6 March 2013
"What?" Gabby asks, breathless. She charges to Maicy and I and tackles us. The slip of paper drifts out of my hand as I hit the floor. Maicy lands hard next to me, moaning in pain. "What was that for?" I ask harshly. Gabby shrugs innocently and reaches down to grab the paper. As I help Maicy up, Gabby reads it outloud. "'Seedin Town Orphans was a wreck. Ms. Evinich's Home For Girls looks promising. Search the place on Tuesday, June 14. We'll be waiting for the reply.' Wow!" "It's the 14th tomorrow..." I mutter. "Why do they need to search the place?" Maicy whispers. "This is exciting!" Gabby jumps up and dances around. I sigh and shake my head. "1 minute!" Vynn yells. "Crap." I unzip my bag and whip out the first pajamas I find. Quinn only let us wear beige, gray, and black stuff, so it's a gray 3/4 sleeve top and black shorts. Good enough. In the orphanage, we had to change in front of each other, so Gabby and I do that. "Um... I'm going in the bathroom..." Maicy mumbles, looking away. "Lights out! Quiet!" Vynn cries. Maicy stops and sighs. She turns off the lights and changes in the darkness. I took the couch to sleep on- hopefully Maicy will be okay with that. Gabby is sprawled out on her black sleeping bag- why would Gabby packa sleeping bag, or even have one? Weird. Maicy pulls out some blankets from under the couch and spreads them out on the ratty carpet. She falls back on them. As Gabby snores loudly, I think about the note. Why would Seedin Town Orphans be a wreck? Why would they have to search Ms. Evinich's Home For Girls? Why did the Pillets adopt us? Who's 'We'? I remember Maicy telling me that Vynn is always talking on the phone to a Logan. And there was another girl here, but she was taken away to a place called Render... What's Render? Does Logan work for Render? Who was that girl...? I drift off, unanswered questions whirling in my mind.
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I wake up to Quinn yelling her head off at me. "IT'S 6:00!! WAKE UP!!" I groan and roll over. The yelling continues, and I realize it's not Quinn. It's Tawn. I remember where I am, and groan again, for a different reason. "Okay, okay, I'll get up..." I mumble, swatting my hand at her. "Hmph!" Tawn stomps off. Somebody's got an attitude. I change quickly, throwing on a black tank-top and gray capris. I leave my empty room and find Gabby and Maicy already at work- scrubbing the hardwood floor of kitchen. "I want breakfast." Vynn looks at me over his newspaper. "Good for you." "I said, I WANT BREAKFAST!" Geez, what is wrong with the Pillets? "Me too." I shouldn't have said that. Vynn gets up and comes over to me. He's really tall, so he glares down at me. "Make. Me. Breakfast. Now." "Fine." I trot away to the cabinet. I open it and file through the cereals. If Vynn and Tawn are going to treat me like that, I'll just show that I don't care. I pick out Wheat-O's and pull some milk out of the fridge. Beacause Vynn is still glaring at me, I take my time picking out a bowl. It will be sort of fun to agravate him, even though Tawn could whip me. I'd just whip her back. Anyway, I pur the milk and then the Wheat-O's into the crystal bowl. I bring it over to Vynn and slide it in front of his newspaper. "How am I supposed to eat this?" Vynn demands. "Okay, I forgot the spoon. So?" "I don't care! You put the milk in before the cereal. How dare you! And Wheat-O's taste horrible!" "Oh, no! How could you ever eat those?" I mock. "Do you want Tawn to come in here?" Okay, I guess I actually don't. I sigh. "What would you like?" "Egg, sausage, cheese sandwich. On a biscuit." "Fine." After some quiet and awkward minutes, I finish making Vynn's breakfast. Maicy and Gabby are still cleaning the floor. I bring the plate over to Vynn and he inspects it like he's a proffesional chef. Yeah, right. "Good enough. More cheese next time though. Go join Macin and Gabby." I groan and stumble over to Gabby and Maicy. "Sponges' on the counter." Maicy sighs. I grab a yellow one and start scrubbing at an already spotless floor. A while later, after Vynn gets done eating his stupid breakfast, Tawn struts in and announces something. "We're going back to Ms. Evinich's Home For Girls to finish some extra paperwork. You three can go grocery shopping at that little store near Pici's Pizza, then clean the bathrooms, then clip the bushes, then do the laundery, then fix the T.V., then pay the bills, then do the dishes. We'll be back at 4:00. Be done by then. Don't break anything." Tawn grabs her designer purse and goes outside, into her car. Vynn does the same. When I see the red Lexus pull out of the miniature driveway, I throw my sponge down and get up. "What are you doing?" Asks Maicy suspiciously. "Going out." I reply. "What?" Maicy gets up, too. "Going out? Why? Where?" "You'll see." I push open the door and Maicy follows uncertainly. Gabby just stares at us from the floor. "Um... Hello?" She called as we ran out the door. Who cares. It'll be better if she isn't there to ruin things, anyway. Gabby never comes out of the house. Maicy and I run down our street in Flotown, rich people giving us snotty looks as they lounge by turquoise pools. I ignore them, but Maicy doesn't. She stares at them intently, them glaring over the top of their big, black. sunglasses at her. "Come on." I pull Maicy around a corner, leaving the rich people behind. "Where are we going?" Maicy demands, stopping uprubtly. I smile evilly at her. "You'll see..."
Grandfather's Clock Chapter 8 • Opuss № I