I was brought out of my thoughts as it started to rain. The woman and her toddlers were gone; they probably had been for a while. How long was I there? The sun was now setting. I immediately headed home. Surprisingly, my parents still weren't home by the time I came through the front door. I was even more tired than before, so I headed to my bed. That night was full of restless, dreamless sleep.
I was brought out of my thoughts as it started to rain. The woman and her toddlers were gone; they probably had been for a while. How long was I there? The sun was now setting. I immediately headed home. Surprisingly, my parents still weren't home by the time I came through the front door. I was even more tired than before, so I headed to my bed. That night was full of restless, dreamless sleep. ~~~~~~~~ The next day was Saturday. I was woken by the shrilly phone echoing throughout the house. It seemed like my parents had already left to work. They're always working, and we have always needed it. There were too many debts and bills to pay, and I couldn't do a thing. They insisted that I put all my energy into schooling. The ringing stopped abruptly. "Hey, Luana? Is this your number? I found your parent's name in the phone book.. um, so this Shalae! We go to school together and-" Shalae's voicemail was interrupted by me hastily answering the phone. "Hello?" I wondered why she was calling me. Not many people have this number. "Oh! Luana! Hey, this is Shalae!" She sounded surprised that I answered. "Hello. May I ask is there anything you need?" I answered politely. I've said this before, but I keep people, even peers, at a distance. "Oh, yes, um.." she sounded flustered. Perhaps I sounded too robotic. She began again, more confident. "Luana, a few of the kids from school are all going to the hospital to go see Earl. We were wondering if you wanted to come?" "You know what happened?" I was dumbfounded that everyone just happened to know Earl was suicidal. "Well,.. no." She admitted sheepishly, "But someone's grandma was at the hospital, and while they were visiting, they saw you there and there was a sign on the door that had Earl's name. So,.. well, we just thought you could maybe tell us what happened? We're all really worried about Earl! We need him for the state playoffs!" Shalae.. I remembered now. She was a cheerleader, and it looked like she was using her skills on me to pry for information about the latest rumor. "I really don't think it would be best for me to go. Thank you for the invitation, though." My pride flared as I deftly sidestepped her question, leaving her no choice but to hang up. "Well, you were there, weren't you? You didn't.. hurt him, right?" She improvised suggestively. It looked like I couldn't make her hang up without agreeing to go. I sighed, "No, I helped him. I'm not the reason he's hurt. Also, I'm pretty sure he's going to be fine. He's not really.. hurt." There was silence on the other side of the line. I could practically hear her trying to send me peppy telepathic messages to tell her more. "Look, I'll go, okay? What.. what time.. are we all going?" I struggled to find friendly, conversational words through my frustration. "Oh, fantastic!" She purred, and I swear I could feel her breathing down my neck. "We'll be there in an hour. Where do you live?" She fished for even more information. "Actually, why don't I meet you.. at your house?" I turned the heat on her. It turns out my "heat" wasn't very hot. She had no problem giving me the address to her fancy house in her fancy neighborhood. She gave me the code to get through the gate at the entrance to her neighborhood. Even though I resisted, one hour later I was trapped in an expensive car, with popular kids hanging out of it. Unfortunately, they all wanted to know a little more about me. The ride to the hospital was awkward. I was going to see Earl.
What's going to happen?! Is she going to become his friend? Are the other kids going to find it his secret??