History Must Repeat Itself

Chapter 13

          Opening the front door, the sounds of the television greeted me. Kicking my shoes off, I wiped away any evidence of the few tears I'd shed in the car.  Glancing into the living room, Madison was sprawled on the floor holding a book over her head. I smirked, continuing into the kitchen.

"The tv reading your book out loud to you?"

I heard the book slam down on the table and Madison's footsteps walking in.

"It was background noise. I saw it on the sidetable when I got home yesterday," I nodded, emptying the rest of my water bottle into the sink, "can you drive me down to the pool? A few friends are there and they asked if I wanted to go this morning."

"Anyone I know?"

Madison smirked, "no one that loves you more than they love me."

I snorted, "give me a few minutes. I'm not wearing jeans to the pool."

"I'm sure Billy wouldn't mind if you did," Madison called as she walked towards the stairs. Turning from the counter, the house phone began to ring. I rolled my eyes, reaching across to grab it.

"Hello?"

"That's a beautiful voice I like to hear in the afternoon."

I rolled my eyes but a smile made its way across my face, "hi Eddie. You caught me at a good time. I've been home from work long enough for Madison to ask me to chauffer her to the city pool."

Eddie made a sound of approval, "meeting anyone for a hot date? More importantly, get some reading done?"

I chuckled, running my hand through my hair. Eddie had heard extensively about the boy who wrote in my book, "no, I'll probably read for an hour or two until Madison gets bored."

Eddie sighed dramatically, "alright. Guess you're too busy for old Eddie."

I rolled my eyes again, "I'll give you a call tonight or tomorrow. I have some free time coming up, and we still have to work on your English marks."

With a goodbye, I hung up and changed into the new bathing suit. I decided to wear a skirt on, throwing an oversized t-shirt on. I winced at my defaced book, grabbed it and went downstairs. Madison was already at the door, playing with a bracelet around her wrist.

          Driving to the pool, I peeked at my sister a few times. She was oddly quiet, staring out the window. Less excited about going to the pool then she'd been when she asked.

"Madison?" my sister made a sound, "what's going on?"

Madison shrugged, "I haven't heard from El or Max. I feel weird calling any of the boys, but I think they're all hanging out without me."

"You never know what's going on, especially with El," I reminded her, "and Max's family has their own issues. If you want, I can call Will's mum for him to come over? I know Eddie has a Sega machine and he's been offering to bring it by."

Madison nodded, but didn't say anything. I felt bad for my little sister. She wasn't used to having close friends. She was taking them not hanging out with her every day very personally. I knew the kids weren't abandoning her. That wasn't who any of them were. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything in my repertoire to help her with this.

Pulling into a parking spot, Madison slammed the car door behind her as she walked to the gated area. Shoving her abandoned towel into my bag, I sighed. Approaching the pool, I scanned the crowd. I felt a little relieved that I didn't see the curly blonde head. A well put together group of mothers meant Billy was here somewhere however. Pushing past my desire to go back into the comfort of my car, I followed the stream of children going to the pool deck.