The Future (IC)

The sun was rolling high into the sky, the time probably being after lunchtime. The front door swung open to let out a small, red haired child. "Jethro! Be careful out there! Everyone's coming over soon!" The sound of a male voice rang from the house.

"Kay dad!" Little Jethro ran and jumped off the front porch and towards the large tree that was shared between the Hawthorne and Lupo residence. He slowed down as he reached the tree and leaned against it. As if waiting for the others to arrive.

Micah rolled his eyes. "CLARA!" He yelled over his shoulder, already a good distance ahead of his sister. The raven-haired girl was lagging, a book in one hand and propped in front of her nose, and an instrument case in the other. She was a tiny girl as it was, and the extra weight slowed her down even more.

"I'm coming, Micah," she said evenly, never looking up from her book. He groaned, and gave up. The boy ran ahead to the tree. THE tree. The one they all met at.

Jethro was already there. Micah quickly scaled it. "Clara's coming," he said breathlessly. Through the branches, he could see the silhouette of his sister moving closer. She waved up at the boys and smiled at Jethro.

Grace was rushing through the farmhouse, rummaging through her drawers. "Where is it? Where is it?" She kept repeating almost every minute. As she dug through her drawers she found her blue silky jacket her mother made for her on her sixth birthday which still fit her. She was rather tall for her age because of her parents tall genes, mostly her father's. She ran through the hallways to the front door until her mother caught her. "You be careful. Look both ways before crossing and don't talk to strangers. And if anything happens just call home. Alright, Dear?" Her sweet mother's voice chimed. Grace nodded and smiled. "Love you mom! tell Dad I love him to!" She rang as she was about to close the door. "Love you too! I will! Have fun!" She rang.

Grace happily ran. Jeremy was debating if he should go or not. She loved her brother but he was so obnoxious sometimes. She sang as she was happily running along the trail that connected Mineral town and forget me not. As she reached Old mill road she walked normally to find the tree they always met at since they were toddlers.

"Jethro! Micah! Clara! How are you three?" She sang with her honey voice.

Micah smiled. "Hi, Grace! Where's Germy?" Germy was Micah's name for Jeremy, a silly little boy's idea of a joke. He thought it was incredibly funny; his sister, however, didn't seem to think so.

"Micah, don't be so dumb," she chided. She carefully set her belongings by the trunk of the tree and gingerly climbed up the trunk. She sat next to Jethro on a branch and let her feet dangle. "I learned a new song!" she happily told her friend. "Want me to play it for you?"

Starting to climb up the tree, Jethro heard a voice. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted Micah, explaining where Clara was. Jethro merely nodded and continued to do his best to climb up the tree. He sat on one of the branches and looked down at the new arrival. It was Grace! "Good!" He grinned from the branch, swinging his legs back and forth.

Finally Clara made her way over to the group and climbed up the tree to sit next to himself. He smiled, "I would love that, Clara! You're really good." He smiled.

Grace giggled at Micah's nickname for her little brother. "He's fine. I don't know if he's coming though," She said sadly. She was hoping he would come but it's his choice. She smoothed out her play dress of what also her mother made for her. Her mother almost made her everything she wanted to wear. So they didn't have to go shopping for clothes that often.

The brunette smiled at Clara who was talking to Jethro up on the tree branch. She always thought those two were made for each other. She overheard her saying that she learned a new song. "I wanna hear! I love new songs I never heard before!" She chimed. Knowing her mother's love for climbing trees, Grace began climbing the tree and sat on the opposite side of the tree where Clara and Jethro were. "I never want this tree to die! It's like part of my soul!" She sang.

"'Kay!" Clara smiled happily, and jumped down from the tree. She landed easily, standing up quickly and brushing her legs off. She walked over to her instrument case and knelt down on the ground next to it. She very carefully unsnapped the clasps, and expertly removed a beautiful violin from the case. She also had several sheets of music in with the instrument; she shuffled through those until she found the one she wanted. "Here it is!" She crowed triumphantly when she found it.

She quickly set her posture straight, and pressed the violin against her cheek. She muttered to herself, and then began to play.

Micah groaned. "Not this song again!" He slapped a palm against his face. "She plays this all the time." But his sister ignored him. He was used to it.

When Clara bounced off the tree branch, Jethro readjusted himself on the branch, so he was able to look down at her as she played. He admired her playing a lot, simply because he would never be able to play an instrument like that. He would stick to playing with colored pencils. "Your sister plays really nice! You should be happy, Micah." Jethro told him.

He chuckled at Grace's words, "It's like our family tree!" He attempted at making a joke.

Grace was speechless when Clara was playing. She was wonderful at the violin. She didn't know critics would say but if she herself was one, she would say five stars. Until Micah complained that she played this song almost everytime. "Maybe she likes to play it, Mimi~ I think it's beautiful," She said. Mimi was her nickname for her friend Micah. He hated it because it was a name for girls but she thought it was hilarious. "Maybe Clara could be a famous musician one day!" She blurted. She was really good like almost professional.

The brunette laughed at Jethro's attempt to make a joke. "Good one," She said giggling.

Not a very reliable person, is she? Luce thought. His sister had once again, ran away somewhere when she was supposed to be watching him. However, Luce couldn't care less. Just because she was a few minutes older than him didn't mean she was in charge. They were the same age, after all. Almost as if knowing exactly where to go, Luce arrived right on spot where the rest of the kids where. Only, he was reading his book and not paying much attention. Still, his father would have a cow if he returned home without his sister, so he had no choice but to ask. "Have you guys seen Quinn?" he asked in his same old monotonic voice.

To Jethro, Micah groaned. "I didn't say she wasn't good. I said she plays all the time. It drives me craaaazy. But Daddy lets her do anything. She just plays and plays and plays and never stops, not even when I'm watching TV." At Grace, he scowled and pretended to push her. "Don't call me Mimi! That's a girl's name! PACE!" At that point, he was simply trying to irritate her by rhyming her name with other words in hopes that it offended her.

"When's everyone else getting here?" He called down to his sister, knowing he wouldn't get an answer until every last note had been perfected.

When Clara finally finished, she calmly tucked her violin back into the case. "I'm finished now, Micah," she said, finally replying to her brother's irritation. "And I don't know. They'll be here when they'll be here. Be patient."

Jethro merely chuckled at Micah, "I know, Micah. I know." He smiled. "But then Clara can be amazing! That's why she practices so much!" As Clara came to a finish, Jethro applauded for his friend--he was almost jealous of her talent for the violin. Soon, there was another arrival, Jethro glanced over and smiled. "Luce!" He smiled, but then the smile faltered a bit when Luce questioned about his sister's whereabouts. Jethro merely shook his head, "No, sorry, Luce. Haven't seen her."

Grace snickered at Micah's attempt to ryhme her name with 'pace'. "Well you have to get used to it, Micah~ Plus Jethro's right. Practice makes perfect~" She said smiling. After Clara finished, the brunette clapped. Well she could whistle but not very loud like most people would do at concerts or talent shows. Well she can't let Clara play all day, but why not something else? Until Luce came. " Luce! No, I didn't see her. Maybe she's hiding," She said with a little snicker.

She wished everyone was here, even her little brother Jeremy. She fell on her back, lying on the grass looking at the sky. "What else can we do now? Play hide 'n' seek or go inside?" She asked the others.

Luce sighed. "We should really put a leash on that hindrance." he mumbled to himself. "She's so spoiled." It was most likely his sister and wondered off to the mines again. His father often told him how much Quinn was like her mother. Only more adventurous and had a better fashion sense. But that was, as he called it, 'a man-to-man talk' and 'shouldn't be repeated 'else there would be trouble.'
Almost the whole gang was there. In truth, Luce didn't do much when around the other children. Nevertheless, he had been dubbed as a 'friend' to them.

Clara glanced up quickly at Luce, and then dropped her eyes again. He struck her as a little dry, and something about him unnerved her. She let the others talk to him, and squinted up at her brother in the tree.

"What do you guys want to do today?" She asked. The end of spring was nearing, and summer was close. The weather was beautiful, and the town was theirs.

"I wanna go to the beach!" Micah howled. He jumped down from the tree and hit the ground running, tackling his sister. "Beach, Clara? Plleeeeease?"

Luce caught a glimpse at Clara's quick glance at him. Out of all of them, she seemed to dislike him the most. Or at least was more wary of them then the others. "Well, I suppose I'll hang our here to kill time. At least until Quinn gets back from whatever sh'es doing. Luce offered one of his soft smiles.

"Look what I found!" Quinn shouted as she came in the view of the usual place. Her hands were closed like something was inside of them that she didn't want to let go. She had a triumphant look on her face and was smiling widely as possible. In her hands was a butterfly she saw and caught--just cause she felt like it. Earlier she was heading this way with her brother, but the small insect caught her eye. The rest was simple: she ran after it to catch it.

Grace turned her head and saw Quinn and seemed to be holding something in her hands. "Quinn! What did you get?" She asked, running up to Quinn to see if she can see what she was holding. No wonder her brother couldn't find her, she was catching something or getting something. "Lulu, she was just getting something. No need to worry!" She exclaimed to Quinn's brother. Lulu was her nickname for Luce. She felt like the nicknamer for everybody.

Luce sighed at the sight of his sister running over with a butterfly. "Speak of the devil and the devil shall come." He mumbled. "Hey Quinn," he called. "You do realize what will happened if mom and dad find out you wondered off again, right?" Luce wasn't going to tell, there was no need to. His father was a doting one, so he seemed to have picked up the "motherly instinct" and pretty much knew anything and everything they did.

Clara looked up at everyone. Now that Quinn was here, that made almost everyone...She counted. "Oh. Where's your brother, Grace? And is Scarlett here? I didn't see her." She looked around again. They were the two that were missing.

"What do you guys want to do today?" She addressed the rest of the group. She and Micah would be going to the beach at some point during the day, regardless. But if anyone else wanted to tag along, that was fine with her. Micah groaned. "I wanna go to the beach!" He repeated, yanking up his shirt to reveal the fact that he was already wearing swim trunks. Clara sighed.

"Okay," she said, reaching for her brother's hand. "Micah and I are gonna go to the beach, I guess. Anyone else wanna come?" She needed to stop at their house to get sunscreen, snacks, towels, and her bathing suit, already planning out the smallest details in her head as per usual.

Grace turned her head towards Clara. "He's debating to come or not. Hopefully he will come," She said ducking her head a bit. He's going to miss all the fun they were having. Same with Scarlett. She wished everyone was here actually. Then it would be a wonderful day. "The beach? I wasn't expecting to go but I'll just put my feet in the water and build sand castles I guess~" She said happily.

She hadn't to the beach in awhile. Just with school which was all the way in Waffle island and parents busy with work all the time. She was glad she was going to go for once. "I haven't been to the beach in a long time. My parents are workaholics," She complained crossing her arms against her chest.

"Come with us, Grace," Micah said, smiling at her. "The beach is fun!"

Clara chuckled under her breath. "We go every day. He loves it. He's always dragging me down there." She had to go to watch her brother. It was the only reason he was allowed to go without one of their parents, because she was supervising. She liked the beach okay, too, but not as much as her fish of a brother. She would find a shady place to sit and play in the sand or something. "Coming, Jethro? And everyone else?"

"Well, there's no point in going home right now because we'll just get kicked out again, so I guess I'll go. Plus, Quinn will probably want to go and I have to keep an eye on her." Luce ran his hand through his orange-brown hair and glanced over at his sister.

Clara shrugged, but Micah grinned happily. "Okay! Let's go!" He started to drag his sister behind him, pulling her to their house. "Claraaaaa, let's gooooo," he whined.

"We'll be right back!" Clara laughed, running so Micah wasn't pulling her arm anymore. She grabbed his hand and ran to their house. "Daddy!" she yelled, spotting him on the porch, already waiting with their beach bag.

The two children and their father disappeared inside for a few minutes. "We'll meet you there!" Micah shouted before going inside.

"No you won't!" Quinn said displeased that Luce would say such a thing about her. He was probably trying to get on her nerves and as usual she fell for it. "I can handle myself and you know it Luce. Afterall who was too scared to go into the mine that one time? Ahh.... that's right you."

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Little Scarlett was enjoying making a cake with her mom. It was in the oven so her mom suggested that she go out and hang out with some of the other children to make the time go faster. At first she was hesitant about going, but with her dad mentioning that Jethro was there she left and headed to the usual place. There were a lot of people there so immediatly Scarlett hid behind her older brother.