Elisabeth Marie

Chapter Twelve

Dinner wasn't actually too bad. The food was wonderful, of course, but Timothy and I kind of decided to just forget about the whole trampoline/childhood thing, so we were able to hold a normal conversation. Someone- someone being Christopher- had the bright idea to throw someone- someone being Alan- a glass of water, which then ended up spilling all over Hannah, but besides that, dinner was what I imagined a normal Thanksgiving dinner was like: noise, family, friends, and food.

We all either played games or watched football after dinner. There were no charades though, thank goodness. I played a sort of trivia game with Hannah, Krista, and Jane, which was very fun. We all went to sleep pretty early; since a few adults had to leave early with their kids, everything was winding down by eight.

I climbed into bed opposite Krista with a little knot in the bottom of my stomach, feeling guilty for telling these people all sorts of lies, and for disobeying Mother's exact word, even though I had done it before. I had never slept over anywhere and was suddenly aware of the fact that this was not what I was supposed to be doing.

I slept well, though, and woke up bright and early the next morning, with the sound around the house being a nice wake-up call. We all ate cereal, but even that felt special- I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten a normal breakfast with anyone. I had on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and Lisa yelled at me to help fry up some extra eggs just the same way she would any of her other relatives.

"Wow, Elisabeth," Timothy laughed when he saw me at the stove frying the eggs, "You know that you're a part of the family when Mom yells at you to help with breakfast."

I smiled. "Really? I've only been over here a few times."

"Mom's pretty accepting of new family members- see Jane over there? She's already put her to work, and she's only met her twice," he said, pointing at Jane, who was sweeping the floor. "You're one of the lucky ones," he laughed. "In fact, both of Mom's sisters are like that, too. One of them adopted a bunch of boys who..."

I smiled and nodded, Timothy's voice fading into background noise. Not burning the eggs was using the entirety of my attention. I felt like I had to prove myself as a member of the Kress family. It was the first family that I had ever been a part of: Mother and I in an apartment hardly felt like a family. I had to make this work out.

The eggs turned out fantastic.

After all the dishes were put away and the counters wiped clean, we pulled out boxes, and boxes, and boxes of Christmas decorations. It was odd, not just doing all of the housework by myself like I would at home, but was very fun. We put up a little Christmas village on the mantle and a garland on the stairs.

"Last year the neighbors got irritated with us for putting up yard decorations so early, so we have to wait another week before we put those up," Lisa announced regretfully. I held in a laugh, surprised by Jane- she was Stephanie's friend, right?- coming around the corner with another box.

"We only ever put up one artificial tree with a star, lights, and a garland," I told Timothy when he saw my shocked face.

"No ornaments?"

"No ornaments," I repeated. "Mother doesn't like the cluttered look they give the apartment, but I think they're nice." Lisa somehow overheard and came over with a box of decorations almost immediately.

"Now, Elisabeth," she told me. "You need to take these home and decorate your house, okay?"

"No, no, I couldn't," I said. Really. I couldn't.

"I insist."

I took the box, but just sat it down in a corner as soon as no one was looking. I definitely couldn't take these into my house- Mother might, just maybe, get a little suspicious.