That Saturday was hardly different than any other. At least at the beginning. Mom drove me to the Twilight North branch campus for me to have my morning classes, which were a pain to attend seeing as how they started at seven in the morning. I was out by eleven though. Normally I would do a bit of indulgent shopping or meandering about in the city before I took a bus or taxi home, but this time I headed straight to the city park. Merlot wanted to play there for a while, and I was to be his babysitter. Mom and dad had been letting him go off on his own now, but the cat killings had them more on edge. After the fourth had been found, things had thankfully somewhat slowed down with that whole situation. The person clearly garnered more attention than he or she wanted. No killings happened, or at least were made public, for two weeks. One popped up again on the third week. A week of silence came before a fifth cat, this time one that wasn't a stray, had been found last night. There were no signs the person was attempting to come after people, but mom and dad naturally didn't want to take any chances they didn't have to. They wanted Merlot to have supervision, so supervision I would provide. Timber, however, had been nice enough to agree to accompany my brother and me. He walked Merlot to the park before keeping me entertained as Merlot ran all over.
"They're really going all out, aren't they?" Timber laughed.
"They seriously are," I chuckled back, "Gil and Confetti are even talking with some baker who makes food and treats specifically for animals. The cake those two want to get is being quoted for them at seventy-five dollars."
"I mean, if this is important to them, I say go for it. I just hope they remember to get food for the non-animals to eat too."
"I did have to remind them of that fact. Gil looked at me in pure confusion and then when 'oh, yeah' when it sank in."
"Thank you for making sure we won't starve," Timber patted my back encouragingly, "When will the 'wedding' be?"
"A few more weeks. The weekend after the dance. It was going to be sooner, but now that Gilly's on the homecoming court she has to divide her attention more."
"I'm still surprised you turned down your chance to be on court. You were elected because there were that many people writing you in. You could have won easily."
I shrugged.
"Perhaps, but I didn't care to be on court, which is exactly why I didn't run. I have too much to do already, and being queen doesn't matter to me. It matters a whole lot to Gilly though. I would hate for me to steal it from her when I never wanted it to begin with."
"I see. Not gonna lie though, the idea of you two duking it out for the crown was something I was interested in seeing." Timber smirked teasingly.
"Pfft. You're saying that as if you don't see us bickering all the time."
"Yeah, but this would have been on a much grander scale. In front of the whole school! An event for the ages!"
"I'll take you to see a movie, how about that?"
Timber mocked a pout, but he did actually accept the offer. The two of us took a look at what was currently in theaters to plan out a time we could go, but I'd barely gotten through the list when a series of texts from my sister popped up.
"Huh."
"What is it?" Timber wondered.
"Gil's madly texting me. She says Merlot and I have to come home right away."
"Does she say why? Is something wrong?"
"She says nothing's wrong. Just that there's a big surprise."
"That's suspicious. A surprise she planned? What for?"
"I'm not sure if she planned it. She's adamant we can't delay, however."
"Well, we've been here for a while now. I'll walk you two home."
I offered for him to come inside and see what all the fuss was about, but he declined. Mr. Mountain had stuff he needed Timber for once he got done hanging out with Merlot and me at the park, so off he had to go to meet his father. Smartly, I let Merlot walk through out front door first. I hadn't told him of why we had to go home, so any scares or things jumping out at us would be weathered by my brother instead. No one did pop out. Two surprising figures merely rushed over to greet us.
"Ethie! Ephie!" I greeted my friends as they each got a hug in, "This is quite the surprise! Did you know, Gil?"
"No, not at all. They just randomly walked inside," my sister laughed, "They apparently set it up with mom and dad though."
"When you two refused to come down to the party, we thought we'd change it up and use the long weekend to fly and visit you." Ethereal explained.
"That way we'll be the tired ones instead." Ephemeral added.
"Aww, you guys. I appreciate it. It is good to see you." I gushed, unable to stop myself from beaming.
"Let me show you my room!" Merlot requested eagerly.
"Sure. We've been waiting for you two to get here to have the tour." Ethereal smiled.
Merlot proudly showed his bedroom off, stuck with us while Gilly and I took our friends around the rest of the place, and vanished when it came time to put together the guest room. In order to keep the surprise a surprise, mom and dad hadn't had it done beforehand. Thankfully, Ethereal and Ephemeral were more than willing to put in some of the lifting work. Mom, dad, and grandpa all pitched in as well. A refreshing glass of Lemonade out on the second floor terrace was our reward.
"So, your friends and family basically own this street, right?" Ephemeral wondered after we cooled down.
"Yeah. Grandma and grandpa's closest friends, with the exception of one, took over a spot on this road. Papa Al and Mama Lia are there on the left. They're our grandparents from our mom's side. Aunt Mimi lives there too with them as does her daughter, Rosey. Then over there is where Uncle Frost and Aunt Sunflower live." I explained.
"But those aren't actually your uncle and aunt, correct?" Ethereal recalled.
"Right. We just call most of our parents' or grandparents' friends like that because everyone is so close. For example, there's Uncle Midas- Uncle Frost and Aunt Sunflower's son. He must be visiting today."
Uncle Midas had come out the door to drop a bag of garbage into the trash can. Gilly waved brightly, and he easily caught notice.
"Hello there!" he called, waving back.
"Our friends from Tinseltown are visiting!" my sister announced.
"Oh, nice to meet you!"
"Hello." Ethereal responded, although her voice was much quieter than any of ours.
"It's okay. You can shout as loud as you want," Gilly encouraged, "It really is just all of us around here. We've grown up shouting back and forth at each other."
"Got it." Ethereal smiled.
With it being such a nice day, mom announced we would be having lunch on the terrace when she showed up with a lemonade refill. I didn't bother asking what lunch would be when she also noted that Blaze wanted to be the chef. He showed up with armfuls of hotdogs, and the grill soon sizzled temptingly with the scent of cooking meat.
"I wish we could have seen your old house too," Ephemeral spoke longingly once everyone joined us and the food began being passed around, "From all the pictures I've seen it looked very nice."
"I miss it a lot. Sometimes when I turn the corner down the street I feel like I've gone down the wrong one because I'm expecting to see a totally different building." mom said wistfully.
"You know, the layout of this house is actually much of the design Ethereal came up with originally though." grandpa revealed.
"What? Really?" dad asked in amazement.
"Yes. We both planned what we thought best, and this is almost exactly what she came up with. However, we realized it would be too small for our family, and, well, I...I whined a bit too much that it didn't have enough of what I wanted," grandpa laughed, "Instead of making her design bigger and adding a few more aspects, Ethereal just shrugged and let me basically have free control. She said she didn't mind as she just wanted us to get out of Eden's cramped house. When the architects asked me for opinions this time around, I pulled out her old sketches and they fit perfectly with what our family needed now. Of course I added things like the theater room."
"So you never change." dad laughed.
"That's nice though that her design got used. It's like this is still her house." Ethereal noted, and grandpa nodded merrily in agreement.
The conversation rolled on, and the meal proceeded smoothly. I'd finished two hotdogs off when another car pulled up to the driveway.
"Oh, I think that's Arbor." Gilly leaned far back to glance over the border wall.
"Crap, I forgot he was coming over." I spoke as I hurriedly swallowed my mouthful of chips.
"A friend?" Ethereal asked.
"A classmate. We're working on a project together. Excuse me."
Managing to make it down the stairs as Arbor knocked on the door, I opened the door for him. He hardly raised a brow at my flustered state, but he did also choose to address it.
"Something up?" he wondered simply.
"Oh, I just...I just forgot you were coming. Sorry," I explained with an apologetic grin, "Some of mine and Gilly's friends from Tinseltown showed up for a surprise visit. They had wanted us to go to a party down there during this long weekend, so when we declined they came here instead."
"You have friends in Tinseltown?"
I think he was lightly impressed.
"Uh-huh. Quite a few of them. We lived there for two years after the hurricane caused us to evacuate Berrybrook. You might have also heard of my uncle, Prism Vivid."
"I may have seen a movie or two of his." Arbor shrugged, although it seemed, at least to me, that that was an understatement, "You want me to take off then? We're already ahead of schedule. I don't care either way if we reschedule."
"I care. Ethie and Ephie can wait. We planned to work on this, so work on this we shall. You're more important right now."
Without thinking, I snatched Arbor's hand to lead him to the dining room as I could sense him about to protest his presence. I then detached my grip immediately as Arbor had clearly shown a dislike for being touched without permission. What shocked me though was Arbor didn't move to free himself even though the tightening of his muscles signaled his instinct to do so. Perhaps he would have actually keep my hold. Either way, it was hardly fifteen feet to the table. We sat down across from each other and got to work after Arbor declined my offer for me to go get him some food from upstairs as he'd already had lunch. The last touches on our short story then began. Seriously, I was astounded by how fast we were moving with the whole thing. Arbor finished all three books before I could, and half the time we met up to continue working he'd take out another piece of the project he'd done because he'd gotten bored. The boy was actually incredibly smart and dedicated.
"So, are you going to homecoming?" I asked when we were just about done.
"Nope. I never liked school dances to begin with, and I hate them even more after what happened last year." he frowned.
"What happened last year?"
"Assholes."
"Any more clarification you want to provide?"
I prodded, but the push didn't provide results right away. Arbor wrote in his notebook for a minute and only glanced up again once I'd given up on getting a response.
"At my old high school, the homecoming court wasn't limited to just seniors. The king and queen rank were, but there was a similar vote for each grade to determine a prince and princess. I'd recently told a person I thought was a friend about something incredibly private I really hadn't told any of my friends before. He...I don't know what the hell his reasons were. He began bullying me about what I told him and set up this stupid campaign to have me elected as one of the princes as a joke. Of course the other idiots in my grade went along with it. I went to the dance and sucked up being the 'winner' to try and fight back, but then my so-called friend publicly announced the details of my secret. I couldn't stand it, so I had to go home after that. Going back to school was hell for the rest of the year."
"Arbor, I'm so sorry. That's terrible," I spoke, aghast, lowering my pencil, "I hope your shitbag 'friend' didn't get away doing something like that."
"They suspended him for it and for the fact that the teachers discovered he was drunk. Put a nice little wrench in his plans of going to Ivy Lane for college."
"Ah, right. Even having one detention will disqualify you from being accepted. Well, that is good he got his consequences. It boggles me that people can be so awful."
I sighed before studying my companion closely.
"Are you sure your mom's job being transferred is the only reason you guys moved?"
"Yes. It was. My parents were going to switch me to homeschooling for my senior year before her company approached her with the offer, but when we decided to move I figured I wouldn't make them have to bother putting me into the different system."
"I know our classmates haven't been the kindest to you either, but I think most of them are getting over their immaturity now. I hope you can enjoy the rest of your year here. Also, just let me know if you do change your mind about coming to the dance. Me and Gilly would love to have you come along. You can even just join us for the dinner and pictures beforehand, if that's more your speed."
"Probably not, but thanks." Arbor declined softly.
Despite the rejection, I felt glad. Arbor had given me a 'probably not' instead of a straight out no. He'd gone ahead and trusted me with more details of his life, and overall in our more recent interactions his attitude was somewhat engaged. That detachment of his typically only returned once we were in the presence of other people. For example, the meal upstairs concluded and everyone filed back downstairs. His lips sealed themselves tightly, especially when he came under dad's stare. Let's just say my old man hadn't come around to warming up to Arbor just yet. The good atmosphere was diminishing thanks to that, so I thought it would be a good idea to take Arbor outside to meet my friends where I'd been told they were enjoying the outside sitting area.
"Arbor, these are the Chalcedony twins, our friends from Tinseltown. Ethereal's in the ponytail, and Ephemeral has the glasses." I introduced, "Ethie, Ephie, this is Arbor Thicket."
"Nice to meet you." Ethereal smiled warmly.
Arbor said nothing, and I noticed him doing double-takes. It took me a moment to remember this was most likely his first person meeting someone with albinism. My family of course thought nothing of it, but it was still a big deal to everyone else.
"Oh my god," Ephemeral then gawked in awe, which caused Arbor to squirm under the scrutiny, "I love your tattoos. Your parents let you get them?"
"Obviously." Arbor grumbled.
His tough exterior was back on. Something about the situation was making him more uncomfortable than I anticipated.
"We were thinking about going swimming since the weather's still nice. Did you want to join, Arbor? I'm sure dad has a pair of trunks that will fit you." Gilly jumped in to try to help.
"Yeah, it'll be fun! You and four beautiful girls in bikinis. Sounds fun, huh?" Ephemeral teased with a wink.
"No," Arbor denied with a heap top of harshness contained within that one syllable, "I'm going home. Bye, Dia."
And off he went before we could blink. I desperately tried to figure out what had gone wrong, but I couldn't come up with an answer.
"Way to scare him off, Ephie." Ethereal rebuked.
"What? I don't see what I did wrong. That usually has the completely opposite results. I did think his tattoos were really cool too." Ephemeral pouted.
"I think Arbor just has a hard time warming up to people. I'm the only one who's kinda gotten close to him so far. I wouldn't read much into it." I encouraged.
However, I had trouble ignoring the matter at first when it was still possible to see Arbor's back as he hurriedly stomped away. Even for him the determination to depart was odd. I wanted to see what was wrong, but a strong suspicion warned that Arbor would prove abrasive to even me if I ran after him to prod some more. Waiting until he was calm again was all I could do. So, I focused on my friends instead. We changed, sunbathed for a bit, swam until our muscles were sore, relaxed again, and spent some time trying different tricks on the diving board and seeing who could go the fastest off our water slide before washing up, drying off, and moving on to the next activity. Gilly and I came up with our own surprise for our friends.
"Whose house is this?" Ephemeral questioned as we walked inside.
"This is the house grandma grew up in," Gilly revealed as Ethereal's eyes went wide, "Our cousins, Uncle Eden's children and grandchildren, and his wife live here now."
"It's so beautiful." Ethereal gushed in her stupor.
"Okay, Ethie, you're overdoing it now," her sister laughed as she rolled her eyes, "It's just somebody's home, not a museum."
"It's still a part of all the history."
Right on cue, the expected figures walked over. Parsley and Thyme peered around the corner and greeted us with big smiles. Normally Gilly and I would have walked in unannounced like normal, but we thought it better to text Parsley ahead of time to let them know of the guests as Aunt Deny, Rosemary, and Pastel were out.
"Hi, guys." Thyme squeezed my sister and I with big hugs.
"Hi there. I'm Parsley Yonder. You two must be the friends coming over. And you," he glanced at Ethereal, "You must be Aunt Ethereal's admirer."
Ethereal could only nod in pure wonder. Ephemeral scoffed but smiled wider.
"Want to see the spot where grandpa marked Aunt Ethereal's height as she grew?" Parsley offered with his own massive smile of amusement.
"Yes! Please." Ethereal leapt vigorously at the opportunity.
Seeing my friend all excited was cute but also a little hard to accept. Of course, I thought the world of grandma. She was a hero to me. My life was amazing, and that was due to a vast amount of suffering on her part. Not only because of the struggle she'd gone through with underground forces, but just the more common struggle of pressing on after losing someone she'd loved dearly. Ethereal recognizing my grandma made me proud of her, proud to call her mine, and even more grateful for what I had. Still, to have Ethereal so in awe that she looked like she got closer and closer to crying with each simple thing she saw in the house hit a weird cord in me. It wasn't jealousy or embarrassment or anything like that. It was more like it was an intrusion on something Ethereal could never truly be a part of. Yet, at the same time I obviously felt no ill will about it.
"Oh, and over there is where your grandmother's first boyfriend used to live, right? Your other grandpa?" Ethereal wondered
"Yes." Gilly replied.
"Amazing," Ethereal gushed, getting closer and closer to the window until her nose pressed against the glass, "Even then they lived so close. I can see into their living room."
"Okay, you stalker. Calm down." Ephemeral gently pulled her sister back.
"I'm not being a stalker. This is just so incredible! We're getting a rare look at the scene where the foundings of some of the most important moments in our country's history began! Who knows what kind of great things happened here?"
"It was mostly grandma and her friends acting like idiots while having fun. We can show you some home videos if you're interested." I spoke while suppressing more laughter.
"Good god, yes. Ephie, you have to tell me if I've died and gone to heaven though. I feel as if I had."
"At this rate, you might before the day is out. I don't think your poor heart can stand all this excitement."
Ethereal's heart certainly was jumping around and missing a few beats not a minute later. Thyme told us Sage was upstairs working on a school project of his own, so we'd left him alone. My plan had been to call him down at the very least before we left so we could introduce him as well. Turns out he had plans of his own. A loud yell and even louder scream of fright altered us to the fact that he'd snuck over when no one noticed.
"Sage." Parsley reprimanded his brother sternly when it became clear how he'd silently gotten behind my friend to scare her.
"What? I wanted my introduction to be memorable." Sage laughed.
Thankfully, Ethereal's heavy breathing only continued because she, too, laughed unceasingly.
"You're lucky you did that to the right twin. I would have punched you in the face." Ephemeral teased.
"Wouldn't have been the first time it happened." Sage shrugged lightheartedly.
"You must be the third of the brothers we've been told about." Ethereal, calming herself, turned around and offered a handshake.
"Yup. Nice to meet you. I'm Sage. Or, 'Sage', as Pars more often likes to call me." he lovingly mocked his older brother as he shook her hand.
"I can't imagine why." Ethereal smiled back.
Despite, or because perhaps, the little scare incident, Ethereal and Sage got along amazingly. The two chatted away in conversation, bantered back and forth like old friends while we watch the old home movies, and hugged like lifelong companions when it was time to head back to our house. Gilly and I offered more ideas for what we could do next, but those were silenced the instant we walked through the door. Dad and grandpa stood outside grandpa an Blaze's bedroom not looking too pleased. Dad motioned me over the second he caught my eye.
"What was Arbor doing before he left?" dad demanded to know.
"Uh? I don't know quite what you mean. We sat at the table, worked on our project, we met the others outside when we were done, and then he took off." I replied uncertainly.
"Coal, you need to stop jumping to assumptions. We have no idea what happened." grandpa rebuked him, and although he attempted to keep his tone steady it was clear he was angry about something too.
"What happened?" Gilly asked.
"Someone stole my snow globe." grandpa sighed.
"Stole it? Really?"
"Well, it's gone, and it seems someone forced open the window to get inside. It's weird though, because nothing else but it has been taken."
"And you think Arbor is the culprit." I rationalized, glancing at dad.
"Who else could it be?" he huffed.
"Why in the world would he take it though?"
"I don't know! However, I'm going to head to his house right now to find out!"
"You can drive me to his house, and I'm going to ask him about it," I challenged, "You're not starting any nonsense over this."
Grandpa smiled a bit then. Apparently, I looked and sounded incredibly similar to mom then. I suspected that was why dad relented to my compromise. The two of us hardly spoke a word as he drove me down to the area I'd just been so I could knock on the door to the Thicket household. Arbor's mother let me in right away, and her friendly smile and the one I got from Arbor's dad made me hesitate. Arbor, lightly curious, walked out of his room to stare at me.
"How can we help you, Dia?" Mrs. Thicket asked.
"Are you upset because of how I acted towards your friends?" Arbor also questioned.
Mr. and Mrs. Thicket gave him curious glances at that, but they said nothing.
"No. It was fine. They didn't really care. Unfortunately, I came over here for what I feel is a really stupid reason. You see...my grandfather has this really special snow globe. It was a present from my late grandmother to him back when they were in high school. There's a lot of meaning in it for him, and it's his absolute treasure. It seems someone snuck into his bedroom through his window this afternoon and took it."
"That is unfortunate. I'm sorry to hear that," Mr. Thicket spoke sympathetically, "Why does that bring you here though?"
"Well...my dad, he...he thinks you took it." I said to Arbor.
True to his character, Arbor hardly reacted. An almost imperceptible hint of annoyance tightened his facial muscles, but that was it.
"It's not the first time someone's accused me of theft, and in all those times I've been proven innocent. I've never heard of your grandfather having this snow globe, and I certainly didn't take it. You were with me from the moment I entered to the moment I left. I mean, is it something I could have hidden in a pocket or whatever?" he reasoned matter-of-factly.
"No, it's quite a big one. Listen, Arbor, I believe you. That's why I said me coming over here is stupid. Dad's gotten an idea stuck in his head, and he refuses to get rid of it. He's being completely ridiculous. Sadly, he's also being stubborn. I was told I'm not allowed to leave until I do a thorough search to see if the snow globe is here."
"I don't care. Search all you want. Go through all my underwear. I don't have the snow globe, and I'm more than willing to prove him wrong." Arbor offered instantly.
"I really am sorry. Like I said, I do believe you." I had to put out there again.
"It's fine," Arbor lightly brushed me off, "My room's over here."
The room was relatively simple. A bed by the window on the right. A nightstand with no drawers. A dresser in the corner. A nice television and CD player on the left wall. All orderly and neat and smelling of a faint musk, it took me no time to sweep most of the room. The only place to hide the snow globe was under the bed, and it wasn't there. The dresser's drawers weren't nearly tall enough, although I looked there just to be thorough. The closet in the corner was next on my list. I expected nothing but finding that to be where the mess was, but a familiar shine from an open box covered by a hoodie took my breath away- in the bad way. Bending down, I picked up the trinket I'd been looking at all my life to discover by looking at the bottom there was no denying it wasn't just a copy.
"This is grandpa's. It has the engraving grandma had done on it for one of their wedding anniversaries." I explained quietly to the wide-eyed trio watching me.
They all stood dumbfounded as I showed them the bottom of the globe where grandma and grandpa's names were written in elegant script.
"Arbor!" Mr. Thicket exclaimed angrily.
"I-It wasn't me!" Arbor still denied.
"Then how in the world did she just pull it out of your closet?" Mrs. Thicket asked, folding her arms and staring sternly.
"I don't know!"
His emotions flowed as freely as any normal person's would now. Arbor faced them pleadingly with desperation in his eyes, and when his parents didn't budge he shifted back my way.
"I mean it, Dia, I didn't take that from your house." he tried again.
"You continuing to say that is no explanation for why it's here." I frowned.
"I can't tell you why it's here. All I know that it being here makes as little sense as me saying I didn't steal it. Seriously, why in the world would I take it? I honestly had no idea it even existed nor that it had any sentimental value to your grandfather. You are always with me when I'm at your house except for like the once or twice I've used your bathroom. When has anyone mentioned the globe in front of me? When would I have ever gotten the impression that it would be a good thing to take if I wanted to screw with you guys? Why the hell would I let you come in here and find it if I knew it was right there in the closet? I would have refused you looking in the first place if I was guilty."
"Maybe you were trying to play a joke, and this is you coming up with excuses now that you see no one else thinks it's funny." I pointed out.
"I wouldn't play such a stupid joke. First off, I'm not like that, and, secondly, I would very well know that no one would think it amusing. People already think I'm a piece of shit to begin with. The last thing you'll find me doing is anything that gives them firm evidence for them to keep believing that."
Bracing his confidence, Arbor faced me standing tall with a more even voice and open countenance.
"Where was the snow globe stolen from? When was it stolen?" he asked.
"They couldn't pin down when it was taken, but the window in grandpa's room had been forced open. It looks like that was how the culprit got in and out."
"And did you guys end up going swimming like you mentioned?"
"Uh, yeah. We were out there for almost two hours."
"I might not have been all around your house, but I know the basic layout. If the four of you spent two hours in the backyard right next to your grandfather's room, it would have been impossible for anyone to sneak in and out of the window, right? One of you would have seen something."
"I...yeah. I guess so."
"That means the thievery had to have happened after there were no witnesses around. I left there and came straight home, didn't I?" he glanced back at his parents for confirmation, "They can attest to the fact that I've been here with them the entire afternoon. There is literally no time in which I could have done anything as we can now definitely see like you said there's no way I was able to hide that huge snow globe with me when I took off."
"He...He has been with us since he got home," Mr. Thicket tentatively backed him up, "We went out to see a movie and then take care of some other errands. We've been home for half an hour, and Arbor hasn't even gone into his room until these past five minutes."
I stared at them all incredibly hard, for I counted myself a good judge of expressions. I couldn't gleam a lie from any of them, and it would be weird for Arbor's parents to suddenly start lying to cover him when they'd been on the other side a brief moment ago.
"The snow globe didn't magically teleport. Arbor, you're right. It makes no sense why you took the snow globe and there was no chance for you to have done so, but how am I going to be able to take this out to the car where my dad's waiting and convince him it wasn't you?"
"Only thing I can think is that I make enemies easily. People like to hate me. Dad just pointed out we were gone for a long while. Plenty long enough for someone to have stolen it, break into our house to plant the evidence, and leave."
"Even if people don't like you, who would ever go so far?"
"Your friend Timber must have a strong grudge against me."
"Don't." I frowned heavily.
Arbor shrugged, and I determined there was no need to debate any matter with the Thicket's right then. I'd gotten evidence and proof, and the main problem ahead of me was convincing dad not to kill my classmate. He jumped out of the car the instant I walked out of the house with the snow globe in hand. Me stealing the keys and getting in the driver's seat to leave without him tampered his anger enough to convince him to get back in the car and listen to what I had to say. Dad believed very little of Arbor's words, and he figured the Thickets were lying for their son's sake. Still, he permitted me to drive us home so we could let grandpa have the final say.
"I agree that he makes a valid point." grandpa admitted slowly.
The snow globe had been placed back in its proper spot, and dad had been kept out of the room so I could give my classmate's defense without him jumping down my throat.
"Still, it's only valid if his parents are telling the truth. From what I know of them, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I must ask you as well, do you genuinely believe Arbor?"
"I do. I don't support that someone stole the snow globe and put it in his room to frame him, but I'm otherwise at a loss as to how to explain all of this." I replied.
"The snow globe has been returned without a scratch, so..." grandpa put together his decision slowly, "I'll put the blame of its theft on the shelf until we get undeniable proof one way or the other. I don't fully believe Arbor myself, but I won't get on his case about this for the moment. He will be watched every moment he is here though, and you are not to go to his house alone anymore."
"That's fine." I accepted reluctantly.
"We'll have to beef up security around the house no matter what," grandpa turned his attention to the other matter, "Someone was able to get in and out who shouldn't have been here. That is clear. It's also the more frightening part about this. I'll have to make sure to talk to..."
"Talk to? Talk to who?" I questioned when he trailed off, "The police?"
"The police, yeah. The police."
The response was fishy, but I didn't find myself in the mood to push the topic.
A large of that was also because there was something else I madly wanted to confirm. I seriously didn't believe Arbor's explanation for how the snow globe got in his closet, but it was the only idea put forth that had any logical sense behind it. That's why I had to find Timber right away. He told me through a text that he and his dad were at the arcade cafe in the city, and dad, mildly upset at grandpa's lenience towards my project partner, quietly fumed as he drove me there. Timber and Mr. Mountain were upstairs.
"What's up, Dia? Why did you want to meet us so suddenly?" my friend wondered.
"There's this thing that happened, and there was a point brought up that bothers me even though it shouldn't. I just need to know what you've been up to since we went our separate ways earlier this morning."
"Ooo, you sound suspicious of me," Timber quickly caught onto the unsure accusation in my voice, "I don't know what's happened, but dad and I have been doing a bunch of different things. He needed my help doing various chores around the house as I mentioned before. We came out to the city to have lunch as a reward, and then we've been chilling out in the area."
"We had lunch at Pinto's, watched the show going on at the park, did some shopping at at hardware store to get stuff for the other projects we mean to do at the house, got some ice cream, and now we're here." Mr. Mountain added in more detail, "Does that help?"
"And you've been together the entire time?" I asked.
"I was just saying I needed a break from his delightful presence since I can't seem to get away from him," Timber teased before speaking more seriously to me, "Really, Dia, what is this all about?"
"I...I came back home with Gil, Ethie, and Ephie, and grandpa and-"
"Ethereal and Ephemeral are here?" Timber interrupted in surprise.
"They decided to come down for a sudden visit. That's why Gilly needed me home."
Timber nodded and let me continue.
"Grandpa and dad were upset because someone snuck in through the window in grandpa's room and took his snow globe. Arbor had been over recently to do more work on our project, and dad was adamant the thief had to have been him. I went to his house to confirm that it wasn't, but the snow globe was there. Arbor still denied he'd done it. He brought up some good points on why he couldn't be the thief, and he'd also been with his parents when the snow globe would have had to been stolen. Arbor then brought up the point that someone who disliked him could have taken the snow globe and planted it in his room to make him look bad."
It didn't take long for Timber to grasp what was going on.
"Let me guess, he thought it was me?" Timber concluded, frowning.
"He might have brought up your name, yes."
"I suppose in theory I make sense as a culprit. He has been rude to me, and I do have knowledge of your house and the items within to know taking the snow globe would cause a stir. I would never do that though, Dia. Yeah, Arbor's been somewhat of an ass, but for me to break into your house, steal something precious, break into another person's house, and frame someone innocent...?"
"I know, Timber. I know. There's a piece to the puzzle we don't understand. It obviously wasn't you, and I do believe Arbor when he says it wasn't him."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Timber asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm just saying not all the rumors we hear about him have been proven to be unfounded. There has to be truth to some of them. I'm not necessarily saying Arbor's guilty, but I don't think you know him as well as you think you do. Maybe he, and maybe his parents, are really good at playing people. I just want you to be careful. Especially with that habit of yours."
"Habit?"
Timber and Mr. Mountain looked at each other and smiled.
"Taking in and befriending the new Solid brown boy in class. You pulled me in right away, and now you're slowly reeling in Arbor. It makes one think you have a preference." Timber teased.
"I think you mean type." Mr. Mountain joined in.
"Oh my god," I laughed, "Are you teasing me about having a potential crush on Arbor when you just said I should be careful since I don't know him all that well yet?"
"I guess that we might be saying something like that, sure." Timber grinned widely.
I shook my head as I smiled bigger. What an idiot.
"I see. Not gonna lie though, the idea of you two duking it out for the crown was something I was interested in seeing." Timber smirked teasingly.
"Pfft. You're saying that as if you don't see us bickering all the time."
"Yeah, but this would have been on a much grander scale. In front of the whole school! An event for the ages!"
"I'll take you to see a movie, how about that?"
Timber mocked a pout, but he did actually accept the offer. The two of us took a look at what was currently in theaters to plan out a time we could go, but I'd barely gotten through the list when a series of texts from my sister popped up.
"Huh."
"What is it?" Timber wondered.
"Gil's madly texting me. She says Merlot and I have to come home right away."
"Does she say why? Is something wrong?"
"She says nothing's wrong. Just that there's a big surprise."
"That's suspicious. A surprise she planned? What for?"
"I'm not sure if she planned it. She's adamant we can't delay, however."
"Well, we've been here for a while now. I'll walk you two home."
I offered for him to come inside and see what all the fuss was about, but he declined. Mr. Mountain had stuff he needed Timber for once he got done hanging out with Merlot and me at the park, so off he had to go to meet his father. Smartly, I let Merlot walk through out front door first. I hadn't told him of why we had to go home, so any scares or things jumping out at us would be weathered by my brother instead. No one did pop out. Two surprising figures merely rushed over to greet us.
"Ethie! Ephie!" I greeted my friends as they each got a hug in, "This is quite the surprise! Did you know, Gil?"
"No, not at all. They just randomly walked inside," my sister laughed, "They apparently set it up with mom and dad though."
"When you two refused to come down to the party, we thought we'd change it up and use the long weekend to fly and visit you." Ethereal explained.
"That way we'll be the tired ones instead." Ephemeral added.
"Aww, you guys. I appreciate it. It is good to see you." I gushed, unable to stop myself from beaming.
"Let me show you my room!" Merlot requested eagerly.
"Sure. We've been waiting for you two to get here to have the tour." Ethereal smiled.
Merlot proudly showed his bedroom off, stuck with us while Gilly and I took our friends around the rest of the place, and vanished when it came time to put together the guest room. In order to keep the surprise a surprise, mom and dad hadn't had it done beforehand. Thankfully, Ethereal and Ephemeral were more than willing to put in some of the lifting work. Mom, dad, and grandpa all pitched in as well. A refreshing glass of Lemonade out on the second floor terrace was our reward.
"So, your friends and family basically own this street, right?" Ephemeral wondered after we cooled down.
"Yeah. Grandma and grandpa's closest friends, with the exception of one, took over a spot on this road. Papa Al and Mama Lia are there on the left. They're our grandparents from our mom's side. Aunt Mimi lives there too with them as does her daughter, Rosey. Then over there is where Uncle Frost and Aunt Sunflower live." I explained.
"But those aren't actually your uncle and aunt, correct?" Ethereal recalled.
"Right. We just call most of our parents' or grandparents' friends like that because everyone is so close. For example, there's Uncle Midas- Uncle Frost and Aunt Sunflower's son. He must be visiting today."
Uncle Midas had come out the door to drop a bag of garbage into the trash can. Gilly waved brightly, and he easily caught notice.
"Hello there!" he called, waving back.
"Our friends from Tinseltown are visiting!" my sister announced.
"Oh, nice to meet you!"
"Hello." Ethereal responded, although her voice was much quieter than any of ours.
"It's okay. You can shout as loud as you want," Gilly encouraged, "It really is just all of us around here. We've grown up shouting back and forth at each other."
"Got it." Ethereal smiled.
With it being such a nice day, mom announced we would be having lunch on the terrace when she showed up with a lemonade refill. I didn't bother asking what lunch would be when she also noted that Blaze wanted to be the chef. He showed up with armfuls of hotdogs, and the grill soon sizzled temptingly with the scent of cooking meat.
"I wish we could have seen your old house too," Ephemeral spoke longingly once everyone joined us and the food began being passed around, "From all the pictures I've seen it looked very nice."
"I miss it a lot. Sometimes when I turn the corner down the street I feel like I've gone down the wrong one because I'm expecting to see a totally different building." mom said wistfully.
"You know, the layout of this house is actually much of the design Ethereal came up with originally though." grandpa revealed.
"What? Really?" dad asked in amazement.
"Yes. We both planned what we thought best, and this is almost exactly what she came up with. However, we realized it would be too small for our family, and, well, I...I whined a bit too much that it didn't have enough of what I wanted," grandpa laughed, "Instead of making her design bigger and adding a few more aspects, Ethereal just shrugged and let me basically have free control. She said she didn't mind as she just wanted us to get out of Eden's cramped house. When the architects asked me for opinions this time around, I pulled out her old sketches and they fit perfectly with what our family needed now. Of course I added things like the theater room."
"So you never change." dad laughed.
"That's nice though that her design got used. It's like this is still her house." Ethereal noted, and grandpa nodded merrily in agreement.
The conversation rolled on, and the meal proceeded smoothly. I'd finished two hotdogs off when another car pulled up to the driveway.
"Oh, I think that's Arbor." Gilly leaned far back to glance over the border wall.
"Crap, I forgot he was coming over." I spoke as I hurriedly swallowed my mouthful of chips.
"A friend?" Ethereal asked.
"A classmate. We're working on a project together. Excuse me."
Managing to make it down the stairs as Arbor knocked on the door, I opened the door for him. He hardly raised a brow at my flustered state, but he did also choose to address it.
"Something up?" he wondered simply.
"Oh, I just...I just forgot you were coming. Sorry," I explained with an apologetic grin, "Some of mine and Gilly's friends from Tinseltown showed up for a surprise visit. They had wanted us to go to a party down there during this long weekend, so when we declined they came here instead."
"You have friends in Tinseltown?"
I think he was lightly impressed.
"Uh-huh. Quite a few of them. We lived there for two years after the hurricane caused us to evacuate Berrybrook. You might have also heard of my uncle, Prism Vivid."
"I may have seen a movie or two of his." Arbor shrugged, although it seemed, at least to me, that that was an understatement, "You want me to take off then? We're already ahead of schedule. I don't care either way if we reschedule."
"I care. Ethie and Ephie can wait. We planned to work on this, so work on this we shall. You're more important right now."
Without thinking, I snatched Arbor's hand to lead him to the dining room as I could sense him about to protest his presence. I then detached my grip immediately as Arbor had clearly shown a dislike for being touched without permission. What shocked me though was Arbor didn't move to free himself even though the tightening of his muscles signaled his instinct to do so. Perhaps he would have actually keep my hold. Either way, it was hardly fifteen feet to the table. We sat down across from each other and got to work after Arbor declined my offer for me to go get him some food from upstairs as he'd already had lunch. The last touches on our short story then began. Seriously, I was astounded by how fast we were moving with the whole thing. Arbor finished all three books before I could, and half the time we met up to continue working he'd take out another piece of the project he'd done because he'd gotten bored. The boy was actually incredibly smart and dedicated.
"So, are you going to homecoming?" I asked when we were just about done.
"Nope. I never liked school dances to begin with, and I hate them even more after what happened last year." he frowned.
"What happened last year?"
"Assholes."
"Any more clarification you want to provide?"
I prodded, but the push didn't provide results right away. Arbor wrote in his notebook for a minute and only glanced up again once I'd given up on getting a response.
"At my old high school, the homecoming court wasn't limited to just seniors. The king and queen rank were, but there was a similar vote for each grade to determine a prince and princess. I'd recently told a person I thought was a friend about something incredibly private I really hadn't told any of my friends before. He...I don't know what the hell his reasons were. He began bullying me about what I told him and set up this stupid campaign to have me elected as one of the princes as a joke. Of course the other idiots in my grade went along with it. I went to the dance and sucked up being the 'winner' to try and fight back, but then my so-called friend publicly announced the details of my secret. I couldn't stand it, so I had to go home after that. Going back to school was hell for the rest of the year."
"Arbor, I'm so sorry. That's terrible," I spoke, aghast, lowering my pencil, "I hope your shitbag 'friend' didn't get away doing something like that."
"They suspended him for it and for the fact that the teachers discovered he was drunk. Put a nice little wrench in his plans of going to Ivy Lane for college."
"Ah, right. Even having one detention will disqualify you from being accepted. Well, that is good he got his consequences. It boggles me that people can be so awful."
I sighed before studying my companion closely.
"Are you sure your mom's job being transferred is the only reason you guys moved?"
"Yes. It was. My parents were going to switch me to homeschooling for my senior year before her company approached her with the offer, but when we decided to move I figured I wouldn't make them have to bother putting me into the different system."
"I know our classmates haven't been the kindest to you either, but I think most of them are getting over their immaturity now. I hope you can enjoy the rest of your year here. Also, just let me know if you do change your mind about coming to the dance. Me and Gilly would love to have you come along. You can even just join us for the dinner and pictures beforehand, if that's more your speed."
"Probably not, but thanks." Arbor declined softly.
Despite the rejection, I felt glad. Arbor had given me a 'probably not' instead of a straight out no. He'd gone ahead and trusted me with more details of his life, and overall in our more recent interactions his attitude was somewhat engaged. That detachment of his typically only returned once we were in the presence of other people. For example, the meal upstairs concluded and everyone filed back downstairs. His lips sealed themselves tightly, especially when he came under dad's stare. Let's just say my old man hadn't come around to warming up to Arbor just yet. The good atmosphere was diminishing thanks to that, so I thought it would be a good idea to take Arbor outside to meet my friends where I'd been told they were enjoying the outside sitting area.
"Arbor, these are the Chalcedony twins, our friends from Tinseltown. Ethereal's in the ponytail, and Ephemeral has the glasses." I introduced, "Ethie, Ephie, this is Arbor Thicket."
"Nice to meet you." Ethereal smiled warmly.
Arbor said nothing, and I noticed him doing double-takes. It took me a moment to remember this was most likely his first person meeting someone with albinism. My family of course thought nothing of it, but it was still a big deal to everyone else.
"Oh my god," Ephemeral then gawked in awe, which caused Arbor to squirm under the scrutiny, "I love your tattoos. Your parents let you get them?"
"Obviously." Arbor grumbled.
His tough exterior was back on. Something about the situation was making him more uncomfortable than I anticipated.
"We were thinking about going swimming since the weather's still nice. Did you want to join, Arbor? I'm sure dad has a pair of trunks that will fit you." Gilly jumped in to try to help.
"Yeah, it'll be fun! You and four beautiful girls in bikinis. Sounds fun, huh?" Ephemeral teased with a wink.
"No," Arbor denied with a heap top of harshness contained within that one syllable, "I'm going home. Bye, Dia."
And off he went before we could blink. I desperately tried to figure out what had gone wrong, but I couldn't come up with an answer.
"Way to scare him off, Ephie." Ethereal rebuked.
"What? I don't see what I did wrong. That usually has the completely opposite results. I did think his tattoos were really cool too." Ephemeral pouted.
"I think Arbor just has a hard time warming up to people. I'm the only one who's kinda gotten close to him so far. I wouldn't read much into it." I encouraged.
However, I had trouble ignoring the matter at first when it was still possible to see Arbor's back as he hurriedly stomped away. Even for him the determination to depart was odd. I wanted to see what was wrong, but a strong suspicion warned that Arbor would prove abrasive to even me if I ran after him to prod some more. Waiting until he was calm again was all I could do. So, I focused on my friends instead. We changed, sunbathed for a bit, swam until our muscles were sore, relaxed again, and spent some time trying different tricks on the diving board and seeing who could go the fastest off our water slide before washing up, drying off, and moving on to the next activity. Gilly and I came up with our own surprise for our friends.
"Whose house is this?" Ephemeral questioned as we walked inside.
"This is the house grandma grew up in," Gilly revealed as Ethereal's eyes went wide, "Our cousins, Uncle Eden's children and grandchildren, and his wife live here now."
"It's so beautiful." Ethereal gushed in her stupor.
"Okay, Ethie, you're overdoing it now," her sister laughed as she rolled her eyes, "It's just somebody's home, not a museum."
"It's still a part of all the history."
Right on cue, the expected figures walked over. Parsley and Thyme peered around the corner and greeted us with big smiles. Normally Gilly and I would have walked in unannounced like normal, but we thought it better to text Parsley ahead of time to let them know of the guests as Aunt Deny, Rosemary, and Pastel were out.
"Hi, guys." Thyme squeezed my sister and I with big hugs.
"Hi there. I'm Parsley Yonder. You two must be the friends coming over. And you," he glanced at Ethereal, "You must be Aunt Ethereal's admirer."
Ethereal could only nod in pure wonder. Ephemeral scoffed but smiled wider.
"Want to see the spot where grandpa marked Aunt Ethereal's height as she grew?" Parsley offered with his own massive smile of amusement.
"Yes! Please." Ethereal leapt vigorously at the opportunity.
Seeing my friend all excited was cute but also a little hard to accept. Of course, I thought the world of grandma. She was a hero to me. My life was amazing, and that was due to a vast amount of suffering on her part. Not only because of the struggle she'd gone through with underground forces, but just the more common struggle of pressing on after losing someone she'd loved dearly. Ethereal recognizing my grandma made me proud of her, proud to call her mine, and even more grateful for what I had. Still, to have Ethereal so in awe that she looked like she got closer and closer to crying with each simple thing she saw in the house hit a weird cord in me. It wasn't jealousy or embarrassment or anything like that. It was more like it was an intrusion on something Ethereal could never truly be a part of. Yet, at the same time I obviously felt no ill will about it.
"Oh, and over there is where your grandmother's first boyfriend used to live, right? Your other grandpa?" Ethereal wondered
"Yes." Gilly replied.
"Amazing," Ethereal gushed, getting closer and closer to the window until her nose pressed against the glass, "Even then they lived so close. I can see into their living room."
"Okay, you stalker. Calm down." Ephemeral gently pulled her sister back.
"I'm not being a stalker. This is just so incredible! We're getting a rare look at the scene where the foundings of some of the most important moments in our country's history began! Who knows what kind of great things happened here?"
"It was mostly grandma and her friends acting like idiots while having fun. We can show you some home videos if you're interested." I spoke while suppressing more laughter.
"Good god, yes. Ephie, you have to tell me if I've died and gone to heaven though. I feel as if I had."
"At this rate, you might before the day is out. I don't think your poor heart can stand all this excitement."
Ethereal's heart certainly was jumping around and missing a few beats not a minute later. Thyme told us Sage was upstairs working on a school project of his own, so we'd left him alone. My plan had been to call him down at the very least before we left so we could introduce him as well. Turns out he had plans of his own. A loud yell and even louder scream of fright altered us to the fact that he'd snuck over when no one noticed.
"Sage." Parsley reprimanded his brother sternly when it became clear how he'd silently gotten behind my friend to scare her.
"What? I wanted my introduction to be memorable." Sage laughed.
Thankfully, Ethereal's heavy breathing only continued because she, too, laughed unceasingly.
"You're lucky you did that to the right twin. I would have punched you in the face." Ephemeral teased.
"Wouldn't have been the first time it happened." Sage shrugged lightheartedly.
"You must be the third of the brothers we've been told about." Ethereal, calming herself, turned around and offered a handshake.
"Yup. Nice to meet you. I'm Sage. Or, 'Sage', as Pars more often likes to call me." he lovingly mocked his older brother as he shook her hand.
"I can't imagine why." Ethereal smiled back.
Despite, or because perhaps, the little scare incident, Ethereal and Sage got along amazingly. The two chatted away in conversation, bantered back and forth like old friends while we watch the old home movies, and hugged like lifelong companions when it was time to head back to our house. Gilly and I offered more ideas for what we could do next, but those were silenced the instant we walked through the door. Dad and grandpa stood outside grandpa an Blaze's bedroom not looking too pleased. Dad motioned me over the second he caught my eye.
"What was Arbor doing before he left?" dad demanded to know.
"Uh? I don't know quite what you mean. We sat at the table, worked on our project, we met the others outside when we were done, and then he took off." I replied uncertainly.
"Coal, you need to stop jumping to assumptions. We have no idea what happened." grandpa rebuked him, and although he attempted to keep his tone steady it was clear he was angry about something too.
"What happened?" Gilly asked.
"Someone stole my snow globe." grandpa sighed.
"Stole it? Really?"
"Well, it's gone, and it seems someone forced open the window to get inside. It's weird though, because nothing else but it has been taken."
"And you think Arbor is the culprit." I rationalized, glancing at dad.
"Who else could it be?" he huffed.
"Why in the world would he take it though?"
"I don't know! However, I'm going to head to his house right now to find out!"
"You can drive me to his house, and I'm going to ask him about it," I challenged, "You're not starting any nonsense over this."
Grandpa smiled a bit then. Apparently, I looked and sounded incredibly similar to mom then. I suspected that was why dad relented to my compromise. The two of us hardly spoke a word as he drove me down to the area I'd just been so I could knock on the door to the Thicket household. Arbor's mother let me in right away, and her friendly smile and the one I got from Arbor's dad made me hesitate. Arbor, lightly curious, walked out of his room to stare at me.
"How can we help you, Dia?" Mrs. Thicket asked.
"Are you upset because of how I acted towards your friends?" Arbor also questioned.
Mr. and Mrs. Thicket gave him curious glances at that, but they said nothing.
"No. It was fine. They didn't really care. Unfortunately, I came over here for what I feel is a really stupid reason. You see...my grandfather has this really special snow globe. It was a present from my late grandmother to him back when they were in high school. There's a lot of meaning in it for him, and it's his absolute treasure. It seems someone snuck into his bedroom through his window this afternoon and took it."
"That is unfortunate. I'm sorry to hear that," Mr. Thicket spoke sympathetically, "Why does that bring you here though?"
"Well...my dad, he...he thinks you took it." I said to Arbor.
True to his character, Arbor hardly reacted. An almost imperceptible hint of annoyance tightened his facial muscles, but that was it.
"It's not the first time someone's accused me of theft, and in all those times I've been proven innocent. I've never heard of your grandfather having this snow globe, and I certainly didn't take it. You were with me from the moment I entered to the moment I left. I mean, is it something I could have hidden in a pocket or whatever?" he reasoned matter-of-factly.
"No, it's quite a big one. Listen, Arbor, I believe you. That's why I said me coming over here is stupid. Dad's gotten an idea stuck in his head, and he refuses to get rid of it. He's being completely ridiculous. Sadly, he's also being stubborn. I was told I'm not allowed to leave until I do a thorough search to see if the snow globe is here."
"I don't care. Search all you want. Go through all my underwear. I don't have the snow globe, and I'm more than willing to prove him wrong." Arbor offered instantly.
"I really am sorry. Like I said, I do believe you." I had to put out there again.
"It's fine," Arbor lightly brushed me off, "My room's over here."
The room was relatively simple. A bed by the window on the right. A nightstand with no drawers. A dresser in the corner. A nice television and CD player on the left wall. All orderly and neat and smelling of a faint musk, it took me no time to sweep most of the room. The only place to hide the snow globe was under the bed, and it wasn't there. The dresser's drawers weren't nearly tall enough, although I looked there just to be thorough. The closet in the corner was next on my list. I expected nothing but finding that to be where the mess was, but a familiar shine from an open box covered by a hoodie took my breath away- in the bad way. Bending down, I picked up the trinket I'd been looking at all my life to discover by looking at the bottom there was no denying it wasn't just a copy.
"This is grandpa's. It has the engraving grandma had done on it for one of their wedding anniversaries." I explained quietly to the wide-eyed trio watching me.
They all stood dumbfounded as I showed them the bottom of the globe where grandma and grandpa's names were written in elegant script.
"Arbor!" Mr. Thicket exclaimed angrily.
"I-It wasn't me!" Arbor still denied.
"Then how in the world did she just pull it out of your closet?" Mrs. Thicket asked, folding her arms and staring sternly.
"I don't know!"
His emotions flowed as freely as any normal person's would now. Arbor faced them pleadingly with desperation in his eyes, and when his parents didn't budge he shifted back my way.
"I mean it, Dia, I didn't take that from your house." he tried again.
"You continuing to say that is no explanation for why it's here." I frowned.
"I can't tell you why it's here. All I know that it being here makes as little sense as me saying I didn't steal it. Seriously, why in the world would I take it? I honestly had no idea it even existed nor that it had any sentimental value to your grandfather. You are always with me when I'm at your house except for like the once or twice I've used your bathroom. When has anyone mentioned the globe in front of me? When would I have ever gotten the impression that it would be a good thing to take if I wanted to screw with you guys? Why the hell would I let you come in here and find it if I knew it was right there in the closet? I would have refused you looking in the first place if I was guilty."
"Maybe you were trying to play a joke, and this is you coming up with excuses now that you see no one else thinks it's funny." I pointed out.
"I wouldn't play such a stupid joke. First off, I'm not like that, and, secondly, I would very well know that no one would think it amusing. People already think I'm a piece of shit to begin with. The last thing you'll find me doing is anything that gives them firm evidence for them to keep believing that."
Bracing his confidence, Arbor faced me standing tall with a more even voice and open countenance.
"Where was the snow globe stolen from? When was it stolen?" he asked.
"They couldn't pin down when it was taken, but the window in grandpa's room had been forced open. It looks like that was how the culprit got in and out."
"And did you guys end up going swimming like you mentioned?"
"Uh, yeah. We were out there for almost two hours."
"I might not have been all around your house, but I know the basic layout. If the four of you spent two hours in the backyard right next to your grandfather's room, it would have been impossible for anyone to sneak in and out of the window, right? One of you would have seen something."
"I...yeah. I guess so."
"That means the thievery had to have happened after there were no witnesses around. I left there and came straight home, didn't I?" he glanced back at his parents for confirmation, "They can attest to the fact that I've been here with them the entire afternoon. There is literally no time in which I could have done anything as we can now definitely see like you said there's no way I was able to hide that huge snow globe with me when I took off."
"He...He has been with us since he got home," Mr. Thicket tentatively backed him up, "We went out to see a movie and then take care of some other errands. We've been home for half an hour, and Arbor hasn't even gone into his room until these past five minutes."
I stared at them all incredibly hard, for I counted myself a good judge of expressions. I couldn't gleam a lie from any of them, and it would be weird for Arbor's parents to suddenly start lying to cover him when they'd been on the other side a brief moment ago.
"The snow globe didn't magically teleport. Arbor, you're right. It makes no sense why you took the snow globe and there was no chance for you to have done so, but how am I going to be able to take this out to the car where my dad's waiting and convince him it wasn't you?"
"Only thing I can think is that I make enemies easily. People like to hate me. Dad just pointed out we were gone for a long while. Plenty long enough for someone to have stolen it, break into our house to plant the evidence, and leave."
"Even if people don't like you, who would ever go so far?"
"Your friend Timber must have a strong grudge against me."
"Don't." I frowned heavily.
Arbor shrugged, and I determined there was no need to debate any matter with the Thicket's right then. I'd gotten evidence and proof, and the main problem ahead of me was convincing dad not to kill my classmate. He jumped out of the car the instant I walked out of the house with the snow globe in hand. Me stealing the keys and getting in the driver's seat to leave without him tampered his anger enough to convince him to get back in the car and listen to what I had to say. Dad believed very little of Arbor's words, and he figured the Thickets were lying for their son's sake. Still, he permitted me to drive us home so we could let grandpa have the final say.
"I agree that he makes a valid point." grandpa admitted slowly.
The snow globe had been placed back in its proper spot, and dad had been kept out of the room so I could give my classmate's defense without him jumping down my throat.
"Still, it's only valid if his parents are telling the truth. From what I know of them, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I must ask you as well, do you genuinely believe Arbor?"
"I do. I don't support that someone stole the snow globe and put it in his room to frame him, but I'm otherwise at a loss as to how to explain all of this." I replied.
"The snow globe has been returned without a scratch, so..." grandpa put together his decision slowly, "I'll put the blame of its theft on the shelf until we get undeniable proof one way or the other. I don't fully believe Arbor myself, but I won't get on his case about this for the moment. He will be watched every moment he is here though, and you are not to go to his house alone anymore."
"That's fine." I accepted reluctantly.
"We'll have to beef up security around the house no matter what," grandpa turned his attention to the other matter, "Someone was able to get in and out who shouldn't have been here. That is clear. It's also the more frightening part about this. I'll have to make sure to talk to..."
"Talk to? Talk to who?" I questioned when he trailed off, "The police?"
"The police, yeah. The police."
The response was fishy, but I didn't find myself in the mood to push the topic.
A large of that was also because there was something else I madly wanted to confirm. I seriously didn't believe Arbor's explanation for how the snow globe got in his closet, but it was the only idea put forth that had any logical sense behind it. That's why I had to find Timber right away. He told me through a text that he and his dad were at the arcade cafe in the city, and dad, mildly upset at grandpa's lenience towards my project partner, quietly fumed as he drove me there. Timber and Mr. Mountain were upstairs.
"What's up, Dia? Why did you want to meet us so suddenly?" my friend wondered.
"There's this thing that happened, and there was a point brought up that bothers me even though it shouldn't. I just need to know what you've been up to since we went our separate ways earlier this morning."
"Ooo, you sound suspicious of me," Timber quickly caught onto the unsure accusation in my voice, "I don't know what's happened, but dad and I have been doing a bunch of different things. He needed my help doing various chores around the house as I mentioned before. We came out to the city to have lunch as a reward, and then we've been chilling out in the area."
"We had lunch at Pinto's, watched the show going on at the park, did some shopping at at hardware store to get stuff for the other projects we mean to do at the house, got some ice cream, and now we're here." Mr. Mountain added in more detail, "Does that help?"
"And you've been together the entire time?" I asked.
"I was just saying I needed a break from his delightful presence since I can't seem to get away from him," Timber teased before speaking more seriously to me, "Really, Dia, what is this all about?"
"I...I came back home with Gil, Ethie, and Ephie, and grandpa and-"
"Ethereal and Ephemeral are here?" Timber interrupted in surprise.
"They decided to come down for a sudden visit. That's why Gilly needed me home."
Timber nodded and let me continue.
"Grandpa and dad were upset because someone snuck in through the window in grandpa's room and took his snow globe. Arbor had been over recently to do more work on our project, and dad was adamant the thief had to have been him. I went to his house to confirm that it wasn't, but the snow globe was there. Arbor still denied he'd done it. He brought up some good points on why he couldn't be the thief, and he'd also been with his parents when the snow globe would have had to been stolen. Arbor then brought up the point that someone who disliked him could have taken the snow globe and planted it in his room to make him look bad."
It didn't take long for Timber to grasp what was going on.
"Let me guess, he thought it was me?" Timber concluded, frowning.
"He might have brought up your name, yes."
"I suppose in theory I make sense as a culprit. He has been rude to me, and I do have knowledge of your house and the items within to know taking the snow globe would cause a stir. I would never do that though, Dia. Yeah, Arbor's been somewhat of an ass, but for me to break into your house, steal something precious, break into another person's house, and frame someone innocent...?"
"I know, Timber. I know. There's a piece to the puzzle we don't understand. It obviously wasn't you, and I do believe Arbor when he says it wasn't him."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Timber asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm just saying not all the rumors we hear about him have been proven to be unfounded. There has to be truth to some of them. I'm not necessarily saying Arbor's guilty, but I don't think you know him as well as you think you do. Maybe he, and maybe his parents, are really good at playing people. I just want you to be careful. Especially with that habit of yours."
"Habit?"
Timber and Mr. Mountain looked at each other and smiled.
"Taking in and befriending the new Solid brown boy in class. You pulled me in right away, and now you're slowly reeling in Arbor. It makes one think you have a preference." Timber teased.
"I think you mean type." Mr. Mountain joined in.
"Oh my god," I laughed, "Are you teasing me about having a potential crush on Arbor when you just said I should be careful since I don't know him all that well yet?"
"I guess that we might be saying something like that, sure." Timber grinned widely.
I shook my head as I smiled bigger. What an idiot.
Timber's got a point though. ;) That's awfully suspicious Dia.
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