Amelia XIV
Evie's Notes: Hope you enjoy the new chapter! Let me know your favorite part in the comments!
Chapter Warning: there is a brief mention of past abuse, kidnapping and trauma in this chapter. It occurs when Amelia is thinking about her past. If you want to skip over it, don't read the section when Mia is on the phone with Charlotte.
Mia and the band were once again chilling at Max's house after school. The group had tried rehearsing at Gideon's place, but apparently their playing was too loud and disrupted Grandpa Giddy's poker game. The boys were valiantly trying to struggle on and keep the band alive, but what they really needed was a drummer. Mia had suggested that the group hold auditions at school, but Max had said that he would handle it… whatever that meant.
The loud rumbling of Oyster's stomach brought the impromptu jam session to an end. Amelia sat up from where she had been lying on Max's bed asking "Do you have any Iced Tea? I would kill for a sweet tea about now".
"Me too! And some chips… Snack break?" suggested Gideon.
"Sure, plus side to playing at the house is not having to pay for food" joked Max leading them out of his lair.
The quartet quickly gathered various snacks and drinks from the kitchen before heading towards the couch in the living room. Unfortunately, Phoebe and her friends entered the house at the same moment talking about the movie they were planning to watch. Mia let out an internal annoyed sigh. The thunder twins were far two opposed at the moment to spend any time together. Mia liked them both and enjoyed hanging out with Phoebe's friends. She knew that Oyster and Gideon felt the same way, but like her their loyalty was to Max first. Amelia just wished that they could just all hang out together without the twins constantly sniping at each other, even if it was kind of funny when they fought.
"What are you doing here" sneered Max.
"We're going to watch a movie" replied Phoebe slowly making her way towards the couch.
"Not on that couch!" yelled Max. "Oyster, Gideon! Launch Mode!"
"What's launch mode?" asked Mia confused before letting out a little shriek as her three boys picked her up and tossed her onto the couch.
"looks like you girls are gonna have to watch TV somewhere else" taunted Max, swaggering over to his sister's posse.
"Oh please, like that's gonna stop us" scoffed Cherry, "Amelia is totally on our team".
"In what universe?" shot back Oyster "Mia is ours".
"Well, I think that Mia can speak for herself" cut in Amelia huffily sitting up. "And sorry girls, but I'm with the boys on this one, we were here first so we get the TV".
"Well, you four might have the couch, but we have the remote" argued Phoebe waving the remote in Max's face before turning on the TV set.
Kelsey and Cherry joined Mia, Gideon and Oyster on the couch rolling their eyes fondly as the twins bickered in the background. Mia offered Cherry some of her popcorn as the group watched the trailer for Zombie Rain.
"Keep the remote. We're out of here. My friends do not want to hang out with your friends. Let's bounce guys" snapped Max.
"Shhhh" hushed the group on the couch.
"From the makers of 'Werewolf Hurricane' and 'Vampire Twister' comes a supernatural storm that no one could forecast, Zombie Rain 3-D!" rang the trailer.
"I so want to see that" declared Gideon.
"Me too!" agreed Cherry.
"I guess it couldn't be worse than 'Vampire Twister'" sighed Mia. "I'm in. Maybe we can all get tickets for tonight!".
"Sweetches!" cheered Oyster
"Not Sweetches" snarked Max "Pheebs, I've seen the movie and I've seen your friends and I'm not a fan of either".
"Rude" declared Mia and the girls.
"Come on M, you know you aren't included in that statement".
"Whatever, we're all going to the movies tonight. If you two want to stay home alone and fight, you can do so or you can join us for a fun night out" replied Mia.
"If we're going to the movies tonight then I have to get home to do my chores" declared Kelsey. "Cherry, will you walk me home?".
"Sure" chirped the bubbly blonde. "See you all at 7!".
"We should probably head out too, broseph" suggested Oyster. "Gideon has an early morning cricket match so we should work on our project now, instead of tonight like we planned".
"Let me just grab my coat" called the keyboard player as he slid down the slide to Max's room.
"Grab my bag while you're down there Giddy" shouted Mia after the boy.
"Do you have to leave too?" whined Max.
"Sorry, Thunderbolt but I've got to bounce. I'm supposed to give Charlotte a call before I meet with the contractors about the latest house related issue. Fixer-uppers are sooo much more work than we thought they were going to be. Hopefully though it'll all be worth it once it's finished. I'll see you tonight though" promised Mia giving Max, and then Phoebe quick hugs as she headed out with Oyster and the newly returned Gideon.
*A New Hero - A New Hero - A New Hero*
Amelia's phone call with Charlotte had gone rather well. The girls had mostly focused on their finances and plans for the house, since Mia had to meet with their contractor Mr. Metson that afternoon, but it had been great to catch up with her best female friend.
Apparently, the trio had finally started to settle into their roles in Swellveiw and had found some sort of temporary peace for the time being while they waited for the Hiddenville base to be complete. Henry had successfully convinced Piper to give therapy a try and would soon be driving to Hiddenville once a week to bring her to her appointment. Mia was so proud of the little girl for being open to talking to someone and wanting to take control of her anger. She was definitely the first person in line to advocate for the advantages of therapy and the good that can come from working through your trauma. The only reason that Mia was as well-adjusted as she was today was because of all the extremely hard work she had done to conquer her own traumas with her Hero League assigned therapist, Mina.
Amelia had gone through several traumatic situations in her life even before being captured by the mob and taken to Dystopia, where she was eventually saved by Henry, Jasper and Charlotte. She was a domestic abuse survivor, who had suffered from food and housing instability for most of her life. She had not processed any of this trauma and instead channeled her fear and hurt into aggressive actions. She had resisted therapy for many years, but eventually gave in when the Hero League made it a requirement for the entirety of Team Danger in their recruitment.
After wrapping up her conversation with Charlotte, Mia gathered her notes and headed over to the house to chat with the contractor.
*A New Hero - A New Hero - A New Hero*
Pulling up outside the Hiddenville Mall, Mia quickly located a parking space before heading inside to find her friends. Riding up the escalator Mia checked her phone for any messages from the twins, unfortunately it seemed like they were both still being stubborn and wouldn't be joining the group for Zombie Rain.
"Mia we're over here!" called Cherry waving from the ticket booth.
Amelia quickly jogged over to her friends and gratefully accepted the pair of 3-D glasses Gideon passed her. "Who's ready for Zombie Rain?!" she asked and received excited cheers from each of the teens.
"Hey I just got a text from Pheobe" commented Cherry as the gang shifted out of the way of the other patrons. "She told me to 'Stitch the Bosses'? What does that mean?".
"Maybe it's a catch phrase" joked Gideon, but Cherry perked up at the idea. Mia just rolled her eyes and chatted with Oyster about their upcoming school concert.
Just as they were about to enter the theatre Phoebe and Max ran into the room.
"Hey Everyone!" chirped Phoebe.
"Yay! You changed your mind" cheered Kelsey.
"Actually, girls, I was thinking it would be so much more fun to go to Wongs to get a pizza" proposed Phoebe.
"That sounds awesome" agreed Cherry.
"I'm always game for pizza" added Mia
"Great!"
"We can go with the boys. After the movie" planned Kelsey.
"What?!"
"Well wouldn't you guys rather go check out that new go-cart park" suggested Max.
"Oh yeah! I absolutely dominate at go-cart" declared Amelia.
"yeah, let's do that!" agreed Oyster.
"Cool! We can go with girls tomorrow night!" replied Gideon.
"What?!"
"I'm free and I love go-cart" cheered Kelsey.
"A full weekend? We are turning into a fun group," laughed Cherry. "Hands in" she ordered.
"I'm not doing that" fronted Oyster as the others all stacked their hands for a cheer.
"Gooooo group!" shouted Cherry throwing their hands in the air.
"Okay, that looked fun" he admitted, "put me down for the next one".
"We should probably get to our seats guys; our movie is about to start" suggested Mia wandering into the theatre.
She heard Oyster tell the twins that they would meet them at Wong's later, and Cherry reminded them to "stitch it up bosses". Her friends were insane, but she wouldn't have them any other way.
*A New Hero - A New Hero - A New Hero*
The movie actually turned out to be pretty good. The gang had managed to get great seats and were having a blast! Unfortunately about halfway through the projector seemed to malfunction and an adorable sleeping kitten appeared on the screen.
"What just happened?" asked Oyster.
"I did not buy tickets to see yawning animals" snapped Kelsey.
"Ohhhh! Yawnimals. Now I get it!" gasped Cherry. Amelia swore she could see an actual lightbulb appear over the girl's head as she put together the title.
"Should we head over to Wong's? we don't have that long till we are supposed to meet the twins for Pizza" suggested Mia.
The gang all agreed and snuck out of the theatre.
*A New Hero - A New Hero - A New Hero*
When they got back to the lobby Cherry darted over to the poster for Yawnimamls and begged them all to take a selfie with it to post on her Twitflash.
"Guys this might have been the weirdest night ever, but it was a lot of fun" revealed Kelsey. "We should all hang out more often".
"I agree. It's nice to be able to hang with all of you at the same time" agreed Mia
"You know what would have made this night even better?" asked Cherry.
"If we had actually been able to see the end of Zombie Rain?" suggested Gideon.
"Yes, but also if Phoebe and Max had been here".
"Yeah… It's funny when they fight," laughed Oyster.
"Well, if we are going to meet the twins at Wong's we should get going" suggested Kelsey.
"I'll just text phoebe and let her know we are on our way" added Cherry.
"Good idea! I'll let Max know too, in case they managed to piss each other off again," laughed Mia.
As both girls sent their texts though, two familiar cell phone chimes echoed from behind them.
"What the heck!?" asked Oyster confused as he moved the Yawnimals cutout to reveal the Thunder Twins.
"Heeeey, guys!" drawled Max.
"What are you two doing back there?" asked Gideon.
"Um… Cherry just sent me a text about going to Wong's" lied Phoebe, "so we just ran right over!".
"We were really close by" added Max.
Mia looked at them incredulously but decided to drop the topic.
"Well, this is so much fun!" squealed Cherry. "Hands in everybody!".
"yeah… I'm not doing that again" protested Max.
"Don't fight it bro" consoled Oyster clapping the boy on the shoulder. "Come get some of this".
"Goooo Group!" screamed the teens before hurrying out of the mall due to the glares of the other patrons.
As they were splitting up into different cars to get to Wong's Phoebe said "Actually, we are going to have to meet you guys at Wong's… there are a couple of things at home we have to defrost first".
"Okay see you later Max, Pheebs!" waved Mia as she put her car in gear and drove to Wong's pizza palace.
Unfortunately, the twins weren't able to join them for pizza like they planned. Max texted the band that their parents had busted them for something, and the twins were grounded for the night. The group hung out eating pizza and playing arcade games for a couple hours before heading home. Laying in her bed that night Mia reflected on how lucky she was to have such great friends in her life.
I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in the comments or my Tumblr Find-y0ur-j0y! - Xo Evie