Young Writers Society

Grams, Mum and I were standing in front of the front door. We hugged everyone – but Aunt Martha avoided Mum. Izzy had stifled a sob when I embraced her. "I'm going to miss you so much." she had mumbled into my shoulder. I had stroked her hair and let go.

Soon when we had arrived, I was tumbling out of the car, clutching my stomach. I get car-sick too easily. Avery and Uncle Sim helped us get our suitcases out and dropped us off at the front. Mum hugged Uncle Sim for what I thought was for too long, but eventually let go when I told her we were getting late.

"Gate fifteen..." Grams murmured as we wandered through the crowd after we had checked in our bags.

"Here!" I exclaimed, pointing.

We settled down, and watched the TV that hung above on the wall. It was only eleven o`clock. Time passed and I heard snippets of conversations from people passing by. At one point, I seemed as if I wasn't there and started feeling light.

My thoughts faded when the man over the speaker spoke. "Gate fifteen, gate fifteen, your plane is about to land.”

+++

Our trip back to Chicago had been pretty much uneventful, except for the time when we were at the airport, getting our luggage and a burly looking man, about twice the size of me, was holding my suitcase and was about to walk away.

But I caught him in time, "What do you think you're doing, sir?" I said in a stern voice, getting looks from people around me, "That's my suitcase you got there." I pointed.

He glared at me, threw my suitcase at me, and stomped off. The way I had acted is still a mystery to me, but I liked it. Grams and Mum had laughed when they saw my expression walking back to them.

We had hailed a taxi and in no time we were home.

"There's no place better than home." Grams sighed, flicking on the lights of the kitchen.

"I like this place, Mother." Mum chirped. "It's cozy." she walked out of the kitchen and I followed her into the living room, where she dropped her suitcase, unzipped her jacket, and flopped onto the couch, me following suit.

We got a call from Uncle Sim. “Hey, Simmy!” Mum said into her phone.

I still wondered why I didn’t get to have any British accent. I want a British accent. Why do I have to suffer with a boring American one? After all, I was born up in London.

“Put it on speaker, Mum.” I nudged her.

“How are you guys?” Uncle Sim asked.

“Good. We arrived okay. A teeny incident took place, but nothing more.” Mum grinned at me knowingly.

“What happened?” he asked, and we explained the entire thief-who-almost-stole-my-suitcase incident. We heard laughter from the other end, and instantly, I knew everyone else had been listening. I got a sense of love, and for once, I felt like I was cared for and that I had a family.

Outside, the trees were waving at us, welcomingly, and the birds were all nestled in its branches. The sun was setting, and the houses on the horizon looked fascinatingly eerie. Grams had plopped down on the couch next to Mum and was talking to the rest of them.

Without interrupting their conversation, I crept upstairs with my phone. I needed to talk to a specific someone.

+++

The phone rang four times before the Rowe’s home phone was picked up. “Hello, Ella speaking.”

“You sound like a clerk.” I mocked.

“Julia!” she exclaimed.

“How are you?”

“I’m fine, how about you? How is Quebec treating you?”

“Forget about me. And forget about Quebec. I’m back.” I said flatly. “Why did you do this to me, El?”

I sat on my bed, squeezing the sheets, then decided I didn’t want to sit. I got up, and walked into the bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror. My mascara was perfectly okay, but I knew that in a matter of seconds, it would be smudged.

Ella still hadn’t said anything.

“I’m talking to you, Ella Rowe.” Mirror-me’s eyes were watering. The usual shine wasn’t there anymore.

“I didn’t do anything.” Dang, she just flicked on defensive-Ella-mode. I knew this was going to end up in the worst possible way, but I had to know what I had done to deserve this.

“Why’d you go to the amusement park? The three of us had promised each other since grade four that we would save up our own money, and go to the park.” I explained. “And… you broke our trust. You broke our promise.”

“She forced me to go.” her voice held pride. No sorryness, no regret, no nothing. Only pride.

“Who? Maryam? Maddie? One of her side-kicks?” I paused. There was a lump stuck in my throat and my voice was wavering. “You decided to go! There’s an image as proof!” I yelled.

Tears, crying, pain. WHy did she have to do this to me? What did I do?

“What did I ever do to you?”

Silence.

Then she spoke. “You did nothing. I’m just… over both of you.”

“You could have told us before breaking the promise.” I said shrilly. Mirror-me looked crazy.

“It would have made no difference.” she growled.

I started at her tone. “It would have hurt less.”

“Whatever.” she snapped. “It’s over now. All three of us are over. Horses too.”

“What?” She stopped riding? What? Was that now a trend? To stop doing what you love to be the Queen Bee’s best friend?

“Yes.” Ella said.

“I thought we were friends.” I pleaded.

“Well keep your thinking to yourself because we’ve never been friends and will never be.” she hung up.

I dropped my phone. I didn’t care if it broke, if it smashed, if anything happened to it.

Sobbing, I locked my washroom door and sat on the edge of the bathtub. I held my head in my hands and cried for I don’t know how long. But I knew it was while. Someone knocked on the door. “Jules?”

“Yeah, Mum?” I blinked away the tears in my eyes. I didn’t bother wiping them. The lump was still in my throat. I gulped it away and stood up, shaking.

“What happened?” she was concerned. “Can you open the door?”

I unlocked it and let her in. She stared at me in horror. “What in the world?” she patted my hair down, and wiped away my tears. “Goodness, child, what happened?”

“Nothing.”

Mum ushered me out of the wretched room and followed her into my room, on my bed. “Explain.”

And I did. Everything. From A to Z. The promise, the Insta post, the calls, Maddie, Maryam, and… I couldn’t bear to think of her… Ella.

She listened to me patiently and watched me as I sniffled and shook. “Hey, hey, you called Ella and that’s all that matters right now. You cleared it up and… she didn’t like you? I don’t see why, but that’s really her own choice, right? Things like this happen all the time, kid. You’re okay.” she embraced me, and the scent of roses filled my nose.

The necklace fell out of my shirt.

Mum stared at it.

I grasped it in my fist and tucked it back in. “Sorry, it’s… it’s nothing…”

“No, no, I love it. You look beautiful in it. Brad gifted that to me on our first wedding anniversary.” she smiled sadly. “He was amazing, your father.”

Silence took over, and when I couldn’t bear it any longer, I said, “Why don’t I get a fancy accent like yours?”

Mum laughed and I grinned at her. “Do you want to go live up in London some day?”

“Definitely.” I smiled.

“You have your father’s eyes. They suit you so much.” she said, getting glassy-eyed.

“You look creepy like that, Mum, stop!” I giggled.

“Oh,” she blinked and looked at me. “I should do that all the time, eh?”

I pretend-pouted, she smirked, and left after hugging me one more time. I hopped out of bed, and got ready for school tomorrow. So much has happened in just a week, and -

Chirp!

I whirled around and glanced at my open window.

A bird. It chirped again, and pecked the windowsill. I walked towards it cautiously, making sure it didn’t fly away. “Hey, little sparrow.” I said softly. “What brings you here?”

It flew away.

Welp.

Unlucky bird number eight. It didn’t get to talk to me, and that’s considered unlucky. Have a little conversation with Julia Harper Portman and you’ll be lucky for life.

Curling up under my covers, I fell into a peaceful and dreamless sleep.