Tanya's mom answered her cell phone, and spoke in her farmiliar adult voice, much to the relief of Tanya and Derrick.
"Hi, sweety." she answered "I was just about to call you."
"Really?" Tanya asked "What's wrong?"
"I wanted to let you know that we're coming home early." her mom replied, sounding a bit more urgent "We saw some kids who we thought were just dressed like elves......with really convicing ear and nose prosthetics......and full eye contacts.......but I saw one of those pointy-eared girls turn a grown man into an elf boy just as young as her, and even his clothing changed! Your father and little sister Tina were with me and they saw it too. So we're on our way to the van right now. We've just gotten out of the store. I had to convice Tina that she shouldn't play with the elf kids......even though she thought it would be fun since she's the same age as them....being seven years old..........now once your father rememers where we parked, then we'll be out of here. We'll come back for you, grab all the supplies that we can, and drive out of town until we reach the nearest refugee site. Once there,........we'll be safe."
"I heard about the elves too," Tanya replied "and I'm glad you haven't been turned yet.....having a seven-year-old mom with pointy ears would be all kinds of weird!"
"Now listen." her mom continued "Until we get back, don't go outside for any reason, and don't let anyone in. Even if they're still human, we can't be sure that they're not infected. See you in a bit, and no matter what happens, I'll always love you, my sugah-baby!" and a smooch was heard over the cell phone as Tanya blused from embarrassment.
"I love you too, mom." Tanya replied "Please be safe. Bye." and she clicked the end call button.
"Don't worry, Derrick." Tanya assured him "Once I explain your situation to my parents, I'm sure they'll understand, and let you go with us."
"I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble." Derrick told her with a look of regret on his face.
"It'll be fine, ok?" Tanya assured him "My family will get here, we'll pack our things, and leave this holly-jolly nightmare together. I promise."
"That's an awful lot to promise," Derrick said with a worried look on his pale-skinned face "but since you've helped me out, and want to keep helping me, then.....I'll trust you. You know.....you're actually a nice person. I'm surprised we've never met at school before now."
"Thanks." Tanya said with a smile on her dark-skinned face "And for what it's worth, you're pretty good company yourself......not that I'd want to go straight to dating or anything, but......I could still see us as friends."
Hearing this made Derrick smile. He wouldn't admit it, but he'd always had a thing for black girls. Now wasn't the time to think about that though: he had to protect his new friend from those smiling freaks with pointy ears. He didn't want to lose her like he'd lost his parents, so he'd do everything he could to keep her safe.
"So I guess we're stuck here together until your family comes home to save us, right?" Derrick asked with a nervous smile.
"Yeah, pretty much." She replied with her own smile "So since we've got time, want to watch some of this DVD with me?"
"Sure." he replied "Why not? I've got thing better to do anyway. Ha-ha!"
So the two teens sat next to eachother on the sofa as Tanya unpaused the movie. It was one Derrick had seen before, so he wasn't missing any thing from not seeing the first few scenes. He was actually surprised that Tanya liked this genre of movie. It was normally something that mostly guys would watch, so it was nice to see they had some similar interests. He was fine being her friend, but he secretly hoped that they could eventually become more.
Meanwhile on Tanya's end, she thought Derrick was kind and sweet, and now that he wasn't acting like a headless chicken running around, she thought he seemed.....cute. She wouldn't admit this to him of course........not until they were past the "friend-zone", which she hoped they could work their way out of in time.
While they were busy watching the movie...........