Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-43347423-20200126154845/@comment-43347423-20200129013226

Ellen was inside her illustrious home. Almost fifteen, she was a tall, gangly girl with long, light brown hair and greenish-brown eyes. Sometimes they looked more green, sometimes more brown.

Her guardian, Jessica Tayle, was out, and Ellen was home alone. Jessica had been Ellen’s guardian for her whole life. Everyone had one guardian. Once you were twenty years old, you could apply to become a guardian. Jessica was currently 38, having gotten Ellen at age 23. She was an amazing guardian.

Ellen had her headphones on, listening to music. She loved music. She sang in the school choir, played the trumpet in the school band, and played piano at home. Music made her happy.

Everyone in her society was rich. Poor people simply didn’t exist. Ellen’s school was rich. Her room was decorated with the most exquisite decor imaginable, as was every other room in her entire three-story house. Her guardian was rich, her friends were rich. The culture was rich. Everything was rich.

Ellen liked it that way. She’d heard about her society’s humble beginnings in her history lectures. It sounded miserable, being so poor all the time. If Ellen wanted to do something, she could, as long as it wasn’t too dangerous.

The song on her headphones switched, and Ellen began singing along. In a few minutes Jessica would be home. She’d promised that they’d bake cherry pie that day, Ellen’s absolute favorite. Ellen couldn’t wait.

In a few minutes, Ellen heard a knock on the door and walked down the spiral staircase leading to the foyer to answer it. Peering through the window, she saw a woman with dark brown hair cut in a short bob holding some shopping bags. Jessica! Ellen thought. She undid the lock and opened the door.

“Here, let me help you carry some of that,” Ellen said, grabbing two paper bags from Jessica.

Jessica smiled at her as they walked towards the kitchen. “Thanks, sweetie.”

“You’re welcome,” Ellen replied. “So, are we gonna bake a cherry pie or what?”

“Yep! I have all the pie makings here now.”

Ellen peered into one of the bags now sitting on the counter. “Ooh, here’s the cherries!”

“Yep,” Jessica agreed. “Why don’t you get a recipe for us?”

Ellen grabbed a cookbook from under the counter and flipped through it. “Pies, pies, pies… Oh, here’s one! Cherry pie.”

They began getting the bowls out and rolling out the store-bought crust. When it was time to pour the canned cherries in, Ellen couldn’t help but sneak a few into her mouth. She licked the lids of the cans when Jessica wasn’t looking, too, of course. How could you not when you were baking something so delicious?

Jessica slid the pie into the oven. “While we’re waiting for it to cook,” she said while setting the timer, “do you want to go through some of the clothes I bought you?”

“You bought me clothes?”

“Of course I did, silly! It’s your birthday!”

Ellen hugged her guardian. “Thank you so much, Jessica!”

They grabbed a few shopping bags each and walked up the stairs to Ellen’s massive pink room. Setting her bags down, Jessica said, “So, this one has a really pretty dress I thought you’d like…” She pulled out a beautiful pink gauzy dress and held it up against Ellen. “I think it should go down to about your knees…”

“Oh, Jessica!” Ellen exclaimed. “It’s absolutely beautiful!”

They went through some more back-to-school clothes. The very next day Ellen would be starting her tenth year of school, and she couldn’t be happier. It was her last year of school before adulthood. Ellen absolutely couldn’t wait to see her friends again. She had no worries.

They heard the timer go off and rushed downstairs. They could smell the pie halfway down and both Ellen and Jessica took in a deep breath.

“Ooh, the pie must be ready by now!” Ellen said.

“It must be,” Jessica agreed.

When they reached the kitchen, Jessica put on oven mitts and pulled the pie out of the oven. “I think it’s done! Now we just need to wait for it to cool off.”

“Yay!” Ellen said excitedly. “Can’t wait!”

When the pie was ready, Jessica cut them both slices. “Grab the whipped cream out of the fridge, will you?”

Ellen opened the refrigerator to retrieve it, popping the cap off as she did so. She tilted her head back and squirted some into her mouth. She handed the can to Jessica, top off, with her mouth full and a goofy smile on her face.

Jessica took it, laughing, and squirted some on both of their slices before handing Ellen a plate.

Ellen opened the drawer and grabbed two forks, handing one to Jessica. “Here you go,” she said before digging into her slice of pie. “This is so good!” she said in between mouthfuls.

“I know, right?” Jessica agreed.

That night, Ellen went to bed with a full belly. She dreamt only good dreams of returning to school, and absolutely couldn’t wait.