By the time Charlie returned to her home, she learned that Ralph, Wes, and Tim had already arrived, though, rather than waiting inside, they were hanging out where Charlie's garden was.
As Charlie saw her garden, she couldn't help but feel her heart drop. She'd taken care of it for so long, but now it was mostly overrun with weeds and she knew she'd pretty much destroyed it herself through having forgotten about it completely. Part of her wasn't happy with it, but another part was accepting it as a cost of helping Petals out and what she knew that she still needed to do.
"So, what movie are you going to pick?" Ralph said as Charlie passed by the bushes where the entrance to Petals' forest was.
Charlie scowled. She'd really hoped that they would have forgotten about the wager. However, she wondered if there was a way to keep them from asking her to pick a movie in the future. After all, she'd gotten out of having to take a turn up to this point. However, even if she chose a movie everyone else really didn't like, she doubted they'd decide not to let her pick one in the future.
She still wasn't sure if she should talk to them about how she was thinking of just going on the search for the crystal by herself. At the very least, she thought that this probably wasn't the time. She needed to at least figure out how she should put it and wait until her emotions weren't so raw from Beth's pushing and prodding on their way over here.
Although, she hadn't realized that she was that bothered by the dream still. She had thought that she'd pretty much gotten over it, even though she still didn't like thinking about it . However, she had realized through having lost her temper and all that with Beth on the way over here that she could actually remember more details about the dream than she had before. Which had never occurred to her with any other dream she'd had. Part of her wondered if it had to do with magic in some way and was contemplating asking Heathcliff or Arachii about it, since they certainly knew more about magic than she did. However, despite all that, she still had to deal with her current situation.
"I'll go inside and see if there'll be anything I need to get ready or if we'll have to relocate," Charlie said. "I'll be right back."
She hadn't expected this, so she couldn't be sure that Cherie had already started watching anything, either by herself or with some of her friends. However she also had an idea of what to watch, but first needed Cherie's permission, since the copy of the movie available was Cherie's.
Charlie entered the house and was a little put out that Cherie was in fact watching something already. Not only that, but she had three of her friends with her, including her best friend Amber.
Maybe we can relocate to Tim's, Charlie thought to herself, since his place was just next door, even if it was close to a hundred feet from her front door to his. At the very least, she figured that they'd probably have a better chance of being able to watch it there, since Charlie rarely saw any of Tim's siblings when she'd been over before. Then there was how his place was where they'd been able to watch movies several times before without any trouble.
"Um, Cherie?" Charlie whispered to her sister as she approached, hoping she wasn't interrupting whatever Cherie was watching.
"Yes?" Cherie asked, her tone indicating that she wasn't happy with the interruption. Not that Charlie was surprised.
"Would it be alright if I borrowed your My Little Pony Movie Blue-ray?" Charlie asked,
Cherie sighed. "You're not watching it here."
"I know, I want to borrow it and watch it at one of my friends' place."
Cherie shook her head. "Fine, you know where it is," Cherie replied.
"Thanks," Charlie said, carefully leaving the living room so she wouldn't interrupt whatever her sister and her friends were watching.
She then went to her sister's room to get the movie and left just as quickly, not wanting to disturb anything so she wouldn't get her sister upset with her later on. Where she'd then have to deal with her sister either get back at her in some way, like when she'd let Charlie's friends know about Charlie's birthday or go off on a rant at her.
Regardless, she had enough on her mind right now that she didn't really have the interest in dealing with that either.
As she returned to her friends, she saw that Hannah and Amelia were arriving as she left her house. "'Bout time you showed up," Hannah called out to Charlie.
"I got the movie," Charlie said, "but my sister and her friends have occupied the TV, so we'll have to go somewhere else to watch it." Charlie looked directly at Tim. "I was hoping you might be willing to let us watch it at your place."
"No problem," Tim said. "I doubt my mom would care if we took over the family room for the afternoon."
"Sounds like a plan," Beth said. "Though, while we walk there, how about you tell us what's going on, Hannah. You have a problem or something?"
Hannah sighed. "Yeah, I wish I could use my magic to eliminate it, but it's not possible."
"What is it?" Ralph asked, sounding far too eager for Charlie's tastes.
Hannah either didn't care or missed it entirely. "Well, you know how my mom was dating that guy I told you about a few weeks ago?"
"Yeah, I think he was a teacher or tutor or something?" Wes said.
"That's him. Anyway, my older sister is also dating him now. Not only that, but my mom's okay with it," Hannah continued, sounding rather aggrieved.
"So, your mom's not dating him anymore?" Beth asked.
"No, she's still dating him. When they go to bed, they all sleep in the same bed together. All three of them," Hannah said, looking like she was struggling to understand that situation.
"Wow," Ralph said, sounding much less eager than he had before. "That's just… wow."
"Did you talk to them about it?" Amelia asked.
"Yeah, but since my sister's nineteen, they laughed it off and told me that I was worrying about nothing. That they were all consenting adults and I needed to be happy for them," Hannah answered, sounding anything but happy.
"Have you asked them if they could tone it down for you? I mean for your sake if nothing else?" Charlie asked.
"Doubt it'd do much good," Hannah replied. "Last I spoke about it, it was clear that they weren't going to do anything to stop. I mean, he was feeling up my sister in the kitchen when I was eating lunch today while she was washing the dishes."
"What do you plan on doing?" Tim asked.
"I was asking Amelia and her parents if it would be okay to live with them for the time being," Hannah replied, sounding rather deflated.
'Just gonna run away from it?" Ralph asked.
Hannah glared at Ralph. "Maybe, but it's more because I need to take care of myself and I know staying there with that going on won't be taking care of myself," Hannah growled.
Ralph didn't seem bothered by Hannah's reaction, which didn't surprise Charlie at all.
"Let us know if you need anything else, okay?" Beth said.
"Well, Amelia's parents haven't said if they'd let me stay," Hannah said, sounding a little hesitant.
Amelia pulled Hannah into a side hug. "Don't worry about it. They're looking into where you'd be staying and all that. I'm sure it'll be fine. You really don't need to worry that much about it," Amelia assured Hannah.
Hannah looked like pure misery. "Is there anything we can do to make you feel better?" Charlie asked.
Hannah shook her head. "I'm not sure there is. Maybe whatever movie we watch will get my mind off of my life. At least for an hour or two," Hannah replied, not sounding like she believed it would.
They entered Tim's house and made their way to his family room, where the TV setup his family had was. Technically he needed his parents permission to use it, but it wouldn't be the first time they watched something on it without asking. His parents typically didn't say anything even when they'd been found out.
"So, what movie did you get?" Ralph asked.
"Actually, there was something I wanted to discuss with everyone before we watched the movie," Charlie said.
"Hold on, what if any of Tim's family's here?" Beth said, looking like she was seeking an excuse to not discuss what Charlie was sure Beth suspected she intended to bring up.
"It's okay," Tim said. "My older sister is hanging out with her friends today, my older brother is studying at the campus library, and my parents were called in to work because of some unexpected problem or other."
"Okay then," Charlie said. "The issue is that last night after the dance, Beth, Amelia, Hannah, and I were talking and we didn't realize Beth's sister Stacie was awake. She heard at least part of our conversation where we talked about magic and Petals' and her forest. So, now we have someone outside of our group that has learned about what we'd agreed we needed to keep secret. I'm fine with letting her know everything, but Beth is hesitant. I get she probably doesn't want any of the danger we've encountered from having magic in our lives, but I think the danger will be there anyway, and if she's aware of it, then she has a better chance at dealing with it and surviving in the even it comes to this world."
"When you bring a problem to us, you really bring a problem," Wes laughed.
"So, what exactly are you asking?" Tim asked. "Are you suggesting that we only let Stacie know about magic and everything, maybe even introducing her to Petals, or are you suggesting we bring our families in on this?"
"Just Stacie," Charlie answered. "I mean, if I told my parents about this, I know there's no way they'd let me go look for that griffin canyon until maybe four years after they die of old age."
Ralph chuckled at Charlie's levity, but his response didn't hold that same amusement. "Would yo also want this as a standard thing to do if someone finds out about this? Or would it need to be brought to the rest of the group on a case-by-case basis?"
"I think it should be a case-by-case basis," Amelia said. "After all, if I wanted my older sister to know, if we did it as a 'standard procedure,' then I could easily slip up with her in earshot and get her to say something and then she'd know."
"Wait, you haven't told Kristy yet?" Hannah asked, looked shocked.
"No," Amelia said simply.
"Why not?" Hannah replied. "I thought you two had no secrets from each other."
"Well, for one, I actually haven't seen her since last Christmas, and for two, I promised not to tell anyone about all this," Amelia protested. "Unless you guys tell me it okay, I would just tell Kristy that it's secret with you guys. I'm sure she'd respect that." Amelia paused for a moment, then added with a grin, "Besides, I'm pretty sure she'd tell my parents and then they'd likely be like what Charlie said her parents would probably do. Refuse to give permission to let us go on that expedition."
"Well, anyway, regardless of all that," Beth said. "We still need to decide what to do about my sister. Should be bring her in fully, let things go as they are, or seal her memories of that night away?"
"Hold on," Hannah said. "Wouldn't sealing her memories of that be a little extreme?"
"If we let her keep what she knows, then she could spread that information around, even if it's not intentional," Beth said.
"Anyway, regardless of what's extreme or not," Charlie said. "Let's first decide if we should bring her in fully or not. If not then we can decide if we seal her memories of last night. I mean, if we bring her in fully, then there's no point in discussing of sealing her memories or not."
"I agree with that," Amelia said.
"So, how should we do this?" Ralph asked. "Say a vote or something?"
"How about first everyone gets to say what they think about the matter, then we raise hands to vote at once?" Tim suggested. "Also, no one gets to not vote. You're either in this or you're not."
"Melodramatic enough?" Beth quipped.
"Just saying what I think," Tim replied, smirking. "Besides, I wanted to be sure Ralph wouldn't try to get out of voting one way or another."
"Anyway," Charlie interjected, wanting to get this dealt with so it wouldn't need to get brought up again at a later time, "I think we should introduce Stacie to Petals and let her know about magic. We don't have to let her know that we could unseal her magic or unseal it ourselves. We would just be letting her know what we know." Charlie paused for a breath and was about to tell Beth it was her turn, shen she remembered something else. "Besides, it's only a matter of time before the world knows about magic. With the centaurs that appeared in Denver, so it would be safe to assume that some world out there knows about unicorn forests too and eventually that information could get here as well."
When Charlie finished, she motioned for Beth to say her piece.
"While I don't want Stacie to know about Petals and magic, it has nothing to do with her being my sister. I don't think that she would be able to keep the secret herself. All of you know how shy she is as well as how she only has a few friends. I worry that she'd tell the wrong person or the wrong person could overhear her talking to someone else. Even though a few months ago it would have been written off as the imagination of a ten year-old girl, with the centaurs, others might not just let it go. I worry that she'll not be able to handle keeping it a secret," Beth said. "Hannah, your turn."
"Well, not sure what I can say one way or the other, but I'd say that if she does meet Petals, I think it would be good for Petals. After all, she's only ever around us, other than the unicorns and bicorns from Arachii's world. So, it might be good for her to meet someone new," Hannah commented.
"Hannah, we should limit it to whether or not Stacie should be told everything or not," Beth scolded.
"Hey, she should be allowed to say what she wants in this, even if it has nothing to do with Stacie and is something else like about how the Democrats and Republicans are both ruining the country," Amelia replied for Hannah.
"I agree with Amelia," Tim added. "We each should be able to say our piece, even if it doesn't really feel like it's about the exact thing we're deciding on. That way I can say what I think, even if you don't see what the connection is."
"Fine, let's just get this over with then," Beth grumbled.
"Amelia, your turn now," Hannah said.
"Really? Well, I guess what I have to say is that…" Amelia started, but suddenly trailed off. She looked almost lost before starting to laugh. "I can't remember what I was going to say!" Amelia laughed for about a minute before calming down enough to speak again. "Well, if I can't remember, then Tim should get his turn then."
Tim chuckled a little. "Okay, fine. I thin we should let her know. If it turns out bad, then we can seal her memories and learn from it. That we wouldn't be able to do that again. However, if it does go well, then we'll know that it shouldn't be a problem."
Tim then motioned for Ralph to take his turn.
"Yeah, I wish I could just make a joke out of this, because that would be more entertaining and not as boring as this, but I couldn't care less if we bring her into the circle of knowledge or whatever. I'll just go with whatever the majority says."
"What if it's a tie? You might have to be the tie breaker," Tim remarked.
"Yeah, I doubt it'll be like that," Ralph retorted. "I mean, I count Charlie, Hannah, Amelia, and you in favor of it, and Beth against. Even if Wes is against it, then it'll still pass. Which means there's no need for me to really worry about which side to take."
"Ralph, we haven't voted yet, so you can't be sure which side any of us will go on. I mean, I might not vote the same way as Hannah, even though we're almost as close as I am to Kristy," Amelia replied.
"Anyway, Wes gets to say something and then we can vote," Ralph said, his tone indicating just how bored he was with the whole conversation.
However, with Amelia's remark, Charlie wasn't so sure of how this would turnout anyway. She strated to get a bad feeling that it wasn't going to go the way she'd had hoped it would.
"Since I'm the last, I just wanted to say that I don't think we should. I mean, if we do, then we might get even more careless and have this occur again sooner than it might otherwise have occurred. Besides, the best way to keep a secret is to only tell those who absolutely need to know about it. The more people who know the secret, the harder it is to keep," Wes said.
"Hey Wes," Hannah commented. "What secret that began with 'Don't tell anyone' was ever truly a secret?"
"Yeah, yeah," Wes chuckled. "Dot Hack Sign. I got the reference."
While Charlie was confused at the reference, she also wasn't sure about if it would help change Wes' mind or not.
"Well, there we have it," Tim said. "We all had a chance to say something, even though Amelia forgot what she wanted to say, so no we vote." Tim paused for a moment. Charlie wasn't sure if it was for dramatic effect or if he was merely making sure no one else had anything they wanted to say about it. "Okay then, all in favor of letting Stacie know everything, raise your left hand."
"Why left hand?" Hannah asked, as she raised her hand. "Why not just hand?"
"Because he's wanting to be difficult," Beth replied, watching Tim raise his hand as he smiled, his amusement apparent on his face.
Charlie felt her heart sink when she only saw three hands raised, hers among them. She was about to accept defeat when Tim spoke up.
"Okay Ralph, yo're the tie breaker now."
Ralph looked shocked and really unhappy about it. He looked around and his face got red. Likely from annoyance, Charlie thought to herself.
"I demand a recount!" Ralph shouted.
"Ralph," Tim said, sounding like he was trying to be patient with him. "We can see what the count is right now. It's a tie. You either make your vote or we assume you're against the suggestion for the simple fact that you didn't raise your hand."
Ralph let out a breath, making it clear just how annoyed he was with the sudden development.
"Fine," he said, raising his left hand. "I'll vote in favor."
While Charlie was happy Stacie would be brought in, she couldn't help but feel bad for Beth, because she was sure Beth didn't want to keep her sister out of this just so she would be the only one in her family in on this, but because she truly worried that there was something that could hurt her sister. Much like Charlie was worried that something was going to happen to Beth, even though she couldn't prove it at the moment.
"Looks like you won," Beth grumbled to Charlie as the others began talking with each other.
"Hey, I don't like to think of it as me 'winning,'" Charlie said. "I wanted it to be like this because I really think we at least need to figure out how we can best let others know. You know, when it's time to let them all know, I mean."
"I guess," Beth replied. "Still doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Charlie!" Ralph called out. "Put in the movie already! I want to see what you picked."
Charlie obligingly put the blue ray in the blue ray player, and couldn't help but feel entertained when all her friends saw that she'd picked the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic movie.
"Seriously Charlie?" Ralph complained. "Couldn't you have picked one of the others we'd seen already?"
"Hey, you guys wanted me to pick a movie, so deal with it," Charlie retorted as the movie began to open. "Or if you'd like, I can just return the movie and let you guys be."
"Charlie cut with the threats," Beth said. "We're still not letting you go on your expedition without us."
Charlie shook her head. She hadn't really expected it to work, but thought it was at least better than having not tried. Besides, she might find that Beth's right and eventually be fine with them going with her. Or maybe in the future a better opportunity will present itself. Either way, it wasn't important to push the matter right now.