JORDAN MACKENZIE has just lost her mother and brother, Nicholas, in a car accident while coming home from a first-place finish in her weightlifting competition. And while her father has also survived the accident, it feels like he's abandoned her to...
I woke up feeling nervous and heavy. Nate had tried to create a nice birthday for me and I ruined it by storming off in an immature fit. He didn't deserve it.
I walked into the kitchen to find Nate already up, cooking up ground beef on the stove.
"Morning," he said. His tone was even and neutral – not particularly friendly, but not mad either.
My dad was sitting at the table again this morning, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper, in much the same position that he was yesterday.
I went to the cupboard and retrieved a bowl for cereal.
"I see you made some changes in the shed," Nate looked up from the stove.
I looked back at my dad, sitting at the table. He was dialled into the newspaper, unaware that Nate and I were even conversing.
"Yeah, well... I realized that maybe I was kind of overreacting to a bunch of things lately," I shrugged.
After my barbell therapy session, I rearranged some of the fixtures in the shed to make room for Nate to hang his sweaty equipment. "How did you know already?"
"I have a game tonight. I went looking for some of my gear. It wasn't where I left it. I saw you hung it in the shed. Thank you," he spoke low enough that I had to lean toward him to hear.
"You're welcome," I said.
The heavy nervousness that I had initially felt about entering the kitchen was starting to dissipate. I had really hoped that my gesture was enough to repair my epic meltdown.
"Are you working at the bowling alley today?" Nate asked.
"No, Barb told me to take another day. I think she's trying to force me to do something besides hang out with her all day."
"Are you going to wander the town like a loner all day again?" He leaned over and whispered so my dad wouldn't hear. There was that crooked grin.
"No," I lied. I was kind of hoping that he would offer to hang out with me again, so I wouldn't have to. I wanted to make up for the way yesterday ended.
"I know it's not my place to tell you what to do but you should text Holly. It seems like she really misses your friendship," he replied and went back to his cooking.
As I set off on my loner route through the town, I reflected on what Nate had told me yesterday about Holly and Kari. He said that they were worried about me and I wondered what exactly the content of their conversation had been. They didn't really seem worried. I figured they'd be gossiping about me behind my back, drumming up stories about me going off the rails, assuming I was addicted to my painkillers or something. It was the sort of thing I had heard them gossip about others in the school. It was exactly the kind of thing that Kari would thrive on.
I pulled out my cellphone and texted Holly, asking her to meet me at the boardwalk in an hour.
Holly: For sure 👍
Me: No boys, ok?
Holly: No problem!
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