Hey, guys...
So I explained why I haven't updated in a while in the latest chapter which would be chapter...58? Yeah. It's in the bottom's author's note if you want to skip to it.
Anywho...(I make Isadora say it too much, it's rubbing off on me)
I just want to take a moment and be a little emotioinal here.
Excuse me if I cry. (My sister's in the room, so I'll hold back, I promise. :))
You are all too wonderful, like, I can't begin to fathom that have people as wonderful as you reading and reviewing my story. Each review I read made me feel so much better. SO MUCH better than how I was before, and I really am doing better. I've been in a happier mood. I guess you could say I've sort of been taking Isadora's advice and kept moving. But having all of your support has been majorly helpful. I can't thank you enough, and I really feel like I don't deserve any of you!
Thanks again for all of your much appreciated reviews, whether it was a supportive concerning what I wrote in that author's note, or whether it was a funny one about the chapter. (Not even going to lie, but most of the time, your reviews crack me up...in a good way. :))
I'm probably being weird again, but I love you all! :)
Chapter 55:
Stubborn:
Thursday, April 12th
Okay, let's fit in another entry for tonight real quick.
A couple of days ago I made a deal with mother that was if I didn't have my costume ready by the night before the school dance, then she would pick out my costume for me.
Stupid little me was so focused on plotting against Haley that I completely forgot to make my Camp Half-Blood t-shirt for my demigod costume! But I was reminded once my mom threw my bedroom door open singing some song in a language I didn't recognize as she spun in a circle. (I never would've guessed that she knew something besides French and English.)
"Rennblautur, allur rennvotur…"
"Mom?"
"Engin gúmmís—"
"Mom?"
"Look what I found for you, Isadora! I completely forgot about our deal until I saw Duncan trying out his costume, and then I remembered! But it's much too late to go shopping so I was looking through my old clothes, and I found this! Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?!" My mother exclaimed, holding up what she found so I could get a good look at it. It was a short and strapless lavender dress with a dark purple ribbon wrapped around the waistline. It really was a pretty dress, but the thing is…I don't do dresses. Unless it's a dinner party, and that's because I absolutely have to.
I sat there staring at the dress, a bit dumbfounded. I knew my mother wasn't going to let me wear a t-shirt to the dance now that she was spinning a dress she found around, but I was really looking forward to being a demigod and carrying around a plastic sword that I was going to borrow from Mr. Snicket. (He keeps one in his office so people will find him intimidating but you can tell it's made of plastic.)
"Well?" Mother asked after she stopped spinning around. "Don't you like it?"
I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn't know what to say, so I closed it again.
Her smile fell to a pout. "You don't like it."
I immediately felt guilty. As much as I didn't wanted to wear it, I didn't want to make my mother think I didn't like it. I did like it, but, like I said, I don't do dresses.
"No, Mother," I said quickly. "I do like it. It's just that I was just about to make my costume for the dance."
That was only half of the truth, but it sounded good.
Mother pouted. "Oh, come on, Isadora. This dress is beautiful! And did you really think I was going to let you step out of the house wearing a t-shirt to go to a dance?"
She had a point. I have no idea why I thought she'd actually let me do that.
I really have had a lot on my mind…
"Well," I said, "you're supposed to go the dance dressed up as a character. That's just a dress and not a costume."
"I thought of that," my mother smiled triumphantly. "The dress is purple! Like the one that girl wears in your movie about the girl with the long hair!"
"Rapunzel?"
"Yes!" Mother exclaimed. "That one!"
I shook my head. "I don't know, Mother. I don't have long blonde hair or short brown hair."
Mother rolled her eyes. "Oh, Isadora, those are just minor details. We can just buy you a blonde wig, and if you really want short hair-which I didn't why you would since she's a blonde-we can always cut your hair."
"No!" I said a bit too loud. "No, I'm fine with my hair just the way it is."
"So you'll wear the dress?" Mother asked, her voice high with excitement.
"I didn't say-"
"Oh, I knew you'd agree!" she said happily, planting the dress gently on my bed. "Here, try it on and make sure it fits. I'm going to tell your father he owes me ten dollars because I was right!"
And with one last squeal, she hurried out of the room.
My parents made a bet that involved me agreeing to go the dance in a dress?
Ouch.
I huffed at the lavender dress lying on my bed. I really didn't want to dress up for a dance that I didn't want to go to in the first place, but I knew that trying to change my mother's name just wasn't even worth attempting. Once she has her heart set on something, she will not change her mind. I tried on the dress simply for the small hope that it wouldn't fit and my mother would have to let me go as a demigod. Much to my dismay. it fit perfectly. I also noticed that it actually didn't look that bad...and I always did like Rapunzel. Maybe going as her wouldn't be as bad as I thought...
My phone vibrated on my bed, signaling another text from Klaus.
Klaus: 8:07
Guess what I just watched.
I chuckled at the message, but I didn't answer. For the past hour, Klaus had literally been having a conversation with himself, and it was actually kind of funny to read. After he sent the messages that said he would be trying to get me to talk all night, he sent these messages:
Klaus: 7:03
Guess what I'm watching.
Klaus: 7:05
The Avengers.
Klaus: 7:06
Do you want to watch it with me?
Klaus 7:06
Come on, the trailers are still playing.
Klaus: 7:07
I know the trailers are your favorite part.
Klaus: 7:07
The Spiderman trailer is playing! Come on, Isadora, you can still catch him!
Klaus: 7:08
Oh, well now he's gone.
Klaus: 7:09
Remember when we watched this movie together? Once upon a December?
Klaus: 7:10
Okay, it was a Once upon a March, but, hey! Fun memories! Am I right?
Klaus: 7:11
I'm right.
Klaus: 7:12
Or would you rather be right?
Klaus: 7:12
You can be right. I don't mind.
And then he began sending me messages describing pats in the movie that was playing. Now he had sent me a message telling me to guess what he was watching? I had an urge to type, I DON'T KNOW, IT COULDN'T BE THE AVENGERS, but I didn't. I didn't need to either, because his response came almost as soon as the one with the before it.
Klaus: 8:07
If you guessed The Avengers, you're wrong. I got bored watching it alone.
Klaus: 8:08
You'll never guess what I'm watching now.
Klaus: 8:08
But you should still try.
Klaus: 8:09
Guueesss.
Klaus: 8:10
I'll give you a hint.
Klaus: 8:10
Men are such babies.
Oh my gosh, I thought to myself, he isn't.
There was no way he was watching Anastasia! That was his favorite quote from the movie, so I'm not surprised he remembered it, so he couldn't be watching it. Besides he didn't even have the movie.
Klaus: 8:11
Yup you know what it is now! (I hope.) I found the movie on YouTube. How convenient!
I almost gave up not talking to him at that point. Klaus wasn't a princess kind of guy, he was more of a superhero kind of guy, if you couldn't already tell by my last entries. The urge to bug him about willingly watching a princess movie by himself was almost too much to bear!
Don't feel, I said to inwardly to myself, don't let him know.
Klaus: 8:12
We watched this movie Once Upon A December, too!
Klaus: 8:13
Well...November. But there's not really much of a difference.
Wow. He really is ridiculous...and very determined to get me to talk to him, which was something I know I can't do. At least not until I get rid of those videos. Hopefully the plan will work...
Oh my gosh...the dance is tomorrow night.
Tomorrow night.
Holy hiccups, mother of the Southern Isles, the dance is freaking tomorrow, what am I going to do?
I'm panicking. I'm panicking. I'm panicking.
I know we've got the plan, but the fact that we have to go through with it soon is kind of nerve-wracking. I'm not entirely sure I can do this. It's really sneaky...which I don't have a problem with since this is Haley we're dealing it, but...I guess I can't really help feeling just a bit guilty.
I mean, sure she took an embarrassing video of me and is threatening to post it so everyone can see it unless I stop talking to Klaus and let her have him, but...
And I suddenly don't feel guilty anymore. Wow, am I that nice that I felt bad for her a second?
Ugh. I need some hardcore music to make me feel like a bad person who doesn't care about anything.
But I don't listen to songs like that.
I guess I'll just feel bad.
My phone just vibrated, and the message from Klaus said something like, "Trust and pixie dust." To be honest, I'm not really paying attention anymore. After that last message he sent me about us watching Anastasia in November, he's been sending me weird and random phrases like, "Roses are blue, Violet is red." Stupid things like that. He's just trying to push me to the point where I'll text him back, but it's not working!
I could turn my phone off, but I want to see how long he keeps this up.
He'll probably give up soon.
Wait.
What if he gives up soon? I mean, what if he gives up completely? Like, what if he goes all, "Oh, she obviously doesn't want to talk to me anymore. I guess I'll just give up." Then he fall right into Haley's grimy little hands! That can't happen! I have to respond in some way that will keep him trying until tomorrow night when everything is fixed, but at the same time, my response has to be kind of aloof so that he won't think everything is okay again and ruin everything.
I stared at the phone in my hands and watched it vibrate every minute or so. What could I possibly say that wouldn't ruin everything I've tried to keep?
Hi? Hey? Heyy? XP? Leave me alone you loser? Don't talk to me? If you promise to leave me alone for twenty four hours, I promise to buy you candy?
Then I remembered a quote by the Dowager Empress from the movie he was watching and decided that it fit him quite well. So I finally answered him, an I said:
You'll stop at nothing, will you?
To which he responded,
Nope.
I didn't answer after that. I let him continue sending me messages which were getting less and less frequent. At least I know he won't stop...for the time being. But tomorrow night needs to come really soon. I'm not sure I can hold out before I break and send him something-no, I'll probably just call him and explain everything. And I know I tried to make everything funny once I realized that I could get myself out of this mess, but now that I'm sitting alone in my room, I just feel like crap. He's my best friend after all so I miss talking to him the way I used to, without faking that I hated him.
Normally I just sit around moping about how pointless my life is when I feel depressed, but this time when I looked around my room, I saw certain book on my bookshelf that had gathered some dust after a couple of years of neglect. It's been a while since I read that thing.
I grabbed the book and held it in my hands.
The Bad Beginning.
Even though the character Mr. Snicket named after me doesn't show up until the fifth book, I know the book takes place when she's thirteen. It makes sense (plus he told me).
I could be having a bad beginning, too. Although I'm not entirely sure what the beginning part is, I do feel bad. Maybe the bad beginning I'm in is the friendship I'm being forced to break. It's not as bad as my house burning down and my parents dying, but it's not good either.
I flipped to the first page and read the usual "Don't read this unpleasant book" that every one of Snicket's books start out with, and I read until the end of the descriptions of the three Baudelaires. Violet as really the only one who fit the description of the Violet in the book.
Sure, I've always seen Klaus as smart, but he's not scholar smart. And Sunny's not allowed to cook, but I guess she can bite. She's never bitten me before, so I wouldn't know.
Violet, however, has always been someone to mess around with technology to fix something or make it do her bidding.
I remember when we were little, she took so much pride in being just like Violet Baudelaire, that she asked Mr. Snicket for a ribbon and he gave her a dark purple one. She wore it all the time, which was wrong since Violet Baudelaire only wore it when she had an idea for an invention but that's not something you tell a six-year-old who has been violent since birth and (for some unknown reason) had started taking karate classes.
One day, Klaus and I decided to be butts, and we stole her ribbon when she wasn't wearing it. We hid it in my attic, and Violet came searching for us, and she was furious. The memory of Klaus and I sitting huddled in the darkness of my attic trying so hard not tot laugh as she bounded through the hallways is almost clear in my mind.
I miss those days like nobody's business.
We were kids and didn't have to worry about Spring Formal, or Haley deciding she wanted to be more evil than she already was and mess things up.
I guess it's cool, though.
I'll get him back soon, won't I?
And Haley won't have anything to threaten me with right?
All these thoughts ran through my head before I could even finish the first chapter of The Bad Beginning. Several times I would catch myself reading the same sentence over because I'd let my mind drift too far away from the book. Eventually, I ended up so wrapped in the book that I didn't realize how late it had gotten when I made it to chapter seven, and I didn't notice my phone vibrating next to me when Klaus called me when I started chapter ten.
Chapter thirteen came around sometime between ten thirty and eleven at night.
Thirteen.
It really is proving to be an unlucky number.
I finished my book and put it back on my bookshelf with the rest of the books in the series. I had forgotten how much I loved them, and I was tempted to begin The Reptile Room, but it was a school night, and it was too late to stay up any longer. I took a few minutes to get ready to go to sleep, then I just flopped myself on top of my bed without even bothering to turn off my lamp or go under the covers.
It was then that I finally looked at my phone, which was when I saw that Klaus had called me. But before that, I saw the very last message he sent me at eleven o' clock. I knew right away that it was the response to the quote by the Dowager Empress I had sent him. I didn't expect him to remember the response in the movie because he had only seen it once before tonight,while I have seen it more times than I can count. My guess is that he finally got to the part near the end of the movie when she says it, and he remembered what I said.
Needless to say, I'm a bit impressed he actually remembered because usually his memory sucks. I also didn't expect him to finish the movie on his own since it's kind of a movie for girls, but he liked the movie more than he let me believe.
Now that I know he likes the movie enough to watch it again, I'm going to make him sit down and watch it with me again when we can be friends again because I could use another movie night with him...plus i's been too long since I've seen that thing.
I favorited the message and went back and favorited the quote I sent him. I wanted to remember that we both quoted the movie because...I don't know, I guess it's kind of cool. It also makes me feel better because the I was being serious, even if I was quoting the movie. So he could only be serious too, right? Otherwise he would have said that he was just kidding, but he never did. He sent that message, and that was it.
I read the message one more time before I turned my phone off.
I'm probably about as stubborn as you are.
Maybe. Hopefully, he's a little more.
"Dancing bears
Painted wings
Things I almost remember
And a song
Someone sings
Once Upon A December..."
~ Once Upon A December by Anya (or Liz Callaway, whoever you choose) from Anastasia, one of my most favorite movies of all time.
By the way, have any of you seen Frozen yet?
I only have one thing to say about it:
NEW FAVORITE MOVIE.
;)