Hey, you. Yeah, you. I, ElwynClark, own Ellen and Jo, nobody else.
June 5, 2010
7:50 AM
I pulled my shoelace through the last hole on my hi-tops. I looked at it silently then pulled out the entire lace then did the same with the other shoe. I'm not quite in the mood for purple today. I kicked off my shoes and rolled over on my bed to the nightstand. My box of shoelaces was sticking out from underneath the table and I located a pair of red. I silently relaced my shoes with the red laces and hopped out my room to the kitchen. Dad was leaning against the counter reading the newspaper, there was a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and I cursed silently under my breath once I saw it. We don't have a table in the apartment, so we have to eat all our meals leaning against the counter or at the couch in the living room. But hey, that's the price you have to pay when you're living in New York City.
"Those look different," Dad said as he looked at my shoes. I glared at his cigarette and he took it out of his mouth. He was supposed to quit, but he always goes back.
"Yeah," I said. "The purple on the white shoes weren't going well for me; I had to change it up." Dad chuckled quietly as I began to pour some cereal into a bowl. "What?"
"Hilarious, I don't have to buy you new shoes, just shoelaces." He laughed again and turned his attention back to the paper. I looked at my watch, 7:58.
"Shit!" I dumped the cereal back into the box and half of it skittered onto the floor. I looked down at the floor and groaned and heard dad laughing at me. I looked at him and he went silent and looked back at the paper. "When am I ever going to be on time?" I could still hear him snickering as I picked my way over the cereal and ran back to my room to grab my purse. "Bye Dad!" I yelled and left the apartment then sprinted down the hallway to the elevator. I searched my purse for my phone and dialed a number.
"Hello?" Jo answered slowly on the other end.
"Jo? It's me, why do you sound like you're asleep?" I asked.
"I wasn't asleep; I've been up for two hours for your information Ellen." I heard a huge yawn come from the other end of the line. "Sorry. I had to finish my paper."
"Jo, are you serious? We're in high school, seniors in high school. Like almost in college, I mean it's June. We graduate in like, ah two weeks."
"Your point?"
"I don't know anymore. I already got into college, did you?"
"Yes I did actually." I stepped into the elevator and pressed the ground floor button furiously.
"How? You don't do any of your work?" The doors slid closed and it started to go down.
"I got into Columbia, with help of my dad." I rolled my eyes at this. "Some other connections too."
"I think you just did some hacking and got in, I mean I'm going there and I have a 3.96 Jo! You better not expect to copy my answers when you get there."
"Oh come on, I never copied you. Well maybe once or twice. But I always copied that Sadie girl; I think she got in there too."
"Why can't you leave her alone? Just because she's smart doesn't mean you can walk all over her." The elevator stopped at the 10th level and the doors opened. An important looking man got on. He was wearing all black except for a white collared shirt. And for some strange reason he was wearing sunglasses inside. I shrugged.
"Hi," He said to me with a weird accent. Canadian maybe?
"Um, Hi?" I said back to him.
"Who are you talking too?" Jo asked me through the phone.
"This guy who just got on the elevator." I whispered. The doors closed and he looked over at me silently then nodded. I waved silently and focused on the door.
"Anyways, about Sadie. I should introduce you guys. I mean you're both smart and I don't think she has any friends except me."
"Jo, you're not her friend. You're using her to pass high school. This might fly at Stuy, (Our high school, Stuyvesant High School) but not at Columbia." The elevator creaked on. Jo stayed silent for a second, rare.
"I think you're right. Where are you?"
"On the elevator still." I looked at the guy out of the corner of my eye; he was just standing there patiently with his briefcase on the ground next to him.
"Tell it to go faster, I'm getting cold."
"It's June, and you're getting cold? Where are you?" I asked sarcastically.
"In Gristedes, I ran out of cheese-its last night."
"Since when do you get cheez-it's in the freezer aisle?"
"Hey, I'm wearing shorts and flip flops, would you like to be in a cold supermarket this early in the morning?" I sighed.
"No, but you need to get them now, right before school starts?" I checked my watch. 8:00. I hate elevators. "Well school actually started."
"Hold your emotions; it's not the end of the world. Big deal. You're late. One day."
"This is actually going to be the, hold on." I counted silently. "The thirty-second time that I'm going to be late this year. Which is the twenty-third time that I'm late the same day that you're late."
"Your point?" The elevator doors opened finally at the first floor, I started out of it.
"I didn't get your name," the man said to me.
"You don't need it." I responded. I tried to walk off the elevator again.
"I think I'm a friend of your father's." He picked up his briefcase and opened it and pulled out a planner. He opened the planner and flipped through it. I silently walked off the elevator and started making my way towards the street. He got off the elevator behind me.
"Damn it." I said.
"What?" Jo asked. I heard her crunch something. "It's only cheez-it's."
"It's too early for those, and besides. I think I'm being followed by a whacko."
"It's never too early for cheez-it's. I don't think I've ever had a day where I didn't want cheez-it's for dessert after breakfast."
"What do you mean by that?" I walked out the door outside, I looked back and he was still following me flipping through the planner.
"It means I have breakfast then I have cheez-it's after and it's kinda like a dessert." The man caught up with me on the street.
"I believe this is you." He said and pointed to a picture in the planner. "That's me, your dad, you, and my son." In the picture, his son, and him were both wearing sunglasses and hats; only I think we were inside somewhere.
"That's sensational." I said sarcastically.
"Of course it's sensational!" Jo yelled through the phone, I pulled my phone away from my ear.
"I have to go Jo; I'll text you in a minute." I said and ended the conversation with a click. I glanced at the picture once again; that was definitely Dad in the picture and I guess that was me. Dad doesn't have that many pictures of the past lying around.
"This was at Alan's wedding in back in 1998. You and him were both about 7 or 8 I think, that was right before we went in. Do you remember this?" I stared at the picture.
"I'm sorry sir. I don't want to get involved with anything." I started to walk away.
"But wait!" He ran up next to me. "I have a picture of your mom."
"That sounded wrong." I kept walking. "I haven't seen or heard from my mom since the day I was born, I have no idea what she looks like so don't try to pull something because I don't know what she looks like."
"Oh, ok." He said. "She looks just like you, well you have her, wait no you don't. You look just like your father." I kept walking but he kept up with me.
"Is this how you always spend your Friday mornings? Freaking out high school seniors?"
"Listen, you're father and I are cousins. I came to New York a couple weeks ago. I picked an apartment building and who'd a thought that we'd live in the same building."
"What a quinky dink." I said sarcastically.
"But the thing is I just got out of jail. I mean after that wedding in 98 I got put into jail and my son was sent to juvie. I don't know where he is now. I mean he could be in Chicago sitting in jail now or somewhere else across the world. I knew that Ray always told me that his doors were open in New York City. Now Chicago to New York is a big change and,"
"Wait," I stopped and turned towards him. "You're from Chicago?'
"Yes ma'm. Lived there my whole life until now." I started walking again.
"Well, welcome to New York. I've lived here for five years. I've never met someone from Chicago. What do you want from my dad and me?"
"Just some family."
"Really?" I asked in a syndical tone. "What were you planning on doing today?"
"I wasn't sure yet." I stopped again.
"Here let me give you my dad's number, he should still be home." I pulled up the contacts on my phone and found dad's number. He opened up that planner that the pictures were in. "Don't you have a phone?"
"No. Just got out of jail."
"Oh, ok then." I gave him the number and our apartment number. "This has been fun and all, but I have to go school now."
"Alright, thank you Ellen."
"How'd you know that was my name?"
"I have a good memory. I'll always remember your name." I started to walk away.
"Oh, ok then. Bye." I walked quickly to the nearby subway station. I sung quietly under my breath. "Remember my name, FAME!" I laughed silently and started down the stairs. "Is this guy really for real?" I ran down the rest of the stairs to the world of underground transit.
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