed.
Adrian remembered their kiss in Sebastian's Pond and when he drove her home from the YMCA that late night and when she saw him working in the garden and he had given her a rose.
He walked into the waiting room and spotted Arista sitting there with a latte in a plastic cup and a guy with big nerdy hipster-type glasses, also with a cup of coffee.
"Adrian!" Arista stood up, nearly knocking over her purse.
"Miss Arista," said Adrian in a low voice. The other Triton girls were staring at him with looks that gave him in the chills. "Is Ariel alright?" he demanded.
Attina, the oldest, sucked in a breath of air. He knew why; he was only allowed to refer to the Triton Girls as "Miss Ariel" or "Miss Aquata" and so on and so forth. But he didn't care—this was his love they were talking about.
"Excuse me, Adrian!" came a snotty, nasal, popular girl voice from the side.
Adrian turned slowly, and saw Arista's eyes lace up with hatred and anger.
Andrina Triton stood there, hands on her hips, her dark brown eyes burning with intense rage.
Adrian fixed her with an equally intense stare, but didn't say a word.
Adrian heard Arista murmur that Andrina was a stupid idiot behind him. He wondered what had happened between them.
He turned back around. "Can you tell me what's wrong with Ariel?" he asked, once again provoking stares and whispers from the Triton Girls.
"I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Andrina shrieked from behind him, catching him off guard. "You! Our gardener! Or are you his twin brother who somehow has permission to show up pretending to be Ariel's boyfriend?"
A muscle in Adrian's cheek twitched. Hadn't Ariel told them they were dating yet? He just stared at Andrina with a startled expression. Was she playing dumb?
"What?" screamed Andrina, exasperated.
"Stop it!" Arista stepped in front of Adrian.
"Okay," Andrina chuckled. "Defend the servant, then, Mommy."
Arista's face clouded over with anger. "You bitch! Andrina, it's not that big of a deal!"
"Not that big of a deal?" Attina waded forward, her green eyes sparking uncontrollably. Adrian looked at Robbie, and his freaked face showed that he was as clueless as Adrian. But the only thought that kept screaming through Adrian's head was: She's ashamed of me. She's ashamed of me. She's ashamed of me.
And then a little voice answered cheerfully: Why, of course she is! She's a Triton Girl, and you're just a lowly worker.
"Not that big of a deal?" Attina repeated. "Arista, you are sixteen and pregnant. It is a big deal."
"Think of that unnecessary body fat," drawled Andrina. "You'll be a walking pillow, Mommy."
Arista bristled. "Don't call me that!"
"Girls!" Aquata waded forward. "Girls, please, we're in a hospital and people are staring."
"Let them stare!" Andrina walked forward and jammed her finger into Arista's face. "Let them all know that our youngest sister had unrestricted sex and got stuck with a baby inside of her."
"Thank God you don't have AIDS," Attina crossed her arms over her chest.
"Or maybe she does," added Andrina snarkily.
"What will Daddy say?" Attina demanded, nagging her.
Arista was close to tears. She couldn't do it. She couldn't stay here anymore, with these sluts she called sisters. They had ruined her life, and they probably would tear her apart, literally and mentally.
Suddenly, Aquata reached forward and grabbed Arista's wrist.
"Let go!" Arista shrieked, unable to take it anymore. "Stop it!"
"Enough with the drama!" Aquata yelled, and Arista flinched as the blow set in, but realized Aquata was talking to Attina and Andrina. Attina narrowed her eyes, and Andrina looked taken aback.
"She's had enough!" yelled Aquata, redfaced.
Arista was shocked.
Aquata was the one Arista had the most fights with. They used to fight constantly when they were little, over toys and stuffed animals and which juice glasses were who's. They still fought presently, about room space and makeup and pillows and clothes and who was prettier and all sorts of stupid stuff. So that's why Arista was shocked when Aquata, her biggest rival, stepped in to defend her from Attina and Andrina.
"Shut the hell up," Andrina said carelessly, and turned her big green eyes back on Arista.
"Why don't you," Aquata shot back relentlessly, and took Arista's wrists, turning her away from Andrina.
Aquata was glaring at Adrian. "Somebody want to tell me what's going on?" she demanded. "Why are you here to see Ariel? Did you two have a thing?"
"Great," Andrina grumbled. "Next thing you know, boom. We got another pregnant girl in the family."
Alana shot her a withering look. "Would you stop?"
Arista shot a grateful look at her remaining sisters, tears sliding down her cheeks, melting her meager amount of mascara.
Adrian raised his eyebrows, and ran his hands through his dark hair. "I don't know. Ariel and I kissed, and she said we had a thing. I thought we had a thing. Didn't she tell you guys anything about us?"
Alana glanced around. "Speak now if she told any of you about Adrian and her having a thing."
Adrian looked around slowly, and then Arista nodded. "She told me. Well, more like I guessed. And she was trying to hide it, though I don't know why."
A dagger ran through Adrian, a dagger of pain and hurt. He couldn't breathe. He was unable to explain the feelings that ran though him.
She HATED him. She was embarrassed. She was just playing him all along.
Adrian gritted his teeth and looked around at the gorgeous model-type player girls surrounding him in the waiting room. He saw their smoky wide eyes, their expensive jewelry, their glossed lips, their slutty clothing. He was just another one of their playthings.
She is a Triton Girl.
Without a word, Adrian grabbed his jacket off the couch and marched off down the hallway.
He was done .
Awwww, poor Adrian! I love him to pieces in this. And I will incorporate AdrianXAriel fluff as soon as she wakes up, which will be real soon, folks. I need to cover some Cindy and Char, and maybe some FlynnXDani? But Ariel and Adrian are coming right up.
Since you have read all the way down here, please just leave a review and bring a smile to my face and a message to my inbox.
3+ reviews and the next chapter will be up.
-Crystal