Land of Stories-1

Chapter 10: "Are they getting along?"

For the past ten minutes, Conner had been following Mr Campbell to his study. It took a long time for them, (Conner) to reach the top of the staircase since there was so MANY steps to take.

Conner thought Bree's house looked like a mansion. It probably IS a mansion, what do I know? Conner Bailey said in his head. As if he could hear what he was thinking, Mr Campbell unexpectedly stopped walking and turned to face Conner. "You know, a lot of people mistaken our house for a mansion....it's actually a normal house, you know? But bigger, much, much bigger." Oscar told the boy who was looking quite weirded-out.

After stating that, Mr Campbell gave a shrug and faced back to the corridors, continuing to get to the study. Conner examined all the photos hanging on the walls; one of them showed a small girl with blond hair, she looked only five years old. But from her smile and the way her eyes shone, Conner could easily tell that it was Bree.

The next picture showed a image of a young couple, and the woman was carrying a small baby in her arms, she was holding onto it tightly. The woman looked tired, while the man remained calm and had a wide smile on his face. It took a while for Conner to figure out that it was Mr and Mrs Campbell. They looked kind of the same, except they appeared younger in that photograph. For one thing, Conner couldn't believe that that was Mr Campbell in that photograph....he looked so happy, compared to now...

"What are you doing? Are you even listening?" A sharp voice interrupted Conner's thoughts. He blinked and looked at Mr Campbell. He was looking very annoyed.

"I'm sorry, er-sir." Conner said quickly.

"Hmph." Oscar stared and gave Conner a glare before turning back to push open the double-doors.

As Mr Campbell led Conner into his study, Conner gasped and stared around in awe; it was so big, and had so much potential! It looked like a library instead of a small study.

"Wow! This place is sick!" Conner smiled to himself and raised his head to look at the shelves that were lined up with books. When Conner turned to look at Mr Campbell, he saw that Oscar was scanning the shelves with a serious look on his face.

"What are you doing? Errr....sir?" Conner asked Mr Campbell.

Oscar sighed. "I was just checking to see if all of the books are in order...I really hate it when it's all messed up." He snarled and walked towards a sophisticated-looking desk and started to arrange the pile of papers on his desk. They were already really neat-but the look on Oscar's face told Conner that he thought the papers was a mess.

"Perhaps this guy has OCD." Conner couldn't help but mutter this to himself loudly. Luckily, Mr Campbell was so focused in tidying the papers that he didn't hear him.

Once he'd arranged the papers, Oscar held them in his hands and turned to Conner.

"Just tidying." Mr Campbell told Conner with a raised chin and placed the papers back onto the desk.

Conner was ready to curl his hand into a fist.

"Follow me." Mr Campbell instructed.

*

Downstairs, Bree and Mrs Campbell were both sipped the tea that Mrs Campbell'd made. She tried everything to keep things...unawkward. For the past twenty minutes or so, the Mother and Daughter sat uncomfortably on a separate couch. For Bree, normally the couch would be comfortable for her. Although today, she felt like she was sitting on rocks.

After minutes of silence and Bree squirming and shuffling in her seat, she put her cup of tea down and faced her Mom.

"Mom?" Bree's voice was small.

"Yes? Honey?" Mrs Campbell stared into space, not looking at her daughter. She had her cup of tea clasped in her heads, but she did not take a single sip.

Bree sighed. "Do you think it was a bad idea for me to invite Conner here today? Dad seemed to be in a glum." She asked with glassy-eyes.

Mrs Campbell put down her tea and for the first time in twenty minutes, she looked at her child. "Maybe." She replied simply.

"I just don't know what to do!" Bree groaned and covered her face with her hands. "This is all my fault! Dad HATES Conner!"

Mrs Campbell reached out and placed her hand on Bree's arm. "Now, now dear, it wasn't your fault. Your Dad doesn't hate Conner..." Her voice trailed off as she began to think what to say.

"I knew it. He HATES him." Bree mumbled.

"Let's just hope they're getting along." And that was all Mrs Campbell could say.