Chapter 101

"What's so shocking about it?" Sarah pouted.

"There is," Amanda bobbed her head. I poked in her stomach with my elbow.
"What about... what about," I hiccuped and continued, "Scotch?"

"You want some scotch?" Sarah looked wildly at the empty bottles in hopes that some scotch would appear as if by magic.

"No shilly, I mean Schott," I pronounced, my tongue thick in my mouth with all the alcohol I consumed.

I rolled my eyes or tried to but I think my eyes got stuck behind. I screamed in panic.
"My eyes!! My eyes!!! They have gone inside my brain"

"Really?" Sarah asked excitingly, more interested in how I achieved that feat.
"Wow... I'm so jealous"

"I'm scharedd"
"Don't," she hiccuped, "don't be. Look at the bbrright shide. You can shee what's...what's in your brain"

"What's in your brain?" Amanda asked seriously with a straight face, her finger tapping her chin.
"I don't know. I can't Shee any... anything. It's dark"

"Oh... you poor thing."

"She has nothing in her brain," Sarah 'whispered loudly to Amanda behind her hand.
I started crying after hearing that. "Someone Shtole my bra... brayn"

"Thieves thessh dayzzz... shtealingg anything. What would they do wid it? It haz nothing in it," Amanda scrunched her nose or tried to.

"We should look for it," Sarah said, standing straight.

"Yesh," I followed suit with my jelly legs.

Amanda stood reluctantly, not wanting to leave her comfort behind.

She took two steps with her wobbly legs zigzagging inside my living room before crashing into Sarah and me.

"I think... Shomeone shtole my legs," Sarah said, raising her hand.

"And my ten... tentak... tentacles," Amanda added, waving her arms.

"We need to," I hiccuped before continuing, "we need to rhephort to ckopshs."

"Yesh. Gimme my phone. I will do it," Amanda demanded, extending her tentacle to me.
I hate tentacles. I don't like an octopus. But not to hurt Amanda's feelings I kept quiet and passed the phone to her tentacle which surprisingly looked like a couch pillow.

Wow! I don't know that phones come in this size too. Everyone would be so jealous when they see my ginormous mobile. Especially Scott.

Though I wonder how I will carry it everywhere? Perhaps, I have to strap it to my back like a school bag.

I giggled while picturing it. Imagine me walking the streets with a giant phone on my back.
"Why are you laughing? I'm so shad here," Sarah pouted.

"Shorry." I mumbled; my head bent down.

"Why are you sad Sharah?" I asked quietly. I don't want to disturb those giant monsters swirling above us. Nor do I want to alert my friends to it. Tinker Bell has left the building throwing a "good luck" over her shoulder on her way out. Traitor.

But unlike her, I won't abandon my friends. Noooo. Instead, I will throw them at the monsters.
I snorted, covering my mouth at the possibility. The monsters will surely run away.

"Becauz... becauz... I'm leaving Sckott. That's why," Sarah wailed.

"Ohh," I gently tapped her shoulder in reassurance, or was it her face? I can't identify it but at least I tapped something on her.

"Good! You deserve better," Amanda said, waving her tentacles.

"But I love him," Sarah said with a pout, wiping her nose over her sleeve.

"He doesn't love you Sarah. When will you Shee," Amanda said with a scowl
Sarah cried louder, fat tears trickling from her eyes.

"Umm..."

"I love him soooo much... soooo much... it hurtz Amanda. It really hurts," Sarah cried in her hands.

Yes, I know how much it hurts. Even in that inebriated state, my pain didn't leave me. It's still there making me known how stupid I was.

I opened my mouth to don't know what advice to bestow but before I could make a sentence, I heard loud snores beside me. Two loud ones.

"Oh. Well... I just wanted to say it hurtz for me too," I mumbled before closing my eyes and giving myself to the lulling sleep.

Morning came with a bang. The sun is already glistening inside and adding exuberance to the room. I clutched my head, unable to face the light.

"Uhhh," I groaned, rolling on the floor. Sarah's foot stuck me on the chin. Eww... disgusting.
My head pounded as if someone took a hammer to it. My mouth tasted like mud... no, the mud would taste better.

Before I can focus, bile rose to coat my throat. I quickly covered my mouth and beelined to the bathroom, aiming my vomit just in time.


"Yuck!"
I sniffed my shirt and scrunched my nose at the smell. Better take a bath and bury this secret before anyone knows about how bad I smell.

I walked into the kitchen to find the chicken handwriting Amanda informing me that they went to their home.

Signing to myself, I prepared breakfast and contemplated on what to do next. It's high time I meet my family. If I delay any longer, Mom will involve the FBI. Not even cops because dad is already one.

Wearing my usual t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, I entered my parents' home.

"Bella-Rose James! Where have you been? Why are you not visiting with Chris? Has something happened?" Nana questioned me as soon as I entered the foyer.

"She must have said something to him. Oh... my poor boy Chris," Mom cried dramatically.
Time to redirect their focus. Good thing I have the exact thing to say.
"Sarah is going on a date," I said over their questions.

"What!"

"Our Sarah?" Nana asked with a frown.

"This is not true. This can't be. Both my children have failed me. Why am I still alive to witness this?" Mom clutched her chest and swayed.
"It's ok Olive. Bella is joking. Bella tells mom you are joking," dad glared at me.
"No, dad. It's true," I said, biting my lip looking sheepishly at dad.

"I'm disowning him. I want a lawyer," Mom wailed clutching dad's shirt.

"You can't do that Olive. Though I'm tempted to follow it," dad consoled her by rubbing her back.
"Why do I get dumb rocks as grandchildren?" Nana said facepalming her head.

"Where did you learn about this? Perhaps you must have misunderstood," Michael proved to me, squeezing nana's shoulder.

"It's true. She said to me yesterday"

"Who said what?" Scott queried as he entered the living room munching on popcorn.
"Sarah is going on a date," I said facing him.

The expression Scott gave is so comical it would have been laughable if not for the seriousness of the matter.
"Our Sarah?" Scott stammered.


"Since when is she ours? But yes, my friend Sarah," I replied, trying to gauge his reaction.
"Dammit!" Scott threw the bowl of popcorn to the side, hitting the wall.

"Careful son!" Dad shouted amidst the sudden screams of nana, mom, and me.
"Where is she?" Scott said with clenched fists.

Scott throwing food away is like blasphemy. And he didn't even realize it says it all.

"Oh, so now you want to know about her? What happened before when you flaunted that floozy in my home," Mom charged at him.

"Yes, what happened?" We followed mom, folding our arms and crowding him from all angles.
"I... I... I will say that to her," Scott back-pedalled in the face of the army.

"If you want to be a part of this family, you better bring her back as your girlfriend or else pack your bags and never come back," Mom said with a glare.
"I live at my place Mom," Scott scoffed.

"Then I won't cook for you anymore," Mom readjusted her threat.
"Me too"

"Me too," we all chimed.

"That's unfair guys. And dad you don't even know how to cook"

"I don't know, son. But it's better to follow what your mother says," dad said with his hands around mom.
"Fine. I'm going for her," Scott raised his both hands in surrender.

"Finally! I was thinking there is no brain left in my grandkids," Nana said.

"Do you want a ring with you? You know just in case," Mom asked haphazardly removing her ring from her right hand.

"Jeez Mom, we haven't even started dating yet. I have to ask her out first. Hold your horses"
Mom waved her hand in front of her. "What's there to ask? Sarah is family already"
Scott looked at our faces. "Yes... yes, she is," he whispered.

My eyes shone with tears. Mom's and nanas also glistened.
"Go get her son," dad said, patting his back.

We all looked at him as if he was going to single-handedly win a war while he scrambled to get the car keys and ran outside the door.

"Do you think she will take him?" Dad asked no one in particular.
"Not before making him grovel," Nana smirked.

"Oh... I can't wait to see him do it," Mom clapped her hands.

"Mom!"

"What? As if he doesn't deserve it. That poor girl made googly eyes at him for years Bella. Years. If only I could have shaken him sooner," Mom shook her head in regret.

"Better late than never Olive," dad said, kissing her forehead.

Looking at them, my heart gave a squeeze. I wish my love story is as easy as theirs or even Scott's. I wish my family is encouraging me as they did with Scott. Don't get me wrong, if they knew my feelings then they definitely would. It's just that... it's complicated.