I woke up around ten the next morning and stumbled into the kitchen, dressed in boxers and an old workout tee. My mom was in the dining room, working on bills and stuff for the resteraunt.
"Morning sweetie," she called quietly. Jack was stil asleep and would be until at least noon, or until someone woke him up.
"Morning," I mumbled in response. I went to the fridge and got out a pitch of orange juice. I poured myself a glass and sat down on a stool at the kitchen island.
"Did you sleep well?" my mom asked, walking into the kitchen with her coffee cup.
I shrugged in resopnse. "Sure. You?"
"Not bad," she said, pouring herself another cup of coffee. "Sorry I was so out of it last night, tough day at the resteraunt." When I got home last night, it was nine thirty. My mom was laying on the couch in front of the T.V. in the living room, half-aslpeep and Jack was playing video games in his bedroom. I told my mom I was home, said good night, then went into my bedroom. I planned to go to sleep but my mind replayed the night over and over again, distracting me from sleep for at least an hour. I wrote down every detail in my journal and fell asleep smiling. "So did you have fun last night?"
I shrugged and took a drink of my juice to hide my smile. "It was alright."
"Well what happened? Why did you go to the park?"
"Zane had a baseball game at the park. We all went to this place called Lucy's"
"Who all was there?"
I shrugged again. "Just Charlotte, Brian, and Zane."
My mom smiled and dug aroung in the fridge for her coffee cream. "Sounds like fun."
"It was. Oh, and Zane won his game."
"How nice for Zane," my mom said, still smiling.
"What's so funny?" I asked defensivly.
My mom shook her head. "Oh nothing. Just that, Zane didn't really strike me as your type."
My checks fluched red out of frustration and embarassment. "What do you mean not my type? I don't even like him!" My mom giggled and my anger. "I don't! Besides, I don't have a "type"."
She ignored me and continued making her coffee. "So what's up with the lawn?"
It took me a second to figure out what she was talking about. "What are you... Oh!" The flowers from last night. Busetd... "Well I-" Just then, the phone rang. "Got it!" I yelled, hopping up from my seat. My mom laughed at me as I tore down the hallway into the living room. I snatched the phone up from the dock and looked at the caller I.D. It was a cell phone number I didn't recognize. Normally, I ignored calls from unknown numbers. But after last night, I had a small hope it might be Zane.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Alice?" The voice that answered was definatly not Zane. It was a girl. The only girls I knew were Tammy and Charlotte, but it was pretty obvious as to which was on the other end of the phone line.
"Hey Charlotte, what's up?"
"Oh my gosh!" she yelled. I pulled the phone away from my ear. "When exactly were you plannning on telling me?"
"What are you talking about?" I yelled back.
"Don't play dumb!" she asnwered. I walked into my room and shut the door, so as to not give my mom any more amunition to make fun of me. "I know you kissed Zane last night!"
I flopped down on my bed and sighed. "I didn't kiss him. He kissed me."
I heard Charlotte sigh on the other end, like she was talking to a child. "It's the same thing Alice."
"Um, no, it's not. Not if it's on the cheek."
I heard Charlotte take a breath to argue with me but at my last few wowrds, she went silent. "The cheek?" she asked.
"Don't sound to disappointed," I grumbled sarcastically.
"No no!" Charlotte said. "I didn't mean anything, I swear!"
"No, it's fine," I said, laying back on my bed. I picked up a new book and started to read the back.
"It's not like his kissing you on the cheek is a bad thing you know," she rambled. I could tell she was trying to cover up the blunder she made before, but she was doing an awful job of it. "I mean, he was probably just nervous. There's nothing wrong with it."
"Dude, it's fine," I assured her. "I don't even like him." I was totally lying.
Guess Charlotte could tell I was lying. "You so do!" she squealed. "Why won't you just admit it?"
"There's nothing to admit!" I fought back. I got up from my bed and started to pace anxiously around my bedroom.
"Listen Alice, we're friends right?"
"Sure," I shrugged.
"Then you have to trust me!"
Ah, that word. After being let down by my father so many years before, trust was not a word freely thrown around in my house. My mom had been hurt by him more than Jack or I but the pain was still there, in all of us. The word trust was almost feared in this house. After knowing Charlotte for not even a month, she expected me to trust her? In her perfect world, that might have been easy. But my father's disapperance had left my family scarred. Charlotte seemed like a nice girl and I'm sure she was plenty trustworthy. But I just couldn't take that risk.
"Alice, are you still there?"
Charlotte's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Huh?"
"I was just saying, that I talked to Brian," she said.
"About what?" I asked.
"Zane and you," she answered. "Brian is Zane's best friend. So when Zane got home last night, he called Brian and told him what happened, along with a few other datails. Brian then called and told me, even though Zane told him to not tell anyone. Brian only told me because I asked him to keep me informed on the inner workings of Zane's mind on the topic of you."
"What kind of details?" I asked. "I mean, what kind of details did Zane tell Brian?"
"I knew you'd want to know!" Charlotte squealed with a smile in her voice. "Alright, so I'll start at the beginning. Brian walked me home after we left Lucy's. I was about to go to bed when Brian called me on my cell. He said Zane just called and told him that you two kissed."
"He kissed me," I interupted irratably.
"Whatever!" Charlotte continued. "Anyway, Brian said Zane sounded so happy! Like, the happiest he's been since the whole thing with Ariel exploded in his face."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes really! Why else would I be calling you at ten thirty in the morning on a Sunday?"
I opened my mouth to say something else, but the doorbell rang. "Charlotte, you aren't at my house by any chance, are you?" I asked hopefully.
"No," she answered, confused. "Why?"
"Shit," I muttered. "Charlotte, I gott go. There's an annoying witch at my door."
Charlotte laughed. "Try not to hurt anyone today, O.K. Alice?"
"No promises," I said and hung up. I threw the phone on my bed and stomped out of my room.
My mom was already at the door. "Alice, don't," she warned when she saw me.
"She woke up Jack!" I hissed quietly as Jack stumbled out of his room.
"Who's at the door?" he asked, still half-asleep.
"No one you need to worry about," I answered, then turned back to my mom. "You and I both know she won't leave this house unntil she gets what she wants. And she won't stop ringing that damn bell, until somone answers the door!"
"Jack, go back to bed sweetie. Alice, chill out. You haven't talked to her in weeks. There's nothing for you to be angry with her about." She reached for the door and opened it to find Tammy. Shocker! "Good morning Tammy," my mom said brightly. "Do you need something?"
This morning, she was wearing a brown cami and bright pink bootie shorts. "I can hear you guys talking about me you know," she squeaked.
"Then you would think you've taken the hint to stop coming over here," I cooed sarcasticaly. Jack, who was still standing behind me, chuckled.
"Alice," my mom scolded. She turned back to Tammy. "Why don't you come in."
But Tammy shook her messy brown mane and crossed her arms. "No. I just need to talk to Alice. Alone." I rolled my eyes and looked at my mom. I told you so!
"It's a little early, don't you think?" my mom asked. But Tammy just stood there, giving what I'm sure she thought was an intimidating stare.
I sighed and walked ouitside. "Make it fast," I grumbled. Tammy started walking and I reluctantly followed her. I heard Jack running around the house, looking for the best look out post. He must have decided upon my room because I saw him peek out of my open window. Tammy walked to the end of my drive, then turned to face me. "What do you want now?" I asked.
"Don't you talk to me like that!" she snapped.
I scoffed at her. "Please! You're the one who wants to talk to me! About something totally pointless and annoying no doubt. So just do me a favor and make it quick?"
"How about you do something for me for once?" she snapped, glaring at me.
"What he hell are you talking about!"
"What are you, stupid?" she huffed. I heard Jack gasp from where he sat in my room, then he laughed to himself. He knew something was about to go down.
"Enlighten me," I growled.
"I'll make this easy for you," she said softly. She leaned in a little closer to me and said the stupidest thing I've every heard: "Stay away from Zane."
I'll admit it, I laughed. Hard. Like, fall on the ground hard. The wind kicked up, the grass in my lawn grew taller. I think I even heard Jack laughing too. "I don't see what's so funny!" Tammy squealed angrily. She kinda sounded like a pig in pain. The thought of that mde me laugh even harded.
"How can you now see the humor behind that!" Jack hollered from my wimdow.
Tammy whipped around and glared at him, which made us both laugh harder. Her little face turned red and she balled up her fists. "I'm serious!" she yelled.
"I'm sure you are," I gasped. "That's why it's funny!"
"Alright, fine," she growled. "Let's see how funny you think this is." With that, she shape shifted into a huge red snake. I wipped a tear from my eye and started to chuckle again. Until I saw she wasn't headed for me. She was slithering for my window.
"Jack!" I screamed. His head popped up from the ground, his face red with laughter. I sent a gust of air flyng towards the Tammy snake, but she slithered out of it's way. I ran towards her but she was already in my room. "Use your powers Jack!" I gathered a ball of fire in my hands and lept into my room, but it was to late. She sank her teeth into his leg as he was calling upon his power. I could see the shadows in the room grow, then shrink back to their original size. With no professional training, he wasn't fast enough with his powers to protect himself in a crisis situation. Jack screamed as the venom of Tammy's teeth sank into his blood stream. My mom came running into the room, but I was quicker. I sent the ball of fire flying at Tammy and she let go of Jack with a little yelp. She turned to glare at me, then changed into a bear. My mom ran to Jack's side as he cried and Tammy lunged at me with one of her massive paws. I quickly dodged her, and jumped back ourside. Tammy followed me and got down on all fours.
Angry tears blured my vision but I swiped them away with my water power. I sucked the water out of the clouds and the air, then sent it flying at the bear. The force of the hit knocked her on her back but she was quickly recovering. Damn, she really has been practicing! But she still wasn't good enough to beat me. I gathered the water back up and froze it to ice spears. I sent them flying at her and she roared with pain when they hit. The bear changed back into a helpless little girl, her hair even messier that before and her cami torn. She was on her hands and knees, breathing heavy. I kicked the ground and she flopped over on her back. I stomped over to her and used the tree roots to hold her to ther ground. I was madder than I have been in a long time and she knew it. There was fear in her eyes when she saw me gather angry fire into my hands. My hair blazed orange and my eyes stung with hot tears.
"Alice, no!" I turned and saw my mom by the car, holding Jack. "Come on!" She put Jack in the back seat and hurried around to the driver's side. I took a look at Tammy, laying there all pathetic and scared, then I looked back at my mom's car. Jack was inside it, crying and possibly dying because of what Tammy had done. But he needed me now. I extinguished the fire in my hands. The fire in my hair calmed down, but didn't go out. I stomped on the ground to release Tammy. Then I sprinted over to the car and jumped in. Even before I shut the door, my mom peeled out of the driveway and sped down the road. I turned in my seat to look at Jack. He was laying in the back seat, sobbing, clutching his leg, which was starting to turn a sickly purple color.
"Mom, I can fix him," I said. She didn't appear to have haerd me. She just kept her eyes on the road. I turned back to my brother. "It's O.K. kiddo. You're gonna be O.K."
