We manage to make it upstairs without any interrogations from my mother but as we pass Cassidy's room she shouts, "Dylan!" And emerges from her room, just as I try to speed Emma up. My handle is on the door as Cassidy walks over.
She turns to Emma. "Hey, you're that girl from across the street, that just moved in, right?" Emma nods, a questioning look on her face. She has never seen my sister before in her life, yet Cassidy already knows exactly who she is."I saw you leaving your house for school yesterday and this morning." she explains briefly before sticking her hand out towards Emma. "Cassidy Barnes, pleased to finally meet you. By the way, your jeans, very cute. I should get a pair of purple jeans. I never thought that until just now you know. I've never really seen anyone else aside from the girls in fashion magazines that wear them. Around here it's mostly just boring denim. I can tell you are different. I like that." Cassidy decides, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back to reinspect Emma. She nods again, confirming her decision. Cassidy turns to me. "Don't let her end up like Kate." She instructs before spinning on her heel and striding back into her bedroom.
I open my door for Emma and show her into my room. She is trying desperately to contain her giggles. "You know, I don't think I've ever met a thirteen year old so strong minded and frank. She certainly must be a handful."
I nod. "You have no idea. And you know, most of the time, she isn't half bad." Emma nods, laughing. "Do you have any siblings?"
She sobers up quickly. "Yes. I have a half brother. He was just born last month or so. My dad left my mom officially two months ago. It's pathetic. Especially because he hid it from us until right before he left. The last thing he said to us was, 'oh, just to let you know, Rosalie is eight months pregnant. I don't need you to live a happy life.' And he sped off down the street. My mom fled inside, hysterical, but I stayed on the front lawn watching. I watched his car until it turned the corner, I watched it even after that. All that night, even after I left the sidewalk, I watched him leave over and over in my mind, almost like it was TiVo'd into my brain. To this day, I remember the back of his car, slowly getting smaller before vanishing around that corner."
"Oh wow. That must be horrible. I can't imagine having the image of someone I love leaving me for good. I'm so sorry Emma."
"I have another brother." She says, without acknowledging what I said. "His name is Charlie. He lives in Virginia, he is twenty one. I haven't seen or heard from him in a while, maybe a few months or so. He was supposed to visit all of December. He was supposed to be here for his Christmas break. He never came. He isn't here. I know he has the address. My mom sent it to him in an email last week. She told him we would be here and could certainly use his strong arms to help us move in but there was no reply."
"Well I'm sure you will hear something soon. He wouldn't just abandon you guys." I reassure her.
"Yeah, that's true. It's just so unlike him." She whispers. "Anyway, let's get started on homework like your mom suggested."
"Alright, um, how about the French homework? We have to do those exercises from the textbook, right?"
Emma nods and we work on homework for the next hour.
At 5:45, we finish our homework and head down to go and help my mom in the kitchen. The smell of tomato sauce and garlic wafts up from downstairs.
When we get into the kitchen, we take deep breaths, savoring the smell. My mom looks up and smiles. "Hello you two! Did you get hungry?"
"No ma'am, we came down to help with dinner." Emma answers, washing her hands in the sink. "So what can we do for you?"
"Well first you can drop this 'ma'am' business. Call me Melissa. And you can rinse off the lettuce from the refrigerator, bottom drawer on the right. And Dylan, grab me the salad bowl from the cabinet,you know where it is." I nod and retrieve the bowl while Emma sticks her head into the fridge and gets the lettuce from the drawer as my mom instructed. My mom is now pouring the pasta into the pot of boiling water. I put the salad bowl on the table then go over to the stove to stir the sauce.
My mom stops me as I pick up the spoon. "Honey I need you to stick the garlic bread into the oven, I just stirred the sauce." She then motions to the counter, showing me where the bread sits waiting.
Emma finishes with the lettuce and places it on a cutting board next to the sink before going back into the refrigerator, searching for more vegetables. "Dylan," she says, "please bring the salad bowl over here." I nod and bring it over. She instructs me to break the lettuce up and put it into the bowl while she cuts up carrots, onions, cherry tomatoes and a few other vegetables.
At five of six, Cassidy ventures downstairs, only to be ordered to set the dining room table. The aroma even brings my father down from his study.
By 6:05 everyone is sitting down at the table with drinks and full dinner plates in front of them. Emma is sitting on my right, my mom to her right at the head of the table, my father is to my left at the other head and Cassidy is sitting across from us. We chat idly about school, my mom asks Emma how she is enjoying it here and Emma says she likes school so enthusiastically that she almost fools me. I discover that she used to run track at her old school and that she worked at her town's public pool over the summers.
"So what subject is your project for?" My mom asks, completely oblivious to the lie. My dad raises his eyebrows, waiting to see how this one plays out.
"Well," I start, "it's a project for English."
"We have to pick a scene from Romeo and Juliet and explain what is going on, what all of the lines mean and so on." Emma continues.
"Yeah, we are going to read the book soon and Miss White wants to make sure that we understand it before we read it." I continue.
"Oh that's fantastic! I read Romeo and Juliet many times in college. It is one of my favorites from Shakespeare. What scene will you be doing?" My mom asks excitedly.
"Well, we were thinking about doing Act two, scene two, when Juliet is on her balcony. Three of Shakespeare's most famous lines are in the scene, included his most frequently misunderstood line." Emma explains.
"Fantastic! Well, let me know if you need any help." My mom thrills.
"Thanks mom." I say, trying to be enthusiastic. "We've got it though. But if we don't understand something, I'll be sure to ask you." My mom nods and goes into the kitchen, clearing away everyone's plates. Emma catches my eye and winks. I wink back and Cassidy giggles.
I get up and grab the basket of garlic bread as Emma gets the salad bowl. Cassidy scrambles to take it from her but Emma refuses and brings it in herself.
We walk into the kitchen and my mom takes the basket and bowl, placing them on the counter. "Okay, whose turn is it to wash and who is drying?" My mom asks, placing the plates in the sink.
"I'm washing, Dylan's drying." Cassidy replies brightly. She walks over the sink and grabs a plate and starts to wash it. Emma helps my mom wrap the extra pasta, bread and salad for leftovers.
Once the kitchen is all cleaned up, it's 7:15. "Wow, it got late. I should probably get home." Emma says, glancing at my mom.
"If you want to stay longer, you are more than welcome." My mom offers.
"Thank you Mrs. Barnes but I still have some stuff to unpack and I need to shower. I had a wonderful time. Thank you so much for dinner. It was delicious." Emma says smiling.
"Well you are welcome any time. Thank you for helping out with the salad. If you need anything, you know where to find us."
"Thank you." My mom wraps Emma in a hug then let's her follow me upstairs to grab her things. "Your family is really nice Dylan."
"Thanks. They really like you, I can tell." She grabs her bag and slips her pink converse back on. "I'll walk you home. It's pretty dark." I offer.
"That's alright thanks, it's just across the street." She says. "Thanks anyway."
We walk downstairs and to the front door. "Goodbye. Thank you again." She says before walking out the door. I watch her carefully cross the street and make sure she gets in safely. Right before she closes her door, she turns around and waves. I wave back and close the front door. I don't realize my parents are standing behind me until I almost walk right into them.
They both have big grins on their faces. "What?" I ask warily.
"We like her." My mom announces.
I nod. "That's good, why are you telling me this?"
"Well, we approve of her. You should ask her on a date. She is nice girl and it will help you get over Kate." My father tells me.
"Dad I don't need her to help me get over Kate. I'm over Kate. But that doesn't mean that I want to date Emma. She's nice but I hardly know her." I explain, completely embarrassed. I can't imagine going out with Emma. What would everyone say? That's soagainst what everyone would be okay with. Even Simon and Nathan would be mad. Okay well not so much Simon, but still. But then again, who even cares what they think? It sure would be a test of true friendships, a thing I don't think is very common here. "I'm going upstairs. I still have a few homework problems to do." I lie, escaping to my room before they can say anything else.
I make it to my room and breathe a sigh of relief. I walk over to my desk and turn my laptop on. As I'm waiting for it to load, Cassidy appears in my door. She waits for me to let her in and when I wave to her, she comes and sits on my made up bed. "I like her a lot. She seems nice and real, unlike Kate. Don't screw it up with her." She states, looking right at me.
"Cass, I'm not going out with her. She is just a friend." I insist.
"For now." She sings before darting out of my room, winking at me just as she leaves. Does everyone know something that I don't? I mean, first my parents, and now my little sister? I can't just have a girl space friend?
I sit down and run my fingers through my hair. Checking my watch, I see it's 7:35. I remember that I was turning on my laptop and go over to check on it.
I pull up my Internet browser and decide to check LifeTyme. I see Simon is online and start a chat with him.
Dylan Barnes: Hey
Simon Castro: Hey man. Glad to see you lived through detention with Olivers and Emma.
Dylan Barnes: Yeah they seriously hate each other. It's crazy.
Simon Castro: What happened?!
Dylan Barnes: Stare off, insulting each other, Emma wouldn't take Olivers' crap.
Simon Castro: Now I'm both nervous and excited for home room tomorrow. It sure will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Dylan Barnes: You have no idea...
Simon Castro: So were you glad to be home after?
Dylan Barnes: Actually, Emma came over for dinner...
Simon Castro: Wait, what?!
Dylan Barnes: Emma came to my house after detention and she stayed for dinner.
Simon Castro: Why?
Dylan Barnes: Her mom wasn't home and I felt bad thinking about her being lonely.
Simon Castro: Wow, dude you are way too much of a softy sometimes.
Dylan Barnes: Yeah, now my whole family is in love with her and wants us to go out.
Simon Castro: No way! Why? What happened?!
Dylan Barnes: Nothing really, but I'll give you the full story tomorrow...
Simon Castro: Yeah I need to hear it for sure. But now I gotta go, I have to study for a Spanish test tomorrow
Dylan Barnes: Good luck with that one. Talk to you tomorrow.
Simon Castro: See you Barnes
Simon Castro is now offline. If you would like to send them a message, they will see it next time they log in.
I check my clock, 8:17. May as well take a shower, it should kill some more time.
8:30 I'm out and redressed in my pajamas. That hardly killed any time. Sighing, I decide to throw on a sweatshirt and sit on my roof.
I climb out of the window and look out at the street. All of the houses are fully lit, looking cozy and full of life. All of them except for the one across the street. The only light on is on the second floor. I see Emma pass the window, something in her hand. I figure she is unpacking still. She passes the window again and looks out, directly at my house. Can she see me? Does she know that I was watching her? I don't want her to think that I'm creepy. She pauses for a second, still looking out. Finally, she waves and when I wave back, she disappears.
I sit out there for a little while longer, watching and wondering if she will come back. She passes the window a few more times but doesn't acknowledge me. After a while, I get too cold and climb back inside.
It's 10:45 when I check my clock. Wow, I think. I was out there for a long time. Time always seems to pass by weird when I'm out there. Five minutes can turn into an hour or twenty minutes can really only be ten.