I kept thinking about my 'dream' and about the school. So many thoughts ran through my brain, but somehow my brain shut off and blackness filled my vision. My eyes closed, I hadn't realized just how tired I really was. Maybe my brain needed time to recope. I had herd before that that was why after trematc experiences you feel tired, and this 'dream' seemed to be the most termatc experience of my short life.
When my eyes finally opened, I did feel better, a lot better. I rolled onto my side and checked the clock - 6:30. I yawned and rolled out of bed stretching my arms over my head. Descending down the staircase I saw that the door was closed and the keys that usually hung on a hook beside the home phone was gone. My mother and Cam must have been out, so nice of them to notify me.
My stomach made a dying wail noise so I quickly walked over to the fridge to see what there was to eat. The cold air hit me as I opened the door and a shiver moved down my back. Peering into the fridge I saw that we really needed to go shopping - there was nothing that I would consider edible.
My stomach was calling for food still so I headed to the cupboard and looked in -there was two cans of spaghetti sauce, but no spaghetti and there was one can of Scooby-doo pasta. My hand reached in and I grabbed a hold of the processed meal-in-a-can.
Walking to the drawers on the other side of my small kitchen I grabbed the can-opener and started to warm the pasta up in the microwave. I waited and waited for the pasta to be warm enough checking it periodically until finally it was done. It seemed to take forever. I couldn't believe that I was eating pasta for the second time today - I knew I was going to be at least a pound fatter by the next morning.
Even after devouring the Scooby-doo's I was still hungry, but there was nothing left to eat so I settled on a glass of water. When I was done I cleaned up the kitchen and headed to the living room to watch some T.V. I hadn't even been seated for a second when the door bell rang, probably Cam and mom finally getting home. I thought, but when I opened the door I saw it was Atom and he was dressed up to the tits (in a manner of speaking.)
"You ready?" He asked, and I could see Kylie was in his car waving at me. She was clad in a red dress with her thick red lipstick to match - she sure did love the color red.
"Ready for what?" I asked.
"The party!" He said, and that was when I remembered about Emma's boat party.
"But I thought it would be canceled with the whole school burning thing." I pleaded, hoping I was correct. I didn't feel like doing anything except watching movies on T.V. tonight.
"Please." He said, "the school burning is a reason for a party, not the reason to cancel one!"
I paused, "I'm not feeling the greatest tonight." I said closing the door slightly.
Atom stuck his foot in the door, "but you promised!" He pleaded.
I thought about it - I had said I was going and they seemed so happy, but I hadn't promised. "Atom--"
He cut me off, "I need you!" He said.
I sighed and hesitated for a moment, "give me a minute." I said running up to my bedroom to see what I had to wear. My closet was full of old clothes that had holes in them - I was a rough girl. I only owned two dresses the one was a sun-dress that I never wore outside my bedroom and the other was a dress my great-aunt had bought me last Christmas. I wouldn't say it was dressy, but it wasn't a dress you would wear on a regular basis either. It was light-blue with white followers and a thick black belt. I hadn't tried it on since last Christmas and I wondered how it looked on my body.
My full length mirror was warped, so I couldn't trust it, but it would have to do. Pulling on the dress quickly I noticed it was a little snug, but I could breath fine. Looking through my closet I found a pair of blue flip-flops from last summer and kicked them onto my feet. They weren't the dressiest, but they would have to do just the same.
Taking a long look at myself in the mirror I remembered about my hair - fuck! It still hadn't been washed, but I still had no time for a shower, but I couldn't go to a party with my hair looking like a greasy mess! I ran to the washroom and fumbled through the drawers for anything that would work as a quick fix. I came up with a bottle of baby-powder that might help to soke up some of the grease. Pouring a small pile into my hand I rubbed it into my hair - it did look better! I repeated the procedure a few times and finally my hair looked presentable. I had to remember that trick! My hair did look a little dull, but it was way better than it looked before. I threw my hair up into a messy bun and put a squirt of hair spray and a few bobby pins and a blue bow to add some spunk. I squirted a small amount of perfume on my collar and did a small amount of makeup before taking one last look at myself and running out the door.
Atom was sitting on the porch rocking back and forth tapping his watch, "party starts in a half an hour." He said.
"Well I'm done, so lets go." I said walking to the car and pulling open the door. Kylie had the front seat so I took the back behind Atom.
My stomach growled again, I was still pretty hungry, but there was no time to eat anything else now and I was sure they would have a mini-bar with some fruit or something at the party.
Atom started backing up but then stopped, "fuck!" He said angrily.
I looked at him surprised. "What's wrong?" I asked.
He smacked the horn on his car and it let out a tiny peep. "I forgot to turn off the stove!" He said in a panic.
"At your house?" I asked and he nodded speeding down the street toward his home.
"Isn't your parents home?" I asked.
"No." he said, "my dad went to one of his alcohol meetings." He said, and I looked at him again surprise crossing my face. Atom sighed, "my dad's been drinking again, but he's been off the bottle for a month now cause of the meetings. He goes every Monday, but it's just - you know." He paused, "something you don't talk about." He said, a frown coming to rest on his lips.
"I'm sorry." I said, "I didn't know." I had known his dad was a little bit of a drinker, but I never knew it had been such a big problem in his family.
Ever since his sister died I knew his father had taken up the bottle, but I had never seen the man drunk in person and had only herd it from Atom. July had died sometime in the fall and maybe that was why his dad was on the bottle around this time of year, his daughters anniversary of death was just around the coror.
Atom ran in the house and I followed him in just in case he had any problems. He opened the door and in a moment we were inside, we both breathed a sigh of relief as we checked around to be sure there was no fire. The stove wasn't even on.
"Thank god." He said, laying a hand on the stove and letting out a deep breath. There was a unlabeled box of pizza sitting on the stove and just looking at it and smelling it was making my mouth water.
My stomach growled again, I needed food and figure foods weren't going to cut it. "Hey Atom?" I asked.
"Yeah." He said turning to face me.
"Can I have a piece of that pizza?" I felt like a pig asking, but I was hungry.
"Oh yeah, sure!" He said handing me the box, "eat as much as you want!"
The pizza was still nice and warm and I guessed that was what he had been warming up with the stove. Looking around the house I noticed it looked like there had been a party. The pizza had mushrooms and green peppers, I had never liked mushrooms but when you are hungry everything tastes good!
"Did you have a party of your own?" I asked feeling left out having not being invited.
"Yeah..." He paused, "my dad was sober for the last month and this is the worst time of year for him so my mom thought it would be good to give him some kind of recognition." He looked at me, sadness in his eyes.
I finished my first piece of pizza and took a second for the road, closing the box and heading out the door.
Emma's boat was docked at the Hamilton Harbor and that wasn't far from Atom's house so it took a matter of ten minutes to get there. We didn't say much as we drove, but that was fine with me - I didn't feel like being social tonight.
"We're here!" Kylie hollered as we pulled into the parking lot. The boat wasn't really a boat, it was more like a mansion on water! It had three stories and a pool that I could see peaking over the side of the deck. The smell of chlorine filled the air making it slightly hard to breath.
"Wow!" I said under my breath, this was going to be a cool party and I was actually happy I wasn't missing it.
Lots of people were already there and there was a small line forming to get onto the dock. "Lots of people." Kylie said, stealing my thought from me.
"I know." I said, "will there be enough room?"
Kylie and Atom laughed, "Did you see that boat?" They said simotaliusly.
I chimed in with the laughter and slowly we joined the line to get onto the dock. There seemed to be a lot of people I recognized from school and even a few I didn't.
There was an older man who stepped up behind me with black hair and a pale face, he was slightly balding and couldn't have been past five-foot-six. Atom and Kylie moved up talking about something, but I stepped back to see who the man was. Why was he at a high school party?
He seemed surprised when I addressed him, "hey" I said, smiling, "how are you tonight?"
He paused, "um...I'm good...how about you?" He seemed nervous and this made me more suspicious.
"Yeah....it's going to be a huge party!" I said pointing at the boat.
"Yeah...I know." He said, and I wondered then, maybe he was a cop who was told about the party and was here to scope it out.
"Hey!" Atom said from a little ways in front of me, he gave me a wave telling me to hurry it up.
"Well...my friends are calling...talk to you later." I said looking beside me and seeing there was no one there, just an empty space. I took a quick look around, but there was no one, just teenagers looking to have a good time.
"Come on!" Kylie said, her big lips stretching open really wide for emphasis. I hesitated, but then ran up, maybe it was just my imagination? I stepped up onto the old wooden dock and it made a loud screech that hurt my ears almost as much as Kylie's voice does. Oh how my poor ears were taking a beating tonight!
Atom and Kylie were already on the dock looking at me with wide eyes, "What?" I asked as I walked up.
Atom squinted at me, "you feeling alright?" He asked lifting his hand up to touch my forehead but I swatted it away.
"I'm fine." I said looking at him suspiciously.
Kylie walked over and touched my shoulder, "hey guys! Personal space!" I took a few steps back, what was the matter?
Kylie stepped closer to me, "who were you talking to?" She asked, and Atom nodded.
I paused, "a man." I said, "he looked out of place because he was older, I thought he might be a cop or something."
Kylie looked at Atom, "there wasn't anyone there." She said slowly.
"He disappeared when you guys turned around because I was taking so long." I said, defending my actions.
"We were watching the whole time--it was like you were taking to the air." Atom said.
"He was there!" I said, getting defensive, were they trying to call me crazy?
"Ok." Kylie said throwing her hands up in the air, "believe what you will, but no matter what, we are having fun at this party."
Atom and Kylie walked on ahead and I stood there for a few moments re-accounting the events of the past few minutes. He had been there, I had seen him clear as day, there was no discounting that. Finally I decided, they just hadn't seen him, there were lots of people here, he was a short man.