January 29

Diamond was in a creepily cheery mood. It was Sunday, so no school which probably had to do with it. But also her mind was still filled with that awful garbage we watched the previous night.

The only good part of last night was our kiss. And her playing piano. And seeing her face light up at the beginning of each scene...her laughter...her tears...those cute little dimples she gets when she smiles…

Stop it Bill! You are not going to become a love sick school boy! You are William Mischief Cipher for Axolotl's sake!

Anyway, diamond had gotten up early (it was hard for her to break the habit of getting up early because of her dumb school) and she was with Snowflake and her brother...what's his face.

"Mateo! Stop cheating!" Diamond said while throwing down her poker cards.

"Stop calling me Mateo. It's Matt."

"You know you like being called Mateo. It's better than your last nickname."

"You and natty called me 'sparkle' for 3 years."

"Yeah we did!" Snowflake, I mean natty said.

"It's not our fault that in that Zelda game link sparkles for like five minutes after you drink that potion."

Nicknames were so common in this house. I hadn't shown myself to her brother yet, because he would lose his mind, so I hadn't come up with a nickname for him yet. But sparkle was sounding very promising.

"Ok. Now what do you guys want to do?" Diamond asked.

The front door opened with a bang and loud noises came into the house.

"Looks like our cousins are here." Mateo spoke all of this in Spanish with the two girls giving him confused looks, "just when I thought we'd have a day off."

"Mateo, you're speaking in Spanish again." Natty pointed out.

"Oh yeah...sorry..." Mateo blushed.

Diamond had mentioned her brother coming home from a college exchange program in Argentina a week ago. He had to come home due to some pain in his back. He was having a hard time adjusting to English after over a year of just speaking Spanish.

"Hi guys!" The 3 little balls of annoying shouted to their cousins.

"Hi Mark, Nathan and Brooke." Natty said with a false cheerfulness

"Did pickle make anymore cookies?" Mark asked natty. He had a serious speech impediment but considering diamonds mom worked with children with speech problems, all of the Willow's understood him perfectly.

"No." Diamond said in her usually annoyed voice.

"Can you make some? I'm hungry."

"I made some 3 days ago." Diamond reminded him. "It's not my fault that you ate them all."

"That's a great idea, my little Mark." Their aunt Ash said, "pickle does love to bake. She would love to make us some."

In diamond's mind I heard her think 'yeah I love to bake...just not for you.'

"Fine aunt Ash."

Diamond made her way downstairs to the kitchen, followed by aunt ash.

The large kitchen was right by the family room only separated by an granite top island.

It was hard to watch Diamond slave away for people who she hated. She was supposed to be slaving away for me.

As she mixed ingredients together to make cookie dough by memory, her two aunts, grandma and 13 year female cousin talked in the family room.

"So Pey," her grandma asked, "how was that date you went on?"

"It was great!" Pey said, her heavy bright red lipstick turned into a smile, "Josh is so sweet and is such gentlemen."

"What grade is he in?"

"Oh he's a sophomore. But it's not a big deal. I am so much more mature than most girls."

'Yeah because mature girls stuff their bras' diamond thought.

'You know...I could curse her with ugliness'

'Bill get out of my mind. I'm not in the mood for your games.'

I was going to mess with the 'mature' 13 year old anyways. At some point.

"So diamond." Pey's mom, Kate bellowed, "I haven't heard much about your boyfriend. Tell me about him."

"I'm not dating anyone."

That hurt me a little. Well technically she's my betrothed so we're engaged. Hm...what would I be to her in the modern world?

"Hm...we need to fix that." Her grandma said. "It's a bit strange that you're 16 and never had a boyfriend."

"I like focusing on different things. Like art. And music. And reading."

The dough was finished and she began globing balls of dough onto a baking sheet.

"And Pokémon." Pey reminded, "don't you still play that?"

The older three women looked at diamond as if she had just said a curse word or a demon summoning chant.

"You play Pokémon?" Ash asked. "My 5 year old son plays that."

"Isn't it for young boys?" Kate said, "My son hasn't played that in 10 years."

"This is why she doesn't have a boyfriend. She spends too much time doing nerd things." Pey said.

"I don't want a boyfriend." Diamond said, taking a bit of raw cookie dough and shoving it into her mouth, "I don't think it's important."

"But they are so much fun!" Pey said. "They compliment you. Buy you stuff. And boys are so hot!"

"You can't just remain single forever. One day you're going to be a mother. You already have the cooking and laundry parts down." Her grandma said.

"Yeah. Girl you got to start looking." Kate said, "I met my husband at your age. And as soon as I turned 18 we got married. And everything is perfect."

"We don't want you to wait too long like your mom." Ash said.

"What's wrong with when my mom got married?" Diamonds cheeks flushed red with anger.

"Well...27 is hardly a good age to finally settle down." Kate said.

"Too many distractions in her life." Her grandma said. "And yours too. You would be such a good wife."

Bill agreed with this statement.

'You be a good little wife, my little diamond.'

"Shut up" diamond said faintly, inaudible by her family.

"All we have to fix is your appearance..."

"And habits."

"And that pile of rubbish you keep in those binders upstairs."

"You mean my art?" Diamond couldn't wait until these cookies were done so that she could escape this torment.

"Whatever you call it." Her grandma said. "You need to focus on your future. And your art isn't getting you anywhere."

"You need to get out there." Kate said. "Exercise a bit more. Join a club. Meet some people. Lose some weight..."

She said the offending line just as diamond put another ball of cookie dough in her mouth.

"Get a job at the swimming pool to meet cute lifeguard boys." Ash suggested, "That's how I met my husband."

"You need to start thinking about your future." Her grandma said again. "You have to start checking out the boys to make sure you get the best one. Then you just have to show up, look pretty, and keep the Pokémon cards away."

"I don't need to be worry about this." Diamond tried to explain.

"You don't think your future is important?" Ash said.

"Well yeah it is but..."

"You can't just keep living your life the way you are."

"I like how I live..."

"It's weird that you don't even care about dating."

"It doesn't matter!" Diamond finally lost it and began yelling. "I don't need to change a thing about myself, ok? I don't need to get married out of high school. I don't need to lose weight because I don't care: I'm comfortable in my own skin unlike the rest of you. I don't need 5 pounds of makeup to make myself feel pretty. And I don't need to pack up my Pokémon cards!"

At this point, her female family members were furious with Diamond. But she didn't care. She just dropped her freshly baked cookies on the counter and ran out the front door.

"We have to get that girl anger management... Or medication." Kate said.

"Absolutely no idea on how to act in public." Ash pointed out.

"She's weird." Pey said.

With diamond out of the house and running along the sidewalk, I was finally able to show myself to her.

"Wow. Your family sucks." I said, my human form floating alongside her as she ran.

"Leave me alone!" Diamond was crying.

"Hey I'm not the one attacking you. I wanted to set their hair on fire. But you wanted to be all noble."

We soon arrived at a coffee shop across the road from where she lived. Her neighborhood was neat and orderly. This one looked like Gravity Falls right down to the old buildings and countless trees surrounding the area.

"Come on. Chocolate always cheers you up." I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the shop.

The shop looked like any other shop that there was. Old tables and chairs with the paint peeling off. That old refrigerator smell. The black and white tiles on the floor. The blinds were closed and I could tell that Diamond did not like it. I guess she really is claustrophobic.

"Hi pickle." The barista said.

"Hi Manolo." Diamond greeted the older Latino man.

"Looks like you've been crying, Chica. Nothing a little hot chocolate can't fix." Manolo turned on the old hot chocolate machine, placing a cup into the slot, "want me to get one for your boyfriend?"

"Oh I would love one." I said, giving him a creepy Cheshire Cat smile before diamond elbowed me in the stomach.

Manolo soon brought out diamonds usual. Diamond came to this shop so often she was practically a patron so Manolo knew her order by heart: hot chocolate with peppermint no matter what time of year it was, chocolate truffles and a chicken burrito. He set down the food and joined the two of them at the table.

"So what's wrong chica?" Manolo asked. "Of course I don't even need to ask that. No doubt it's your family."

"Yeah." Diamond said, sipping her hot chocolate.

"They called her fat and crazy." I said, testing out the beverage which was way too sweet for my liking.

"Ah so the usual insults." Manolo said. "They also made fun of your art too, si?"

"Si, señor." Diamond said the limited amount of Spanish she knew.

"Don't let those fake Barbie dolls get you down, Chica." Manolo said. "They haven't worked a day in their lives and care more about their bra size than their personality."

Diamond laughed.

"I know they all stuff their bras, Chica." Manolo said. "When they come into the store they always drop tissue paper everywhere. Don't worry, I always give them day old donuts. They don't eat them anyways."

"They just give them to their husbands." Diamond finished his statement.

"Don't worry Chica. You're going places. And if you ever want to get out of the house, I could always use the help here."

"Thanks Manolo. But I have school."

"Such a shame." Manolo said. "You are a very talented baker and it's wasted on your family."

"Thanks." Diamond was smiling through tears now.

"And you." Manolo pointed at me. "You had better treat her well. She is a remarkable young lady who could kick your culata into the ground if you cross her. Keep drawing and painting and playing piano and singing your weird opera music, Chica. Do the things you love. Don't let those two dimensional Barbies tell you otherwise."

"Thanks Manolo." Diamond said, her cute little dimples showing.

Manolo left to go work in the back mostly just to leave the two of them alone.

"You could have told them that you had a boyfriend you know. You're just making your life more difficult by denying it."

"Believe me, you are not what they call 'boyfriend' material."

"What? I am perfect boyfriend material!"

"Well you're not a football player." Diamond began listing off all of the qualities who extended family wanted as an in law, "you're not going to my high school. You're not popular..."

"I have to disagree with that last one diamond." I put my finger over her mouth to shut her up. "I have fan girls who worship me."

"True." Diamond said, pushing my hand away. "But those are weird girls which my family wants nothing to deal with."

"True. I want nothing to do with them either. Some of their fan art is uncomfortable to look at."

Diamond laughed, having drawn a lot of uncomfortable fan art herself.

"Yeah. I'm not proud of everything I've done in my past." Diamond blushed, a bit embarrassed. "But I'm ok with it. Everyone goes through weird phases."

I just stared at her for a while. Axolotl, she was so beautiful. Her peachy lips curled into a semi smile. The edges of her eyes were still red from crying, but they made her eyes look an even brighter color of green. Her golden hair catching the sunlight that was coming through the window she had opened. Her shapely figure covered up by a black long sleeved dress shirt and tight light blue leggings.

"Bill. You're doing that crazy stare thing again." Diamond said, putting a 3rd truffle in her mouth.

"I was just reading your mind."

"Hm."

"You were thinking about how much you loved me." I raised one eyebrow as have her a crooked smile.

"I love spending time with you." Diamond admitted. "It's either you or whoever's at the house. Sometimes I forget that you're practically going to kidnap me soon. I just want things to stay like this. Don't you?"

"Nope! I can't wait till your birthday." Bill said, but thought 'then I won't be so lonely.'

Where did that come from?

Argh, these stupid human emotions.

"I'd better get back." Diamond said, grabbing the rest of the food and leaving money on the counter. "Knowing my family, they probably got into my unbaked cookie dough and it's now all over the floor."

We walked back to her grandparents' home. Once we reached the door step, I made myself invisible. She opened to door to find a very nice surprise…

"Your cousins had to go home early." Her grandma said. "Pey broke a nail, Kate's skirt ripped. And Mark threw up on Ash after getting the rest of the raw cookie dough."

"Ok." Diamond said, poker faced.

'You're welcome.' I whispered into we ear.

Her cheery smile that she had on for the rest of the day was thank you enough.