While Agatha left the kitchen, she was greeted by a warm embrace followed by a "Congratulations, Aggie~". Agatha looked up and saw her friend, Giovanna.
Giovanna McKay has been her childhood friend for as long as Agatha remembered. They met in first grade like any other typical childhood friendship blooming starts, they would hang out all the time at recess and when it's time for the parents to pick their child up from school. Giovanna's parents, Eduardo and Doris, would invite Agatha and her father to their house from time to time for family game night. Ever since William started dating Sapphire, Agatha and Giovanna slowly lost contact with each other since Helena had to babysit Agatha for most of the years.
"Giovanna! Gosh it's been such a long time since we talked." Agatha said with a smile.
"Your dad just told us that you got accepted to Ridge Academy. You made one of your dreams come true." Giovanna said as she giggled, "Yeah..." Agatha said as she chuckled "Have you seen the new improvements the academy changed?" she asked as she went to her room. "No I haven't. Show me, Show me!" Giovanna said as she followed Agatha.
"Look at the girls, so excited to be together again." said Doris as she held Eduardo's arm, "Yeah. It's been a while since we saw Giovanna smile like that." Eduardo said as he smiled. He looked at William "You must be proud of your little girl for getting accepted to the academy, right?" he asked, "Of course, I am." William answered. "The pizza should be here soon, why don't we have a chat while we wait." Sapphire said as she sat on the couch. Eduardo and Doris sat on the couch while William sat next to Sapphire, "Oh right! Eduardo, Doris, this is my girlfriend, Sapphire. Sapphire, this is my friend Eduardo and his wife Doris." William introduced.
"So you're the famous Sapphire Will's been talking about?" Said Eduardo. "William told us so much about you and we always wanted to meet you, but we never had the time to visit." Doris said with a gentle smile.
Meanwhile, Agatha and Giovanna were browsing the Silver Meadow Ridge Academy's website. "Woah~ They even have a breakfast dispenser?! My old school didn't even have that! This school is from the future!" exclaimed Giovanna, "Yeah... Hey Vanna?" said Agatha.
"Oh no, what did Helena do this time?" Giovanna asked.
"H-How did you know it was about Helena?" Agatha asked.
"You call me 'Vanna' when something is wrong and knowing you it's always Helena. Now... What did she do?" Giovanna asked as she faced Agatha with a stern face, "Well... Helena said 'A loser nobody like me just got lucky to get into such an amazing school...' and now that I think about it, what did I do to deserve it anyway?" said Agatha as she sniffled, tearing up.
Giovanna cupped Agatha's cheeks and looked into Agatha's eyes, "Listen to me. Helena's just jealous about your success and wishes the worst for you. Everything she says is out of jealousy, don't let her get in your head." she said as she moved her hands away.
Agatha smiled a little as wiped away her tears "You always know what to say." she said as she embraced Giovanna close, Giovanna embraced her back before letting go. "How's your relationship with your dad? Any luck? Giovanna asked.
Agatha looked down before shaking her head. "I'm guessing he still tries to slither his girlfriend into every activity?" Giovanna asked, Agatha nodded. "Hm... He can't choose her over you all the time. I'm sure he'll realize that soon." Giovanna said as she ruffled Agatha's hair, Agatha laughed "Hey, stop it! You're messing up my hair, I worked all day to make it this way."
"My hand has an automatic function to mess up Agatha's hair." Giovanna said robotically as she continued to mess with Agatha's hair, "Oh yeah? Well take this!" Agatha said as she tickled Giovanna's stomach. Giovanna started hollering "Okay okay! Stop! I give, I give!" Giovanna laughed as she fell on the floor, "Woah! Are you okay?" Agatha asked as she leaned over to look at Giovanna, who was heavily breathing before she calmed down "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing's broken." she said as she pretended to be in pain. Agatha smacked Giovanna's leg, Giovanna yelped "Hey, that's not how to take care of the injured." she said as she sat up. "You seem fine considering you didn't groan in pain when you sat up just now." Agatha said, smiling. "Ah... Touche." Giovanna said as she giggled.
Knock Knock Knock
"Come in." Agatha said as the door opened.
It was Doris with two plates of two slices of pizza each, "You girls sound like you're having fun." She said with her signature smile.
Agatha got up and went to Doris "Thank you, Mrs. McKay. But you could've told us to come down and eat." She said as she took the plates from Doris' hands.
"And ruin your fun? No way, you two deserve to catch up and talk to each other. It was no trouble at all." Doris said as she looked at the door "Do you want your door open or closed when I leave?" She asked. Agatha and Giovanna exchanged glances before looking back at Doris "Closed, please." They said in unison. "I'll come back again when I get a chance." Doris said as she closed the door while leaving the room.
"Thank you, Mrs. McKay!"
"Thanks, Mom!"
Doris McKay, she's the sweetest person you could ever meet. She considers everyone to be a friend until proven to be a foe, She's cautious about people's feelings and well-being. She works part time in a daycare and works with homeless shelters on the weekends, some people see her as a goddess of all the rest. She is the type of person who lends an ear or a shoulder to cry on, she may look bubble-headed but she's very aware about what's going on around her. As a daycare worker, she makes things into the now like current year trends that kids are into.
"Your mom hasn't changed a bit. She's nicer than usual." Agatha said as she took a bite of her pizza, "Yeah, she recently started her own daycare business and it's been successful lately." said Giovanna.
"Your dad is still working at Riverbank High?" Agatha asked, Giovanna nodded "Yep and he's one of the coolest teachers there." she answered.
Eduardo McKay, he's a gentleman almost out of a princess story. He's the kind of guy that would try to make things go according to plan but when things don't work out, he lets the sense of failure eat him up. But with his wife talking and putting effort in cheering him up, it gives him a little hope and work around the error. As a teacher, he makes education playful yet competitive with points to redeem to get better grades based off of their behaviors. If a student doesn't feel like learning, he would let the students write down what's on their mind and the next day the atmosphere changes based on what they wrote.
"Dad takes me to his workplace when they have a trip to go to and my mom offers me to work with her to earn money." Giovanna said as she bit her pizza.
"R-Really? That's so cool." Agatha said.
"If you ever think about working, you can ask my mom about it. What are your plans for summer?" Giovanna asked.
"Well... I applied to be a camp counselor at Camp Solitaire." Agatha said.
"Camp Counselor, huh? Big step but a good break from your family." said Giovanna while Agatha nodded in agreement.
Knock Knock Knock