The Perks of Being a Rowling

viii. carpe diem

             “Libby!”

            “Phoebe!”

            “Jenna!” Jenna yells as she gets her suitcases out of the taxi. Jenna’s parents won a free trip to Hawaii this Christmas and hopped onto a plane without even thinking about Jenna. Of course, I couldn’t let my best friend spend Christmas alone so I invited her to come with me to London to stay with my family.

            “Phoebe, meet Jenna.” I point towards Jenna who happened to be dressed as the Greek Goddess Athena because this week she is embracing Greek culture and no matter how many times I begged her to dress like a normal human being she refused. Phoebe of course was trying her best not to have a complete panic attack over Jenna’s style of clothing; fashion is very important to Phoebe.

            “Hello!” Jenna waves to Phoebe while struggling with her bags.  Phoebe awkwardly waves back.

            “Mum is inside; she’s planning out your welcome back party for tonight.” Phoebe whispers as if Mum is going to be able to hear us from inside our home.

            I groan. “I thought I made it very clear I didn’t want a party or something huge, I’m returning from college not the army.”

            “Try telling that to Mum.” Phoebe smirks.

            “Hey Libby, a little help here?” I turn around to see Jenna about to pass out from all the suitcases. One would think she’s never had to do any heavy lifting before. I run to her aid then grab the bags with ease and haul them inside ignoring Jenna’s shocked looks on her face.

             “Libby!” My mother runs to my side and gives me a huge hug.

            “Hey mum.” I hug her back taking in her scent of some weird fancy perfume she insists on always wearing. I look around our house expecting it to be different, but it’s not. It’s the same house I grew up in for most of my childhood and I like it that way.

            “I have lots of questions, but I’m sure you are so tired so I’m going to let you rest up a-“

             “Libby your house is amazing.” Jenna looks and sees the odd stare my mother is giving her and blushes. “Hello, Ms. Rowling I’m a friend of Libby.”

            “Mum, this is Jenna. She’s going to be staying with us this holiday.” I say.

            “Oh that’s… great. Welcome Jenna!” My mum is trying to be enthusiastic about this.

            “Ok I’ll just go up to your room and wait for up there.” Jenna runs upstairs even though I’m quite sure she has no idea where my room is.

            “Your friend is… odd.”

            “Yea, she is really nice once you get to know her I swear.” I reply.

             “Alright go rest a bit we are going out to your favorite restaurant for dinner tonight.”

            “Nandos?” I ask.

            “The one and only.”

*****

            “No, Libby you don’t understand I want to see everything.” Jenna says. We are both lying down in my old room still extremely full from the dinner earlier tonight. I made the mistake of asking Jenna what we should do tomorrow and she started listing every possible scenario of have we could possibly meet the Queen of England.