Mother's Day
"Love you too, mom. Happy Mother's Day!" click! Ulrich had just gotten off the phone with his mom. He woke up his roommate, Odd, and the two of them quickly got ready for the day.
After about 15 minutes (10 of them spent on Odd putting in hair gel) the two of them headed over to Jeremie's room.
They entered to find Jeremie sleeping, which was a shock, considering the fact that he usually spends every second on the computer.
"Yo, Einstein! Wakey-wakey!" Odd yelled, shaking his friend.
"Yea, dude, it's Mother's Day! Get off your lazy butt and call your mom!" Ulrich added, handing the sleepy teen his cell phone. Jeremie made the phone call and the roommates went back to their dorm to call Yumi.
"Hello?" A muffled voice answered.
"Yumes, get over here! Holiday meeting!" Every holiday, the group gathered in Jeremie's room and hung out.
"Just let me get dressed and I'll be over there in a sec." Yumi said and hung up. She threw on her usual outfit, greeted her mom, and blasted out the door. She was at Kadic in a matter of minutes.
As soon as Yumi arrived, Odd called Aelita. It rang four times and went to voicemail. Odd pressed the end button.
"Her phone's on, but she's not picking up." Odd informed the group, closing his cell. "She should be up by now, and she always keeps her phone on her. You think she's o-" Jeremie was out the door before Odd even finished his sentence.
"I'm going to look for her!" He called over his shoulder.
I wonder where she is. Jeremie thought. "Wow, I'm stupid!" He exclaimed and headed towards the Hermitage.
Jeremie was right. As soon as he stepped foot in the old, previously deserted building, he heard light sobbing coming from Aelita's room upstairs. We went up and knocked on the door.
"Aelita, it's me." Jeremie slowly opened the door to find Aelita leaning against the side of her bed holding a photograph, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Hi." She said quietly, her voice full of sadness.
"What's wrong?" Jeremie asked worriedly. Aelita didn't say anything. She just held up the photo. It was of Aelita as a young girl, maybe seven or eight, smiling next to her mother.
"Aw, Lita, I completely forgot today's Mother's Day." Aelita just nodded. Jeremie sat down next to her and put his arm gently around her shoulders.
"I miss her so much." Aelita said.
"I know, Lita. I bet she misses you, too, wherever she is." Aelita began to cry again, and Jeremie pulled her into his scrawny, yet comforting arms. He stroked her hair as she sobbed into his chest, his shirt becoming increasingly wet from her tears.
The two teens sat against Aelita's bed until she was able to pull herself together about ten minutes later. She wiped her now red and swollen eyes and stood up. Jeremie rose with her and took her hand. They began walking back to Kadic to meet up with the group.
When they returned to Jeremie's dorm, everyone saw Aelita and Jeremie holding hands and smiled. Then they saw the wet spot on Jeremie's shirt and Aelita's puffy red eyes. Everyone immediately started asking questions.
"Aelita, are you okay?"
"What happened?"
"Where was she?"
Aelita began to explain what happened to her friends, but had difficulty holding back the tears when she started to talk about her mom. Jeremie led her over to his bed and they sat down. He wrapped an arm around her and she buried her head in is shoulder as he continued to explain for her. Everyone felt so bad for their pink-haired friend, but Yumi had an idea to cheer her up.
"Hey, Aelita, do you want to send a message to your mom?" She asked.
"How?" Aelita replied, her voice shaky from crying.
"I'll show you. Odd, do you have any balloons?'
"What makes you think I would have any balloons?"
"Remember when you bought that bag of balloons, filled them up with oatmeal, and threw them at Nicolas and Herve?"
"Yea."
"Do you have any left?"
"Yup!" Odd ran across the hall and came back with a blue deflated balloon. Yumi took it, inflated it (Odd had a helium tank, too- his helium voice is really funny and he likes annoying Ulrich with it at three in the morning), and tied a string to it. She handed Aelita a piece of paper and a pen.
"Write a message to your mom, then give me the paper." Yumi instructed. Aelita took it and began to write:
Dear Mom,
I miss you so much! It's Mother's Day, and I just wanted to tell you that I love you and I'm thinking of you. I hope you're happy, wherever you are. I know I'll see you again someday. I love you.
-Aelita
Aelita let Jeremie read the letter and then gave it to Yumi, who folded it and hole-punched the top of it. She took the end of the string that wasn't tied to the balloon and put it through the hole, tying it tightly. Then she told everyone to come outside.
Five minutes later, the five teens were standing in the middle of the soccer field, where there were no trees that the balloon could get caught in. Yumi gave the balloon to Aelita and everyone counted to three. Aelita loosened her grip on the string and it slid out of her hand. They stared at the balloon as it got higher and higher, until they couldn't see it anymore. When the balloon, now just a blue dot in the sky, was out of sight, the group headed back to Jeremie's room.
That night, after everyone went to bed, Jeremie pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. He quietly scribbled a quick note, being careful to disguise his handwriting, and folded it up. The young teen then slipped outside to Aelita's window, which was luckily open. He slipped the note into her room, making sure she wouldn't see him. Aelita picked up the paper and read it, a smile beginning to spread across her face. She read the paper aloud:
I love you too.
-Mom