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The Darkness Of Envy | Shook Chapter 17
Cecila is the definition of trouble, and she's headed toward Maya and Dyan's table as they munch on ice cream...
She walked past the girls table, staring at Dyan’s ice cream in particular.
“Coffee? Wow, Dyan. If your book is anything like the ice cream you chose, it must be basic as ever.” And with that, Cecilia smiled and walked away.
“At least I made a book, and people love it. Bet you haven’t done anything like that, and you never will.”
Cecilia stopped in her tracks. She turned right back around and began to stomp towards Dyan. Dyan’s heart was racing, and Cecilia’s glare made her nervous. Cecilia stood right in front of Dyan’s chair. She got in Dyan’s face and was so close, Dyan could smell her strawberry breath.
“Listen, scaredy Dyan, you better cap that mouth before it gets you into trouble.”
“Watch it, you might get your nasty spit in my ice cream.” Dyan said, using all the courage she could muster to keep a straight face.
Maya laughed at Dyan’s comment. Dyan, trying hard to keep from smiling, continued on “And my name isn’t scaredy Dyan. It's Dyan Blue. Read the book cover, dimwit.”
Cecilia rolled her eyes and backed up. “Please Dyan, stop acting so tough. You're scared of everything.”
“No I’m not!” Dyan stood up right in front of Cecilia, her voice raising.
Cecilia smirked. “Name one thing you aren’t afraid of.”
“You.” Dyan said, her stature straight and her eyebrows lowered.
Cecilia widened her eyes. Maya gasped from behind Dyan.
“Girl, stop playing!” Cecilia pushed Dyan back, who stumbled into the side of her chair at the table.
“Woah, don’t push my friend, idiot!” Maya yelled, standing up alongside Dyan.
Cecilia kept her eyes on Dyan. “You’re nothing, you know. Just some stupid little orphan-”
Dyan set her cone on the table and pushed Cecilia off the curb and into a dirty puddle with full force. Cecilia shut up just like that.
“NOW SCRAM BEFORE I MAKE YOU!” Dyan yelled.
Cecilia's eyes weld up with tears “You’re… you’re so weird and nobody likes you!”
“Who's ice cream is on the floor?” asked Dyan.
Cecilia looked to see that her ice-cream scoops were just mounds of cream melting beside her. She started to cry and ran off.
Maya and Dyan laughed, the back of her pink coat all wet and dirty. Dyan’s heart was still beating fast, but she felt amazing. Finally, she had got Cecilia back and proved she was no scaredy cat!
After a moment the rest of the Blue family tumbled outside, crunching on the last of their waffle cones and whatnot.
“We heard a commotion out here, but it must not have been too bad if y’all are laughing. What happened?” Mrs. Blue asked.
“Oh mom, you should have seen it! It was crazy! This girl tried to bully Dyan and pushed her, and Dyan pushed back and was all ‘whose ice cream is on the floor!?’” Maya explained, but it ended up making her and Dyan burst into giggles again, unable to speak or answer any of the Blue children’s questions for a huge part of the ride home.
After checking her book sales, which were still growing by the day, Dyan was in bed ready to go to sleep. What would her next book be about? A girl who stood up to bullies? A girl who could turn into an ice-cream? The possibilities were endless.
One thing Dyan wondered about was, now that her book had ended, how did the Blue family not disappear? Dyan hadn’t written anything about Spirit or the aliens since she finished Shook, yet the Blue family was still very real. Did this mean it was her destiny to write another book about Spirit and her alien family? Was it her destiny to write a series? She wondered all this as she tucked herself into her bunk bed.
“That was so cool today, Dyan. I didn’t know you had it in you to stand up to someone like that.” Maya said from the bottom bunk.
“Actually, I didn’t either, I just acted like I wasn’t afraid, and told myself I’m not getting bullied by Cecilia again, and I didn’t. Part of the reason I felt so brave was because you were backing me up, and you're a sixth grader. There’s no way Cecilia could beat you.”
Royal and True came into the room along with Mrs. Blue, who stayed leaning at the door smiling. “ Goodnight girls, I’ll see y’all in the morning.”
With a moment of hesitation, Maya sat up in her bunk. “Hey, Mom, is Dyan going to stay here forever? I mean, she’s been living with us for a while now so…” Maya's voice faded.
Dyan had been avoiding that question, but she looked at Mrs. Blue, eager for an answer.
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that too.” said Royal (“Me too!” True chimed in). Royal continued. “She did title her author name Dyan Blue, using our last name.”
Mrs. Blue slouched down for a minute, her arms wiggling around like bungee cords.
“I don’t know. We haven’t officially adopted Dyan, and in order to adopt a kid there has to be some legal work behind it. But I can say one thing. It is nice having you around, Dyan.” Mrs. Blue gave a big smile to Dyan who thanked her for the compliment.
“You’re very welcome Dyan,” Mrs. Blue smiled but once she shut the door, she sighed. Downstairs, she and Mr. Blue had a lot to talk about.
Find out what happens next in the next part!
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Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
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(Image is AI generated.)