Cotton Candy

5. He's Home

Monday May 29

Jake's P.O.V.

            School is finally over.  Now it's time to head home at last.  My Mom comes and picks me up, so I thankfully don't have to ride the bus.  When I get home, I find him standing there. 

            Wow, it's been a while.  Probably two weeks?

            He smiles as soon as he sees me.  I can't help but smile back.

            "Hey, Jake!!"  Dan pulls me into a hug. 

            "Dan!" I shout.  I'm so excited to see him.  It's so weird, though.  We are brothers, twins actually, not identical though.  Our Mom and dad got divorced when we were really young.  That's why no one from around here really knows about Dan.  Well, at least anyone my age.  Our Mom and Dad decided that Tanner and me would live with my mom, while Dan would go live with my Dad.  Dan and I decided to keep in close contact, however.  We are twins, after all. 

            Mom walks in and screams with joy as soon as she sees Dan. 

            "I see your father finally gave in!"

            "Well, you kind of gave him no choice, but I'm not judging," Dan replies as he hugs our mom.

            Dan starts to look around the kitchen, "I guess Tanner isn't home then?"

            "No, unfortunately not.  He'll be home on Friday though...Has your stubborn father allowed you to stay until you graduate?"

            Dan gives us a big grin, "Yep.  You're stuck with me for three years."

            We all laugh.  It's good to see my little bro again, even if he is only three minutes younger than me.  I know Tanner will be really happy when he gets home.  He loves picking on Dan too.

            I help my mom get Dan settled in, and then do my homework.  It doesn't work very well.  Chelsea is back on my mind again. 

            "Hey, you seem kind of distracted.  What's on your mind?"  Dan asks, standing in the doorway of my room.

            I look up, and give him a false smile, "What are you talking about?  I'm not distracted."

            He cocks his head to the side, "Come on.  I'm your twin brother.  Do you really think I'm that stupid or do you think I just don't know you that well?"

            Hmmm.. Dan comes over and sits down beside me.

            "It's about a girl, isn't it?"

            "What? No!  Dan, you have an overactive imagination."

            "You know, I can tell when you're lying to me.  Might want to keep that on your mind."

            Dan gets up and leaves my room.

            Wow.  He's good.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday May 30

            Ugh!  My alarm clock is going off like crazy.  I reach for the button to stop it from beeping, but I can't seem to find it.  Oh, just great.  Dan appears in the hallway standing outside of my door brushing his teeth.

            "Hey, would you mind shutting that off?  I'm already up."

            "Sure, Dan.  Anything for you."

            Dan grins and walks back to the bathroom.  Since when is a Collin a morning person? 

            I groggily get up, and find the button to stop the beeping.  I shower, get dressed, and finish getting ready. 

            As I walk downstairs, I stop midway.  Something isn't right.  That's when I smell it.  Is that pancakes?  Woah!  My mom hasn't cooked breakfast in, well, a really long time.  I finish heading downstairs to find my mom at the stove making pancakes and Dan sitting at the table scarfing down his breakfast.  I shake my head and take a seat next to him. 

            "What?  I'm hungry!"  he says with a huge grin.

            "Oh, of course."  I roll my eyes at him.  "I would've never guessed the way your shoving your face into those pancakes."

            "Oh, aren't you so smart?"  Dan replies with a smug look on his face.

            "So how is this going to work?" I ask my Mom and Dan.

            "What do you mean?" Mom asks.

            Dan looks up from his pancakes.  I can tell by the way his head is tilted to the side that he is confused too.

            "Well, the school year is just about over.  Isn't it rather pointless for Dan to go to school when we have like five days of school left?"

            "I already spoke to the office about Dan's situation.  He's going to finish his year like you.  Conveniently, his classes at his old school are pretty much the same as his new one's."

            Dan and I nod our heads.  I'm glad that Dan gets to finish normally.  I thought he might have to do something out of his way to get the credits for his courses.

            We finish breakfast and our mom drives us to school.  I take Dan to the office to take care of all that new student stuff, and then show him to our first period class.  As we are walking in the hallway I happen to run into someone who looks familiar...