I woke up to the sound of my alarm, ‘22’ by Taylor Swift.
I drifted out of bed and headed for the bathroom, doing my usual routine; brush my teeth, re-apply my bandages, get dressed, clean my room and then eat breakfast.
When I was done, I headed downstairs to the kitchen, where my entire family was eating already.
‘Marney, pull up seat. I made scrambled egg and tomato salad.’ Jasmine said dishing food onto my already laid out plate.
‘So, Marney, how was the party last night?’ my dad asked, over his newspaper.
‘Fun.’ I said trying to remember snippets of the night before. Everything was such a blur.
‘Just fun?’ my dad asked curiosly.
‘Very fun.’ I said with more enthusiasm.
‘You got home easily?’ my dad asked, still in a very curious voice.
‘Yes, dad, Ashley dropped me off.’ I said just saying what I thought happened. I seriously couldn’t remember anything that happened last night, no matter how hard I tried.
‘The big day’s coming up soon.’ Brad suddenly said.
‘The big day?’ Jasmine asked confused.
‘Yes, our birthday.’ Ben said smiling widely.
My brothers would be turning 16 this year, and they want to make a big deal out of it, as usual.
‘We want strobe lights.’ Brad said.
‘And a cake made out of chocolate ice-cream.’ Ben added.
‘You guys are going on like you’re gonna be on My Sweet Sixteen.’ I said rolling my eyes. For my 16th birthday last year, I didn’t have anything fancy.
In fact, half of the population in Earnest Peaks didn’t know it was my birthday.
‘I’m not doing anything extraordinary, you guys can have a couple of friends over in the garage, and that’s it.’ My dad said sternly.
‘What about the strobe lights?’ Brad asked peeved.
‘You can use one of the old lamps and swing it around the ceiling. It has the same effect.’ My dad smirked.
I burst out laughing. My father was such a cheap-skate it wasn’t even funny.
‘What about the cake?’ Ben asked with edge to his voice. It sounded as if he was about to burst into tears at any second.
‘You can have pizza.’ My dad said, not taking his eyes off of the paper. He seemed to be engrossed by whatever its contents were.
‘Fine,’ Ben muttered quietly.
‘We never made that big a deal of Marney’s 16th birthday.’ My dad said suddenly.
Yay. Finally, someone understands.
‘Because Marney’s not important.’ Brad said under his breath.
‘I heard that, you know.’ I said gulping down my glass of orange juice.
I put my plate and glass in the sink and washed and dried it off at the same time.
I took my seat again to hear more of this interesting conversation.
‘Whatever,’ Brad said sourly.
‘I guess the garage and pizza will do.’ Ben said brightly. He seemed to have gotten over the fact that you can’t get everything in life.
Brad was still sulking.
They wandered up the stairs and disappeared into their bedrooms.
I sat aimlessly at the kitchen island.
‘Why don’t you call Regina? Ask her to come over.’ Dad suggested.
I contemplated that. I haven’t spoken to Regina in a long time. I’ve been spending a lot of my time recently with Ashley or the lovely Ian.
I haven’t even given Regina a second thought. Or a first.
Jasmine burst through the pantry doors.
‘We out of bread and cream!’ she yelled, her eyes wide.
‘Don’t worry, Jasmine. I’ll go the shop and get some.’ I said generously, I was looking for some way to kill my time, and homework wasn’t an option.
‘Here.’ She said handing me some money from what my dad said was the “money drawer”.
‘You take my car.’ She said hurrying to fetch her keys.
‘I’d let you drive the cruiser, but you know that’s illegal, right Marney,’ my dad said jokily.
I sighed. Even if it was okay, I still wouldn’t want to drive the cruiser.
Jasmine hurried back, car keys in hand.
‘Here you go. Be careful.’ She said and then smiled. She turned around and headed back to her room.
I waved goodbye to my dad and went to the garage to pull the beetle out.
The red paintjob was glistening in the light of the garage.
I unlocked the car door and hopped in.
I pulled it out of the driveway and blazed down the various roads and ended up at the local supermarket.
I got the bread and cream and headed for the cash point.
On my way there, I spotted a familiar looking face.
‘Robin?’ I called to the dark-skinned girl with long tar-black hair.
The girl instantly spun around. Her face broke out into a toothy smile.
‘Marney Goldstone!’ Robin called back.
She hurried over to me; her large, plastic red shopping basket jingling in her hand.
‘It’s been so long,’ Robin said shaking her head.
‘I know!’ I added, feeling angry that all my close friends left, leaving me to start high school with Regina. Not that that was a bad thing.
‘So, what’s been happening in Earnest Peaks since I’ve been gone?’ Robin said, smiling.
‘Nothing really, just a bunch of new and old faces popping up.’ I said thinking of all the sudden newcomers to Earnest Peaks.
‘Nice.’ Robin said smiling.
‘I gather that you’ve enrolled at Earnest Peaks High School.’ I said laughing.
‘Yep.’ She said, still smiling, her huge smile.
‘Lots have changes since middle school.’ I said as we strolled towards the paying center.
‘I guessed so, yeah.’ She laughed.
The cashier swiped the cream and bread across the scanner and it made the familiar beeping noise.
‘Cash or credit card?’ the cashier asked in a whiney voice.
‘Cash.’ I said handing the money over.
‘Thanks.’ She said, calculating my change.
‘Here you go. Have a nice day.’ The cashier named Jessica, it said so on her name card, said with a forced smile.
‘Next!’ she called in a more, alive, tone.
Robin headed over to the counter and started unloading the contents of her shopping basket onto the counter.
I waited in the corner of the store, on a bench. I figured I’d walk over in the parking lot with Robin.
It didn’t take long for Robin to finish up. She soon paced over to me.
We walked slowly towards the parking lot.
‘See you tomorrow.’ I smiled at Robin.
She smiled and then headed for her own car, a navy blue ford.
I drove slowly to the house. I didn’t think that Jasmine wanted to start immediately with the cooking, so I took my own time.
But, eventually, I ended up at home.
I parked the Beetle back inside the garage. The cruiser had disappeared. Dad probably got called into the station.
I slid out from the car and grabbed the light packet of groceries.
I went inside and started unpacking the food into the pantry and fridge.
‘You back so quickly?’ Jasmine said coming out from her room.
‘Yeah.’ I said shutting the fridge door.
‘Here’s your change, Jasmine.’ I said handing over the residue of cash.
‘Thank you,’ Jasmine smiled and then headed back to her room.
I trudged up the stairs to see what horrible homework awaited me.
I searched through my school bag and of course, I had calculus. I spent less than half an hour on it, since I actually understood what was happening for a change.
My phone started beeping from the far corner of my room.
I forgot about my phone!
It must have been charging the entire time.
I strolled over to my dressing table where my phone laid, plugged into the wall socket.
I had several new messages. Including one from Ian.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw his name.
Ian Tambo actually texted me. My stomach did a backflip and I think I needed to hurl. Then I finally got a hold of myself and opened the message.
It read:
Hey Marney, what’s up? Last night was super fun, and I thought we should do something like that again, soon. How about eating at Urban Route today? Or tomorrow after school. Anything that suits you.
Ian
I could feel my breakfast trying to find its way out of my system.
I took a deep breath and tried to decide how I was going to reply to his message. I figured I’d kept him waiting long enough.
I texted back:
Hey, Ian. You’re right, last night was really fun, although I can’t really remember what actually happened! Urban Route sounds great. I’ll meet you there at 2.
Marney x
I pressed send and then instantly regretted it.
I realized that I sounded really desperate and I put a kiss on the end. What if he thought I was being too pushy? I didn’t want him to think that I was too pushy.
Before I could yell at myself for being a complete idiot, my phone beeped again, indicating that I had a message.
I grabbed my phone suddenly off the dressing table and read the message instantly.
Ok, great! See you then. But let me pick you up.
Ian had typed.
My heart skipped a beat and I felt my body temperature shoot through the roof.
If Ian was coming over, I had to get out of sweats. Unless I wanted him to think of me as a barbaric heathen and not a human.
I slid into a pale green dress and yanked on my socks and ankle boots.
I looked at my bedside clock and it said 1:15.
I brushed through my hair and took a deep breath.
I headed downstairs to watch some TV.
My brothers were not there so I didn’t have to watch them try to slice off each other’s heads on some violent Xbox game, for once.
I flicked through the channels a million times, not finding anything to watch at all.
I settled with “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”.
The doorbell suddenly rang, and it made me jump.
I fixed my hair on the way to the door, just in case it was Ian, but, I got my hopes up for nothing. It was just Brad and Ben’s friend, Dustin.
‘They’re upstairs,’ I said indicating my brothers’ whereabouts.
I flopped back onto the huge couch and started watching the boring sitcoms yet again.
I looked at the TV’s watch and it said that it was 1:50.
I shouldn’t be worrying, if Ian didn’t feel like going with me anymore, he’d have called. He wouldn’t have made me sit and wait around.
Just as I was sitting, about to pull my hair out, the doorbell rang.
I quickly paced over to the door, trying very hard not to trip over my recovering ankles.
I opened the door and smiled at Ian.
‘Hey.’ He said, smiling his usual, lazy crooked smile.
It brought colour to my cheeks, as usual.
‘Hey.’ I responded.
‘Do you wanna go, or hang out for a while?’ he asked.
‘Let’s go. Brad, Ben, I’m going out. I’ll be back after 7.’ I said heading for the already open door. I was bored to tears at home. The last thing I wanted to do was hang around for a couple of more hours.
The same sleek black Mercedes was waiting outside. Ian opened the door for me just like the other two times we rode in the same car.
I smiled as I climbed into the clean, leather-smelling car.
Ian got inside on his own side of the car and switched the radio on to some new pop song.
The drive to Urban Route took only about 15 minutes.
Ian opened the car door, like the gentleman that he is.
Urban Route was a very dim lit restaurant, with rustic wooden tables and chairs. There was a very large bar with two barmen serving people.
Music was playing throughout the restaurant and people were all cheery.
‘Table for two, please.’ Ian said to the perky female waitress who wore her thick red hair in a high ponytail.
She smiled happily, because she had a hot customer. I sighed in my head. The things some girls would do for goo-looking guys.
‘Right this way,’ she said leading us to a table in the middle of the restaurant.
On each urban dark wooden table, there were two candles shining brightly.
It added to the atmosphere.
I smiled on the inside.
The waitress handed us our menus.
‘I’ll be right back. When you’re ready to place your order just give me a shout,’ she smiled, batting her long black eyelashes.
I vomited in my head.
‘What would you like, Marney?’ Ian smiled over his menu.
I instantly snapped out of my daydream.
‘Uhm, the chicken pasta?’ I said, thinking that that’s the food I usually order when I come here.
‘And to drink?’ he asked, still smiling.
‘Coke, since I’m under-aged,’ rolling my eyes.
Ian laughed at that.
‘I guess I’ll have the same as you. I’ve never eaten here before, so I’m not quite sure if the food is as good as everyone says.’ He said flapping his menu closed.
He waved his brawny hand, indicating that we were ready to order.
The red-headed waitress was back, clearly wearing a fresh coat of lipgloss and eyeliner.
‘Yes?’ she asked batting her eyelashes again.
‘Two chicken pastas and two cokes, please.’ He said handing over the menus. He didn’t even look at the waitress.
She seemed peeved and walked away.
He looked straight into my eyes.
‘Marney, I’ve been meaning to ask you something… But I’m not sure how.’ He said not once taking his eyes away from mine.
I got nervous in my seat.
‘You can ask me anything.’ I said in what I hoped was a reassuring tone.
‘Well, in this short space of time that I’ve come to know you… I can’t stop thinking about you. Your long luscious blonde hair, your pure blue eyes, your beautiful smile, your bubbly personality. Everything about you. You complete me. You make me a better person. You make me happy, by just being in my presence. And that’s why, I wanted to ask, if you’d go steady with me?’ he asked all in one breath.
I couldn’t see my face, but I just had a feeling that I was redder than a tomato.
I nearly jumped out of my seat and started dancing.
I was so overwhelmed.
‘Yes. A thousand times yes.’ I said. I could feel a few tears bursting out my eyes.
‘Are you, crying?’ he asked getting up from his chair.
‘No,’ I said wiping away my tears with my arm.
‘I’m sorry for making you cry.’ He whispered into my hair.
‘It wasn’t you, I’m just really happy.’ I said laughing.
The waitress came out with our food and drink and placed them gently on our table.
‘Excuse me, could you please bring out some napkins for my girlfriend?’ Ian asked, holding my hand.
The waitress put on a fake smile.
‘Sure.’ She spat out.
I was starved and started digging in as soon as my plate was set down.
‘I’m sorry for being so gross. I’m just really hungry.’ I said wiping my mouth with the napkins that the jealous waitress dumped on our table a few minutes ago.
‘You still look extremely beautiful to me,’ he said moving hairs out of my face.
I blushed. I still couldn’t believe that I was dating Ian Tambo. Ahhhh I was dying of happiness.
When we finished our food, Ian paid the bill and we headed for the car.
Once we were inside the car, Ian started talking again.
‘That was nice.’ Ian commented.
‘Totally.’ I agreed instantly.
We ended up in front of my house too soon.
‘Do you wanna come inside?’ I asked trying to suppress all the excitement I was feeling on the inside.
‘Sure.’ He smiled lazily.
We got out of the car and wandered inside.
Ben, Brad and Dustin were screaming over the game they were playing on the Xbox.
I went into the living room and started complaining.
‘Could you please calm down? It’s not that big of a deal, you know.’ I shouted over the noise.
‘Whatever!’ the three of them shouted in unison.
I rolled my eyes and found Ian sitting at the island in the kitchen.
‘Sorry about the noise. That’s what I get for having brothers.’ I sighed.
‘I have a brother too. Don’t worry, I know how you feel,’ he laughed.
I smiled.
‘Did you start on your knitting project?’ Ian asked suddenly.
‘Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that,’ I said. It slipped my mind. I guessed that because of all the new events happening my life, I just conveniently forgot about it.
‘Your mind was probably thinking about other things.’ He grinned. He stood up from his seat and came to kiss me.
Our lips locked and strange noises were echoing through the kitchen.
When he finally pulled away, I breathed in a deep breath.
‘Well, that was a workout.’ I laughed.
‘Maybe I should teach you another workout.’ He grinned.
I burst out laughing.
‘Not with my little brothers and their friend hanging around.’
‘Then maybe another time.’ He winked.
I hugged him, long and hard.
‘I have to go.’ He spoke into my hair.
‘No.’ I said holing him harder.
He pulled me away.
‘I haven’t finished my social studies homework.’ He sighed.
‘You don’t have to. Be bad for a change.’ I said walking closer to him.
‘Do you want me to get detention?’ he said playfully.
‘No.’ I laughed into my hands.
‘Then I better go. See you tomorrow, Marney.’ He smiled and then headed for the door. Just before he left, he pecked me on the cheek and then hooped into his car.
I stood on the porch and waved goodbye.
It suddenly started to rain and I wandered back inside the house.
I hated the unpredictable weather, but I grew accustomed to it over the years.
The boys were so engrossed in the game, I’m pretty sure they didn’t even hear the hard rain pelting against the windows.
I drifted upstairs to start on my knitting project. I searched my room for any traces of wool, but found none.
I figured that Jasmine might have some, so I went back downstairs and asked.
I knocked on the wooden door and after my loud thumping, she opened her door.
‘Yes?’ she asked.
‘Do you have any wool?’
‘What colours?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘Uhm, yellow, blue, green and red?’ I asked thinking in my head what colours would go best together.
‘Sure. Come inside.’ She directed me into her tiny bedroom. Jasmine’s bedroom was always clean, and smelt like toffee.
She bent down and took out a large black box from under her bed. Inside the black box was lots of different types of wools and yarns and all sorts of needles, it was crazy.
‘Take what you need. If you have anything left brink back.’ Jasmine said holding the large box open.
‘Thank you so, very much Jasmine!’ I threw my arms around her old neck.
‘What you going to make?’ she asked watching what wools and needles I was taking into my care.
‘I dunno. A scarf or beanie.’ I said thoughtfully.
‘What about jersey?’ she smiled.
‘That’s way too difficult for me, Jasmine. This counts for half of my grade mark. I’m not going to waste my time on something that I’ll get an F for.’ I sighed.
Jasmine looked at me strangely and then she too sighed.
I thanked Jasmine again and then went to my bedroom and begun knitting.
After an hour, I decided that I couldn’t do this anymore. My focus was out of place and I could feel my eyelids starting to get heavy.
I took a quick warm shower and hopped into my pajamas.
It was still raining quite heavily so I switched my electric blanket on the highest it could go and jumped into bed.
That night I dreamt about Ian and our date.
For once, in a really long time, I was actually happy.