Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Pride and Princesses The End of The Day chapter 10


Chapter 10

The End of The Day

    Trey was sitting on the porch helping Wednesday to paint her face with glitter and non-toxic substances when we arrived. He gave Mark a quizzical stare, but Trey had ignored me for most of my life so, I pretended not to care. The boys said a brisk, ‘see ya,’ to Mouche and me, then left as quickly as they’d arrived.

    Mouche’s brother looked up at both of us with what could only be described as amusement and derision. I mean, Trey had something of the authority figure aura about him. On this particular day, I have to tell you something I’d refrain from telling Mouche; he looked totally buff. He had his shirt off because he’d been swimming and his muscles were all big and cut...mmm. Kind of like how Mark might’ve looked without his shirt, only older.

     But Trey was angry. He had a dark, cute little cloud forming over his face and a wrinkle of exasperation between his eyes like he was ready to verbally lose it.

    ‘You guys said you would be back at one. Here.’ He deposited Wednesday’s paintbox in Mouche’s hands as if he was glad to be free of it.

    ‘Take it. I’ve decided child minding is ‘women’s work.’

    ‘So-rry. Someone’s chauvinistic brother is in a bad mood,’ Mouche added sarcastically.

    ‘Yeah, yours. I’m going out.’

    ‘Oh, it must be that skinny buck-toothed girl who also takes pre-med. She’s always coming around,’ Mouche said with a clever little sister smile. Mouche was particularly outspoken with family members and Trey was usually a safe target.

    He grabbed her sun hat and she chased her brother up the stairs but when he locked the child-proof fence behind him, Mouche screamed until he threw her hat back at her.

    Trey pretended not to notice me after that.

    Later, Mouche and I occupied Wednesday by allowing her to play with our makeup, while we compared shoes and ate gummy candy.

    When he was ready to go out, Trey left a slightly sweet smell in the hallway. As he walked past us, the air reeked of aftershave.

    ‘Wearing the latest ‘perfume for men’ are we? Oh, he’s so manly,’ Mouche teased.

   I swooned. Poor Trey just went all red and bolted out the door.

    Mouche and I both laughed and Wednesday clapped her hands again. She really was the smartest almost-three year old in the world.

    When Wednesday was born, Mouche and I applauded Mouche’s mom for her original name choice. Mrs Mouche liked to watch re-runs when she was a little girl of this classic show on television where the child was called, you guessed it, Wednesday. So, Mouche’s little sister is not just named after the day she arrived in the world. In any case, I’ve offered to babysit tonight, because Mouche has a ‘date.’

     We have planned to go for a swim. After that, I’ve promised to teach Wednesday how to become a star.  Some teenagers don’t like little kids but I love hanging out with Wednesday and if I didn’t want to be an actress, I might even become a nursery school teacher.

    Mouche has her ‘practice date’ organised for this evening from 6pm to 8pm with Scott Riley who lives across the road because, according to Mrs Jones’ guide, ‘a first date can often go badly...always have your next date planned, that way you won’t fret if the first one doesn’t work out...there are plenty more fish in the sea.

    Mouche gives her date with Jet priority so she’s practising with Scott. She suggested I also go with them to the ‘Midnight-Zoo’ (the Sunrise baby-animal zoo opens late once a year) but I don’t want to be the ‘third wheel’ again. Besides, I’ve been reading all about Africa in geography. One day I intend to go on a safari so I won’t be missing anything I can’t see in future.

    ‘I wanna come too,’ Wednesday says as she watches Mouche run the straightening iron through her hair.’

    ‘Oh, you get to stay with me, Wednesday. Lucky you...’ I say.

    ‘Lucky-me! Lucky-me!’ Wednesday says, clapping her hands. Children are so cute when they are pre-school age. 

     ‘How do I look?’ Mouche says ten minutes later.

     ‘Hot.’ We both clap our hands like we are Mouche’s fan club. ‘We are so glad we’re not going with you,’ I whisper under my breath. Scott was not exactly my dream man.

      ‘Now’, I said to Wednesday after Mouche vacated, ‘I’m going to put on this DVD of Mouche and I singing songs in first grade, you’ll just love it... and we can practice all the words after we’ve watched it.’

    Of course, Wednesday sang along for about ten minutes and I danced around with her but after all the face painting exertion, she wound up asleep in the corduroy beanbag in front of the television. I moved her out of the way of the radiation and looked up to see Trey rifling through a drawer in the kitchen.

    ‘Hey Phoebe, has Mouche just left you guys here?’

    ‘Yeah, it’s okay, I promised your mom I’d wait until she comes home. My mom is coming home soon...she has a late showing.’ My mom was busy selling a house three streets away.

    ‘Okay, if you’re sure it’s alright. You are really good with her...’

    ‘Uh...thanks.’ I smile. Trey is looking super hot. What a shame he is an older man and totally annoying. He thinks he’s going to be a band manager as well as a doctor.

   ‘...So?’ I asked Trey.

   ‘Huh?’

   ‘Forget something?’ I said with a smile.

   ‘Oh, I’m just trying to find my car keys...’

   ‘I think they’re in the fruit bowl...’

    ‘Oh,’ he says, grinning at me all white toothed and handsome. Gosh, he’s almost as good-looking as Mark Knightly, and because he’s older, he might even be hotter.

    Mouche and I took Trey’s car for a spin once when he was studying. He didn’t even notice it was gone until after we arrived home. Trey is so busy studying and trying to promote his band that the more important things in life, like having some serious fun, might just bypass him if he’s not careful.

    ‘I love your aftershave,’ I say, really sarcastically.

    He looks so embarrassed and Wednesday stirs and mumbles, ‘after-wave’ and Trey looks uncomfortable and says, ‘see ya’ in a confused manner and hurries out the door.

    ‘If a man is hesitant around you, don’t imagine you’ve reeled him in. He may just be unsure whether or not he wants to make the first move. And a man should always make the first move. And really, girls, do you want a man who doesn’t think enough of you to make the first move?’ Oh, Mrs Robinson can just shut up for the next day or so. I totally enjoyed making Trey cringe. Honestly, my new found confidence and all those old dating guides are working wonders.

   As Wednesday slept, I wrote up the Boy-Rating guide with the events of the day and the plan for the following month. Mouche and I are big on planning.

    But when it came time to put pen to diary paper, all I could think to write about my ‘date’ was:

   

    Date with Matt the UCLA older man – possibility- didn’t occur

    Rating 3/10 

    Items for the treasure chest: silver pen.

  

    Possible Date with Mark Knightly – My saviour!!!

    Rating 6/10 – it didn’t really happen, but he still managed to be in the right place at the right time. Yay! Thus far has revealed an arrogant nature with little regard for the feelings and schedule of others (i.e. me).

    Items for treasure chest locker: the receipt for my drink (doesn’t really count).

   

    I think I was sleepy by then because when I woke up it was morning and Mouche was lying on the floor next to Wednesday on the couch in front of the television. Breakfast News was playing. My mom had left me a note saying when she came by we were asleep and Mrs Mouche was home and she was going to come around at 9am to have breakfast with us. I’d looked so happy dozing and needed my rest.

    Trish was busy with her own life so she probably didn’t notice The Boy Rating Diary lay open on the floor on page nine (The first eight pages were filled with notes taken from various guides – mostly Mrs Robinson’s and Mrs Jones’ since they were our favourites). The notes included sub-headings (that might be of use to younger sisters such as Wednesday when she’s older) with topics such as:

 

·           Boyzamples (examples of familiar boy-types i.e.: academic, sporty, emo etc)

·           How to behave on dates

·           Likes / dislikes of future men

·           Targeted potential boy candy and

·           Items needed for your journey; be it New York, Los Angeles or Paris

 

The first page gave our mission statement:

 

This is the work of Phoebe Anderson and Mouche Macintosh.

Phoebe wants to be a Broadway singer, dancer, actress. Mouche: a brilliant lawyer. We want to help others as well as ourselves. This is our expose of the pre-men and women of Sunrise High (and a few random adults) starting with the Princesses and moving on down the list of pre-men prototypes we have or intend to date.

What follows is our advice, gleaned from hundreds of hours of research. We hope our experiences can shed light on yours...

 

After my notes on date one, Mouche added hers when she arrived home:

Date 3: Mouche and Scott

2/10

Identifying factors: his mother drove us everywhere

Job and personality: student, primary focus; science fair

Kisses: one on hand

Items gained: A feather (also disguised as a pen)

Possibility of re-date: none (hopefully)

 

*Date 2 Mouche...continued (notes):

 

    ‘Everything that could possibly be humiliating and bad about a date happened on this one...first of all, his mom came with us, which I thought was bizarre at first, but then it was okay. Scott’s mom was dressed like a hippie but it turns out we had a lot in common (we all liked pizza) so it wasn’t too bad. In fact it was preferable to talking to Scott as he didn’t have anything to say. It was also really sweet when she made her son open my door for me. I thought it was cute that she was teaching him to be chivalrous even if some people think it’s old-fashioned. Up until then he hadn’t spoken until we walked past the penguin enclosure...’

    ‘I hope you don’t mind my mom coming. It’s just that...it’s her car and she doesn’t trust me to drive it.’

    Wow is this supposed to make me feel secure in his arms? Wait a minute, I’m not even in his arms...

   Then he says, ‘after dinner let’s leave her in the gift shop and go make out...’

   ‘Are you serious? It would be a bit rude leaving your mom like that...’

   He’s starting to seem less like a nerd and more than a little undutiful...worst date ever except for the baby animal zoo where I got to feed a lot of different species and Scott’s mom, who used to be a vet, explained loads of interesting stuff to me. I think I will introduce her to my mom and Trish. She told me she her husband just ran off with a woman he met online.

    Is there something in the water of Sunrise? I shouldn’t be too hard on Scott. He must have immediate family tensions. Give him an extra point. Prompt arrival home at 8pm – Phoebe and Wednesday were asleep on the couch. We picked up Wednesday and I’m writing this while you were sleeping. Can’t wait for the Fall Fling. This was just for practice.  First planned dates are always just for practice. Onwards and upwards, Mrs Mouche always says. ‘Night.