Second Chance

Chapter One

Author's note: This story has some unfamiliar words that some of you may not understand, so there are some french words that I want to point out so that you can understand better. Also, this story is more personal to me in terms of the setting. Hope you enjoy! :)

Meme is french for Grandmother

Cherie is an endearment phrase that can mean anything like sweetie, sweetheart, love, etc. 

Je vous aime de tout mon coeur means I love you with all of my heart.

Chapter One

"Mallorie! have you checked your email to see if Penn State emailed you back?" Mallorie's mom Annette yelled from her bedroom.

"Mom, I just got home from school and I haven't even turned my laptop on yet. I'll check my email in a second."

Mallorie dropped her book bag down on the floor and turned to her laptop atop of her desk and turned it on. She waited until her internet loaded and then she was able to check her email. As she carefully looked through her in-box and didn't see any new emails from Penn State, she sighed and then got up and went to her mom's bedroom. Mallorie stood at the doorway and saw her mom going through her clothes in her dresser.

"I checked my email and I didn't see any new email from Penn State yet."

Annette stopped what she was doing and then turned to Mallorie, "Okay, well I guess we'll have to wait a few more days to see if they reply back. If not, we'll just have to call them late at night when it's morning time for them."

"But what if I don't get accepted mom?" Mallorie asked as she stepped into her mom's bedroom.

"It's in God's hands sweetie, if you don't get accepted, remember you sent out other applications and the other colleges have accepted you. So don't worry about it okay?" then Annette walked over and hugged her daughter and kiss her on the head. "How was your day cherie?"

"It was good, but tiring. I can't believe we're going to be leaving Japan pretty soon, I'm really gonna miss here it mom."

"I know hun, but it's our time to leave; but don't worry, we'll come back here one day in the future, alright." Annette's encouragement lifted Mallorie spirits.

   Mallorie, her mom Annette, and her grandmother Vivien have been living in Japan for three years now, and Mallorie's mom worked as a contractor for the United States military. However, since Annette was retiring as a contractor, their family was leaving the military base in Japan and going back to America to live as civilians.But, Mallorie and her family have fallen in love with Japan and the move back to America was going to be hard on everyone, especially Mallorie.

Mallorie sighed, "Okay, I hope we can cause I really love Japan, and I would do anything to come back here." she paused,  "But on another note, where's meme?"

"She went to the commissary to get groceries. She's making dinner tonight." Annette smirked.

  Mallorie grandmother Vivien was hands down the best cook ever. Grant it, Mallorie's mom is also a phenomenal cook too, but Annette learned all that she knows from the best, her mother Vivien. In general Mallorie is very fortunate to have two great cooks living with her and she often wonders how she hadn't become overweight by now from the abundance of wonderful food that she's been eating her whole life.

  Mallorie chuckled, "Okay then, well I'm going to lay down for a little bit." Mallorie kissed her mom on the cheek and then went to her bedroom. As soon as reached her room, she kicked the door closed and changed into something more comfortable. She grabbed her black basketball shorts and short sleeve gray fitted t- shirt and as she was changing, she paused for a second and looked at her body in her full length mirror. Mallorie looked closely at her smooth and flawless chocolate brown skin tone that reminded her of rich chocolate. And she noted her slender yet curvaceous body which seemed like it to took forever to achieve; as a kid Mallorie had always been painfully skinny but when she finally went through puberty, she gained weight in the right places. Then, Mallorie ran her hand through her naturally dark brown kinky curly hair that reached all the way down to the center of her bosom; she twirled a curl on the end of her forefinger, although her hair required high maintenance majority of the time, it was still beautiful and versatile, and she wouldn't trade it for anything else. She walked closer to the mirror and looked at her face more closely, her soft heart shaped face was paired with almond dark brown eyes spanned by long thick eyelashes. But Mallorie always thought that her mouth was too full, however her nose was perfectly proportioned with her face and she had a fairly rounded chin. As she raised her gaze to her naturally trimmed eyebrows, she saw huge pimple.

"Great" Mallorie muttered. Her senior graduation was three weeks away; she hoped by then there would be no pimples, zits, or any other kind of blemish on her face. When Mallorie finished changing into her clothes, she laid down on her soft bed and closed her eyes and drifted off into a light sleep.

   A few minutes later, Mallorie's grandmother Vivien came home and Mallorie's mom helped Viven unload all of the groceries.

"Where's Mallorie?" Vivien asked.

"She's taking a nap."

"Oh, then she'll miss out cooking with us."

"You're right,  she'll be mad if we don't wake her up." Annette laughed.

"Then I'll go check on her." Vivien replied with a smile.

Vivien went up the stairs and opened Mallorie's bedroom and found her granddaughter sleeping in a fetal position. Before she stepped in, Vivien took a moment to gaze at Mallorie.  Viven loved her granddaughter fiercely and she never thought that she would be so blessed to see her daughter Annette give birth to a now beautiful young lady.

Vivien left France a few years back to come live with her daughter after her husband passed away. Vivien's husband was originally from the Caribbean or  West Indian while Vivien herself is a full blood french woman. When Annette got married, Viven couldn't be more proud of her daughter and during the time, she prayed that God would bless her with a handful of grandchildren. However, when Annette and her son in law got married, they had troubles conceiving children at the time, so when Mallorie was born it was an answer to Vivien's prayer. Albeit, she didn't get a handful of grandchildren like she originally wanted, but Vivien loved her granddaughter no less. Then, just like Vivien, Annette's husband tragically died after only being married to Annette for seven years. It was a sad day indeed but Vivien, Annette, and Mallorie overcame the tragedy as time went on. However, It wasn't always easy for anyone of them though. Now, the three generation of women all lived together and the bond that they shared couldn't be any more closer if possible. All three women were there for each other and loved one another fiercely. Vivien was indeed blessed and knew that if she were to pass away suddenly, she would truly die happy.

Vivien moved forward and sat down on the edge of Mallorie's bed and softly stroked the side of Mallorie's face; Mallorie slowly opened her eyes.

"Meme?"

"Hi baby" Vivien lightly kissed Mallorie's forehead. Mallorie came up to a siting position and hugged Vivien and while Vivien stroked her Mallorie's hair and inhaled the sweet scent of her granddaughter. Mallorie let go of Viven and they both smiled at each other.

"How was school cherie?"

"It was good Meme, but I'm gonna miss this place, I really love Japan."

"I know sweetie, I will too. But, don't loose hope we will all come back here one day." Mallorie smiled in respone. "I don't know about you cherie but I'm hungry and it's time to cook."

"Oh, what are we cooking today Meme?"

"One of your favorites dishes, chicken ratatouille with rice."

"Yes!" Mallorie beamed. Chicken ratatouille was one of Mallorie favorite dishes to cook and eat. She jumped out of bed and hand in hand Mallorie and Vivien descended down the stairs and went into the kitchen.

"Well, it's about time. I was beginning to think you two weren't going to eat dinner." Annette exclaimed.

"Off course not. I'm here now, let us cook!" Mallorie said. And together the three women all worked together to create a delicious and sumptuous meal for the evening, to which they all ate and enjoyed immensely. After all, it wasn't necessarily the food that made the moment sweet, it was simply being together in each other's company that made it the highlight of everyone's day.