As the days approached the highly anticipated field trip, Maria wasn't entirely sure what she was more excited about; the books, the potential for taking pictures, or simply the fact that the eight members of the Book Club actually got to skip school for a whole day to travel somewhere. Maria loved to go on long drives, especially during this time of the year. The endless trees and bushes that filled the forests they drove through were beautiful hues of reds, oranges and yellows - an occasional clump of evergreen spruce or pine trees punctuated the sea of fire with their blue-green leaves. More than once on the way there Maria was tempted to ask the driver to stop, just so she could take several pictures of the spectacular view without it being extremely blurred. Naturally, such a request was too ridiculous to even attempt, so she made do with what she could. It was upon arrival to the library that her itching fingers were finally able to take some snapshots.
Nothing escaped Maria's camera. The books, the buildings, the librarians, the strangers, her fellow classmates and teacher, even her lunch gained a place in her ever-growing bag of developing polaroids. Dad and Barbara-Anne had bought her five lots of film to last her until her birthday, and all five were nearly used up by the end of their tour. Dad was sure to be annoyed - or at the very least, stunned - at how she'd managed to take 35 pictures in the span of only six hours. The remaining five would have to be saved for one of her explorations; hopefully she wouldn't find anything too interesting until her birthday when she could restock. It would be a shame to waste her last five pictures for something not quite worthwhile.
By the time the bus pulled back into their sleepy little town, all of Maria's pictures had developed in the dark safety of her satchel, and she was peering through them all with a bright grin on her face. Her grin only grew in excitement as she spotted her father waiting outside, his familiar tall frame and the glow of his cigarette making him stand out amongst the other waiting families. Waving at him from the window, Maria shuffled together her pictures carefully yet messily, haphazardly sticking them back into her bag and scurrying off the bus with the others. As she ran to him, Isaac dropped his cigarette to the floor and ground it under his heel, smiling back at his daughter.
"Have fun?" Though the answer was clear on Maria's delighted face, Isaac knew for sure that his youngest would have plenty to say about the trip.
"I sure did! The library was huge, I'm sure it was bigger than our whole school. And a lot of the books were so awesome! There were like, ancient ones there from like world war one, and there was a diary from one of our presidents when he was our age, and there was an original first edition of The Hobbit, and..." Maria chattered away happily as she grasped her dad around the waist, hugging him tightly. Even though she was nearly thirteen, she still barely reached his stomach. Isaac held in laughter, finding his youngest's enthusiasm contagious as she recounted the day rapidly, barely taking a breath before finally coming to an end;
"...And I took so many pictures, you have to see them!""How much is 'so many'? You haven't used up all of your film already, have you?""No." She replied quickly, deciding that while she wasn't technically lying to him, maybe it would be best if he didn't know the exact number of pictures stuffed in her bag. Making a beeline for the passenger seat of her dad's
Chevy, Maria only just noticed that the seat was occupied as she opened the door.
"Hey squirt, back seat's all yours." Wrinkling her nose, Maria ignored her sister as she looked at her dad accusingly over the car roof.
"Dad, why'd you have to bring Judy? I always have to go in the backseat when she's here!" She asked indignantly, earning a scowl and light jab in the side from her sister.
"Stop fighting. Maria, Judy needs to start her driving lessons, and I can't fit in a whole lot of time around work. You're going to have to suck it up in the back, kiddo." Maria now looked back to Judy, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"Lessons? You told me you already knew how to drive." Judy's look of annoyance swiftly froze as her eyes widened, though Maria was certain she'd heard Judy bragging about already being a pro at cruising. Isaac looked sharply at his eldest, who in the millisecond as his gaze switched between daughters, had managed to remove the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look to one of scorn.
"In theory, dumbass." She scoffed, rolling her eyes before looking back at her father's scrutinising gaze.
"Dad! C'mon, don't look at me like I'm one of your suspects. I think you'd know if I was taking your car for joyrides." Which he certainly would; Isaac was a man who enjoyed driving both his work and home cars, and looked after both of them impeccably. If a certain daughter had been driving one of them illegally, he would have worked it out very quickly. Thankfully for Judy, he had no idea that she'd been driving her friend Roberta's car during various "study sessions" at her house. Although still looking somewhat suspiciously at his daughters, Isaac dropped the matter and entered the driver's seat, Maria scrambling into the back as Judy shot her an annoyed glare that quite clearly said "I will end you". Sticking her tongue out in response, Maria's eyes drifted to the car stereo. It wasn't a long drive between their house and the school, but there was enough time to get a good song in. It appeared Judy had the same idea, as she was already picking out an unfortunately familiar looking cassette.
"Are you kidding me? Put something else on, this is all you've been listening to for nearly two months!" Maria complained, leaning between the front seats of the car to grab Judy's arm. Her elder sister wrenched her hand from Maria's grip, scowling.
"Oh my God, exaggerate much? For your information, I only just bought this today - so we're listening to it!" Rather than complain that they'd gone to the record store without her (Maria had been itching to get the latest Eurythmics album; although she certainly hadn't saved up enough pocket money to get it yet after spending so much time - and quarters - at the arcade, she was sure she could guilt-trip her dad into buying it for her), she resolutely decided to stick to the argument at hand. Exaggeration or not, Judy had subjected both the house and car to "In Heat" since it was released in September, whether it was listening to it on the radio, or borrowing her friends' records to play in her room. Maria couldn't be sure whether she liked The Romantics or not now, thanks to Judy turning endless playthroughs of the album into irritating white noise.
"Girls, put your seatbelts on.""Let's listen to "Billy Idol" instead.""You overplayed that way too much last year!""Girls, seatbelts!""I don't care! Idol jams way better than your shitty album.""MARIA. Language!" Her father barked, shaking his head in exasperation as he put the car into gear. The sisters had bickered as soon as Maria had learnt how to talk and a three-year-old Judy had realised just how fun it was to annoy her younger sister, and he had no idea when that behaviour would change permanently. Now and again, there were moments of peace, but when it came to the very serious topics (Such as music), it was all out war. In an attempt to shut both girls up, Isaac inserted his own choice of cassette tape, and sat back with a smug smile as both daughters vehemently groaned, but then thankfully ceased their arguing. Maria slumped back down in the backseat, finally putting her seatbelt on and examining her polaroids again as the dulcet tones of Stevie Nicks filled the car. There were some really good ones amongst the bunch; some were blurred too badly to see what the original model of the picture was, but Maria had a tendency to keep the bad ones anyway.
The trio were only able to listen to two and a half songs from "Rumours" before finally pulling into the driveway of their home. It was a fairly old, large house; having belonged to the Valentia family since it was built in the late 1800's, the three stories had undergone plenty of repairs and renovations over the decades. As of now, it still looked quite outdated, and could use another coating of paint, but it was cosy enough on the inside. As the car engine turned off, Maria's head craned up to look at the upper-most floor where Judy had left her light on. Ever since becoming a teenager, the elder child had taken one of the attic rooms on the third floor as her bedroom, preferring the larger space for hangouts, and the extra floors away from her family for privacy. It was the best she could do to avoid the others in a house that forbade locks on all but the bathrooms and the gun cabinet. The second floor held three more bedrooms; a spare that had once been Judy's; the master bedroom where Isaac (And on most nights, Barbara-Anne) slept, and Maria's room. Although one of the smallest in the house, she had never wanted to move out into Judy's old room, or even the other attic room on the third floor. Not that Maria would ever admit it to anyone, but the smaller the room was, the less likely you could see monsters in the shadows, or creatures lurking in your closet. The past two years had brought with it more monsters of the imagination, and both sisters had defended themselves in the only way they knew how; Maria, with familiarity. Judy, with isolation. However, as they and their father entered their home, isolation wasn't an option at the moment. Welcoming them was a warm living room, a smiling Barbara-Anne, and the unmistakable scent of kentucky-fried chicken wafting in from the dining room.
"Hey! How was the field trip, sweetie?" Maria's grin returned as she began chattering once again about the library, pulling out a handful of pictures to show Barbara-Anne. Mouse greeted the three with a lazy
"Woof", Isaac kissed his girlfriend on the cheek with a warm smile, and even Judy looked less apathetic than usual upon being told by Barbara-Anne (What she could say over Maria's eager conversation, that was) that a boy named Robbie had phoned for her in her absence. For the moment, the nightly monsters that the Valentia girls feared so privately were forgotten about.
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