Our U haul bounces up and down as we continue to drive to our cabin. Dad insisted that we brought the equipment. He wanted to make sure we were keeping fit when he was not there. Mom will not go easy on us either. Every trip we go on, we bring the train equipment. Mom packs the stuff for India's sports and my gymnastics. Stephanie does not have the same interests we do, so she gets to relax all week.
“Mom if we do not turn, they are going to think we are following them.” I say pointing at the car in front of us.
India turns around and points at the car behind us. “ I think they are following us.” She says. “What if we are being boxed it and they are going to kill us.” she jokes. We both begin to laugh.
“Shut up I am trying to sleep.” Stephanie says.
“We are here.” mom says.
“They must be turning around.” India says.
I nod and get out of the car. I soon find Simba and Bambi. Then Miles and Andra, get out of the car. I run and hug Bambi. “What are you doing here?” I ask.
“We are staying here.” She says. We give each other looks, but soon find the manager messed up and we were all booked to stay her.
Everyone mumbles and complains. “Guys can we just be grateful that we are all here safe. Let's go inside.” I say jumping up and down.
Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart -Winnie the Pooh
“Ah yes, Aria the spirits informed me I would be seeing you soon!” Also, it’s pretty easy for one to identify a car they’ve ridden in about a million times. Still, I was pretty happy to see her! We entered the small cabin, where I proceeded to plop down on a fur rug. “Yes, this is the perfect place to channel energy!” I moved my arms and body around in a circular manner “Ommm, Ommmmmmmm, OMMMM!”
My eyes shot open and I sprang up suddenly. “The voices of the other world have informed me of our situation! Yes! Our predicament has be caused by a clerical error!” I rubbed my right temple “And cannot be resolved, because… the owner cannot be reached, for they are in a far off land!” I took an over dramatic gasp, before rolling my eyes into my head. “The spirits have spoken!”
“Or you basically listened in on Mom’s phone call, and repeated what you heard?” Simba said looking down at my position on the floor. I looked back sweetly at him.
“The spirits have also told me my brother is no fun! Ommmm….”
“So…stranger-family vacation. Sweet.” Says the Miles boy.
“Yes! Most sweet!” I get back up and pull out my bag of gummy worms, shoving a handful in. “Mof fweet indeed!” I took my rolly bag into the bathroom, sliding my favorite short blue wig on under my… “colorful” turban and pulling out my bottle of silver glitter.
“BEGON BAD JUJU! BE GOOONE! I WILL PROTECT THIS HOUSE!” I say, bursting into the room tossing glitter in all directions. Unfortunately, I accidently cover Simba and Miles (who had been chatting) in my sea of sparkles. “Oh dude, sorry, didn’t see you there man!” I say to Miles, giving him a good natured thump on the back. “Hey Simba, you two wanna help me banish the evil vibes?” I say pulling out two more florescent wigs.
My brother coughs pointedly, and tries to jab me in the ribcage. “Ow! Man, okay! Don’t help me banish the evil then! HEY ARIA, HELP ME GET RID OF THE POWER OF EVIL WITH ARTS ‘N CRAFT GLITTER. WHAT? YOU WILL? WOOOHOOO!” I continued to unnecessarily scream and holler before plopping a pink wig on her head. “SO IT BEGINS!”
Before entering the house with the others, I hug all off the. Miles and Simba cringe up a little when I do. I hear my mom whisper to them. “She is a hugger.” I smile as I begin to walk up the stairs. “Young lady, you need to help unload your bags and equipment.” She says.
“Can I please have twenty minutes?” I beg.
India walks over and links arms with me. “Mom just twenty minutes. What harm can that do?” she ask.
Stephanie runs into the house and does not bother to talk to anyone. I almost forgot she was afraid of the woods. “Fine twenty minutes. That's it.” She demands.
“Thank you.” India and I say simultaneously we run into the house. Bambi is talking about banishing evil spirits. I can tell that she is really happy and having a great time. It makes me smile. She asks her brother and Miles to do it with her, but they say no. She walks near me and asks me to help her. “I would love to help you banish evil spirits. It might put everyone in a better mood.” I say brushing the wig with my fingers.
“I will too.” India says.
We throw glitter around, twirling and dancing .We are having so much fun. I stop to catch my breath and see that everyone is looking at us. Bambi, India and I plop down on the floor. “Okay girls. Get it done.” My mom calls. “Mats in the garage, beam in the middle, uneven bars to the side. India your stuff is a little bit easier. They can go in the corner.” She says.
India and I head our to the U Haul and begin to unload. “Let the work outs begin. She is not going to go easy on us on vacation, is she.” India asks.
“No way. Not a chance.” I say.
About thirty minutes later, India and I are back inside. I am hoping we will have some free time this week. As long as I do all my routines and work out perfectly, I will be fine. Mom points to the car and we grunt. Now to unpack out clothes. “Wait, what are we going to do about bed rooms?” India asks mom.
“ There are two beds in each room. There are four rooms, so we will be fine.” Mom says. “There is only one bathroom though.”
“Gross.” India says.
“Don't complain.” I says. “At least we have a bathroom and do not have to do our business in the woods.” I says grabbing my three bags and bringing them into the house.
Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart -Winnie the Pooh
My sisters are the craziest people in the world. And being the smallest, I appear to be more mature though they are just.... THEM whom I love. Before mom could go crazy over her workout session, I took out my luggage and my surfing board, dashing into the house and to the room next.
Why didn't mom tell me that we were going to the WOODS?
Simba and Miles looked at me and laughed at how I rushed through the house. I came out of the room, looking famished. Then, next, I saw the crazy sight. India, Aria and Bambi sprinkling glitter all over the house. Madness, I tell you. I giggled to see them jumping around and I ran in to take my camera. I kept clicking pictures and laughed. After a few minutes, they stopped to catch their breath and all three squatted down. Mom calls them from inside.
"Okay girls. Get it done. Mats in the garage, beam in the middle, uneven bars to the side. India your stuff is a little bit easier. They can go in the corner.”
I giggle and they groaned. I'm lucky to be just sitting around and relax.
"Let the work outs begin. She is not going to go easy on us on vacation, is she?” I heard India asking.
"No way. Not a chance." Aria throws back.
Simba and Miles look at me to go with them, but I just stare back. That was really disturbing so, I flopped a question. "What?"
"Aren't you going to 'workout' too?" Simba asks.
"Nope! I'm not interested in gymnastics." I say.
I go inside my room to get my sketch book and a few of my doodling pens. I come back and sit in a corner and start thinking of various scenes. I start doodling hair out of the blue then, dresses and camera's. After 10 minutes, I saw Miles snatching my sketch book from me to see. I stretch my hands to take it back but he was tough.
But of course, boys have to be boys. Miles passed my sketch book to Simba and he takes a look. He starts from the first page and as he goes on, his expressions change to which I cannot understand. I try taking it from Simba but Miles stop me everytime I try to. Man! I was just doodling there, and there goes this stupid drama. Finally, Simba interferes.
"Why do you not want to show your drawings?" Simba asks me as one of his eyebrows shot up.
Moaning, I reply; "Because I drew it and its not so good. I'm not a professional."
"Well, I think you are. I really do." Simba says.
"Uh, me too?" Miles cut in.
I snatch my sketch book back and give both of them a glare. They chuckle. God, BOYS. Why are they so...? Never mind. I sit at a far corner from them, and continue doodling. Just then, Aria and India come in, tired but they were given their next task again from mom. Poor them. That's a pity.
"Mom, why doesn't Stephanie get to do anything?" India asks.
I swear, I should have punched her because the next minute, mom told me also to go unpack my clothes. I tried arguing over it saying that I kept my luggage inside my room the moment I came here but she wouldn't bulge. Forgetting everything that happened, I got up to go to my room. I saw India and Aria grinning.
"Wait, what are we going to do about the bed rooms?" I hear India asking mom.
"There are two beds in each room. There are four rooms, so we will be fine." Mom says. "There is only one bathroom though."
What? Two beds? Where am I going to sleep? With mom?
"Gross." India says, sticking out her tongue.
"Don't complain. At least we have a bathroom and do not have to do our business in the woods." Aria says and she goes and grabs her stuff from the car.
Aria's probably right. If it was in the woods, I would freak out and I would rather go home. God, and this stupid place doesn't even have signal! I can't reach any of my friends. What a dumb place to go on a vacation. Oh, wow. I'm going to be having lots of fun.
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.
After we unpack and get settled, mom calls India and I to the garage for me to do gymnastics and for her to work out. She grunts and I roll my eyes at her. “If we want to get to the Olympics, we have to train.” I say.
“I know, but still.” she says. She changes into he shorts and t shirt. I change into my leotard. I chalk up my hands and we head to the garage.
“Oh no, the are going to work out.” Miles says laughing.
We turn around to look at him. “What is that suppose to mean?” India asks.
“I mean your cheer leading and gymnastics is not that hard.”
“You must be kidding me. You do not know how hard we train.” She laughs at him.
He just looks down. “Let's just see how good you are?” Simba says.
“Let's go.” I say.
“You are going to have a hard time taking this on.” India says holding up her arms showing he biceps. I hold up mine. “Yep. These come in with hard work and training hard.”
I laugh as we walk to the garage. “Look do not get distracted by them girls.” I say.
“We won't, just proving to them how good we are.” India says.
We begin to stretch and loosen up. I so a spit at stretch. “Get ready to see a master at work.” my mom says.
“Do not make me get a big head mom.” I say.
I get up and stand at the edge out the garage. I run and do a series of flips and twirls in the air. I do a crisp landing on my feet and throw my hands in the air and turn to my mom. “Beautiful.” she says.
India begin to work on her moves for cheer and mom helps my move the uneven bars to the center. I put the bands on my arms and strap the on. I spray water on my hands and put chalk on. I jump onto the small bar and flip on it. I toss in the air onto the taller bar and twist in the air, doing a series of hard combinations. I do my last flip and land dismount on the ground. I am completely out of breath. “Let's see you do that.” I say to Simba and Miles.
Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart -Winnie the Pooh
When I was four years old I started gymnastics. At the age of eleven I was at a competition. I had practiced my routine for forever. As people watched, I was on the balance beam ready to do a flip. In mid-air, I heard the whole crowd gasp and I realized I had hung in the air too long. The next moment seemed like it took forever, and yet it all happened so fast I couldn't stop it. I landed on my back, smacking into the beam and falling the few feet to the floor. As people surrounded me, looking at me, I screamed. Not out of pain, but out of suffocation. The doctors said I was lucky I didn't break my spine - lucky I didn't paralyze myself. I never did gymnastics again.
I watched as my sister flipped in the air, my stomach clenching. Brushing it off, I smirked.
"Mom, drill me."
She chucked my favorite gold-colored soccer ball at me, and I hit it with my head then caught it. Dropping it to the floor, I got set for the commands she was about to give me.
"Scissor. Geg. Jig. Cruyff." on and on it went. Finally, I picked it up and chucked it at Aria.
"Ar, head chest knee foot." I commanded.
Aria took a break and began to chuck the ball at me, having me bounce it back to her with any of the above mentioned.
"So," I laughed at everyone, "Wanna play a match?"
Runing my hand over my hairless head, I smirked, "Yeah, I'm not a soccer player. I'd like to see you beat me in swimming though!"
"Psh," she scoffed, "Like my thick-haired self is gonna beat the hairless kid."
"India!" Her mother hissed.
Smiling, I stuffed my hands in my pockets, "It's not problem Mrs. Carter. I have Alopecia Universalis - it actually really helps me in swimming - makes me faster. I'm glad I have Alopecia"
I snapped my gum three times, interrupting the awkward silence the always ensued when Miles' alopecia was brought up. Smacking him on the side of the head on his tattoo.
"Miles, I'm hungry." Turning to everyone else, I say, "I'm done with sports. Let's go get lunch."
Looking over at the Carter mom, I knew she wasn't about to let India and Aria be finished.
"You know Mrs. Carter," I say, "It's better to eat before you work out, if you don't you hurt your body."
Linking my arms through Aria's and India's, I head to the kitchen.
I shove India and give her a look. “You better be glad he is so easy going.” I say.
Andra talks to my mom about eating and links arms with us.
“Make you a fruit smoothie and add the protein powder.” My mom calls.
“I could not imagine eating anything else.” India says.
I grab a pair of shorts and put them on over my leotard. I head back into the kitchen and make a smoothie for the two of us. “Is that all you two eat?” Andra asks
“We have turkey some times.” I say. “Salads and egg whites. Stuff like that.”
“So you do not eat like pizza or burgers, nothing like that?” she asks.
“No, never had anything like that a day in my life. Stephanie has though.” I say.
“She is the lucky one.” India says.
“Yes I actually have a life.” She says walking in.
I pour the smoothie into a cup and give it to India. I sit down at the table and drink it. Simba sits next to me and I flash a smile at him. “I do not think I ever got to thank you for giving me those notes. I cannot thank you enough, I could not have made an A without you.” I say
Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart -Winnie the Pooh
Shaking fries I found in the freezer onto a tray and shoving them into the oven I tried to smother a smile, sitting back down beside Aria, "You mean the notes you never gave back?"
Her eyes widened and she nearly choked on her shake, "What?"
A smile spread across my face, and I couldn't help but laugh, "You never gave them back - you went to a tournament the day after I lent them to you. You came back the day of the test. Luckily, I paid attention in Biology that week. And yeah, you never did say thanks. You did once though. When you dropped your pencil and I picked it up for you."
Her cheeks flushed red, evicting laughter from me. I watched as India and Aria drank their shakes. Wow. That's really all they ate?
Pursing my lips, I got up from my spot and rooted through the kitchen quietly. Pulling out my discovery from the fridge, I grabbed a teaspoon and popped the lid off of the chocolate syrup without a word. Before they could protest, I squeezed the chocolatey gooeyness into their shakes, giving them a quick stir with the spoon.
"If you tell your mom I did that, I'm denying it putting all the blame on you. Drink up." I say plainly.
Glancing at the door, I opened the oven and pulled out the fries. Then I thought, hey what the heck, and drizzled the chocolate syrup over the fries. Glancing at the door again, I took a few fries and tossed them in their shakes. They looked at me like I lost my mind.
Shrugging, I pop a fry in my mouth and say, "Potatoes are good for you."
I look at it and push the drink away. “You are going to make me fat.” I say.
“Aria you do not have any fat on your body. You are not going to get fat.” Stephanie says.
“I eat it all the time.” Simba says, popping a fry in his mouth. “I am not fat.”
“I know, but,” I start, but India cuts me off.
“Aria, stop being such a goody goody.” she says taking a sip of the smoothie.
I take the fry out and throw it on Simba's plate. I take one sip of the smoothie and get up and spit it out. “How do you eat that? It tastes horrible.” I say.
“You are crazy if you think that is bad.” Andra says.
“I must be crazy.” I say.
Simba laughs at the face I am making. I can feel the blush starting in my cheeks again. I go and sit back next to him.
Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart -Winnie the Pooh
So, you know how some people have claustrophobia? Is there a name for people with the exact opposite of that? Because I think I have it. I’m pretty small, and I really, really like squeezing myself into tight spaces, like a cat. In fact, I happen to be indulging that peculiar little tendency right now.
I’d lost interest in everyone when they started chatting about sports or whatever. I’m far more interested in matters of the mind. The exploration of my new territory led me to the kitchen, where I discovered to my delight, the kitchen cabinets to be much bigger than ordinary. Suffice to say, I hopped right up in there.
Part of the reason I like small dark places is I can sketch in them in peace. No one knows I draw and paint as often as I do. Not even Aria or my Brother. I’m constantly surrounded by talented people, and I guess it just made me grow up with an inferiority complex. It doesn’t cripple me or anything so I’m fine with it. I pulled out my flash light and supplies, outlining a little bird. A few minutes later, I heard giggling and people cooking. Heh. Suckers. I put everything away into my bag and braced myself for impact.
“OOOGA BOO KAMIKAZE MOTHER HEFERS!” I then promptly knocked Aria into Simba, landing rather ungracefully on the tile floor. “OW OUCH MAN OH MAN THAT HURT- not at all actually.” I looked down at a smoothie splattered miles. “Oh, sorry dude.” I got off him, and helped him up. I noticed that I was covered in smoothie too. Cool. Then I tasted it.
“Wow, this tastes absolutely disgusting, and I’ve eaten earth worms before.” The other girls looked at me oddly. I shrugged “I thought ‘hey since I eat the gummy kind all the time, I might as well try the real thing.”
“Uh-huh, when did you do that exactly?” India asks.
“Yesterday. I threw up, it was pretty nasty.” I noticed the tray of chocolate splattered fries sitting on the counter. “Chocolate fries? Awesome.” I grabbed a few and made a chocolate fry/ gummy worm skewer. I looked down at Aria and Simba still on the floor. “So you guys gonna make out or what?”
