Jack was helping Anna with her homework in the living room when the witches came knocking at his front door. Sally was doing some knitting on the sofa, occasionally looking up and watching her husband help their daughter with her algebra homework, a subject at which she was failing miserably. It seemed like no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get any of it through her head. But that didn't stop him from trying.
But when he heard someone at the front door, he left Anna sitting at the coffee table while he went to answer it. While it was no surprise that someone was calling on her father, it was unusual for it to happen so late at night. No one came to his door after dark unless it was an emergency, and knowing that made her curious about who it was. Too curious to focus on something as tedious as algebra.
He opened the door and saw the witches standing at his doorstep looking uneasy. Probably about why they were there in the first place.
"Hello," he said kindly.
"Hi Jack," said the tall witch. "This is embarrassing really, but can we ask a favor of you?"
"Of course," He said with a smile.
"We just got a call from our store's supplier and they can't make the delivery of our new wares. We have to go get them tomorrow and we were wondering if Erika could stay here for those few days. We'd leave her by herself, but you know how jumpy she gets."
Anna wondered what her father would say, even if part of her knew he would agree to it. He didn't have the heart to turn anyone away, and there were probably a lot worse people that could stay at their house for a few days than a quiet witch girl.
"Sure she can stay; she can stay with Anna in her room."
The little witch threw her hands together happily. "Oh thank you Jack! We owe you."
"Not at all," He said, and Anna was pretty sure he meant it too. Even though he did favors for people, he very rarely expected anything in return. But then again, he usually didn't need to ask. Everyone in town was more than happy to help him with whatever he needed.
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Erika came to their house later on in the afternoon, after her aunts had left for their trip. She was polite when Jack welcomed her into his house and tried not to invade Anna's space too much when she put her bag down by the window and sat on her bed.
The night before, when she'd been packing the very few things she would need while staying over at Anna's, Erika made a promise to herself that she wouldn't be a burden. She knew that her own cowardice was the reason she had to stay with somebody. She was nineteen for god's sakes, she should've been able to stay and mind the store on her own. But she was too afraid of everything to be able to.
But she wouldn't burden Anna or any of the other Skelingtons with her presence. She would work through her fears on her own after her aunts got back, she would have to. She couldn't expect people to take care of her forever, could she?
"Oh, hey Erika," Anna said when she walked into her room.
"Hi," squeaked Erika, almost immediately wishing that she hadn't. "Did you, um, have fun while you were out?"
"Totally," said Anna as she crossed the room and sat on the chair by her desk. "Ryan helped me finish some math homework I had left over, and then we went bug hunting around this really cool looking tombstone."
Erika didn't know what to say exactly, so she just said "That’s good," and let it go. What else could she say? She didn't know Anna well enough to ask how much she liked that human boy. Nor did she have enough courage to ask to meet him someday.
The girls sat there in silence for a time, neither of them able to think of anything to say. What sorts of things do you talk about with someone you barely knew? The only friend Anna ever made had been made on accident, and Erika had never made a friend a day in her life. Thankfully though, the girls were called down to dinner shortly after, and her parents made enough conversation to cover up for their lack of anything to say.
But after dinner, when they went back up to her room, they were back to being at a loss for anything to say.
"Oh hey!" Anna said suddenly, making poor timid Erika nearly jump out of her skin. Anna had been sitting on her desk chair, and Erika had been sitting on her bed, feeling very awkward and out of place. "I know! You come sit here and we can play make-overs! I'll do your hair and you can do mine!"
This sounded like a good idea, and since she was too shy to think of an idea herself, Erika nodded and the girls switched spots. Erika took Anna's chair, while Anna went in search of her hair stuff (hair stuff that she rarely used, since she liked her hair to just lay flat like it normally did) so they could play make overs. It was a childish idea, actually, but it didn't really matter. If it broke the ice, it broke the ice.
She brought her stuff over to the desk and sat it down. Erika had crazy-curly hair that seemed to erupt in all directions when she took it out of its pony-tail. She looked at it for a moment, trying to decide what style would look best. All she knew was that curly wasn't Erika's style. It covered up her face too much, but then again, that might've been why it was in a pony-tail.
"I think you'd look nice if we just straightened out your hair a bit," Anna said, still thinking as she said it. Erika sat quietly as Anna took a strong looking brush out of her bag and started trying to brush the curls out of Erika's hair. As she brushed it, she started up a conversation as best she could. "So anyway, I hope I'm not prying by asking, but where are you from exactly?"
Erika looked startled by this at first, but then started looking like her normal, meek self. "A little further in the forest. My mom didn't like people much, so she and I mostly stayed by ourselves in the forest. My aunts would come by every now and again to bring us stuff that mom ordered from their store."
"That’s weird, why did your mom want to stay so secluded?"
Erika shrugged. "I dunno exactly. Every time I asked, she would get all defensive and change the subject. I think it might've been because of my dad, but that’s just a guess I came up with."
"Your dad?"
The moment Anna saw the broken hearted look on Erika's face in the big vanity mirror, she wished she hadn't asked. Quickly, she tried to take it back. "I'm sorry. That's really none of my business, is it? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No, it’s okay." Erika assured her before going on. "My dad left my mom when I was a baby, and I think she'd been so broken hearted about it that she never wanted to get close to anyone ever again. With the exception of me and her sisters."
Anna suddenly felt a sinking feeling in her chest, and it only got worse when she glanced over at the picture of her family sitting against the big mirror. She could never imagine what life would be like if her father left. She knew he wouldn't, he loved her and her mother too much to even consider abandoning them. But just thinking about it made her want to cry.
"I'm sorry," Anna said, that being the best thing she could think of to say. "So what happened to your mother? I mean, why'd she send you out here?"
"She didn't 'send' me, exactly. She died, and my aunts brought me here so they could take care of me. Even though I'm nineteen now and should be able to take care of myself. I guess if mom had let me be around people more growing up, I wouldn't be so terrified of everyone here."
She could see it very clearly now. Erika had wanted someone to talk to about all of this, even if it was someone who she barely knew and was just staying with for a few days. This had all been bubbling up inside of her, and she couldn't talk to her aunts about it because they
knew what had happened.
Suddenly, Erika began to try and take it all back. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have told you all of that. We're hardly even friends after all." and even that sounded too bold to her own ears, and she began trying to take
that back too. "I'm sorry! That sounded really rude..."
Anna smiled. "Oh don't worry about it. Whatever's said here stays here, secrets are safe and all that."
Erika gave Anna a meek, appreciative little smile. "Thanks Anna."
By this time Anna had managed to somehow get Erika's hair to straighten out and, just as she expected, straight hair really complemented Erika's face shape and didn't hide her face as much as her curls did. The next thing Anna did was Erika's make-up. "So, in the spirit of secret keeping and all, tell me something Erika."
"Okay, what?"
"Is there anyone in particular that you
like?" Honestly enough, Erika didn't need to say anything for Anna to get her answer. All she had to do was sit there and blush a deep pink color like she did, and that was answer enough for her. "You do! Who is it? Tell me!"
Erika gulped and murmured her answer under her breath so quietly that Anna almost didn't catch it. "...Barrel..."
"You mean that trickster guy who dresses up like a skeleton?" Erika nodded. "Hmm, I guess he's kinda cute. He's got that dorky, baby-faced kind of charm I guess. So, have you talked to him?"
"Oh god no!" Erika gasped, sounding as if that was the worst thing in the world she could imagine doing. "I'm
way too shy to
talk to him! Besides, he's always hanging around with Lock and Shock, and they scare me a lot."
Anna had to think about it before she realized that she agreed with Erika. Lock and Shock
could get quite intimidating at times. Lock was the kind of bad-boy that nobody's parents would ever approve of, and Shock seemed like one of those girls who would catch you in a dark ally and smack you around if you were prettier than her. Granted nobody was prettier than Shock in the whole town, it was still something Anna couldn't help but think.
"Would you be completely against it if I helped you get him alone so you can talk? Or maybe I could talk to him for you?"
"No way! I-I'm perfectly happy just watching him when he comes into the store and not saying a word about it. And besides, why would Barrel like someone like me? He'd probably like someone beautiful like Shock, or interesting like you."
"Hey, don't talk like that." Anna said sternly. "You're plenty beautiful, and very interesting! You just need to learn to assert yourself and not get so intimidated. Like I said, I'll help you if you want me to, all you have to do is ask."
Erika and Anna waited in silence. Erika was actually weighing the pros and cons of letting Anna set herself up with Barrel, and she actually found herself wondering if it worked, would she still feel the same feelings of affection she felt for him? Or would it be something completely different? Would she be given new obligations she was too afraid to live up to? Would it be a total disaster and she would just wind up lonely, hurt, and humiliated?
Sighing, Erika looked up at Anna and nodded her head. "Just try not to let me be embarrassed, alright? I'm terrified as it is."
Anna put her hands on Erika's shoulders and put her head next to her's, so that they were both looking into the vanity mirror. "Don't worry, if anything goes wrong, Ryan'll be there to do what he does best. Stand up to bullies, even if he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell."
"You're telling
Ryan?!" Erika gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. Quickly, Anna tried to calm her down.
"Relax! Ryan won't tell a soul, I promise. He's just going to be there for a guy's opinion on how to go about this. He doesn't tell people things he isn't supposed to, I mean, he's kept me a secret for almost three months now. But if you don't want me to say anything to him, I won't. I promise."
Erika had to think about it again. For some reason, she wasn't as opposed to Ryan knowing as she expected herself to be. She didn't tell this to Anna though, she just decided it was time for them to switch and her turn to fix Anna's hair. Anna nodded and did as Erika said, watching as Erika went though the hair accessories she had sitting on the table.
"You like Ryan, don't you?" Erika asked, getting revenge on Anna for having asked about Barrel. Though her's was more direct than Anna's was.
Anna looked away from the mirror for a moment, then nodded. "A lot, actually. But he's just my friend, no matter how much I might like him, I don't want to ruin that."
"Seems pretty noble to me," Erika said as she pulled Anna's hair back into a pony-tail. "If you had the option, and there was a guarantee that he liked you just as much, would you try to take the next step? Or would you stay this way?"
Anna shrugged. "I guess I'd try to see where the next step would take us. I mean, I really, really like him. I'd like to know what would happen if we got together, but that’s not how it is, is it?"
Erika shook her head. "No, unfortunately."
As they went on talking, the girls found themselves enjoying the girl-talk. But more importantly than anything else, they found themselves starting to become more of friends than they had been when Erika first got there. By the time they had decided to go to bed, Erika had been able to make a decision that she never thought she would ever make in her whole life.
"Hey Anna?" Erika said quietly from her sleeping bag on the floor.
"hmm?"
"I think...I think I'll let you bring Ryan along when we talk to Barrel. He seems like a nice guy."
She heard some kind of movement on Anna's bed, which she took to be Anna nodding her head. "In that case, we'll go get him tomorrow and see if we can't put this plan into motion, is that okay?"
Erika nodded her head, knowing that she was probably making the worst decision she would ever make in her whole life.
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A/N:
Here I am after a long hiatus! I had a burst of creative energy and just had to get it out before it disappeared! But yeah, sorry this was a long, kinda boring chapter.
