A Love from 1939

Maria Lorelai Hoscheid was sitting on her jet black, down comforter trying, unseccessfully, to do her english homework.

She quickly glanced around her room. Two of the walls were covered with bookcases going all the way from the ceiling to the floor. The inside of the shelves were painted black and the fronts were silver. Instead of books covering the shelves they were completely filled with classic movies. There was everything from “My Fair Lady” to “Wuthering Heights”. The other two walls were covered in posters from the old movies. She had bright red velvet curtains on her windows and more on her TV stand to cover her TV, VCR, and DVD player when they’re not in use. Her desk’s legs were made of black metal an the top was silver plastic. The chair in front of the desk was black with red velvet seat cushions.

She looked over at the bookcase next to her bed and saw that there was a space on her shelf. ‘Okay, I should know what movie that is. That’s one of them that Grandma taped for me.” She thought raking her fingers through her flame red hair. Her bright green eyes still scanning the titles of the other movies she finally figured out which one it was.

“Matt!” she yelled to her younger brother. “Give me back my tape!”

“You give me back Meteora and I’ll give you back your precious tape.” He suddenly appeared in the doorway.

“I don’t have it. It’s in Mia’s CD player.” She said walking up to him with her hand outstretched. “So can I get my tape back now?”

“Here.” he finally gave her back the tape in his hand. “Hey Aria, what’s so good about ‘Girl Crazy’ anyway?”

“Oh, nothing really. Just the actors, the story line, the dancers, the music. Only little things like that.” She walked over and carefully placed it back in it’s spot.

“God, you’re way too organised!” he looked around her recently dusted and vacuumed room.

“So I like to be organised, what’s your point?” She asked putting in the movie “Love Finds Andy Hardy”.

“Nothing.” He said just as the theme song started to resonate through the room. “But I’m going to see if my CD is still in Mia’s CD player.” He said walking to the door.

“Next time you steal a movie you owe me five bucks!” She yelled slamming the door behind him.

~~~

Monica Lucille Hoscheid sat at her hot pink desk, cutting, gluing, and tapeing the shoe boxes in front of her. She was trying to get them to look like studio warehouses.

“Mia, where’s my CD?”Matt asked standing in her lime green and black door frame. He stopped for a minute then walked into her bedroom and stopped in front of her bed.

“Which CD are you babbling about?” Mia asked swiveling her lime green chair around to show her skin tight black pants, covered in glue and small bits of cardboard.

“My Linkin Park CD. Now where is it?” He asked stepping over her pile of clothes right in the middle of the floor and sitting down on her reading mattress.

“Meli borrowed it. Actually I left it in her lap top.” She turned her attention back to her project.

“What are you doing?”

“Finishing my art project.” She replied as some glue dripped down her black wall.

“Which would be?”

“An exact replica of the Metro-Goldyn-Mayer lot in the 1930s and 40s.”

“All right, now I’m leaving.” He said stepping back over her clothes again, and accidentally stepping straight into a pile of wet glue. “Eww.” He whispered as he walked back towards the door.

“Tell Mom I won’t be down for supper.” She yelled to him, raking her gluey fingers through her dark brown hair.

~~~

Melissa Leslie Hoscheid was sitting at her black metal desk typing furiously on her computer and listening to her brand new CD of Judy Garland’s Greatest Hits when her brother walked into her room. “Remind me to keep my door shut,” she looked over her shoulder and then went back to her computer, “You never know who will come waltzing in if you don't.” she joked turning her chair towards the door.

“Very funny, I don't waltz. Now where’s my CD?” he asked sitting down on her black flannel comforter that was currently in a lump on her bed.

“So that’s why you’re here. It’s over on the bookshelf.” she pointed to the bookshelf on the other side of the bed, and turned back to her computer.

“Thanks.” he walked over to his prized possession and sliding it into his back pocket. “So which one are you working on how?” He asked sitting back down on her bed, next to her black, silk pillows.

“Just one of my many fan-fictions. In this one Hermione and Harry are spending the whole summer at the Burrow, and they fall in love. Aww... how sweet.” she faked a sigh, batted her eyes, and clutched her chest.

“God, you should go out for drama, you’d be a natural!”

“Oh, thank ya. But thou must leavest my room. I’m working on an actual English assignment this time.” she said changing her accent with every sentence.

“All right if I don’t get out of here that’s going to start making sense.” he laughed walking out of her room.

~~~

"Mia, get your butt down here!" Meli yelled up the stairs, eyeing the school bus waiting outside.

"Hold on! I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get this onto the bus." she yelled as some of the warehouses came rolling down the stairs.

"Come on Mia! We're going to have to take my car anyway. The bus just left." Meli yelled sounding really annoyed.

"I thought that you only had enough gas to get to the movie and back tonight." Mia appeared bearing the part of her project that was still intact.

"Yeah well I'll just have to borrow some cash from Dameon tonight."

"Are you two going out or what?" Aria asked half joking.

"No, but a girl can wish." Meli said twirling her raven black hair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ring. The bell told them it was the end of class and finally their lunch hour.

"Hey Aria, do you have any cash?" Meli asked walking to her locker that she shared with Mia.

"Nope. Hey can I put this in your locker, I can't get to mine." She said talking about Mia and Eric making out in front of hers.

"Sure. Come on, let's go find Matt and Dameon." Meli said walking down the hall.

"Yo Meli. Where ya goin' babe?" Dameon said wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Hey just the guy I was looking for." she said unwrapping herself from his embrace.

"I'm going to go find Matt." Aria said quickly leaving.

"So what did ya want me for?" Dameon asked dragging her down to their spot in front of the closed concession stand.

"I wanted to ask you if..."

"If what?" He egged her on.

"If you, would go to the movies with us tonight." She rushed the last part out.

"That doesn't sound like what you were going to say."

"Well I may not look like it, but I am a little old fashioned."

"You definitely don't look it." he said looking at the gothic clothing, make up, and blue tipped hair.

"Ok, that may be, but I'm still not going to ask it."

"So does that mean that I have to?"

"Only if you want to." She said looking at the boys' bathroom across from her.

"Hey you two, am I going to have to sit here all noon hour just to make sure nothing icky goes on?" Aria joked sitting next to
Meli, closely followed by Matt.

"Don't worry about us," Meli rolled her ice blue eyes, "we're not even going out."

"Sorry. I wonder if Mia and Eric are still making out in front of my locker?"

"I wouldn't know. Either way they do have to get to their locker before next hour."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Aria, can I borrow your black lipstick?" Meli asked walking into the upstairs bathroom from her room.

"Only if I can borrow your light purple." Aria handed over the black.

"Mia, you're not even dressed yet! Come on, we're meeting the guys in ten minutes!" Meli yelled across the hall while handing
Aria her purple lipstick.

"Just let me get my pants and make-up on and we can go."

"All right, who's driving?" Aria asked.

"Aria! Do you really have to ask?" Mia asked walking into the bathroom fully clothed.

"Exactly. My car, I drive. I'll meet you two in my car in a few minutes." Meli replied walking out of the room. "If you're not there in five minutes, you're walking.

"We better move if we're going to ride with her." Aria said putting her silver eye shadow on.

"Yeah, it's like she can't stand going one night without seeing Dameon."

"I heard that!" Meli yelled back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So what movie are you going to see?" Mia climbed out of her sister's new red expedition.

"Well Dameon and I are going to see "From Hell"..." Meli started walking up to the door of the theatre.

"Yeah, I'm going to see "Amityville Horror" with Matt." Aria jumped in.

"Well I know that Eric wants to see "Scary Movie 2", but I want to see "13 Ghosts"." Mia said walking into the theatre.

"What was this that I heard about not going to see "Scary Movie"?" Eric asked.

"Hey, if we see "13 Ghosts" I'll be closer to you the whole time." Mia replied kissing his cheek.

"Okay you two, before you start making out you may want to buy your tickets." Meli said with her hand in Dameon's.

"Already done." Eric said reaching in his pocket and taking out tickets marked "13 Ghosts". "I knew that you wanted to see that movie."

"You are too sweet." she kissed him.

"Get a friggin' room!" Matt said walking into "Amityville with Aria walking behind him.

"If you two don't get into your movie I'll smack you!" Meli said walking hand in hand with Dameon to "From Hell."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Meli, uh... can I talk to you?" Dameon said stopping her car in front of her house.

"Sure!" she said in a really peppy voice.

"Will, ugh... never mind, I can't do this!"

"Come on, nice and slow. Try it one more time." She replied calmly, staring in his eyes and taking his hand.

"All right," he took a deep breath, "Meli will you go out with me?" He said squeezing her hand and looking eager.

"Of course I will Dameon," she said with her eyes twinkling. "but right now I have to get inside before my parents freak!" she
said hopping out of her car as Matt and Eric pulled up.

"Good night Eric." Mia said dreamily stepping out of his car.

"Come on you two, it looks like you've just been sent to Oz." Aria pushed them up to the door. "Hey that's a good idea! Pizza party in my room tonight!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Meli, get your butt in here!" Aria yelled from the hall outside of her room.

"Hold on, I'm trying to find my candy stash." Aria heard a muffled cry back.

"All right, get in here when you find it." Aria said putting "The Wizard of Oz" in her DVD player. "Mia, what's takin' so long with the soda?"

"I'm tryin' to find it!" Mia yelled back from inside her closet.

"All right. Does anyone know where Matt ran off to?" Aria asked as Meli walked into her room carrying two huge boxes of candy.

"Matt went to go get the pizza." Mia said carrying a case of Mountain Dew and a case of Wild Cherry Pepsi into Aria's room.

"It doesn't take an hour to get pizza!" Aria raked her fingers through her hair.

"It does when the idiots screw up your order three times." Matt walked in with four pizzas.

"So that's what took so long." Aria said starting the movie. "What kinds did you get?"

"Well, there's your hawaiian pizza, my mexican, Meli's pepperoni with black olives, and Mia's extra, extra, extra cheese, canadian bacon, black and green olives, and extra sauce. By the way, Mia, yours was what took the longest. They wouldn't put enough cheese on there for you." He handed out the pizza as he named them off.

"So what's the movie tonight?" Meli asked settling down with her pizza on Aria's rug.

"Well, we're starting with "The Wizard of Oz", then it's going to be "Love Finds Andy Hardy", and last "Listen Darling". Aria said laying down with her pizza next to Meli.

"Oh man, not another Judy Garland film fest." Mia complained laying down on the other side of Meli.

"My room, my TV, my movies!" Aria said chomping a bite out of her pizza.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mia, you still awake?" Matt asked from under Aria's blankets.

"Mmm. Shut up and let me sleep!" Mia mumbled into her pillow from the floor.

"Meli how about you?"

"Mmm." she groaned from under her blanket.

"I'll take that as a no. How 'bout you Aria?"

He got no answer from the lump on the floor with her head between two pillows.

"All right. Good night girls." He said laying down and falling straight to sleep with "Listen Darling" playing in the background.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mia woke up as the sunlight came streaming through the window. She opened her eyes to see, not her sister's room, but a completely strange room. She looked around the room, not recognising anything. Where Aria's TV normally was, there was a dressing screen. Where her lap top normally was, there was a stack of books tied together with a light pink ribbon. No longer was there her sister's prized movies or perfect carpet, now there was a full wall of books and beautifully polished wood floors. And where the closet used to be there was a huge dresser with a mirror on top. She looked to her right and saw Meli still sleeping next to Aria. 'Well at least some things don't change.'

"Meli, Aria, Matt. Get up and take a look around." she said in her sweetest sing-songy voice.

"Where in the heck are we?" Matt asked groggily.

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Aria replied in the same groggy voice.

"Aria, what happened to your room?" Meli asked finally starting to wake up.

"Well either Mom and Dad are playing the biggest trick of our lives on us, or..." Mia said walking over to the door.

"Or what?" Asked Matt looking at the titles of the books sitting on the shelves next to him.

"Or this isn't Aria's room." Mia said opening the door to find a set of stairs going down.

Meli looking over Mia's shoulder said, "I don't think this is even our house."

"Well let's go see." Matt slipped on a pair of jeans and pushed past them to start down the stairs

"Where are you going?" Aria asked quickly following.

"Down the stairs, Dorothy." he replied hitting the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey! I only called you that once!" Aria stopped on the last step.

"Yes, and I thank you for that."

"No problem, Toto." She laughed taking a look around.

"What are you two fighting about this time?" Meli appeared on the steps behind Mia.

"The bigger question is, where are we?" Mia asked looking around what appeared to be a living room.

Suddenly Matt saw that there were some magazines on the coffee table. He walked over and picked one of them up. Not recognising the name of it, he looked down at the date. “What the? Mia look at this!”

“What’s going on here? 1939, that was like sixty-four years ago!” Mia said looking at the date on the magazine that Matt handed her.

“You’re kidding! 1939! This can’t be 1939!” Meli flipped out.

Aria took the magazine and started looking it over. “Well it can’t be more than fifteen years old. Look, there’s no yellowing on the pages.”

“How did we get here?” Matt asked, his eyes wandering from the magazine to the rest of the room.

“I don’t know, but more than that I want to know where we are.” Aria said walking over to the bookshelf hugging herself.

Just as she said that a girl walked into the room. “Oh, hi! You must be new here! I’m Emily Sofia. You can call me Emy.”

“Hi Emy. I’m Monica Hoscheid, but you can call me Mia. These are my sisters Melissa, Meli and Maria, Aria. And this is my brother Matthew, Matt.”

Emy walked over and switched on the radio. She didn’t look much older than they were. She was dressed in a light pink skirt with tiny blue flowers on it and a light blue shirt with the same colour sweater over it. “So why are you four here?” She asked sweetly, her gray eyes looking over their obviously out of the ordinary clothes.

“What do you mean?” Meli asked uncertainly.

“I mean why did you come to Hollywood? Are you actors, singers, dancers, what?”

“Oh, well Meli wants to be a singer, Aria wants to be an actress, Matt wants to be... well we’re not sure yet, we just drug him along, and I want to be a set designer.” Mia replied quickly, making up things as she went along.

“Wow that’s a lot of different things. So where are you all originally from?” Emy asked with a hint of a southern drawl.

“We’re from Virginia, Virginia Beach actually.” Aria finally spoke up, “How about you?”

“I’m from Valdosta, Georgia. I’m tryin’ to get a chance to be a dancer, but so far non of he studios have called me back. So for now I’m a waitress at the diner down the street.”

“Georgia huh?” Aria on the chair between the bookshelf and the door to the stairs. “What did your family do there?”

“We owned a peach farm. But then my daddy got killed tryin’ to haul some peaches to the farmer’s market. About six months after that my mamma got scarlet fever, she just didn’t have enough strength to keep goin’. So be me and my little sis moved out here to try an’ make a name for ourselves.” She answered trying not to cry.

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that.” Meli said moving to hug her. “So where’s your sister now?” She asked letting go of Emy.

“We share a room here. Her name is Evelyn Johnson, we all call her Evy.”

“What’s with... I mean what does your sister have a different last name?” Matt asked almost slipping up with his language.

“You see, I changed my last name to my mamma's when I moved out here. Yet my sister decided to keep daddy’s last name. It was a little kinda tribute to ‘em both.”

“That’s really sweet.” Meli smiled still standing next to her.

“Oh now, look at me. Goin’ on and on while you’re probably starvin’ just gettin’ here an’ all. Well you four go an’ find yourselves a room, while I get you some breakfast. By the time you all get settled it’ll be done. Then we’ll have a nice chat.” She said disappearing through the door on the right.

“Well I already know which room is mine.” Aria started back up the stairs, “Have fun finding yours.”

“Is it just me or is she being unusually cranky today?” Meli nervously asked biting at the skin around her finger nails.

“No Mel, you’re just not around her enough.” Matt said opening one of the doors.

“Those two are way too close!” Mia said opening another door.

“I know, scarily close for a brother and sister.” Meli said following Mia into a bathroom.

“What is up with the colours in here?” Mia asked once she got a good look at the gray bathtub and the pink toilet.

“I have no idea.” Meli looked around, “Hey there’s a door over here.”

“It’s probably just a linen closet.”

“I don’t think so.” Meli said walking into a completely blue room.

“Okay, so maybe I was wrong.” Mia walked into the room just behind her.

“I don’t think that we want this room.” Meli told her opening another door.

“No, but I’m going to go find Matt.” Mia replied walking back out of the room.

“All right.” Meli yelled back at her as she opened yet another door. “Mia get back here!”

“What?” Mia walked back into the room.

“Come here, there’s another room back here.” Meli walked into an all pink room.

“Pink?” Mia asked flatly. “Why do we have to have a pink room?”

“Because this is the first room that we’ve found that’s not a guy’s room.” Meli walked over to the closet and opened it. “Oh he... Okay I can handle a pink room, but a dress is too much!”

“No, the dress I can handle, it’s the pink room that I can’t.” Mia walked over to the closet and picked out a blue dress with a pink ribbon as a belt. “Now this would be perfect for you.” She handed the dress to Meli and took out a yellow one. “And this would work for me.”

“If I have to wear this... thing, I get the double bed.” Meli started changing.

“It doesn’t bug me either way. If we’re stuck here in 1939 or whatever, we’re going to have to look the part.” Mia said buttoning up her dress.

“And unfortunately a dress is part of the look. Okay, since I know my combat boots aren’t going to work with this, where are the shoes?”

“Wow, I’m surprised that you’re willing to look like this.” She said buckling her lemon yellow belt. “They’re down in the bottom of the closet.”

“Thanks.” Meli said taking out a pair of pink heels and a pair of yellow pumps. “We better get going. We still have to find the dining room before we can eat.”

“It does make it kind of hard to eat when you can’t find where the food is.” Mia slipped on her shoes.

“Hey Mia look!”

“What now?” she looked over at her sister.

“Look, there’s a door over here.”

“Another one?” She asked, and then looked again, “Are you a nut? There can’t be another door over there, there’s no door know on the other side.”

“So maybe it’s a hidden door.”

“No way. Those things are like in haunted houses and movies and stuff.”

“But haunted houses weren’t always haunted. They started out as just regular houses.”

“Okay, I’m not going to argue with you anymore. Just find out where it goes.”

Meli walked over to the door and opened it. “It’s the living room.”

“Okay, so let’s find the dining room.”

~~~

Aria went down stairs and opened a random door. To her surprise she was met with what was unmistakably the dining room. There was a long, sparkling, wooden table, with three wooden chairs on each side, each bearing a small black cushion, and two on each end. Behind one end was a huge brick fire place. On the other end of the room was a door. She looked up and saw the most elaborate, crystal and gold chandelier she had ever seen. She looked down and saw the same gleaming wooden floor that was in the room they woke up in.

“Oh hello, Aria.” Emy said walking into the room. “I thought instead of eating in the dark dining room, maybe we could eat out in the back porch.” She noticed the blank look on Aria’s face. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

Emy led her back into through the door and into the blue living room. Then through the door on the opposite side of the living room. Behind the door was a dark hallway, it had burgundy carpet and dark wood panelled walls. On each wall there was a picture and a door. On the left wall there was a picture of three girls decorating a Christmas tree. On the wall directly in front of them was a picture of the three girls in frilly Easter dresses with hats. And on the right was a picture if the same three girls in bathing suits sitting by the ocean.

They went through the door on the right. When she stepped through it she was met with a kitchen the same colours as the hall. Aria had barely enough time to see the half dark wood panelled, an half wall-papered room before she was across the room and through the next door.

The next room was like an indoor garden. Every wall was covered in climbing plants. Against on of the walls was a cabinet packed full of every kind of spice imaginable. On another wall was a bench. And smack dab in the middle was a small angel fountain that poured water out of a bucket.

Then she went through a door on the opposite side of the fountain which took her outside. Emy was right, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining down hard on the small slab of cement that was set up as a patio. At first Aria didn’t recognise the two girls sitting at the mall white swirling steel table. She looked over at the two reclining cream coloured lawn chairs and quickly did a double take back to the girls.

“Why don’t ya have a seat honey. I’ll be right back with the food, and maybe your brother.” Emy smiled raising her eyebrows.

When Emy left Aria asked, “Have either of you seen Matt?”

“Nope. But we haven’t been looking for him.” Meli said trying to straighten out her dress.

“So how’d the room hunt go?” Aria asked taking a seat next to Mia.

“We found one.” Mia laughed.

“Meli gave her a dark look. “Yeah, it’s pink.” she said dully.

“You’re complaining about pink, and you’re wearing it?” Aria laughed.

“Yeah... well... just shut up.” Meli blushed.

“Hey ya’ll!” Emy walked back in. “I did manage to find your brother after all.”

“Oh, Matt. We found a room for you.” Meli said excitedly.

“Really, ‘cause the only rooms I found were girls rooms.” Matt grumbled.

“That’s right where I found him. He was snoopin’ around my room.” Emy said raising an eyebrow.

“Matt! How dare you! Snooping around ladies rooms! Didn’t Mom and Dad ever teach you different?!” Meli asked in mock outrage.

“Aww, don’t worry ‘bout it darlin’. I don’t mind. He was just lookin’ for a room to stay in.” she smiled slyly.

Suddenly a girl ran out onto the porch. He hair was pulled back into a bun, but some of it was starting to come out. She had a greasy apron on over her pale green dress. She came onto the porch screaming “Emy! Emy where are you?!”

“What is it Evy?” Emy asked with a small amount of fear in her voice.

“It’s Judy! She collapsed at the diner!” The girl said quickly.

“Judy?! Where is she?” Emy asked.

“She’s still at the diner. They took her into the back.”

“Excuse me girls. Matt, will you come with me?” Emy asked, both her voice and her eyes pleading with him, “I don’t think I can carry her by myself.” She looked at him with tears forming in her eyes.

“Uh... sure.” He got up from the table and followed Emy and Evy to the diner.

~~~

Matt arrived with both girls a few minutes later at a small coffee shop. The minute they walked in Emy yelled, “Moe?! Where is she?!”

A tall, middle aged man. with a bald head, glasses, and a greasy apron walked out from behind the grill. “Hello Rose. I think Chief took her into the store room.

Evy stayed and talked to Moe, while Matt followed Emy into the back of the diner where there was a sing that said “Restrooms” on one side and “Employees Only” on the other. Through the “Employees Only” they went.

Behind the door were two walls of shelves with boxes stacked up to the ceiling. Against the far wall, on top of a row of boxes was the form of a young Judy Garland.

“Uh Emy? Is that who I think it is?” Matt asked stopping in the doorway.

“Yes Matt. Judy is a good friend of our’s she sometimes stays with us when she doesn’t want anyone to know where she is. Now, do ya think you can pick the poor darlin’ up, or do ya need some help?” Emy walked over to her and pushed a small piece of hair back behind her ear.

“I should be able to carry her.” Matt said sitting her up. “You’ll just have to open the doors for me.” He picked her up and put her over his shoulder.

“Sure.” Emy replied with a small smile. “We just have to get her out of here quick.” She followed him back past the bathrooms and to the front of the diner.

“I’ll see ya tonight Moe. We’ll probably be in for supper.” Evy said joining Matt and Emy.

“I’ll be sure to have two tables put together for you.” Moe called back as the three left the diner.

“Does she do this often?” Matt asked nervously.

“Only when the studio won’t let her eat for a week.” Evy answered.

“Wow.” Matt replied, shocked. “Oh, I’m Matt Hoschied.” He said extending his free hand out to Evy.

“Evelyn Johnson, pleasure.” She smiled and shook his hand. “I’m Emy’s sister.”

“So I’ve heard.” He said watching Emy blush.

They walked up to the door and Emy opened it for them. “Where do you want her?” Matt asked changing Judy’s position.

“Uh, come with me. We’ll take her upstairs.” Emy replied heading toward the stairs.

~~~

Later that afternoon Matt was walking around the house again. As he walked through the living room and into the hall he stopped and really looked at the three pictures. In all three of the pictures there were two girls that he recognised, Emy and Evy, and one that he didn’t. She had bright red hair that was in some form of a braid in each picture. He felt like he should know the girl, yet he had no idea where he would know her form.

He kept walking around, and walked into the conservatory. The farther he walked into the room the more he was impressed. This was the first time he really got to look at the room in front of him, and to finally see Emy relax.

She was sitting on the bench with her heels sitting by her on the floor. Her dark hair was flowing down past her shoulders. As her eyes moved across the page in her book, her fingers twirled a piece of hair. And a small pair of wire rimmed glasses adorned her face.

“Must be a good book.” Matt asked walking around the room.

“Oh! You scared me!” She said jumping to a sitting position.

“Sorry. You just looked really good.”

“Well I do get pretty engrossed in books.” She said trying to ignore his last comment, failing badly with the smile on her face.

“ Like I said, it must be a good book.”

“Actually she’s a wonderful author.”

“Which author is it?”

“Jane Austen. She wrote Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.”

“I’ve heard of those, but I’ve never read them.”

“Oh, come here.” She said scooting over so he could sit next to her. “I’ll real a little of it for ya.”

“You don’t have to do that. You seem to be enjoying it all by yourself.”

“Yeah, but I really like to read this with someone. Please?”

“How can I resist?” A beautiful girl and a good book, what could be better?”

She blushed and started to read, “Chapter 1. It is a truth universally acknowledged...”

~~~

A few hours later Meli decided to take a look at the opposite side of the house. As she walked into the conservatory she found her brother sitting on the bench asleep with Emy’s head in his lap. She burst out laughing at the sight. Just as Emy started to wake up Meli ran out of the room.

“Oh, uh, Matt. I’m so sorry.” Emy picked her head up and sat up on the other side of the bench.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said moving over closer to her.

“I just can’t believe myself, falling asleep in your lap like that.” She nervously tried dodging his eyes.

He took a small piece of her hair and started to twirl it around his fingers. “Really, don’t worry about it.”

“Matt, come on now darlin’. I haven’t even known ya for one day.” She said after a long pause.

“I’m sorry.” He replied getting up and walking away from her, “You’re right. I shouldn’t have wanted to kiss you yet.”

“Ya... ya wanted to what?” She asked surprised, walking over to him.

“I wanted to kiss you.” he said picking up a piece of her hair again. “But I know that you’re not ready for that. It hasn’t even been one day.”

Before he even had time to drop her hair their lips met. She instantly wrapped her arms around his neck, and following her lead he wrapped his around her waist.

She broke the connection, and breathlessly asked, “Matt, how old are you?”

“Sixteen, why?” He asked refusing to let go of her.

“Because I normally like older guys. In your case I’ll make an exception.” She smiled kissing him again.

~~~

Later that afternoon Mia was sitting out on the front porch. She sat there on the swing just staring out into space. That’s where she was when Meli came out looking for her.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. And trust me around here, that’s like a mile.” Meli smiled flopping down on the swing next to her.

“I’ve been sitting here all afternoon.” Mia’s eyes never moving from the house next door.

“What’s the matter?”

“I was just thinking.” Mia finally looked at her sister.

“About what?”

“About everything. Why did we come here? How do we get back? How long are we going to be here? What is happening to our lives at home while we’re here?”

“I really can’t answer any of that. I don’t understand this... thing any more than you do. So why don’t we just make the most of it while we’re here?”

“Yeah, I guess. And I know that no one can answer those questions, but it feels strange to be here. Ya know, just knowing you’re in a completely different time than where the rest of your life is.

“I know what you mean, but for know let’s just forget about it. For now there’s nothing we can do about it.” Meli said trying to help her sister forget her troubles.

“I guess you’re right. Hey you want to come with me. I’m going to ask Emy if I can borrow one of her books.” Mia said walking back towards the front door.

“Yeah, let’s go!”

~~~