Chapter Sixty

Crochet carefully lowered the tray down, all the cups jingling and rattling a little because the tray was kind of heavy and hard to lift, but she did good and didn’t make any sort of mess.

Miss Bunny Bunch, her newest plushie, hopped into the room with the kettle, a trail of steam wafting after her before Crochet had the plushie place the kettle onto the tray. “Who wants tea?” Crochet asked as she patted down her hands on her apron.

The living room was filled with all of her favourite people and also her other sisters.

Cheshire and Pop were sitting together on the loveseat, Remedy was on the ground with her knees drawn up and Tattletail was right above her on the couch with Alice next to her. And Taylor, Big Sis, was there too, of course.

“What sort of tea is it?” Alice asked.

“It’s chai,” Crochet said. “And I have milk and sugar.”

“Then I’d love a cup. Don’t be chai with the sugar,” Alice said.

“I’ll have a cup too,” Big Sis said.

Crochet hummed a happy little song as she prepared three cups of tea. She liked the noise the spoon made as it stirred. It was like a bell announcing that there was good tea to be had. “Here you go,” she said as she gave Big Sis her cup and saucer. Then she did the same for Alice.

“Thank you, your tea smells tea-rriffic,” Alice said. “But now that that’s out of the way, should we start this par-tea?”

Big Sis took a sip then breathed in the scent of Crochet’s tea with her eyes closed. Crochet, now with a warm ball of happiness in her tummy that wasn’t just from the tea, sat down next to Alice on the last spot on the couch and waited.

“We made a good amount of money today,” Big Sis said. “Which is great. It means that we can afford some things. Food, and we can help with the rent. It also means that I can get my sisters some things that they really need.”

“Like pats?” Cheshire asked.

“Like access to a good school,” Big Sis said.

There was a long, long silence. “Can we have the pats instead?” Cheshire asked.

“I do not require an education,” Pop said.

“I’m probably smarter than all the teachers,” Tattletail said.

Crochet shook her head. She didn’t want to go to any school, not if it meant less time at home with Big Sis.

Big Sis raised her free hand and the mounting protests calmed down. “I think it might be best if I explain. There are a few good reasons why you should go to school. You all need an education. You’ll have the opportunity to make friends that aren’t your sisters. And there are groups that might try to take you away from our family if they find out you’re not getting an education.”

“We’re smart already,” Tattletail said.

“We can kill them if they try to take us away,” Pop added.

“I don’t wanna,” Cheshire said, and that was the final word on that.

“I’m not really giving you a choice here,” Big Sis said. “You need to go to school. So I found a nice private school that we can all visit tomorrow.”

Cheshire jumped to her feet and bawled her fists at her sides. “You’re just doing this cause you don’t wanna spend time with us no more!” she screamed.

“Is that true?” Remedy asked.

Crochet felt Alice sit a little closer to her side and returned the favour by hugging her little-r sister close.

“No, it’s not true,” Big Sis said. “Don’t be like that Chesh, you know that I love you, all of you.”

“If you loved us then why’re you abandoning us to some stupid school?” Cheshire asked.

“Because I need to,” Big Sis said.

“Well I don’t believe you!” Cheshire said right back.

A few of the sisters, Crochet included, gasped.

Then Cheshire crossed her arms and stomped out of the living room. “I’m going to bed,” she said.

“C’mon Cheshire,” Big Sis said. “Don’t be that way. I’ll... give you pats?”

“I don’t want your pats!” Cheshire said from halfway up the stairs. “I want to stay home and have fun and not go to some stupid school and be away from you all day.” The next Crochet heard of her was her feet stomping up the stairs and the door to Taylor’s room slamming shut.

Big Sis leaned back and then removed her glasses to rub at her eyes.

“I... I think school might be okay?” Crochet said. She didn’t, not really, but Big Sis seemed to think it was important and Big Sis knew best. “I’m sure Cheshire will come around.” Something clicked. “Does this mean we’ll have to wear uniforms?”

“I don’t want to wear a uniform,” Remedy muttered.

“We are rather too unique for uniformity,” Alice said.

“I don’t know,” Big Sis said. “Look, I just want you guys to give it a chance? It would mean a lot to me. But for now we’ll just look into it, okay? I haven’t said yes to anything yet and we need dad’s approval anyway. That, and I had other news.”

“What about?” Crochet asked.

“About our home. I... this house is nice, it’s home, but it’s too small for all of us. I was thinking we could get a bigger house, or maybe just another house in the same area with a few more rooms. You could each have a room.”

“If Big Sis gets a bigger room we can get her a bigger bed,” Tattletail said.

“That’s a good idea,” Crochet agreed. She had lots of arts and crafts stuff she wanted to do and they needed some space to be made. A room all to herself would be nice, especially if she could make it sister-proof. And a bigger bed for Big Sis would mean that they would all fit without sleeping with a faceful of elbows every night.

For some reason Big Sis rubbed at her face again. “Yeah, right. Anyway, that was all the news I had. Um, did you guys enjoy working today?”

There was a chorus of yeses at that. The work had been plenty of fun.

“Good, good.” Big Sis got up. “I’m going to go check on Cheshire. Thanks for being calmer, girls.”

Crochet watched Big Sis go, then started packing up her tea stuff. If she was going to go to school, then she would need to make school clothes for all of her sisters. It was going to be great!