1.16 - Growing Up

The next morning Danisha made an effort to get up earlier than usual.  And she was rewarded by encountering Nielson before he went off to school.  "Good morning!" she exclaimed cheerfully, smiling at her son.  "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"'Morning," Nielson replied, less enthusiastically.  "I guess so," he added, when his sleep-addled brain registered that his mother had asked him a question.

"Did you have a good time yesterday?  I'm sorry for leaving you.  Some work came up and..." Danisha began but Nielson cut her off.

"Sorry, Danisha, but I gotta get ready for school," he pointed out.

"Oh, right... sorry," Danisha replied awkwardly, watching Nielson head away from her.

It seemed that despite her efforts to make a change, that morning proceeded the same as usual.  Erika and Nielson headed off to school with barely a word of goodbye.  And Danisha didn't have long to mope about that since she needed to quick get ready for work herself.  Even if she didn't have any information on the case she wanted, there were plenty of other cases that she needed to focus her attention on.  Other victims seeking justice and other criminals that needed to get put away.

School went normally for both of Danisha's children that day.  Nothing extraordinary happened... until Collin came up to Erika at the end of school.

"Hey," he greeted with a smile.

"Oh.  Hi," Erika replied, trying to seem nonchalant while inside she was giddy that the cutest boy in class was talking to her first.

"You doing anything after school today?" he asked.

"Not particularly," Erika replied with a shrug.  She wondered if she should have pretended to be busy to make herself seem more popular, but at the same time she didn't want to seem too busy if he was going to ask her somewhere.

"Then do you want to come over to my place?" Collin offered, and Erika was instantly glad she hadn't pretended to be busy.

"Sure," she replied.  And apparently it was that easy to hang out with Collin.  She wondered if she had invited him out sooner if they could have had more time together.  But there was no point in thinking about that now.  They boarded the bus together, and Erika spent the entire ride trying to subtly stare at him the entire way.

When they finally got to his home Erika tried not to gape at the size of the high-rise.  The apartment she lived in was only a couple stories tall, but this place was huge.  She vaguely remembered living in a much larger building when she was really little, but somehow doubted that it was this nice of a building.

"Come on.  I live up on the top floor," Collin explained, leading her to the elevator.  Erika obediently followed, still looking around at the high-class place in awe.

"Welcome home, Collin," a woman commented, joining them in the elevator.  Erika was startled by her.  She was striking.  Not beautiful in a conventional way, but still stunning.  This was the first person that Erika actually felt intimidated by.

"Hi mom," Collin replied with a smile.

"Is this a friend of yours?" she asked, her gaze turning to Erika.

"Yeah," Collin replied simply.

"It's nice to meet you," Erika immediately assured, hoping to impress the intimidating woman.

The woman smiled at her, and Erika preened under the attention.  "It's nice to meet you too.  I hope the two of you have fun.  Let me know if you need anything," she urged.  Just then the elevator dinged, indicating they'd arrived at their floor and the older woman got off and headed inside the apartment.

"Wow... your mom's super cool," Erika exclaimed.

"You don't find her scary?" Collin asked with surprise.

"Not really.  I mean, she seems intimidating, but that just makes her more cool!" Erika replied enthusiastically.

"Really?" Collin replied, seeming surprised.  Unfortunately, at that point the conversation died.  Erika tried desperately to come up with a topic to impress Collin.  But the way he was looking at her with confusion made her think that she'd already made a fool of herself.

"You think I'm weird... don't you?" she finally asked, trying to hide how disappointed she was with that knowledge and failing miserably.

"No!  Well... maybe a little.  But that's not really a bad thing," Collin assured quickly.  "Sorry.  I'm not very good at this.  Most times when I invite someone over they excuse themselves really quickly...  I have expected you to do the same," he admitted, looking a little embarrassed.

"That's silly.  And I'm not the weird one.  Everyone else is," Erika assured him.  After all, she was perfect.  It was other people who were less-than-perfect if they were bothered by such little things.

"All right, all right," Collin agreed with a small smile.

When he smiled at her like that, Erika couldn't help but day-dream a bit.  He really was perfect.  The only perfect match to her.  The fact that no one else understood him was just more proof that he was simply above their understanding.

"Um... now you're staring at me," Collin pointed out, smiling nervously.

"Oh... sorry," Erika replied sheepishly, embarrassed that she had been caught staring.  She wasn't handling this situation very perfectly, was she?

"You know... at school I thought you were like the other girls.  But I guess I was wrong," Collin mused.

"What do you mean?" Erika asked, and suddenly Collin looked embarrassed.

"Well... the girls at school are a little... fake.  You know?" he prompted.  Erika blinked, not really understanding what he meant.  Sure, they did some acting, but that's how you had to act if you expected to be friends with the right people and make the right impressions.  "I mean, like the way Krysta always acts so cool... but I totally saw her throwing a tantrum on the sidewalk one day with her mom.  It was pretty bad," Collin explained.

Erika didn't really understand what Collin was trying to get at, but the mental image of Krysta throwing a tantrum did make her giggle, and once she started giggling Collin started to chuckle too.

"Well, anyway come inside.  Let's not just stand in the entrance way," Collin urged, leading the way inside.  Erika tried hard not to stare open-mouthed at the lavishness of the interior of the apartment.  Collin definitely came from a lot of money.  Everything looked terribly expensive inside.  It was... perfect.  Everything in black and red.  The only change she would make is that she liked purple a bit more than red since it matched her coloring better, but she could imagine how this sort of decor matched Collin's mother perfectly.

"My room's this way," Collin explained, turning down a side hall.

"Okay," Erika replied, following after him even though she wanted to admire the decor a bit more.  Not that it really mattered since Collin's room was decorated in much the same way.  Although one thing in particular caught her interest.

"You have a coffin in your room?"Erika asked, surprised.

"Oh... uh... yeah.  My mom put one in all of the bedrooms.  Um... you must think it's creepy..." Collin mumbled, looking embarrassed as he avoided looking directly at Erika.

"Are you kidding?  That's cool!" Erika retorted with a smile.  It suited the decor nicely, and the perfectly crafted marble on the altar was beautiful.  She really wanted to touch it, but instead reached for a nearby pillow instead.

"You really think so?" Collin asked, still not looking straight at her.  Maybe he was afraid of not being seen as perfect, but Erika really didn't think he had so much to worry about.  It was better than some of the mismatching furniture in her own apartment.

"Yeah.  By the way, if you keep not looking at me... you'll never see it coming," Erika pointed out, reaching to grab one of the pillows on the altar.

"Never see what coming?" Collin asked, turning to look at Erika just in time for her to smack him with the pillow.

"That!" Erika declared with a grin.  Perfectly flawless execution, if she did say so herself.  "You left yourself wide open for that one!" she said, laughing.

"Yeah, yeah," Collin retorted, slyly grabbing a pillow from the nearby bed.

He smacked her in retaliation and Erika gasped.  "I can't believe you'd hit a girl!" she exclaimed, but didn't pause in her retaliation.  They continued on for quite a bit before Collin surrendered.

"All right, all right, I give up," Collin protested with a grin.

"Of course.  I always win, you know," Erika informed him with a smile.  Collin just smiled back, knowing that he'd been going easy on her.  He knew that she wouldn't have liked it if he'd beaten her.

Erika was about to suggest another game when a strange sensation hit her.  It took her a moment to realize what it was.  "Oh yeah... it's my birthday today," she exclaimed, grinning at that reminder.

"Huh?  Oh man!  I guess I shouldn't have invited you over today... you probably should have spent the day with your family," Collin exclaimed, feeling ashamed suddenly.

"Nonsense.  My mom works late anyway and you're way more fun than my brother," Erika assured him.  "This is great."

"All right then.  In that case, happy birthday!" Collin cheered, trying to be extra loud to make up for the fact that her family wasn't there.

The sparkles appeared and Erika felt her perception of the world shift as she suddenly changed size.  Fortunately she had at some point remembered her birthday and had clothes to wear as a teenager.  She just wished there was a mirror in Collin's room so she could see herself.

"Well, congratulations young lady.  It seems you grew up quite well," Mrs. Talon commented, having been drawn into the room by the commotion.

"Thank you," Erika replied graciously as she preened under the attention of such a beautiful woman.  As much as she loved her mother, this woman was more of Erika's idol for how she wanted to be when she grew up.

"Wow, you look great as a teenager Erika!" Collin exclaimed, needing to crane his head back now to look directly at her.

"Thanks.  When's your birthday?" Erika asked.  She hoped it wasn't long.  She didn't really want to be that much older than Collin.

"Oh, don't worry.  It's this weekend," Collin assured, sensing the hidden reason behind why Erika asked him that question.

"However, for now he is still a child and it is getting late.  Besides, your family probably want to see you.  It is your birthday, after all," Collin's mother commented, looking between Erika and Collin and back again.

"Is it really that late?" Erika asked, surprised.  She did want to stay longer... but she also wanted to stay on the good side of Collin's mom.  "In that case, I'll see you at school on Monday Collin, okay?" she prompted, waiting to get an affirmative before leaving.

Meanwhile, Danisha had actually come home for a change, intending to be around for Erika's birthday.  However, Erika hadn't come home right away, and Nielson reminded her that it was his school ceremony that night so she went to school with him.

"Thanks for coming tonight, mom," Nielson admitted, which relieved some of Danisha's anxiety over not seeing Erika yet that day.

"Of course, dear.  I'm very proud of you.  Perfect grades and captain of the debate team.  You'll do great at whatever you decide to become," Danisha replied with a smile.

"But boy did that take forever... I'm beat," Nielson groaned before letting out a yawn.  Danisha's expression fell and she wondered if Erika had already had her birthday yet.

She didn't have long to wait.  As soon as they got home Erika came out to meet them.  "Welcome back," she greeted.

"Hey!  Look at you," Nielson exclaimed, a little surprised at seeing his sister eye-to-eye.

"You look tired," Erika commented.  Nielson agreed and congratulated her on her birthday before heading to bed.  He probably should have given her a present or something but he was exhausted.  And it's not like she'd ever gotten him anything for any of his birthdays.  (Okay, maybe that wasn't entirely proper since Erika had still been a toddler on his last birthday... but still!)

"Well... I see you got yourself some new clothes.  You look very nice," Danisha complimented.  She'd gotten Erika some new clothes too, but it looked like she would be returning them...

"Thanks.  Well, I think I'm going to bed too," Erika announced, turning away from her mother.

"Ah!  But... I have birthday cake for you.  And you still have presents to open," Danisha urged, wanting to make up for missing her daughter's birthday by spending some time together.

"In the morning," Erika replied with a yawn.  Although the idea of sugary sweet calorie-laden cake made her grimace.  "Good night, Danisha," she called over her shoulder as she headed to bed.

"Good night..." Danisha replied, watching her daughter disappear into the master bedroom.  She then sighed and headed into the kitchen, not ready to go to sleep just yet.  She sat down in front of the birthday cake she'd bought and rested her head on her hand.

"Oh Nielson... I've failed as a mother.  They've just grown up too fast..." she mumbled, sighing heavily.


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I keep being mean to Danisha, don't I?  But when Collin invited Erika over to his place after school I couldn't pass up a chance to get some pictures with the two of them together.  I really love Collin's look.  I can't wait to see how he ages up into a teenager too.  I hope you like Erika's new look!  I think she's growing up quite nicely.  And now that she's a teenager a lot is going to happen story-wise too.