STOIC

FIVE

EMMERSON

Emmerson 8

Stoic 14

TWO MONTHS HAD PASSED since the birthday debacle, and Stoic was barely speaking to me. I must have pissed him off. It looked like he was super busy, but he still came over at night for dinner, combed my hair, and put me to sleep. Luckily, that was pretty much the only time I saw him during the day.

He even stopped fishing. He said he didn't have time to fish with silly and immature little girls like me. It was not like I cared. I liked it better like that, anyway. With Stoic out of the picture, I was free to do whatever the hell I wanted without having The Dokken's shadow behind me.

I finally found a friend! A girl that was not girly, just like me. Amelia and I hated other girls, so we became friends fast. Amelia's skin was darker than mine, and her hair was afro like Mom's. Her mom always made pigtails for her. I thought she looked cute with them, so I asked my mom to make them for me, so I could look like Amelia too.

She was fun but weird, the good kind of weird. She had a thing for leaves, so she collected them. Since Amelia had a collection, I also wanted one. Not having much to choose from, I settled for collecting beetles. As you might imagine, my collection was a bit problematic for Amelia, but she didn't mind too much. So far, I had twenty-four beetles, but six died. I kept them anyway.

Since we spent so much time together, people started calling us twins. Some kids would call us names and try to bully us, but Amelia and I would throw rocks at them with our slingshots and make them sorry for even thinking about messing with us.

Amelia had an older brother, Landon. He was two years older than us and played with us sometimes. He was tall and athletic but not as tall as Stoic. No one was as tall as Stoic—he was a giant. Landon was a hugger. I was not very cuddly, so Landon did make me uncomfortable at first, but I thought I was getting used to it. Landon usually hugged me hello, goodbye, and pretty much anytime he felt like it without a reason.

It was fall, and that meant time to celebrate the harvest. I'd gone with Amelia's family to the fall festival. I had plans to meet my family later on for the concert. So far, we'd done the hayride, the corn maze, the rolling pumpkins, and we were on our way to the petting zoo. I was determined to hug every animal there. I guessed Landon's hugs were becoming contagious.

I had locked arms with Amelia and was skipping when I saw Stoic. He was a bit far, but I could tell he was holding something wrapped in a piece of fabric. I knew I was going to get my wood gift, so I pulled Amelia by the arm and ran toward Stoic.

Stoic saw me and just stood there waiting for me to reach him with his serious face on. Some things never changed. He looked at Amelia and raised an eyebrow.

"She's my best friend, Amelia." I knew what he was thinking. He didn't need to talk.

Stoic smiled at Amelia. Wow, that never happened. Maybe he was okay with her.

"Is that my gift?" I said, pointing to the fabric. I was excited. Don't blame me, I loved gifts.

Stoic nodded and gave it to me.

I eagerly unwrapped it, and what I found inside was something I wasn't expecting at all.

"A boomerang?" I asked. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it was just that it was not very Stoic-ish to give me something like this.

"It will always come back to you." He pointed at the boomerang.

Duh! Thank you, Captain Obvious.