Sophie stared at the phone. For a minute, she thought maybe her mother was joking. But her mom never joked.
"Your kidding, aren't you?"
"Of course I'm not," her mother snapped. To Sophie, it sounded as if her mom wasn't even upset about her daughter's death. For a few minutes it was silent. "Listen, Sophie. I don't want you to come to the funeral. You wouldn't be welcome. There's some stuff Jori would have wanted you to have and I'll send it to you."
"I can't go? Why not? At least tell me when the funeral is."
"Fine. Body viewing until Wednesday morning. Funeral Wednesday at 1."
"Why so late?"
"Well, Sunday is church, Monday some couple is renewing their wedding vows. Wednesday seemed like a reasonable date, and we have enough time to make it a perfect ceremony. I don't know why I'm telling you all this. Goodbye, Sophie." And with that, she hung up. For a few more minutes, Sophie held the phone to her ear, absorbing all this information. Her sister was dead. She swallowed hard. She couldn't let the kids see her upset. She took a deep breath and went back into the group.
"Sorry, kids. Something came up and I can't finish group this morning. You guys are free to go," Sophie said, not looking at any of them. She sat down in a chair and forced herself not to look at anyone.
The guys were happy to the shortened group session and headed outside to play basketball. The girls, except Shelby, were indifferent and headed for their dorm.
A little later, Sophie went to check on them. The boys teamed up and were playing against another group. The girls were all lying on their beds, reading, doing homework, or writing home. Shelby put down her book when Sophie walked in.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Just came to check on you."
"We'll, we're fine...Why did you end group so early? What if I had something important I had to talk about?"
"Did you?"
"No."
"Well, I'm sorry, you guys. Something important came up."
"Thats a lame excuse. You know, Peter always puts us first, before him. If he had one more hour to live, he would probably spend it with us, giving us last minute information and trying to help us in anyway he can."
Sophie felt like she was slapped. She tried not to let it show. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Peter."
"I can see that," Shelby shot back. She picked up her book and turned over. The others just gave Sophie looks that said, 'Don't mind her, she's having a bad day.' Feeling she was about to break, she went outside. She stood on the stoop, trying to calm herself down. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to cry. She wanted to, but she felt as if she had to keep it in. But she had to do something besides sit around, so she decided to go into the "weight room" to let out some energy and emotion.
About two hours later, Jet came up to the weight room. Sophie was hitting a punching bag with all her might.
"Daisy wanted me to come get you. She's supposed to leave with her dad now. He's here," Jet said. Sophie stopped hitting the bag and only hit it lightly as it swung back to her.
"Oh, God, I totally forgot! I didn't think I was out here that long!" Sophie went into a corner and put on jeans over her shorts and her shirt over her workout top.
"Sophie, is everything all right?" Jet asked. Sophie stopped rushing for a second. For some reason, Jet's question caught her by surprise.
"No, Jet. Everything's fine," she answered, not looking at her.
"Something is wrong, Sophie. Otherwise you wouldn't have cancelled group or be here hitting a bag and forget about Daisy leaving."
Sophie knew she couldn't keep it a secret anymore. "My mom called. She told me my sister died this morning." Again she hardened herself so she wouldn't cry, but it was getting hard not to. Jet gave her a hug.
"When is the funeral?"
"I'm not invited. My mom won't let me go."
"What? Sophie, she can't not let you go!"
"Jet, I don't really want to talk about this right now. Let's just go see Daisy off, okay?" Sophie interrupted. Jet nodded and followed Sophie out to the lodge, where Daisy and her father were waiting, as well as the rest of the Cliffhangers.
"I'm extremely sorry, Mr. Lipenowski. I lost track of time," she said, shaking his hand. Daisy looked angry about the whole thing. Jet pulled them aside and whispered what happened. Then Daisy got an idea. She waited until her father was putting her things in the car.
"Sophie, Jet told me what happened. I'm really sorry. Do you want me to stay here? I don't have to go." Daisy knew it was a feeble exuse. She already knew she'd have to go, but just maybe Sophie would want her to stay.
"Thanks for the offer, Dais. But you really do need to go home. I'll be fine here, I promise. Call if anything happens or you want to talk or something, okay? And its only for a week. It'll go by fast if you don't think about it." Sophie gave Daisy a hug and then Daisy climbed into the car. The whole group waved until the car was out of site.
"Well, you guys, I'm sorry, but I'm really not in the mood for anything today. You're free for today, just stay out of trouble. If you need me, I'm in the weight room," Sophie said. She left quickly, knowing she'd feel better after hitting the bag. Again, the guys went to play basketball and the girls went to the dorm.
About 30 minutes later, they walked over to the weight room. Sophie was punching the bag again. She stopped when she saw the girls and sat down on the bench, taking off the gloves.
"Well, we've been thinking. You should go to the funeral anyway," Juliette said.
"I can't. My mom said I couldn't. And if I did go, I wouldn't be able to go alone. And what about the school?"
"Well, we've thought that out. We, Jet, Shelby, and I, would go with you. You're not in charge of the school. You only teach one thing. It could be a mid-term break or something like that."
"You guys can't go. You'd miss school."
"Daisy would be missing the same amount as us. You said the funeral is on Wednesday. If we leave tomorrow, we'll get there Monday evening. You can go see the body and get the stuff from your mom on Tuesday, go the the funeral on Wednesday, and we leave on Thursday. Then we'd get back Friday evening, maybe about the same time as Daisy."
"Well, I'm not even supposed to go."
"Sophie, you're, what, 30? You're too old to let your mom boss you around. She lost that priviledge twelve years ago," Shelby said. Sophie knew she had a point.
"Well, I really do want to go to the funeral, see my sister one last time. You're right, she can't tell me what to do anymore. But what I'm afraid of is my mom. She really does hate me, and I don't know why. I'm afraid to see her again," Sophie whispered, looking at her hands.
"Well, we'll stick by you the whole time, if you want. Its about time we re-paid you for everything you've done for us," Julitte said. Sophie got choked up but still refused to cry.
"Thanks girls, that means a lot to me...I guess we'll leave tomorrow after breakfast?"
The girls nodded. They each gave Sophie a hug before going back to the dorm to pack. Sophie went to find Frank to tell him the news. He said he'd let her drive the van and he was extremely sorry. Then she interrupted the boy's game to tell them. They also gave Sophie a hug.
Then she returned to her camper to pack. She made reservations at an Embassy Suites, so the girls could share beds and she would be alone. She made a possible reservation at a hotel along the way, but she was planning on driving straight through. Then she called Peter, but he didn't answer his cell and wasn't in his room. She left a message about the plan and that he didn't need to leave. She really needed to talk to Peter, to hear his voice. She needed to cry, but she couldn't. After hardening herself all afternoon, she couldn't bring on the tears even though she was ready. She packed quickly, had some soup for dinner, then went to bed. The day had been exausting, and she knew the next few days were going to be even worse.