"Damn it Audrey, you're going to make me cry!" said Jenny, while trying to secretly wipe a tear away from her eye.
I was already at Jenny's house, in her basement, watching the video that Val recorded. She gave me the CD of it, at the end of school. I was a little confused on how Val got it to me so quickly, but she explained that she was taking a video class as an elective that year. That surprised me, but I didn't want to extend my time at school, so I made a mental note to ask about it later. I thanked her quickly, and drove straight to Jenny's house. I didn't even change out of the school uniform, and its very uncomfortable.
Anyways, Jenny started to basically tear up as the video started, and one tear escaped her eye when I correctly guessed her charmed that she picked out.
"So my conclusion is, thank you," I heard my voice say, on the TV.
"Nooo," said Jenny, "thank you for being the bestest friend a bat shit crazy girl like me could ever ask for."
I smiled, and Jenny leaned over the couch to give me a hug. I returned the hug, and we released shortly. It was this moment that everything started to feel normal again, after that strange shopping day at the mall. I still wonder what Jenny couldn't tell me that day. Jenny got up up from the couch to turn off the DVD player and the TV.
"So how was your birthday at school?" asked Jenny. I wasn't used to Jenny asking me this question. I mean yeah, we went to the same school, took a lot of the same type of classes, so we basically knew how school was going for us. But she wasn't there anymore.
"Oh, ya know, the usual boring stuff," I said, shrugging.
This was true. I met all my teachers and they went over what the classes would be like. And being on my fourth year of high school, I knew what to expect from each of my classes. My private school was harder than the public school. We had basically only advanced classes and way more homework than the public high school. Actually, I could already feel the homework in my backpack in my car, staring at me. I would usually get a head start on my homework by the time I got home, so the guilt was hitting me hard.
"How was your first day?" I asked Jenny. She had joined me back on the couch.
"Hm...way more interesting than it has been in a long time," said Jenny.
"What happened?" I asked, I could feel there was more to this story.
"Oh, well first Kane took me under his wing," said Jenny. "Which ya know is weird, because he never has done that before. Always, let me fly alone."
"Maybe he felt bad for you?" I asked. Jenny looked at me like, yeah right. Kane definitely wasn't the type of twin to do everything with their other half. He was protective of her though, but not in the way where he was glued to her side.
"Well anyways," said Jenny, rolling her eyes, "he acted totally weird. Like he was giving all these death glares to all these guys. And that doesn't help making new friends."
"Are you sure he was giving death glares? Maybe he just wanted to spend some time with you," I said. This didn't sound like Kane either. He loved Jenny, of course, but they fought like cats and dogs a lot.
"Yeah, well, whateves," said Jenny, shrugging. "I met a few people in my classes that seem nice. Oh, and no homework tonight which is great."
I felt the guilt even more. I really needed to go home and start on my homework, soon. But then I quickly looked at the time on my phone and I had a mild heart attack. It was already after four, and I needed to stop at the store to get a few school supplies, too.
"Speaking of which," I said slowly, "I think I have to go and work on my homework."
I gave Jenny another hug, and she walked me to her door. We said our goodbyes, and I was off to the store to buy some new school supplies.
Jenny understood why I had to leave so early, so she didn't give me much of a hassle. She also knew that I liked to start on my homework earlier and she was always the opposite. She always did procrastinate as long as she could. Sometimes even finishing homework a few minutes before class started. I shook my head, I still don't know what she did it sometimes.
I always wondered why Jenny stayed at the private school. I know she hated the workload, she didn't care for the teachers, and she always wondered about the high school parties. Kane would go to a few of them, and he always came home with a glow to his face, according to Jenny.
I had finally reached my local Wal-Mart after a few minutes, and I quickly parked my car. I shouldn't be too long, considering I wasn't going to be buying a lot of stuff. I got out of my car, locking it, and quickly walked inside. I didn't want to stay too long at Walmart, considering the late start I had on my homework already.
Luckily, the school section was in the front of the store. I turned down the first aisle, and I seen that it was a huge mess. Carts were down the aisle where, I couldn't' even walk down them. Not to mention folders and notebooks were on the ground, with the wheel from the cart marked on them. Families were everywhere, picking out what supplies they needed and wanted. There was no way, I was going to fight a few families to get my stuff.
I knew that they had an office section, so I decided just to head down there. It was usually cleaner and less crowded, but some of the stuff could be a little bit more expensive. I tried not to think about that, since I was only getting a few things. Besides I don't think my parents would mind too much. I had reached the office section, and turned down the first aisle.
There were a few boxes full of different folders, one of the items I needed, and I started to look through them. As I was picking out a few fun patterned folders, there was a voice behind me.
"We had the same idea, huh," said the voice.
I turned around, a little confused on who it might be. Standing there was Kane. I was a little surprised, but then again I was at the nearest Walmart. But still, I know Kane's mom or Jenny usually picked up his own school supplies. Kane apparently, hated picking out his own, according to Jenny.
"Yeah," I said, struggling to hold some of my favorite folders in my arm, while holding the box to look through some more.
"Let me get that," said Kane, while trying to grab the folders in my arm. I let him.
"Thanks," I said, going back to pick out a few more folders.
"There's carts or baskets at the front if you didn't know," said Kane. I rolled my eyes.
"Must of missed them," I said. "Anyways, what are you doing here?"
I grabbed my last two folders from the box, and turned towards Kane to take my folders back from him. But instead he had them in his basket. I frowned. I could carry my own folders.
"Isn't it obvious?" said Kane. "Getting some last minute school supplies."
So he was here to get school supplies. That means that his mom and Jenny were probably too busy to go. But still Jenny loved to go school supply shopping, so I know she would have made time for it. However, I decided to let this part go.
"I can carry my own folders, Kane," I said, motioning to the basket.
"I know, but I got it," said Kane. He reached over me, his arm almost glazing my chest, and grabbed the plain colored folders. He dropped them in his basket on top of my folders. I quickly noted they were the cheap paper ones and Jenny would never have picked those kinds out for him. But I let it slide. Instead, I added my folders on top of his.
"Well, I only need a few more items, anyways," I said, turning around to the notebooks.
"Same," said Kane. "How was your first day?"
"Boring, the usual," I said, shrugging.
I found five notebooks, and dropped them in the basket. I watch Kane walk a few steps further down, and grabbed a few plain notebooks. I understand if boys don't like the graphic ones, but I know Jenny would usually try to find a few of those for Kane. But then again, maybe he never liked those kinds anyways.
"How about yours?" I asked, while motioning to him to go to the next aisle for the pencils and pens.
"Good. It was fun to watch Jenny almost get lost," said Kane.
He smiled to himself, while looking at the plain mechanical pencils. I was looking at the slightly more expensive pencils, but they had way more function to them. I really enjoyed the ones where the eraser moved up and down, it definitely came in handy.
"Did you help her out?" I asked. I already knew the answer to this question, but I'm pretty sure he didn't know that I knew. I grabbed two packages of the pencils and dropped them in the basket.
"Of course," said Kane. "I'm worried that she's going to get lost tomorrow, though." He grabbed a package of the cheap mechanical pencils and dropped them in the basket.
"You'll want two of those packages," I smiled, while grabbing another one and dropping it in the basket.
He smiled his thanks to me. I turned around to the pens. I fucking love pens. Pens are life. They come in so many colors nowadays, its insane. I could literally drop like a $100 and not have a care in the world if I did. But even though my parents were pretty well off, I still felt bad for them for paying for all of my school supplies. So I usually just bought a decent pack of the ball point pens, with a few different colors, and quickly get out of there.
"Did you talk to her, today?" asked Kane. I nodded my head, reaching for the pens. "Did she mention anything about the transfer?"
I frowned, and stopped my arm in mid air. I wondered why Kane would be wondering, if Jenny mentioned on why she was transferring at the end of her high school life. I had to think for a second to remember if she did mention anything.
"Yeah, she mentioned something about money," I said. It was that moment that explained everything that Kane was doing. He was buying the cheapest school supplies for a reason, and not just because that kind of stuff is still decent to use. It was also at that moment, that I was confused. Kane and Jenny's family wasn't loaded, but they each had very good jobs teaching English at the community college.
"Of course she did," said Kane. "Keep this between us?"
I was even more confused on why he was asking if we could keep this between the three of us. I barely ever kept a secret away from my friends. Especially, if it was about Jenny, since Jenny was usually there to tell them, too. But I realized she hasn't told the rest of the group, too much about the random transfer either. And this could explain Jenny's weird behavior at the mall, the other day.
"You got it," I said, grabbing the pens, and putting them in the basket. "You good?"
"Yep," said Kane, "I got everything."
As we walked to the cash register, we didn't really talk too much. He mostly stayed silent, and so did I. I didn't really know what to say to him, as this was definitely the longest conversation I've had with him in a long time. When we reached the line, he pulled out his stuff and gave me the basket with my stuff still inside of it. I mumbled a thanks, and he paid for his stuff first.
As I waited to paid for my stuff, noticing that Kane was waiting for me. Which was usual. I thought by now that he would ditch me, as we barely ever hung out, but he was totally being nice and even a gentleman to me. He didn't even say anything about my uncle.
Anyways, I paid for my stuff, grabbed my bags, and started to walk out with Kane by my side. This was definitely one of the weirdest moments between us. Even weirder than when he asks about my uncle, which is definitely weird on the outside.
"Hey, Audrey," said Kane, right as I was walking up to my car. I turned around, to look at him.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Happy birthday," said Kane.
I blinked once. Twice. I was shocked. Kane had never said happy birthday to me. Mostly because I rarely ever saw him on my birthday. But I was still surprised that he even knew it was my birthday. I guess Jenny most of said something to him. But before I could sputter out a thank you, he was already getting into his car. Well shit, missed my chance.
I got in my car, and started to drive home. I couldn't help stop thinking about Kane's actions with buying the cheap school supplies, the money issues in the family, Jenny's transfer, and Kane remembering my birthday.
Something strange was definitely going on in that family.
And I knew that I would find out eventually.
I just hoped it was sooner rather than later.
♥ ♥ ♥
When I finally got back home, I walked inside, immediately smelling something cooking in the kitchen. I dropped my backpack and bags near the door, and took off my shoes, before walking into the kitchen. There was my dad, stirring a big pot of tomato sauce. I'm guessing that we were going to have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. It smelled so good, so far.
"Audrey, you're home finally," said my dad, turning a little towards me.
"Yeah," I said. "I had to stop at Jenny's house to show her something and stop at the store for some school supplies."
"Ah," said my dad, "that explains everything. Your mother won't be home until late. She's a little behind."
I nodded. This wasn't unusual. My mom was a doctor at the hospital, and saving lives takes time. Lots of time. When I was younger, she wouldn't be at the hospital as much, though. It wasn't until I was in high school, that she started to stay a lot longer. I didn't mind too much, though. My mom was definitely a hard worker, and she loved what she did.
My dad was just a manager at a fast food restaurant. Not McDonald's though. He used to work as a bricklayer, but he unfortunately had to quit due to back problems. He loved his job, but he took this as an opportunity to be able to work shorter hours and to be able to stay home more. That's how he stumbled into fast food, and since he did like to see people enjoy their food, he got the managers jobs after a few years.
"When is dinner going to be ready?" I asked.
"In a few minutes," said my dad. I frowned. I wouldn't be able to really start on my homework before dinner. But that's fine, since my dad always eats dinner early. Most of the time dinner was always ready around 5:30.
"I'll set the table then," I said. I walked over to the cabinet and grabbed some plates and forks.
"How's your birthday? Your mom really wanted to spend some time with you today, but I'm sure you're pretty busy as it is," said my dad.
"Jenny and the rest got me this bracelet," I said, while holding up my wrist towards my dad. He looked at it.
"Wow, that looks great," said my dad.
I smiled and nodded. I continued to set the table, as he finished cooking. My mind kept wandering back to the bracelet, Kane, and the sleepover I'm suppose to have this Friday. As my dad, bought the food over and sat down, I thought I mind as well remind him of the sleepover.
"The girls are coming over Friday," I said, while serving myself. My dad nodded like he remembered.
"Just clean up the house a little bit," said my dad. I nodded. "Your mom and I will probably go up to the cabin that weekend. It'll give you guys alone time."
The cabin was a little one bedroom cabin that my mom and dad owned. It was about five miles out of the suburb, and unlike most cabins it really wasn't in a forest. Trees did surround the cabin, but not really enough to call it a forest, and a man made lake was also on sight. Even i it was just a few trees and a small lake, it was really nice up there. My parents always liked to go up there during the weekends to get away from work and other things. They usually made me stay at Jenny's or another friends house, if they went up for the whole weekend, but this time I would get to stay and have friends over. Sweet. I liked being an adult, for once.
"Really?" I asked, a little surprised.
"Yup," said my dad, "we thought it would be a nice gift for you. Besides we trust you and your friends. But let this be a sign that if we see any evidence of a party, we're never going to let you stay here alone again."
I quickly promised that I would never throw a party, and he took it. After that, we mostly ate our food and chatted about our days and other boring topics. Although, it was pretty boring I always liked to talk to my dad during dinner. It helped formed a bond between us, and it was always a nice little escape from the world.
♥ ♥ ♥
After dinner, I quickly went upstairs to work on my homework assignments. To be fair, I didn't have a ton of homework, but certainly more than what I wanted to do. But nonetheless, I finished my homework a little bit before nine o'clock. My official bedtime was 11, but even I knew that my parents didn't really check on me. I decided to call Jenny, since we didn't have a very long chat today, and I just wanted to spend a little bit more time with her. However, the phone rang and rang, with no answer. I was a little worried since, Jenny always had her phone on her and would always answer it when I called.
I shrugged it off, thinking maybe she was also doing homework or was in the shower or something. So I decided to go and visit her. She didn't live far, and I had about two hours to kill anyways. After I grabbed a light hoodie, so I wouldn't get cold, I went downstairs and left the house. I started my walk to Jenny's house, while shooting a quick text to my parents that I would be home before 11 and I was just visiting Jenny's real quick.
I got to her house, pretty quickly, so I got up to the door and rang her doorbell. I noticed there was a few cars in the driveway which I thought was a little strange, because of the time. But hey, I was also visiting someone pretty late, so I couldn't judge too much.
There was no answer at the door, however. I was confused. There was not only Jenny's car in the driveway, but Kane's as well. Not to mention the two other cars there. I frowned and rang the doorbell again. Nothing. This time, I decided to just walk through their door. I've done it before, but I always hated to do it since, it made me feel so awkward.
"Hello?" I cried out.
I heard some video game noise coming from the basement. I definitely knew Kane and probably some of his friend were hanging out down there. I personally thought that maybe they would all still be doing their homework, but whatever.
I walked up the first two steps, to see Jenny's room, and her bedroom light wasn't on. I frowned. I thought for sure she would be home, because her car was still in the driveway. And I knew she wasn't sleeping, since she never went to bed before midnight. I sighed.
I turned around and turned towards the basement door, I slowly opened the door, and it squeaked opened. If I wanted to be sneaky, that was now over. And it was officially over when Kane called out to me.
"Jenny, I thought we agreed that you went out with friends and mine came over," yelled Kane, upstairs to me.
"I'm not Jenny," I said.
I heard the game's music stop, like someone paused the game. Probably Kane, since he was surprised that it was actually me at the basement door, and not Jenny.
"Thanks for telling me where she is. I'll let myself out," I said. I started to close the basement door, when I heard Kane call out again.
"Wait, McDonald, hold up," said Kane.
I assumed he was now walking up the steps to talk to me, but I really wasn't in the mood. If I was honest, I was a little jealous that Jenny was out with other friends. Granted, she just transferred schools and she should be making more friends at that school, but it still stung. I was almost to the door, when I heard Kane right behind me. I have no clue how he ran up those stairs so fast, but I let him talk.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" asked Kane. I heard some more footsteps coming up the stairs now. I shrugged my shoulders.
"I wanted to see Jenny," I said. His friends are now coming out of the door, and I realized that two of the four of them, I recognized. I couldn't quite picture where I've seen them last, but I knew I've seen them before.
"Shouldn't you call first?" asked Kane. His friends snickered behind him. Ugh, I hate guys. They like never understood me.
"I did," I said. "She never answered." I shrugged once more, and taking a small step backwards to tell them that I just wanted to leave.
"She's hanging out with Julie Barton," said Kane.
Clearly, he didn't get the hint. And now my suspicion was confirmed. She was hanging out with other people. Without me. Not even telling me about them. I felt another pang in my chest.
"Well great," I said, turning around.
"Audrey," said Kane. "Julie probably stole her phone. She hates when people are not paying attention to her. She's like that. Don't take it too seriously."
"Great," I mumbled, "like that's going to make me feel better."
"Dude, you should invite them over Kane," said one of his friends. "Julie is hot."
"Oh and Jenny, too," said another one of his friends.
I took this moment to quickly open the front door, holding back the tears I had in my eyes. I would not cry in front of strangers. I just couldn't. That would be way too embarrassing. Besides, I knew that Kane would give his friends shit for thinking that Jenny is hot. He was a little too over protective of his twin sister. It was kind of nice in one way, to have a loving brother. I never got to have any siblings. Either way, I didn't want to see what Kane would do to those guys.
I walked out of the door, hearing Kane start to say something to his friends. I sighed, and closed my eyes tightly. I could feel one tear drop down my face, but I knew I had to put one foot in front of the other. So I started to walk back to my house, one step at a time.
When I finally made it back, I went upstairs to my room, and fell asleep, quickly. I heard my phone go off in the middle of the night, but I ignored it. To be honest, I wasn't in the mood to talk to whoever was calling, my guess was Jenny.
However, all I could think about while sleeping was those two familiar friends of Kane. But then I realized that they had to be the guys from the mall. Tyler was the name of one of them and the other guy was blond. They were definitely there. I wondered why they would me. They of course knew Jenny, based on her brother, but why me? They definitely knew who I was at the mall, and I bet they recognized me again today.
Then another thing startled me. I have never missed a call from Jenny, even if I was sleeping. We had a code. Always answer the phone, if you hear it. Sleeping wasn't an excuse, and there were plenty of times when I had to wake up to answer the phone and vise versa.
This was a first.
And once again, I felt scared.