Protecting Cecilia

Saturday at Emily's

Song: Bird set free by Sia

The smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies fills the air around us. Mrs. Banks is in the kitchen, yes baking, when we walk in with Emily.

She stops what she is doing to walk over to me, patting her hands on her apron before giving me a hug. "Welcome to our home. Please help yourselves to whatever you need."

"Mom we will be up in my room alright. We have to find a song for Cecilia to sing for the talent show." Says Emily.

"Wait here take this plate up with you I'm sure you will want something to snack on." She hands Emily the plate full of fresh baked cookies.

She rolls her eyes. "Thanks mom, you're the best."

I snatch one off the plate and take a bite right in front of all of them. "I think I'm in heaven." I moan. "Mmmmmmm."

Mrs. Banks laughs. "Can I get you something to drink perhaps a glass of milk?"

"Sure that would be awesome. I've always wanted to dip a cookie into a glass of milk." The three of them stop and look at me as if I have got to be kidding.

"Did I just say that out loud?" I smirk. I feel like I might start to panic. I try so hard not to let people know things about my past life. We never had cookies in our home. Hell I have never even seen my mom bake; matter of fact I can't remember a time she actually cooked anything.

"Girl its ok dip away," Emily says as she takes a cookie and dips it into my glass of milk and takes a huge bite out of the cookie.

We all laugh. She makes me feel normal. If that is such a thing.

Her room is so cool. It's all in pink, not that I would want pink but it's a really pretty shade of pink. She has a canopy bed and all her furniture including the bed is white. I feel like I'm in a princess room in a fairy tale.

We lie on her bed and pull up songs on her Surface Pro 3. We go through so many songs. Most of them are alright but if I'm going to sing I want something I can relate too you know.

We hear yelling from downstairs, "Emily lunch is ready; you guys come on down and eat before it gets cold."

Emily rolls her eyes. "Well guess that means we have to take a break."

We follow her downstairs and I can't help but look at all the pictures that line the wall. Pictures from where Emily was a baby all the way up until now. I don't have any pictures of me growing up, well except school pictures that my parents never did buy. You know the sample pictures but I don't have any of them. Something my parents never did was keep things.

Weston's hand glides into mine and he stands beside me when I stop to look at one of the pictures. It's a photo of Emily as a kid, maybe two or three and both her parents are smiling along with her. They all have their feet in the sand and you can see the ocean behind them. They look like such a happy family. I look over at Weston and attempt to smile at him. He knows what I am thinking; I so want to be there in the sand at the ocean far away from here. He pulls me along down the steps to catch up with Emily.

"So any luck?" asks Mrs. Banks.

"Yeah we found several but Cecilia here keeps saying no."

"It's not that I don't like them....I just want...want the right song you know what I mean."

"I'm sure you will find the one."

We all sit at the table and I can't help but wonder if it's always like this. A normal family, all sitting at the table, just talking about everyone's day. I wonder if this was what it was like at Weston's house with his parents and his brother before all hell broke loose and his dad lost it. I watch Weston as he eats. I think I could get use to this. I'm afraid I will love it so much and I will lose it all in a split second. I'm so lost in thought that I don't hear Mrs. Banks talking to me. So she has to repeat what she said.

"Cecilia, how is it going with your Grandparents?" she asks again.

"It's great, they are awesome. I think they are trying to make up for lost time so they are buying me all kinds of stuff like clothes and shoes and Pops insist that I have a phone." I pull it out of my pocket to lay it on the table for her to see it. "Grammy insists that I eat...like all the time apparently I'm too skinny and need to get some meat on my bones."

She chuckles, "I bet she is a good cook."

"She is." I smile. "Matter of fact maybe too good it's been only a few days and I feel like I have gained like ten pounds." I grab a hold of my thigh to show her, but really there is no fat there.

"I haven't seen you that much at school this week; I guess everything is getting better?"

I look at Weston and he doesn't say a word.

"Actually the two of us have been eating lunch outside away from everyone."

"Oh....well that's nice."

Emily's mouth opens wide with excitement. "So you guys are official...why didn't you tell me?"

My face is for sure is turning shades of red now. "Yeah it just kind of happened, you know."

She beams of excitement. The rest of lunch is just small talk and every now and then I feel Weston's leg rub up against mine under the table. We finish lunch, then go back upstairs. There are just way too many songs to choose from.

"Guys maybe I shouldn't bother doing it."

"Cecilia you are going to do this. You can't back out now it's like Friday for crying out loud."

"But I haven't even practiced and I don't even have a song to sing."

"Well we narrowed it down to ten. Look over them again when you get home alright."

"You guys are not going to let me out of this are you?"

Weston and Emily look at each other and laugh, "Hell no."