Tuesday 18th March 2031.
The small girl puts the bag on her back, looking at her mum who is engrossed at something on her phone. Her dad comes over, with three cups of a warm drink, two coffees for Joe and Dianne and a hot chocolate for Amelia.
'You ready pumpkin?' Joe asks the child, as the train approaches the station. She nods enthusiastically, waiting for the doors on the train to open. When she was little, she used to get overly excited about trains, never failing to make the pair laugh when she would stand on a bridge "waving" to the trains. She had grown out of it by the time she was five, but it is one of those memories that never fails to make her smile.
'What time will I get to school?' She questions, sitting down onto the seat, placing the hot cup on the table, taking care not to spill it over herself or the table.
Probably about lunchtime.' Dianne tells her. 'But remember, if you don't want to.'
'I know mummy, please stop. I'm asking because I want to go.' She takes a sip of the hot drink, pulling a face as she burns her tongue a little bit. 'If I didn't want to go, I wouldn't ask.'
'Sorry.' Her daughter shakes her head, moving around in her seat. 'Have you got ants in your pants?' She smirks at her mother frets about her. It's moments like this, when she is smirking at Dianne, that she wonders is she going to have her work cut out, when she becomes a teenager. She's starting to see little changes to her attitude, she wonders what she is going to be like when she actually becomes a teen. 'Please keep your bum on your seat.' She smiles, moving once more, before sitting down.
'So Melie.' Joe starts. 'What can we do to make you feel better?' He watches as she thinks for a moment. 'You know when we had that conversation with uncle Alfie.' She puts her hands to her face, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table. They had talked about this with Zoe and Alfie on Sunday, Amelia being able to convey how she felt. Joe and Dianne had taken this time to talk about what the next step towards the future is.
It had been Joe's idea, to ambush her on the way to the Evelina. They had decided they would ask her what she wanted. She would be ten in just under a month, double digits. Come September, the decision about where she is going to school has to be taken. She has to have a say in that, it's such a big decision, the pair know they can't treat her like a five-year-old. Then there will be everything that comes along with secondary school, the independence. They have to talk to her in an age appropriate manner, and that is asking for her input.
'I want you to stop worrying mummy.' Dianne smiles, it's the first time Amelia has called her mummy in a long time.
'It's my job to worry.'
'No, you worry more, I am okay.' She promises, as Dianne smiles at her daughter, wondering where all those years have gone. It doesn't feel like ten years, it feels like ten minutes. When she was born and wrapped up in the little pink blanket she sleeps with, Dianne promised her that she would do everything she could to protect her. She has tried, until now she thought she had been doing well, but to miss something so major. She felt guilty. Not the I accidentally ate the last chocolate guilty, this was something else. A much harder feeling of guilt. 'And I don't want you to look at me like that, daddy.'
It's Joes turn to look astounded, he had been sure that he wouldn't be brought up on anything. 'The look?' She nods, as he doesn't make eye contact with her. He didn't know he had been doing anything major, but apparently not.
'You do it, every time I take my tablets, or when I'm doing something with someone besides the twins.' She pauses. 'I'm not my epilepsy.' She tells the pair of them, both of them marvelling at the statement. For someone so small, it's an awfully mature statement, reminding the pair that she isn't a baby anymore. 'I am Amelia Sugg.' She pauses, looking out of the window, before looking back between her parents. 'I like kittens, I like the colour pink, my favourite meal is Quorn wraps and chips and my favourite song is strut by the Cheetah girls'
'Where have you heard that song?' Joe asks, scandalised, wondering where she would have heard that song.
'Isabelle.' She grins, of course it was her cousin. 'See I want to be that girl, I don't want to be the sick one.' She tells her parents, as they stand up, ready to leave the train. 'I don't want to be the one that everyone feels sorry for. That is only part of me.' The pair note how mature she is now, she too has been thrown into this world. A world that they don't understand, confused by all the medical jargon.
They get seen on time today, Amelia having changed the subject to away from her. She sits on her own chair, insisting that she wants to listen to what the doctor has to tell her. Dianne assumes that it is part of her wanting to be treated like a grown up, she's right to want that, Dianne mused. She was hurt that her little baby didn't want protecting from this condition, no matter how much Dianne wanted to. 'I can confirm.' The doctor begins. 'Amelia has epilepsy.' Dianne nods, her heart taking another beating. She knew that this was the case, she knew this is what they would be told. It just didn't make it any easier. 'And from the look of these tests, she is one of the 3% of people with photosensitive epilepsy.'
'What happens next?' Dianne asks, as the doctor. They listen as it is explained to them, what the next steps are. She just sits there, every breath seems like a struggle, and all she wants to-do is cry. Except she can't, not whilst Amelia is here. She doesn't want to scare her, she wants to keep her naïve about the condition for as long as she can, she will understand it eventually. After the conversation, Dianne knew that she had to treat her as normally as she possibly could. She would have to try to remember how she treated her before all of this happened, because all Amelia wants to be is her old self.
She knew as she got older, she would understand the way it will limit her, things like Christmas lights would have to be closely monitored, things that flash. She didn't know if her daughter would ever be allowed to go clubbing, something she used to enjoy, and she knew that Joe definitely did enjoy. She may never be able to drive, but right now they need to make sure that she didn't become frightened by the condition This was about Amelia, and not how Dianne was feeling.
'Mummy.' Amelia asks on the train back. 'You know you said you were going to listen to me.' Dianne nods.
'I am baby girl, I promise.'
'Okay.' She cheekily grins. 'Can I have a kitten then?'
The end
A/N Thoughts? Thank you all for reading this, still not over #1 in Joe Sugg. I do hope you enjoyed this.
Also, I need to have a little freak out because I spoke to JOE FRIGGIN' SUGG at comic relief last night, I don't even know how it happened. One moment I was in a queue to get into one part of the set, giving a little wave to Joe with my friends (to which my best friend and I were already shook and that had made our night). Next thing I know, we were walking past him and he said hello to us. It was literally just the four of us their and it made my night. He interrupted his conversation to say hello to us, and then he was waiting behind us to go on and I got another wave. I think I had actually died, we were waiting for the second half and we were legit shaking. Sadly we didn't get a picture cause we weren't suppose to take pictures... That and having a full on conversation with Dr Ranj about strictly! (Both of them are super lovely, or at least they appeared to be)
On another note, kudos if you get the title reference within the chapter!
