Chapter 12: Dissidence and Resonating Thoughts

The assumption that Amelia had come up with somehow surprised Andrea. The two of them were staring at each other… one was serious, while the other was surprised. Just before Andrea could speak up, their children entered the kitchen, and they seemed to be making a ruckus and were very noisy. Avegaille was the first to come in with her arms folded across her chest, and behind her were Phil who was holding onto her shoulders and finally Jane, who seemed to be exasperated. They were arguing over something, at least Avegaille and Jane were, which both mothers couldn't make of what it was about. Both Amelia and Andrea turned their attention to them, and also made Amelia stand up from her seat.

"Calm down, all of you!" Amelia exclaimed, in which Avegaille and Jane stopped talking and turned their heads to her. "Okay then, now that we're somehow quiet… Jane, tell me what is going on!"

"Well, let's see… Avegaille was hogging the television and I wanted to watch something and she refused to have the channel changed. When I took the remote, she quickly tackled me and tried to get the remote back. Of course, I made sure she wouldn't get it back and Phil tried to break us up, but Avegaille kept insisting. I had to ask Phil to make sure she stopped attacking me," Jane explained, in which she heard a grunt from Avegaille.

"Not this again…" Amelia muttered exasperatedly and sighed. She placed her fingertips on her forehead and shook her head slowly.

"You should really buy another television if that keeps up," Andrea remarked and laughed.

"Well even if I did buy another television, where the hell am I supposed to place it? Avegaille's room and Jane's room are out of the options due to obvious reasons…" Amelia said while she folded her arms across her chest. Then, she paused for a while and started to think.

"What about your room? I mean one of them could just go inside your room if the other is using the one in the living room…" Andrea suggested.

"Eh, no, I don't like the noise of the television when I'm working," Amelia protested as she shook her head. She looked around the kitchen and saw a suitable space by the counter, which aligned perfectly with the dinner table she was standing in front of. "I know… I'll just put it in the kitchen."

Everyone looked at Amelia blankly and then, they all started examining the area and saw the spot that Amelia was talking about. Jane nodded her head in agreement while Avegaille was still a bit confused. Either way, the problem with the television argument was somehow solved.

"Well, why don't we all go to the mall today and buy that television?" Amelia suggested, in which Avegaille brightened up and looked at her mother. "Andrea, you and Phil should join us, I could use some help in picking out the right television…"

"Sure, why not," Andrea said and shrugged. Then, she smiled mischievously. "Can I drive your car?"

"What?! No!" Amelia exclaimed and Andrea chuckled. She knew that Andrea was somewhat of a bad driver and feared that her car would crash into something the minute she let Andrea drive it.

"You guys have a car?" Phil asked as he let go of Avegaille's shoulders and Avegaille turned to him.

"Oh… yeah, we do. Mom bought it some time ago… or it was given to her… I don't remember. Anyway, she used that car to pick me up from Midway Academy for summer vacation or when going back there," Avegaille replied while she pondered. "Mom rarely uses it unless she's shopping for groceries or when she has to go somewhere that isn't a walking distance."

"Eh, how come you never told me you got a car, Mom?" Jane asked, in which Amelia shrugged. "I thought the garage was empty since Dad moved out."

"Yeah, after your father left, my parents got a bit too lucky and won a minivan from some contest. They already have their own car, and even my siblings, so they just gave it to me. I wasn't too keen about accepting it, but they kept insisting. I had to take driving lessons after that so I could get my driver's license," Amelia explained while Avegaille perked up and looked at her mother again. "Anyway, you guys get ready… I'll get the car out."

Amelia left the kitchen and Andrea stood up from her seat. She stared down at the newspaper with the picture of Sandra Rustford in it. She wanted to ask Amelia more about it earlier, but it looks like it would have to wait. Phil noticed her mother's sudden change of reaction and approached her.

"Mom, is there something wrong?" Phil asked and Andrea turned to him.

"Ah, it's nothing Phil," Andrea quickly replied as she sweat-dropped.

.-.-.-.-.-

"Why are you guys wearing… those?" Nicole May asked as she sweat-dropped. She was sitting on the sofa, staring at her parents in front of her.

Nicole May, her mother and father were at the living room, getting ready. Their plan for the day was to have family fun time at the mall. Of course, Sandra was a very popular artist, and to make sure that people wouldn't notice her, she had to wear something quite blending to the crowd. Sandra was wearing a white shirt with red long sleeves, brown pedal pushers and sneakers. She also had her hair tied to a ponytail while wearing a cap and glasses similar to Nicole May. Her father had to match with the look of his wife. Doug was wearing a white hooded sweat-shirt and baggy jeans and sneakers. Nicole May felt a bit out of place, as she was still wearing the same outfit she used for school.

"You know your mother is a bit too popular and we don't want to make a scene at the mall…" Doug said and laughed a bit. "Besides, your mother still looks beautiful, doesn't she?"

"Oh Doug, stop teasing," Sandra said playfully as she clung unto Doug's arm. Then, she turned to Nicole May. "How about this, Nikki? I know you have some casual wear in your closet. You should at least wear them…"

"Yeah, but… I just don't think it looks good on me…" Nicole May muttered as she looked away from her parents.

"Don't say that Nicole. We'll wait for you here so you could get changed, all right?" Doug said while he sat down next to his daughter and patted her back.

"I suppose…" Nicole May muttered as she stood up and left the living room.

After Nicole May left, Sandra sat down next to Doug and looked a bit worried. Doug noticed Sandra's expression and looked at her curiously.

"You think she misses Nancy and Kenneth?" Sandra asked while she held Doug's hand.

"Yeah. After all, they were her parents, and she's someone who can't forget things easily," Doug replied and tried to smile. "Well, either way, I don't think you should be too worried. I mean, we're not going to have as much fun… and Nancy and Kenneth won't be happy if they see their daughter very sad."

"I know… yeah, we should make sure that Nicole May feels comfortable with us," Sandra said as she nodded and looked at Doug with determination.

.-.-.-.-.-

"Okay, so, let me get this straight, you want me to watch over these two?!" Jane exclaimed and Amelia nodded. "Mom, they can take care of themselves, I don't want to baby-sit them!"

"Well, it's not exactly baby-sitting, just make sure they don't get lost," Amelia cleared up and Jane sighed with exasperation. Avegaille was chucking while Phil was confused.

All of them arrived at the mall, which was not too far from the Stewart residence. Although they could actually just walk to get to the mall, Amelia had to use her car since they were buying a television. They were all standing by the lobby of the mall, where a lot of people were moving about. Avegaille saw a bench without anyone sitting on it, quickly ran up to it and sat down. Phil quickly followed her and sat down next to her. Then, Jane, Amelia and Andrea followed them and stayed in that area for a while.

"Well, Amelia and I will browse around to see what television you guys will have in the kitchen," Andrea said while Jane folded her arms across her chest. "Well, don't worry about Phil. I don't think he'll give you trouble."

"I'm more concerned with my little sister…" Jane muttered and sighed. Andrea laughed, and Amelia stared at her exasperatedly.

"Avegaille, let's play at the arcade, what do you say?" Phil asked and Avegaille turned to him.

"I'm kinda hungry…" Avegaille muttered and groaned. She folded her arms across her chest as her stomach began to grumble.

"That's right… we should probably eat lunch first," Amelia said as she turned to Avegaille and Phil. Then, she looked at the watch in her wrist and saw the time. "So, where do you guys want to go?"

"Um… I dunno," Avegaille muttered and turned to Jane.

While they were deciding on where to go, at the entrance of the mall, Nicole May and her parents arrived. Nicole May was wearing something casual this time, a long sleeved collared shirt with a blue shirt over it, a red skirt and sneakers. As they walked around and were about to approach the escalator, Nicole May noticed familiar faces from the distance and quickly ran off from her parents. Both Doug and Sandra were surprised and quickly followed her. As Nicole May approached the area where Avegaille was, everyone else who was with Avegaille stopped for a while and looked at her. Then, Doug and Sandra caught up with Nicole May, and finally understood why Nicole May ran off like that.

"Ah, it seems that we meet again," Doug said as he turned his attention to Amelia.

"Ah, yes… um…" Amelia muttered nervously as she sweat-dropped. Then, she quickly turned to Andrea, who was a bit confused.

"Oh yeah… they're my parents," Nicole May said and Avegaille nodded while Jane and Phil were a bit surprised and speechless.

"Hmm, it seems that everyone's a bit confused here…" Sandra remarked as she noticed the awkward atmosphere around them. "Nicole May, why don't you introduce your friends to us first…"

Before Nicole May could speak up, Andrea finally realized who the people were standing in front of her. She quickly approached Sandra and held her hands. She was too excited that she didn't realize what she was doing, and it even surprised Sandra. Everyone else stared at Andrea blankly while sweat-dropping.

"You're… you're Sandra Rustford, aren't you?" Andrea asked ecstatically while Sandra sweat-dropped.

"Um… yes… I am, although I'd like to keep it low for now," Sandra replied and laughed nervously.

"Ah, I'm so sorry about that," Amelia quickly interrupted as she took both of Andrea's hands, in which Andrea released Sandra from her grip, and dragged Andrea away from Sandra. "Andrea here just seems to be a huge fan of your shows, and well… she gets too excited easily."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Sandra said and laughed a bit. Then, she turned to Doug with a confused look. "You know who they are?"

"Well, I know Amelia, but not Andrea yet," Doug replied nervously as he placed his hands inside the pockets of his sweat-shirt. "Well, either way, Amelia is Avegaille's mother, in which, Avegaille is Nicole May's friend at school."

"Dad, you should let me do the introducing…" Nicole May muttered and Doug laughed. Then, Nicole May turned to her mother. She had no idea who Andrea was, and quickly approached Avegaille and Phil, who were sitting on the bench.

"Avegaille…" Nicole May looked a bit confused, in which Avegaille stood up. Avegaille knew what she was going to ask, so she didn't hesitate any longer.

"Oh, um… well, Andrea is Phil's mom and my current psychiatrist," Avegaille said and Nicole May turned to Phil.

"What?" Phil asked while Nicole May looked at him suspiciously. "Hey come on now, I don't even know why you're giving me that look…"

"Forget it…" Nicole May muttered as she turned away from him and approached her parents. "Mom, these are my classmates at school. The guy over there is Phil and his mom is Andrea. And then, that's Avegaille and next to her is her sister Jane. Jane's the president of the student council at our school. Their mother is the principal of our school."

"Ah, well now this is quite interesting," Sandra said and giggled. "Well, nice to meet you all then. You all know me, but this is my husband, Douglas… I like to just call him Doug…"

"Well, it seems that your disguise is quite well done Sandra," Doug remarked, which Sandra looked around and noticed that no one else passing by recognized her. Doug turned to the group and realized they all had something in mind. "Have you guys had lunch? Why don't we all go together as a group if you all haven't?"

"Eh, well… um…" Amelia became nervous again while Andrea turned to her and quickly stepped forward.

"We'd love to," Andrea quickly exclaimed, which Amelia jerked and dragged her back. "Oh come on now Amelia, don't be such a nervous wreck!"

"It's settled then, I know a place where we can eat," Sandra added as she quickly grabbed Doug's hand and started to drag him. "Come on Doug, let's go~"

.-.-.-.-.-

They all arrived at a family restaurant by the second floor of the mall. Sandra was quite familiar with what the restaurant served and didn't hesitate. They found an area that can accommodate all of them. Sandra and Doug were sitting together, while Andrea and Amelia were in front of them. And then, on the other side were Avegaille and Nicole May sitting together with Jane and Phil. They all had lunch and Doug kept on insisting that he should pay for everything but Amelia was somehow protesting. Andrea convinced her otherwise, and they all finally agreed. On the other table, Avegaille was asking Nicole May a lot of questions, but Nicole May couldn't give her straight answers, probably because Jane and Phil were also listening to her.

After they all ate lunch, Amelia and Andrea left so they could finally go to the appliance store. Nicole May decided to stay with Avegaille while her parents had their alone time together. Now that the adults were gone, Jane was in charge of them. They were all standing in front of the restaurant they just had lunch at. Nicole May was standing next to Avegaille, and Phil was next to Jane.

"All right, here's the deal, you guys will make sure you'll tell me where you all are going, otherwise…" Jane started, but before she could continue, she heard Avegaille's chuckling. "Hey, shrimp, this isn't funny you know!"

"Yeah right, you just don't want Mom scolding you," Avegaille retorted and she stuck out her tongue.

"Damn you, Avegaille!" Jane exclaimed furiously and she quickly ran up to Avegaille, but Avegaille ran off before Jane could catch her.

While the two sisters were running around, Phil was a bit concerned that he was the only person left with Nicole May. Of course, he didn't know how he could possibly have a normal conversation with Nicole May due to her personality. On the other hand, Nicole May knew she was next to the person that Avegaille had a crush on. Although she already knew that, she couldn't help but feel a bit irritated towards Phil. She didn't know the true reason behind it, but she couldn't stand just being with him. She walked away from him but then she realized that he was following her. Nicole May stopped and he also stopped walking.

"Hey… why are you following me?" Nicole May asked as she slowly turned to Phil and glared at him.

"Well, actually, I just wanted to ask you something… you know…" Phil muttered while he placed his hand behind his head.

"I'm not really in the mood for answering questions… but whatever, just say it," Nicole May muttered as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, I dunno, it just seems that you're always irritated towards me and I don't know why. I mean, it's not like we've known each other very well yet, and I can't judge you either, so…" Phil muttered while he placed his hands on the pockets of his pants. "So, basically, do you hate me or something?"

"I don't really think 'hate' is the right term," Nicole May corrected and sighed. "Like you said, we don't know each other very well. Sorry, but I'm just like this… I'm not really someone who could get along with everyone instantly. Well, to answer your question, maybe there's just something in you that's irritating me or something…"

"Well, it's fine if you don't want to talk about it any further, I understand," Phil said while Nicole May turned away from him. Before Phil could say anything, Avegaille quickly interrupted them and took Nicole May's arm.

"Hey Nicole May, let's hide from Jane!" Avegaille exclaimed while she tried to pull Nicole May. Her breathing was rather fast, seeing as she was running around, trying to make sure that Jane couldn't catch her.

"What… why?!" Nicole May exclaimed, which she resisted from the pull and stood firm on her spot. She was too flustered to figure out Avegaille's sudden actions.

"It's a secret, I'll tell you later," Avegaille replied while she pulled Nicole May again. Eventually, Nicole May started running with her and both of them left Phil.

"Eh, they left again… is there something going on between those two?" Phil asked himself and saw that Jane was walking towards him. He also noticed how exhausted she was from the running that she couldn't run any longer.

"Goddamn, that shrimp's gonna get it later," Jane muttered exasperatedly while Phil turned to her and sweat-dropped. Then, Jane saw Phil's reaction and stared at him. "Hey, you know where that shrimp ran off to, right?"

"Yeah, she ran off with Nicole May… I have no idea where they are going…" Phil replied and sighed.

.-.-.-.-.-

Avegaille and Nicole May arrived at the third floor of the mall, where the bookstore, the arcade and other shops were located. Avegaille thought it would be best if they hid at the bookstore, seeing as that would be the last place Jane would look for her. As they entered the bookstore, they noticed how quiet the place was aside from a few people having a conversation. The bookstore was wide enough and had individual sections for all types of books. For some reason, Avegaille was dragging Nicole May to an area where there weren't many people walking around. She found a spot where no other people had passed by recently. The area was by the end of the store, and they were standing in the space between the two bookshelves besides them, while behind Avegaille was the wall. Nicole May read the spines of the books on the shelves. It turned out they were in the Eastern Culture section.

"So… why are we hiding from your sister?" Nicole May asked while Avegaille sat down on the floor and leaned on the wall. Nicole May also sat down on the floor seeing as no one else could see them anyway.

"No reason," Avegaille replied and giggled. "You know the feeling that you want to piss off someone for no reason and you find it funny?"

"Eh… are you some kind of sadist or something?" Nicole May asked as she raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest.

"Nah, that's too much," Avegaille interjected. Then, she looked around and saw how quiet the area was. "Hmm, if we hid at the arcade, they'd find us easily for sure…"

"So, the bookstore is your last resort?" Nicole May asked, in which Avegaille nodded and then, she sighed. She took out one of the books from the shelves and began flipping through the pages. Even though it was Japanese, she could understand every single thing written on the book.

"That's Japanese, isn't it? You can understand that?" Avegaille asked and Nicole May looked up to her.

"Yeah, I can read Japanese…" Nicole May replied apathetically and closed the book. "Anyway, how did you know it was Japanese? Most people when they see this kind of text for the first time would say, 'is that Chinese or something?'"

"That’s because Japanese had other characters in them, aside from the kanji, there's hiragana and katakana… was it?" Avegaille pondered, in which Nicole May looked a bit surprised and placed the book back on the shelf.

"You know how to read Japanese also?" Nicole May asked and Avegaille giggled nervously.

"Nah, I can't read anything else aside from English, and maybe a bit of hmm, I forgot the name of the language my Mom understands aside from English," Avegaille muttered and pressed her fingertips on her forehead. Then, she sighed and gave up from recalling.

"Hey… Avegaille… can I ask you something?" Nicole May muttered and Avegaille looked at her curiously. Nicole May looked a bit flustered while Avegaille scratched her head. "Well… you know, I've been wondering about…"

"Hmm, what is it? You don't have to be nervous…" Avegaille said calmly and smiled.

"You… you still remember what happened back then at Midway Academy, right?" Nicole May asked while Avegaille paused and pondered for a while. Then, she shook her head slowly, a sign that she didn’t remember anything that happened before. "I see… then, I guess… you might not be able to tell me why…"

"Huh, what do you mean?" Avegaille asked as she frowned and was getting more confused.

"I always wanted to know… why you did that… why you were willing to help me back then even though I treated you horribly…" Nicole May muttered while she looked away from Avegaille. "But if you can't remember, then I guess there's no point asking you…"

"Eh, don't be ridiculous, well, let me see if I can recall something…" Avegaille said as she folded her arms across her chest and started to think. She looked at Nicole May and felt that something else had to be done for her to remember. "Hey, Nicole May, do you mind taking off your ponytail and glasses… maybe I can remember something…"

"Huh, do you really think that can help you?" Nicole May asked. She was a bit hesitant, but she took off the band from her hair and her glasses. She looked a bit different, now that her hair was down.

"Hmmm," Avegaille muttered as she closed her eyes. Then, she opened them again and looked at Nicole May. "Ah, let's see, you said we were roommates, right?"

"Yeah, I did…" Nicole May replied and nodded slowly.

"And that we couldn't stand each other… hmm, other than the sixth-grade project we did together, I don't know why I can't recall anything else…" Avegaille muttered and sighed. "I mean, it was just last year… or maybe two years ago. I guess I just can't remember events if they aren't much of importance… or anything I don't feel like remembering…"

"It's no use then…" Nicole May said and sighed.

"Hmm, I dunno, I think… I'm starting to remember something. It was a dream I had… I took your recorder and used it on a bunch of girls I don't even know who they were. You were very upset after hearing what they were talking about when you played it…" Avegaille muttered, in which Nicole May quickly perked up her head and looked at Avegaille surprisingly. "Huh, what is it?"

"The dream you had, it's not a dream, that was one of the things you did to help me," Nicole quickly blurted while Avegaille sweat-dropped. She paused for a while and thought back. She also recalled experiencing that particular event in her sleep. "But that's strange, that memory also came to me when I was sleeping back at the library."

"Eh… hmm, is it possible that two people can have the same dream while they're asleep?" Avegaille asked and looked at Nicole May with confusion.