Chapter 9

"JAMES CAN YOU STOP THAT-"

"BUT- JUST WATCH ME, WILL YA???"

"NO."

If you're in Jennifer's shoe right now, you'll probably be watching a live circus performance on a chipmunk and a bunny trying to chase a puppy that is on an attempt to spin its broom, showing off its non-existing talent but doesn't give up.

"Guys, we're supposed to be cleaning-"

"I SWEAR I'LL CHOP OFF YOUR HEAD WITH THIS DUSTER-"

"Guys, I don't think-"

"YOU COME BACK HERE OR ELSE-"

"Guys, come o-"

"I'M GOING TO THROW THIS TABLE ON YO-"

"CAN YOU GUYS PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP"

When Jennifer started cursing, everyone in the room knows they have crossed the line.

__

"Praise the God of chipmunks, james didn't die because of you." Isabella waved in the air to Mia, followed by Jennifer's snort.

"Correction, you TWO." She emphasized the end of her sentence.

"What? All I did was held him down! He was slacking off!" The chipmunk got offended. "You should be thankful." She ended with a pout.

"Correction, you tied him down on a chair. WITH A ROPE." She glared at her. "Yeah. I'm so thankful that you two gave me the opportunity to do most of the work." Her smile made them both shivered.

"OH GOD BUT HE'S SOOOO ANNOYING." Mia wailed dramatically. "We almost broke a window or two with his constant stick spinning. I don't even know if it's what he's doing, he looked like he wanted to kill flies or something."

Though the cat wanted to dismay her statement, her satanic bestie was right at that point.

The trio just finished their duty with a little struggle and the help from not so helpful James and they're now making their way out of the building.

"Oh no, I have to make dinner." Jennifer unconsciously palmed her face. She was dead tired despite the fact that she did most of the cleaning in their duty and all she ever wished to do now is throw herself in bed and sleep for years. Lily's presence isn't helping either.

"Ooh can I come over tonight? I so don't wanna hear my bro nags at me again for being late to class." The satan asked with a little plead before rolling her eyes at the thought of her brother.

"It's not my fault! You two were the one who kept holding me and throwing me questions!" Jennifer huffed cutely which the two justlaughed nervously until Isabella caught the idea of the whole situation.

"Nope, technically, it's yours." Her defence made Jennifer frown with questioning look.

"The questions we asked are about Lily and it's because of her, so...." The chipmunk trailed off. "Yeah. Also, you own Lily." The statement made mia burst out laughing.

"Oh I love that kid so much." The satan wiped her non-existing tears dramatically with her index finger. "I'm so gonna come over tonight. I miss her."

"Bella, you in?" Isabella just hummed to the latter in agreement. "I think I can cut off some time, I miss the bear too anyway."

The two received a very loving smack each after then.

"JENNIFER!!" A very familiar shout caught their attention as the quickly turned to a direction. A semi running, semi skipping bear heading towards them with a stupid grin followed by a squirtle who seem to be approaching them in a normal way.

"L-Lily!" Jennie's face went completely paranoid when Lily accidently tripped herself again. ON NOTHING. The four quickly rushed to the falling bear but they were too late as she once again fell.

There's nothing weird in this view at all, to be honest.

____

They were 30 minutes late home.

Why? Because Lily's nose bleed and she cried.

"JENNIFER, IT HURTS." The bear whined sitting on the ground.

"Of course it hurts, you idiot!" Jennifer had to wipe the blood and dirt of her face with Isabella's hanky. "Sorry about this." bella only smiled back while caressing Lily's head.

"Man..How do you do it?.." Mia crouched down to Lily's level. The bear only looked at her still in a mess. "You fall over nothing quite a lot."

"Mia stop that! I need to clean her!" Jennifer cupped Lily's cheeks to face her so she can get back to cleaning her blood. Lily didn't say anything as she kept her eye contact with her master while sobbing.

"It's okay, everything is alright now. You can stop crying." isabella ruffled her hair caringly.

"Does it still hurt?" Mia asked her when she only sobbed harder. There was a few second before the bear slowed down a bit and shooked her head cutely. "Then why are you still crying?"

"Jen-nifer-" She called between sob.

"Y-yes?"

"Lillian is s-sorry!"

Oh. It wasn't because she was in pain. She felt guilty. Guilty that she had cause her more trouble.

Jennifer could only sigh, seeing the bear was about to go rage on her tears again, she pulled her into a hug. Like she always did to calm her down when she cried, and it always worked. Proved, Lily slowed down immediately.

Lily buried her head on Jennifer's chest as she caresses her hair. "It's okay. It's okay..." Her master repeated until her sob was no longer audible.

Like a cue, Emma who went to a nearby convenient store appeared with choco milk in her hand.

____

"Geez." Mia leaned back on the floor. "She sure is gullible."

They have reached the sisters' house after a long walk (or run) whereas Lily accidently dropped the choco milk that Emma bought and had to chase it along with the said bear.

She wasn't joking, her besties thought.

They have come to believe that choco milk is gifted with a superpower that can make them roll at a Godly speed.

Thanks to Isabella's fast long legs and Mia's strategy on how to catch the choco milk, they have reduced the duration from 712178 hours to 30 minutes. They were also lucky to have reached home before the rain started pouring.

They are now seated on the floor in the Sisters' living room and intently watching Lily who's happily drinking her beloved choco milk while watching Spongebob in a new set of clothes, not after showering of course.

"Please keep an eye on whatever Lily is watching!" Jennifer shouted from the kitchen while wiping her hands with towels, probably preparing dinner for all of them.

"Mmkay," Isabella shouted back lazily as she back-hugged Lily snuggling behind her with eyes closed. Lily is too into her cartoon, she didn't even budge.

"And you, what the in the name of chocolate pudding are you doing?" Mia's gaze fell on her friend. Isabella didn't say anything but only motioned her to come near.

The latter tilted her head a bit but obeyed nonetheless. "What?" She mouthed.

"Try it, she's somehow so warm!" The chipmunk whispered giddily.

"Are you kidding me?" The other retorted but side-hugged Lily anyway. She was right. Lily is warm. "Oh my God, this is so-"

"Comfortable, I know."

"Oh, I wanna join too!" Emma who just came down the stairs saw them and ran to Lily, side-hugging her like Mia but on the other side. The three sighed in satisfaction at the warmth of the bear whose attention is still on the tv.

Just then a thunderclap boomed and all the lights went off, causing Jennifer to shriek and the others flinched.

"THE LIGHTS!"

"BLACKOUT?!"

"I'M BLIND!!"

The last one was probably Lily.

It was a complete blackout as Emma, Isabella, and Mia held tighter to a panicking Lily. "WHAT IS GOING ON-"

"Lily stop moving! It's just the light!"

A loud shriek followed by another thunder booming echoed throughout the house.

"JENNIFER????"

The three fell when Lily launched up and frantically ran towards her master but only to head-butt the wall next to the entrance of the kitchen and fell. "IT HURTS!!"

"Baby bear!!" This time it was Isabella who tried to be the hero but she too fell when she accidentally tripped on Lily's body on the floor. "OH MY- OOF" -face first.

"GUYS STOP PANICKING I'LL JUST GRAB MY PHO- ASDFHJLS!" Mia who stood up carefully to walk to her bag too has been defeated when she tripped on Emma who's crouching on the floor still in the same position.

Another thunder clapped followed by the same shriek echoed. It almost sounded like one of those horrifying screams you always hear in horror movies when the killer was one step away from killing the owner of it.

"ARGH!"

"Jennifer!!" It was like chivalry to Lily, she shoots up once again and quickly ran toward but only to head-butt the same wall on the same spot once again.

The lights came back after blinks a few moments later. If Emma was holding her phone back then, she would've captured the whole scene right now because it's a heck of memory to cherish and a sight to forget not.

They were everywhere, splattered across the floor. Emma stood up, brushed the dust off her knees and bottom with a grin.

My, how Lily's presence makes everything so interesting and possible. She always thought they'd carry their boring lifestyle to their tombstone.

It wasn't all quiet when her sister's constant sobs can be heard in a distance.

"Sis? Are you alright???" Emma began to worry as she made her way into the kitchen. She knew very well about her sister's phobia against thunderclaps and lightning. If there were a list of things Jennifer wanted to eliminate, one of the top 5 will be it.

She was welcomed by a messy sight followed by her sister who's curled into a ball, knees in her chest and hands covering her ears. "Emma..." Jennifer was on the verge of tears, somehow looking like a baby. Oh, how the roles have switched.

"JENNIFER-AARH" A wild bear with a surprisingly non-bleeding nose stormed in after but accidentally slipped herself on a piece of lettuce on the floor and went across the kitchen.

"LILY ARE YOU OK-!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HE- WHAT THE HECK-"

Looks like Lily wasn't the only who slipped herself when Isabella and Mia followed after.

"Oh my God." Emma's worries were long gone as she turned into a laughing mess.

"Jennifer! Are you okay???" The bear made her way by crawling to her master. Luckily, she didn't bleed her nose again. Which is weird.

"I-I.." A clap roared once more making Jennifer unconsciously threw herself into Lily's embrace. Lily was somehow pretty surprised. It made her grin nonetheless, giving herself to her master.

Yep, the roles have switched indeed.

____

With their dinner ruined, Jennifer had to go out to buy some ready-made ones. Isabella was kind enough to accompany her, Mia is also willing to pay a part for it (basically since they both will be spending the night there, it's the least they can do), they can't bear to have another drop of blood coming out of someone's nose. And so, satan and the Squirtle are in charge of keeping an eye on the bear.

"What's with her and the wall anyway?" Mia stopped picking up their now ruined dinner and pointed at Lily who's now on her daily wall-hugging routine.

"No idea." Emma didn't even mind batting an eye on the bear. She's already used to the view.

"Is she always like that at home?"

"Yep, but only when there's nothing on tv and she's out of sketch paper." Emma smiled. "Speaking of tv, Jen had already banned her from watching at a certain time."

"What do you mean?" The satan raised a brow.

"Well, you know how Lily is a fast learner right?"

"Ah! So, Jennifer wasn't kidding? Did she learn that little thing she's been doing from a French movie? Dude, that must be rad!" It was ridiculous, Mia couldn't help but laugh.

"You know, Lily is interested in going to school." Based on how Emma sees Mia, she knows they both have the same mindset. "And I know I can trust you on this one."

"HEOL. Really????" It was confirmed as Mia threw her a surprised look with a hint of mischievous vibe.

"Is Jennifer not home yet?" Looks like Lily has already detached herself from the wall as she walked over to the two.

"Not yet, baby bear. We still have to wait." Emma walked past her after patting her on the head.

Mia threw away the last piece of lettuce as she eyed Lily with a smirk. "And we know just what we can do till then, don't we, Emma?"

"I don't know what you're up to." The latter scoffed. "But I like the idea." She returned her smirk.

"YAY! Are we gonna watch tv???" Lily asked all giddily.

"Oh no, no," Mia said in a tone while throwing her arm around the bear's shoulder.

"We are gonna 'educate' you."

___

"We're back!" Isabella skipped her way into the sisters' with Jennifer trailing her with their dinner.

"Welcome back!" Lily appeared first and ran towards them.

"Lily!" The chipmunk opened her arms when she sees Lily throwing her arms over but Lily only ran past her as she went side-hugging her master. "Jennifer."

"Oh." She frowned. Shoulder lowered as she continued to venture the house.

"Yeah okay, get off me now." Jennifer pushed her away not trying to ruin the plastic bags in her hands.

"Jennifer!! Ehehey!" The satan appeared rather enthusiastically, hands waving all over the place. "You know what? It seems like we can't stay here after all!" She grabbed Isabella who's dumbfounded, demanding an explanation.

"What? I thought you don't wanna get scolded by your brother?" Jennifer tilted her head.

"Ahhh I change my mind! I suddenly feel so guilty and I think I've sinned a lot! AHAHAHA!" Her friend laughed nervously.

"And what does Bella have to do with that?" She looked over Isabella. She was gaping, having a hard time trying to shrink everything into her brain.

"Oh- Ah- Um- Uh-" Mia was trying so hard to look at everywhere except for Jennifer. "I-I need her by my side when my bro scolds me later! Who knows she needs a blessing too!"

"HEY!" The offended chipmunk slapped her.

"But what about dinner?"

"STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS, WOMAN!" Her sudden outburst made Jennifer questioned her with a look.

"I-I mean, I'm sorry! I mean, thank you! We'll just eat this at my house! Yes, yes my house!" She paused, "We have cleaned the mess! Goodbye now!" Mia pulled the dumbfounded Isabella as they stormed out of the house with their share and bags before Jennifer could demand clarifications.

"Emma, is something wrong?" Jennifer turned her attention to Emma who had her arms crossed the whole time with a flat expression. Her sister only shrugged. "What she said, I guess."

She looked at Lily who's :D probably don't even know a single thing going on.

___

Thankfully, she was tired and decided not to budge, and so they had their dinner quietly and went to bed as early as possible.

Jennifer only thought that would only be it for the day but again, she's wrong.

"Jennifer."

"Quiet."

"Jennifer."

"Lily, shut up."

"Jen."

....

"Jennifer."

....

Jennifer decided not to answer anymore as she just let Lily fall into her sleep by herself. But she didn't. Lily snuggled closer to her back and cooed once more into her ear

"Jennifer."

....

"Jennifer."

....

"....."

Jennifer smiled to herself. Lily must've given up and had fallen asleep. Finally.

It's just the start of her 'education' actually.

.

🧸