Saturday, June 9, 2012

New Year, New Problems

2010 had come and gone, and 2011 came with heavy snow and record cold. It was a bitter, gelid winter that seemed to have no end in sight. The storms that came were relentless to the point of cruelty. Luckily for us, school and planning kept our bones and hearts warm.
Rebecca, Florence, Naomi and Vivian were to be our maids-of-honor, my little brother the best man. My family, Catherine's family, and some friends were invited to the wedding.

The invitations that we had sent out were adorable: it was a single white card, elegant script joyously proclaiming our wedding day, the place, the time, all those little details. Vivian thought that it would be interesting to add in some scents to make it more personal, like gardenia or jasmine. It was a neat idea that Catherine and I liked. We decided that jasmine would work perfectly, and added some glitter in the envelopes for that extra sparkle.

The goings on in our lives were hectic, with the wedding stuff, work, and college. How we managed would have been anyone's guess, but we did it and we did it with pride.
Rebecca (surprise, surprise) got the best report card out of us all. She always did, really. Only one B- in a sea of A's and A+'s. In November of last year she told us that she was seriously considering transfering to Miskatonic University in Massachusettes, and wanted to see if any of us wanted to apply with her. Now, MU is one of the most prestigious universities out there, on par with Harvard and Yale. Someone with Rebecca's smarts would get in without a doubt, but us? It was a 50/50 shot.
Florence was often found in the fitness center after classes, burning off all the stress and any thoughts of doubt, she would say. And when she wasn't getting her cardio in, she was at home writing down business plans for a company that she wants to start. Fürstin is to be her company's name. At first, Florence wanted to work for Vogue, but decided that she could do much better. She always wanted to be a businesswoman, and she wants Naomi to write for her magazine.

Naomi's true love has always been writing. She's been a part of the creative writing club for so long that she may as well be the person who runs it. Since as far back as I can remember she was always writing and reading all these incredible stories. She had written some pretty poems that she submitted to the newspaper often, and had a rough draft of a book series she eventually wanted to get published, but told us that she wanted to also write for a magazine. That's where Florence came in and proposed that Naomi write for her.
Vivian has wanted to make music for the longest time. The stuff she makes now are really catchy and well-made. It's nothing like what the pros do, not yet anyway. She is on our college's radio with her own show, called "Music of the Spheres." It's a hoot and a half listening to her. She hopes that after college she could find someone to help with her music career. She knows that the business is tough, but if anyone could handle it, Vivian would be at the top of the list.

As for Catherine, her grades went down and she dropped out of her beloved home ec club. I feel like a broken record saying this over and over again, but that was totally out of character for her. Yet again, she refused to open up and brushed it off, stating that she just had things on her mind. When she and I were talking about a book we had been reading, there was a stinkbug that had wandered into the kitchen and had begun to fly around obnoxiously. It was crashing into the ceiling and walls like it was drunk, and I laughed at the poor thing's antics. But Catherine...she reacted bizzarely.

She tracted that thing down and smash it into oblivion. Catherine wasn't the biggest fan of bugs, and should she encounter one, she would only swat it away or go into another room. I had never once seen her do that. The she told me that the bug wasn't ordinary...it was watching us.

The explaination was strange, silly, bordering on paranoia. Actually, no. It was paranoia. But after making sure that the bug was dead that no other insect was crawling around us, she calmed down and resumed our discussion as if nothing had happened. The grip Catherine had on my hand, it was as if she believed that she and she alone could protect me.

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