//Edited: 6/8/21//
Cassy paced back and forth. Her index finger and thumb caressed her blonde fly-aways. "Moving? How could I be moving??" She said in disbelief. Wherever her eyes went, they were greeted by a moving box, holding onto possessions.
"Has Rose told you anything?" Wyatt was still processing the shocking news. He sat slightly against the marble counters, watching her pendulate with anxiety.
"Not that I know of!" Cassy stuck her thumbnail into her mouth slightly. They both remained quiet as Cassy sifted through her thoughts. Why didn't Grandma tell me? After a minute had passed, Wyatt decided to break the silence.
"Hey, um... there's an explanation for all of this, I'm sure." He moved closer. "But, right now we have a project to work on." His words didn't reflect the deflated tone that could be heard as he spoke. The fact that his best friend was leaving devastated him, but he couldn't let the silence last forever. Cassy nodded and wiped her eyes.
"Right." She shoved the moving boxes to the far side of the kitchen table and Wyatt placed the project box in the cleared spot. They both sat down at one corner of the table.
"So, mind telling me what we're doing?" Cassy asked. Melancholy remained hanging in the back of her mind.
"Actually... I've already kind of done everything. Well, that's not true. I've already built the machine." Wyatt was suddenly a little embarrassed. Cassy rolled her eyes because she knew he would somehow get way ahead of himself. He quickly waved his hands at her. "But, it still needs to be tested which is what we can do right now! And this is where the box comes in." Wyatt slid the cardboard box in front of Cassy. Upon closer examination, she noticed some holes poked through the top and a soft noise suddenly jolted from within. Cassy slowly held her ear up against the papery side and a muffled croak could be heard. Her eyes widened as she realized the contents of the cardboard box.
"Wyatt, you didn't, did you?" He remained silent. Then, a dozen frogs awoke from their nap hungry, and burst through the flaps of the cardboard. "Wyatt!!" Cassy yelled.
"Cassilia! Don't just stand there, help me!" Wyatt said as he attempted to pounce on one of the green creatures. Frogs were literally jumping off of the walls. Some decided to knock over a lamp that shattered immediately as it hit the floor. Another jumped onto Wyatt's head which he slowly tried to catch, but slipped through his fingers at the last moment. In a matter of seconds everything fell into chaos. Then out of nowhere, to save the day, some worms appeared next to the cube on the table. Cassy and Wyatt shared an astonished look; however, they had no such time to discuss the anomaly because frogs preceded to break fragile objects.
"I have an idea!" Cassy swiftly grabbed the worms off of the table and ran towards the garage as fast as she could. A stampede of frogs bounced through the hallways close behind. Her heart pounded as adrenaline pulsed through her body. Cassy sped across the hall and stumbled finally into the garage. Her eyes quickly found the view of Grandma Rose's car. That could work. she thought. The worms continued to wriggle in Cassy's left hand, tickling her palm. With her right hand, she thrust the trunk open. As she did so, the avalanche of frogs poured through the doorway and began to flood the room. Cassy chucked the slimy beings into the trunk and dived out of the way. The amphibians attacked the worms, now slinking around in the vehicle, tearing them apart. Cassy grabbed the key hanging off of the blue bulletin board, slammed the trunk door shut, and locked it to ensure that their escape wouldn't be possible. She slowly retained her posture and sighed.
"Well, that's a sigh of relief." Wyatt remarked. Cassy whipped her head around to find him leaning against the door frame, breathing heavily. Her eyes narrowed and she began to hold fists as she walked up to Wyatt.
"How could you go and get frogs for our test subjects! I told you exactly not to do this and what did you do?!... THIS. Haven't you learned your lesson from last time? Someone could've gotten hurt!" She fumed.
"Hey," Wyatt laughed, "calm down. You're making that face again."
"Because I'm serious." Her blue eyes became vivid as she stared up at him. There were moments before where he got lost in her eyes, big and blue like the sea. This was one of them. He quickly snapped himself out of it and peered past her at the red car.
"So what are you going to do when Rose gets home?"
"I'm not sure yet," Cassy shifted her weight, "but there's no way she can come home to find frogs in the back of her car. She'd kill me."
"Then lets get rid of them!" Wyatt had a good idea, however it was short lived as they began to hear keys rattling against the front door.
Oh no, Grandma! Cassy panicked. She suddenly remembered that morning.
~~~~~~
Dawn reached through the window and awoke Cassy with a start. Then her alarm for school went off. Beep! Beep! Beep! She moved the covers off of herself and slid out of bed. Cassy rubbed her eyes as the remaining fatigue left her. The soft emerald rug underneath her feet tickled as she got dressed. She grabbed her wool bomber jacket from the side of the desk chair. Cassy flung the jacket around her body and slipped her arms through the sleeves. She moved next to her door and picked up the brush off her vanity. The brush ran across her scalp and fed her blonde hair into ready hands. Cassy twisted her favorite pink scrunchie around her hair and tightened it into a ponytail.
She walked downstairs to the kitchen and found Grandma Rose packing lunch for the school day. When Cassy put her weight onto the last step, it creaked. Rose looked up at her.
"Good morning, Sunshine." Grandma Rose said as she looked back down at her task at hand. Cassy smiled.
"Morning, Grandma." She said as she opened the cupboard to retrieve a bowl for her cereal. Grandma Rose sighed and paused for a moment.
"Cassilia, Sweetie, is that Sparks boy coming over after school again?"
"Yeah, we have to work on our science fair project together, why?" Cassy replied as she poured milk into her cereal.
"No reason," Rose quietly smiled, "I have to go to the store later today, so I won't be here when you get home. Wyatt will have to leave when I get back because I have something important to tell you." Her eyes drooped from the thoughts spinning in her head.
"Can't you tell me now?"
"I'd rather tell you after school when we have more time, besides it's too early in the morning for that." Rose finally zipped up the lunch box and handed it to Cassy as the cereal was devoured.
"Ok." She gave her grandmother a halfhearted smile and then reunited the lunch box with her backpack at the front door. Cassy double-knotted her boots, slung her backpack across her shoulder, and picked up her lunch. After saying goodbye to Grandma Rose, Cassy moved closer to the path of adventure.
~~~~~~
"Quick! Hide!" Cassy pushed Wyatt towards the closet.
"What! Why? What do you mean hide?!"
"You're not supposed to be here anymore!"
"Cassilia, what are you doing?" The two of them stopped and turned to the open door.
"Grandma!" Cassy let go of Wyatt, causing him to fall.
"Ouch."
"Mr. Sparks." Rose acknowledged.
"Hi, Grandma Rose." He said from the floor.
"Did you two get much of your project done today?"
"It's almost finished, Grandma!" Cassy replied quickly. She sweated from the secret frogs within the car.
"Alright well, I think it's about time Sparks goes home." Before Cassy could protest, Rose continued. "Sweetie, could you help me put away the groceries?"
"Sure, Grandma." After Rose left the room, Wyatt lowered slightly to Cassy's level. He paused.
"...So what's her deal with me?" Wyatt smirked. Cassy laughed breaking the tension in the room.
"I don't know. I guess she's right though, it's getting late. I'll call you later?"
"Sure. Now, what are you going to do about the frogs?"
"We could quickly put them back in the box. They might be sleeping by now."
"Here, let me peek at them." Waiting for the key, Wyatt presented his hand to her. Cassy hesitantly gave the car key to him. He steadily unlocked the trunk and lifted the door, then his eyes went wide. "Shit!" Wyatt whispered under his breath.
"What's wrong??" Cassy worried. She lifted the trunk door more and caught Wyatt's surprise.
"They're gone." All that was left in the trunk was a few nasty pieces of worm.
End of chapter
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140,247 Literary Works • 673,060 Reviews
Hi MayCupcake,
Mailice back with a short review!
Let´s start right away:
I miss a bit of the characters talking at the beginning. Based on Wyatt at the end, I can assume that Cassy begins to speak, but after what was said in the first chapter by her at the end, the first sentence here seems a bit strange. (at least to me). I assume she wants to play it down, and pretend she doesn't know anything about it. If that's the case, I'd insert that she's saying it with some kind of shyness or embarrassment.
Reading the chapter, I also realise who Rose is and also think here that Cassy lives alone with her grandmother. (Why does Wyatt call Cassy's grandmother by her name?)
This is just a small point that you can change, but you don't have to. You mention here that the box wasn't taped, where I think that's a little too plot-y in this very point/scene. I think if you put the part with the tape already in the description of the box, it doesn't seem so obvious and more like a side info, as the reader focuses more on the holes in the box.
Nice detail you included here about Wyatt calling Cassy Cassilia out of complete amazement.
Is this an attempt at flirtation on Wyatt's part? Seems like he wanted to see that face of Cassy's.
You suddenly have a very different style here that you use, that you didn't use in the flashback in the last chapter. This first section in particular suffers a little from the fact that each sentence is short and simple. Certain actions you describe here you can combine and make the text seem more fluid.
I don't know why I laughed here, maybe because the whole scene just seems really funny and Wyatt's comment on it is just an ouch.
Again, you managed to make the ending unexpected. I think that's a good thing. I also love that your narration switches between present - past - present again here. I like that very much and it also has a great effect on the story. It's almost as if there are two storylines to follow.
I was expecting the message Grandma Rose wanted to tell her granddaughter to come here in the chapter. But you manage to bring the focus back to the project / frogs. It's very well done, and always gives the reader the curiosity and anticipation that they probably know from personal experience.
I also liked this chapter because you got to see a bit more of Cassy and Wyatt, and how they both fit together character-wise. Wyatt seems rushed without thinking of a plan for long, frantic a bit and convinced nothing will go wrong, but not with too much confidence. Cassy, on the other hand, takes a calmer approach and plans everything in advance. Her character can get slightly choleric though, where I don't think this is something where she mourns for too long and is sure to have forgotten what happened by tomorrow.
It was a good second chapter. You keep the reader on the edge of their seat, without getting straight into the plot (which I'm still curious about) but with a good introduction of the two characters.
Have fun writing!
Mailice.
Hello again Mailice!
1. In my adventures of editing so far, I did fix the starting dialogue in this chapter, so that they coincide more with the characters. I agree that it's a little confusing to tell who's talking.
2. Wyatt and Rose have an amusing acquaintance lol. I thought it would be funny if he called her Rose, but when talking to her to say Grandma Rose. On the other side, I thought it would be funny if Rose called Wyatt by his last name exclusively.
3. As for the "tape thing", I think that was more for my amusement and realize that it's not really necessary.
4. I think I added the first paragraph of the flashback before I published it. So, it feels out of place due to my improvement over the last year. I'll have to use magical editing and elaborate more on these chapters lol.
5. Ah yes, the plot! I too am looking forward to it
Thanks for all of your input!
I do like the character of Wyatt here.
Hi, May!
I just read parts one and two. Here are my first thoughts:
One: Wait! They're using frogs, again!
Two: Oh, it's Wyatt's fault. That makes more sense. (After the first time, couldn't he have used rats?)
Three: I might actually like this story.
Four: Ugh! I have a very low tolerance for profanity. But then again, everybody's different.
End Result: Hmm. . . I'll probably read part three! It's kinda cool that Wyatt's a genius, but why didn't he tell Cassy that he already finished the project? They seem to be close friends.
Sincerely, Mingan
Follow your heart, and nothing can go wrong. (Concerning writing.)
1. Yup! lol, the frogs are sort of a reference to my elementary school short story of this. I thought it would be a nice homage to the original.
Wyatt tends to get a little too involved in these projects because he feels he needs to prove himself (despite being a "genius"). Cassy usually lets him come up with the idea for the project (science isn't really her thing) and so she was waiting for him to tell her. But because of his nature, he got a bit ahead of himself lol
2. Maybe he just likes frogs? Lol. I guess I kind of like the chaos they bring to the story.
3. Yay! I'm so glad!
4. Yeah, I personally don't, but I decided since they're in early High school that it would be more realistic. I will only use it sparingly throughout, though!
5. I better get writing then!
LOL, Now I have a little more insight into his personality!