Chapter Thirteen; The Owl
"What exactly is school?" Theodore asked Ginny the next morning.
"Don't worry, I can handle this one for you." Simon began before he turned to his younger brother. "School is where you go to learn different things." He told him.
"Like magic spells?" The chubby little chipmunk asked him eagerly.
"Don't be silly Theo, you're a chipmunk not a wizard! We're not going to Hogwarts!" Alvin cried as the little chipmunk heaved a heavy sigh of disappointment.
"Oh." He said sadly. "But I won't know anybody there except you guys."
"Neither did Sheela before she started preschool and now she has a ton of friends. She's one of the most popular kids in her class." Hermione pointed out.
"She must get that from me." Ginny said proudly but Hermione simply just rolled her eyes at her.
"Well in the chipmunks defense there really isn't any place for them to stop and go to school. I mean we're on tour remember?" Amber questioned.
"I know, we can't right now. And that's why for the time being we have to teach them ourselves." Ginny said when suddenly there came a great tapping at the window. She quickly turned around to see Tilly wrapping on the glass with her beak. "That's Harry's owl." She began. "I wonder what she's doing here." She said before she walked over to the dining room of their trailer and slid the window open.
With a great flutter of her wings the owl flew inside and landed on top of the table carrying an envelope inside her beak. Suddenly full of curiosity she removed it and tore it open. "Who's it from?" Amber asked as she walked over to her to investigate. That's when suddenly all the color inside Ginny's face vanished and her heart sunk.
"It's from Derek." She began. "It's about Aaron. He's in the hospital." She explained.
"Oh no, what's wrong with him?" Amber asked although she dreaded to hear the answer.
"He's got wizard cancer and he might not survive." Ginny told her.
"That's it Cheetahs we've got to bounce!" she exclaimed.
"But we can't, we've got a show to do." Luna pointed out.
"Luna's right Amber, if Derek is the one who wrote about it then it's obvious that Aaron doesn't want us to know about it." Hermione told her with a shake of her head.
"What's wrong with you two!?" Amber yelled angrily. "I love Aaron with all my heart! I mean what would you guys do if Ron or Neville got sick and there became a possibility that you could lose them?" she questioned as the other two girls simply just exchanged glances. "Yeah that's what I thought. That settles it then, I'm going back and whoever wants to join me is welcome!" she spat as she gave them a cold cross glare before walking over towards the door and grabbing her broomstick.
"Amber wait!" Ginny cried as she started to run after her but it was already too late. Amber mounted her broom and flew outside with a great whoosh and shooting up into the air like a jet.
"Now what are we going to do?" Casey asked them as they all simply just looked at each other.
..…
"Alright Rosie, time to get ready for preschool." Ron told her softly as he quietly opened her bedroom door and stuck his head inside and turned on the light. Meanwhile Harry had been busy feeding Chase his bottle. That's when suddenly the telephone rang. "Hold on! I'll get it!" Ron cried as he raced down the hallway past the chair that Harry was sitting in and grabbed the phone off the hook.
"Hullo?" he answered.
"Hey Ron it's Hermione. I'm sorry for bothering you since I know that you're probably busy getting Sheela ready for school, but this is important. Amber is on her way back right now. She knows about Aaron since Derek sent us an owl about it." She explained.
"Oh no. So what do you want me to do about it?" he asked her.
"I'm afraid that there really isn't anything that you or Harry can do about it. I was just calling you to let you know that we're cancelling the rest of the tour and coming back. We can't leave Amber alone by herself. Especially when the whole point of The Cheetah Girls is being there for one another." She explained.
"Okay, I'm sorry that you have to cancel the rest of your trip though. I know that you and Ginny were really looking forward to it." He said.
"Yeah I know, but we also know that Amber and Aaron are more important and we had a Cheetah Girls meeting about it. We're coming back with The Chipmunks." She told him.
"Alright, we'll see you when you get back then." Ron told her before he hung up the phone and then turned back over to Harry. "Looks like Derek is a real blabbermouth, he told the girls about Aaron." He explained.
"I thought that Aaron didn't want them to know about it." Harry said.
"I know, that's the point. He didn't, but Derek couldn't keep his big fat mouth shut when he knew perfectly well not to tell them. Especially Amber, I mean she's Aaron's girlfriend for crying out loud! It's pretty obvious that if she knows about it she's going to come back and see him no matter what he says." Ron said. "I really wish that the girls would have been able to finish their tour but at least Hermione's coming back and that lets you off the hook for babysitting Harry." He told him.
"I didn't mind it, honestly. I mean I love Sheela and Chase and I love being able to spend time with them." Harry said.
"Then why are you afraid of becoming a father so much?" Ron asked him.
"Because you don't have to deal with twins and having to deal with the concept of two babies at one time. It's an awful lot for a guy to handle. Just look at what your mother had to go through." He said.
"You do have a point there." Ron admitted.