The Sawyer House In Appleby, Lincolnshire

"What's wrong?-Okay, now you add in the vegetable oil-are you still thinking about your parents?"

"No, I was thinking how mum never bakes with me. This is really fun."

Rachel laughed. "Your mom isn't much of a cook, is she?"

"All she makes are sandwiches and casseroles." Dianna said, making a face.

Rachel wrinkled her nose in agreement, and looked thought for a minute. She looked at Dianna. "Do you want to take this home as a treat?" she pointed to the mixing bowl.

"Yes!" Dianna said, grinning. "I'd love it. Thank you so much."

"Great!"

Some time later, Rachel was carefully wrapping the now frosted and cool cake up in some wrap on a plate, and carefully handed it to Dianna.

"Be careful not drop this." she warned as she handed her the plate. "And, we'll be sure to keep your family in our prayers."

"Thank you, Mrs. Sawyer. Please tell Anthony I said goodbye." Dianna said, taking the cake and walking off towards her house, in a considerably better mood.

It was a really nice afternoon. School was nearing, of course, but not quite so yet. There was still much summer left. And what perfect weather for summer! The heat outside was really what you'd call hot, but the sky was simply beautiful and birds just sang their songs. Today, Kelsi and Rachel decided to plan a visit for their kids to just socialize and such, and considering how Victor, Emily, and Leah would each be starting their first year at Hogwarts, what better way to have them get to learn each other properly? They have know each other for a while, only never bothered trying to talk long and thoughtful conversations. And it's never too late for that. In fact, now was the perfect moment, considering how they were each starting their first year at school soon.

Victor was not looking forward to this corny "Let's-Make-New-Friends-Before-School-Starts-So-You're-Not-A-Total- Loner!" play date sort of thing. He figured that if he were to make friends, it would just happen naturally as school started. This sort of thing was just going to be all muddled up and awkward, and he would start off on a very wrong foot.

He just sat comfortably on a love seat, reading a book. He had not bothered to dress up or anything, his blonde hair with red roots was all messy, he was still in his T-shirt and sweatpants, and his glasses were hanging off the bridge of his nose. (He wasn't allowed to get contacts until he was at least thirteen.) At least he'd have some fun before the whole mess started.

~

Emily, on the other hand loved this kind of thing. Being the Miss Social Butterfly she was, she loved meeting new people, and hope that Leah was going to be a new fun companion for her.

She was upstairs in her and Hayley's bedroom, standing in front of the looking glass (as Sophia called it) brushing her hair, and French braiding it in the back, with a light blue and white sundress. She, on the other hand wanted to look nice and make a proper first impression.

Emily considered her wardrobe a crowning moment of achievement. Taking an entire year to build, she had managed to get enough clothes so could look presentable at Hogwarts. Her parents were not one to squander money on clothes, so it took a long time inheriting hand-me-downs from Sophia, shopping at thrift stores, and spending her own money at proper stores.

After taking one last look in the mirror with a smile, she rushed downstairs to answer the door.

Kelsi opened the door and looked around. "Hey, Emily!" She said, looking down and hugged the sweet girl. "How're you? You look lovely, ohhh, I wish Leah had the enthusiasm like you..." She grabbed a long skinny arm of some girl hiding behind her and pulled, putting her other arm around Leah's shoulders in a motherly hug. Leah scowled a bit and tried to pull away. Her dark hair was slightly tangled and fell over her shoulders and eyes as she ducked under her mom's grip, and stood back up. She had on a pair of small shorts that were obviously once a pair of nice jeans but she cut it around to make it more comfortable for summer, and a bright red tank top layered with an orange one. She had on flip flops, and on top of it all, a long baggy cardigan that fell to her mid-thighs (longer than where her shorts ended). "Mom, stop it..." she mumbled, and rubbed her shoulder self consciously as though her mother's hands were actually millions of small worms.

"It's very nice to see you again, Mrs. Brown." Emily said politely, happily accepting the hug. "My mom's in the kitchen, if you want to talk to her."

While she was saying all of this, she was immediately scanning Leah, and in all honesty, she was rather disappointed with the girl. Leah did not seem like best friend materials, simply by the way she dressed, she could tell that they were not like each other very much at all.

Leah Brown was a tomboy.

Kelsi beamed at Emily, and patted her on the head awkwardly. "Thank you, sweetie!" She turned to her three boys with a raised eyebrow. "Alright, you three behave. Stay within the land limits." And then, she left to go to the kitchen, with Brian tailing along behind her.


Derek strolled off in a heavy search for Will, and Cam off to go tell James about some book he read. The two have already been properly introduced to these Sawyers.


Leah looked after her brothers, then at Emily. She shuffled her feet a bit awkwardly, and scratched her nose. She then stuck out that hand as to shake Emily's hand. "Hi," she said.

Will was outside through the back kitchen door, asleep on the ground.

"Hello." said Emily, shaking the hand. Black finger nail polish. She released it quickly. "So... you're starting Hogwarts too." She looked down at the ground. Victor was right. This was going to be super awkward.

Derek walked around and found Will, then crouched down in front of Will and raised an eyebrow. He looked a bit bored, and his mouth was slightly agape. He lifted a finger and slowly brought it towards Will's face. Then he jabbed it into his ear.

Leah noticed Emily's nail polish and thought that the shade was quite pretty. She internally hoped that the girl hadn't dressed herself up and that Rachel dressed her that way, and that she really was just an ordinary human being considering the color's brightness. Hopefully Emily didn't notice HER nails- which were all small and chewed up. "Uhh, yeah, this is the whole reason we're meeting right?" Leah replied back. "So, nice dress." she said, nodding slowly.

(I meant blue. I don't why I put black.)

"AAAAAGH!" shouted Will, and snapped right awake and jumped up, looking as comical as a cartoon character would in this situation. "SOPHIA WHAT THE HELL ARE-" he then looked and saw who the culprit was. Oh. Just Derek.

"Oh, sorry about that." said Will, immediately tried to regain his cool. "I was just taking my bi-daily end of summer naps in the sun." He hoped to sound intelligent.

"Yeah, thanks." said Emily proudly. "I actually made this, with my mum's help, of course. I picked out the fabric, and she helped me with the sewing. And I like your shorts too. They look very grungy. But don't you think that you're kind of young for them. They're awfully short." Emily apparently liked to talk a lot.

[[Oh. XD I'll edit.]]

Just Derek. "Sup," he said, with a wide grin like his mother's. "Sleeping like a cat, aren't we?" he said and laughed at his own joke.

Will rolled his eyes, and laughed sarcastically. "Hahaha. I'm just vomiting with laughter."

"Vomiting up your daily cleansage of hair I'm guessing, considering how much of a c-" he realized this was a bit wrong. He didn't really care though. He just started to laugh.

Leah frowned. "I'm not too young for shorts... that are short. Short-shorts. People who are sixteen wear them, too."

Rachel was sitting on the couch with a glass of cheap red wine in her hand, watching a little bit of television. (The Sawyer's had a small television, that got only a couple of channels.) [Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Anthony came in with Hayley and tow, and sat beside his mother, curious to see what's on.

Rachel glanced at him. "Anthony, Hayley, go play outside. This show isn't appropriate for you two." she said, sounding especially firm.

He got up with a sigh, and ran outside with Hayley. He didn't seem to understand what was so wrong with that show, but his mother sure thought it was bad.

Rachel was in bed, propped up on a pillow, with a novel (To Kill A Mockingbird, her very favorite) in hand, with a small candle lit on the end table, giving the room light. She probably would have been asleep by now, but she was waiting for Nick; there was something very important she wanted to talk about with him.

Nick came in the room. He looked tired--it had been quite a long day at work, and he just wanted to go to sleep. His hair had begun to grow quite long--it was already a couple inches past his shoulders. He usually just kept it back in a little ponytail to keep it out of his way. He collapsed on the bed next to his wife, and pulled the covers over him without saying a word.

"Wake up." Rachel said sharply, throwing the covers off of him, and snatching the pillow from underneath his head. "We have important business to discuss."

"Rachel, please... can we discuss it in the morning?" he murmured, reaching and snatching the covers back. He held them very tightly so Rachel couldn't steal them. "I'm exhausted."

"No Nick, please. This is VERY important, I can assure you." she promised, she said, with a bright glint in her eye.