Chapter 13: Minor Childhood Blues

Rain starts off her teenagerhood by practicing on the new easel her parents bought her, and making sure she gets plenty of exercise.

After a round of catch, the girls are sweaty and keen to shower.

Stupid !#$@ing gnome...

That's better. Out by the trash where you belong.

It's been a while since Shanti has checked in on her old friend, good little Sandi French.

Or maybe not so little, anymore. Shanti tries to hide the disapproval in her voice as she asks after the father.

"Oh, you know Arlo Bunch? He's my boyfriend? It was kind of out of the blue, you know... But we're both happy about it...."

"Honestly, Sandi, I'm not sure whether to give you medical advice right now, or to lecture you about not using protection. Not to mention having sex out of wedlock...."

Sandi smiles weakly. "The medical advice, please. My whole body hurts all the freakin' time!"

"Hi, baby, are you giving Momma a hard time in there?"

Shanti brightens as she launches into a discussion on proper breathing techniques to help calm the baby. It's hard to stay mad at Sandi when Shanti thinks of the life inside her friend, waiting to be born. It doesn't seem like that long ago that Shanti herself was pregnant with her Ida.

Shanti gets an idea.

"Want to know the sex of the baby?" 

Sandi responds enthusiastically, but before Shanti can pull out her instrument...

It's so shocking that Shanti can't help but freak out, a little. After all, this isn't just another patient. This is Shanti's old friend, who she'll always see as the little girl who followed her around the Summer Festival over a year ago.

Sandi insists she's okay to drive, but Shanti accompanies her to the hospital anyway. She wants to oversee this particular delivery personally.

Several hours later, a baby boy named Gregory French is born. Shanti follows Sandi and Arlo home, partially to get them settled in comfortably, and partially to get a closer look at this fellow of Sandi's.

He looks happy, but is the baby enough to convince him to settle down with Sandi? Shanti tries to remain optimistic, but it doesn't work all that well.

"You will not abandon this woman and her child, do you hear me young man? You will be there for them, or I will end you." Arlo just stares at her, but Shanti is unconcerned. Actually, she's a little proud for not giving voice to the unkind thoughts in her head about why Sandi's baby daddy had to have a face like this.

Back at home, Rain gets in a few minutes of homework before her first day of work.

Alexander is out running errands at the consignment store, so Ida comes home to an empty house for once.

She sits in her sister's new room at the desk they used to fight over, and resolutely does not feel lonely. After all, she tells herself angrily, what good is the Brave trait if your sister has her own job and you can't even spend an afternoon by yourself without feeling stupid and sad?

Later, Marlin Wan comes round looking for Rain, who still hasn't come home. Ida hopes he just has a homework question, or something, because she really doesn't want to think about how it would feel if Marlin and her sister started dating.

He's so cute...

With Rain's newfound interest in all things romance-related, Ida's starting to make sense of her own squirmy, blushy feelings toward Marlin Wan.

"Hi," she murmurs, feeling shy for the first time in her life.

She rolls near-constant wishes to hug him.

Ida doesn't quite ask 'are we friends still?' but Marlin's easy hugs and bright smiles comfort her all the same.

That night, Ida sleeps in the top bunk of the old bunkbed she used to share with Rain. It's not because she misses sharing a room with her sister, of course. It's just that Rain never used to let her sleep on the top bunk, and she wanted to try it. That's all.

Closing her eyes, Ida presses her face into her sister's old pillow and wishes for her teenage birthday to come quick.

The next day is Leisure day, and the family gets together for a trip to the festival. Marlin, who apparently slept over without anyone noticing, comes too.

Ida tries to play it cool, like she doesn't care whether or not Rain asks out Marlin at the festival today. But she is painfully aware that prom is Saturday, only a few days away, and her sister is still dateless.

Rain is also very much aware of her datelessness. She isn't thinking of asking Marlin, though, it'd be too weird. She wants to go to her first and only prom with someone special, someone who makes her feel something she's never felt before. She wants to be whisked off her feet by a whirlwind first romance. Unfortunately, there isn't anyone who makes her feel that way. Most of the other boys her age are taken, anyway, and even her best friend Rosalind refused to be her date, preferring to stay at home.

Rain can't quite believe that she's been friendzoned by everyone in school.

Anyway it's Leisure Day, a fun and carefree day off of school and work and boys and any other troubles, and anyway there's still some time before prom. Everything is fine. Let's play frisbee!

"Oh my god, your face! That was totally priceless."

Later:

"Ain't karma an itch?"

Shanti and Alexander go skating.

"I don't like this," Shanti mutters.

"Here," Alex holds out his hands. "Let me help."

It's been over a year now, but there are still times when her husband's kindness makes Shanti smile.

After Spinny Disc-in' it up with her sister for a while, Ida joins a hot dog-eating contest with her classmate, Aubrey Langerak, his mother Kaylynn, and a woman named Madison Bunch.

Ida lasts longer than Aubrey, but not by much. 

"Hey, that was awesome! Your puke was totally radioactive. Want to have a water balloon fight with me?"

Rain and Shanti join in, while Alex goes fishing for only his second time ever. These days he uses coffee beans and wonderpetal to fertilize his grapes.

"Want to come to our place? We have computer games!"

Typical breakfast shenanigans: 

Typical afternoon shenanigans: 

 "Fight me, Mom!"

 "Hiiiiiii-ya!"

Shanti wins the match, but her aging body still tires more easily than Rain's.

"I bet I can collect more gems than you!"

Aubrey doesn't know he's in over his head. Ida is a master at the time traveling robot-gnome game. And also very good at collecting.

-----------------------

Notes - 

So I'm trying out that little thing called dialogue. I had to write this chapter twice, because my first draft randomly disappeared.. >:(. So I kind of lost steam halfway through, but I still spent way longer on this chapter than any of the others.

The girls kind of make me laugh with their tiny angsts. Despite Shanti and Alexander's humble beginnings, the girls really grew up quite privileged. I wonder if I shouldn't maybe introduce some more serious drama just to shake things up...

Eh, probably won't. :P