Kendall & Me [discontinued]

05 | Easy as Pi

“So how’s that ninety-three looking?” my mom asked, taking a bite of her own food.  As she swallowed, I had to look away or the image of her throat coming apart would come again.  It wasn’t exactly a pleasant thing to see. 

I almost groaned as I forced down a piece of steak.  Seriously?  Why was it all about grades with them?  Couldn’t we talk about something else for once?  I was really getting tired of grades revolving around, well, everything.  “It’ll looking fine,” I said, biting down a sarcastic remark about how it looked like a number.  My parents didn’t enjoy sarcasm.  I wondered how they’d get along with Kendall if she was still alive.

Said Kendall snorted from her self-proclaimed seat.  “How else is it supposed to look?” she asked.  “It’s a number.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing.  At least she could say what I wanted to say.  Then again, no one else could hear her.  Would she actually say that out loud if my parents actually could hear what she was saying?

I’d have to ask her that later.

“Sorry about that!” giggled Diana as she swooped back in and settled back into her seat.  I cocked an eyebrow at her, analyzing her posture and how she was acting.  Was she back to normal?  I really hoped so.  I really hoped so.

“That’s quite all right, Diana.”  My mom smiled kindly at her, but you could tell that she was waiting for Diana to act crazy again. 

I resisted the urge to scarf down the rest of my meal.  I wanted to get up to my room with Diana and Kendall so we could actually formulate a plan.  We needed to think of something, and we needed to think of something fast.  Kendall didn’t have much time.  If we didn’t figure out what the hell we were going to do, then her death anniversary would come and we’d be completely unprepared.

I’d always dreaded Kendall’s death anniversary, but this one was different.  This one was much, much worse.

After what seemed like hours of pointless chewing and boring conversations about schools and grades and how we were responsible young ladies and should be proud, Diana and I finally finished our plates and requested to be excused.  It was then that we were able to drop our dishes into the sink and rush upstairs.  You have no idea how good it felt to be done with that dinner.  So good.

“Okay, so what are we going to do?” Diana demanded, her hands on her hips.  “Is Kendall here?”

“Yeah,” I said, pointing to Kendall who stood right next to Diana, her hands also on her hips.  “Should we, like, have you hold something so Diana can know your general location?” I asked, directing my words to my sister now.

“Ugh, but my hand will get tired,” Kendall complained.

I cocked an eyebrow.  “You’re dead.”

Kendall shot a look in Diana’s direction.  “She’s so good at pointing that out, Diana.  Honestly, the mind of your friend is so brilliant.  She should go to Harvard or Ivy League.”

I resisted the urge to slap her.  “Diana can’t even hear you!”

“What?” Diana asked blankly.  “What did she say about me?”

“Nothing,” I replied with a shake of the head.  “She was insulting me and talking to you even though she’s dead and no one can hear her but me.”

Kendall moved on to make a remark about me being so good at reminding her that she was dead, while Diana just nodded, confusion in her eyes.  This was going to be so weird.  I was not one to play messenger, and since Kendall couldn’t be seen by anyone but me it seemed that I was going to be stuck playing it all the time.  I didn’t want to.  Really didn’t want to.