She heard a voice calling her. It was getting louder and louder. Shego's head snapped open her eyes and nearly tripped while trying to stand up. Her knees felt weak and tired. She wanted to be alone... for just a while longer.
The leaves rustled as the thin soles of her shoes stepped against their crispness. She pushed aside branches trying to get away as fast as she could. He was only coming after her because of her skills. He couldn't complete his wacky fantasies without her. He was only using her.
'What's the point anyway? I should just tell Drakken I quit.'
Shego sucked air into her lungs and yelled, "Drakken!" for what she hoped would be the last time.
She heard the leaves rustle and the footstep move towards her. She wiped the tears from her eyes, 'After I end this, I swear I might just kill myself for extra kicks.'
"Shego," A desiccated voice spoke, "It's time for school."
The light turned on and Shego shielded her eyes with a pillow. Estella sighed and shuffled over to the window where she pulled open the curtains. She looked at Shego and noticed she hadn't budged.
"Shego, you have to get up." She said pulling the covers off the bed.
Shego slowly curled her thin body into a fetal position and froze that way. Estella shook her head and whined, "Come on, you're going to be late."
"Five more minutes," Her voice was muffled from the pillows.
"Nope."
Estella rested her hands gently on her grandchild and very carefully tried to pull her apart. Shego resisted and Estella pulled harder. Shego groaned and gave Estella a kick into her stomach. Estella grunted briefly but it wasn't enough to hurt her. She backed off and then said,
"Alright dear," And started out of the room.
Shego loosened her muscles again and sighed. She listened from her position carefully. She could hear whispering. 'What is going on?'
The door flung open and two sets of tiny feet marched in. Shego's eyes burst open a second two late.
Wego 1 and 2 marched around the room with a clashing pot and kazoo. "Wake-up, wake-up, wake-up!" They screamed. With those words said, they grabbed onto the bed and shook it back and forth. Shego screamed and swiped at the air with two balled fists.
"Morning Shego!"
"Yeah Morning!"
The door slammed shut and Shego shrieked into her pillow.
The twins did a victory dance outside Shego's door.
Estella tasted the oatmeal and smiled. Over the past five years her cooking had become almost good. Her old wrinkled arm stirred it. She was in her mid seventies now but she still was as fiery and witty as she had always been. Her unique New York taste was still sharp too.
"Oatmeal again?" Someone groaned from behind her.
"Hego, good morning!"
Hego had become a handsome and charming boy over the past five years. He was the kind of kid you always loved no matter what they might do. He always got straight A's and helped his friends with their homework. In fact, all Hego ever did was help people. His rusty reddish looking hair had darkened into a brown with a rosy glow; his eyes had changed from a warm brown to a beautiful baby blue.
He held a china dish in his hand with a sluggish grin, there was a book bag slung over his shoulder. Estella squealed, "I can't believe you're already a sophomore Hego!"
Hego chuckled and joked, "Let go grandma."
"I'm sure tryin'" Estella said looking him over.
Another pair of feet bounced into the kitchen. The frailest child of all stood with his hands on his hips. "Where's my breakfast?" He whimpered.
"Oh hold on Mego." Estella growled at the self-important child. He was in third grade this year so naturally; he thought he was the greatest thing to ever enter the universe.
As Estella handed Mego his oatmeal and then handed Hego his, the Wego twins zoomed around the room with their hands in the air screaming. Estella smiled as she dropped some sugar cubes into their breakfast just the way they liked it. Both the Wego twins enjoyed using the convex end of the spoon to crush the sugar lumps into the mix. Estella also poured a bit of milk into the cereal so the twins would not burn their mouths. Without even a thank you they took their bowls and ate everything it contained in what looked like almost a single gulp.
'Boys will be boys.' Estella thought crossing her arms as she went over to the sink to place their bowls into pile of dirty dishes. Hego came over to help her with them. They both smiled earnestly at one another, both the twins started kindergarten today and they already were bouncing off the walls. Hego laughed wholeheartedly and said,
"I remember when Shego was in kindergarten. Hego told me she was scared out of her mind."
"Was not!" Shego defended as she descended from the upper floor into the kitchen.
Hego teased, "Yeah... you were."
Shego pouted as her grandmother served her what was left of the oatmeal. The crusty part. Shego opened her mouth to complain but her grandmother only jabbered, "You snooze, you lose kid."
This was a saying that Shego had always hated. She trudged her feet over to the fruit basket where she took several cut bananas and placed the slices in her oatmeal just the way she liked it. She had always hated plain oatmeal. Just like her brother Hego, as much as she hated to admit it, she was closer with her older brother than anyone else in the world.
"Can I have a spoon?" Shego asked as her grandmother dropped a bowl to go fetch a clean one for her.
It was mid-September and it still felt like August, it was way too early for Estella to start making oatmeal and it was much too early for school to be starting. Shego sighed as she accepted the spoon. She would have to be at school within the next hour. Shego whipped around to notice Estella hadn't moved an inch away from her.
"Grandma?"
"Can you stand up butterfly? I want to see how much you've grown." Estella beamed.
Shego groaned. Her grandmother make her do this practically everyday. It was starting to become annoying. She pressed her hand against the table and pushed herself out of her seat and stood up straight looking at Estella.
Over the past five years, she had ditched her pigtails and pulled back her hair with a bright pink headband and let the rest of it trail down her spine. She had grown tall but was still one of the shorter ones in her class; her body was boyish looking and wasn't blossoming into a young woman's as quickly as her other friends. This didn't bother her, she was still stronger and faster than all of the kids in her grade and she didn't want puberty to slow her down.
"You look beautiful Shego." Estella told her sincerely as she tried to straighten Shego's collar to perfect her outfit. Shego smiled sheepishly although she knew her grandmother was lying.
There was a tap on the door and Hego excused himself to answer it. When he pulled it open someone leaped into his arms and kissed him. Shego slouched back in her chair. His girlfriend Gabriella had come over to walk him to school. She was a very pretty girl but Shego always felt uncomfortable when her brother was around her. 'Maybe I'm just jealous he doesn't have time for me when she's around.'
Gabriella Taylor was at her prettiest age of a shapely high school Junior. She was a year older than Hego. She had short golden curls and crystal blue eyes. Her body was muscular but still graceful and attractive. She was almost the perfect image of the way a good-girl was meant to look. Her clean face which bore no make-up always let off a feeling of the most pure kind of quintessence.
"He-go." Gabriella wrapped her arms around his neck and tenderly embraced him. Shego sighed and continued to eat as her brother embraced her back.
"Are you heading off to school?" Estella asked tucking a cookie into the girl's hand.
Gabriella spun her car keys around her index finger and nodded. She had just recently received her driver's license which entitled her to drive Hego everywhere. Hego had no problem cruising around after school hours with his girl. Shego thought Hego might just love her car as much as he loved her.
Gabriella turned around quickly and waved, "Hi kids!"
'I hate it when she comes.'
Shego braced a smile and then returned to her oatmeal which now looked dull and almost gray tinted. She watched from the corner of her eye as they walked out the door hand-in-hand. Side-by-side. When the door slammed shut, Shego sighed. He hadn't even said goodbye.
Estella noticed Shego's unhappy face and asked her what was wrong. Shego rubbed at her forehead frustrated. She felt unable to explain so she responded with one word, "Nothing."
But Estella knew the girl better than that.
"Really?" Estella stared straight into her eyes.
Shego felt uneasy, "...I'm f-fine. Don't stare at me. Please."
Estella's face grew red as if she were to be angry; instead she threw back her head and laughed. "You're getting an attitude on you."
Shego laid her head in her hands miserably. She did not want to hear her grandmother pick at her behavior today. Not on the first day of school. Shego excused herself from the breakfast table and went to go gather her textbooks. When she picked up her backpack, she had never felt something so heavy in her life. She must have grunted because Wego 1 chirped at her,
"Back to school blues?"
Shego balanced the weight of the bag and nodded, "Totally."
"Well at least you'll get to see Liz again." Wego 2 said in an effort to lift her spirits.
That was probably the only positive thing about starting fifth grade. Liz and her family had been in Venezuela for nearly the entire summer. The girls had communicated through letters but it wasn't the same as seeing her face. However, she wasn't enthralled over Angelina's return. Despite the identical appearance to Liz, Angelina was no where close to having the personality of her.
"...I'm going to go to my bus stop now. Have a nice day at school." The words came out like stiff little jabs in the air.
"Bye sis!" Wego 1 piped.
"Bye sis!" Wego 2 said echoing his brother.
Just as Shego was ready to exit, Estella stopped her. "I can't have you leave like that Butterfly. Look at me." Shego did as she was told. Estella took the child's cheeks in her hands and kissed her forehead. "I know it can be rough. I hated school as a kid. Hang in there, your hard work is going to pay off."
Shego smiled inside. She enjoyed her grandmother's 'pep talks'. They always gave her a warm sensation afterwards and seemed to exist in her mind for ages. "I want you to know that I love you Shego. You're my only granddaughter and that makes you special. Make sure you show these boys what you're really capable of. Okay?"
Shego knew Estella was referring to her brothers. She nodded although she knew she couldn't impress her older brother. He was like a real live saint or something. "Smile pretty now." Estella said. Shego couldn't help it. She smiled.
"Have a good day at school butterfly."
The day was young and the soil was hard. Yesterday had been summer, and somehow magically today felt like autumn. Shego wished she had thought to put on that new jacket she had bought with Estella. She had a premonition it would be a very chilly day at school. She rubbed at her bare arms as she stopped at her bus stop. She was the first one there. Just the way she liked it. Shego took a quick glance at her pink crystal watch. She had five minutes to spare.
Shego sat down on the sidewalk and pulled off one of her brown slip-on shoes. There was a rock inside. She turned her shoe upside down and shook it until it successfully was on the ground again. She then took care to make sure her foot was snug back in her shoe before standing upright again.
'I know I'm going to like this year. I can't wait to see Liz and tell her about my summer. I want to see my old teachers too.'
The young child sighed as she held her books against her chest. 'It sure is cold out...' She thought absently.
"SHEEEEGO!!!"
In a heartbeat Shego had her arms open. Her dearest friend Liz ran to her and they enveloped in a much overdue hug. They giggled as they both pulled away from each other. Shego acknowledged her siblings with very slim gestures, "Hi Angelina and Joey."
The two alike siblings barely took notice of her either. Angelina turned her head and Joey gave a swift 'hello'. Shego then turned her attention back to Liz.
"Oh my gosh! I missed you so much!" Liz said letting go of her friend.
"Same!"
There was a roar of an engine and both the girls whipped around to see the bus coming down the hill quickly. It was time for school. Liz grabbed her hand and whispered in her ear, "We'll catch up more on the bus."
"Okay."
(Notes: That's the longest update I did on this story. Please leave some reviews as it begins to get even more confusing. Don't worry, I plan to pull it all together! Leave your reviews, comments, complaints and even threats .)