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Chapter Fourteen of Our Days As Friends
Wow. Mah parents must have been insane. Chapter Fourteen
The Sleep Over
“That must have hurt.” Grampa said. “I remember that.”
“Me too.” I said.“I have the scar on my leg to prove it.”
I was released right away, so I still slept over Brit and Destiny’s house. I had to have help on the stairs to their play room in the basement, but the rest of the house, I knew as well as my own home. From second grade with Matt Davis as the only bully, to fourth when everyone was a bully, Gloria was always there, understanding my situation, so I hung out with her as much as the girls. She was my old babysitter, so I was over her house often enough to walk through it with my eyes closed. I knew where Brittany, Destiny, Kim, and Gloria’s rooms were, as well as how to get to them. I also knew that the room across from the bathroom lead to stairs, as well as each room in the basement. I was able to locate the pool in the back yard, as well as the route to it where I could avoid the dogs. Gloria had three dogs, and two, Crash and Penny, stayed out side because they weren’t friendly to the girls. The third dog, Mecco, was different. She protected me and the girls. When ever she escaped from Gloria’s house, she would come to my house to play with Oscar, my dog. Oscar and Mecco got along quite well, so when Oscar escaped, we’d always find him playing with Mecco. The girls always laughed and brought Oscar home. Mecco was allowed in the house, but was happy when she was outside, hoping to meet up with Oscar for some rough housing.
“Liz, you wanna go on the swing chair? I can push you.” Brit said. We were all outside, and Brit and Dez had a swing set, our second favorite place to hang out. There was a swing with two seats and a panel at the bottom, perfect for enjoying a swing with my leg busted.
“Yeah! I’m gonna need your help getting on, though.” I said.
“How can I help ya?” She asked.
“I need you to hold up my crutch so I can lift my bad leg up once I get my good one up there.” I instructed. Brit rushed to my side and held my crutch up. I sat in the seat and pulled up my crutches. I would need to use them to get down. “Ready.”
I felt the force of Brits strong arms push the swing. My crutches fell against the other seat, so I hung on to them to prevent them from falling off the swing entirely. I felt the swing come to a stop, and then a forceful push. Stop. Push. Stop. Push. It went on like that for fifteen minutes, and then Brit pointed. “Can you use your crutches to push yourself?” she asked. “Not to be rude, but can you?”
“I dunno. Leme try.” I stuck my crutches into the soggy ground, and thought of simple machines. “If the ground is my fulcrum, I should push my crutch in the opposite direction I wanna go.” I said to myself. “So, pull it toward me to go forward, and push away to go back.” Brit and Dez looked up, confused, because Brit had stayed back and was in third grade, and Dez was in second. Simple machines was fifth grade material. I pulled the crutch forward. Then away. Forward. Away. I was swinging at a decent height. “Brit, you can use your swing now. I got the hang of this.” I offered. Brit politely sat on her swing and swung. How I wished to be healed, so I could use the vacant swing that hung there, being as belligerent as possible. I wanted to use it. It was mocking me, hanging there limp. I just continued pushing myself, when suddenly Brit seemed able to read my mind.
“It must not be fun, not being able to do your favorite things. You can’t act out certain scenes with a busted leg. You can’t dance with a busted leg. You can’t even play Hop Scotch with a busted leg. But look at the bright side! Now you can get a lunch earlier than everyone else because they let the injured go first.” Brit said. “And now you, Evan, and Jane can always walk to lunch together, since the injured need someone uninjured to assist them. Also, you will get the first lunch seats! You can all sit together now, too, at least until you get better.”
“Wow. I would’ve never thought of that. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. I owed you”
I suddenly remembered something. “Brit, did you save my bike?”
“Yes, why?”
I didn’t answer. I got off the swing and ran out to the front yard. I saw my bike and looked it over. Then I knew why my brakes hadn’t worked. I hadn’t tightened my back tire brake enough, and my front brake looked loose. My bike had failed me. The next time I rode it, and all the times after, I checked my brakes over quickly and carefully.
We all went inside for dinner. Gloria had made Cheeseburger Macaroni, but for some reason, the cheese was red instead of its regular orangish yellow.
“Is this stuff safe?” Dez asked.
“Of corse.” Gloria said. “Would I feed it to you if it was lethal?”
“I guess not.” Dez said.
“Why do you think it turned out red? I’ve seen orange cheese, but never red cheese.” I said.
“Well, maybe when they tried to make it more orange, they used too much food coloring.” Gloria answered.
“But now I can’t tell when I’ve put enough ketchup in it!” Brit said. Brit put ketchup on almost everything.
“Well, try tasting it. If it tastes right, then you have enough ketchup.” Gloria suggested.
“Mummy, if Lizzie has a bad leg, how can she sleep on the floor?” Dez asked. I always slept on the floor here, but I didn’t mind. The smell of the carpet reminded me of home.
“She can sleep on the couch, honey. You all can.” Gloria replied. The couch was big enough to fit us all.
“Yay! You hear that, Lizzie? We get to sleep on the couch!” Dez yelled excitedly. I grinned.
“Hey mum, can we watch a movie before bed?” Brit asked. Just then, Kim, Brits older sister, walked in the door.
“Hey, mom. I’m staying over Vicky’s tonight. See you in the morning!” She said. “Hi Liz. Ooh, what happened?”
“I hit Mrs.Freeman’s car on my bike. I got a pretty deep gash.”
“Ouch. See ya later!” She called.
We all voted on what movie we wanted to watch. It came down to Forest Gump and Dirty Dancing. Dirty Dancing won. When we were a quarter way through the movie, Gloria came into the living room with popcorn.
“What’d I miss?” She asked.
“Baby got to the dancing school and she took a dancing lesson with an old lady.” I laughed. “Then, she met up with Richard and she found out he’s a bad guy.” I said.
“Oh.”
When the movie was over, we all played Fashion Show. When we play Fashion Show, we do each others makeup and find matching dress to complete the look. We had two judges- me and Gloria. Usually Brit was a judge, but with my leg, it would be hard to do our signature Runway strut. To do our signature Runway strut, you have to swing your hips and do a pose at the end. It would be very difficult with my crutches. Brit wasn’t very good at it, but with some practice, she made an excellent performance. I did the girls makeup and then announced what look they were demonstrating and the colors. Then, I went to the judging post. The judge never saw what they were wearing or their accessories until they were ready. I knew Katie Modlouski, a girl in my class, would like this game, but she would probably use better clothes. I knew me and my pals weren’t fashionistas like Katie and her friends, but I was happy with the old dresses we wore. We were having fun, and that’s what mattered.
“Presenting- Brittany from China and Destiny from Russia, showing off lovely reds and pinks! Brits kimono is trimmed with pretty floral fabric, and Dezys plaid mini is trimmed with a black scallop lace, and her wrists are well dressed with bangles.” I announced. Dez finishes the strut and I went to my judging post. They both stood in front of us. Brit gave a bow of respect, and Dez, with her little plaid skirt, did a curtsey. Gloria and I clapped, then we judged who looked the best. I preferred Brits kimono, so I voted for Brit. Gloria fell in love with Dezs school girl look. So there was a tie.
“TIE BREAKER TIME!” I yelled. “You know the rules.” I said. For tie breakers, we had the youngest judge think of a color. Then, each model would take turns guessing the color until someone got it, or was close enough. Like, if I was thinking of carnation pink and a model said pink, the model who guessed pink won. The person thinking had to whisper the answer to the other judge. “I’m thinking of a color...” My color today was purple. I thought of Evan. He liked purple, and now I was thinking purple. “Brit first, because she learned the strut so well.”
“Blue?” Brit asked. Blue was my favorite color.
“No.” I answered. “Dez?”
“Pink?” Dez asked.
“No. Brit?”
“Orange?”
“No. Dez?”
“Red?”
“No. Brit?”
“Black?”
“No. Dez?”
I could tell Dez was thinking hard. “Purple?”
“DING DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!” I shouted. “A victory for Russia! Now, it’s time to re-do makeup and pick new outfits!”
Next, I made my announcement different. “Now, we have Junior Miss Canada herself, Destiny! She struts an elegant green eyeshadow and a flannel loon shirt! Next, from Australia, Brittany, also strutting green, comes with her binoculars and wild life exploration gear!” I said. I looked up and realized how much Dez looked like she belonged somewhere cold. I liked her loon sweater. The loon was the national bird of Canada, so it was fitting. Then I looked at Brit, her cameo tee looking nice and complementing her brown eyes. I wished my eyes were light brown like hers. But mine were a dark brown. My pupil was just barely dark enough to tell where my irus ended and it started. If my eyes ever got dilated, no one would be able to tell because my eyes were so dark.
I headed over to my voting post. I sat with the girls in front of me. Brit and Dez bow. The green looked better on an Australian girl than it did on a Canadian girl. So I voted for Brit. So did Gloria.
“Chalk up a victory for Australia!” I said. “LIGHTNING ROUND! This round decides who our Junior Miss Fashion is!” I informed. For a lightning round, the models did their own makeup and outfits, so they could mix it up. But, now the models had to use at least one elastic in their hair, so they have a different hairstyle than usual. I helped Dez do corn rows, and Brit needed help with her pigtail braids. On the lightning round, the models had to strut twice- once the signature strut, then once with a strut they had time to create and practice. Their made up strut had to be very different than the signature strut.
“I’m ready!” Dez called. For the lightning round, we announced the name only until the model reached our imaginary runway. With the normal round, the announcer was able to see the outfits first, but now, we weren’t. So it was a total surprise. While they were getting ready, I had made a paper sash that said “Little Miss Fashion” in cursive. The winner would wear it all tomorrow along with a plastic tiara.
I made a guess to where she was from by her hair which I had styled earlier. “Here, from Los Angeles, comes Destiny!” Dez walked in, wearing a jean mini, black tee, and a jean jacket. “Dez is strutting an urban look. She’s ready to hit the mall!” I said. Dez gave a chuckle and did her made up strut, a little hip walk and at the end she dropped down and back up, and then did her hip walk back. I laughed at her walk, inspired by one of my dance moves.
“I’m ready!” Brit called.
I once again used my hairstyle magic and correctly guessed where Brit was from. “Here comes everyone’s favorite Texan, Buckin’ Brittany!” She walked in, wearing a cow girl hat and riding boots. She also had a horse head stick, which she used for her made up strut. “She’s ready to ride her trusty horse, Twinkle, all day long! And best of all, her stylish pink rodeo hat keeps the sun out of her eyes!”
She finished off the signature strut and began her made up strut. She rode her horse stick up the runway, and near the edge, she yelled, “On, Twinkle! To El Paso we ride! Me amigos are waiting!” She trotted off, leaving me and Gloria on the floor laughing.
“Voting time! Ladies, please position yourselves towards me and Gloria to judge your performance.” Me and Gloria discussed our choice, whispering so the girls would not hear.
“I liked Dezys performance. Her little walk was hilarious.” I whispered.
“I loved Brits saying in the middle of her strut, but, I’m going with Dez.” Gloria whispered.
“The decision is unanimous! Dez is today’s Junior Miss Fashion!” I cried. Brit gave a proud smile, happy that she had performed without humiliating herself.
“Congrats, Dez! You won!” Brit said.
“I am honored to receive such and excellent award!” Dez announced.
“And here is your reward!” I placed the tiara on her head and put the sash in place. “You are to wear this tomorrow so everyone knows you’re a fashion master!” I exclaimed.
“I feel sooo happy! Yeah!” Dez cried.
“And, as our runner up, Brit, you receive a lovely parting gift!” I handed Brit a red sash that read “Runner up” in large print. Dezs was blue, so we could tell which was which without reading the sashes. Brit blushed.
“I humbly accept this award!” Brit and Dez yelled. What a great way to end the day. YAY FASHION SHOW
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