elonna emberstatt | ten ; fin

She lies in her crib and watches the ballerina figurine above as she spins, and spins, and spins. A twinkling lullaby and brightly colored stars accompany her eternal performance. Elonna smiles. She's happy now that she's relocated her pacifier back to her mouth and yet again wriggled her way free of yet another pair of socks- silly Daddy for trying! Her eyelids grow heavy and she yawns, arms stretching and tiny little fingers uncurling from fists, and she falls back asleep.

"He's wike Sue!" Elonna exclaims, likening the real cat in front of her to the beaten up old stuffed animal she always carries around with her. She'd decided to name it Sue because a feral cat birthed kittens in the loft of Pipaw Mace's hay barn during the summer, and Elonna the Adventurer happened to be the first to hear the mewing, and they'd told her the cat's name was Sue when she asked. This cat is not feral, though, so when she tries to pet it no one stops her. "Sorry," Daddy says to the lady next to the cat on the bench, "She loves animals." The lady smiles, "I know how it is. My boys would've lived in the woods growing up if I'd let them. I nursed many a bird with broken wings back to the sky in my day." Daddy smiles and thanks her for her time, and Elonna takes his hand as they walk away. Her bottom lip begins to protrude even without her meaning for it to. "I want one."

She doesn't really think it's that much of a big deal, but her parents seem keen on reminding her that her first day at school is important. Emerson and Quinn go to school every day. She's made sure that she has the exact same bag that Quinn got, she has glitter glue instead of the plain stuff, and her shoes were tied by none other than Elonna herself. She feels about as prepared as she can be for this. "I'm not a dumb baby," she retorts. Jeeze, you break one arm falling out of a tree and suddenly you can't do anything. "That isn't a nice word, Lonnie. And no one is saying that you're a baby," Dad explains, "it's just sometimes, for some people, it can be a bit exciting or scary." Elonna is quick on the draw, "Not me!" she says triumphantly.

"Lala's sick," she professes, taking her seat at the dinner table in a heap. Her forehead is covered in a sheen layer of sweat, her cheeks are red and flushed, and the bib pocket on her overalls is moving. "Who is Lala?" Mom asks in a hesitant tone, her eyes carefully observing the moving pocket. "Garden snake..." She tries to make her voice as small as possible, half-hoping her mother will only hear a nondescript mumble and move on, uninterested in further questions and back to cooling Eden's mashed potatoes. It doesn't work. Her mother's eyes widen and she sharply inhales, but before she can speak, Elonna says, still in a small, totally nonchalant voice, "Just a little one, lil bitty garden snake." She makes the 'tiny' symbol with her pointer finger and thumb to emphasize its so-claimed small size. "No snakes! Don't mess with wild animals, Elonna! We got you a cat, that was the deal. Remember? Is that what's in your-" Elonna begins to groan loudly, and allows the same groan to carry over as she stands back up from the table and walks all the way back outside and off the porch so that she can place Lala back where she found it a couple hours ago. The tiny snake curls itself around a fencepost and then slithers out of sight. "Bye," she whispers.

The way Elonna sees it, the boy has only been given what he deserved. She blinks absently, cheeks still flushed and stomach still burning from the fight. Her chest rises and falls while the last of the adrenaline pumps its way through her system. "Is there anything you would like to say to him?" The Principal asks. He wants an apology; she doesn't want to give him one. She can feel Mom's eyes wearing a hole into the back of her head. She stays silent, itches her eyes as they begin to dry. She hates when she cries- she hates when its because of her anger most of all, because people seem to think it weakens the anger. Makes her have to resort to things like punching boys two grades older than her in the chin on the playground so they know to leave her alone. Later, on the walk home, she finally breaks her silence. "Momma, do you ever look back on mistakes and wish you'd done some things different?" Mom looks instantly relieved by Elonna's inquiry. Probably, she'd been worried that Elonna didn't feel bad about the fight. "All the time, Sweetie. I like to think it shows that we've learned from what happened to us. Why? What would you have done differently?" Elonna considers for a moment. "I wish that instead of just hitting him in the chin, I woulda jumped on him first and wrapped my legs around his waist, that way I coulda really got him good." Mom scoffs and most of the rest of the walk home is spent either being scolded or in disappointed silence.

Her face is red and coated in tears and sweat, her chest heaving with heavy sobs. To remind herself of her own sadness, she pulls the piece of paper out again from her pocket, unfolds it to read all the words again. The printed ink is in the quickened scrawl of the middle-school volleyball coach, and explains that Elonna is the first sixth grader who has ever made the team, but because of her math grades being so low the school will not allow her to play. It is not intended for her eyes- it's technically labeled Ms. Lowe though, and her mom is married, so she decided to peak and now she wishes she hadn't at all. She and her brothers are the last ones on the bus, Emerson practicing his dumb guitar a couple seats back and Eden mindlessly stares out the window near the front. When she's sure neither is looking, she slips the paper out of her window and makes a decision: Summer's coming soon and Exy sounds more fun, anyway.