From Me to You [Complete]

71

When I get back to the kitchen my mom stands waiting for me. She smiles at me, and I look back at her, unsure what's on her mind.

"Dad got the mail," she says. She hands me a white envelope. I accept it cautiously, unsure who would be writing to me. The stamp in the top left corner shows the emblem for our local newspaper. My heart starts to speed up. I turn the envelope over and rip it open. The letter is on thick paper, folded into three. I focus my eyes on the page, reading quickly.

Dear Amanda,

Thank you for your participation in our third annual poetry contest. We are pleased to award you second place for you selection titled "Life and Times". Your poems will appear in the paper in one week's time...

"I got second place!" I cry excitedly. I look up at my mom, see her face break into a proud smile.

"That's fantastic, Amanda!" she cries back. She pulls me into a hug, which I appreciate for all kinds of reasons.

"What happened? Did you win?" my dad asks as he comes through the front door.

"Second place," I say, a little less excited by the fact that I didn't win first, now that it's been pointed out to me.

"That's awesome, honey!" my dad says, coming to give me a big hug. I smile back at him, feeling really thankful of this much needed hugging excuse. "So...what happens next?" he asks, gesturing at the letter.

"Oh, right." I look back at the letter, skimming it to see what day the poems will be in the paper. "My poems will be in the paper...on Wednesday!" I say.

"Awesome!" my mom says. "When you send off the poems to the Lyons you can let them know about it."

My heart sinks a little bit. "Yea, of course," I say, trying not to let the excitement drain from my voice.

"I'm really proud of you," my dad says. "What a great accomplishment." I nod back, feeling like the good mood this letter brought on has been greatly diminished. "Well," my dad says, turning to my mom, "we better get going." The drive to my great aunt and uncle's is long. The party is tomorrow, but since they have the space, they offered to let my parents stay both nights. That way they don't have to make the long drive tomorrow morning and come back really late tomorrow night.

My dad gives me some money in case we need more food or something, which I thank him for although it's probably not necessary. They both remind me to be safe, which I am pretty confident I can do here. No one to sneak out with in the middle of the night at this place. I set the poetry contest letter down on the counter, and walk them to the front door. Standing on the porch as they wave at Andy, who is getting far into the grass cutting, I think about how much I want to tell Michael about the contest outcome. Andy waves back, and makes a face in my direction as acknowledgement. My parents climb into the van, which is significantly less full than before, especially of beach things. I wave at them as they pull out of the driveway, then watch Andy do a couple of turns around the lawn with the mower. He sees me watching him, stops, and makes a questioning face at me. I shake my head back, and he goes back to mowing. I turn around and head back inside. My eyes linger on the poetry contest letter for a few seconds. I am proud of how well I did. My first poetry contest and I get second place. If only things weren't so weird with Michael. I would rush to write and tell him all about it.

I head back upstairs to my room. Seems like the only thing to do right now is unpack all of that sandy clothing, put it downstairs where it belongs. I pick up my bag from the floor and place it on my bed. I unzip it, taking out the non-clothing items and put them where they go around my room. The candy I hesitate with. Although it's weird because Michael bought it, it's only candy and doesn't deserve to be punished for where it came from. I open it and pop something sweet into my mouth, happy with the orange flavour. My notebook and pen I leave on the nightstand beside my bed. I'll figure out what to do with them later. The pink and purple candies don't taste as good as the orange ones, but they are still a nice treat. I find my glasses in a pocket inside the bag and remember how dirty my contacts are. I put my soccer ball on the floor under my bed, and the book that I brought with me on my bed. Maybe I'll read it later. I head to the bathroom to swap my contacts for glasses.

"Hey, Amanda!" Andy calls from down the stairs.

"Just a sec," I say, having trouble getting my right contact out. It pops out right as Andy appears outside the bathroom door. I throw away the contact and slip my glasses on, feeling like my eyes just took a bath. "What's up? Did you already finish the grass?"

"Yea...I kinda rushed," he says, looking the tiniest bit guilty. Soon his smile is back. "So there's a party tonight."

"Great," I say. I brush him aside as I walk back into my room.

"Yea. I'm gonna go." Andy follows me, stopping in the doorway of my room. I sit on my bed and look at him, not sure what he wants me to say.

"Uh, have fun?"

"Thanks," he says excitedly. He crosses the hall to his room.

I pick up the novel I set down and try to find my bookmark.

"So Cameron is gonna come pick me up soon. So we can get some booze and stuff." Andy's voice is muffled by his closed bedroom door.

"Oh, okay," I reply, although I'm not that surprised he already has something going on even though he's been home for like an hour. I flip the book upside down and jiggle it around, hoping the bookmark will fall out. I realize it must be in my bag somewhere. I grab the bag and pull it toward me. The candy rests on top. I pop another orange one in my mouth.

"How come you aren't sharing?" Andy asks, standing in my doorway again. He has a nice green shirt on, and the tan he got this week makes his beige shorts stand out against his skin.

"Oh, here, have lots." I chuck the bag in his direction which he catches expertly.

"Thanks," he says with a smile.

I search the bag for the bookmark, eventually finding it underneath the sandiest clothes at the bottom. It's the tiniest bit damp. I hold it up with two fingers and deem it too wet to go inside the book.

"Hey these are pretty good." I look at Andy and he shakes the bag as a gesture. Then he grabs a handful out, before tossing the bag back to me. "Nice catch."

I set the candy down and pick up the bag of dirty clothes. He wanders downstairs, and I follow him. "When is Cameron coming?" I ask.

"Pretty soon. I actually got a little scared that mom and dad weren't gonna leave in time," Andy says with a little laugh.

I make a face at him. "You're terrible."

"Hey, I got stuff to do. A life to live," he says dramatically.

"Of course you do," I say sarcastically. I gesture with my bag. "Got any laundry you want done? I'm supposed to do a load tomorrow."

"Yes I do." Andy takes the stairs two at a time and comes out of his room with a bag in his hand. He practically jumps back down. "Thanks for reminding me." He digs inside to find a sweatshirt that he hangs onto as he passes me the bag.

"Is that clean?" I ask skeptically.

"Yes," he says defensively. I have a feeling he probably wouldn't wear something if it wasn't clean so I leave him be. "Oh look, there's Cameron." Andy points at the little blue car pulling into the driveway.

"Have fun," I say, and he gives me a thumbs up anda grin as he heads out the door. I stand with the laundry in my hands as he climbsinto Cameron's car and they drive away. Seems like everyone has a place to gotoday.