Chapter 5: The Waiting

Trini's bedside alarm clock blared that Sunday morning. She groggily rolled over in bed and flipped off the alarm. The room fell silent and she rubbed her eyes. She sat up, her long black hair a disheveled mess. She groaned, stretching out her arms before getting up to change out of her pajamas and brush her teeth and hair. She made her way to the bathroom and flipped on the bright lights over her mirror.

The party the day before had gone perfectly, but between the monster fight and the party running late into the night, Trini was exhausted. Looking at herself in the mirror, her tired eyes gave away how physically worn down she really was.

'Maybe I should've just stayed in bed.' Trini thought as she picked up her hairbrush and began running it through her long dark hair to combat the tangled mass.

"Trini, ling 'ài!" Trini's mother called. "Are you awake?" she asked just as Trini finished fixing her hair.

"I'm awake!" Trini replied.

"There were a few messages on the answering machine for you. Some boy kept trying to call you since Friday. Said his name was…'Skull' and that it was something important…" he mother explained. Trini dropped her brush in the sink and hurried out her bedroom door to listen to the message. They kept the answering machine by a telephone in the hallway, between the living room and the front door.

'Oh Skull. I completely forgot…' Trini cursed herself, going through the answering machine tape to find his message.

"Uh, hiya, Trini, it's Skull…" the recording ran, "I wanted to uh, apologize for what happened the other day, so uh, if you'll give me a call back at (436) 794-2553…that'd be great…'kay…bye." The recording concluded. The machine beeped and the next message from him started.

"Hey, Trini, me again…Skull. I uh, really want to talk to you, uh, my number is (436) 794-2553, so uh, call me back when you can. Bye." The machine beeped concluding the second recording before rolling into the third and final message.

"Hey, Trini, me again, callin' to see if you were around to talk…I mean I know you got the party today…but uh, if you get a chance, I'm not doin' anythin' tonight, even if you wanted to call back late, I left you my number but, it's (436) 794-2553…anyway, hope you have fun at Zack's party. Hope we can talk soon. Bye." Beep, 'End of messages' the answering machine indicated.

Trini picked up a pen resting beside the answering machine and scrawled his digits on a nearby pad of paper. She ripped the small page off the pad and took it with her to her room. She thought it best to call him from her private bedroom phone, so she didn't run the risk of her parents eavesdropping on her conversation through another phone.

Trini shut her door and sat down on her bed. She picked up the translucent yellow cordless phone off the charging base and entered the numbers. As the phone began to ring, she glanced over at the clock. It was only a little past 9 o'clock.

'Hopefully, I'm not waking him. Maybe I should've waited to call him later.' She thought. The phone stopped ringing as she could hear the phone on the other end being picked up.

"Skullovitch residence." A woman's voice answered. Trini guessed it was Skull's mom.

"Hi, um, I was wondering if Skull was around?" Trini inquired. "Tell him it's Trini." She added.

"Sure, just a moment, hon." Mrs. Skullovitch assured. Trini could hear the mouth piece on the other end being muffled by her hand, "Skull, Trini's on the phone for you!" she called. There was a pause before Skull's voice came over the phone.

"Hey, Trini. Wasn't sure if you were going to call me back." He admitted.

"No, I'm sorry." Trini apologized, "Zack's party kept us busy, especially having to replace the balloons and the banner that you guys ruined." She added coldly. Skull sighed.

"Look, I'm really sorry about that…" Skull said sincerely, "Trini, aside from calling to apologize, I was hopin' we could meet up alone and really…talk things out…about us." He confessed.

"I want to talk about that too." She replied. "But, yes, in person would be much better." She pondered when she would be free next. It would be too hard to get away during school. "I'm busy this afternoon, but the carnival is this weekend if-"

"Trini?" her mother asked, knocking on the door before opening it. Seeing her daughter on the phone she apologized. "Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to remind you that your Aunt and Uncle are visiting this week, and I would really appreciate it if you would babysit your cousin Sylvia this weekend."

Shoot. Cousin Sylvia. Trini had completely forgotten. Alone time to talk to Skull would just have to wait…

"That's fine, mom." Trini smiled. "Actually, could I bring Sylvia to the Carnival with me and my friends?" she asked.

"So long as you two, ABSOLUTELY stay together." He mother stressed. "I'll have to get the final say from your Aunt, but it should be alright. Anyway, I'll let you get back to your phone call." She said backing out of the room and closing the door.

"Trini?" Skull asked, disheartened having already heard the conversation between Trini and her mother.

"Yeah, sorry, I forgot that I have to babysit my little cousin this weekend." Trini explained.

"No, no. It's fine. I understand." He said sounding defeated. "Well, you have my number, just uh…let me know when you're free, we can make somethin' happen."

"Okay. I'll let you know." Trini replied. There was a long pause between them before Skull spoke again.

"Trini…" he was going to apologize for being such a jerk and the image he puts on at school and around town, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Bulk would never let him live it down if he knew his best friend were to start acting nice to the "dweebs". "…I'll see ya around." He finished.

"O-okay. Bye." Trini said finally hanging up the phone. She could have sworn he was going to say more, but she supposed not. She put her hands over her face and sighed. She couldn't tell if she was really developing feelings for him, but his attitude toward her and her friends made it so difficult.

Skull hung up the phone on his end and rested his head against the door frame in the kitchen.

'Idiot! You really like this girl and you can't admit it! You can't bring yourself to change? Why not? Isn't she worth it? OF COURSE SHE IS! But my image…Bulk, Sharkie, they would never quit makin' fun of me for dating one of the dweebs. And the dweebs, Kimberly, Jason, Zack…Billy…Billy, that…that back-stabbin'…They would never accept Trini and I. Not that I want or need those losers' approval anyways!' he argued with himself. 'I guess I'll just…wait for her to decide where we go from here.'