It wouldn't have been an adventure if Emma didn't bloody burn down a building. I wasn't mad, but just slightly disappointed that she lit The Priest Hole on fire. What did the people there ever to do her? I mean, while my multiple visits there haven't been the best, the people there are generally quite nice. And Heather used to tell me that they put on some pretty nice karaoke shows, too.
Emma was currently talking to Miss Peregrine at the moment, and had Millard and I babysitting Jacob. I just sat down in the nearest chair, and flipped through Millard's journal. I was already done with the day.
"You're not afraid I'll eat your brain, or something?" Jacob asked Millard, and I snorted.
"Goodness, Jacob, this isn't Night of the Living Dead," I retorted. "Zombies are the only monsters out there who eat brains, and even children know that those are works of fiction."
Unless you knew Enoch, of course. But I didn't believe Jacob Portman was ready for that type of information. He might pee himself, or start crying again. And that would just be awkward.
"Wait, I'm confused," Jacob stated. Me too, buddy. "If you're from 1940, how come you know about that movie? Didn't it come out in the 70's?"
American, and has a good taste in movies. I must say, if Emma didn't murder him, I would love to befriend him some time!
"It came out in the 60's, actually," I said. "I'm not originally from here. I came to this loop in 1972, but that's a long story. Maybe I'll explain it to you later."
It became quiet again, and Jacob looked out the window. Someone kicked a ball into one of Fiona's hedges, and were trying to get it down. It wasn't the way I would have done it, but oh well.
"Enjoying the show?" Millard asked. "There are far easier ways to retrieve that ball, but they know they have an audience."
"Don't act like you wouldn't do the same!" I shot back at Millard with a laugh. "Remember when you showed me around Cairnholm for the first time? You kept telling me unnecessary information about everything. You're as much of a show-off as everyone else here."
Jacob was still looking outside the window when he spoke again. "I don't mean to be rude, but what are you people?"
"We're peculiar," Millard said, sounding confused. "Aren't you?"
"I don't know. I don't think so."
I looked at Millard, obviously concerned. His grandfather really most not have told him anything. Especially not anything about how you must be peculiar to enter a loop.
"Can I ask another kind of personal question?" Jacob asked again.
"Go ahead," I said, speaking for both me and Millard.
"How have you two been able to keep your relationship up for so long?" He asked. I felt myself blush, which made Jacob embarrassed. "I mean, I'm assuming you two are dating, because you seem really close, and-"
"Oh no, that's not it at all!" I said, shaking my head wildly. "Millard and I– we're just friends."
Jacob seemed really embarrassed, and so did I. Well, I wanted to die. I mean, I'm not complaining about the compliment. In fact, over the years I have became very close with Millard, and becoming more than friends has crossed my mind multiple times. Sometimes, there would be days where I need to remind myself that I'm not allowed to fall in love, especially because we already had a strong bond and I didn't want to ruin it.
"If it makes you feel any better," Millard said. "Everyone here thinks that of us, but it really isn't true. We just so happened to be really close, like Watson and Holmes."
I pretended the dweeb didn't refer to us as Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, especially since I have read a good number of theories as to how the that iconic duo were definitely more than friends.
I was very glad to have Emma come into the room afterwards.
Jacob soon met with Miss Peregrine, and was taken into her office. She said it was a private matter, but no one actually listened to that part. Millard and I easily snuck into her room, both invisible, while I knew that Emma probably had her ear to the door. Jacob and Miss Peregrine didn't talk much before The Bird pointed Millard, Emma and I out.
"Polite persons do not eavesdrop on the conversations of others!" Miss Peregrine said, and Millard and I walked out of the room.
Emma stayed behind, and kept listening in. I honestly didn't care, and decided to take a break from this madness. I allowed myself to become visible again, and made my way outside.
"Hey, (Y/N)!" Hugh greeted me. "Want to play a game of football?"
I smiled mischievously. "Oh, you know I do."
* * *
"He's not going to have any warm water," I warned Emma as she led Jacob over to the baths.
I just finished taking a long deserved bath, because Football is a dirty and rough sport that involves a good amount of sweat. Not to brag, or anything, but I won against Hugh and Fiona. I was now proclaimed Football Queen again, just like it should be. Emma seemed angry at the fact that she was supposed to clean up Jacob, and I would have helped if it wasn't for the fact that I was still half-naked.
I had a towel wrapped around my body, and my hair was still dripping wet. Jacob was awkwardly holding a hand over his face to avoid looking at me. I guess I could add either creepy or polite to my list of Things Jacob Was. I decided to figure that out later.
"I'll just warm up the water," Emma said.
"Don't boil him, though," I said. "I actually like him."
"Thanks," Jacob quickly said, and I laughed.
"I'll see you at dinner, Jacob," I said, and quickly left the room, and headed back to mine.
I didn't know how I could have forgotten to bring clothes with me to change out of, but I did. So in my towel, I quickly scuttled over to my room without getting caught. This was surprisingly hard to do, considering the fact that I left water everywhere.
"Oh my god," I heard Millard say, right as I opened my door room. "You're naked."
"So are you," I pointed out. I honestly had no dignity left, so I didn't care at this moment.
He didn't know how to respond to this. I turned my towel black, and made the words CENSORED appear on it. "Better?"
I didn't even wait for a response, as I went inside my room, and closed the door. I covered my room windows, and hummed Sweet Caroline as I got changed. White top, corduroy pants, and a belt. Seemed fine. I combed my hair with my fingers, and tried not to rip it all out. The thing that I missed the most about 1972, was the fact that conditioner existed. That was a thing of beauty.
When I finished changing (it literally only took five minutes at most, with most of it being hair problems) I went downstairs, and got ready for dinner. Which was actually really hard to do. Almost everyone crowded the doorway, so I couldn't get in to grab my seat. They were all crowding around Jacob, asking questions I was pretty sure he didn't have answers to. I understood his pain of not knowing what to say.
Miss Peregrine came in, and excused everyone to go sit down. Finally!
I zoomed over to take my seat, while Millard on my left took his. There was this unsaid rule of the house that everyone has arranged seating. Children near the end of the table, and the oldest on the side Miss Peregrine sat on. On the rare occasion, someone would switch seats with someone else (Hugh was able to switch Enoch so he could sit next to Fiona a couple years back).
I looked over to see where Jacob would be sitting, only to make eye contact with him. He waved at me, and being the polite person I was, I waved back, and Jacob began to make his way towards Millard's seat. Is this what Emma felt like when I first came down to dinner? I jumped up from my seat, and tried to stop Jacob from sitting down, but the damage was already done.
Millard jabbed his fork into Jacob's thigh, and said, "Excuse me!"
"Mr Nullings, there is a reason that we made the clothing rule!" Miss Peregrine said.
Millard slid out of his chair, and made his way out of the dining room. I couldn't help but laugh, and invited Jacob to sit down in his seat.
"How many times must I tell you," Miss Peregrine called out after Millard. "Polite persons do not take their supper in the nude!" She sighed, and began cleaning her glasses.
"If it makes you feel any better," I said as I leaned over towards Jacob. "When I first had dinner here, I actually sat in Millard's lap for a good fifteen seconds before he said anything. And to make it worse, I thought the chair was the one talking."
"Oh yeah, that might just be a bit worse than what I just experienced" Jacob snickered. "Are you okay?"
I just noticed he was wearing Victor's clothes. But I just smiled, and told him, "Yeah, it's fine. Just kind of sad you're not wearing that silly The Beatles shirt is all."
"What's wrong with The Beatles?" Jacob asked, sounding offended. "They're a classic!"
"Why?" I asked, laughing. "I saw them in concert once with my cousin, and they are good, I love their stuff. It's just that, isn't it a little....girly for you to like them?"
"In the present, gender marketing no longer exists," Jacob said with fake mockery. "There are three genders, and anyone can be gay."
I was confused. "Well, I hope everyone's gay. I mean, you don't want them to be depressed, do you?"
"What?" Then something clicked in his mind. "Oh, no, gay means you're attracted to the same gender."
"Really?" I exclaimed. "That's so cool! I'm happy that they finally figured out that not everyone is the same. My cousin, Heather, was in love with a woman. She never told anyone but me, though. And maybe Victor."
Dinner started, and Jacob seemed almost too excited at the complex and bizarre foods being passed around. He tried a little bit of almost everything, and soon asked Claire why she wouldn't eat. The young girl lifted a piece of food to the mouth in the back of her head, ate it, and made Jacob gasp.
Millard came back sooner or later in only a jacket. I snorted at this, and Millard quickly found a new seat. I was picking at my food, and flicked a piece of corn at Millard when Miss Peregrine wasn't looking.
"Nice outfit, Nullings," I joked.
We all began eating, and the kids saw this as the perfect opportunity to bombard Jacob with questions. Miss Peregrine quieted them all down, by using the answers Jacob gave them as a way to show them that the present is still mundane and boring. (Although, from what I could tell, a lot seemed to change from when I left. I obviously asked questions, and apparently America got their first black president! How cool is that?)
"Do you mind if I ask how old you all are?" Jacob said.
Horace replied with, "I'm eighty-three."
"I'll be seventy-five and a half next week!" Olive chirped in excitedly.
"I'm either one hundred seventeen or one hundred eighteen," Enoch said. "I lived in another loop before this one."
"I'm nearly eighty-seven," Millard said with food in his mouth.
"You're bloody disgusting!" I told Millard. Then I faced Jacob and politely said, "I'm just barely fifty-eight; my birthday was last week. I'm the baby of the family, you could say."
Everyone was looking at Jacob now. Quietly, he told everyone how he was only sixteen, and a few kids giggled. I rolled my eyes, and finished eating. A new energy was brought into the room, one might say. Just this thing of adrenaline passed through everyone at the idea that Jacob was so new and exciting. A grandson of Abe Portman, only sixteen, doesn't know he's peculiar....
Then a large boom sounded from outside the house.
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