Hello!
So, here comes the ninth part of the story! This chapter is kinda cheesy, but you'll just have to live through it! Hope you like it!
Enjoy!
Sophie woke up extremely early next day; the clock showed 07.24, and she couldn't even believe how she was even alive that early. But there was something about that morning which made Sophie go up, put on a robe and head downstairs.
She hulk-stomped the stairs as she made her way down to the kitchen, and when she rounded the corner, she froze. Standing by the stove, making pancakes and whistling a happy melody, was Marcia. Sophie glanced at the table. Two sets of plates and cutlery were put on it, and Sophie suspected that it was made for Marcia and Stephano. She was just about to leave when Marcia spotted her and smiled an ear-to-ear smile.
"Hi! You're just in time for breakfast."
Sophie eyed her carefully, looking from Marcia to the set table and back at Marcia again.
"Where's Stephano?"
Marcia seemed surprised. "Stephano? He's..."
She was cut off by quick footsteps stomping down the stairs and soon, Stephano was standing there, all dressed up and ready for what looked like a meeting with a royalty.
"Hi Sophie!" he greeted in his Italian accent and then walked up to Marcia, giving her a kiss on her cheek. "I'll be back for curfew."
"You better be!" Marcia said jokingly and Stephano smiled, turned around and walked out of the kitchen. A few moments later, the sound of the front door closing was heard and left the mother and her daughter in silence. The only thing making a sound was the hissing of the frying pan as it fried the pancakes.
"Where's he going?" Sophie asked.
"Oh, he's going for a job interview. He got a great opportunity for a really good job, and he wanted to try it out."
Sophie nodded and silence followed.
"So," Sophie began, making a gesture towards the table, "what's all this?"
Marcia cocked an eyebrow, making her look a lot like Sophie. "What do you mean?"
"I mean; you don't do this very often."
Marcia looked down at the pancakes and Sophie could swear she saw a flash of shame fly past her face. "Yeah, but I wish I would."
That made Sophie quiet. Had she actually apologized? Not that she didn't do it often, but honestly, neither Sophie or Marcia where specialists on asking for forgiveness.
Marcia decided to drop the subject and Sophie was very relieved.
"Sit," she ordered, nodding towards the table. Sophie made her way to it and sat down, leaning back as she saw Marcia put down a plate full of American pancakes. Sophie felt her stomach rumble and put her elbows on the table to get a better view on them.
Marcia looked at Sophie's elbows with a strict look and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself and just leaned in towards the pancakes, putting her elbows on the table too.
Sophie was beyond surprised. An elephant could enter the room and start dancing and Sophie wouldn't be surprised. Marcia had never allowed her to keep her elbows on the table before.
They started eating quietly, Sophie regarding her mother as if she thought she would start laughing and telling her that it was all a joke, but her elbows were still on the table. After a few minutes of silence, Marcia cleared her throat.
"So, Sophie." she made a pause to see if she had gotten her attention, and yes she had.
"I have talked to Stephano about how to treat you and what decisions I should make when it comes to you, and I have an answer now. Or plenty to be exact." Sophie only nodded.
"I can admit that I haven't treated you with much respect the last couple of weeks, and that is because I've been stressed at work. And it was wrong for me to let out my anger at you and Jamie." Sophie stared at her.
"And I've decided that I need to let you decide what you want to do. I've actually never asked you what you would like to be when you grow up, and that is wrong. I've never really helped you in school, I've just complained that you need to get higher grades. So you can feel free to do and be what you want, but you need to know that I will support you whatever path you choose. As long as it's not a drug dealer, a stripper or any other kinds of jobs."
At this point Sophie's eyes where almost popping out of their eye sockets. She felt as if she was going to explode of happiness. Without thinking, she flew up and threw her arms around Marcia's neck, hugging her close. Marcia hugged her back and Sophie said 'Thank you' over and over again. Sophie loosened her grip and sat down on her chair again.
"I also want to say something." Sophie said, her voice sounding serious and Marcia frowned.
"You're not pregnant, are you?" Marcia asked, horror written in her face, "Because if you are I will beat you up with this chair."
"No!" Sophie exclaimed, "God, no mom." Marcia's face softened but she was still looking tense.
Sophie took a deep breath. "Do you remember that night when we fought? And I said those things about dad and you?"
The look on Marcia's face revealed that she remembered.
"Well...I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I was mad, angry and tired and I just..." Sophie paused, "I don't think I even remember when you two were together, only that you fought, but I bet that it wasn't your fault."
"Why do you say that?" Marcia asked.
Sophie smiled. "Because we're not living with him."
Marcia sighted and looked at Sophie lovingly, giving her cheek a quick stroke. "Thank you, honey. And I'll forgive you, if you forgive me."
Sophie nodded, "I forgive you."
After the little talk Sophie and Marcia had, Sophie had felt much better. She had actually gone up to her bedroom and started doing her homework that was supposed to be handed in the coming Tuesday, the day before the Christmas holiday began.
Holiday. One of Sophie's favorite words. And now, the upcoming holiday was on everyone's tongue. People where talking about what they were going to do, where they were going and also when. In Sophie's case, the answers were always;
"Sleep" , "nowhere" and "never".
When Sophie had finished her homework, she took a shower and put on new, warm clothes and headed downstairs, to make herself a cup of chocolate and read a book.
Her mother was upstairs, cleaning her room, and the vacuum cleaner was making a hell of a noise, but Sophie decided to ignore it.
She added two spoons of cocoa and two spoons of sugar in a cup of warm milk and stirred for a while, before picking it and the book up, and making her way to the sofa. When she was just about to walk out of the kitchen, something hit the window. Sophie jumped, almost spilling hot chocolate everywhere and looked towards the was no trace of anything on the glass, and Sophie thought that maybe it was a bird who hadn't seen the glass.
Sophie put down her cup on the table as well as her book and then leaned towards the glass to get a better view of the outside. She didn't see any birds flying around or lying dead on the ground, but what she saw made her smile wider than she had ever smiled.
On a branch about 6 feet over the ground Jack Frost stood leaning towards the tree, a snowball in his hand and a smirk on his face.
Sophie was just about to go the the hallway and grab her coat and then go outside when she stopped, and then looked at Jack with a sad face. Jack's smirk faded away when he saw her troubled look and he jumped down from the branch, only to lightly land on the snow filled ground. In a few steps he was at outside the window and Sophie opened it.
"Why do we always have to talk with the window in between?" Jack asked, clearly confused, "Is there some sort of invisible force field around your house of what?"
Sophie chuckled at that, and then remembered that her mother was just upstairs, but the sound of the vacuum cleaner drowned her voice.
"What is it?" Sophie asked.
"Do you want to have a snowball fight?" Jack asked, "I would've asked Jamie, but I can't find his house. He seems gone." Sophie could swear she heard a bit of sadness in his voice, but it vanished.
"So, what do you think?"
"I...I can't. I'm sorry," Sophie said, feeling a bit sad. Why was she feeling sad? She met the boy like two days ago. He was like a total stranger.
Jack's eyebrows where brought together as he frowned. "Why?"
"I'm grounded." Jack looked at Sophie with a strange gaze.
"You're a what?"
"No, I'm grounded. In short it means that my home turns into a prison," Sophie sighted, "No TV, no video games, no phone, no going outside and definitely no fun."
Jack flinched at the last point, and his eyes shot sparks.
"What kind of a parent is that?" he exclaimed, flinging with his arms, his staff nearly hitting Sophie in her head.
Sophie shrugged, not thinking it was such a big deal; she often got grounded, and it wasn't that bad. Jack on the other hand had got completely moody when he had heard about the fun part. His arms were folded over his chest, and he was pouting, muttering something about parents and grownups.
"Oh common, big baby! It's not a big deal," Sophie said, looking at him with an amused look.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "If your mom would let you come outside, would you play with me?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess," Sophie said hesitantly but added, "but it's never gonna happen."
Jack cocked and eyebrow and looked at her with a small smirk. "We'll see."
With that, he jumped up, leaving nothing but some small snowflakes behind.
That's it! Hope you thought it was OK, the next chapter is coming soon! I hope it wasn't too long or weird or anything, I'm still trying my best:P
See you soon(I hope)!