Chapter 14
The next morning I woke with pains in my stomach. I couldn’t remember exactly when I had fallen asleep, but I remembered seeing a blurry, red three followed by a colon and a couple of other blurs on my clock at one point, which was well after I had counted over three thousand sheep and rolled over at least half that many times. I considered staying in bed and skipping school, but I needed to see Anna even if she didn't want to see me. Really, I couldn't blame her. I rolled out of bed and stumbled into the shower as I struggled to keep my eyes open.
My breakfast went down with little enthusiasm. Oblivious to everything going on around me, I hadn’t noticed that Mom had made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” Mom chirped, kissing my head. I was thankful it wasn’t Dad. I wasn’t in the mood for sarcasm or lectures.
“Mornin’,” I responded as I watched her pour herself a bowl of cereal. “You're in a good mood this morning . . . Why?”
“Why not?”
I gave her a puzzled look and then stated the obvious, “Well, for starters, you hate mornings.”
Mom gasped. “Jake! I do not hate anything. How many times have I told you not to use that word?”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Okay, then let me rephrase. You really don't like mornings. What gives?”
“Darling, today is the first day of the rest of my life. I figure I should start it properly. With a good attitude. You should try it too. It's very . . . uplifting.” She waved her hands haphazardly over her head.
Mom was random. She was known for coming up with weird and so-called "wonderful” thoughts for the day. She enjoyed life and her infectious personality seemed to rub off on anyone who spent time with her. I guess that's why I would often find myself talking with her late at night when there was something bothering me. She had a special way of making things seem not so bad after all. I wished I had talked to her last night when I was feeling sorry for myself after breaking up with Anna.
Mom interrupted my thoughts. “Well, would you look at this.” She walked over to the kitchen and ran her fingers across the cupboard doors.
“What is it?” I strained my eyes to get a closer look.
“It looks like a certain someone polished the cupboard doors last night while she was sleeping.” She walked over to the dishwasher and opened the door. “And did the dishes too.”
“Abby still sleep cleaning?” I laughed.
“Shh! She's coming. Don't say anything to her about this.” Mom quickly closed the dishwasher and stood in front of it as she greeted Abby with a wide smile. “Good morning, darling.”
“What?” Abby snapped as she glared at us. She wasn't a morning person either. Must run in the family.
“Mornin', Abby,” I laughed as I stood up to put my dishes on the counter. “Mom, apparently Abby didn't get the memo on today being the first day of the rest of her life.”
Abby reached out and smacked my arm. “Are you making fun of me?”
“And risk you not cleaning my room for me? Not a chance.” I picked up my backpack and headed toward the door.
“Clean your room? You wish!” Abby shouted after me.
“Love you guys,” I called as I closed the front door behind me. I could hear Mom assuring Abby that I had been acting strange all morning and that she had no idea what I was talking about. Abby had a way of putting a smile on my face, so I was glad I got to see her before I left for school. It took my mind off of Anna, even if it were just for a few minutes.
Noah was sitting in my driveway when I left the house, so I decided to leave my car at home for the day. We pulled into Noah’s regular parking spot, the farthest from the school that he could get, and he cut the engine. He turned to me with a sympathetic face.
“What?” I snapped as I opened the door and climbed out.
“Why didn't you tell me, dude?” Noah got out and jogged around his car to walk the path next to me.
“Tell you what?”
“Rachel told me that you broke up with Anna last night. Why didn't you tell me?”
Leave it to Rachel and her prophetic visions. “Why would I? We're not girls.”
“I don't know. I guess I figured you’d want to talk about it or something,” Noah said.
“And I guess I figured, why break the peaceful morning silence by complaining about my love life or lack thereof?”
“Dude, this is hard on all of us. It's super strange what's going on with us and to have to change our whole world for it. And I know how you feel about Anna. How you've always felt about her.”
“Thanks, but I'm okay,” I lied. “She'll be safer this way.”
As rehearsed, the morning messages over the PA announced that five students had been chosen to represent Bedford High at the environmental conference in Toronto on the weekend. “We are pleased to send our five volunteers: Claudia Henderson, Nick Murphy, Noah Morgan, Jake Rovert and Rachel Riley, to represent our school this weekend at the National Environmental Week Conference being held in Toronto.”
Hesitantly, I turned to gauge Anna’s reaction to the announcement. Her confusion was evident, but when she caught me looking, she rolled her eyes and resumed her position.
A few more minutes and we were dismissed to class. I got up slowly, hoping Anna would come and talk to me, but Rachel was standing in the way.
“So this should be fun,” Rachel announced loud enough for everyone around to hear.
“Yeah, great fun,” I sarcastically added.
“So we leave Friday morning.” Rachel continued to talk although I had already tuned her out. “It’s three whole days and I am so excited.”
Anna was standing out in the hallway, seemingly waiting for us. I smiled and, much to my surprise, she smiled back. I held my hand up to Rachel, motioning for her to leave us alone, which she respectfully did.
“So you're an environmentalist now,” Anna commented as we slowly walked down the hall together.
“Well, yeah, I guess. I just thought it would be fun to go,” I lied.
“Since when do you care about the environment?” she asked.
“I care. I care a lot, actually. I just don't show it very often.” I bent down and snagged a chip bag off of the floor and held it up as proof.
“Sure.” Anna snatched the litter from me and tossed it into a nearby garbage can. “And Rachel is going too?”
“Geez, Anna. You have to believe me on this. There is no attraction there at all.” I grabbed her shoulders and turned her toward me so she could read my face.
“It doesn't matter, I guess. We're not together anyway.” Anna looked past me with an expression that I could only read as annoyed.
“Hi Anna.” It was Rachel. She was like a bad dream I couldn’t get rid of. What was her deal?
“Hi Rachel.” Anna showed her teeth in a weak attempt to smile.
Rachel linked her arm through mine and said, “So, Jake, are you excited about the retreat this weekend?”
I rolled my eyes and pushed Rachel away. “Horrible timing, Rachel. Really.”
“It's okay. We're not together. I don't care.” Anna turned and quickly walked away, disappearing into a crowd of freshmen who were fighting their way to class.
“I was only trying to help her get over you,” Rachel said.
“Well, you're not very good at helping. Perhaps you should just stick to fortune-telling.” I kicked the wall and stormed off.