A/N 1 - hey guys! This is the final chapter of junior year. Things are getting crazy in my story - there's both good and bad things coming.
A/N 2 - chapters 13-16 are senior year, then chapter 17 will be an epilogue of sorts
A/N 3 - it goes without saying, but I don't own the rights to the song Let It Go from Frozen. Fun fact - if/when I'm experiencing a panic or anxiety attack, I just sing either Let It Go or the Itsy Bitsy Spider and I feel better.
CHAPTER TWELVE
(Chapter title - Gretchen's Point of View)
I can't believe Barney and I are finishing our junior year. It seems like yesterday that we met at Freshman Orientation, along with our other friends.
As I sleep next to Barney, I hear my alarm go off at six AM. I yawn and stretch before kissing Barney's cheek and unwrap his arms from around my torso.
"Tm?" Barney mumbled.
"It's six. You sleep for another hour, while I nurse Stephanie" I told him, going to our walk-in closet and looked through my clothes before settling on jeans, a T-shirt and my favorite Doctor Who hoodie. I then walked to the nursery and carefully picked up Stephanie, who had already started fussing. I quickly removed my hoodie, shirt and bra before picking up my baby girl and brought her to my right breast after sitting in the comfortable armchair.
I looked at my baby's sweet face as she nursed. She looked more like Barney than me - she had his blond hair and blue eyes, whereas Cassandra had my dark hair and Barney's blue eyes.
It wasn't long before I heard Barney get up and dressed. He passed by the nursery's open door, poking his head in.
"Gretch, what do you want for breakfast?" Barney asked.
"Cereal, please" I said, gently rocking Stephanie in my arms. I felt her stop nursing and propped her on my shoulder so I could burp her, "Barn, can you change her diaper while I put my things back on?"
"Absolutely" Barney said, entering the nursery and carefully picked up Stephanie and brought her to the changing table.
I smiled as I put my bra, shirt and hoodie back on, "I wanna start weaning her this week."
Barney nodded from the changing table. He picked Stephanie up and kissed her forehead, "let's go wake up your sister and get some breakfast."
I nodded and stood up from the chair, "I'll get breakfast ready while you two do that" I smiled as Barney kissed my cheek. We headed upstairs and went to the kitchen.
The layout of my house is so weird, so bare with me as I describe it. On the main level, there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, living room, dining room and our small screened-in porch. Upstairs, there's three bedrooms and two bathrooms. In the basement, there's two bedrooms, the laundry room and a small pantry for storing our canned food. Across from the nursery, is the laundry room with a large washer & dryer.
Outside, there's four acres of land, two of which were for my horse Glinda. The other two are for gardening, but we're going to do something with it in the spring - I'm hoping to build a play house for the girls. We're also gonna knock the barn down and do something that land, since I will not be getting any more horses - no matter how much the girls beg for a pony. We'll start small with pets - goldfish. Both mom and I are allergic to animal dander. I did have a couple pet rats in middle school - I named them Einstein and Curie.
We bought the house when I was ten-years-old from a couple that had four kids, hence the weird layout and the many bedrooms.
I prepared breakfast as Barney and Stephanie went to wake up Cassandra. I let mom and Matilda sleep, since they did so much for the family. Looking at my cell phone clock, I saw that Barney and I only had about an hour before we had to be out the door.
After breakfast, I went to get ready for school while Barney got Cassandra ready for daycare. Matilda would be watching Stephanie for us and mom would be leaving for work shortly.
After our 'byes' and 'love yous', Barney and I were onto Happy Hands Day Care before going to Hamilton J. Polk High School.
"Are you ready for our presentation in English today?" Barney asked after we dropped Cassandra off.
I nodded and ran my fingers through my chin-length hair, "I think we should spend some of our summer vacation looking at potential colleges. I'm totally applying to Hayden, but I can't decide what my other colleges I want to apply to."
"Hun, you're rambling again" Barney said, pulling into an empty parking space in the junior parking lot. He locked the doors and kissed me passionately, "just relax and you'll get through the day."
I nodded and smiled on his lips, "love you."
"Love you, too" Barney said, unlocking the doors and the two of us got out of the car, grabbing our school bags.
It was now time for our English class. Our teacher - Ms. Yeardley - was one of my favorite teachers. She made each class fun and assigned us interesting homework. Last class, we wrote a paper from our favorite character's point of view. I wrote mine from Cerci Lannister's point of view, since I'm a HUGE Game of Thrones fan. I even got Barney and the girls involved one year for Halloween. I was Daenerys, Barney was Jon Snow and the girls were two of Daenerys' dragons. I had a stuffed dragon that was the third dragon.
This assignment was to write a short essay about our favorite book. Mine is Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I've read the book four times, seen the musical twice and watched the movie a total of four times - twice in the theater and twice on Amazon Prime.
"Next up, we have Gretchen" Ms. Yeardley said.
I walked to the front of the class and put my book on the chalkboard. I then held my essay and cleared my throat.
"My favorite book is Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory McGuire. It tells the backstory of the two witches of Oz - Glinda Upland the Good Witch and Elphaba Thropp - the Wicked Witch.
Before Glinda & Elphaba became the Good & Wicked witches, they attended Shiz University. Glinda had been promised a private suite and Elphaba was never supposed to enroll - she was there to keep an eye on her sister, Nessarose, who was in a wheelchair.
Glinda and Elphaba's friendship started off rocky, but they eventually understood each other. Then Fiyero Tigelaar entered the picture. He was a prince from Winkie Country and had been kicked out of every school he attended. He fell in love with Glinda, but after bonding over a lion cub, Fiyero and Elphaba formed a friendship.
In the end, Glinda and Elphaba part ways, since there's a witch hunt in process to find Elphaba after she's accused of killing Fiyero, when in reality, she turned him into a scarecrow" I said, finishing my essay.
Everyone applauded as I stood at the front of the class.
"Any questions?" Ms. Yeardley asked the class.
Marshall raised his hand.
"Yes?" I asked, indicating to Marshall.
"Who's your favorite character?" Marshall asked.
"Easy - Elphaba in the book, Glinda in the musical and Fiyero in the movie" I said.
I looked around to see if there were any more questions. When no one else raised their hand, I went to sit down at my desk next to Barney's.
After English, I headed to my Child Development class, followed by Barney.
Mrs. Finn - our teacher - smiled at us as we entered the class. I smiled as I saw my friend Sara and her son Jack in the class, along with a small handful of other students.
When school was over, Barney and I headed for the student parking lot and got into Barney's car.
"Tomorrow is the auditions for the spring play. Are you auditioning?" Barney asked, starting the car.
"Yeah, I think so" I said, looking out the window.
"Babe, you okay?" Barney asked me as he exited the parking lot and headed for the daycare.
"Yeah - just tired" I told him, letting out a sigh, "next year is gonna be crazy. I can't believe we're gonna be seniors."
"Let's get through junior year first" Barney said, squeezing my hand as we approached a red light, "after the girls are asleep, we can have sex, right?"
"Yes" I told him, smiling.
After we picked Cassandra up, the three of us headed for the house.
Once dinner was eaten, Barney and I put the girls to bed while mom and Matilda put the dishes and food away.
"I have a little homework, then we can have some fun" I told Barney as we entered our room, closing the door behind us.
"Okay" Barney said, going to our bed and got out his homework. I kicked off my Wicked slippers and climbed onto the bed next to him.
My room is actually really cool - the walls are painted a pale green and mostly covered in pictures and posters.
Diagonal from the bed to the left, is my large collection of books and a squishy gray reclining chair with a little side table next to it. Diagonal from that, is my desk that is usually covered in papers, pens, pencils, a water bottle and various things.
The bed is a king-sized bed and has two end tables. The right one is mine and the left one is Barney's. Sheets with cats on them cover the bed, along with three fuzzy blankets, since I hate my duvet - that thing is in storage.
Across from the bed is my and Barney's combined closet - it's huge. The right half is all my things and the left half is all Barney's. There's built in bookshelves that I proudly display my POP Figures (I have over 70 different ones ranging from Doctor Who to Game of Thrones, Disney, Addams Family to everything in between), my model horse collection, my many journals, yearbooks, scrapbooks, candle collection and my large collection of stuffed animals, all of which are in large storage containers. The only stuffed animal currently on my bed is my stuffed horse that I named Neigh. I've had Neigh since I was three and loved her. She used to be gray, but her coat is more white. She's also missing an eye and most of her mane is cut - that's because I wanted to give her a haircut. Mom got the scissors away from me before I could cut Neigh's tail.
Behind my bed, is an egress window and a large window sill. On the sill, I have all my little crocheted creatures - I either purchased them or got them from friends. My favorite is my pink axolotl I let Cassandra name - she named it Pinky.
Also across from my bed is my 40 inch TV. I can get regular channels on it, but I mostly used it for streaming - YouTube, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Paramount Plus and BritBox is what either I or Barney watched. We had joint accounts for everything except BritBox - that was mine. I watched Doctor Who on it mostly.
After homework was done, I kept my promise to Barney and kissed him passionately, feeling his hands on my sides. He took off my hoodie as I took off his shirt, kissing his chest.
We were now topless and kissing each other. I felt Barney's hands go to my ass as I took off his jeans and boxers. He wasted no time taking off my jeans, undies and socks.
"Ride me" he whispered in my ear, pulling me on top of him. I nodded and hovered over him for a moment before lowering myself onto his erect member, closing my eyes as I felt him inside me.
I started riding him slowly at first, then picked up the pace. He sat up and kissed my boobs, his hands on my hips.
He then flipped us so he was on top of me, kissing me everywhere his lips could reach. I kissed him passionately and wrapped my arms and legs around his torso.
I closed my eyes as I felt him deep inside me, loving this feeling between the two of us.
We then climaxed together, panting on each other's shoulders.
"That was fantastic" I said, relaxing in Barney's arms.
"Agreed" Barney said, kissing the top of my head. He looked into my eyes as his hands made their way up my body, gently circling my breasts, massaging them gently. He brought his head down and gently suckled on my right breast, his right hand circling my left breast while his left hand went between my legs.
I whimpered, closing my eyes. My hands were on Barney's back, holding him close to me.
Barney switched to suckling on my left breast, his right hand circling my right one, his hand still between my legs, his index and middle fingers inside my folds. He looked into my eyes, "lay back and spread your legs wide."
I nodded and obeyed, wondering what he was doing.
"Just stay still and no matter what, don't move" Barney said, "also, close your eyes."
I nodded again and closed my eyes. I felt his left hand fingering me, his right hand on my right knee. I gasped as I felt his hand exit me and felt his tongue inside me. I felt his hands on my knees, holding my legs apart as he pleasured me. I curled my toes and held onto the sheets, keeping my breathing slow and even.
"Barn, I'm gonna cum!" I told him, feeling myself get wet. I felt him reach for a Kleenex on his bedside table. He removed his tongue and held the Kleenex where he had been.
I panted and smiled up at him, "we should shower, then get some sleep."
"Agreed. I also need to rinse my mouth out and brush my teeth" Barney said, helping me to my feet. He kissed my cheek as we headed to the closet and got our pajamas, clean underwear and socks.
We headed up the stairs completely naked, knowing that everyone was asleep - it was 1:18 AM.
After our shower, we went back to our bedroom and put our clothes in the dirty clothes basket.
Barney got into bed and held his arms out for me. I climbed in next to him and tossed Neigh to my reading chair, cuddling into Barney as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I must've had a nightmare because I felt the bright light of Barney's lamp on my face and he was gently shaking my shoulder. I put a hand to my face and saw that I was shaking.
"Hey, hey, you're okay. I'm here" Barney soothed me, gently rubbing my back and held me in his arms.
I looked at the clock on my bedside table - it was close to 3 in the morning.
"What happened?" I croaked. It came out 'wt hpnd?'
"I think you had a nightmare" Barney said, rubbing my back, "do you remember anything?"
I shook my head, "no, I don't remember anything."
Barney kissed my forehead, "try to get some sleep, okay?"
"Okay. I love you" I told Barney, laying back down on the pillow. I slept with three pillows and Barney slept with two.
"I love you, too" Barney said, turning the lamp off and held me in the dark.
The sound of our breathing filled the air and I felt Barney's arms wrap around my torso. I got into a comfortable position and fell asleep, only to be awoken to my alarm going off two hours later.
"Divorced….Beheaded…Died…Divorced…Beheaded…Survived" the intro of Ex-Wives from the musical SIX greeted my ears.
I groaned and hit the 'stop alarm' button on my phone. I looked over at Barney, seeing he was still sleeping.
Carefully and quietly, I got out of bed and made my way to the closet, banging into my bookshelf.
"Shiznit!" I swore quietly. I don't swear, so I use alternate words instead. It made my friends and family laugh, especially the girls and Barney.
"Bless you" Barney mumbled from the bed.
I laughed quietly and limped/hobbled to the closet, closing my eyes so I wouldn't blind myself by turning on the light. Opening my eyes, I put on a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt. I then turned off the light and quietly exited the room, going to the nursery.
Stephanie was crying softly. She was crying her 'I'm hungry' cry.
I slipped my shirt off and went to pick up Stephanie from her crib. I brought her to my left breast and listened to her suckle. I would miss this moment between us when I decided to wean her at six months, like I did with Cassie.
After Stephanie was done nursing, I burped her. I put her in her crib and went to my bedroom to put a bra on. I went back to the nursery and quickly changed her diaper.
Once her diaper was changed, I carefully took her upstairs and put her in her fun chair while I started breakfast.
I'm not the best cook, but my banana-chocolate chip pancakes are my specialty. I can also make decent macaroni and cheese from scratch, scrambled eggs, crepes, mashed potatoes and salad. I try to have my family eat healthy, but I usually end up losing the war. As a compromise, I have Cassandra and Barney have a vegetable with dinner, along with some fruit.
I whipped up the pancake batter and turned on YouTube on my phone, putting on my Wicked playlist, making sure the volume was turned down. The soft tinny of 'No One Mourns The Wicked' came through the phone's speakers.
"What are you doing up?" Mom asked as she entered the kitchen in her ratty bathrobe and even rattier hair.
"Making breakfast before you go to work and Barney, Cassandra and I go to school" I said.
"Honey, look outside - no one's going anywhere" mom said, taking over making the batter while I went to the window.
"What?" I asked, seeing snow - at least six inches - covering every surface.
"Your school is closed, but I still need to go to work" mom said.
"I'm confused - I thought it's spring" I said, a puzzled look on my face.
"It is spring - there was a freak snowstorm last night" mom said.
"Oh. Okay" I said, blinking. I then pinched myself to see if I was dreaming - nope. I was awake.
After I made the pancakes, Barney and Cassandra were up.
"After breakfast, can we play outside?" Cassandra asked as we sat around the table and had breakfast.
"I don't see why not" I said, smiling at Stephanie.
After breakfast, Barney, Cassandra, Stephanie and I put on our winter outfits and headed into the snow to play for a while.
I ended up taking Stephanie inside after an hour - it was time for her nap away.
Since I was inside anyway, I decided to start the laundry and make some hot chocolate. I also figured out lunch for myself, Cassandra and Barney.
I gathered laundry from Cassandra, Stephanie, mom, Matilda and my rooms before going to the laundry room, dragging the heavy laundry basket behind me.
I sorted the laundry into piles - Cassandra, Stephanie, mom, Matilda, Barney and my clothes and decided to wash the girls' clothes first.
Heading upstairs, I went to the kitchen and peeked into the fridge, trying to figure out lunch.
"Need help?" Matilda's voice came from behind me, making me jump a mile in the air, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay" I said, turning to face her, "yeah - I just put Stephanie down for a nap and was gonna make hot chocolate and figure out lunch for Cassandra, Barney and myself."
"Want me to make you guys' grilled cheese and tomato soup?" Matilda asked.
"Sure - I'll help by cutting up some fruit and veggies" I said. I opened the fridge and found apples, grapes, green pepper, red pepper and avocado to wash and cut up.
As I cut up the veggies and fruit, I looked out the large window that looked out into the back yard. I smiled as I watched Barney and Cassandra have a snowball fight. The two of them had built two snowmen and did snow angels.
I opened the sliding glass door, recoiling at the wind hitting my face, "LUNCH IS ALMOST READY!" I called out to them.
"COMING!" Barney said, playfully shoving Cassandra in the snow.
The two of them came in, dripping wet from the snow.
"Put your wet things in the bathroom and put your boots in the mud room" I told them, "after lunch, Cassandra, I would like for you to take a nap in your room. After your nap, we'll figure out something to do together."
"Okay" Barney and Cassandra said in unison, taking off their wet things.
The four of us sat at the large kitchen table as we had our lunch and hot chocolate, talking and laughing.
As Cassandra took her nap, I went to check on laundry while Barney and Matilda did dishes and put food away.
I switched the clothes from the washer to the dryer and put another load in the washer. When that was done, I went to my room and collapsed on the bed on my back, staring up at the ceiling.
I must've drifted off to sleep because I felt Barney's arms around my torso and felt him breathing gently on my neck.
After the girls were in bed, Barney and I went to our room holding hands.
Barney pulled me close and kissed me deeply, his hands on my waist, tugging at the waistband of my jeans.
I kissed him passionately, my eyes closed. I pulled Barney's pants and boxers off as he took my undies and pants off.
The two of us laughed as we fell onto the bed, holding each other close. I felt Barney's hands go up my shirt and take it off. He then removed my bra and gently massaged my breasts.
I slipped Barney's shirt off and kissed his pecs. He kissed my breasts, getting on top of me.
"I love you" Barney purred in my ear after our long love making session.
"I love you too" I said, cuddling close into him.
We went upstairs to take a shower, then went to bed, falling asleep in each other's arms.
Once the roads were clear and it was safe to go to school, Barney, Cassandra and I were on the road to drop Cassandra off at school.
Once Cassandra was at school, Barney and I headed to the high school.
At lunch, we sat with our usual friends. Barney chatted with the guys while I talked with the girls.
"How are my two favorite little girls?" Lily asked.
I chuckled, "they're good. I'm gonna be weaning Stephanie this weekend, so pray for me."
"Let us know how that goes" Phoebe said, eating her sandwich.
"What time do you plan on weaning Stephanie?" Belle asked.
I shrugged, "probably in the morning. Why?"
"I was hoping we could come over and hang out" Tiana said.
I raised an eyebrow, "again I ask - why?"
"Just a girls' day. We'll kick the boys out and have some fun, just us girls" Robin said, smiling at her girlfriend, "except for my lady love."
Tiana blushed and giggled.
"Yeah - that could be fun" I said, "but not this weekend - other than weaning Stephanie on Saturday, Barney and I are going on a date on Sunday without the girls."
"Where are you guys going?" Monica asked.
"I don't know - Barney said it's a surprise" I said, eating a French fry.
"Do you know anything about what's happening on the date?" Rachel asked, "or do you need a babysitter?"
"Or babysitters?" The other girls said in unison.
"To answer you questions - I have no idea what's happening and we might" I told my friends.
That night, Barney and I did homework together in my room. We were done and about to kiss when Cassandra came running into our room like a shot and climbed in between us.
"Honey, what's wrong?" I asked looking over at Barney.
"There's a scary noise coming from my room" Cassandra said.
I loved the kid, but she had a very active imagination. It was always one thing or another - invisible evil clown in her closet, the boogey man dancing under her bed - you get the idea.
"What kind of noise is it?" Barney asked, bringing his hands out from under my shirt.
"A whooshing noise, like the wind" Cassandra said.
Barney and I looked at each other before following Cassandra upstairs. I stopped at the nursery to listen for Stephanie - she was fast asleep.
As we entered Cassandra's room, I saw the source of the noise - somehow the window had come open. It was too high for Cassandra to reach and both my mom and Matilda were asleep.
"How did you window open?" Barney asked. He closed the window and locked it.
"I had grandma open it - I was hot" Cassandra said.
"Want me to turn on the heat?" I asked, tucking Cassandra into bed.
Cassandra nodded, "mommy and daddy, can you sing to me?"
Barney and I nodded.
"What do you want us to sing, sweetie?" I asked.
"Let It Go from Frozen" Cassandra said. Frozen was her favorite movie and Let It Go was her favorite song.
"Just a little bit, okay?" Barney asked.
Cassandra nodded and looked at me to start singing.
"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation
And it looks like I'm the queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, Heaven knows I tried" I sang, looking to Barney to continue.
"Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care
What they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway" Barney sang, kissing Cassandra's forehead - our little girl was asleep.
We turned off the light and closed the door halfway before sneaking down to our bedroom.
I closed the door and collapsed on my bed, sighing.
"You okay?" Barney asked, holding me in his arms.
"Yeah, just worried about our future" I said, kissing his shoulder.
Barney stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head, "you have nothing to worry about, my love."
I hugged him close, suddenly feeling tears in my eyes.
Barney looked into my eyes and frowned, "hey, baby, what's wrong?"
I shrugged, snuggling into the man I loved.
"Gretchen, talk to me. Why are you sad?" Barney asked, wiping the tears that fell down my cheeks with his thumb.
"To think I almost lost you when we broke up" I said, my voice shaking, "but I'm glad that you're here with me."
"I am too, honey" Barney said, "I would love to have sex, but I'm really tired."
"Me too" I said, getting out of bed and went to our closet to put my pajamas on.
After we had our pajamas on, we climbed into bed and were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.