Quinn’s Code 13 A Night at Kristen’s
Quinn's Code 13: A Night at Kristen's
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Quinn Morgendorffer. Cindy Brolsma and Stacy Rowe arrived outside their friend, Kristen Leung-Bell's, house. They were going to have a sleep over. It had been organised the previous afternoon after they had all decided that it would be a good opportuntity to get to know each other better, particularly Stacy.
The house was a nondescript building, hidden by the trees in the front yard, at the end of a cul-de-sac.
“Nice trees,” Stacy said, trying to see the house from where she stood next to the mail box. She could only see the front door and two windows, which had blinds drawn. She wondered what was behind those windows. 'Probably nothing out of the ordinary,' she thought.
Kristen heard the doorbell. 'They're here!' she thought. She put the Game Cube controller down and went to the door. “Hi, Cindy, Quinn, Stacy, welcome to the Leung-Bell's,” she said, with a little humorous formality.
“Do you have to be so formal?” Cindy asked, with a slight laugh. Kristen smirked at her long time friend's laugh.
“Huh?” Quinn asked.
“A slight joke,” Cindy explained.
“Oh,” Quinn said.
Stacy turned to Quinn “Wait, you've been her friend for nearly six months, and haven't been over?” she asked.
“I hadn't invited her, and she hadn't asked. We mostly hang out at Cindy's,” Kristen explained, matter-of-factly.
“I suppose,” Stacy said.
“Come in,” Kristen said. 'It is natural that she would be hesitant,' she thought, knowing it would be a while before Stacy would be completely comfortable around them.
“Of course,” Stacy said.
Kristen lead the way inside.
The four teens entered the ktichen, where Kristen's mother was making preparations for dinner. There were delicious smells coming from the stove.
'Something smell's good,' Quinn thought.
“Mom.”
Krista Bell turned at her daughter's voice. “Kristen.”
“You know Cindy.”
“Hi,” Cindy said.
“These are Quinn Morgendorffer and Stacy Rowe,” Kristen said gesturing to both of them in their turn.
“Welcome,” Krista said. She stepped towards Quinn. “I heard about the debate at the Coffee House.”
“I had to say something,” Quinn said. She was about to say something more when she was interrupted.
“That's certain. I also heard about what happened this week,” Krista said. She turned to Stacy. “I'm happy that you were able to stand up to that bully,” she added. 'I don't know why Ms. Li tolerated her behavior!'
“You heard about that?” Stacy asked, uncertainly. The uncertainty showed on her face, but Krista also saw an inner strength.
“Kristen tells me a lot about what happens at school,” Krista said. She lowered her voice. “Unlike Kelly.” She shook her head, wondering where she and her husband had gone wrong with their middle child, not for the first time.
“I see,” Stacy said, also uncertainly. Her nervousness increased, so she started to breath deeply. 'Oh no!' she thought.
“Don't panic, Stacy!” Cindy said. “It's a habit from her work,” she said, as she placed her hand on Stacy's shoulder as a comforting gesture.
“Your work?” Stacy asked.
“All I'm allowed to say is that I work for the Government. The Feds. You understand?” Krista said, with slight hardness to her voice.
“Yes,” Stacy said, still slightly panicky. 'She works for the Government?' she asked herself. She stopped that line of thought and focused on calming herself. She didn't want to know too much. 'It could be anything!'
“You don't have to worry. What is said in this house, doesn't go beyond here,” Krista said, the hardness gone.
“Thank goodness,” Stacy said, more calmly than previously.
“Anyway, as I was saying, I'm happy that you are making good friends. You can rely on Kristen, and Cindy. Quinn, I don't know so well. But I trust my younger daughter's judgement,” Krista elaborated.
Kristen was embarrassed. “Oh, Mom!”
“Thanks!” Quinn said.
“As I was saying, your side of the debate was a good thing. Standing up for the downtrodden. Those who are picked on.”
“Yeah. I had to stop her from treating me badly,” Quinn said. “She has disliked me from the time I arrived.”
“I understand,” Krista said. “I had similar experiences at school,” she elaborated. 'With the help of good friends, I put them behind me,' she thought.
“She's going to go on for ages,” Kristen said with a sigh.
'I guess so,' Stacy thought.
“Dinner will be ready soon,” Krista said, recognising that her daughter wanted to get her friends settled in for the night.
“Cool,” Quinn said.
A minute later, the four friends entered Kristen's room.
“Cool room!” Stacy said, excitedly.
“It is, isn't it?” Cindy said.
“Um, yeah,” Quinn said.
The room was larger than any of their rooms. On one side was her closet, with her bed above it, overlooking the sliding door to an upstairs balcony, which looked over the back yard. Stacy went to the balcony and saw that the back yard had just as many trees as the front yard. She could barely see out.
On the other side, was her computer and entertainment set up, with a large flatscreen television. Most of the walls were taken up with anime and JRPG posters. Quinn looked at those with silent appreciation.
Kristen walked to the closet. She pulled out a guest bed, below the closet. “Here's your usual bed, Cindy,” she said.
“Cool,” Cindy said.
Kristen opened the closet. “There are a couple of inflatable matresses, in there, already inflated,” she said.
Stacy and Quinn quickly found the inflated matresses, and the sleeping bags close by. “Cool,” Quinn said. They took out the matresses and placed them in the middle of the room. Stacy placed hers close to the door to the balcony. Quinn placed hers close to the computer and entertainment setup.
“Great! There is still plenty of room to walk,” Quinn said.
“That's right,” Kristen said with a slight laugh.
“Cool,” Kristen said once they had set up. “Let's go back down.”
“Sure,” Cindy said.
“Certainly,” Quinn said.
When they had come down the stairs, Krista and Kristens's brother Keith were setting the table. “Dinner is almost ready,” Krista said.
Cindy smiled. “Cool,” she said.
“Is that all you have to say?” Stacy asked.
“Just wait until you taste it,” Cindy said. “Ms. Bell is a great cook!”
“I could have been a chef,” Krista said.
“I'll wait until I taste it,” Stacy said.
“Same here,” Quinn said.
Krista just responded with a smile.
“You'll see,” Keith added.
Soon the dinner was ready.
Kristen and Keith sat on one side, with a space between them for Kelly who had not yet come home. Cindy, Quinn and Stacy sat on the other. Krista and her husband sat at the ends.
“You have called Kelly?” Krista asked, once they had all sat down.
“I have, the call went through to voicemail,” her husband, Ken, said, with a tone of great annoyance.
“I don't know why she is so troublesome!” Krista said, with a similar tone of annoyance.
“I don't know either,” Kristen said.
“Nor I,” Keith said.
“She should be home later,” Krista said. She looked at her husband, who said grace.
They then began to eat.
“So, what do you plan to do tonight?” Krista asked.
“We'll watch a couple of movies. Then talk about the upcoming week,” Kristen said.
“Get to know Stacy better,” Cindy said.
“Yeah,” Stacy said, quietly. Louder she said. “Get to know them better.”
Krista smiled. “That's a good plan,” she said.
After dinner, the four friends went back up to Kristen's room.
“So, which movies do we have to watch?” Stacy asked as she entered after the others.
“I have quite a few, although most of them are still on VHS,” Kristen answered.
“Let's look at the DVDs first,” Quinn suggested.
“Sure,” Kristen said.
They looked at Kristen's DVDs and VHS tapes, and quickly found some movies. The first one theyd decided to watch was an anime; Who can see the Future?
As they watched it they discussed the themes of the film.
“That was cool!” Quinn said, when the credits started rolling. “Though I hadn't heard of it.”
“It is fairly obscure,” Kristen said.
“It must be if I hadn't heard of it it,” Quinn said with an honest smile.
“I enjoyed it too,” Cindy said. “What's next?”
Kristen pulled a VHS tape out of the pile. “Muppet Treasure Island?” she asked.
“I haven't seen it,” Stacy admitted. “Is it good?”
“It's really good, quite funny,” Quinn said.
“One of the better adaptations of the source material,” Cindy said as she took the tape from Kristen. She put it into the VCR.
Kristen then used the remote to change the television input from the DVD player to the VCR. She then ejected the anime disk from the DVD player.
“It's based on a book?” Stacy asked.
“Yes, are you saying you haven't heard of Treasure Island?” Cindy asked.
Stacy thought for a moment. “Actually, I have heard of it, but haven't read it, not even in grade school. I was more interested in comics and games,” she said, showing more shame in her voice as she went on.
“Games?” Quinn asked excitedly. “Which games?”
“Mainly on the PlayStation, like Final Fantasy VII and Banjo Kazooie,” Stacy answered.
“It's a good book,” Cindy said, while appreciating Stacy's taste in games.
“You recommend it?” Stacy asked.
“Yes,” Cindy and Quinn said.
“You'll enjoy this movie,” Kristen said as she pressed play.
As they watched the film, they discussed the differences betweem the novel and the film. Stacy chimed in with the few episodes that she had seen of The Muppet Show.
“...Oooo-oooh!”
“Steady now, steady as she goes.”
“Obviously, Brian Henson has continued his father's legacy,” Stacy said.
“Oooo-oooh!”
“Certainly,” Cindy said.
“Wicked fog tonight, sir.”
“He has developed it further,” Stacy continued.
“Oooo-oooh!”
“For instance, this movie has improved, albeit a little, on A Muppet Christmas Carol,” Quinn added.
“It reminds me of the night we ran aground off the Pampas. Half the crew drowned in leaky lifeboats, Such a terrible shame.”
“I agree,” Kristen said.
“Leaky lifeboats?”
“A Muppet Christmas Carol, I have seen that, years ago,” Stacy said.
“A common occurrence, Sir. A little used piece of equipment falls into disrepair and... I'm not saying we have problems...”
“Still...”
“Pay attention here, Stacy,” Kristen said.
“Sure,” Stacy said.
After watching the memorial service for Mr. Arrow, Stacy told the others what she remembered of A Muppet Christmas Carol. At least until Professional Pirate started, anyway...
“So, what did you think of that movie?” Kristen asked once the credits started rolling.
“It's quite good. I hope the library has a copy of the novel,” Stacy said.
“I'm sure it does,” Cindy said.
“Good,” Stacy said, brightening.
Kristen looked at the time. “Ten fifty,” she said.
“Huh?” Stacy said.
“Ten to eleven,” Kristen said.
“Oh,” Stacy said. “No time for another movie.”
“But there is time for an episode of an anime,” Quinn said.
“That would be cool,” Stacy said.
“I have a few,” Kristen said as she started rewinding the Muppet Treasure Island tape.
“Cool,” Quinn said.
“You can choose,” Kristen said to Quinn.
“Sure,” Quinn said.
Quinn looked through Kristens's anime DVDs. Soon she found something. “You got it!” she exclaimed in delight.
“Yes,” Kristen said simply.
“What is it?” Stacy asked.
“One Piece!” Quinn said with a squee.
“What's it about?” Stacy asked.
“A boy who wants to become King of the Pirates,” Kristen answered.
“I see. Let's watch it then,” Stacy said.
After they watched the first episode of One Piece, they started getting reading for bed. This was made easier by the fact that the Leung-Bells had two bathrooms upstairs, but it was still approaching midnight before they were all ready.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
It took time for Stacy to get to sleep, especially in an unfamiliar place. “Hard to get to sleep,” she said after fifteen minutes. Suddenly she heard a crash, as of a door being slammed. “What's that?” she asked.
Kristen was still awake. “Oh, it's just Kelly arriving home late,” she said.
“Oh, your sister,” Stacy said. She got up, and looked at the other two. Both Quinn and Cindy were fast asleep. Soon, Stacy heard shouting. She was concerned “Do they shout at her a lot?”
“She never tells them what she is doing,” Kristen said.
“I see,” Stacy said.
After a while, the shouting stopped, and the door slammed again. “It sounds like she has left again...” Kristen said with concern.
“Does she have somewhere else to go?” Stacy asked.
“She does have friends,” Kristen said.
“Oh,” Stacy said.
“Whether they are good influences or not, I'm not sure.”
“OK,”
Soon, there was a knock on the bedroom door. Kristen climbed down and went to the door. “Yes?” she asked.
“Kelly has gone to a friend's for the night,” Krista whispered, with disappointment in her voice.
“She'll be back tomorrow, right?”
“No idea,” Krista said with resignation. “I'll call her friends in the morning.” She moved into the room. “They're asleep, right?”
“Cindy and Quinn are. I'm not sure about Stacy,” Kristen answered.
“Stacy?” Kristen asked, louder.
“I couldn't hear you. I know you were talking about something, but I didn't hear!” Stacy said, quietly.
“That's OK,” Krista said. “But there are ways to get asleep. Have you tried, a glass of milk before bed?”
“No,” Stacy answered.
“Come downstairs, I'll get you one,” Krista said.
“Sure,” Stacy said.
Krista poured the milk. “You did hear what went on?” she asked.
“Not really,” Stacy replied.
“Good,” Krista said with a sigh of relief.
“I don't want to know,” Stacy said.
Soon, Stacy did manage to go to sleep. She was happy to have made such good friends...
0 notes