By the time I got home, all I could think about was the weekend. I have never been so stressed out in my life, so far.
I go upstairs to my room and plop myself down on the bed, facing the ceiling. I’m still staring at the ceiling until my sister comes into my room.
“Ever heard of knocking?” I ask her.
“Maybe. Mom just wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready.”
She walks out, closes the door, and leaves me in my painless misery.
After about 20 more seconds, I can hear my mom calling my name. I must remember to not be late to dinner. Mom hates it when any of us are late.
“Oh good. You’re here.” mom said as I slid into a chair. The way she said it made me feel like I did something bad, again.
“Do you even want me here?” I asked her.
“Chanel, sweetie. Sorry if I sounded mad. I just had a really long day.”
Of course you had, Mother Dearest. But, I’m pretty sure that your day is nothing compared to mine.
She goes into the kitchen and brings out a pan of lasagna.
“Yay! Lasagna!” Sara said.
“Way to point out the obvious while still acting like a 5 year old.” I tell her.
She stops smiling and glares at me for a nanosecond.
“Chanel, be nice. Sara, quit bugging.” dad says.
I can tell by the way mom’s face seemed relieved that my day is actually nothing when compared to hers.
She takes a seat next to dad near the head of the table and we say our prayers. Then, we dig in.
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I wake up the next day to a glorious shining sun. It would have been ok if Chaz wasn’t at the end of my bed, dozing off a bit. I practically screamed my head off as he fell off the bed to the floor.
“Oh my god. Chaz, are you ok?” I ask him.
“Never better. Thank you for the wakeup call Chanel.” he replies.
I start to smile, then punch him in the arm, playfully.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Coming into my room without any warnings, phone calls, or knocks on the door!”
I playfully punch him in the arm again.
“Ok, ok. Geez, I get it. I’ll tell you when I might come over, ok? I just didn’t want to wake you up. I know how you get when someone, or something, wakes you up.”
He was right. I love to sleep. It’s calming and relaxing and probably the only thing that can clear my head of…
Memories. Memories that had just came floating back.
“Chanel? Yoo-hoo Nelly. Are you there?” Chaz asks.
I shake my head and return back to Planet Earth.
“I’m fine. How about we go to the park, like the good old days.”
“Seriously Nell? Seriously?” he asked.
“What?” I ask him.
“Who knew that you can be such a child.” he said as he left my room.
************************************************************************
By the time that I get ready to leave, Chaz is outside waiting in his pickup. Better than nothing, I thought to myself. I shut the house door close, with keys in hand, and get in the car.
As soon as we make it to the nearest park, I kind of felt something different. I am still sitting in the passenger seat when Chaz comes to my window and asks, “Are you coming out there or what?”
I manage to make a cheeky smile and he smiles back. For the first time ever, I actually thought that his smile was. . .well. . .hot. Then again, Chaz is a really sweet guy and if we weren’t best friends, then I would totally date him. I shake my head to remove everything and anything I just thought or said.
Did I really just think, or say, that my best guy friend is a hottie? Certain things should just not be thought or said.
I finally get out of the car when I hear someone call my name. From the way it sounds, I look towards the swings. I didn’t see any face that I could recognize until I heard the same voice again. I look harder towards the swings, as Chaz and I got closer, and I realize who was suddenly calling me. Josh. And his brother. I start to stop in my tracks, but continue when Chaz asks me, “What’s wrong Chanel?”
I know that Chaz would probably flip out if he notices Josh and Nick by the swings with some pretty girls. Two pretty girls who look awfully familiar. So much like. . .
“Gina! Beth! What are you girls doing here?” Chaz says as he walks closer to them.
What are Gina and Beth doing here with the Matthews? Isn’t Josh supposed to be with Taylor since he did ask her to be his prom date, in a way? Why is the world so twisted and backwards lately?
I start to catch up with Chaz and immediately regret coming here in the first place.
“Oh, guys. Look who finally decided to show.” Josh said. I was pretty sure he was trying to embarrass me. It’s not working, and I wonder if he knows.
“Miss a day acting like a 10 year old? I don’t think so,” I tell them, mostly to Josh.
“Yeah, yeah. Of course. But I do believe that the ‘act like a 5 year old’ exhibit is right there by the monkey bars.”
Everyone laughed at that, except me. Also, I guess the look that I was giving them was enough to shut them up.
“Oh, c’mon Chanel. Loosen up a little,” Josh said.
I finally couldn’t take any more of this.
“Josh, may I talk to you in private?” I ask him.
“Seriously Chanel, stop with all this private stuff, like geez.”
“Josh Matthews,” I say with a ice cold tone in my voice, “Let’s speak in private.”
“Ok. Geez, Chanel Peters, you really should loosen a bit.”
I walk towards him, grabs his shirt collar, and pull him behind the farthest tree there.
“Why the hell are you doing this to me?” I ask him, though it sounded more like a beg almost.
“Doing what? Being in the same place you are. I think that’s called spontaneousness.”
“I’m not talking about being at the same place at the same time. I’m talking about you and that kiss, and that whole prom shit and crap like that.”
“Such mature language for a 16 year old, now is it?”
“I’m 17 you jackass. Now, I demand an answer for my question.”
“You demand for the answer? Why not just ask?”
I was up to here with his stupid games.
“Fine. I ask for you to answer my question.”
“What else?”
“Please?”
“Thank you and your welcome.”
“Just answer the question Josh.” I was getting antsy.
“Fine. I guess I did all that because. . .oh, I dunno. . .I may kind of like you.”
“Lying to my best friend? Backstabbing? That’s how you show your likeness to someone?”
“Technically, you are lying to Taylor, you are the backstabber, and you thought I was hot. I bet the first thing to come to your mind was, ‘Wow. I so have to date him.’ no?”
“I hate you.”
Those were the last 3 words I said to him after I stormed back to where my friends were. How could they not see that he was a cold hearted snake? A killer in disguise?
“Chaz, can we go now?” I ask him.
“But, we just got here.” he replies.
“How about you just take me back home. I have a few. . .problems to think about.”
He finally agreed and we got back into his pickup.
“So, what did you and Josh talk about?” Chaz asked.
“Everything that I told you.”
This is no weekender’s delight.
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