Chapter 6

A New Plan Emerges

Monday morning entered my life like a tornado. “BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP!” screeched my alarm as it brought me out of my cozy slumbering state of bliss. I jumped up and walked across the room to turn off the annoying sound and realized I couldn’t just curl back into bed and go back to sleep. School today. I threw on my jeans, favorite t-shirt and hoody and ran downstairs to grab a breakfast bar. I threw it down and went back upstairs to brush my teeth. I may have spent a few extra minutes in bed than I was supposed to because now I am rushing to get out the door and to the bus stop in time. “RED! Time to go!” Emily said as she grabbed her backpack. I grabbed mine, too and gave my mom a quick hug and ran out the door. As soon as we got to the bus stop, the bus pulled up. We didn’t have a minute to spare. “Perfect timing!” said Emily as she headed to a seat in the middle of the bus.

I got off the bus and went into my classroom. Mrs. Gromley was writing on the board and Sarah and Liz were standing in the corner talking about the weekend. I said hi to them and they asked me to go to breakfast with them. “Sure! I ate a breakfast bar but I will go and have some juice.” I said and threw my backpack on the hook and headed down to the cafeteria with them. When we got to the cafeteria, we saw Joyce. We all sat together. Since my First Day at Royal Village, we have been like the 4 Musketeers. Always together--at breakfast, lunch, and recess! “What did you do this weekend, Ginger?” Joyce asked as she grabbed a fruit cup from the ice. “I had my friend from Ellington stay the weekend with me.” I said as I drank my juice. “Fun! I want to stay the weekend with you!” Sarah said as she bit into her apple. “Me too!” said Liz. That sounds like fun, guys! I will have to have a slumber party soon and invite you all and let you meet my friend Andi from Ellington. “Oh, when!?! That sounds like so much fun!” Joyce said. Breakfast was over and we had to head back to the classroom. We talked about me having a slumber party soon on the way back and I wondered if Andi would be so open to meet my Royal Village Friends as they are to meet her.

I talked about the treasures we found in the attic. “I saw them in facebook.” Liz said. Didn’t you see me like the pictures?” Sarah joked. “I liked them, too” said Joyce. “I hope we can spend the night soon, Ginger. I think it would be really fun to have us all over! Let’s see... there are 4 of us, plus your other friend. What is her name again?” Liz asked. Andi. So, 5 of us with Andi.” Mrs. Gromley needed us to take our seat, so we stopped talking and paid attention in class instead.

At recess, we talked more about planning a slumber party. “Do you think your mom will let you? If I asked my mom to have 4 girls spend the night, she would probably say no.” Sarah said sadly. “My mom is so happy I am making friends in my new school, I don’t think she will say no.” I said with delight. We talked about how much fun we will have while we swung. We pretty much hogged the entire swing set since there were four of us. I started feeling dizzy so I got off the swing and finished recess with a drink from the water fountain and walking around with my friends. I am still so tired from the weekend. I’m fine. I just needed to stop swinging.

We finished out the school day and I passed my friends in the hall one last time before jumping onto the bus and heading home. Sitting on the bus with the whir of the engine and the sleepiness I felt, it took every ounce of energy to stay awake during the short ride home. I could feel my eyes trying to shut over, and over again as I fought off the sensation to snore. “SQUEAL!” The bus brakes came to a halt at my stop. I jumped up and got off the bus, ready to see if there is any more cold pizza in the fridge. I could use a snack if there was. “Wait for me! Why are you walking so fast?” Emily asked as she jogged to catch up from behind. “Last one to the cold pizza is a rotten egg!” I said as I opened the gate and ran into the yard and toward the house. “No fair! Wait up!” Emily said and caught up to me. We both dashed to the fridge only to find that my mom ate the last 2 pieces of cold pizza. “If you are looking for the pizza, its gone. I couldn’t wait any longer to have any! I finished off the last 2 pieces today and I don’t regret it because it was delicious.” She said as she evaluated leftovers for dinner. “Bummer!” Emily said. “Yeah. Bummer.” I said too as I headed upstairs to find the leftover chips. They were sitting on the sink counter, all rolled closed and still fresh.

“Guess what? I told Sarah, Joyce and Liz about having Andi here all weekend and they all said they want to stay a weekend, too! I wonder if mom would let me have a weekend slumber party with them and Andi sometime.” “Wow, Red, that’s a lot of friends to have over at once. That would be a lot for you to handle for an entire weekend.” Emily said with concern in her voice. I started getting upset, thinking Emily didn’t think I could handle stuff because I’m not “normal” like her and then she said, “It sounds like you may need me to hang out with you all too.” And I started to laugh, realizing that it was just an excuse to get her to hang out with us too. Then, I felt happy that so many people wanted to hang out with me. I said, “I think moving to Royal Village was the best thing I ever did in my life yet. So far, it has brought me more friends, this cool house, more confidence and closer to you. Now, the only thing that would make life perfect is a dog to fill that doghouse outside” I said to Emily. “What do you mean OUTSIDE?” Emily said. “If we get a dog, it’s going to live in the house with US!” she said and threw an entirely whole potato chip in her mouth at once. “CRUNCH!” it went and we rolled on the floor laughing.

“I think I am going to wait to ask mom about my slumber party. First, I want to run it by Andi and see if she would want to meet my new friends. I don’t want her to feel bad or replaced. It isn’t like that. I want her to feel included! Then, If she approves, I will ask mom. OH MY GOSH! I have an AWESOME IDEA! We will do it during the summer and have a POOL party and CAMP in my dome tent outside!!! OMG, EM! How fun would THAT BE!?!?!? That way, we won’t make all the noise in the house for mom and it’ll be summer so a couple days wouldn’t even matter! What do you think, Emily!?” I said it all so fast out of excitement for my new idea. It was perfect! Emily looked excited and said, “Can I invite a couple friends too and we could camp in my dome tent and make it a bigger party? I could ask Kara and Bella! “That sounds so fun, Em! And mom can’t possibly say no to BOTH of us, can she? We can even offer to start scrubbing the pool in early May so we can have it ready for kicking off summer!” I was getting even more excited every minute I thought of it. “I only hope Andi agrees that it will be fun.” Worse case scenario, Andi won’t agree, and I won’t have her join us, but will have her over by herself another time. I hope that doesn’t happen though since I really want Andi to be friends with my new friends.” I said to Emily. “You already said that, Red. I have homework so give me some alone time now, o.k, Red.” She said as she went into her room and shut the door.

I laid on my bed with a book, but I had trouble concentrating on the story since I was so excited about my upcoming summer pool campout blast! I decided to run downstairs and get my mom’s phone from her and Snap Andi. I would have used my phone, but I forgot to charge it again. I snuck my mom’s phone off the charger and ran back upstairs. My mom didn’t even see me take her phone. I laid down and snapped Andi a cute shot with bunny ears and told her I have a huge plan I want to run by her. “Yeah!? Whatcha got?” She wrote. “How would you feel about meeting some Royal Village Kids?” I sent back. “Cool! When?” She said. “Maybe this summer. Picture it: Pool party/campout” I sent. “YESSSSS!!!” She sent back. Yup! Another reason I love Andi! She’s always so ready for fun! “YESSSSSS!!!!” I wrote her back. “RED!!! My mom called up the stairs. “DO YOU HAVE MY PHONE!?” “Yikes! My mom needs her phone back. I have to go” I typed. “K” she said “TTYS”. “Yes, Mom! I’m bringing it down now sorry. I had to write Andi.” “Next time, ask.” She said and annoyedly took her phone back.

“What is this about a pool party?” my mom said as she looked at her phone. “Oh, whoops. I forgot to click out of that.” I said. “I don’t mind you having friends over, just make sure you feel fine, keep taking your meds regularly, and stay safe. Also, if you want that pool open this summer, it is going to take a lot of work to get it that way. I’m going to need you and Emily to help prep it.” she said in a mature mom-toned voice. “I know, mom. I already talked with Emily about how we are going to help open the pool. We can’t wait! I wonder if I could invite Andi, Sarah, Liz, and Joyce and Emily wants to invite Kara and Bella and we would set up our dome tents and camp a couple nights outside.” “Well that’s a lot of girls. I would rather you camp outside than have all those feet stomping around upstairs. That’s for sure! I don’t see a problem in your plan, at all. I am glad you are making friends and working together with Emily to combine efforts.”

And with that, we have a tentative party plan. I am so excited. Now I need to find the right dates and tighten up the plan completely. It is only October so there is plenty of time. We still need to get through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc…before thinking about summer. Halloween!! Who will I dress up as? It’s only 3 weeks away!

I laid back down on my bed and began to think about all the possible Halloween costume choices I have, and I slowly drifted into dreamland. In dreamland, I had on layers of costumes in a swimming pool and I was surrounded by tents. I kept peeling off costumes, but I had so many that I was still dressed every time I pulled one off. Then, I pulled the last costume off, it was a clown and then I stood naked in front of the classroom while Jerry Spellman laughed evilly at me and turned into a clown himself. And he yelled, “RED!” Wake up! But it wasn’t him. It was my mom. She was standing over my bed. “Get up and get your jammies on. You were having an intense dream so loud you were yelling, and I heard you in the living room downstairs. Its bedtime but you don’t look comfortable in your shoes and clothes laying on top of your bed.”

I got up and got into my coziest of jammies. My mom tucked me in and kissed me goodnight. I fell asleep to her talking to me. I was so tired. As she kissed my cheek and said good night all the nervousness from that horrific nightmare slowly diminished and was replaced with her soft tone and gentle lips on my cheek. “Tomorrow is a new day.” She said as she pulled my blanket up and turned off my light. “Good night, I love you, Red.” She said and stepped out of my room as gently as she came into it. My heart and mind are constantly soothed by the tone of my mom’s soft voice. And I drifted away into dreamland.