Well I'm Insane
Chapter One
You've seen the title, and it is justifiable. My insanity was caused by an obsession, you see, this may or may not be true, you decide. My obsession with ice age has always been obvious, but on September 6th 2011 it came to a whole new level...
It was a perfectly normal day, a long hard one it had been too. School was awful, I had three tests that day and I was sure I flunked the one in geography class. A chain letter text message had told me today was going to be the best day of my life, and that at some point before new years my biggest crush would kiss me, feh! I didn't have a crush, I was footloose, and even so I was only 13 years old. The worst part was, I had just moved there, and I missed all my best friends, Trevor, Jacob, Haley, and so forth. But that's not even the worst part, the worst part is, I was already half way to my bus, when I realized that I had forgotten my English homework, I yelled, "Oh son of a baryonix!" All eyes were on me, and not in the good way either. I turned beet red from the neck up, I could have died. "Sooo… um I, uh…" I stuttered, still embarrassed, this is the reason why your parents tell you it's rude to stare. I didn't know what to do or say, so I just used the old hipster fallback, I fisted my chest and did a piece sign and said, "Pieces!" With that I bolted to my locker. Pretty bad, huh? Yeah it sure was... especially since I had the homework with me the whole time.
Well it didn't make me late for the bus, and it could've been worse, I mean I could've had on a ponytail, then people would have been able to see my face. No, I wasn't going to get attached to anyone, so I wasn't going to get noticed. That's a tall order, for me anyways, let's just say I "voice my opinion" Meaning I'm a smart mouth, pretty loud too.
One of my favorite thing in the world to do after school was listen to music and read, I liked romance, fickle huh? Love songs and A Long Time Between Kisses by Sandra Scoppettoe, what more could I ask for?
After my homework was finished, I decided to get away from my brother for a while and go to nelson park. Nelson Park is in Arnegard, North Dakota, were I had moved. The best thing about Nelson is, it's only a little ways down the street from were our camper was parked. With my book bag on my shoulder, and my ear buds in, I rode my bike over to Nelson. My mp3 player was on fm so I couldn't choose the songs, but the DJ was good to me, my favorite songs were playing.
Then it played, one of my top ten favorite a songs,
Say you, say me,
Say it for always
That's the way it should be
Say you, say me,
Naturally
I began to sing along, I loved my Lionel Richie.
I had a dream,
I had an awesome dream
People in the park,
Playing games in the dark
And what they played,
Was a masquerade,
From behind the walls of doubt,
A voice was crying out
Say you, say me
Say it for always
That's the way it should be
Say you, say me,
Say it together
Naturally
I stepped off my bike and made my way towards the gazebo, still singing.
As we go down life, like a lonesome highway,
Seems the hardest thing we do,
is to find a friend or two
is to find the
that helping hand,
someone who understands
when you feel you lost your way,
you've got someone there to say:
ill show you
say you, say me,
say it for always
that's the way it should be
say you, say me,
say it together naturally
I stopped singing and took out my books, I only had a few pages left of A Long Time Between Kisses and I had another book ready to be read. It was called, Falling For Romeo, the first page was intensely romantic, my forte. The flowers were still in bloom, they were pretty shades of yellow and purple, that reminded me of my home team, the Gillette camels.
Then a memory hit me in the head, Trevor, Haley, and I at the wreck center, playing volley-ball outside the front door while we waited for our parents. We all had fun with each other all the time. Drama? Not in a million years. We were like family, all of us. We had our good times, but why was I sitting there reminiscing? Probably because I missed Wyoming.
My thoughts were interrupted by a kid walking on crutches entering the gazebo, I figured he was meeting someone here or something. He was around my age, 13, longish dark hair, golden brown eyes, and a pencil. Literally, he was so skinny he looked like you could push him over by poking him.
"Waiting for someone?" I heard him say, he was sitting now. I looked at him and gestured to myself like," Are you talking to me?" He nodded.
"No, you?" I replied, wierded out that some kid I had never seen before had addressed me.
"Actually I was looking for you." he replied, smiling. Now I was really wierded out, then I thought it was some cheesy pick-up line.
"For me?" I asked cautiously, reaching for the pepper spray in my pocket.
"You are Asia Lamb aren't you?" I know my name is weird, we've established that.
"Do I know you?" I asked.
"No, but I know you."
"How, exactly do you know me?" I pressed, I wanted answers, soon.
"Let me explain, you see, I am with a program called the I.D.C.A.."
This guys a loon, I thought, "And that acronym means...?" I kept on, motioning for him to continue.
"It means, the Inter Dimensional Children's Association." the kid explained, "We think you might be the perfect person for a job we need someone to do."
"Listen, kid-"
"Ray." he interrupted.
"Okay Ray, I would love to help you, but I don't think I should make any acceptations to the rule, "don't talk to strangers" because I don't feel like getting kidnapped." I sounded colder than I'd expected myself to, I didn't like to be rude, but hey, this kid was freaking me out.
Ray looked surprised, "Excuse me, but I think you should hear me out, after all this is a rare opportunity."
"How rare?" see, smart mouth.
"Once in a lifetime." Ray answered shortly.
"Okay, I've got time." I said, crossing my arms.
"Well," Ray started, crossing his arms the way I had, "the I.D.C.A. is an organization that sends young kids, around our age, into alternate universes."
"Such as…?" I asked.
"Such as, Ice Age." Now he had my attention, I'm sure my eyes lit up like roman candles, this is were my obsession got worse.
"Ice Age? As in, the movie trilogy?" I asked hopefully.
"Yep, and we want you to go to the world of ice age, because we've interviewed some of your family and friends, they tell us things about you that tell us you're perfect for the job."
"Really? Wow, well, what kind of job are you suggesting?" I was starting to believe him more and more.
"Yes, really. The job is to, well really just go to the heard and, uh…" his voice trailed off.
"Do What?" I asked, I was eager to say yes, but I didn't know what he wanted me to do just yet.
"Well, people tell us that you are a, sweet, smart, funny, understanding, overall good person." I blushed, people told me that, but I didn't know they said it to other people too, "We want you to go, join the heard, and just, well, be you. We think they need a you."
"I'll do it." I blurted out. It wasn't really me saying it, it was my common sense.
Ray's face lit up, "Great, you start in a week, we will contact your mother and let her know you will be in the I.D.C.A.. Don't worry about school, we bring you back for a day or two and for an hour of that time we will put a helmet on you and the knowledge will just, well, be there."
"What if my mom doesn't want me to do this?" I asked nervously, "She might not want me going into the world of ice age. I mean, I'm only 13." That was actually a good point, but ray didn't seem fazed.
"Oh trust me, she will, especially since we can change your age, appearance, and species. I mean, really, how silly would it be to go to the world of ice age as a 13 year-old girl?" ray made a better point.
"So I can choose witch animal I will be? And how old?" I asked
"Yep, and how you will look too." Ray's phone rang suddenly. "Hello?" Ray answered it, "Yes I have her right here in front of me… she said yes… okay… yeah we will meet you there…" Ray hung up the phone. "Go home, and tell your mom about this, we'll call her in thirty minutes, and tomorrow get her to drop you off at the Raw Energy, okay?"
I nodded, picking up my things getting ready to leave. "Okay I'll see you then, oh," I opened my bag and took out a pen and a post-it, and wrote down my cell phone number, "If you need to contact me before then, this is where you can reach me." I said, holding out the post-it. With that I walked down the three steps out of the gazebo, and ran to get on my bike.