Bella's officially graduated middle school. After 3 years of ups and downs will high school prove to be the "best four years of her life" or will it be her most challenging time? Leia's getting older and beginning to form new thoughts, experiences...
Dear Diary, Mommy and Daddy are working...again! :( So it's just me, Noah, Bella, and Lucy. Eli is with his mommy. We're supposed to go shopping for some decorations right now. I hope Mommy and Daddy like what we pick out... We might get Ace and Ryan elf hats too!
"Leia, you can't write and eat." "Sorry." I giggled. "I see you're loving that diary." "Mhm! It's fun to write my feelings and that stuff." "And it'll be fun to read." Noah said while eating the strip of bacon on my plate. "Hey!" I growled. "First off, my diary is private and no one's supposed to read it! Second, I was gonna eat that piece of bacon!" Lucy placed two more pieces on my plate while laughing. "It's okay, honey. Don't mind your brother." "Hello everyone, I'm here to grace you with my presence." "Well rise and shine." Lucy said to Bella. "When are we going to get the decorations and stuff?" "As soon as you guys finish eating breakfast." I finished the eggs on my plate quickly and dropped my fork. "I'm ready!" ^^^^^^^^^^ Target (Southampton) "Okay, Mom said that she kinda wants to stray away from the traditional this year. She wants to be bold!" Noah told us. "What about blue and silver? Don't think we've ever done that." "No, pink!" "That's not a very Christmas-y color, Lei." "Aww." I held my American girl doll, Maia in my hand. "Hmmm." We walked around the decoration aisle. "Let me FaceTime Mom." Bella called Mommy. "Hello, sweet pea. Look, I'm wearing the super cute Converses you got me for my birthday." "They look stunning on you, Mom!" Noah told her. "Do you think that kissing her...." Bella looked at me and Lucy. "Booty will get you more presents?" Mom laughed. "I'm being honest, she looks gorgeous." "Thank you, Noah. Bella's just a hater." "Whatever. Anyways, we don't know what to do. How do you feel about blue and silver." "Hmm, everyone does blue and silver....what about gold?" "That would be lovely." "And look, there are white and gold ribbons here Lucy." I said while holding it up. "Well, I guess that's figured out!" *************** The Living Room (Bella's Perspective) "Come, Lei, you can put the star on top." Noah put Leia on his back and she put the star on happily. "Yay!" After about an hour of arguing over the tree, we're finally done.
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"It looks good. I think your Mom and Dad will love it." "I hope so, we worked really hard on it!" Leia said cutely. "I wish that they were here to help though, we didn't get to decorate the tree together last year either." "Crimes go up around the holidays sometimes, what can you do?" Noah asked. Noah and I are pretty used to being "parentless" during the holidays sometimes but it doesn't make it any easier. "Okay guys, let's not be negative." Lucy said while cuddling Leia. "Mommy and Daddy aren't gonna be here?" "Your parents are going to try their hardest, okay. Also guys, Kathleen is going to be coming and taking over for me until your parents are free. I know you guys will be good for her, isn't that right?" Leia nodded. "I wonder when Mom and Dad are coming back." ****************** Manhattan, NY (Olivia's Perspective) "Okay, here begins the OC and Manhattan SVU joint task force against Robert Mosley." Elliot said. "Robert runs one of the biggest sex and drug trafficking rings in the northeast." "His hub is here in New York and our plan over these next couple of days is to bust him." "How are we going to do that?" Kat asked. "We have a UC in already, Detective Gordon from Queens SVU. She's undercover as Marcia Gomez and has been working her way to the top of the chain for a couple of months now. Currently, she's getting closer to Robert. On Sunday, there's going to be a big poker game over at their warehouse in Hamilton Heights. On her call, the moment she sees any suspicious activities we will go in." "Organized raid, gotcha." "Any questions?" Sargent Bell asked. "None at all."
Leia: Mommy, I miss you lots and lots 💕💕💕 Me: I miss you too my sweet girl. Leia: are you gonna be home for Christmas? 🎄
I sighed sadly. I can't even answer that question. *************** Thursday, Dec. 22nd (Hannah's House) (Bella's Perspective) "So y'all are okay?" Hannah asked. "I guess." "You know she had his number right?" Paisley sighed. "Okay, let's not think about that then... We should do something it's almost Christmas." "Like what?" I asked. "Have a little Christmas hangout. Watch movies. Have holiday treats. Hot cocoa." Hannah nudged me playfully. "That does sound nice!! And we can sit by the fireplace and stuff. So who's house would we do it at?" They both stared at me. "Are you serious?" "I mean...your place just looks the best. Plus, your parents are super cool, and your siblings aren't mega embarrassing." I blushed. "Okay, so the three of us?" We all nodded. Looks like this'll be fun. Something to take my mind off of everything. "I have to ask Kathleen if it's okay first though." "Awesome! Ooo, we should make caramel hot chocolate." "That exists?" Hannah asked. "Duh. Let's look for recipes!" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (Home) "Kathleen, I'm back." I put my shoes away and hung up my coat. "Hey Bell, we're making macrons." Morgan said. "I didn't know you were coming." I hugged her. "Morgan! Come back! We gotta fill them up!" Leia said eagerly. "Hi, Bell-Bell. You gotta come help us, wash your hands." She said cutely and urgently. I went over to the kitchen where macarons were being filled...and eaten. "Noah! Stop eating them or we won't have them for dessert!" Leia swatted him. "Geez." "Listen to your baby sister." Morgan said before kissing him. "Yucky, no PDA over the lavender and lemon macarons. Nasty, nasty! No kissing and cooking." "Someone's serious about their macarons." Kathleen said. "Only Bella can be here and Kathleen because they're not icky and doing PDA." I'll be honest...I'm feeling a bit down, but it's hard to be sad when you've got this cutie around. "The filling smells really good. You guys did great." I told her. "Yeah because I'm a baker." "So Bella, how was it at Hannah's?" "It was good. Hannah and Pais asked if they could come over and do a little hangout tomorrow. Hot cocoa, cookies, all of that stuff." "That sounds really good, actually!" "Can I have a friend over too?" "You can...Bella, you don't seem all that excited about it." Kathleen said. "I am." I kept filling the macrons. Noah, Morgan, Kathleen, and Leia kept on talking and making the treats and I just floated away to my bedroom. Holidays are hard for me. They weren't always as good as they are now. I've been trying my hardest not to go back to that place...but there are cracks and it's gonna happen. I can feel it.
"Mommy, please don't let him!" I cried. She slapped me. She always let the bad guys hurt me for powder. "This one puts up a fight, doesn't she?" I ran to go hide in the corner. "You know that you can't hide for long. You can't hide for long you little bitch." I stayed in my special spot where no one could find me. I put my hand over my mouth so he wouldn't find-
"No, no, no!" I hit my head with my fists. "No! I'm not going to go there. I can't!" I reached for my phone and texted my mom. Why can't I just enjoy the holidays like a normal person? Why does it always have to be like this?
Mom: Sorry honey, I can't talk right now. Mom: Can you wait a second bear?
I read that and started to cry loudly. I wish she'd just come home. I wish El could come home. I need to talk to someone that understands what Maria did. I feel suffocated. Christmas makes me want to throw up sometimes. Plus, this Christmas is a lot in a different way, it's the last one as the 6 of us. If they can't even be here now, what's gonna happen when there's 7 of us?
