Summer
Next the girls went to Jane's house. Mr. and Mrs. Tuft are nice and slightly over protective, making Wisteria feel more at home since her parents are similar. Jane also happens to have two little siblings. A brother who is four years younger than her and a sister who is five years younger than her. Overall the family resemblance between the five Tuft's was extremely obvious. They each had a small lisp when they spoke, they each had dirty blonde hair and dull blue eyes and they all had the same sense of humor.
Upon arriving at their house the girls were "banished", as Mr. Tuft put it, to the basement. The basement was basically an apartment. It had two queen sized beds, a couch, a living room with a bunch of bean bags surrounding a coffee table, and a little kitchen and bathroom. There was almost no need for the girls to ever leave the basement, so for the majority of the week they didn't. They made periodic trips to the world above to collect ingredient to cook their food with and to send any letter they wanted to send. On the third day Mrs. Tuft knocked on the door to the basement and slid a letter under the door. The girls raced to the door to see who it was for and Penelope got to it first. She snatched it up and a teasing smile came to her face.
"Who is it from? Who is it for?" Christine asks.
Penelope clears her throat and begins to read, "My Lady Evans" She starts and Wisteria dashes forwards, a blush rising to her cheeks as the other girls laugh. Penelope manages to successfully keep the letter out of Wisteria's reach as she continues reading it aloud. "I was very happy to hear from you, I was beginning to feel lonely without you to talk to. My summer has been decent I suppose. Despite being with family, I feel alone at home. I wish I could have stayed at Hogwarts, not that that feels much like home either, but it certainly feels better when you're here." Penelope stops reading as a chorus of "aww"'s echo from the mouths of Shannon, Jane, and Christine.
Wisteria finally manages to grab the letter from Penelope's hands and clutches it to her chest before anyone can take it from her again. The girls laugh and she rolls her eyes. "I'll be back in a little while." She says grabbing a parchment, ink, and quill along with the letter from Michael and walking upstairs. She sits down on the couch and continues reading his letter to her.
My brother is currently preparing to leave for America, so it is a little hectic around my house. I don't know when I will be free, but I promise to let you know as soon as I am. I miss you too.
Wisteria notices an odd splotch of ink right after that sentence and then the words pick up again below.
My dog heard the scratching of the quill on parchment and came to investigate. He's a Pit Bull and his name is Tesla. Do you like animals? I feel like in the year that I've known you, I've never asked if you liked animals. I certainly do. Animals are much easier to understand and tolerate than humans. Then again, that might just be me being weird. I'm going to tell my owl where to go. Hopefully he understands. His name is Arsenic by the way. Do you like him? My father got him for me. I can't wait for you next letter. Write soon, okay?
-Michael Alderton
Wisteria smiles to herself and prepares to write a response. A few minutes later she finds his owl still sitting on the kitchen counter and smiles as she looks at it. It's a barn owl and it's absolutely beautiful. She ties the letter to it's leg and as it flies off Wisteria resents the idea of going back downstairs. She's been inside for far too long.
Later that night, everyone is asleep and it's close to 1 am when Wisteria decides to get out. As silently as she can she climbs the stairs and walks right out the front door. She didn't go far, just to the edge of the front yard before she sat down in the grass and looked at the stars above. The stars here weren't quite as visible as they were at Hogwarts, but they were more visible than the ones back at her house. As she stares up at the stars she finds herself think, not for the first time, about Michael.
She couldn't get the color of his eyes, the feel of his hand in hers, or the smell of his soap out of her mind. Even now she could imagine him sitting next to her. She would say something stupid and he would laugh. The smile would light up his whole face, making his eyes seem brighter than before and showing off his dimples. She could picture him shifting the way that he was sitting so that his arm brushed hers and she could almost feel the tingling sensation she got from it.
Wisteria sat out there until the sun started to make is climb over the horizon. She managed to sneak back inside without waking anyone and after falling asleep she didn't wake up until after noon.