Kendall & Me [discontinued]

10 | I Was Just, Uh, Hugging Myself

“Dammit, dammit, dammit!”

I closed my eyes, massaging my temples in a poor attempt to block out Kendall’s curses.  Ever since we came to my room an hour ago, she’d been trying to pop from place to place—in vain, if it wasn’t obvious.  We both knew that it was a waste of time, but neither of us had the strength to call it quits completely.  And I definitely wasn’t going to tell her to give up.  What kind of sister would that make me?

“This can’t be happening,” Kendall muttered.  My eyes opened just in time to see her bring her hands frantically through her hair.  “No.  It’s definitely not happening.  I’m just—I’m just dreaming.”

I bit down the sudden urge to say, “But you’re dead.”  This situation was awful enough without getting pinched.

“But of course I’m not dreaming,” Kendall continued.  “How could I be?  I’m dead.  I’m dead.  Because of that son of a—”

“Kendall!” I exclaimed, cutting her off before she could continue.  Kendall’s eyes snapped over to me, wide and scared.  “When did you become me, exactly?”

Kendall snorted.  “Great,” she drawled, some of her old dry humor falling back into place.  “Stress has brought me down to your level.”

“Hey!” I hissed.  “Down to my level?  What is that supposed to mean?”

My sister’s lips tilted upward.  “Oh don’t get your panties in a twist, Mrs. B-Student.”

I gasped as though she’d wounded me.  Which, she kinda had—bringing in my grades was a low blow.  Low blow.  “My panties are not in a twist, you irk,” I retorted. 

“Oh, Isabel,” Kendall murmured with a soft laugh.  The humor in her tone and expression disappeared suddenly as she let out a sigh.  “This is really happening.”

I bit my lip, nodding slightly.  I wanted to say something—anything, really—but there didn’t seem to be anything appropriate to say.  What was I supposed to say?  Yes, you can’t appear and disappear at will anymore—sorry?  Nothing seemed right.

So I didn’t say anything.  I just got up from my bed and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly.  Kendall stood stock still, her arms outstretched as though she didn’t really know what to do with them.  After a moment, she hugged me back, her arms loosely wrapping around me.

“What are you doing?”

Kendall and I sprang away from each other as I spun around in shock.  My dad stood in the doorway, a puzzled expression on his face as he watched me get over my surprise.  “Dad!” I practically shrieked.  “I didn’t hear you come upstairs—how long have you been there, exactly?”

 “Long enough to see you hugging the air,” my dad said, his bewildered expression remaining.  “Are you all right?”

I forced myself to keep my eyes off Kendall as I replied, “Yeah.  I was just…uh—hugging myself for a job well done on a book report.”

As though to prove to my dad that I was, in fact, hugging myself, I wrapped my arms around myself and squeezed tightly, a false, bright smile on my face as I did so.  I could hear Kendall snickering from behind me, and I had to fight the urge to turn around and slap her upside the head.  I’d like to see her explain hugging air to a parent.  It wasn’t exactly easy.

“Ah,” my dad said slowly.  “Okay.  Well, I just came in to tell you that I don’t have to go in to the office tomorrow morning, so I’ll be bringing you to school.”

My arms fell away from me as the instant shock ran through me.  The only thing I could think was: Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.  The words repeated over and over again within my brain.  Honestly, I had no idea how long I stood there gaping like a fish at my dad with what I hoped was not a horrified expression on my face.