Holidays with the Youngs

If there was one thing she liked about being inside her home, it was the art. She'd either watch her mother paint or she'd do it herself. After watching her mother all her life, Indigo was shaping up to be a pretty good artist. Since painting was a talent of hers, the second year decided to paint a portrait of Cori for her as a gift. Of course it would be much easier to paint her if she was there to model for her, but she had to make due with what she had. So, she pulled out her paints and began to work.

Break had just began and Cori was coming over for a few days. It had shocked Indigo that not only was her mother okay with the idea but she was also the one to come up with it. She wondered why her mother suddenly was okay with people coming over. Maybe she was changing. Or maybe she had something up her sleeve. Indigo made a note to keep an eye on her mother while Cori was around.

Indigo was only a few strokes into the painting when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Her mother called. Was that Cori already? She was early. Way too early. Indigo put down her brush and raced out of her bedroom and down the stairs. It was in fact, Cori. She threw her arms around her friend and pullec her into a hug.

"You're early, I haven't finished your present yet."

"Nonsense, Indigo, she's right on time," her mother argued. If she was right on time then why was she told that she would be arriving later? She didn't trust her mother completely so she grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her up the steps.

"Something smells fishy," she said once they were in her room and the door was closed. "She told me you'd be here later." Little did she know that her mother had asked her to come earlier so Indigo would have some company while the rest of her family arrived. Plus, her mother wanted to know all about the person her daughter had been socializing with.

Cori knew very well that Mrs. Young was not fair to Indigo. Cori wanted to ring her best friend's mother's neck sometimes. Anyone who went up against Indigo deserved to be pounded on. Cori had spent hours coming up with a way to have the perfect gift for Indigo. However, she was hitting a wall. She knew about Indigo's love of art and originally thought that she should get Indigo an art related gift. Then, an idea hit her. She would get something that they could enjoy over the summer, and give it to her before her mother could see. To cover it though, in front of her mother she'd give her the gift McKenna bought for her, which was actually art supplies.

Cori blushed slightly as the moment Indigo was close enough that Cori was in a hug with her best friend. She was trying hard not to savor the feeling of Indigo's warmth. She pulled away from the hug and smile. "I'm early? Your mom told me-" Then, she was cut off on cue by Indigo's mother. Cori contained an eyebrow raise. She couldn't help but wonder what Indigo's mother was playing at.

"Don't worry about the present. I won't peek." Cori followed Indigo up the stairs and agreed. "Not even the ocean is this fishy, but don't worry. Your mom doesn't scare me Indigo." Cori assured the girl. "Nothing she does or tries to do will come between our friendship. Not now, not ever. I'm curious to see how this night is going to go, and even if I hit a bump with your mom that's fine. You just worry about this painting that I'm going to love, okay?"

She decided to think about her mother later, all she wanted to do was finish her painting. "I was once told a story," she began. She sat down at her stool and continued her painting as she talked. "Two families didn't see eye to eye, very tragic really." Not that she was comparing their lives to the story, she didn't think her mother would be capable of hating anything. "Romeo and Juliet, they met, fell in love. Even though their families hated each other. Though they were in love, their families still didn't like each other. I like to think that they began to like each other after losing their children." Some of that story she could compare her life to. Her mother didn't like the things that others did, she didn't want her daughter being changed by the outside world.

"I'd be lying if I said I couldn't relate to that story. Just not the love part, I'm too young for that nonsense. But my mother, she wants to keep me locked away like she wants me to be the same little girl." It was getting tiring. She wanted to be herself and do what she wanted. "My mother rather butt heads with anyone instead of letting her daughter be happy." She loved her mom, she really did.

"Just don't look over here, okay?" She forgot to tell hef not to. "While I do this, you can look around or something. How's your family?" She hoped her family hadn't been scared by her mother.

"Well, sometimes I wish that your mother wasn't so possessive of you. There's so much stuff I want to do with you, but only being allowed to see you under your mother's circumstances kind of sucked." Cori admitted out loud. "I'm lucky and glad to be your friend at all. I just wish that we could hangout whenever we wanted. We could do all sorts of things. Actually, that's why I got you this." She fished an envelope from her jacket pocket. "I wasn't sure what your mother would say if I gave this to you when we are supposed to swap gifts. I just wanted to do something special for you-for us over the summer."

Excitedly, Cori passed the other girl the envelope. Inside were two tickets. One was a ticket to a musical in Edinburgh and the other was a card that they could redeem to go see two movies and get concessions at a theater. The idea of doing both those things with Indigo made Cori so excited. She could share things she liked with someone who took he interests seriously. It was really, really awesome.

"I promise I won't peek." Cori smiled at her friend. "My family is pretty good. Melanie is spending all break at Hayden's house. Don't tell anyone, but I think they like like each other. McKenna is doing good too. She made friends with some first year boy. "How's your family?"

Were all mothers this protective of their children? The only other mother she had met, that wasn't related to her, was Cori's mother. She didn't seem as protective as her own mother was. "I'm my mother's little girl, I guess," she said with a shrug. Though that gave her mother no reason to be so protective. She wasn't siding with her mother though, she was far from siding with her. "I'm glad my mom didn't scare you off," she admitted. She recalled a time where she was out with her mother to get groceries and she wouldn't even let her wave to a boy who had waved to her first.

She stopped what she was doing when an envelope was passed to her. "For me?" Her face turned a light shade of pink as she smiled. She carefully opened it with shaky hands and pulled out the insides. She wasn't entirely sure what these things were but they must have been exciting since Cori was excited. "Should I know what these are?" Did that sound rude? She hadn't meant to sound rude at all. "I mean, I bet they're great and thank you. But could you explain what these are?" Her face turned a darker shade of red as she spoke. She was embarrassed for not knowing what her gift was and because she hadn't used her manners at first.

"Like like?" How many different likes were there? She thought back to when McKenna taught her some things about the modern world. "Like liking someone is when you have a crush on them, right?" She still didn't understand why crushes were called crushes. Did they hurt or something? "Do crushes hurt? If not then the title is very misleading."