Over the Garden Wall Again

Part 7

I left Beatrice in my room and went down to my moms, searching through her closet to find something decent for my friend to wear. I couldn't find any shirts, but I did find a pair of old skinny jeans. Perfect.

I ran back upstairs, tossing the pants to Beatrice. "Your shirt should be okay, but the skirt is kind of old fashioned." I said, going through my closet to find normal clothes. I settled on loose jeans and a solid orange shirt.

I showed Beatrice where the second bathroom was so she could change, stopping by Gregs room to tell him we were going out. He agreed to come with us as long as Jason Funderberker could stay and nap.

We all changed into our normal clothes, feeling out of place. I was so used to seeing Beatrice, well, as a bird, so seeing her in skinny jeans was kind of weird. When she saw me, she was surprised at what I was wearing.

"It's so... simple." she mumbled, used to seeing complex dresses and suits. I laughed as she circled me and ruffled my unkept hair.

My moms feet were too small for Beatrice, so she ended up wearing my smallest pair of boots. They were a little big, but once she layered up on socks she was okay. I laced up my old converse and stood up, ready to go.

I had a few twenties in my pocket, and so did Beatrice. The rest were in my clarinet case, hidden just to be safe. We met Greg in front of his room, who was wearing his navy overalls again with a grey shirt underneath. No kettle. I sighed. Our era was so boring.

We walked through the upstairs hallway, reaching the top of the stairs, when a door slammed, echoing through the house. We froze in place, even Greg, who usually ran to my mom. Our mom. I kept having to correct myself.

We stood there, unmoving, until suddenly my moms voice rang out through the house. "Hey guys, whose shoes are these?"

I winced. We had totally forgotten to take her shoes upstairs. I guess we didn't have much of an escape route at this point. I turned to the other two and whispered, "whatever you do, don't make a sound." I started down the stairs and stopped again, turning back, "I'll be up in a second."

When I reached the bottom of the steps, my mom was holding one of Beatrice's shoes, trying to figure out if she'd seen it before. I approached her, nervous about what she would say. It would either go okay, where she would just tease me about having a girlfriend, or it wouldn't, and I don't even want to think about what would happen then.

"Hey Wirt honey, do you have someone over?" she asked, looking at me. I sighed.

"Yeah mom. I do." I said bracing myself.

"Well, what's her name?" she said, raising her eyebrows. I blushed, getting irritated.

"Uh, her name is..." I trailed off, not sure what to say. I was afraid she might think about the incident, but I couldn't lie forever.

"Cat got your tongue?" She teased, ruffling my hair.

"It's Beatrice." She froze for a second, a look of worry crossing her face, then she went right back to normal.

"Okay Wirt," she said, a little less playful, "can I meet her?" she smiled, walking into the kitchen to put her groceries away.

"Yeah, hold on."

I ran back upstairs, finding Greg and Beatrice playing Rock Paper Scissors in the exact position I had left them in. I laughed, calling them pushovers. Beatrice elbowed me and joined in to our laughter, relieved to see that I was still in a good mood. We stopped laughing and I got serious again.

"My mom wants to meet you, then we can go. Just don't flip out if she freaks out over you, alright?" I awkwardly shifted in place, hoping Beatrice wasn't too awkward with my mom pawing over her.