The Art of Mending a Broken Heart

The rhythmic sound of rain woke me, as it pounded against my window. After a few minutes of lying under my warm covers, I got up and followed my nose to the kitchen where Ruby was brewing a pot of coffee.

“Morning Jack, did you sleep okay?” My sister greeted me from the kitchen table. She was already dressed for work, and was finishing off a bowl of Captain Crunch.

“Did you save any for me?” I asked as I searching for a spoon.

“Well yes, I slept great. That was so nice of you to ask Jack.” Ruby said sarcastically as she poured the extra milk from her cereal down the drain.

“You know me,” I said smirking at her, “Nicest guy around.”

Ruby shook her head, but cracked a small smile. “Mrs. Hills called to tell me that you were very polite yesterday. For a second I thought that she got you mixed up with someone else, but who else would have dropped off the rent?”

“Wow thanks for the love.” I said shoveling a huge spoon of cereal in my mouth.

Ruby ignored my comment and continued on. “I actually have another favor to ask you. I’m flying out to New York this afternoon for a business trip and I promised the neighbors on the floor below us that I’d water their plants. If I leave the keys to their apartment on the counter do you think you could remember to do that?”

“Sure,” I said nodding my head, “But you gotta drive me to school today.”

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I pulled my hood up as I stepped out of the car. “Thanks Ruby.”

“No problem Jack, but you have to find your own ride home.” Ruby told me.

“Yeah sure.” I said and slammed the door shut before heading into school.

“Don’t forget to water the plants!” She yelled rolling down the window.

“Will do!” I shouted back, but I wasn’t sure if she heard me over the pouring rain.

When I got to my locker I pulled off my damp sweatshirt and shoved it inside. I spotted Kale and Max out of the corner of my eye and called them over.

“Hey Burner.” Max said sounding upset. Kale didn’t say anything.

“Hey.” I said back, “What’s wrong with you two? Someone die or something?”

“He’s just pissed about the rain.” Max said pointing to Kale.

“You’re mad about rain?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“I’m mad that the game got canceled tonight. We were supposed to murder Valley High today. Their quarterback is out for the week with a bad knee, and now the game’s re-scheduled for next week.”

“Well,” I asked jokingly, “wouldn’t you rather beat them at their strongest?”

Kale shot me a look. “Are you kidding me?”

I just laughed and headed off to English. Becky was already in her spot so I sat down next to her smiling.

“Morning beautiful.”

“Hey Jack.” Becky sulked not even looking up at me.

“Ugh not you too.” I groaned feeling like today was going to be boring. “You can’t seriously be this down about a stupid football game.”

“It’s not stupid. We haven’t beaten Valley High in over ten years and today was our chance to finally do that.” She complained.

“If I went to Valley High,” I told her starting to believe in what I had said earlier, “and our team finally got beat when our quarterback was out with an injury, I would blame it on that.”

“Well I guess,” Becky said playing with a strand of her hair, “But Kale always throws a killer bash if we win.” She finally smiled as she thought about a party.

A brilliant idea came to mind. “Hey, how about I throw one tonight. Like my own welcome to Riverside celebration.” I told her.

“Really?” she asked perking up, “Could you really?”

“Sure, I live in an apartment, but size isn’t an issue. My place is on the top floor and the people bellow us are gone, so we wouldn’t have a problem with noise. Plus my sister is out of town this weekend.”

“Oh My God!” Becky squealed throwing her arms around me. Some kids in the front turned around to see what all the commotion was about.“Jack Burner you are so awesome! Is there anything you need me to do?” she asked.

“Actually there is.” I told her.

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“So, how exactly are we going to get away with this.” Kale asked as we approached the copy room.