PnF-Summer's On .:Chapter One:.

    Tick...  Tick...  Tick...
    Anxious eyes glanced up at the clock placed strategically over top of the whiteboard as the hands ticked closer and closer to three.  However, none were as anxious as the deep blue of Maria Doofenshmirtz's eyes as she willed time to stop.  Maria was unlike most children in the way that she would rather summer never come.  She had told her best friend, Felicity Hendrix, that she had been dreading summer's arrival and Felicity had called her crazy.  After all, what ten year old kid wasn't looking forward to summer?
    Ms. Black, the grade five teacher, noticed she had lost her class had turned their attention from the last chapter of Ramona and Beezus and closed her book.
    "I suppose there's no point in me reading the rest of the book, with all of you like this," she teased.  "I'll be honest, I'm excited for summer too.  So don't tell anyone, but I'm going to let you all go early."  Little did the class know that all the teachers had been instructed to let the students go early.  Ms. Black often used tricks like this to gain popularity with the students.  It had worked over her years working at Danville Elementary School.  "Go on, enjoy your summer," she grinned.  The students cheered, grabbed their backpacks, and raced out of the classroom.  All except for Maria.  She sighed and slowly began to gather her things.  "Something bothering you, Maria?"  Her eyes glanced up quickly.
    "O-Oh, no, Ms. Black..."
    "Maria, you should know by now that it's impossible to hide anything from me."  Maria didn't respond.  "Come on, Maria.  You can tell me, or I can figure it out on my own.  What's it going to be?"  Maria didn't answer, but she walked closer to her teacher, her head bowed.  "Fine."  Elizabeth Black rubbed her chin, staring intently at her student.  "It has to do with your dad, doesn't it?"  Maria's head shot up.
    "How did you know?"  
    "I'm a psychologist before I'm a teacher, my dear."  Ms. Black grinned.  "And it's not too hard to figure out.  Your dad never showed up to any of the events that welcomed parents, if he comes up in conversation, you change the topic, and, despite the fact that your father's face is all over the local news, you never mention him during any of our discussions.  A normal father-daughter relationship would cause you to be proud of what he's doing and bring it up whenever you get the chance."  Maria scuffed her golden sneakers against the ground as she fiddled with her brown hair.  "Am I right?  Maria?"
    "Yeah..." she breathed.  "He's just so busy, all the time."  Tears welled up as the words poured out of her.  "I don't want summer to come, because summer is when family's are supposed to be together and have fun going swimming, or to Mount Rushmore or something, but  that's not going to happen with us 'cause Dad is busy with all his community work and his store.  And that always makes Kevin mad 'cause Dad's never there for us and mom tries to be there for us but she can't 'cause she's acting or modelling.  And so me and Kevin and Caitlyn are stuck with a nanny who we can't understand because she's talking Japanese or something.  It's not fair!"  Maria began to cry and Elizabeth's eyes widened.  Maria had always been so quiet and reserved; it was surprising to see her having an outburst like this.  Awkwardly, she reached out pat the brunette on the shoulder.
    "It's okay," Elizabeth consoled her after a quiet moment.  Maria sniffled.
    "What should I do, Ms. Black?" she asked.  Elizabeth blinked.
    "I'd suggest making the best of it," she said honestly.  "Your mom and dad are just trying to provide for you the best life possible.  And if you don't like being at home, find activities to keep you out of it.  Join a Fireside Troop or something.  And what time you do have at home, figure out something to keep you occupied."
    "Like what?"  
    "Well... You said your nanny speaks Japanese, right?  Get her to teach you."  Maria giggled.
    "I suppose it would be helpful to know Japanese," she admitted.  Her teary eyes looked up at Elizabeth and she grinned.  "Thanks, Ms. Black."  Elizabeth found herself turning red under the innocent gaze of the ten year old.
    "No problem at all, my dear," she replied.  Maria bent down to gather her backpack as her teacher leaned up against her desk.
    "I'll see you next school year, Ms. Black," the girl said as she hoisted the straps onto her shoulder and began to head towards the door.
    "Actually, you won't," Elizabeth replied nonchalantly.  Maria's mouth dropped.
    "What?!"
    "Had the other students stuck around, I would have told everyone, but I've been offered a job as a psychologist at a remote boarding school."  She grinned.  "Finally a chance to mess with some snobby rich kids.  Check that one off my bucket list."  She rubbed her hands together, her mind whirring with devious possibilities.  Maria still stood gaping at her.  "Come now, kid, it's not that bad.  You can email me or call me if you want."  She turned and scribbled a few lines on a scrap piece of paper to hand to her student.
    "Thanks, Ms. Black."
    "Please, just call me Elizabeth now.  Or Lizzie works too."
    "Oh...  Thanks, Lizzie," Maria corrected herself.
    "No prob, kid.  Now you better hurry along home."  At that moment, the normal bell rang, sounding the official end of the school year.  "Don't want to be late."  She winked.  Maria nodded.
    "Good luck, Ms. B—Elizabeth."
    "You too, Maria.  Have a good summer."  



    "Hey, 'Ria!" Felicity called out to her friend.  She and Maria's other friend, Clara, were leaning against the bike racks, waiting for their friend to show up.  Because it was the last day of school, all the students had already cleared out of the schoolyard.  They launched themselves forward and fell into step with Maria.  "Why're you so late?  All the teachers let the kids out early.  Did you get in trouble?" Felicity teased, nudging her friend in the ribs.  Maria giggled, flinching away from the gesture.
    "It was nothing, just wanted to talk to Ms. Black about something," Maria replied.  "She told me she's not coming back next year."  The other girls gasped.
    "No way!" Felicity cried.
    "Why not?" Clara asked.
    "She got a job at a boarding school as a psychologist," Maria informed them.
    "Well, I guess it's good she gets an awesome job she likes," Felicity reasoned, trying to look on the bright side.
    "Still, everyone's gonna miss her," Clara countered.  "Everyone loves her, probably 'cause she understands us so well, y'know?"  Maria smiled, reminded again of the conversation she had just had with her favourite teacher.
    "Yeah..."  The three girls continued to walk towards their homes in silence.  They reached the turn off to Clara's house and bid her goodbye, promising to get together the next day.  Felicity and Maria hung around the intersection watching Clara walk away.  Maria sighed.
    "Alright, what's wrong, 'Ria?" Felicity demanded.
    "What?"  Maria asked.
    "Don't give me that.  You have been acting funny ever since you came out of the school and now there's that sigh.  What's wrong?"  Felicity crossed her arms and planted her feet, making it clear she wouldn't be moving until Maria answered her question.
    "It's just...  I don't like summer."  
    "I've told you this before, but you're a little nutty," Felicity grinned, wrapping her arm around her friend's shoulder.  "You've just got to learn to...  Uh... What's that saying again...?"
    "Speak Japanese?" Maria offered.
    "What?  No...?"  Felicity replied, looking at her quizzically.  "Where'd that come from?"
    "It's nothing, just ignore it."
    "Alright.  Oh! Carpet Kill 'em!"
    "What?!"  
    "You know, Seize the Day in Pig Latin or something."
    "Oh, you mean Carpe Diem," Maria corrected.
    "Close enough," Felicity replied, waving her hand nonchalantly.  
    "How would I do that?"  Neither said anything, unsure of a response.  They continued to walk in silence.  It was minutes before they arrived at Felicity's house before Maria came up with an idea, "How about we form a Fireside Girls troop?"  Felicity stopped.
    "Fireside Girls?" Felicity asked.
    "Yeah, you know, they're a kind of scout thing for girls.  Survival skills and all that..."  Maria trailed off, starting to regret mentioning her silly idea.
    "That sounds...fun!"  Felicity grinned.  "When do we start?"
    "I'll have to look into it, and then I'll let you know," Maria answered, breathing a sigh of relief.  "It shouldn't be too hard."
    "And you'll be our troop leader."
    "Oh, well, I don't know about that..."
    "Of course you will be!  You came up with the idea!  Plus, you've got the perfect place to hold meetings."  Felicity winked.  "Let me know when the first meeting is."  Maria nodded.  "I've got to go, talk to you later!"  The girls waved as Felicity jogged down the street.  Maria stood for a moment before turning and continuing down the street.  Within moments, a large, white mansion with a wide, green lawn stretching out in front of it loomed up in front of her.  Most kids her age would walk away quickly from this house with their heads down.  Instead, Maria headed up the sidewalk, opened the door and called to see if anyone was home.  No one was.
    Maria tossed her backpack onto the couch as she made her way up to her room.  She didn't like being in The House, as she called it.  Everything was so clean and so impersonal.  It was so cold.  Both literally and figuratively.  Maria opened the door to her room and was met with many smiling faces peering at her from the walls.  Over the past year, Maria had stuck picture after picture to the wall to make the space a little more welcoming.  All it did was end up creeping Maria out every time she went to sleep.  Today she ignored them and made her way to her desk and turned on her computer.  She pulled up the internet and searched "Fireside Girls".  She got the main page for the organization and there was a feature story on the front page that had a picture of a group of seven girls posed out front of a wooden clubhouse.  The girl with a large bow on her hair in the front seemed familiar, but Maria just couldn't place her face.  As she spent her afternoon browsing through the requirements to become a troop, Maria felt the dread of the coming summer ebb away.
    Perhaps this summer won't be as bad as I thought...
    And then her father came home.