C H A P T E R   E I G H T
That   Morning

That morning Delia woke up in a cozy and warm bed. She could recall last night, Jo was humble enough to let her sleep in her bed which of course, Delia tried to argue and refuse to accept her offer but Jo being her, insisted on lending her bed to Delia.

When she woke up, Delia could see Jo sleeping in a rocking chair without a care in the world, it seemed like she was having a good nights rest because she didn't wake up when Delia tripped and fell to the ground.

It was a loud thump and she was sure she woke up some of the other people living in the house. Her ankle hurt but she could still walk just fine so she peeked at the other girls who were still sleeping soundly.

Delia took her left hand and laid it on the railings of the stairs, sliding her hand down as she stepped down the steps to the floor ground. She could smell a bright and flavourful aroma come from the kitchen, the smell made Delia ever so hungry, and though she wanted to stay to eat, she knew she would probably have to go home.

"Delia, I see you're awake, good morning." Marmee twisted her head around to look at Delia while she was setting up the dinner table for breakfast.

"Good morning, is anyone else awake at this time?" Delia asked in her cool voice, she felt shy seeing as she just woke up, she usually looked like a mess in the morning and this she knew. Her hair would be all tangled and her eyes would be red, puffy and watery and her lips would be dry, let's just say it wasn't a good look and never will be.

"Hannah is up and awake, I'm just setting up the table while she's cooking." Mrs. March confirmed, Delia nodded and waved the air at her to smell the delicious food. It's like the opposite of what you do when there's smoke that came from a fire and it's everywhere.

"It smells delicious, tell her I wish I could stay and eat." Delia said, looking sadly at the dinner table and at the kitchen. Hannah wasn't there and Delia just assumed she was getting something from the pantry of some sort. She knew that if she walked into the kitchen and looked at the food, she couldn't help but stay.

"You aren't staying?" Mrs. March raised her eyebrows at her in slight surprise.

"Well, I should get back, I don't want my Aunt and—"

"Halt! Stop right there, you are staying for breakfast." Jo stumbled down the stairs with pace, stopping Delia from walking out the door.

"I— Jo, you know I can't." Delia sighed, looking a bit miserable at her position.

"I know you can, just do it this one time. Hannah's food is always delicious, just take a little bite, your walk home will be with a full stomach if you do." Jo's argument was too powerful and too persuasive, she was a good debater and Delia didn't have a choice but to nodded her head and say yes.

There was a slight smile on Jo's face, a glint in her eyes as she was able to spend more time with her friend.

"You're not waking the others up?" Delia asked with an innocent look on her face.

"They're missing out if they don't wake up and it's not my problem." Jo said while shrugging. With a hand on Delia's back, Jo guided her friend to the dinner table where Marmee had just finished setting up.

The two girls sat diagonally to one another while waiting for food to be presented at the table. Jo started talking about her sisters and how they wake up late and Delia just sat there waiting for Jo to make a snarky comment that would be her burst a laugh.

"Meg, well, she usually wakes up earlier than me, I stay up late writing my novel which explains my dark eye circles." Jo continued rambling while Delia leaned forward with her chin placed on the top of her hand, listening calmly to Jo's words.

"In fact... I should go grab it to show you right now."

"Jo, I don't have time for reading, I haven't picked up a book ever since I came to Concord."

"Well then, you're in for a treat." Jo glimmered and rushed up stairs before bumping into Meg who brushed off her clothes.

"Meg! Scoot over! Our time in this world together is limited!" Jo brushed past Meg in a haste, running to her room and looking in her secret hiding spot where she grabbed about 70 pages of her handwriting.

"So, I'm assuming you're staying for breakfast." Meg stated and Delia smiled at her while giving a look of approval.

"Jo... she made me stay, Meg." Delia confirmed Meg's thoughts which brought a grin from ear to ear to blossom.

"Jo is like that." Meg mumbled, taking her cup of water and taking a sip of it. She looked so elegant and ladylike when she did that. Delia could hardly believe people could be so 'feminine'.

Delia wasn't feminine herself, though she sometimes does try to be in front of the wealthy but in the end, she's rather just spent time alone and prance around doing what she loves. Jo is what she aspires to be, a strong, smart and bold woman but maybe not entirely like her. She's too boyish and gets herself into trouble sometimes. But sometimes being in trouble is fun, Delia thought.

"Lia! I'm back, I can only show you the first one or two chapters since we don't have a lot of time and they are quite lengthy." Jo huffed while holding her masterpiece in her hands, though it was yet to be completed.

"How long are the chapters?" Delia asked.

"Well, the first chapter is nearly twenty pages, just about 400 words each page." Jo answered with a big hearted grin, a look of excitement on her face like it was a little child opening gifts on Christmas Day.

"Is it pleasant to read?" Delia uttered another question, taking a cup of cold water and taking a large gulp.

"Meg and Beth have read it. Amy has read some as well, they say it's a bit too gory and paints a depressing image but I wouldn't change the words for anything else but the words I chose."

"Well then, good thing you have faith in yourself." Delia noticed that Jo was leg tapping at quite a rapid and impatient pace while taking the pages of the first chapter from her hands. When she looked back, Jo's leg seemed calmer but she was still tapping it.

"Jo, stop that!" Meg ordered in a strict tone and just like that, Jo's leg was still but still crossed. Jo rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, then started tapping her finger to her thigh.

"Breakfast is ready!" Marmee announced and just then, Beth walked down the stairs while rubbing her eyes repeatedly until they were a shade of pink.

"Amy's still asleep." Beth states before sitting down cross from Jo.

"I'm not calling her." Jo looked up at the stairs with her eyebrows raised.

"Neither am I." Beth mumbled. All three of them turned to Meg as Mrs. March out the food on the table, she got out of her chair while looking frustrated and stormed up the stairs. The three girls could hear Meg yell at her younger sister screaming, "Amy March! Wake up!" There was the sound of thumps, and that resulted from Meg hitting Amy with a pillow on the back as Amy slept on her stomach.

"Hey! Ow, Meg!" Clearly unimpressed by Meg waking her up in this fashion, Amy grumbled and threw a pillow at her sister and then there was silence from above. Delia was the first to start laughing while Beth just smiled and Jo had her nose scrunched up from the silliness she envisioned up above.

"Meg and Amy! Quit playing around!" Mrs. March marched up the stairs to stop her daughters from doing anything else that was stupid and ridiculous.

Hannah emerged from the kitchen in her outfit, her apron was stained and dirty but Delia tried to ignore that.

With a fork and knife, she dove into the food that was in front of her. Her stomach was growling in hunger and she was excited to taste the food Hannah made once again.

"Lovely food as always, Hannah." Delia complimented her and Hannah waved and smiled at the lovely comment.

"It's nothing, Delia. Just my specialty." Hannah replied, Beth and Jo waved to her as well and Hannah waved back at them and with that, she walked away to clean herself up.

"Delia, go on and read it!" Jo forced Delia to stare at the words in front of her and slowly, she read sentence by sentence. Lia was no fast reader, she was average, some may say even slow but she got through the text like everyone else does.

Jo's writing was something different from all the novels and texts Delia had read. There was a spark in her writing that seemed right, it sounded real and it felt good to read. It was like reading your favourite author for the first time. Delia could feel herself immersed into the world that Jo's characters were in. Jo was a phenomenal writer. Delia wanted to tell her that, but how could she put that into words without sounding stupid. She didn't want to sound like a fan, more like a friend because she was that, she was Jo's friend, but how could she not admire Jo like an admirer.

"It's..." Delia started, pausing for quite a few long, lonesome moments before saying, "It's fantastic. You're an absolute amazing writer, Jo. I could just picture your name on a book cover, Josephine March." She sounded dumb, Delia concluded but she wasn't sure what Jo thought.

"I told you..." Beth accentuates the 'u' and Jo looked at her with a tired expression, slumping her shoulders.

"Oh, we'll see about that. It's only the first chapter, the other chapters could get worse." Jo flipped through the pages then pointed that something out but Delia just shook her head and took another bite of her food.

"You're a real charmer, Delia. Sometimes I can read you like a book, sometimes you're a tough person to figure out." Jo said. Delia wasn't sure what she was trying to say but she smiled as if it were a compliment.

A U T H O R ' S   N O T E

I have nothing to say about this chapter, I legit don't have an opinion so I don't even know why I'm writing this author's note lol. Let me know
what y'all think!