The Frame

                                              

Prologue

Six weeks before

            “Sadie? Hi, it’s Veronica, are you free today? I was hoping we could get lunch together, just you and me,” Veronica’s voice sounded rushed, but happy and excited, “Oh, and could you say ‘hi’ to mom for me? Thanks, bye.”

            The voice mail of the cell phone picked up the message. It was a hard to hear what her sister was saying, but Sadie knew what it exactly meant. Her sister’s wedding was in about three months. Veronica had already promised her to be the maid of honor, and even thought Sadie was only sixteen, she had the privilege of writing the speech.

            Once Sadie got the message, she called her sister. They had planned lunch for the Saturday after next. The day after school would end for Sadie.

            The day was a blur for Sadie, but she knew what was happening – she just got the position of being the maid of honor. She would just have to make sure that she wouldn’t mess it up. Veronica could be nasty and normally they (Veronica and Sadie) didn’t talk.

            The restaurant was nice, but not above usual. It was almost like a coffee shop that also made lunch. They sat and talked about the wedding; Veronica didn’t give anything away, but said that she was going to show everyone their dresses a few months from then. What she did do was also give Sadie a dead-line for when the speech was supposed to be finished. It would have to be on that same day for the dress show.

            The next six weeks passed by. Then came the night before the dress showing and Sadie hadn’t written the speech. It was funny how the rest of the days played out.

                                                                   
                                                                   Chapter 1

Dearest Ex-Maid of Honor

            I knew that I must have fallen asleep. That was obvious considering the fact that I wasn’t wearing my ice-cream while “Beauty and the Beast” was playing the credits. I turned the televisions off with the remote. I was a sucker for Disney movies, everyone knew that.  

            Standing up, I stretched my back. The clock said that it was 11:06 in the morning. I had roughly eleven hours of sleep give-or-take.

            The used-to-be full ice-cream tub was no more so I rinsed it with water and put it in the recycling bin. I could feel the frozen chocolate seeping through my shirt so I stripped it off leaving my black tank-top on. The ‘T’ had taken the worst of the blow. Throwing it into the washing machine I hoped that it wouldn’t be stained. Walking back to the living room to check and see how the couch faired against the ice-cream, I saw that it didn’t look too bad. Once I had it cleaned up, I turned the washing machine on and took a shower changing into yoga pants and yet another tank-top.

            The telephone rang while I was getting breakfast. The thought of another babysitting job for today made me pause for a moment before I grabbed the phone after the third time it rang.

            “Sadie Guthrie speaking,” I really hoped this was just a telemarketer; I didn’t want to have to do anything, I just wanted to stay home.

            “Hey Sadie, it’s just me,” the voice of my sister was loud and clear. “I was wondering if you could still make it for the fittings.”

            The fitting for the wedding, more accurately, her wedding.

            “Yes, of course, I was just going to call you and ask what time it was again, and where it is.” I cursed myself for forgetting that it was today and, more importantly, where it was. Veronica was so happy that she probably wouldn’t notice my forgetfulness, but I would.

            “It’s at my apartment, happening right now.”

            It would be suffice to say that the rest of the morning was a blur. Smoke was pouring out of my shared kitchen stove as I changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Brushing my long hair and pulling it up was probably the one thing I remembered doing that was easy. Then I could smell the smoke. Running down the stairs, I flicked it off then got a dish towel and fanned the air. I remembered turning it on for something (although that something looked like a charred mess), but I didn’t know why the smoke alarm didn’t go off to give me more of a warning. Opening windows, I also put fans on to circulate the air. After about five minutes I got everything under control and drove to her apartment.

            I actually was excited to see how my dress would look like since I’m the maid of honor. Although it would probably look similar to all the other bride’s maid’s dresses, and I had already seen those, I hoped that it would look different in a good way as well.

            I arrived at my destination in about five minutes. It was 11:23. I was only late by twenty minutes (the reason for that was because I ran. I was too young to drive without supervision). When I knocked on her the door, I heard rustling on the other side of it. It whipped open in my face. The next thing I knew, I was staring into my sisters’ face. She had a reaction that I knew quite well displayed on her face. Her lips were pulled up into a smile, but her eyes glared at me with unforgiving coldness. There was no way that I was going to live this down.

            “Come on in, Sadie.” I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was trying to save face with her friends.

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“Thanks,” I mumbled with a smile on my face that I hoped looked genuine. This was going to be a long, long fitting.

            On the way through the door my left shoulder caught on the door and pain shot through my arm. I winced realizing that I should be more careful with my arm. It had almost been dislocated the day before. The reason didn’t matter; it was just through pure stupidity on my part.

            “Sadie, honey, so happy you could make it today.” A voice sang with a genuine, grateful tone welcomed me. As soon as I heard it I knew that my mother had already forgiven me for being late.

            “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” To be more accurate, I couldn’t miss it for the world. Veronica would kill me.

            My mother smothered me with a hug. She was never late for these family meetings, but somehow she always acted like she understood why I was.

            I took off my shoes and put them on the mat beside the door. I counted all the pairs of shoes, leaving out Veronica’s pair. In total, there were five pairs; mine, mothers’, Brenda’s, Charlotte’s and Dianna-Jane’s. Veronica had wanted a small wedding; I just can’t believe that she wanted it to be this small. All of us were family; Charlotte and Dianna-Jane were our cousins and Brenda was going to be Veronica’s mother-in-law. Veronica had always been a tom boy and I, the complete opposite, yet she became an interior decorator, the first one married. Another reason was because I was only sixteen and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.  

            Once I greeted everyone else, I realized that they must have been in the middle of lunch. I wasn’t hungry, so I just sat at the table drinking some coffee. Their conversations must have picked up to the one that I had interrupted because it seemed to start from nothing and I was having trouble following it. Once that was finished, we all moved into the reddish-brown living room and sat on the couches while Veronica got the dresses that she had just picked up. We had all given her our sizes and she had found the designs she wanted and picked them up.

The only way that I had seen the bride’s maid’s dresses was by e-mail, although I hadn’t seen the wedding dress and my own. I knew that Veronica would only show me and our mother her wedding dress once Brenda, Diana and Charlotte were gone.

Veronica came back a few moments later with three dresses connected to hangers. Two of the dresses were soft purple and one was a nice golden yellow. They all had names written on them, so she would know to whom the dresses belonged to. I was handed a purple dress along with Dianna. Charlotte’s dress was the nice yellow one that matched her sandy-blonde hair and green eyes, just as it would with Dianna-Jane. My light purple dress matched my black hair and brown eyes. Dianna and Charlotte looked so much alike that I thought that Dianna should have been handed a yellow one instead of one that resembled mine.

Veronica disappeared again, so I assumed that she was going to grab our shoes. While she was gone I checked the name written on the plastic that protected the dress like a shield. It said Sadie and had my exact size on it. I wondered if she was going to ask Charlotte instead of me to be the maid of honor. I regretted that thought as soon as it entered my thoughts; there was no way Veronica would do that, she knew that I had already finished my speech after she asked me six weeks ago. Besides, the wedding was only about a month away.

A confused look crossed my mothers’ face. She must have thought the same thing as me. I started to believe that maybe I wasn’t so far off with my first thought.

When my sister came back from getting our shoes, I saw that mine didn’t have a heel and theirs did, and mine weren’t as nice. Then I scolded myself again. I was taller

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than Charlotte by two or three inches and taller than Dianna too, but just barely.

Charlotte and I also had the same sized feet. Maybe she wanted us all to the same height. I knew that I was over thinking this. Except this time, because I didn’t trust my wavering thoughts, I didn’t look over to see what my mother’s facial reaction was when she saw the shoes.

“Charlotte, you can change in the bathroom, it’s just this way.” Veronica’s voice chimed while she led our cousin to the washroom, although we all fully knew that Charlotte had already memorized the way.

After a few moments Brenda broke the unforgiving silence, “Well, what lovely dresses. If I were to wear those shoes, well, I would break an ankle!” Her cheery tone of voice was amazing.

Just as I opened my mouth to add to that, Charlotte walked into the room with Veronica and she was simply glowing. Her dress fit perfectly and looked gorgeous on her; it had a shallow V-neck and flowed gracefully just below her knees with a sash that was the same shade of purple as Dianna’s dress, and mine too. Her shoes had a nice yellow hue that matched the dress perfectly with intricate designs. I smiled while I saw her knowing that she was going to look gorgeous.

Dianna left next into the change room, but without Veronica trailing behind her. She was back quickly and the dress was designed exactly like Charlotte’s, just the colors were reversed: it was purple with a golden, yellow sash. It made me realize that, if I was going to wear the purple one, at least it would look good.

I walked to the room, excited to change into my dress. When I took it out of the plastic, I saw that it looked different than Charlotte’s and Dianna’s. Then I scolded myself for acting paranoid, I just hoped that it wasn’t jealousy that Veronica was getting married at age 23. I had never thought that I was jealous because I was only sixteen. It would be illegal if I were to get married. I just hope that, if I was jealous, it wouldn’t show through.

After a few minutes of attempting to get into my dress, I looked at the finished product in the mirror. It was completely different from Dianna’s and Charlotte’s although it was almost exactly the same. I couldn’t quite figure it out until I walked into her bedroom, hoping no one would notice and looked at the full length mirror. It wasn’t that my dress was different, it was the fact that it looked like a rush job. I looked at it more closely and saw that it had the stunning image of ‘ugly’ written all over it. It hung an inch or two above my knees and the V-neck was lower than it should be. The sash, instead of clinging to my waist, it hung loosely and looked sloppy. I tried to pull it down to fix the length. Then I found that it just made the V-neck part of it even lower, I yanked it up and hoped it would stay like that. I quickly ran back into the wash room and slipped on the shoes not bothering to pay attention to the fact that the tag said that they came from ‘Goodwill’ and were both different sizes.

I walked towards the room, wishing that I didn’t feel embarrassed by the way I looked. Besides, it was just the girls and I they could help me fix it so it would look better. Veronica could also tell me where she got it so that I could exchange it if it was un-fixable.     

Chapter 2

Maid of Honor 2.0 (A.K.A. Charlotte)  

           

            When I walked into the room, all of the conversations that were happening just bluntly stopped. They were all staring at me with faces of horror, except Veronica, her face just looked like she was trying very hard to hid the fact that she was going to laugh. I bit my lip, trying to think of a joke to tell to lighten the unbearable silence.

            My mother beat me to it, but not with a joke, “Veronica, where did you get their dresses?”

            Veronica answered quickly, “I got Charlotte’s and Dianna’s at ‘’Maid’ to be Amazing’ and their shoes from ‘A Shoe Away from Glory’.” Those were both, expensive designer clothing stores. Knowing that just fueled the anger I was desperately trying to hide.

            “So where did you get my dress and, more importantly, my shoes?” My voice sounded rude and my lips pulled up in a sneer, but I didn’t care, I was really feeling self conscious.

            “I can’t remember, Sadie, all I know is that I got it some where else.” I didn’t call it on her, but I knew that she was lying.

            The door bell rung just as I was going to add to the conversation. Veronica jumped up to answer it, happy to have missed the confrontation. We could hear the door open and the sound of other voices then footsteps on the floor. Veronica must have had unexpected guests, but she let them in.

            I heard chairs move across the kitchen floor. Veronica quickly entered the living room again. Her smile was broad when she came back in.

            “I hope you girls don’t mind showing the boys your outfits. They just came from James’ house and the best part is,” she paused to make the next part of the sentence to sound more dramatic, “you’ll be meeting your dates for the wedding.”

            “Why didn’t you tell us you were going to match us up with dates?” Dianna’s voice was barely audible, but it was easy to tell that from the tone she was visibly frustrated.

            Veronica simply waved off her questing finding it irrelevant. I had also been thinking the same thing when Dianna said it. I also wondered why Veronica would pick our ‘dates.’ We were all capable young women who, if it was necessary for the wedding, could find dates on our own. Although, I could tell that all of us were excited to find out who we were paired up with. My mother and Brenda just shared a glance, although Brenda’s face was visibly excited to see how this was going to work, my mother’s face was blank.

            Veronica ushered us in, but she made Dianna go in first and Charlotte second. My mother was trying to tell me something, but I wasn’t paying attention, all I could hear was what Veronica was saying to the guests in the other room.

            “Dianna, meet Dylan. Dylan, meet Dianna-Jane,” her voice sounded genuinely excited, “Robert, meet Charlotte, the maid of honor.”

            At first, I thought that she had mistaken Charlotte for me, but when I got to the door way, I saw that it wasn’t a mistake. Veronica was purposely staring at Charlotte and holding her hand.

            “And this is Sadie. She’ll be paired with…” Her voice died with each word so, naturally, I thought she just did that for a dramatic effect with her audience, but I quickly realized that, that wasn’t the reason. Everyone averted their eyes then I looked down at my dress. I remembered that I hadn’t changed out of it. It still was as short as ever and as low and ugly. I was frozen in spot for a few seconds before I whipped behind the door

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post. When I’m with girls usually nothing embarrassing ever happens even if it does, I don’t freeze, but when something like this happens, I can’t think, move or breathe.

            Not remembering how I got to the bathroom, I changed into my jeans and shirt and left the dress on the sink not caring if it got destroyed. I knew that I was acting childish, but I didn’t care.

            Noticing a window above the sink, I thought of the possibility of slipping outside through it. I was kneeling on the sink and reaching toward it when I slipped on the dress and fell, hitting my head on the bath-tub then slamming onto the floor. I groaned, wondering if my luck could get any worse. I contemplated my chance that, if I just stayed on the floor if anyone would notice me gone.

            I brought my hand up to my head and it felt my sticky, matted hair. Then I could feel something like material under my head. It took a moment before I could picture her bathroom to know that she didn’t have a rug or mat or carpet in there. There was only one thing it could be.

            Just as I rolled on my side, I could hear someone knocking on the door. The noise made my head ache more than it already was. At the exact moment that I had just gotten myself into a sitting position, the door opened just by a fraction, and I could just make out my mothers face just as I blacked out.

            It couldn’t have been long when I resurfaced from what seemed to be the abyss of darkness when I was flat on my face on the floor. I just hoped that no one would come and see me. Then I struggled onto my side with my left shoulder and felt more pain shoot through me and then flopped onto my back again. That movement made my head hurt. I opened my eyes and it seemed as if the room was under water and I was sinking. That made me more nauseous.

            I closed my eyes then reopened them and looked at the door and found that it was open. A memory slapped me in the face; my mother opening the door and gasping when she saw me. As I counted down from five, almost right on cue, I could hear the dial of a phone and the rapid steps of many people racing down the hall way to meet me. I let out a sound that they must have mistaken for a gurgled scream when I was just hysterically laughing at my predicament.

            Just before I passed out for a second time, I saw a face that looked familiar. Then I realized that he had the same face that Daniel Collins did. The most annoying, bull-headed boy known to any human being; Daniel Collins, but to make me feel even more annoyed, the most handsome boy ever. Also, the one person Veronica hadn’t matched up yet, so, I assumed he was going to be my date. He was also James’ cousin.

            I wondered what I did to deserve this bad luck.

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Chapter 3

Anger Management Issues

             As I attempted to resurface for the second time of what I called the abyss, I could hear talking, but I couldn’t make out the words. They all sounded like they were speaking different languages.

            I suddenly felt uncomfortable so I raised my arm then used it to push myself off the ground into a sitting position. My head felt like it was going to explode or, better yet, implode. Either way I was in a lot of pain. As soon as I was at a sixty degree angle, I twisted myself so that my back was leaning against the red painted walls of the room.

            Everything was black and I started to panic. When I noticed that my eyes weren’t open, I started to calm down. The light from the open window and the light bulb above made me feel nauseous for the second time. I felt my head tilting for ward as I was about to loose consciousness for a second time. I sucked in some air and fought to stay upright and closed my eyes. Next thing I knew, a glass of water was given to me along with a pill that I recognized as aspirin. I took them with out wasting a second.

            After a few minutes my head started to feel better and my vision was clear. I thought it was funny that I hadn’t noticed that my vision wasn’t clear when I felt blinded by the light that now didn’t make my head ache more than what it’s supposed to.   

            The first thing I did when I woke up was look at the dress that would have been mine for Veronica’s wedding, if I hadn’t ruined it. Oh well, I thought with smug satisfaction, it was ugly anyways.

             When I looked up to see all of the people in the room I saw that one was missing. It was Victoria, who could have known. I wanted to know what was more important than my head, because if it was her lying on the floor with a pool of blood, I would be first in line to make sure she was fine.

            Once the little episode of anger flashed through me, another emotion ran through my body; I instantly recognized this as embarrassment. Then anger again. I wouldn’t have acted like this if Veronica hadn’t been such a jerk. After telling me that I was going to be the Maid of honor six week before, and then giving it to Charlotte after knowing that I had almost finished it. I was so angry that my eyes started to water. Great, instead of looking childish, I’ll also look like a cry-baby. So much for being excited for this day.

            They were all still talking so I figured I had some more time until they started asking me questions on what happed. During that time, I decided to regain some pride that I had just recently lost. I decided to attempt to stand. As soon as I put the glass of water down, I firmly placed my hands on the ground beneath me and pushed myself into a kneeling position and then stood. Leaning my shoulder on the wall, I decided to attempt speaking, “Where’s Veronica?”

            It came slurred and I sounded as if I was drunk. I had to repeat it twice until they understood what I was trying to say.

            “Honey, she just needed to take a walk, you know how she can’t handle the sight or smell of blood.” My mother said slowly, trying to word her words in a way that wouldn’t make me feel angry.

            “How convenient for her,” I attempted a smile although I knew from the bathroom mirror it looked like a menacing scowl. “I never knew that she was that weak in the stomach. Where’d she go to walk and why isn’t prince charming with her?” I mumbled the second part so no one heard what I said, at least except Daniel, but I sent him a glare like daggers with my eyes so he knew to be quiet. Sure, we had to be dates, but it didn’t mean I had to like it, let alone enjoy it.

            I heard the door to her apartment open then close and the shuffle of some one in

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the other room. My ears were extra sensitive from the little accident I got so the noise that had escaped through the walls just gave me more pain to go through. First I get bumped by a car with and un-identified driver and now this little incident.

            My mother led me to the living room and sat beside me on the couch while she got Dianna to get me another glass of water. During this time, the guests congratulated the lucky couple and excused themselves so that they could go home.

            Once everyone left, it was just my mother, Veronica and me. I wished that I could have been one of the lucky people who had left earlier.

            “What the heck was that?!” Veronica interrogated me in record time, good girl.

            “Excuse me?! You’re asking me what happened,” This fight was eventually going to happen, but I hoped that I could have been able to have some time to rest, “you expect me to be totally fine with the fact that, number 1, you ask me to be maid of honor, then backstab me and give it to Charlotte? What are you trying to pull?!  You know that I’m more than qualified to make a speech, probably even more so than Charlotte! She can barely finish a sentence that makes sense! That was a load of bull and you know it! Number two-“

             “I know that Charlotte has problems with speaking, you don’t think I know that?! Also, do you really think I believe you when you ask me why I’m making her the maid of honor? Can you really be that naive and stupid?!”

            “Oh, I’m stupid? Do you know how much of a jerk you looked when you went for a walk once I fell and got hurt?! I don’t think prince charming thinks you’re as eligible of a princess that you claim to be! I’m surprised that he even chose you! Your just so bitter and cynical and a complete –“

            I was just getting heated up when Dianna-Jane walked into the room with a glass of water. I guess that all the guests hadn’t left yet. The room was quiet again and then I noticed that mother was gone. For some reason I didn’t remember when she left, but then again, I was at war with myself and a few other certain people.

            Dianna set the cup on the counter, got her shoes on and walked out the already open door and slammed it closed. I put my head in my hands and let out a ‘huff’ of air. I did not want to be left alone with my sister. I would have left earlier, but my head injury kept me from just doing that.

            So much for saying goodbye with an ‘I love you’ from Dianna. If she’s smart she won’t tell Charlotte what I and/or Veronica just said.

            Then the door opened and closed again. I expected to see James come in, but was shocked to see that, instead of someone coming in, Veronica had just left. Probably to tell Dianna that if she says a word of what she over heard, she will ruin Dianna’s life.            Veronica was cunning and beautiful and dangerous. The worst attributes any one could ever possess.

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Chapter 4

If the Glass Slipper Doesn’t Fit, Deal With It

            I got off the couch and got the glass of water that Dianna left on the counter. Considering the time that Veronica and I didn’t realize that she hadn’t left yet, she could’ve poisoned it and if she did, I wouldn’t put it below her. I got another aspirin to go with the water and drank up.

            Waiting a few minutes until I started my five minute walk home, I thought about what I said to Veronica and what she said to me. I was surprised to find that I wasn’t upset about what I did say, but of what I didn’t say. The way the conversation went, Veronica had more to apologize about than me. Like I said, number one: she made me maid of honor the revoked it. Number two: she purposely gave me a dress that would be too big for me and those shoes that would look hideous. Number three: she blamed everything on me, like I did something horrible to her.

            I stopped thinking about what Veronica did to me and paid attention to the door. I remember hearing Veronica locking it, so that made me feel a little better. The reason I was uptight would be because it sounded like some one was trying to break in. The scraping on the door continued and I stood frozen and helpless on the sidelines. Grabbing the nearest phone, I ran to the bathroom and locked the door. As far as I was concerned, it was the only one with an escape route. I turned it on, but I couldn’t hear the familiar buzz that meant that the phone was on. I looked at the batteries’ power icon; it said that it was fresh out dead. Uncharged. Useless. There were many ways I could put it, but doing that didn’t help my situation.

            For the second time this day, I climbed onto the sink counter. If I fell again, I would finally declare this a cruel, unforgiving world that fed off of my sisters’ anger for me. Once I knew that my center of gravity was as good as it could get, I reached for the window again, hoping that I wouldn’t make any unnecessary noise that would cause for whoever was trying to break in look for me.

            The window was a small rectangle that, only when I was on the tips of my toes on the sink, would I be able to reach it. Lucky me. I finally got the window open and looked out through it. I could see all the way to the ground and there was no way that I was going to be able to go that way. Sure, it would be easy to get through the window, but there was no way that I could climb down. Yes, there were drainpipes, but surprisingly - although the movies say differently - they weren’t made for people to climb them and second, I don’t think they could support my weight.

            I looked for something I could use if he or she saw that the door was locked and would try to get in. I looked for something strong, like the metal toilet-paper stand. I did a double take when I saw it. It was made out of some sort of metal (I didn’t know what) and it looked strong. It was as high as my knee and the top came out for putting toilet-paper on it. The bottom was curled around in a circular design that I knew that it was meant for holding toilet paper. Once I took all the rolls of paper off I gripped the part of it that was long and thin so that the curled part would be the spot that -- if needed be – I would hit my attacker with. Swinging it like a baseball bat I gained some hope that maybe if I needed to, I could defend myself.

            I looked under the crack of the bathroom door at different angles and saw that no one was standing out side of it. Unlocking the bathrooms’ door, I took in a deep breath and opened it slowly and quietly. Taking another quick peak, I slipped through the door and walked down the short hall.

            I could see a tall figure in the kitchen. Not knowing what he (or she) was doing I didn’t want to take any chances with him being an intruder. I slowly crept up behind him

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and just before I swung the object in my hands he turned around and jumped backwards. I just missed him by a few inches. He momentarily shocked me when I saw that he was wearing a ski mask; that just proved to me that he must have been a thief.

            “What the h—“ He was cut off again when I swung for a second time while he jumped back again.

            We continued this charade for a little longer; me taking steps forward and attempting to hit him while he always just managed to move out of the way. I could feel the toilet-paper holder smashing all the walls and cupboard in my way, but I didn’t care, I was in a mad rage. Finally, after my third swing, I made contact with his head or, to be more accurate, his nose. He let out a noise while he crumpled to the ground and rolled in pain.

            I wondered if I should continue hitting him when he took off his mask even when I knew who he was although it was hard with all the blood streaming down his face from his nose. I sincerely hoped it wasn’t broken, because no matter how much I hated him, even I would feel bad. Instead of saying sorry to him I just dropped the metal object I was holding and put my hands on my hips. I thought it was going to be fun interrogating him.   

            “Daniel, are you just plain out stupid or do you choose not to use your already-small brain?” After waiting a few minutes for him to answer me I saw his eyes look to something behind me then at me again. I turned around to see what he was looking at and saw one of the cupboards fall to the ground near my feet. It was about to crush my right foot when I threw it backwards. At first I had no clue why pain was shooting through my foot when I realized that one; it was bleeding and two; it hurt to put pressure on it.

            Fluids must have been in the cupboard because when I was standing on one foot biting my cheek and picking up my right foot, I could feel something wet soaking into my socks and I slipped. I fell on my left shoulder feeling even more pain. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and let out a ‘huff’ of air. My day was not going as I had hoped it would.

            Looking to the right I saw Daniel smiling at me, probably thinking I got what I deserved for hitting him. I was extremely tempted to punch him in the nose a few times, but then decided that karma would slap back with a harder ‘punch’ so-to-speak. I just rolled my eyes as punishment to him.

            “Well, your sister is going to love how you redecorated her kitchen. Maybe she’ll even forgive you for ruining her dress showing, so-to-speak.” His lips curled up into a smirk, making me wish that I didn’t feel bad for hurting him. I just got to my feet and limped to the door and started getting my shoes on.

            “This is your fault as much as it is mine, so your going to apologize with me or,” I tried to think of a worthy threat to motivate him, “I’ll hit you again, but this time harder.”

            “You wouldn’t,” his words were basically asking me to hit him again. He stood up and started to walk to the door. I just faced him and smirked, knowing that he knew I wasn’t flirting or joking, but that I was serious.

            Trying to balance while I attempted to get my right foot into my shoe, I figured out that it was hopeless and untied the shoe laces in hopes to make it bigger. My efforts were futile. As I struggled for a second time to get my foot into my shoe I realized how stupid I must have looked.

            “Huh,” I braced myself for the rude comment Daniel was going to say, “the glass slipper doesn’t seem to fit, I guess you’re not that much of a princess, are you? It’s weird, you already have the snobby attitude, so I was sure—“

            I cut him off by throwing my sneaker at him. Doing so, I lost my balance and my weight was thrown into the door that was opening. The noise echoed through the small

10.

apartment. Moving away from the door, I saw the handle turning and it opened again. Thoughts came rushing to my head, but I only had one wish; please don’t be Veronica. If it was her, there was no way that I could hide the kitchen from her; you could see it from any angle.

            I wondered what I would have to do before she could forgive me; I think the best answer would be to disappear forever. Just, how long could ‘forever’ last?

11.

Chapter 5

Apartment Building Owners – Gotta Love them

            The door burst open, but it wasn’t Veronica. It was someone worse: the owner of the apartment building. She was a stout woman, with blond hair cut short just below her chin. I took the door and slammed it closed again, but this time purposely. If there was anyone I feared more than Veronica, it would be Mrs. Van Deere. She had the worst attitude ever. Knowing that it wasn’t the smartest choice to close the door in her face again, I decided that it was for a better cause.

            Daniel just started at me like I was crazy; maybe I was I didn’t know, but what I did know was that if she saw the kitchen, Veronica would be kicked out for sure. This wouldn’t be the first time Veronica would be given a warning, but the chances are that it would be the last.

            Locking the door, I grabbed the broom that was beside it and handed it to Daniel. “Don’t ask just help me clean up the cupboard.” My voice wavered, if today was the day that I got Veronica kicked out, there would be no stopping her from killing me.

            As I limped to the kitchen I looked at the walls and saw that they weren’t harmed at all, it was only the one cupboard that looked horrible. I turned it on its side and the rest of the contents that were inside it fell onto the floor. I was glad that it just had some unopened home-made salsa jars and cans in it. Of course the salsa jars weren’t salvageable considering all the glass jars had smashed. I picked through everything with the help of Daniel and got all the canned goods out of the way, all that was left was the salsa and broken glass. Bringing the trash can closer, I could hear Mrs. Van Deere banging on the door and screaming through it. I looked at Daniel and was surprised when I saw that there was no more blood left on his face, I didn’t know how that happened but I didn’t have time to wonder about that. It looked like he had control of the situation so if I left him to clean it up, he probably could.

            “I know I’m gorgeous, but really, do you have to stare?” Rolling my eyes I wondered how vain he was, and if there was a possibility that he could be even more self-centered.

            “Shut up. Just continue cleaning this up, will you?” I didn’t give him enough time to complain when I hobbled to the door and opened it. Mrs. Van Deere was still hitting the door when I opened it and she was very close to hitting me.

            “Is there anything I can help you with?” I only opened the door a crack so she could see my face, but the door was blocking the rest of the apartment.

            Tsk. She made a weird noise with her mouth that made me believe that she was annoyed. She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off.

            “I didn’t notice you at the door, how long were you waiting?” I tilted my head to the side and furrowed my eyebrows like I really didn’t know that she had been at the door.

            “Of all the rotten, irresponsible bratty children, you are the most rude –“ Her face reddened with each passing word as her voice elevated to a higher note.

            “Language, please! There are children in here; you should control your temper!” I cut her off. This woman was just fun to annoy no matter how scared of her I was, I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to move out; this apartment would be on the top of my list to move into.

            “Where is your sister, she has some explaining to do!” She was so loud she was almost screaming.

            “Y-you want to get rid of me already? I-I understand, but it still hurts…” I let out a

*sniff* and wiped an imaginary tear from my eye, “I thought we were bonding-“

            “Oh, cut the crap and tell me where Veronica is!”                                               12.

            “Veronica? Veronica who?” I asked it with sincere puzzlement. The lips of my mouth curved up. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep from laughing.

            Now her face was turning blue, I wondered if she had ever had any children in her prehistoric life. I doubted it, she didn’t have the patience.

            Just as she opened her mouth for the second time she turned around. We could both hear the click of high-heeled shoes in the hall way. My sister walked toward us with a determined look on her face.

            “Did you want to speak to Veronica? Why didn’t you just say so? I could have told you that she went for a walk.” I heard Veronica greet Mrs. Van Deere as I closed the door. I had hoped that Mrs. Van Deere would have gotten so annoyed by me that she would have left before Veronica would have gotten back. Veronica would want to invite her into the apartment. On any other day, I would have been fine with that, but since the accident in the kitchen I wasn’t in a talkative mood.

            When I got ready to help Daniel clean the rest of the kitchen, I found out that he was already finished. The Cans of food were left on the counter stacked in a nice pile and the floor was spotless. The only problem was that the cupboard was broken.  I still didn’t know how I was supposed to explain that to Veronica.

            “You think we should get out of here?” Daniel’s question startled me out of my thoughts.

            “That would probably be the smartest thing to do, just let me get some money from my wallet.” He was already at the door when I put down $50.00 bucks. I didn’t know how much it would cost, but I knew that if I gave her too much, she would take it as an apology.

            Once he got his shoes on and I got my left foot into my shoe and carried my other one, we exited through the door. Veronica and Mrs. Van Deere didn’t notice us because they were having a very heated conversation about me. I apparently don’t have any appreciation for elders. Oh, well, no ones perfect.

Chapter 6

What I want to be When I Grow Up: Anything but Married

            It turned out that Daniel had walked to Veronica’s apartment and my house was on the way so – lucky me – we walked together. It was mostly awkward silence when I decided to strike up a conversation, “Why did you break into Veronica’s house, anyway?”

            “It wasn’t exactly breaking in,” he paused for a moment, “besides; it’s none of your business.”

            “None of my business? Veronica’s only my sister, and I was alone in that house, it’s not like I have a right to know or anything.” My voice dripped with unnecessary sarcasm. I just didn’t like it when he tried to say that there was a reasonable explanation for his efforts for breaking and entering and that it was none of my business.

            “Exactly my point.” That was it. I stomped on his toe with the heel of my left foot as hard as I could. He jerked to a stop and said something like ‘crazy idiot’ or something like that, either way I didn’t care. 

            “Whoops,” I was surprised how good I felt after inflicting pain on him, “I must’ve lost my balance. Anyways, you were just going to tell me why you broke in to my sister’s house…”

            Waiting for him to answer, I started walking faster. It was getting dark and I wanted this walk to end. It took five minutes for me to run from my house to Veronica’s, but walking would take twice the time.

            “James,” when he started talking it took me a minute to remember the origins of the conversation. “He wanted me to get something for him.”

            “Might I ask what that something was?” I was getting annoyed when he kept on pausing. He was worse than Veronica because she only did it for a dramatic effect, Daniel did it because he liked being annoying.

            “He wanted me to grab a picture-frame --”

            “So what was so special about the picture-frame?” Cutting him off, I realized that I might not want to know what was so special with the frame.

            “He said that it had something to do with a person he wasn’t at the best of terms with.” A lot of questions came to my head as I processed what he had just said. Then answers started invading my thoughts. If that unwanted person was a ‘she,’ she could be an ex-girlfriend of his. If it was a ‘he,’ that person could be one of Veronica’s ex-boyfriends that James didn’t like. Either way, I wanted to see the picture in side the frame. Or, another thought came to my mind, what if it was the frame itself that had wanted to be taken or destroyed (it didn’t matter to me anyways). My mind kept jumping to conclusions.

            “Give me the frame.”

            “What?!” I must have caught him off guard.

            “Come on, did you really expect me to believe that all you did was clean in the kitchen? The only reason you stayed was because you had a reason. I know that you can’t stand being in the same room with me as I can with you. Hand it over.” As he glared at me he gave me a picture frame that I had never seen before.

            For the longest time I had wanted to be a photographer so for a few years, I just bought picture frames and put pictures that I took inside of them. I gave all the pictures to Veronica because she had just moved into her apartment. She had said that she wanted them to fill up all of the lonely walls and to make the rooms look happy and creative. I happily complied. 

14.

The mysterious frame was a metallic color and looked like it was a ‘’5 by ‘’3 inch frame. Not unusual, but antique looking. There was something about it that meant that it wasn’t very cheep. Either whoever bought it had a lot of expendable money or was very much in love.

            Out of the corner of my eye I saw Daniel move his arm in an action to grab the frame out of my hands. I avoided him just in time.

            “Sorry, but until I get more of a explanation, your not getting this back.” He mumbled something under his breath that I didn’t catch, but it made me smile that I got on his nerves.

            I could see my house; it was the one behind next. We both picked up speed, happy to get rid of each other. I asked him if he would be ‘O.K.’ with walking home alone and if he wanted me to drive him. He declined, but not with out saying a joke like, ‘can’t spend enough time with me can you? I should get a restraining order.’ At that I slammed the door in his face and could hear his muffled laughter. I watched him through my window until I couldn’t see him anymore to make sure he was safe then crept upstairs quietly so I wouldn’t wake my mother up.

            Once I got to my room I looked at my hair and saw that it was stuck to my head and remember that the blood from my injury was the reason I looked horrible. It occurred to me after inspecting myself more thoroughly that looked like a wet rat.

            Before I took a shower, I hid the picture frame under my bed and figured I would find a good spot to hide it tomorrow. Then I brushed my teeth and thought about the day. Somehow, my thoughts mainly evolved around Daniel and how he made me hate all boys (he just had that kind of charm) and think that being a lonely old woman living with 130 cats was a great alternative to getting married. He always brought out the worst in me, or was it the best?

15.

Chapter 7

Amabo Te, Carissimi Diligamus

            I woke up early the next morning and pulled the picture frame from under my pillow and, for the first time, noticed that there was no photo in it. It was blank. I kicked myself for not noticing that earlier. If the picture was the main reason Daniel was told to break into Veronica’s house, I would permanently believe that the universe has something against me.

            Flipping and turning it, I looked for anything from a hidden note to a ‘from whoever, to whomever’ trying to figure out why it was so important. Getting frustrated, I decided to take it downstairs for breakfast. Once I got a cup of coffee and some ‘Frosted Flakes’ cereal, I brought them upstairs and decided to take the fragile frame apart. I just hoped that Veronica and/or James wouldn’t get mad at me for disassembling the frame.

            After inspecting it for a while, I got doubts that it would be a good idea. I sat it on my desk while I grabbed my coffee, my hand hit it and the frame went crashing to the ground.

            “Darn it.” I mumbled under my breath as I started at the mess of broken glass on the floor. Of all the things to happen, I break a priceless frame that could have been an heirloom for all I knew. “Good job, idiot.”

               I walked over to my built-in-the-wall desk and grabbed the trash bin in-between it and brought it over to my twin bed where the glass had smashed and laid scattered on the ground. Picking up the big pieces of glass, I saw that the back of the frame had snapped in half and there was a piece of paper inside of the stiff leather. The paper didn’t look like it was old, just that someone had handled it a lot.

            At first I thought that the paper was blank, but then I saw faded writing on it. The words looked like they were the title of a poem or story (my best guess would be a romantic poem or story) with curly, cursive-written letters. I tried to pronounce them in my head, but was pretty sure that I got it wrong.

Amabo te, carissimi diligamus

            I had to write it out before I thought it looked almost right. The writing on the piece of paper that I found was so small, I was sure I got some of the letters mixed up.

Amabo te, carissimi diligamus

            Saying it out loud a few times, I was pretty sure that it was correct, but to make sure I was, I grabbed my mothers’ glasses from the kitchen table and instantly the letters were enlarged. Having gotten it perfect, I tried to think of what language it could be written in. Not being bilingual, I was having a great amount of trouble. Then I stopped thinking about that and wondered if Veronica would know what it meant. Maybe she was in love with someone other than James and that was their secret code or something (pretty corny, but it did make sense, Veronica was a romantic like that).

            The more I thought about it, the more I thought that I needed to have a talk with Daniel. If there was another picture inside the frame that he had taken, I really needed it and I was going to get it.

            Veronica had emailed every their date’s phone numbers and addresses so that we could stay in contact with them. I don’t know why we would want to, but I guess it was helpful to me. I went downstairs to my old, chunky computer and opened my inbox. There it was; the e-mail with Daniels phone number and address. Grabbing my cell phone, I checked to see what time it was; 7:03 a.m. I couldn’t help, but smile. It was an emergency so I had the right to wake him up early in the morning, just for the sake of annoying him.

            16.

I could hear the phone ring and it sounded loud. It played for a few moments then I was given to voice mail.

            “Hey Daniel, hope it isn’t too early to call. I just wanted to ask you about the picture frame. I know that it’s missing a piece that’s crucial, and also I know you have it.” I waited a few moments for him to think that I had hung up and added, “Call me when you get this message, and please, refrain from doing something stupid like giving what I’m looking for to James. Thanks, bye!”

            I decided to get changed while I waited for Daniel to call me. Wearing a pair of skinny-leg jeans and a skin-tight long sleeved shirt, I brushed out my long black hair. When I looked into the mirror in my room, I was shocked to find that I looked like Veronica; a lot. The resemblance was shocking; anyone could mistake us for the other. I pondered about this a little longer when my cell rang.

            “Sadie Guthrie speaking,” my voice sounded oddly cheerful.

            “Hey, it’s Daniel. Did you really have to call me so early?” I could tell that he didn’t even try to hide the annoyance in his voice.

            “Early? How is 7:03 a.m. early?” The sarcasm in my voice was easily audible; I would have to work on that. “Anyways, are you willing to give me what I asked for?”

            “What did you ask for again? I can’t remember because it was so early in the morning and, I’m really sorry, but I accidentally deleted it because of my early morning drowsiness.” 

            “Funny. Give me what you found in the frame.” The demanding tone in my voice was almost scary.

            “You know, a ‘please’ would be appreciated somewhere I the sentence.” I rolled my eyes.

            “Give me what you found in the frame and please don’t make me kill you if you’ve already disposed of it.”

            He didn’t respond, there was only silence on the other end of the phone line.

            “You didn’t say what context to use it again; you should really be more specific.” I could even imagine him rolling his eyes, “someone’s talkative this morning.”

            “Whatever.” I smiled at his comment, knowing that he must not be a morning person.

            “Great, you can drop it off at whatever time you feel like,” I figured that making a deadline would just get him angry and I needed him to be at least a little optimistic. “Although, I would prefer—“

            “Um, about that,” he stopped talking after cutting me off. “Can’t do that, I specifically got it for James and you’re not going to get it. But if you could hand over the frame, I think he would appreciate it more.”

            It was my turn to get a little angry, “When did you turn out to be a follower?” I controlled my voice. “Now about the frame, you could get it back but it’s not in the best condition. Anyways, this conversation has just wasted enough valuable minutes so this is Sadie Guthrie signing off. Bye.” *Click*

            I didn’t know why I wanted that frame so much (I think the main reason would be because I was extremely bored) so I thought of one other way to get the most valuable part of the frame.

            Normally I didn’t pride myself into breaking into other people’s houses, but Daniel was one lucky guy. I would make one exception just for him.   

17.

                                                                      Chapter 8

                                            An Eye-for-an-Eye… Just Not as Satisfying 

                My brilliant plan was to break in. The only problem that I had was picking out my outfit. My choices were: a James Bonde theme, batman/batgirl theme or one of ‘Charlie’s Angels’ ’ angels. Either way, I was doomed to wear black.
                My outfit was more gothic-chick than anything else. I was just missing the make-up. One thing I could live with-out, mind you. With dark-blue skin-tight jeans with a black tank and my dark hair left down I decided on grey running shoes.
                Once I got his address from Veronica’s e-mail, I figured out that he only lived a block away. Being too lazy to think of a plan that could probably insure success, I started my long and dangerous walk to his house.
                 As I walked, I realized that there was no way that I could be sure that he would be gone. I knew that he lived with some of his brothers – all of which were rarely home—and a few pets. Just as I got to the street that I knew that he lived on, I looked for the number 928. As soon as I got there, I saw that there were no cars in the drive way. My luck was getting better by the second.
                I knocked on the front door to make sure that no one was home, then jiggled the handle and tried to open it. They locked their door. I made a B-line to the closest window. It was closed and locked too. I started wondering if my coming here was pointless. Finally, I came to what looked like the bathroom winder. There were two issues with it; one, it was open, two, I couldn’t reach it. Looking around for something to stand on, I got antsy. I hoped that Daniel wasn’t giving the frame to James at this moment because this recon mission would be useless. Then I decided that it was payback for him breaking into Veronica’s. 
                For boys, they were really into planting. Then again, almost all of them had girlfriends; they probably tried to make the house nice. I grabbed a few clay pots and hoped that they would support my weight as I attempted to stand on them. The window creaked while I opened it. Once I knew that it wouldn’t open any more, I pulled myself up using my arms to get through the window.
                It was very awkward, with my legs sticking out the window and the front half of my body wiggling through trying not to get stuck. After I -- once again -- fell on my head, I stood up and wondered what was so important about getting the picture that was inside of the frame. 
                The house was huge. I learned that after walking around for a little bit, trying to find Daniel’s room (it seemed like the only likely spot for him to hide what he had stolen) and hoped that I wouldn’t be scarred for life after seeing it. It was quite easy to locate which room was his; he put a sign saying ‘Daniel is indigenous to this area.’ My jaw dropped when I saw the sign, he was such a geek.
               Taking a deep breath, I had to calm myself down; my nerves were just starting to kick in. If any of his other brothers walked in while I was searching there house, they wouldn’t believe me if I said that I was Daniel’s girlfriend and that I needed to get a book from him. Daniel was obviously not the kind of guy who carried books with him or the kind of a guy who appealed to women. He may be cute, but his attitude ruined it. At least for me; other girls thought that he was adorable.  
                As I walked in, I nearly fainted at the sight of his room; it was neater then mine. His bed was in one corner and a desk with a phone jack, charger, book (surprisingly enough) and laptop were in the other. A shiny piece of paper was thrown on the ground that I almost stepped on. When I picked it up, I turned it over to see writing on a picture: Amabo te.

                18.

Making a tsk-ing sound with mouth, I couldn’t believe that this was real. At first I wondered if he had planted it, knowing that I would break in. And then I countered myself; he’s not as smart as I’m giving him credit for. Stuffing it into my pocket, I bolted out of the door and closed it. My first break-in was flawless. Then I heard a car turn into the driveway. I kicked the door post that lead to his room, and then wished that my right foot had already healed.

                Sprinting down the hallway’s stairs, I ran to the back door and opened it finding out that it was unlocked. It was the only door that I didn’t check. Once I got into the backyard, I could see that I was locked in by fences. I rolled my eyes, wishing that whoever was in the house was Daniel. Out of all the brothers, he was the only one that I trusted and actually cared to talk to.

                I backed up and ran up to a fence and grabbed the top and used my legs to propel myself over. I decided to sit on the top for a little while before I got confident about going over the other side. Then the back door opened and someone who looked similar to Daniel started to run towards me with a pellet-gun. He was horrible at aiming because all the times that he shot -- twenty times (I knew because I counted the ‘bangs’) -- none hit me.

                “Get back here you ignorant little twerp! If you ever come back I’ll shoot you! You stupid little–“ He screamed with all his might. I smiled; the Collins must not like me.

                “Sorry, but you’ll shoot me with what? That plastic, childish, Nerf gun?” I cut him off.

                “It’s a B-B gun!” Wow, those boys were very territorial, and very much in-love with their toys. Maybe I should have stole that as well, we could play a game of ‘shoot the idiotic Collins boys,’ that would surely make my day.

                I could hear him say some unintelligent words, but other than that, I was too far away to hear the rest of what he was saying. As soon as I got to my house, I closed the door behind me, locked it and was controlled by a wave of hysterical laughter.