High School Teenagers

Chapter Seventeen. *Chloe's Diary*

Only If I Was Allergic To Your Kind

I'm sitting on the back porch with Zooey and Aaron watching my Mom sketch a dress that she wants me to wear to her and Dad's friend's wedding. She had to cancel her modeling appointment today because of Gabe and Raleigh. Logan and Ivan were pushing each other around, still on the hand-in-my-pocket situation and no one's needing to jump in between them. But Mom and Dad really gave my brother and sister a portended place. A lot is going on between my parents and my siblings. The seniors party is this Friday and Saturday and my brothers are killing each other like the way Gabe and Raleigh would. Like they were killing each other an hour ago.

"Mom, why'd you give Gabe the hard work?" I asked her, "Raleigh's just being Axilla and Gemma's maid but Gabe's doing most of the work." She looked up at me from her sketchpad and smiled.

"It was his idea to assign Raleigh to his little job," Mom said, "I wasn't gonna let her do their work. He's worse than her to be honest." And I thought that I was the rude one. I guess that I was dumb-to-the-wall wrong. Zooey looked up from her sundae and then looked over at me. I wasn't gonna look up at her because she can scare the hell out of us. Out of me.

"I really wanna throw a party with fake alcohol, and see how many people act wasted..." I looked up from my lap, and Mom and Zooey's eyes were on me.

"What did Raleigh do with my daughter?" Mom said speaking but said her words with true sarcasm and deadpan. I looked at Zooey and she looked at me.

"Nothing, I was just thinking out loud," I said and quickly changed the subject. "Mom, so I have a new M.G., yet?"

"No modeling gigs yet," she said. "But, how would you feel being your father's co-star's son's flower girl?"

"I had a feeling that this would come up from one of you," I said.

"How?" Mom said wanting me to quickly respond.

"I'm the only daughter from both of you that will actually be a girl," I said.

"Are you re-sibling your sister again?" she asked and looked at me, her full attention to me. I don't know, was I? Am I? I really don't know. Last time I miss resembled Raleigh, we pretended not even know each other, but that didn't really last long, because of the little blood wieners in this house. Okay, that didn't even sound right.

"Because if you are, I can ground you, too," Mom added.

"No, Mom, I'm not," I lied, "but sure I'll do that. When is it?" She licked a tiger and turned a page.

"This Saturday," she said.

"Can't make it," I said, "the Senior's party. I told you and Dad about this over dinner." Mom put her sketchbook down on the table.

"I know, but their flower girl left them for a family emergency," Mom said, "so your father and I told them that you'd do it."

"Put words in my mouth without me even knowing, fantastic," I said and smiled. "Mom, I'd love too, but I'm not a married flower girl type. I never was, you know that."

"I know that you’d kill in a silky flower dress," Mom said, "So, you're dressed in love." Zooey looked at me from my peripheral vision and I took a sip of my lemonade.

"What does the dress look like?" I asked her. With a smile, my Mom pulled a picture out from her sketch pad and showed me a picture of the dress. I almost choked on my lemonade, putting the glass down and grabbing the book from my Mom. I had no idea that when my Mom said flowers on a dress, she actually meant it. The dress was covered with flowers, from top to bottom, the stem and root of the flowers are the straps to the dress. I looked pass to sketch to my Mom.

"Whoever did this deserves to be dead," I said.

"I'm just the designer, nothing more, nothing less," Mom said throwing her hands in the air.

"Mom, I am not gonna dress up in this," I said, "The bees will attack me. I'm not ready to get a bee sting."

"I know, but it's only for two days. The rehearsal and the wedding itself," Mom spoke

"Mom, I'm gonna be a walking bee sting, I'm sure the designer will come to their senses that the flower girl looks insane," I said.

"Well, on the plus side it's just for two days," Aaron said. I frowned at my brother and Ivan bumped into my chair with Logan behind him. Ivan was covered in mud from the grass and mud by the greenhouse.

"I said that I was sorry, dude," Logan called out.

"What happened?" Zooey asked them looking back and forth between Ivan and Logan.

"I pushed him," Logan said with deadpan. "He ate my twizzlers, now I'm gonna murder him." Zooey looked at Aaron who smiled at Logan and Ivan. Mom raised her brows with a false smile at them telling them to hug it out. Logan groaned and leaned in and skids to a stop immediately before wrapping an arm around torso.

"Uh, maybe I'll hug you when you're less muddy," he says.

"But I wanna hug now," Ivan says smiling with his arms wide open, Logan backs away a bit.

"No thank you." Ivan smiled at his brother and wiggled his fingers at him, ready for the muddy hug. Aaron snickered and looked at Mom who grabbed her phone, meaning that she's gonna either call my Dad or take a video/photo. Whatever she's about to do, don't piss her off. Because how Raleigh acts is how my Mom acts, like mother like daughter; or shall I say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? If my sister picked my Mom's doings, does that mean that my brothers or fewer of them picked up what my Dad is good at? 

Saturday! The best damn day of the week of being a scholar. I’m away from my siblings and spending a day with my parents and best part of all, I’m doing a dress fitting as the flower girl for my dad’s friends niece’s wedding. I don’t know what the dress looks like but mom described it as pretty with a few flowers here and there. I sat on the stool of the dresser in room with different types of dresses lined up on mannequins. Dresses with flowers, dresses made from silk, satin and two dresses that looked almost honey orange and mint green. The silky pink with the orange satchel stood out from the rest and I adored it like I adored a collection of books. I wonder if that’s what I’m testing out?

"You look so cute," Dad's friend's niece said smiling at me. "Your Mom did a fantastic job." Was she serious? My Mom just designed a dress for a woman who's flower girl is never gonna forget; me. "Once we get started on your hair, you'll be good for next Friday."

"Next Friday?" I repeated, "what's next Friday?"

"The wedding," the blonde said. "My sister pushed it a week from now. I'm glad she did because I wouldn't think that we would actually get this done. I mean she always tell me Lizzie this and Lizzie that, and don't forget the wedding is in 2 days and well I'm so happy that she moved the wedding to next week because I could not and would not get up this early." 

Please tell me this Lizzie chick was not serious about this wedding? I mean why would anyone want to dress their flower girl in an actual dress just made of flowers or anything like that. But this dress that's made out of actual flowers, with their stem and roots I'm freaking out I'm starting to think that this was a very bad idea. But I don't know want to hurt my Mom, she's really good at what she does and I don't like hurting her.

I turned to my Dad, "Dad you have to tell Mom to pull me from this place. I'm not going to be this flowers of a feast for bees dress. You have tell Mom to take my name off of that list."

"I'm sorry, Chloe cakes, but you told your Mom and Jessie that'd you be their flower girl," Dad says.

"Yeah, before I found out that I'm an actual flower girl," I said. "Dad, you can't let Mom go on with this. I'm ready to be bee food." Dad gave me a smile and kissed me on the head.

"I'll see what I can do," he said before walking off and leaving me in the flowery sun dress. I turned to the mirror and frowned at myself. I look like the queen of flowers, and not the happy one.

"Well, this doesn't make any sense," I mutter to myself, staring at the vibrantly colored dress twice my size. I hear a knock at my door and I turn to see two girls dressed in pink. One with blonde hair and grey eyes and one with black hair and blue eyes. Odd resemblance.

"You're in the wrong dress," one twin tells the other, and the other agrees, nodding looking me over. "You're in the wrong dress?"

"You're in the wrong dress," they say in unison.

"Yes, we've established that," I say exasperatedly. "Who're you two?"

"Arielle," the blonde said.

"Veronica," the brunette said with deadpan. "We're Lizzie's daughters. I'm the youngest by 2 minutes and I only speak excitement and she speaks with sarcasm and don't get us confused like our father does."

"How come you guys can't be the flower girl...s?"

"Because there's two of us, we're very close, and we're allergic to flowers and Arielle's allergic to bees," Veronica said, "and we dislike our new and soon to be brother-in-law." I nodded agreeing with them and turning back to the mirror.

"Do you think your brother -in-law or future in law would mind if I butt-out?" I asked them through the mirror. They looked at each other before turning to me.

"No," they said in unison, "we did the same at our Aunt's Greek wedding six months back," Veronica said. I nodded at them still looking at myself in the mirror.

"See you next Friday," Arielle said before pulling Veronica out of the room.

"Yeah, see y'all next Friday," I said, "maybe."

"You look dashing," a voice said from the direction of the doorway. I turned to see a woman in grey. Long hair and a orange dress skirt. She looked pretty old for her age. She could use a good makeover. Maybe she could use a face lift or two. "Mara Red," she walked over and put a hand out. "Claira's mother." I shook her hand and she smiled. "You must be Kenneth and Connie's daughter. You look like your father."

"I've been told," I said smiling at her.

"Well, I see you two have met," Dad said smiling and looked at me. "You're mother needs you to write a vow for Claira. Are you ready?" I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I looked at myself in the mirror. I smiled at my Dad and turns and takes my phone from my pocket; instantly beginning to dial numbers into it. Mara walked over to the closet and started to randomly pick through it.

"What're you going?" Dad asked me.

"Calling Mom," I answers putting my phone up to my ear, I then says under my breath, giving the back of Mara's head a quick glance. "Don't tell Mom that I hesitated." Dad didn't say a word he just let me call Mom. She didn't pick up, I looked at my Dad.

"I'd hesitate too, if I were you," Dad said and happily left the room leaving me with Mara.