Chapter 11

After Cason had dropped me off Friday afternoon, I was stuck sitting around the house worrying that my mom would find out that I skipped.

Honestly, looking back on it now, I have no idea why I was worrying so much.

When my mom walked through the door, I was resting nervously on my bed with a book on my lap, just waiting for my mom to come stomping up the stairs and interrogate me about my whereabouts all day. I waited and waited, but after ten minutes of hearing her messing around in the kitchen, I decided to take a trip downstairs and face the oncoming punishment head on.

As I walked into the kitchen, I had my hands placed behind my back as I fiddled endlessly with my fingers.

“Hey mom.” I greeted warily, knowing her interrogation was coming.

What surprised me was the fact that she turned to look at me with a smile on her face and returned my greeting, however, as I continued a short conversation with her, I realized that she had no idea how I had spent my day.

A weight was lifted off of my shoulders as this knowledge leaked into my brain. I didn’t know if my mom just didn’t answer her phone when the school called or if the administration at the school just didn’t check on the kids in the ‘left-behind’ room, but whatever the reason, I was grateful.

That night my mom had made no plans to go over to the Michaels’ for dinner so, I didn’t have to deal with the boy that is Cason Michaels any more than I wanted to. Don’t get me wrong, I actually did have fun on our little adventure out of the small city; however, I don’t think we were exactly friends.

I think the relationship we shared was one of annoyance. I was simply a rose in bush, content with staying with all the others. And then there was Cason; he was the thorn in my side that was constantly chopped off but would keep coming back.

I didn’t know why he thought I was so interesting, but for the time being, I really didn’t need that specific thorn to be popping up everywhere.

After dinner had finished, which was simply a homemade casserole that my mom had started to cook the second she walked in the door, I dialed Olivia’s phone number like I had promised and we made plans to meet at the library at noon the following day.

When the following day came around, I rolled out of bed at quarter after eleven; giving me just enough time to take a quick shower and get ready.

After scrubbing off all the grime that had built up on my body throughout previous day and night, I wrapped my pink fluffy towel around my midsection and walked into my room to look for a cute but functional outfit for today. It wasn’t as if I was going to a movie premiere or on a date, I was simply meeting a friend at the library and then probably heading out for lunch so, a fancy outfit was definitely not needed.

Taking out a simple pair of tan shorts and a light purple v-neck, I threw them on top of my undergarments, feeling fresh and clean.

After braiding my hair to the side and brushing my teeth, I picked up my brown satchel from the side of my room that contained my wallet and a few other essentials before heading downstairs for a quick snack.

Not so shockingly, my mom was reading a book in the kitchen as I walked in with a smile.

“Good morning!” my mom chirped, looking up from the tattered pages of her book with a smile.

I laughed lightly at her cheeriness as I grabbed a ripe banana from the fruit basket on the counter and sat down across from her.

“Good morning. What’s with the chipper mood?” I asked as I peeled the banana and took a small bite.

My mom grinned at me in a way that kind of scared me; as if she knew something that I didn’t. “Well, why wouldn’t I be in a good mood?” she asked, avoiding the question.

I raised an eyebrow at her cryptic talk. “I don’t know,” I trailed, “Why would you be?”

“My mood may have been slightly influenced by the fact that my daughter, my beautifully shy daughter, is making friends here and it makes me proud to raise such a strong girl.” she replied with a smile gracing her facial features.

Sure, the reasoning was sweet, but I knew that there was something else behind her words – something she was emitting from her explanation. I didn’t understand why she was bringing this up now because she had known that I was making friends with Olivia for a while, there wasn’t anything new about that friendship…

My thoughts trailed off as I realized what was happening.

Groaning, I rested my elbows on the kitchen table and put my head in my hands. “Ugh, how did you find out?” I asked, feeling the weight from yesterday afternoon come crashing back down onto my shoulders.

I guess I would just have to call Olivia in a couple minutes and tell her that I was grounded for life and wasn’t allowed to leave the house.

My mom chuckled at my hopeless appearance and shrugged as I looked at her from the cracks between my fingers. “Diana called me last night.” she stated with no emotion visible in her features. “She explained to me that she had gotten a call only minutes before about her son seen leaving campus with a girl that had long brown hair. Apparently the school didn’t recognize you because you’re still new there, but since Cason had supposedly been in trouble before with the office staff, they recognized him immediately and decided to give her a call. Diana, being the smart and wonderful woman that she is, called me to tell me this and said that the girl he snuck away with was probably you, since you are one of the only girls that she’s ever seen Cason actually interact with and she knew that you had stayed behind on the trip as well.” she explained, finished with a small amount of amusement etched into her face.

“How did she know that I stayed behind?” I questioned.

My mom shrugged in response, moving her book to the side of the table as she started sipping at her mug, which was probably full to the rim with tea. “When she mentioned that Cason wasn’t going on the trip sometime during the week I just happened to mention that you weren’t going either.” she replied calmly.

“Wait, let me get this straight.” I stated, waving my hands in a ridiculous manner. “You knew that Cason was staying behind yesterday?” I asked, and she nodded in reply. “Then why didn’t you tell me that yesterday and I could’ve avoided him all together by just staying home?”

“Oh come on sweetie, you know you wouldn’t have wanted that.” she stated in amusement, much to my disbelief. “Then you wouldn’t have had the mysterious adventure with Cason yesterday.”

By the time she had finished her sentence; her mouth was stretched into a full blown smirk while I was shaking my head at her in disbelief.

“I only agreed to leave the school because he was being ridiculously annoying in the room that we were stuck in and the only way that he would stop was me going on a little adventure with him.” I explained. “I really didn’t have a choice in the matter; he practically forced me into ditching.”

“Oh really?” my mom asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. “That’s why you got into the car with him and went who-knows-where with him?”

I rolled my eyes, getting tired with this interrogation as I glanced at the clock and realized Olivia had probably already left.

“Mom, let’s just skip the interrogation and we can just skip the part where you tell me that I’m in trouble for ditching and then you give me my punishment.”

“You actually want to be punished?” she questioned.

“Umm… no.” I trailed, thoroughly confused at where she was going with this.

My mom unlatched her hands from her mug and brought them across the table to rest atop of mine. “Jessalyn, you’ve always been an exceptional child and a fantastic student. You’ve always followed the rules and have gotten straight A’s on your report card since you were born. You read, hang out with your family and, before we moved here, you never really had any true friends.” she explained, leaving me more confused than I was before. “Don’t get me wrong, I am truly proud to call you my daughter, however, sometimes it’s good to just break the rules and have some fun. Even though I should be mad that you were skipping school, I know that you would’ve just been stuck in a sticky classroom all day if you hadn’t gone with Cason. Plus, I trust you not to do anything all that bad and, I proud that you’re finally starting to let go of the girl that you were back home. You spreading your wings and experiencing life.”

“So just to be clear,” I said once my mom was finished her inspirational monologue, “I’m not in trouble?”

My mom shook her head, chuckling as she retracted her hands from mine. “Not this time because I trust that you and Cason were just having fun, but if you ever skip school again, you might end up grounded for a couple of days.” she replied in a challenging tone.

I cracked a smile at my amazing mom as I spoke. “I won’t skip school again.” I promised.

My mom nodded in acceptance. “Good.” she replied. “Now, aren’t you supposed to be meeting up with your friend Olivia right about now?”

Glancing at the clock again, I realized that it was almost noon and it took at least ten minutes to walk to the library from my house.

Hopping up from my chair, I grabbed my satchel that had been laid on the floor.

As I was about to head out of the kitchen and out of the house, my mom called me back.

Turning around to face her, I saw that she had gotten a twenty dollar bill out of her wallet and has holding it out for me to take. “Here, treat yourself to lunch or a new book on me and have a good time out with your friend.” she said with a smile.

Grabbing the twenty from her hands, I smiled at her and nodded. “Thanks mom.”

“No problem.” she responded. “Now get going before the girl thinks you’re standing her up.”

I nodded, giving her one last smile before turning around and heading for the door. Before I reached the door, I heard her shout that she loved me as her voice echoed throughout the entryway and rest of the house.

“Love you too mom.” I replied, equally as loud before slipping on a pair of sturdy flip-flops and heading out into the sun.

I was quite surprised at the weather as I stepped outside and took the short walk down my driveway. Usually the weather was clear blue skies and the sun was shining down upon the small beach-side town, however, today that was slightly changed. A bundle of clouds had coasted in from the west and were somewhat blocking the sun’s harmful rays from shining.

Shrugging off the change in weather habits, I made my way down a couple of rural roads before getting to a block with a bunch of businesses. After another minute or so of walking, I came to a stop in front of the library and opened the door, accustomed to the sound of the bell ringing above my head as I walked into the book paradise.

Smiling at the librarian, who I had become quite friendly with on my many visits to the building over the last month or more, I walked up to her. “Do you happen to know if Olivia is already here?” I asked, knowing that she would know who I was talking about.

“Yes dear.” she replied, in the shaky but sincere tone that made the elderly sound so unique. “She’s where she usually is.”

“Teen romance?” I guessed, already knowing the answer to my question.

“You got it sweetie.” the librarian replied, with a smile that showed her healthy dentures off.

I smiled at her, pushing myself away from the desk slightly. “Thank you.” I said politely before turning around and heading to Olivia’s favourite part of the library.

Over the weeks I had known Olivia, I realized that she loved to read, but she especially loved to dive into books about teens our age finding their true loves. She was a huge romantic and whatever guy she ended up with would be seriously lucky to be with a girl like her.

“Hey there.” I greeted, as I walked into the teen romance section and found her seated up against a bookcase with her face deep within the pages of yet another cliché romance.

“Hey  Jessalyn.” she said in return, finishing her last couple paragraphs before closing the book. She smiled at me as I slid down the bookshelf across from her. “I thought for a couple minutes there that I was about to be ditched.” she said teasingly, referring to my lateness.

At the word ‘ditched’ I was immediately reminded the day I spent with Cason yesterday and the conversation I had just had with my mother, thus making me late.

Releasing a groan, Olivia must have thought I was getting cramps or a headache because her face turned to a mask of alarm in an instant. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking at different parts of my body to make sure I wasn’t bleeding to death.

I shook my head, probably giving Olivia more of a fright, before I started to speak. “I just have a couple of things to tell you so you’re all caught up on my life at the moment.”

Olivia rolled her eyes, hitting me in the leg with the book she had abandoned. “I thought you were dying you idiot.” she stated with a slight chuckle, making me laugh a bit too. “And what could you have possibly done in the last twenty four hours that has been remotely interesting?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised.” I replied with a smile.

“Well then, tell me.” she said desperately, waiting for my amazing recounts of yesterday.

I shook my head as I stood up and stretched out my back muscles. “Let’s look around here first. I’ll tell you over lunch as you recount your fabulous afternoon on the boat.” I said with a small smile.

Olivia agreed with me, standing up herself as she grabbed the book she was reading in her hands, obviously intending on either buying it or renting it.

For the ten or twenty minutes Olivia and I went our separate ways as we both scoured the small building for a couple of good books and, by the time we reunited at the front desk , we both had two or three books in our hand that we both found interesting.

“Found everything you need girls?” the librarian asked with a kind smile as she checked out both of our books.

“Yes, thank you.” we both replied simultaneously.

I had decided to buy one romance/mystery book that looked like it had an interesting story line and rent two more less interesting books that still looked good while Olivia was buying both of the books she picked out.

Once the librarian had scanned through all of our books and we had both paid for the ones we were keeping, we each grabbed out bags respectively and headed for the door, leaving the door to shut behind us with the distant ring of the bell as we stepped out onto the street.

We talked a little bit as we walked down to the beach and ordered lunch at the beach stand. The same person that always worked the stand took our orders with a smile before heading to the back to make them.

“So, how about you start your intriguing story now?” Olivia suggested as we both waited for our food to be ready.

I rolled my eyes at my friend’s slight impatience. “How about you wait a couple of minutes until we have our food?” I threw back at her sarcastically.

“Oh come on, you’re the one that made it so special.” she stated.

“I did not, plus, you can wait until I have some actual food in me.”

It turns out Olivia actually didn’t have to wait that much longer because, after another minute or two, both of our orders were up and we had headed to a picnic table a couple steps down towards the beach to eat. It had an umbrella sticking up from the middle, which was very convenient as the sun was starting to sneak out from behind the clouds in the sky.

After I had dug into my poutine with extra cheese, Olivia asked for my story again.

Taking a couple more fries into my mouth, I then proceeded in recounting the events that took place from yesterday morning all the way up until this morning before I met her at the library. I described the pit of annoyance that I had when I realized that Cason was staying behind from the field trip, the aquarium and diner we ate at, the anxious feelings I had the entire previous afternoon and, my mom’s talk with me this morning, along with every little detail in between.

By the time I was done with my explanation I had finished my tray of fries and had already drunk half of the iced tea I ordered.

“So, you hung out with Cason yesterday? Willingly and happily?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “No.” I drawled out. “I was basically blackmailed into ditching and then I just ended up not hating where he took me.”

“Aww, well isn’t that such a cute first date.” Olivia teased, before ingested the last bite of her burger.

I glared at her playfully and stuck my tongue out. “How did you get a date from blackmailing annoyance?” I wondered, clueless at what this girl’s train of thought must have been at the moment.

“I’m just kidding.” she replied with a smile as she shook her head in amusement. “But, would it be so hard to admit that you and Cason are maybe becoming friends.”

“Are you crazy?” I asked, wondering what the hell Olivia was thinking. “Like I’ve said before, it’s like Cason is a thorn in my side that just keeps showing up.”

“Umm… I don’t think you’ve ever said that.” she stated, looking slightly confused.

Realizing that she was right, I’d only ever thought about it the annoyance in my life that was Cason Michaels, I shook my head. “Sorry, I only thought that, but now you know that he’s an annoyance, maybe an acquaintance, but certainly not a friend.”

“Sure he is.” she replied, and it was completely obvious to me that she didn’t believe a word that I was saying.

“Whatever,” I stated, rolling my eyes, “Why don’t you tell me how your day went yesterday; how was the trip?”

As soon as I mentioned the trip, I saw Olivia’s eye light up in a good way and I knew that she did love the trip.

“Well, there were two different boats and basically we just got split up randomly into two groups and I got stuck in a group where I knew only one person.” she explained, but didn’t end up saying who that person was. “Anyways, we split up into partners and all we really had to do the entire day was record any fish or underwater wildlife we saw. It was really cool to go out onto the water and see the fish that live way off shore and see that they are different than the small fish we see near the beach.”

I nodded with a smile, happy that she had a good time on the trip. I would’ve loved to come, but I just wasn’t ready to face that yet.

Another thing that was itching at the back of my mind was the fact that Olivia said she one person in her group, who probably ended up being her partner, however, she had told me before that she really didn’t have any friends at the school.

Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I let my curiosity fade as we just enjoyed the good beach weather and just hanging out with each other. It was truly a great day to spend with a friend.

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So, this was taking a lot of energy out of to write as I had no homework tonight and just wanted to relax and read the book I bought yesterday, however, I knew that you guys were waiting so I stepped it up and just wrote!

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this, even though it is sort of a filler chapter. Leave your opinions below and I hope you vote for this as it is a future Watty Awards entry :)

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