CHAPTER TWO: THE GARNET CHILDREN (Draft 1)

Timothy Garnet finally finished his summer homework and slammed his book shut. 

It had been 2 weeks since the thirteen-year-old had lost his parents. He and his older sister, Silver, had been living with their aunt and uncle. And, unfortunately for them, they were not alone. 

Their aunt and uncle had made the “sensible” decision to adopt a family of six children who recently arrived in the city. All of them came out of the blue, no one knew who they were or how they got there. They claimed their parents had died and they had nowhere to go, the only family they had were a golden retriever puppy, named Prince, and a white, soft rabbit, named Fluff. 

The death of their parents was hard for Silver and Tim but so was settling into a larger family. The pair rarely spent time with each other, let alone other people. Silver would always be tinkering, and Tim would be buried in his books. They never truly cared about making new friends. 

In fact, his only friends would have been Flame and Blaze, although he was closer to the well-liked Blaze rather than the usually conserved Flame. 

Tim sighed as he got up to go downstairs. 

He reached the kitchen, hoping to get a snack, and found there was no one there. He frowned when he realized he was the only one in the house. Tim rolled his eyes and noticed Fluff staring at him. Feeling uncomfortable in the presence of the rabbit, he decided he should probably go search the town for his sister.  

 

James watched his younger sisters play with their dog in the park. Cherry, sat next to him on a bench, obviously bored, and yawned, 
“Don’t let them out of your sight again. So, when are we gonna go home?” 

“As soon as the Gemstones get tired. You know they’ll wreck the house with that much energy!” 

“Why’d you feed them the macarons anyway?” 

James rolled his eyes at his sister and her endless questions. Their younger quadruplet sisters, the Gemstones (Gems) as they call them, laughed and played with their puppy. 

Despite being quadruplets and looking alike, it was always easy to differentiate them. Scarlet had a red streak in her dark hair, Violet had lavender highlights, Sage had pastel green highlights and Blue’s hair was just as blue as the rest of theirs were. 

He groaned. Even though he had thoroughly explained to the girls why he had to change their names, Blue still insisted being called by her nickname instead of Crystal 

All six siblings shared the same sapphire eyes and dark, navy hair – despite the slight differences. Even to a stranger, it was no secret they were all related. 

It was almost the end of July, James knew that once September came around, a new school year would come with it, in a new class, with new people. At least he and Cherry would have the Garnets’ niece, Silver. Although they weren’t particularly close at the moment, he hoped that by the time school started, they’d at least be friends. 

However, he wasn’t worried about that any more than he was worried about the Gems, they wouldn’t have any friends, they wouldn’t know anyone, they wouldn’t even know how to behave! The girls had never been to school, and he was worried that they would cause a scene that may end up with expulsion the first day. 

As if she was reading his mind, Cherry turned to James, 
“Don’t worry! They’ll be fine. We have almost a month until school starts. By then, maybe they’ll have a friend or two. Just enjoy the summer, we have plenty of time.” 

James looked down at his feet and muttered under his breath,  
“Time... Time was what we thought we had.”   

He looked up at Blue, the youngest of the four sisters. 

 

Tim stopped in front of the library. He thought for a while, before shrugging and proceeding to walk in. There was no one there. He wasn’t really surprised, most kids his age would be out playing games, going to the movies or simply on vacation. 

He walked by the bookshelves, wondering what to do now. Should he stay in the library for a little longer or move on? Tim frowned, muttering to himself, 
“Where are you anyway, Silver?” 

“Boo!”  

Tim gasped and turned around. He sighed when he saw it was only Blaze. 

She giggled, proud of her accomplishment. 
“Hi Timmy!” 

He chuckled, 
“Don’t call me that!”  

“Okay, okay, but what are you doing here?” 

“I was looking for Silver. Have you seen her?" 

“No… but I did see those twins and their sisters in the park.” 

"Oh...” 
He muttered. It still felt weird to think of them as his new family. 

“When do you plan to introduce us?” Blaze asked. 

Tim shrugged, thinking of a million ways to change the topic. 
“I’m not sure, Blaze. Besides, I haven’t gotten a chance to ask you what you’re doing here!” 
He smiled warmly, hoping it would work.  

She blinked. 
“I’m here to borrow a book, of course.” 

He grinned wickedly, 
“Wow! I didn’t know you could read.”  

She frowned, 
“TIMOTHY GARNET! I AM NOT AN ILLITERATE!”  

He continued to laugh, 
“Oops, I guess!” 

She growled, 
“Just because you are two years older, does NOT mean you’re a genius.” 

He rolled his eyes playfully, 
“It does, compared to you at least.” 

She groaned, 
“The only genius in your family is Silver.” 

Tim nodded in agreement. His sister was truly a genius, already studying a grade ahead of her peers and constantly scoring full marks on all her exams. 

“Oh well,” Blaze muttered, before looking up at Tim again. “By the way, the four girls looked around my age. Do you think they’ll end up in my class this year?” 

Tim looked away, “Probably...” 

  

“Aunt Alex?” 
Flame knocked before entering his aunt’s study. 

He didn’t visit her during her work hours often, in fact, the only times he’d been in her office was when he’d pick the lock to sneak in and steal a few pictures of his mother, hoping to find out more about her. 

She turned and smiled warmly, 
“Yes, my dear?” 

Flame smiled back, 
“I wanted to see how you were doing.” 

“I’m doing just fine Flame. How about you?” 

“I’m great too! But…did you hear about the Garnets?” 

His aunt’s face turned grim. 
“Yes. I heard about it. It’s a shame for Silver and Tim. They’re lucky to have their aunt and uncle to take care of them. And did you know they have six new siblings too? At least they won’t be lonely. They also have you and Blaze. I wouldn’t worry about them yet.” 

Flame nodded. 
“I was wondering what caused the fire though…the police said it was a mystery.” 

“It has been confirmed to be some sort of accident. Besides, I don’t understand why you are in my office and not outside trying to make new friends. If I get one more report card about that conservative behaviour, I’ll have to take you to see a psychiatrist.” 

Flame gulped. He didn’t mind it, but if someone found out he’d been breaking into the mayor’s office to retrieve personal items – even if said mayor was his aunt – he was going to have a lovely field trip down to the police station. 

So, instead of talking back, he put his head down and quietly left the room.  

Meanwhile his aunt sat back down. She glanced at the same picture of the two young girls, 
“Why? Just why?” 

She frowned at the younger sister in the picture. 

 

Flame slowly walked towards the park on the bright, brownish yellow pavement, with his head facing down. A golden retriever ran up to him, barking loudly but welcomingly. He had sensed the boy was sad and ran over to cheer him up. Flame smiled sadly at the dog and tried to go around the puppy, but it refused to let him go without seeing a genuine smile. He noticed a dark-haired girl, with a red streak on her hair, wearing a light red dress, with a black jean jacket, running up to him. She halted as she reached Flame and the puppy, she bent down and smiled at the dog. 

“Prince! I told you to stop running away! You shouldn’t be talking to strangers!”  

She playfully scolded him. Flame looked down at the girl and the dog and realized that she was probably his owner. She stood up and smiled at Flame, reaching her hand out to shake, 
“I’m sorry about him, he’s like my sister, Violet, can’t seem to stop annoying people until he sees them smile. Like her, he needs to see if it’s a real smile. Anyways, my name is Scarlet. Scarlet Garnet! I’m one of the 6 kids the Garnets adopted!”  

She smiled brightly and picked up Prince. Flame stared at her. One of the six children? She didn’t seem strange. Well, not THAT strange – even though she seemed to talk... A LOT! 
He returned Scarlet’s smile as he introduced himself, 
“My name is Flame Speed, I’m the mayor’s nephew.” 

Scarlet smiled when, suddenly, her older brother called for her, 
“SCARLET! PRINCE! IT’S TIME TO GO HOME!” 

Scarlet turned to James, 
“I’M COMING!” 

She turned back to Flame, 
“Sorry about Prince again! I’ll see you around? Bye!” 

She ran to the rest of her siblings, with Prince in her arms. Flame continued to stare at the family: a pair of twins, and quadruplet sisters. The Garnets really did have their hands full, what with having to take care of Silver and Tim as well. 

He walked towards the park and noticed a kid sitting alone on one of the benches. He wore a dark green hoodie and hid his face. All over the park were other children both their ages, playing and having fun. Why wasn’t he playing with the rest of them? Flame walked a little closer to take a good look and realized it was one of his classmates. Gio Green. He was a quiet child who always sat at the back of the classroom, listening to music. No one really knew anything about him. Flame decided to leave the park and remembered what his aunt had said. 
“Make some friends.” 

The words echoed through his mind as he turned back to Gio and sighed, deciding to approach him instead of leaving.