Chapter Forty-eight: Purple Girl.
Ten Years Ago
"It's my birthday so I get to choose what game we play!" Little Hale Frances said to all his little friends who had come to celebrate with him. All the neighborhood kids were at the party, dressed in their best party clothes.
"But I want to play princes and princesses!" Little Cassie argued.
"That game is disgusting!" Hale replied and all the kids got into a big argument about what to play.
Meanwhile, somewhere at the back, Little Violet Adams stared at the giant blue cake in the middle of the huge dining table. It was gigantic! Even better, it was an ice cream cake!
Violet looked around to see if anyone was watching, then she carefully climbed up the nearest chair, reached one finger out to touch the blue icing and...
"What do you think you're doing?" A voice snapped and Little Violet quickly climbed down the table, fidgeting with the big sash bow on her purple party dress.
"N- nothing Hale's mom. I just wanted to..."
"Whose child is this?" A big male voice said and Violet looked up, up and up before she could see this person's chin. Actually, she'd never seen Mr. Manuel's face before, he was just too big and scary!
Franca Frances flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she gave Violet a disdainful look. "It's that traveller girl, Olivia. The one from Blackwood."
"That explains the gold eyes." Mr. Manuel and Franca took seats at the dining table, foiling Violet's plans to taste the cake.
"Remind me why I'm here, Heather?" Cassie's Dad asked and Franca looked ready to strike him in the face.
"Franca, you mean, and we're to discuss our business partnership." She said, her voice a contrasting softness.
Violet went back to where all her friends were to find something else to eat and she passed by Cassie pummeling Jason on the floor.
"We're playing Prince and Princesses!" She screeched.
"She has cooties!" Hale screamed and all the kids screamed too, scattering in all directions and Jason pushed her so he could get up quickly.
"Aaah! Does that mean I have cooties?!" Jason asked, feeling his face in terror. "No!"
"I don't have cooties, you're lying!" Cassie cried. "I'm gonna go tell my Daddy!"
"Ooh, a feather." Little Violet said happily and she reached under a stool to pick it up. It was a white one and it was probably from someone's hat.
She could pretend she was a princess like from TV if she put it in her hair, but Hale snatched it out of her hand before she could do so.
"Guys I found a healing wand! If I touch you with it, you no longer have cooties." He called.
"I found it first!" Violet said, reaching for the feather.
"Well, it's my birthday!" Hale said and pushed her off him. "So I get to do whatever I want, and I say: You have cooties! Go to the cootie box!"
All the kids around her screamed and ran while Violet stomped her way to the 'cootie box' to sit next to Jason who was biting on red licorice.
From there Violet could see Little Cassie trying to get her Dad's attention by yanking on his pant leg. "Daddyyyyy, they're telling me I have cooties and I don't want to have cooties."
"Don't bother me, princess, Daddy's in a meeting." Mr. Manuel said, gently pushing Cassie away. But that only made her increase the intensity of her demand.
"Daddyyyyy!!!" She said, basically slapping his leg.
"Wonderful idea, by the way, Franca. Holding an important meeting at a children's party? Very well thought of." Mr. Manuel said dryly.
"Just do something." Franca said rubbing her temples.
Mr. Manuel reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money before handing it to Cassie. "Here, you go princess, all better?"
Cassie nodded, grabbing the cash. "I want a pony too."
"I'll get you a pony, go play."
"Hallleeee, my Daddy says I don't have cooties!" Cassie called as she ran off.
"Not for long!" Hale said and came to tap the 'cootie box' with the feather. "All the cootie people are free, run or they'll catch you!"
Everyone screamed and ran as Jason and some other kids who had got the cooties too chased after them.
Violet was going to run too but Hale's Dad, Hans came in with two servants holding trays.
"They're here to cut the cake, dear." He said to his wife who didn't seem like she could care less.
Violet did a happy dance and went to stand close to the table, waiting patiently for them to begin.
Meanwhile, Hale was having the time of his life, running around and deciding who had cooties or not and a while later, the double doors to the party hall swung open and all the guests– except the children who didn't really care– looked as someone new arrived.
Young Angelo Sullivan did not want to be at his cousins stupid party with the stupid balloons and the stupid decorations and the stupid everything. But his caretaker couldn't let him refuse an invitation from his Aunt.
"Try to have fun, Master Sullivan." Pierson said, looking down at Angelo with a kind smile while signing with his hands. "All the kids here are your age."
Little Angelo sighed, putting one foot in front of the other to get to where everyone else was.
If he cared enough, he would have heard the whispers of people wondering if that was the Late Heather Frances-Sullivan's son and them wondering why he looked different, but he just wanted to go home.
"You have cooties!" Hale's voice called as he laughed and ran around with the feather, "You have-"
He screeched to a stop when he reached his cousin who was looking at him with a questioning look.
"A-angelo, you're here!" Hale said, happily flinging his arms around him. Angelo didn't even try to hug him back. "We're playing a game, do you want to join?"
Angelo fixed him with a dry look. "Cooties? No thank you. I'm not five like you." He said and signed as well even though he'd gotten his voice back.
"I'm eight now." Little Hale said, tossing the feather away quickly in embarrassment.
"Well, I was eight first." Angelo said and walked on while Hale followed him eagerly.
"I heard about Auntie Heather and Uncle Felix, is that why you're doing that thing with your hands when you talk? You look different, your hair is black now, are you in a rockstar band? If you are, can I join? I've been practicing piano and..."
"Time for cake!!" Hans called and the next moments from then was pure chaos.
Kids yelled, kicked and pushed, trying to get a piece of cake on a plate first. Hans Frances could barely keep up talk less of Violet who was one of the smallest kids in the group.
Somehow, she had ended up at the very back even though she was there first.
"Wait, I just want to get mine- oof!" She landed heavily on the floor and she had to try hard not to cry.
Angelo was standing a few ways off and he found it rather hard to ignore that a little girl in the purple dress and the ribbons and curls had just fallen over.
"Look, your friend fell over." He told Hale, pointing.
"Who?" Hale asked, looking over. "Oh, she does that a lot because she's smaller than us. She's getting back up again, see? What game should we play? I've gotten better at chess, I bet I could beat you now, do you want to-?"
"Okay." Angelo said and Hale went off eagerly to get the chess board just as he'd hoped.
"Be kinder to your cousin, Master Sullivan. He just wants to play with you." Mr. Pierson said and Little Angelo dragged his eyes away from Purple Girl who was sitting patiently now, not exactly doing anything.
Angelo signed to Pierson without bothering to speak, "I don't want to play with him or anyone."
"I know, but you have to try." Mr. Pierson replied and gestured to the present he was holding. "I'll drop this off for you." He said and left Angelo to himself.
Eventually, everyone had their slice of cake and there was one last one on the table, the perfect slice.
Violet could finally get some!
She got to the table and realized she could barely even see over it, but that didn't stop her from trying.
She stretched up on tiptoes and reached as far as she could to the cake but even when she stretched really hard, her fingertips barely brushed the paper plate.
After a while of this, she didn't seem to be getting any closer so she went off to find something she could stand on.
Angelo, bored out of his mind, waited for Pierson to return so that they could leave.
Aunt Franca had passed by with a cigarette in hand and when he'd greeted her in sign language, she had rolled her eyes at how dramatic she thought he was.
Then he noticed the lone piece of cake on the unusually high table and since it didn't look like it belonged to anyone, he went for it.
"Hmm." He hummed thoughtfully, when he couldn't seem to reach it. Then he took the nearby knife and used it to pull the cake towards him easily.
There was no way he could notice that Purple Girl was back with a chair she had pushed all the way from another side of the hall only to stand on it and find the cake gone.
Mr. Pierson had returned and he'd found shrimp kebab from the adult food table.
"How about a deal, Master Sullivan?" He asked, cheerfully. "Make a friend and you'll get this."
Angelo really liked shrimp.
"But everyone is sweaty from playing too hard." He said. "Give me the shrimp first."
"Absolutely not." Mr. Pierson said and popped one into his mouth. "Hurry or you'll find nothing left, Master Sullivan. Allow me to hold your cake."
Angelo looked around desperately for someone. He'd make friends with that boy all the girls seemed to be chasing around if he had to.
But he didn't have to. Purple girl was right there, sitting alone in a chair with her head resting on her knees all sad in her purple party dress.
Little Violet could hardly wait for her Mom to come pick her up. She didn't like this party anymore, the kids were pushy and mean and they didn't have anymore cake to go round. She felt she could have a good cry now.
That was what she was doing when she decided to look up and there was a strange looking boy with black hair right in her face.
"Eep!" Violet squealed, shifting back in her seat so fast that even the boy got startled himself.
"I- uh-" He stuttered, blinking big grey eyes and a moment later, he was walking away as fast as possible.
Mr. Pierson seemed to be holding in a laugh when Angelo returned to where he was seated and flopped across his knees in defeat. "I failed." He said, his voice sounding quite whiny like he was going to cry too. "I scared her. She was so sad!"
"Don't feel bad, Master Sullivan, she was merely startled is all. You can still try again." Pierson encouraged, patting his back.
"I can't, she's scared of me." Angelo mumbled, dejectedly. But he still ate a shrimp when Pierson offered it to him.
"I think sharing your food might make everything better." Pierson said and Angelo straightened himself up and looked to his caretaker who was handing him his piece of ice cream cake.
"But it's mine." Angelo pouted.
"You don't have to share, Master Sullivan." Pierson said, while signing. "It is simply a suggestion."
Angelo took one look at Purple Girl who was back to resting her head on her knees and decided it wasn't a too bad idea.
So he went up to her and decided to place the cake right next to her. A place she could easily find it when she looked up, and then he ran back to Pierson at lightning speed.
"Bravo, Master Sullivan!" Pierson grinned patting his back. "That was noble of you, I'm sure she..."
"Sorry Angelo, I looked everywhere but I couldn't find my chess board!" Hale called as he returned to where they were. He paused when he got to Purple Girl. "Ooh cake!"
Angelo's jaw dropped when Hale started eating it. And like that wasn't bad enough, he spat some out. "Ugh, raisins!"
Little Angelo clenched his fists, so ready to clobber his stupid cousin, but Purple Girl looked up again with her big golden eyes and tearstained rosy cheeks and he took a step back even though she wasn't looking at him.
She was looking at Hale.
Little Hale turned to look at her, as he wondered where to put it, "Here, you can have it." He said, giving the paper plate to Violet whose eyes went wide as she took it from him.
"Th-thanks!" She squeaked staring at the beautiful, princely, knight-like, fairy boy in front of her. "Thank you, Hale." She smiled.
Angelo was steaming!
Pierson was practically holding him back now. "Master Sullivan, calm yourself, it was a mistake and it's his birthday...!"
"Hey Angelo, do you want to play another game?" Hale asked coming towards him only to jump back at his outburst.
"I DON'T WANT TO EVEN LOOK AT YOU, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SH-!"
"Master Sullivan! That's it, we are leaving." Pierson clapped a hand over his running mouth and basically had to bundle him out while he had his screaming, kicking tantrum to the sight of the onlookers. "My apologies, do pardon us, he isn't always like this..."
As they left, Little Violet happily ate her cake, wondering who that scary, angry boy was.
To be continued...
A//N: Do you actually like hearing about the younger versions of my characters? I hope so, because I enjoy writing about them.
Ps. I know I said I won't update again till after my exam but how else am I supposed to stay sane in these trying times?? 😂