Take Me Away

Chapter One - Conrad

Alex nodded. "Yeah, the animal shelter has some openings there."

Gina groaned. "Please, please, please Mikayla. Don't work there. Alex always gets out of there smelling like wet dogs and covered in cat hair."

I laughed. "I'll think about it."

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. The only awkward thing about it was seeing Javen in my history class. Talk about ironic.

He didn't even try to look at me. It's like whatever happened that morning never happened. It kind of bothered me that I was actually feeling sad about it. I mean, it is normal to feel sad about breaking up with a boy that you loved and it was not like we broke up on bad terms.

I just hoped that whatever was bothering him will be done soon and it wasn't just some excuse because he just didn't love me anymore.

I met Alex and Gina at the parking lot. Gina had her car taken away from her because she was caught sneaking in from a party, so we were stuck taking Alex's broken down pickup truck.

"Ready?" Gina asked as I approached.

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

Alex, Gina and I all sat squished in the little box. I usually liked to sit in the back and let the wind tousle my hair, but I felt sick already and didn't want to be pucking over the side.

Gina's house was closest from the school, so I had to get out to let her off. Alex got out too and gave her a kiss before she hugged me and went inside.

I got back inside the truck and Alex started driving to my house, needing constant directions from me.

"Turn left here," I said as we were nearing my house.

I could tell that something was bothering Alex. The whole ride to my house he was very focused. I could see the concentration in his eyes and worry lines overcoming his face. "Listen, Mikayla. Don't worry about Javen, okay?"

I looked at him, my face turning into a mirror reflection of his. "Okay?"

"I mean, you know, you're best friends with Gina and I don't want you two to have a bad summer because of a stupid guy."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I won't bring down Gina with me." I smiled. "I love her. She's always been there for me so I'll be happy for her. That and I definitely don't want to hook up with Owen."

Alex laughed. "Yeah, we don't want that happening."

"Right here," I broke in and Alex pulled up to my house. "Thanks for the ride," I said and grabbed my backpack.

"No problem. Feel better."

I smiled and hopped out of the car into my house.

Once inside, I decided that it was best to get rid of everything that reminded me of Javen. The football tickets, the photo by my bed and even my English notebook where Javen doodled in. Tomorrow was the last day of school, anyway.

On my way downstairs to take out the trash, I stopped myself unable to permantly dispose of all these things. I groaned and brought the bag back upstairs to the attic. I dumped it in a corner and returned to my room.

I called Gina right away. "I couldn't do it, Gina."

"Do what?" Gina asked.

"I couldn't throw away Javen's things. I know it's code rules and all, but it's my attic. Haunting me."

I could hear her sigh through the phone. "Please don't tell me you still have feelings for him, Mikayla."

"Don't kill me, Gina. It's only been a couple of hours, anyways. These things do take time."