On the first day of summer vacation Ephram was sitting on his bed, reading a Ranma ½ manga, when the phone rang. Knowing that Delia would answer, he ignored it. About twenty seconds later he heard her shout up the stairs, "Ephram, you have a phone call."
"Take a message."
"Ephram answer the phone."
"I'm not home!"
By that time Delia was in the doorway. "God Ephram, it's not like you're doing anything important in here. Just answer the damn phone," Delia threw the phone at him, while he sat there gawking at her. She had sworn at him. Granted 'damn' isn't a swear, but when you're nine, and talking to your brother it's a bit shocking to hear. Although, he knew exactly where she had picked it up. He and his father weren't exactly quiet when they argued.
When he had gotten over his shock, he put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Ephram? It's Mrs. Green."
"Mrs. Green? As in Jordan's mother? Is everything alright?"
"Well, that's why I called."
*****
"So explain to me what happened," Amy said on the other end of the phone. She couldn't believe what had happened.
"Well, apparently Jordan was driving home from school yesterday, and she wasn't paying much attention, because, well it's the last day of school, and she was excited. And so anyway, she wasn't paying much attention and she ran a red light, by accident. Someone else went to go at the same time and crashed right into the driver's side of the car. She's in the hospital, and it doesn't look to good."
"Oh my god, Ephram, that's horrible."
"I know. I'm going to the hospital now to visit her."
"I'm coming with you."
"What? No. Amy you can't. You just can't."
"Fine then, I'll meet you there. She's in Denver right?"
"Yeah, but just stay there. I'll come pick you up."
"Good."
"Alright I'll see you in a minute."
*
"Hey, Danny-girl," Ephram said walking into Jordan's hospital room.
"Danny-girl?" Amy looked at him like he was crazy.
"It's a nickname," he shrugged.
"Would you guys cut it out? God you've been here ten seconds and you're already fighting."
"Sorry, we didn't realize that you were awake," Ephram said while walking over to sit in the chair next to her.
"I wasn't."
"Sorry," Amy and Ephram said at the same time.
"Whatever. I'm glad you guys can to see me."
"How do you feel?" Ephram asked. He was off topic and utterly blunt, and it caught both the girls off guard. Amy smacked him in the arm and Jordan just glared at him.
"Ephram, how do I look like I feel? I'm cut and bruised. I don't even remember how many broken bones I have; it's something like 12. I don't know if they informed you but I've already been through surgery to fix God knows what inside me. And I have a tube shoved up my-"
"Please don't finish that sentence," Amy said, and both girls laughed.
"I think I missed something," Ephram said, looking at the girls
"You did. And you should be happy about it," Jordan retorted.
"Believe me I am."
"If you guys don't mind, I think I'm gonna take a nap. I'm getting really tired all of a sudden," Jordan said, closing her eyes.
"Yeah. That's fine. We'll stay right here; keep you company," Ephram said looking over at the sick girl. Obviously she was very tired because all she did was nod weakly at him.
Ephram and Amy sat there in the room taking quietly for a while.
"Yeah, Delia's really growing up. She swore at me today."
"What? What did she say?"
"Well, it was only damn, but still, she's nine. And she's my little sister. And she shouldn't be saying things like that."
That was when the alarm sounded. The steady beeping coming from Jordan's heart monitor, turned into a steady flat buzz. Within seconds at least ten nurses came rushing into the room. Over the loud speaker they heard a woman's voice call out, "Code red in room 989."
"Oh my god," Amy said breathlessly. She already had tears streaking down her face.
"Come here," Ephram said, motioning for her to come and hug him. He was doing it for two reasons. First he didn't want her to have to watch the horrific events happening around them, and second, he didn't want her to see the tears now falling down his cheeks as well.
"I'm sorry kids, but the two of you are going to have to leave," said one of the many nurses.
"No," Ephram said. The nurse stared at him. She had obviously never been so blatantly denied.
"I'm sorry, but that's not you're decision to make," she stated.
"Listen to me, right now, the girl laying in that bed there, she's one of my best friends. She also happens to be carrying my baby, so no matter how hard you try, you cannot kick me out of here," Ephram, replied through clenched teeth, tears streaming down his face.
"Sweetie, you can't be in here right now," the nurse said.
"Ephram, let's go, come on," Amy said, trying to pull him out of the room.
"NO! Amy I wouldn't let you leave Colin, why are you making me leave Jordan?"
"Ephram. Let's go." Amy finally succeeded to pull Ephram from the room, with much resistance from him. Once they were outside Amy walked over to stand right in front of Ephram. She looked him right in the eye and glared at him. "Don't you ever, ever do that again! Your right, you didn't make me leave Colin, but for the love of God Ephram, he died. My boyfriend DIED! How could you dare to throw it back in my face at a moment like this? I swear that if you ever do something like that to me again I will make your life a living hell."
"Amy, she's dying. If they can't revive her, or whatever the hell they do, she's dead. She's one of the few people in this town that understands me. She knows what it's like to be moved into the middle of nowhere, and have to start your entire life over again. When I met her it was like I'd known her all my life. She's one of my best friends, and with out her, it'll be like there's a part of me missing. Don't get me wrong I don't love her, like I love you, but you've gotta understand, this is a horrible thing to have to go through." Then Ephram broke down. He couldn't control it any more.
"Ephram, I know how hard it is. I've been there before, and so have you. I'll help you get through it, I promise."
"That is IF it happens."
"Right, of course, the big if."
A nurse came out of the room, "I'm sorry kids," she said with a very sad look on her face.
"Right. Okay, thanks," Amy said while looking at Ephram.
"What about the baby?"
"I'm sorry sweetie. She didn't make it either."
"Okay, uhh… thanks…" Ephram said, looking down at the floor.
*****
About a week went by before Ephram would talk to anyone about what had happened that day. He was so upset about what had happened that as soon as he got home he went up to his room and didn't leave more than once a day. The only times he left was to get food or to go to the bathroom. But then one day when he was home alone he got a phone call.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Ephram rolled over and looked at his clock. The bright green numbers blinked 8:30.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
"Good God, who is calling at this hour?"
Ring. Ring. Ring.
And then the answering machine picked up. "You have reached Andy, Ephram, and Delia Brown. We can't get to the phone right now, but leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible."
"Ephram Brown, pick up the phone. I know you're laying in your bed glaring at the phone, pretending that you can ignore me. If you don't answer this phone right now-" As soon as she started talking Ephram knew exactly who the girl calling him was.
"Kayliegh Harrington, why the hell are you calling me at 8:30 in the morning. In New York, if you called me before 11:00 am, I kicked your ass."
"Ephram, first of all, you tried to kick my ass, it never worked, and second, you can try all you want to kick my ass now, but its not gonna happen if we're in different states, let alone different time zones."
"Good point. Now what do you want, I have to go back to sleep."
"I want to know what your address is."
"It can't wait a couple hours?"
"No, it can't. We have a surprise for you."
"Wait a sec, who's we?"
"We. As in me and Amber and Taylor and everybody else."
"Oh no, this is going to turn out badly isn't it."
"No."
"You mean you've forgotten that time that Taylor sent that postcard to-"
"No I haven't forgotten that, but it's not going to happen again."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. I'm not letting Taylor touch anything. Ow, Taylor if you do that again I'll throw you out the window. Sorry, she hit me. So are you going to tell me where you live or will I have to make you put Delia on the phone."
"231 Dearborn Road."
"And it's Everwood Colorado right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Thanks." And with that final statement Kayliegh hung up on him. Just like her, he thought.
About ten minutes later Ephram heard the doorbell ring. He looked over at the clock again. It was still way too early to be awake so he rolled over and attempted to go back to sleep. After about two minutes the doorbell started to ring uncontrollably. He didn't know who it was at the door but he knew that they were trying to get him out of bed. So he got up and opened his bedroom door. "If you stop ringing the bell, I'll be down in a minute. If not I'm getting back in bed," he shouted down the stairs. Immediately the ringing stopped. Thank God, he thought before heading down the stairs. The only people who ever bother me this early in morning are Delia and Kayliegh.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs he could see several people standing outside his door. Once he was in front of the door, and visible through the window, one of the people at the door pushed the bell again, for no purpose other than their own strange amusement. "Fine then, I won't answer the door, I'll go get breakfast," he said turning away from the door.
"Fine, we'll let our selves in then," said a male voice from behind the door. "Whatever," Ephram said, still heading away from the door towards the kitchen. He heard the door bang open, a girl squeal, a boy say "let's do this," [A/N: LOL, Laura, remember when Matt said that to Heather?] and then he was face down on the floor with someone about his size on his back.
"What the hell is going on?" he said, his voice muffled by the wood. All he heard was laughter, all around him. As soon as he said that the person on his back rolled off, allowing him to get up and see the people standing in his front hallway. There were nine of them. They fit in, in Everwood like Ephram was popular. They were all dressed in black, most of them with their hair dyed colors generally not found in nature. He knew them all. Ephram started to laugh too. He couldn't believe they were in his house.
"Why are you guys here? When Kay said surprise I thought you meant you were going to send me my birthday present. And who was it that just jumped on me?" The girl next to him sort of raised her hand.
"That would be me," said Kelly Shea. "And you know very well that your birthday isn't for another four months."
"Kelly that hurt. I'm gonna have a bruise on my knees for a week now," he said, laughing slightly.
"But it was funny," said Kelly's identical twin Molly. The only way anyone was able to tell them apart was by the color of the streaks in their hair. Kelly had pink streaks, and Molly had light purple ones.
"Maybe for you."
"Oh look, Eph's turned into a wimp without us," said Jake Nystrom, the boy on Ephram's other side.
"Shut up Jake, I remember when you cried because I tackled you when we were playing football in gym."
"That was Josh," Jake said, looking over at his twin. [A/N: Yes, there are two sets of twins. I think it's cute.] Once again the only distinguishing quality that you could use to tell Jake from Josh, was their hair color. Jake had dyed his hair dark blue. Josh's hair was bright red.
"Was it really?"
"No, it was Jake he just doesn't want to look stupid," said Amber Kingsly, who was leaning against the door.
"Too late," They chorused.
"I hate you all," Jake said over the laughter.
There was a knock on the door, and Amber whipped around to answer it. It was Amy.
"Hi, I was looking for Ephram. Is he here?" asked Amy confusedly.
"Nope. Sorry girlie, you got the wrong house," Amber stated, closing the door.
But before she could completely Ephram ran over. "Amber, don't be a bitch." He pulled the door back open. "What do you want Amy?" he asked impatiently.
"Well, I wanted to see if you were okay, you haven't answered your phone all week. And by the way, who are these people?" Amy said, her expression going from confusion, to concern, back to confusion.
"I'm fine. I didn't feel like answering the phone, and told Delia to tell people that. And these are my friends. Kayliegh and Bryan Harrington. Kelly and Molly Shea. Josh and Jake Nystrom. Amber Kingsly. Taylor Dingle. And Skuzzy." he said pointing to each one in turn.
"Is that his real name?"
"No, his real name is-"
"Eph, don't you dare finish that sentence," Skuzzy called from across the room.
Ephram glared at him, then continued, "His real name is Andrew Boyle. But no one's called him that since third grade."
"How come I've never seen them before? I think I would have noticed them, I mean they sort of stick out." That statement got glares from everyone in the room.
"You've never seen us before, because we don't live in your dinky, time-warped, little town," said Amber pointedly.
"We're from New York," Molly added, a little more nicely.
"Oh. Well. I'll see you later Ephram," Amy said before turning to leave.
"Amber, didn't I say like thirty seconds ago, don't be a bitch?" Ephram asked, after closing the door.
"But she said that we stick out," Bryan, Kayliegh's older brother, said coming to Amber's defense.
"Guys, this town isn't like New York, we DO stick out here. But you'd have to see all of the town to understand that I suppose."
"So who was that?" asked Taylor.
"My ex. Who I happen to still be friends with."
"I didn't know you were into preppies Eph," Josh said.
"You don't really get much of a choice in this town."
"She's hot though," Jake said. Everyone in the room looked at him like he was crazy. "Well, she is."
"Whatever you say Jake, hey, Eph how about showing us around this… place." Kelly said. She would have used a word other than place but she wasn't sure exactly what to call the place Ephram now called home.
"Sure, but can you give me like two minutes so I can change? I mean I had to get out of bed to let you freaks in here."
"Just go Ephram."
*
The group of them stood on the sidewalk in front of the park, overlooking the downtown. [A/N: I'm not sure if such a place exists in the town but in this story it does, because, I say so.] They looked out of place there. Ten teenagers, dressed in black, in the middle of Everwood.
"That's Mama Joy's, it's a 'small town diner' but it has wicked [A/N: Do New Yorkers use wicked in that context, or is it just us Boston peoples?] good food. Over there is Gino Chang's, the weirdest place you'll ever eat. And Molly, before you ask, yes that includes that place we went in Manhattan, with the weird waiter guys. It's a Chinese/Italian place. It's not bad, if you can stand egg rolls that smell like garlic. That's my dad's office there, with the 'Brown Family Practice' sign out front. It used to be a train station, but they shut it down years ago. So when we moved here he turned it into a doctor's office. And then across the street there is Dr. Abbott's office. He's Amy's dad, and the other doctor in town." Ephram was trying to show his friends around without getting them lost quiet yet.
"Wait a minute. A town barely big enough for an area code has two doctors?" Bryan asked, shocked.
"Yeah, I thought it was weird too."
"Well, that's just peachy, but I'm starving," Jake said.
"Okay, then lets get something to eat," Ephram said, starting to head across the street.
"Can we please avoid the place with the funky egg rolls?" Skuzzy asked.
"Sure. But Gino makes a damn good pizza."
The ten of them walked across the street, into Mama Joy's.
"Hi, Ephram. Your dad took Delia and Sam to the zoo this morning. He didn't ask you because he figured you wouldn't want to go," Nina said.
"He figured right. For once," he replied.
"You and your friends want some breakfast?" Nina asked, smiling at the teens behind Ephram.
"Sure. Oh and these are my friends from New York, they came to visit me. Guys, this is my neighbor, Nina."
"Nice to meet you," they chorused.
*
They had been there for about an hour, when the Abbott's entered. Bright took one glance around and headed straight towards the table where Ephram and his friends sat. Amy followed him closely.
"Hey Brown," Bright said menacingly.
"What do you want Bright?" Ephram asked tensely.
"Bright, don't do this. Not now. We're out in public," Amy warned.
"Exactly Ames," he said to his sister. He then turned back to Ephram and his friends, all of whom looked thoroughly confused. "You know what I want Brown, I want to kick your ass."
"Ephram, who is this guy?" Kayliegh whispered in his ear.
"Amy's moronic brother. His name is Bright. He's basically a walking oxymoron," he whispered back loud enough for everyone at the table to hear. They all sniggered.
"So, they say your name is Bright? That's rather funny, since you don't seem very bright at all," Amber, the shortest of them all, said.
"Yeah, well, who the hell are you?" Bright looked at her trying to figure out the best way to hit on her.
"My name is Amber Kingsly. And I'm best friends with Ephram," she said putting an arm around Ephram, who was now standing next to her.
This confused Bright. "Why, would you want to be friends with that freak?"
"He thinks you're hot, and can't understand why you would want to be friends with the outcast of the town," Ephram whispered in her ear.
She smiled, and nodded to show she understood. "Well, because, where I'm from he's not a freak, because he's a cool guy. And…" she wasn't sure how to finish the sentence. But then something came to her. "And because he's hot."
"I am?" Ephram said, surprised.
"He is?" asked all of her friends behind her, and Bright, just as surprised as Ephram.
"Yeah, he is," she replied. "Go with it Ephram, I'm trying really hard to throw him off," she added, in her friends ear. He nodded slightly.
"So you think he is hotter than me?" said a stunned Bright. No one had ever said to his face that they didn't think he was hot.
"Oh defiantly. I mean look at him."
"Whatever you say," Bright still didn't understand, but he wasn't going to fight with this girl. So instead he just walked off.
"That was pretty good," Amy said to Amber. "It's pretty hard to throw Bright off when he's intent on something. Especially when Ephram's involved."
"Thanks. Come on, guys lets go," Amber said, turning back to the table full of her friends. No one moved. They we're too shocked. They had never heard anyone say anything like that about Ephram, at least not in public. "Guys, that means close you're mouth and start moving." This sparked something in their heads, and they all started to move towards the door.
Before leaving himself, Ephram turned to Amy and whispered in her ear, "I'll call you later." Then he followed his friends out the door.
*****
[A/N: Okay, that's all folks, nothing more to see here. I'll have the next chapter up mid-week. Maybe Thursday. I'm not sure. I'm still trying to write it, so if it's not up then, please don't come after me. Anyway, review it for me. I need the reviews. They give me inspiration *hint hint*.]