Half a Person—The Smiths

ꜱᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ ᴏɴᴇ, ❝ ᴡɪꜱʜ ʟɪꜱᴛ/ᴅᴏɢꜱ❞

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃

María couldn't believe she had two sixteen-year-olds. She didn't think she would break down as much as she would last year when Bear turned sixteen but she was wrong. As she lay in bed with August's feet in her face, she couldn't help but that her babies weren't babies anymore. Hell— August didn't want her mom's help with tying her shoes anymore. Bear had his first job and Winter has a crush that she accidentally found out from Ava somehow.

Was this how her mom felt when she was a teenager? God, she owes her an apology and flowers. In a matter of hours, Winter would be waking up a new person, she hoped her baby would still be a baby.

𝟏𝟔, 𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐒𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐘

"shhh, you going to wake her," The muffled voice of Winter's older brother flushed out her dreams returning her to their small three-bedroom apartment. "nun uh, you going wake her!", August had never been good at whispering she had a voice that was made for a crowd. "August," her mother's honey-like voice spoke almost tempting her to open her eyes.

It grew silent for a moment as Winter slowly returned to her sleep. Until the sound of paws hit the floor, and the bed dipped. No, Appa, not you too, Winter thought. Her eyes opened to see the puppy's face along with the smiling faces of her family.

"Happy birthday!" they sang in unison, the happy barks of their family dog Appa sang along. Winter's eyes shifted to her mother who had seemed to conjure up a stack of lopsided pancakes that had the candles 𝟏𝟔 on the top. Winter couldn't help but smile though her eyes were still clouded with sleep.

"Blow the candles out Winny," Honey spoke, as she covered the flame of the candles. Her eyes closed and it felt like she was dreaming again and she made her first birthday wish of the day. Though, unrealistic, Winter wished for the same thing every morning for the past four-plus years.

Winter blew the candles out and the room grew dark again.

"ARE YOU SURE 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 EVER𝐘𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘?" Maria squinted at the list of party guests for Winter's sweet sixteen. She had expected a short list but not this short. There had only been fifteen people on the list and most were Maria's colleagues and friends who Winter had met multiple times before.

The birthday girl nodded finishing the last of her blueberry and chocolate pancakes, as she shared with her sister. Winter didn't mind, obviously, and August didn't either. "Mom, you know, Winter doesn't have any fr— ow!" Winter's hand collided with Bear's shaved head.

"what about Chloe? She was nice, talkative but nice," The suggestion made Winter sigh. She hadn't talked to Chloe since she had attended Abbott. She didn't have the heart to tell her mom that Chloe avoided her like a plague. She couldn't understand why, apart from her didn't want to.

"Fine, I guess this means less stress over food and activities," Maria dropped the subject before remembering something. "have you spoken to your grandmother?" mainly speaking to Bear but all three children were included. "shinálí?" Bear guessed making his way to retrieve his backpack along with August's.

(paternal grandmother in Navajo)

Their mother nodded while two-fourths of the family nodded while Bear grew quiet. "Bear..." To be honest Bear had been dodging her calls and messages for two months. He loved his shináli but she could be a little much to deal with. "well, she'll be a the party later, and you will talk to her there," Maria's stern gazes connected with Bear's defeated eyes, he couldn't resist the urge to look away.

"𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑰 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕?"  𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍. 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅.

"𝑶𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒉𝒐𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒔— 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔?"

The camera zoomed in on Maria's tired face as she stared directly at the man behind it.
He opened his mouth as if about to answer the question but the art teacher walked away before he could make a peep.

"good morning boys and girls!" the contagious giggles of Mrs.Howard's kindergarten class came to a halt as their current teacher demanded their attention. "can any of my lucky stars tell me what two colors make purple?" she could tell by their confused faces she had lost them before she started.

"How about we make a color wheel? With all the pretty colors of the rainbow?" she asked, and she gained them back just like that. Their little faces lit up with joy, and Maria could see August about to combust with excitement.

Miss Honey made her way through the classroom, helping everyone with their color wheel. Some had no idea what they were doing; they just wanted to color pages. It would be nice to have more colored pencils, crayons, and maybe even some coloring books. Some kids had resorted to drawing in library books.

As Honey finished helping the last student, Mr. Eddie, the substitute teacher, entered the room with a look of distress making the woman frown. "I'll be right back, everyone continues on your rainbow wheel,"

"I'm sorry to bother you, but— I have a problem." Gregory glanced around the color-filled classroom before returning his nervous stare to Marie. He couldn't understand how someone could be so colorful. Her classroom was filled with different patterns and color palettes.

𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐖𝐀-𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃

As Winter sat all alone in the nearly empty library, thoughts rushed through her mind as she stared at the group of gossiping girls in front of her. Her hand clutched the envelope with dear life.

Apart of her wanted Chloe back, her mind concluded differently. The harsh words Chloe spoke were still vivid.

You're the reason why your dad is dead, Winter.

Winter also remembers her fist flying to the blonde's face in the middle of Ms. Schemmenti's class. Luckily Melissa had told her mom a different story. She had regretted nothing, and to be honest she would do it again.

"hey," Winter froze caught up in her thoughts she hadn't heard anyone approach. Sekoi Yazzie, a senior who happened to be friends with her older brother Bear. Winter likes Sekoi, every time he's around she freeze up— like now for instance.

"h-hey, hi," she coughed while the upperclassman sat across from her. The library was semi-empty yet he chose to sit directly across from her. "Happy birthday" he smiled, sliding a card across the table.

All day the only people who told her happy birthday were her family.

The card was homemade and still wet as if he made it in art class two periods ago.

"Thanks," she turned away, face hot, palm sweat. She was a nervous wreck. He smiled, making her even more nervous. He went to say something else but the bell rang.

Should she do it? It would be embarrassing if he said no. Winter's mouth moved before her brain could process. "Would-you like-to-come-to-my-party, this weekend?" Her hand shot out holding a decorative invitation. God, he's going to say no, he'll laugh—.

"okay, I'll be there after practice." then, walked away joining his friends he saw the whole interaction from the hallway.

"yay?"

𝐒𝐄𝐊𝐎𝐈 𝐘𝐀𝐙𝐙𝐈𝐄 𝐊𝐀𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐈 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐓

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

i've been working on this one chapter for WEEKS. i've been having writers block with this book.

They'll definitely be a part 2 to this chapter because i made i made it too long,

If you're confused by the ages don't worry, i am too.

Winter has a crush on her older brother's friend. Very cliche but she's so romcom lover .

I put Navajo in here . Sorry, if i wrote it wrong . I'm still learning

Also i made a love island x abbott elementary book. go check that out!!