Silas stared at the lighter Crystal had given him. Was this an attempt to get him to play nice with her? Tempting, but it would take more that an sweet looking lighter to woo him over. He shoved it into his pocket and turned back to Crystal with a disapproving look on his face. "What's wrong with the clothes we are wearing?" Was she now going to tell them that their own clothes were too casual for something like school?
"A lot of you are still in your pjs, Silas. Such as sleepy Cleo over here, dear. Just want to make sure you all are in clean clothes. That's all. Now then, go make sure your bag is packed." She said with a shrug. She wasn't trying to win anyone over, she was just being herself. All motherly and loving towards all. It's just how she is. "I hope you like it Silas I'm…just trying my best here, dear." She sighed, looking a little down fallen, her eyes downcast at the table, then took a breath and her eyes returned to be bright, and she walked off to the kitchen, grabbed the trash, and headed outside to the trash can.
Ellie knew the other kids in the house would need to use the bathroom too at some point but she wasn't in a hurry. She could smell something had been cooked for breakfast and that alone had sent her stomach into knots. A part of her was almost hoping that the water could wash away the scent from downstairs but it didn't work like that. She sighed as she dried off and got changed then headed back to her room to make sure everything was in her backpack.
Crystal then headed upstairs and knocked on Ellie's door. "Dear, breakfast is ready. If you don't want waffles you can always have cereal or something else, but you must eat. Make sure to pack your bag and get dressed as well, and take your pills." She smiled, and walked on too her room to get dressed and ready for the day. She always wore makeup, always. She wasn't conceited, she just didn't think herself beautiful without makeup. No matter how many times Des tells her otherwise. She sighed, and threw on her favorite skirt and red and white striped sweater, knowing she wouldn't be able to wear skirts for much longer.
The way Crystal's eyes fell shook something inside Silas' core. His grip on the lighter tightened, his eyes wide as he began to remember— A hand flew to his head as a wave of nausea washed over him, seeming to drag all the air out of his lungs. No.. Why was he remembering her? As he watched Crystal walk away, the sunlight caught on the top of her head, shining brightly in her hair. That red hair.
Stop it!! Please just stop! The tears began to fall down his face without him even knowing, and at this point, Gardenia offered to switch in. It was probably for the best…
As soon as Gardenia switched in, she wiped the tears away as if nothing happened and proceeded to tuck into a waffle. Act natural, easier said than done.
She sighed as she put on her makeup. Normally she was banging on doors, hollering her head off and rushing them off towards the minivan. Instead she sat there at the vanity,blank stare, trying not to let her mind get to her. Remembering how important she was, how much relied on her. Which only made her stressed. So she took an advil for the headache to come, and got everyone out the door. She didn't flounce and float like she normally did or try to fit in mini lectures. Just picked up bags and zipped them up, helped them into their jackets with a little bit less light to her eyes. She was silent. And Crystal was rarely silent, unless it was a Very Serious Matter or lost way deep in thought, zoning out.
Sam pushed away from the tables and left without a word. Breakfast wasn’t always this tense, this was too much. Sam grabbed an apple from a bowl in the kitchen and ran up the stairs. She brushed her teeth, grabbed her backpack and ran downstairs and outside. The backyard of the house was huge and there was a small soccer goal outside. Sam dumped her backpack on the ground, grabbed a soccer ball and started kicking it into the goal.
She heard an engine outside and ran around to find the bus pulling up outside. She opened the front door and yelled “The bus is here!”
Upon hearing Sam shout, Gardenia jumped up with a start and pegged it up the stairs to grab Silas' bag. Sliding back down the banister with a grin on her face, she bounced outside towards the bus. "Come on, this is going to be an interesting day!"
With the unfinished homework, and the fact that Gardenia hadn't been in Silas' lessons for quite some time, she was right in saying it was going to be interesting.
Ellie perked up slightly at the perfect timing of Sam’s announcement. She had just finished packing her school supplies… which wasn't much since it was going to be her first day but… She took a deep breath and double-checked her makeup looked right and ran down the stairs. ”Coming!”
Sam walked on to the bus and sat in the very back. The bus stopped at their house first, so they had their pick of seats. She wondered if Silas would sit with her, and she wondered if she wanted him to. They had a lot of the same friends and ended up hanging out during school most of the time.
Gardenia watched Sam head to the very back of the bus, and meekly followed after her. "Hey, is it okay if I sit with you?"
This would give her the perfect opportunity to finally interact with the girl Silas likes. She had heard of Sam, but never, in all the time that Silas had known her, had Gardenia ever spoken to her herself.
Crystal began to clean the house, singing as she worked away. Laundry and sweeping, trash and going through bedrooms, throwing out things and such. She sighed as she kept clinging, but unable to fill the emptiness inside of her, but. What was missing? She thought about this as she petted one of the three cats that were always around, somewhere. One was Taffy, a tabby cat. One was Tux, a tuxedo cat and one was Precious, a tabby cat siamese mix. Taffy was mean and really only liked Crystal, Tux was a slut and would love on anyone, and Precious was really really picky on who she chose. Taffy sat in Crystal's lap purring away as she thought,and thought.
Sam turned and looked at Silas, then turned back to the window. She felt the urge to roll her eyes, but she resisted. Mad. That was how she felt. For a moment she felt proud of herself for identifying what she was feeling for once, then she remebered how she had felt in the first place, and her face turned stony again. "I don't know, are you gonna wink at me again?"
I didn't—SHADE!!!!!
Shade appeared next to her on the bus, shrugging his shoulders. "So I might have influenced his actions a little, sorry."
Oh you will be.
Gardenia turned to Sam with a genuinely saddened look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen… I can sit somewhere else.." she slowly started to turn around, biting her lower lip.
Ellie was a mix of emotions as she took a seat in the row that had the emergency exit. She was glad the bus was empty but nervous about if anyone would sit next to her. She really hoped no one would… maybe someone from the house wouldn't be so bad. Sam was in the back talking to… Parsha? Who wasn't wearing any jewelry or the glasses from last night? Maybe the jewelry wasn't allowed at school. She sighed giving up wondering as she pulled her legs to her chest and sandwiched herself between the side of the bus and her backpack.
Sam sighed. "No. Stop. Just." She turned towards him then reached out and grabbed his sleeve to keep him from walking away from her any further. "You can sit here. But if you ever pull shit like that again I am going to stab you or something, and I don't care if I get kicked out, just don't do that again. Got it?"
(Low key shipped it, but Sam. KICK HIS ASS! I'm cheering for ya girl!)
"Got it!" The smile grew on Gardenia's face, illuminating Silas' features. At least Sam wasn't completely annoyed with Silas.
You hear that Shade? No more messing!
Shade flinched a little, hearing the coldness in Gardenia's usually gentle voice. "Got it…"
Gardenia wanted the day to sail on calm waters, nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of that.
"Good, now sit down, we're about to move." Sure enough, the bus started moving. It made different stops along the way and the bus slowly filled up. A couple of girls from Sam's basketball team got on and sat near her and then a couple of guys from the football team got on too. If someone played sports or hung out with someone who played sports, Sam probably hung out with them. They greeted her and Silas as they got on the bus and sat in the back with them.
(okay guys I'm gonna do some hw and shit so just @ me if I'm needed.)
Cleo's head popped up over the back of the seat in front of Silas and Sam. "Did either of you do the chemistry homework?" She asked casually, ignoring the tense air between the two. She held up a blue workbook with her neat writing flooding the printed lines. "I'm hopelessly lost."
"I did." Gardenia proudly rummaged inside Silas' rucksack and dug out his thick notebook. She held it towards Cleo with a shrug. "You can have a look through if you want, see if things make sense."
Looking relieved, Cleo gently took the notebook. "Thank youuuuuuuuu. I owe you one." A flash of her usual smile, but then Cleo was tucked back down in her seat, furiously copying down notes and answers.
Sam snorted and smiled. "We had homework? Whoops." For Sam to actually do homework was very, very rare. None of her teachers liked her. She scraped by just enough to not fail and to stay in sports. Otherwise, she didn't really give a fuck.
Ellie sank further into her seat as more people flooded the bus, silently praying that no one would sit next to her… Thankfully no one had, yet. Her fingers twitched a couple of times during the ride. To open the exit or to pull out a book for her to read for the rest of the ride, she wasn't sure. So instead she clenched her hands into fists tight enough to leave little crescent-shaped marks against her palms and watched the idyllic houses pass by.