thatsamilkshake | Room 511, Friday night

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Room 511, Friday night

So. Waiting until Friday night to ask permission to transfer to a new high school when classes start on Monday morning: sign that Francine should have signed up for the 500 level Advanced Procrastination course, or diabolically clever plan the likes of which mere teenagerdom has never seen? Discuss.

Or don't, because shhh. She was about to make a phone call.

Really.

Anytime now.

Oh, crap, it was ringing.

__
[For -- wait for it -- a phone call.]

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Not a lot of them ~~because her player sucked~~ but yes, nice friends. "Uh-huh My roommate's English, and she's got a cat. And there's Mac, my school Big Sister, and this really cute boy named Chuck..."

Oh, well, that sounded promising. "He wouldn't happen to have plans for medical school, would he?"

She had no idea. Which translated very nicely into, "He might? He dresses really nicely, so I bet his family could afford it."

"Well," Marie allowed after another outburst of muted yipping from Muffins, "I suppose maybe we could consider it . . ."

"Really? That's great! 'Cause classes sort of startonMonday."

"Monday? This Monday? Oh, good lord, Francine!" Muffins, picking up on Marie's surprise, started up a fresh chorus of yipping.

"I forgot our phone number?" she tried. Not very seriously.

"You know I'd rather have you home," Marie began. "I'm not used to my little girl being so far away for so long. But you do sound happier than you did at the beginning of summer, and if you can keep up with your studies then I suppose maybe you can give this school a try."

"I really am happier." And again, you have no idea. "And I promise I'll ~~ignore my clarinet~~ study hard."

Marie sighed, the sound drowned out a bit by Muffins. Yes, again. "Well, after how miserable you were before, if you're happy I suppose we can give it a try," she said. "I did have the paperwork all filled out, just in case."

Was that a sniffle?

It most likely was.

"...You did?" She probably shouldn't start freaking out and thinking they were planning to ship her off from the star. Right? Right. Focus on the happy.

Edited 2008-08-31 06:15 (UTC)

"Just in case," Marie said again. "I want you home, honey, but I hate seeing you as miserable as you were, even if it means I have to wait until Thanksgiving to see you."

The second time, it filtered through enough to make Francine feel both guilty and unexpectedly touched. "Thank you. I love you, Mom."

It wasn't quite the same over the phone, but Marie responded with the old routine, cheesy or not.

"I love you too!"

"I love you three!"

"I love you for --"

The unison part was always fun.

"I love you forever!"

"That's my girl," Marie said approvingly. "You just make sure you call more often. Oh! Maybe I can have a fridge magnet made up for you with our phone number in case you forget again -- I saw something about custom magnets in the last Lillian Vernon catalog . . ."

"I didn't really--" Francine should quit while she was ahead. "Good idea, Mom."

"If I order that now, I can send it along with the next care package," Marie promised. "Do you need anything in particular, honey? Winter clothes? Underwear?"

Sigh. "I have plenty of underwear. I have so much underwear I could build an underwear fort and camp out for days. I could use a good winter coat, though. ...Andmaybesomemoneyforanewdressortwo? Not a lot."

"Of course we'll get you a good coat, and -- oh!"

Was that a squee from the other end of the line?

Maybe a little bit of one.

"You have been losing weight, then!"

"...Maybe a little?" Around her ankles or something.

Of course, Marie decided to hear that the way she wanted to. "That's such good news -- oh, dear . . . Muffins, no! Honey, I need to go, Muffins is taking an awfully keen interest in the electrical socket -- there'll be brownies in with your coat and the other things -- you make sure you call!"