Rebels Without A Clause

✧3

Heat blasts in my face right as I open the oven. The ham is not done. Darn. I've been standing in this kitchen for about 30 minutes now. Out of boredom, I decided to help prepare the other food. From the other rooms, I can hear the excitement and chatter. Arm greetings and loud laughter.

More minutes go pass again. My hands slide into the oven mitts. The ham looks about ready to take out. It might not be done, but I am. Behind me, I hear someone come into the kitchen. I assume it's just my Mom.

"Where should I put my gingerbread house?" A deep voice comes from the person. It shocked me at first. My skin almost touches the hot pan. I don't recognize the voice so it's probably a clueless guest.

"Just on the counter, thank you!" I call out to them. My arms reach into the oven to get the ham. I quickly stood up and put the pan on the stove. When I turned around to look for the person just in the kitchen, nobody was there. Just a gingerbread house left on the table. That's odd. I wonder who that was.

My kitchen duties are over. I fix my hair in a mirror before I go out into the other room. Happy yells come from my relatives when they see me. I get tag-teamed by my grandma and aunt. They trap me in a hug that I can't escape from.

"Oh my!" My grandma squeals. "You've grown so much."

"You're not the little kid I remember you as," My aunt says.

I've missed them so much. But I can't help but laugh at their comments. They act like they haven't seen me in years.

"Yeah," I laugh, "It's been forever."

I talked with them for a bit longer. Eventually, I see Poppy sitting alone on her phone so I go and join her. Plopping down next to her, I ask her how she's doing. I look over at her phone and I see she's on Instagram. She's not scrolling through reels or anything. But, she's on my older cousin's page.

"Seriously, Poppy? My cousin." I deadpan. She doesn't even try to hide the phone when I call her out.

"What? He got cute," She replies with an innocent shrug.

"Oh! You know what else happened?" She tells me. I fully put my legs on the couch and lean onto Poppy's shoulder. I ended up not wearing my boots. Now I have the privilege of putting my feet on furniture.

Poppy rants about her story. When she tells me something, she tells several other stories as well. So right now I know 1. Uncle Steve shaved his mustache. 2. My five-year-old cousin has a better gingerbread house than me. 3. This random guy offered to draw a mustache on Uncle Steve.

"Random guy? I for sure thought you knew everyone in my family. Plus all their friends."

"I know," She says. "Right when I think I've met everyone from your family, there's more."

Mentally I list all the people I have seen tonight. I'm positive she knows all of them. I told her to describe the guy. Nothing is happening right now, so we might as well play "Guess Who" by ourselves.

"Tall, cute, brown hair. Ummm. I don't know his eye color," Poppy lists. I try to think of all the people I know, but nothing still rings a bell. "What was he wearing? Was he old?" I ask. She sits and thinks for a few seconds.

"He was young. Like our age. Maybe he's a cousin then. The guy was wearing something simple. Like a blue sweater and I don't remember the pants." Poppy jumps up spontaneously. "Let's go find him," She suggests. I'm so comfortable where I am. Sounds of complaining spill from my mouth as she tugs me off the couch.

We get stopped by a few of my cousins and friends. Because I want to, I stop and talk to them. Poppy looks impatient. She tries to end the conversations. Sometimes it worked while other times we just ignored her. Most of my family is used to Poppy by now. They don't care if they offend her.

We travel from room to room. People sit in all places they possibly can. Christmas music plays in the background. They all seem happy to be here. I'm happy my family is hosting this party. It's always a good time. Poppy moves through the house fast. I almost tripped over my cousin's legs. She shifts from where she's sitting on the carpet. I quickly apologize. Poppy is almost out of sight.

Right as I find her again. A bell rings. Poppy turns around. She comes back to me with a disappointed face. It wasn't a big deal. Or at least it wasn't to me. New people are allowed to come to the party. It's probably just a family friend.

"Alright, everyone! Please come to the kitchen. The gingerbread contest starts now," My Dad announces. I'm glad the kitchen is a large, open space. Slowly, everyone shuffles into the room and circles around the table with all the houses. I see my sad house which looks terrible. It makes me feel better when some other ones don't look as great. I'm impressed by lots of these. There are lots of gingerbread houses, classic. Poppy's train looks nice and there is also a gingerbread boat.

"The winner for the most creative design is-" My Mom drags out. She smiles and looks around the room. People anxiously wait for her to finish her sentence. "Uncle Steve with his boat!" People clap and laugh. I do as well. Of course, the boat was Uncle Steves. It truly looks amazing.

"The next is the best classic gingerbread house." My grandma announces this one. "Drumroll please," She asks. We all start to pat our legs. "Cole Clarke is the winner!" She announces over the noise. "What did she say?" I ask Poppy. Her face is also scrunched in confusion. I didn't fully hear the name over the noise. I think she said Cole but I don't recall a Cole ever coming to this party.

Poppy shakes my shoulders. I look over at her, surprised. Her pointed hand launches in front of my face. "That's him," She exclaims, "That's the guy we're trying to find." My head whips around to see the guy walk up to the front. He matches Poppy's description exactly.

Poppy is right about never seeing him here. But he looks oddly familiar to me. The feeling bothers me as I try to figure out where I have seen him from. My grandma hands him his cheap plastic metal. They ask him to pose with his house for a photo. Poppy and I both stare at him. His eyes flicker over to me in the crowd. Immediately, I am hit with a flashback. I'm transported back to Walmart. I gasp quietly.

"Poppy. It's him," I half-whisper to her. She stares at me in confusion. I'm losing my mind because there is no way this is happening. "The guy, Cole, whatever his name is," I explain, "That's the guy from Walmart. The one who took the gingerbread house. The gingerbread house that just won." Poppy's eyes widen in surprise. It hits her too. Her head nods wildly. "I think you're right. I think you're one hundred percent right," She says in shock.

My aunt announced the last winner. I don't see the guy anymore. Both Poppy and I are so focused on him that we don't realize Poppy got called a winner. People start calling Poppy's name and she leaves me to go to the front. Any thoughts she was having are now completely gone. Her smile stretches far across her face as she takes her plastic metal. I take this time to move over to one of my older cousins.

"Hey Lily-Rose, funny your friend won, huh?" She says with her deep southern accent. I have to play into the conversation before I ask what I want to ask. Poppy has ended up giving a speech in front of everyone so this gives me more time.

"Who was the second guy?" I ask my cousin casually. Not casually enough, apparently. She smirks down at me. I feel my face growing hot because that's not how I meant for her to take it. "Oh don't worry, hun," My cousin says, "He's not related to you. He's a family friend. Met him earlier. Cole is pretty nice. He's your age, you know." My face is completely red now, I can tell. "That's not what I meant, but thank you."

☃︎❅✧˖°･::｡･::･ﾟ.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Part 3 is done! What are ya'lls thoughts on this new Cole character?