Gen 2- Chapter 14: Cherry Blossom

“Hello?”

“Hello Mrs. Chiffon. This is Felicity Cupcake from Strawberry Shortcake Elementary.” Ughhh! This was like Deja vu all over again.

“Yes?”

“I am calling in regards to your daughter Apricot Bloom. Yes, it seems that she hit Olive Bitters in the eye today.”

“I don’t know what to say?”  I was literally speechless.

“We need you to come down and pick her up. She is suspended until Monday.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Apricot didn’t say a word the entire car ride home. When we finally got to the house, I walked her up to her room so we could “chat”. I knew that her room was her safe spot, so she would feel a little more comfortable. The poor thing was so easily rattled, and I didn’t want to upset her more than I knew she already was.

“Alright Miss. What in the world happened today?”

“Momma I swear it was an accident!” This was the only part of the explanation I heard because the rest came out in a long long line. “IwasgoingtomydeskandIaccidentlytrippedandmyelbowhitherintheeye!!”

“…”

“She just hates me mom! Everything I do. She tries to find some way to get me in trouble.”

Even if I wanted to be mad her I couldn’t. She was just so adorable and I pretty much believed her anyhow. I had never known her to lie to me either. Out of all the kids she was probably the most genuine and honest. I was just about to release her from her groundation when the doorbell rang. I asked her to stay in her room until I came back.

To my surprise it was little Pumello Tangerine standing on the doorstep.

“Well hello Pumello.”

“Mrs. Chiffon…. Apricot didn’t do anything wrong. I was there. I saw the whole thing. It was an accident. Olive is just mean.”

“Well thank you Pumello, I appreciate your honesty. Would like to see her?”

Pumello and Apricot met on the first day of school and since then, they have been glued at the hip. He was a real sweet boy and Apricot just adored him. I was happy to see her find a friend that she could latch onto. He really helped to lower her stress levels which was a good thing!

I had a feeling this friendship would last for many years to come.

Pumello and Apricot were not the only constant companions in the house. Seashell and Precious were constantly together also. If she wasn’t over at the house.

They were on the phone. Sometimes for hours at a time. I don’t even know what they possibly could talk about for that many hours.

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“Not as much me….”

Teenagers…

Peach Puff had found a new joy in life. Gossip. If you needed the scoop on anyone in the house or out of the house for that matter, she was the person to go to. No idea how she got all that information, but if you asked me I think my wonderful husband helped.

I think Peche Jr. was the first one to catch on and not long after, he stopped revealing anything he deemed private. Smart Boy.

Before it hardly seemed possible, we were celebrating the twins birthday again. My eldest boys were going to be young adults. It just couldn’t be. Wasn’t it just yesterday I was bringing them home from the hospital wrapped in their little blue blankets?

As usual  Sunset was up first.

Such a handsome young man. No mistaking who his daddy was, thats for sure.

Next was Seashell. The crowd roared with cheers as he blew out the candles.

Due to a little coercing by Precious, Seashell was looking a lot like his former self. I was quite pleased by that. It suited him.

When everyone was having their cake, Seashell and Precious went out side to be “Alone.” I swear those two were always “Alone.” She couldn’t keep her eyes off of him either, which I thought was so funny and cute. She was definitely digging the new old look.

Remember how I was saying poor little Apricot was rattled easily. Well she got so overly stressed during the party she had a little accident and wet all over her cute little jumper. She was so mortified, she immediately ran into the bathroom and didn’t come out.

She spent the next few hours sitting in the bath tub trying to get clean. That girl always took the longest baths. Sometimes 2 hours or more. If you tried to rush her though, she would start to cry and say she wasn’t clean yet. After a while we all just knew, if Apricot was in the bath, you better just search out another bathroom.

After her bath, I could here her washing her hands! Why in the world would you need to wash your hands after a bath?  I started to get more and more concerned about my little Apricot Bloom. I feared there was something seriously wrong.

When Peche got home from work that night he was beaming. He had recently applied for the Head Chef position at the Neapolitan Dragon and he got it! He was so proud and excited, and so was I!

I pulled him into a big bear hug. “Awww Hunny thats great!” The $335 dollars an hour was pretty sweet too!

Now both that the boys were older, they jumped right into their careers. Seashell always was an avid writer and had actually had a book picked up by a publisher his senior year in high school. They loved the book so much they signed him on for a 3 book deal. Pretty standard first deal according to Seashell. He was quite pleased. After he got the call, he got to work right away on “The Amazing Adventures of Gemma Quest”.

When Sunset announced he wanted to join the Sugar Valley reserves I was more than a little surprised. He seemed to know what he wanted though, so we supported him. He started working out, preparing himself for boot camp which was only a few weeks away.

During his last 2 weeks of freedom, Sunset chose to spend most of it with Renae Grayson-Bland. She had come to the birthday party with Mandy. Mandy wasn’t to keen about introducing her good friend to Sunset knowing what a player he was, but Sunset pushed and pushed and until she finally caved.

They had gone on 3 or so dates and he still hadn’t tried to put the moves on her. She must have been special, because he took everything really slow, and come to think of it, he had pretty much stopped all the “other visits”.

Around that same time, Seashell had plans of his own. He had invited Precious out for a night on the town, which was completely out of his element. My homebody was out rockin the town. I knew she brought out another side of him, but wow! Wonders never cease, I suppose.

A slow song came on, and the mood must have been just right because Seashell did the unthinkable.

“Precious Powder. I love you.”

“Aww…I Love you too. Sweets.”

” I know I don’t have much money, not even enough to by you a ring, but I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life by your side. Marry Me?”

“Oh Seashell, of course I will marry you!”

When Seashell told me the good news, my reaction was not exactly what he was expecting.

“You did WHAT?!?”