Touch the Skye- A Penderwicks Fanfiction

Chapter 2: Cape Cod

"Look! The ferris wheel!" A tiny voice peeped from the back of the car, followed by a agreeing bark of Hound, our clumsy dog.

We leaned over to see. It was indeed majestic, and the fair below looked pretty fun too. It looked like all of Cape Cod was ready for a whole week to party.

"It's gigantic," Iantha, our stepmother, looked over her shoulder to stare at the monstrous wheel. "We're lucky we came for the week of the fair, girls."

"Affirmative," Daddy said. "You girls are allowed to go to the fair, since it's so close by to where we're staying, but no of the older girls out past 10, capice?"

"Hey!" Seven year old Batty- a smaller version of Jane- had crossed her arms over her yellow sundress and pouted.

Daddy looked in his rearview mirror to give a stern look at Batty, "I mean it." he said, using his warning tone.

We all squirmed around in the car for a few more minutes until, at last, our minivan had pulled up in front of a petite, off-white cottage. It was obvious it had two stories, but we hadn't expected it to be so small and charming. With light blue trimming, and a cobble driveway and stone stairs up to the door, it fit the definition of charming very well.

"Girls," Iantha turned back to us while we were unbuckling our seatbelts, "Someone has already arrived..."

"JEFFREY!" The other three had squealed. I, in the meantime, was craning my neck over the stampede of girls, trying to get a glimpse of a familiar mop of brown hair.

"AROOF" Hound had scampered out to meet with Hoover, Alec's dog. They were jumping on top of each other and howling hysterically.

I had slowly gotten out of the car, first hit by the intoxicating smell of the sea, next by the unfamiliar-yet-familiar deep voice that was greeting my sisters. Cautiously walking around the car, I had peered around the back of the trunk to see him.

His height had hit me first. From this distance, he had sprouted at least 4 inches since I had last seen him. It seemed like he had gotten stronger, too, with newly toned muscles.

Hmph, well, it's not like I haven't gotten stronger since the last two years, I thought back to my middle school soccer team. We had gone to state championships, and I had worked my butt off trying to get fit enough for it.

Then, almost as if in slow motion, he hit me with those big green eyes. Those eyes! The freckles had definitely died out a little, but it sprinkled around his nose and a little bit on his cheekbones. His new haircut was also and improvement of his usual sticky-uppy-ness he had had two years ago. He looked...mature? More like a man? I couldn't quite pin my finger on it.

I must have looked like a idiot, a blond, 15 year old girl glued to the driveway, clutching a yellow duffel bag for dear life. He looked like he had hesistated, staring at me, too, then slowly walking over.

Internally panicking, I had began to think of black holes sucking up the Earth this very second to calm me down. When he had approached, I had seen that he is more handsome up close than he was further away.

"Hey, stupid," he whispered, playfully. It was the same, old Jeffrey I had ran into the summer before 6th grade, but something was different about him. Then, he had wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug.

Inhaling sharply at his touch-which of course he had to smell wonderful- I brought myself to whisper, "Hey, back."

Instictually wrapping my hands around him, too, I had realized this hug was lasting for an unusually long time. And my family was watching us. It was only until I had caught Rosalind's smirk and Jane's winking was when I decided to break the hug.

I pulled abruptly back, patted him on the back hard, and gave a hint of a startled grin, "Welcome back, admiral."

What was I saying? I really wanted to drift off into space, now.

To my surprise, he had smirked and saluted with two fingers. "Glad to be back in service."

"Okay, troops," Daddy had clapped his hands together. "Lunch?"