Oh, and I forgot to say Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year!

Or whatever it is you celebrate...I hope it's happy!

The Isadora Diaries:

Superheroes:

Saturday, April 7th

Bea wanted to talk more about the dance yesterday while I was at her house. I wouldn't allow it, though, because we had to get to her homework, and any subject that was relevant to Klaus and Haley made me sick on the inside. I wasn't as lenient about letting her ge of topic this time, and we were actually able to get an hour and a half of work in before she lost all will to focus and threw her textbook at the wall.

She lasted fifteen more minutes than last time. She's improving.

It was around the time to go and check on how Quigley and Violet were doing with setting up the movie when Bea was absolutely done dealing with her math homework, so I told Bea what were doing and asked her to come along with me. Despite the fact that Duncan wasn't going to be there (which is what I told her after she asked whether he was going o be there or not-gosh this girl has it bad), she agreed come with me. This is going to sound really mean, but part of me wish she had stayed back because all Bea could talk about on he way to Violet's house was what she was thinking about wearing, and what she wondered Duncan was going to wear, and other things like that. I get she was excited, and I was happy for her, but I would've been perfectly fine if she started talking about something else. At least she wasn't talking about Klaus anymore. I was pretty thankful for that. But it was hard not to think about him and feel upset whenever the dance was mentioned, so that made it a little hard to actually listen to what Bea was saying.

Much to my happiness, we made it to Violet's house, giving us a reason o step off the subject of the dance. Since Violet, Quigley, and I had decided to show the movie in Violet's backyard instead of her garage (just in case her driveway was too small for everyone), we had to meet them around back. When we found them there in the backyard, we were a little surprised with what they were doing.

"Um, is there a reason why you're up in a tree?" I asked.

Yup. They were in a tree.

No, they were not K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

(I'm so sorry, but I just had to put that.)

Anywho...

Quigley and Violet were in the branch of a tree about six feet off the ground, looking like they were trying to adjust a movie projector on it. (Violet's mom used to be a teacher for a really expensive private school, so she has a really nice projector.)

"Don't question our judgement!" Violet yelled defensively.

"It's better this way!" Quigley reassured. "No one's head will be in the way-like in the theaters because the projector is so high!"

"Well, this isn't a theater. It's a backyard," I said a matter-of-factly. "The projector could fall and break from there!"

"That's why we have ropes!" Quigley held up two ropes to show me.

"Gosh, Isadora, you underestimate us," Violet said, wrapping one of the ropes around the projector.

"She's right," Bea said. "That projector will fall. You can use my dad's tripod to help keep it up. He used to deal with projectors like those all the time."

I stared at her with my mouth agape. Bea was never one for making complete sense, so that was definitely something I didn't expect to come out of her mouth. Especially since it was such a good idea, because most of her ideas are wacky and totally impossible to accomplish.

"Bea! That's brilliant!" I congratulated.

She shrugged. "I know. Can you come get it with me, Quigley? It's kind of heavy."

Quigley agreed to help her get the tripod. But before he could go with her, he and Violet had to get the projector down from the tree. The projector was kind of big, so it's a miracle that they were able to get it down from the tree without dropping it. It would've been an even bigger miracle if Quigley hadn't fallen from the lowest branch (which was four feet off the ground), but you should take what you can get.

After Quigley left with Bea to get the tripod, I had a sudden urge to ask Violet about Klaus. Why was he with Haley a couple of days ago? Had they become a couple? Would they become a couple? When would Klaus be home?

As more and more questions arose from my thoughts, they turned into the ones that Violet couldn't answer, so all I could do was stress over them.

What if I'm here when Klaus comes home?, I thought, Would he talk to me? Should I talk to him? How would he react if I asked him about him and Haley? Should I even mention her name?

"Uh, Isadora?" Violet asked in a concerned tone as she wrapped up the ropes. "You look kind of pale. Are you feeling okay?

I rubbed my head and tried to push away all the thought-consuming questions that I really did not need bombarding my brain at the moment. "Yeah, I'm fine." Even though the questions were gone, there this still a roller-coaster of butterflies in my stomach and worries sewing its way into my heart so that with every racing beat I grew a little more stressed at the thought being in the backyard (or house, whatever) as Klaus when I didn't even know if I could to talk to him and have things be all right. For all I knew, he could hate me, or at least not want to be my friend anymore. We haven' talked in a week, and I was going absolutely mad! If he didn't say something to me soon, I would probably go crazy! Like, squirrel chasing me in kindergarten crazy, except I'd be the squirrel!

To calm myself by maybe letting my body know when I'd have to deal with him, and to know how long I'd have to prepare for it, I asked Violet, "Hey, Violet, do you know when Klaus is coming home today."

To my disappointment, she shook her head. But then she said something that relieved most of the stress that just recently been eating me alive. "He's spending the night at his friend's house tonight. He'll be back sometime tomorrow, but I don't know when. Why? Do you need to talk to him?"

Great. Now I had to give an answer. I racked my brain for something to say that wouldn't make it sound like I liked him (I definitely don't want his sister to find out), and said the first comprehensible thing, "No, I was just wondering if he was going to be home in time for the movie."

I felt like I deserved a medal for coming up with that one.

"Oh. Well, no, he isn't."

A major part of me felt relieved, and most of my stress was fading away. A minor part of me was kind of disappointing that I wouldn't be seeing him that day, but I shoved that idea out the imaginary window in my head.

While we waited for Quigley and Bea to come back with the tripod, we connected the projector to Violet's laptop so that we could play the movie from there. We told the people we handed the fliers advertising the movie night to bring picnic blankets to sit on. Just in case someone didn't we laid out a couple that we had in our garages.

Quigley and Bea returned with the tripod, and we left the job of setting the projector on the tripod to Bea because she was the only one who looked like she knew what she was doing.

We were going to start playing the movie at eight o' clock, so by seven forty-five, people had started to show up with their families and friends. We hadn't expected a lot people to show up, since not everyone we talked to said they could come, so we were surprised when we had a total of forty-eight people come to Violet's backyard with blankets and picnic baskets.

We had told Violet's parents that we weren't expecting a lot of people to show up, so they were in for a nice surprise the next time they stepped into their backyard. Thankfully, they weren't angry or anything, just taken aback a little.

We started the movie on time and everyone quieted down to listen.

I sat by myself on my own little blanket behind everyone else. Bea had invited me to sit with her Duncan (who got home around five), but as they were an unborn couple, I felt obligated to let them have their space for a while. Quigley and Violet invited me to sit with them, too, but they're kind of an unpredictable couple. And, like I mentioned before in my last entry, I don't want to witness anything else. I even made sure that I was sitting somewhere I couldn't see them unless I turned my head in their direction. I wasn't planning on doing that.

As the movie began, I remembered the time I first watched The Avengers with Klaus in his T.V. room. It hadn't been very long ago, but it felt like years. I remembered crying at the end and shoving Klaus away when he started laughing at me because he was surprised that I was. I also recalled letting him hug me when he apologized for laughing. Then I remembered kicking him in the leg and running away.

I chuckled silently to myself as the image of Klaus's surprised expression mixed with a goal of revenge appeared in mind. I lived for moments like those, and it upset me to think that they might not happen anymore because of Haley.

Or maybe I was just overreacting. Maybe I just needed to quit being such a girl for one minute and stop freaking out about Klaus and what was going on with him. A movie filled with superheroes could help me get mind off things.

And it did.

For the most part.

$550.5

That was how much money we had earned by the next morning.

$449.5

That was how much we needed to make to pay back our mother.

We were only a little halfway through, but it was progress, and we were thankful.

"We did a good job," Quigley said once we counted the money again, "but I don't think Grayson's parents will pay four hundred dollars for a birthday."

"Which is coming along quite nicely, thank you very much," Duncan said proudly.

"Why won't you tell us what you're doing for it, Duncan?" I asked. "It's killing me to know what it is, since you've been working on it so much this past week."

"Because I want it to be a surprise!" he jumped up and down.

"But we really want to know!" Quigley complained. "Can't you at least give us a hint that has something to do with it.

Duncan nodded. "One word: fun."

Quigley groaned, and I rolled my eyes at Duncan's vague hint. There was no way we were getting a straight answer from this kid. Once he has his heart set on doing something, he won't do it any other way.

"At least promise us nothing will destroyed in the process, " I said crossing my arms. "We can't afford to owe any more money than we already do."

Duncan rolled my eyes. "Relax, nothing will be destroyed. Trust me! I know what I'm doing! You're acting like I'm some destructive delinquent."

Quigley scoffed. "This is coming from someone who set our roof on fire."

"Hey, you helped!" Duncan yelled defensively.

"Yeah, well, I'm not the one who set up the fireworks!"

Duncan averted his eyes to the side, looking a little guilty. "Shut up..."

"It's both your faults!" I exasperated. "It's also your fault that I grounded for it, too. And I didn't even do anything!"

"Hey," Duncan said, "a good captain always goes down with his ship!"

Quigley and I looked at him funny, because what he just said had absolutely nothing to do with anything we were talking about.

Why aren't we used to this already? He's like this 24/7!

"Whatever," I said, waving off Duncan's randomness, "are you almost done with planning the party? It's supposed to be tomorrow."

"I know, I know," Duncan sighed. "Have a little faith, guys! Everything will be fine! I promise, I'm almost done. I just need to head out to the lot today and finish some stuff up. Then everything will be good to go!"

"You made sure Grayson's parents knew about this, right?" Quigley asked suspiciously.

"Of course!"

"And you made sure Grayson's friends were invited?" I questioned, believing that he could've easily forgotten that.

"Yup."

"You got cake?" Quigley asked.

"Duh!" Duncan exclaimed. "That's the most important part! How could I forget about cake?!"

I nodded. "He has a point."

"Okay," Duncan said, taking out his phone and checking it. "I'm going to go finish things now. You guys work your money-making magic you everyday, 'kay?"

"It's not magic," Quigley argued. "It's called asking for help."

"And having people nice enough to do it," I added.

"Whatever," Duncan said. "It's working, so keep doing it."

I groaned. "Can't we just sit at home today? It's been something new everyday, and I'm really tired."

Quigley nodded. "I am too. We should try to do something, though."

"Go mow some lawns," Duncan said to Quigley. Turning to me, he said, "Aren't you tutoring Bea?"

"Yeah," I confirmed, "but you don't realize how hard it is to get her to focus on her work."

He smiled a little. "Yeah, I do." Becoming serious again, he said, "'Kay, I'm leaving now. Good luck, guys!" And with a wave, he exited the house to work some more on his mysterious party planning.

I really was tired from working everyday (how do adults do it?) but I knew I had to suck it up and work some more. At least all I had to do was tutor Bea. Unfortunately, the process still drained me of energy, it just happened to be more mental than physical. But I wouldn't choose mowing lawns over it. I don't even know how to work a lawn mower, so I would probably end up killing someone. I once saw an episode of this show where a flashback showed a kid accidentally killing his brother because he was being reckless with the lawn mower.

I didn't want to be like that kid.

Quigley could mow. I wasn't touching that death machine.

"Come on, Iz," Quigley said, patting me on the back and motioning towards the front door. "We got to work if we're going pay Mom back."

"And stay out of military school," I said more to myself than Quigley. But he agreed aloud anyway. "And to stay out of military school."

Military school was probably the worst thing that could possibly happen to me at the moment. I was already feeling like I was losing one of my best friends because of a stupid argument to someone I found to be absolutely dreadful, I didn't need to be going to a new, strict school where I really couldn't talk to Klaus anymore. Especially since that would probably push Klaus more into Haley's direction, which didn't need to happen anymore than it already was. At least if I was around I could maybe do something about it (I don't know what, but I could).

Also, attending a new school would probably kill me. It took me years to make the friends that I have now. I mean, I've known most of these kids since kindergarten. Not being able to hang out with them (Bea, Violet, Klaus, Katelyn, Jo, Taylor, Emma, Josh, Adam...need I say more?) would kill both me and my brothers. I don't have a problem with making new friends; it's just the thought that I would have in order to sustain some sort of happiness. And the thought of having to in an entirely brand new place was just too overwhelming to think about. So I didn't think about it.

Instead, I tried to fill my mind with happy thoughts like Disney movies, butterflies, music, macaroni...seemingly odd little things like that. But they weren't odd to me. They all had some sort of memory that I attached to it, and each one made me feel better and warmer inside, despite the situation. They also made me feel a bit nostalgic and sad, but better nonetheless.

And, perhaps, that's the best way to cheer yourself up sometimes. Some people say that to put your past behind you and move forward in life. That's great advice, it really is, but remembering happy and fun times aren't that bad of a way with dealing things easier. That's because for a moment, just a moment, it almost feels like you're reliving a memory. And when it's finished, I actually find it easier to move forward in life.

With that in mind, I was able to walk to Bea's house with a lighter mood.

These times were kind of crazy, and I definitely wasn't all rainbows and sunshine about that, with being worried and stressed about so many things I didn't know the outcome of all at once.

Though, I did know one thing: these times would pass.

And that's a fact.

3,067

"Sitting alone here in my bed
I'm waiting for an answer I don't know that I'll get
I cannot stand to look in the mirror, I'm failing
I'm telling you these times are hard
But they will pass..."

~ These Times by Safetysuit

I know. I copied the song. (It's such a good song!) Don't worry. I'll start putting Lights songs again in the next chapter.

;)