"I got your message, Calvin. Where were YOU?" My mom asked. She must've been home for about forty-five minutes, cause she looks like she's already taken a shower.

"I was at the store. Overtime and all that." I lied. I was sure that it wouldn't be long until she figured that out. And... she did.

"Hm. You know, Ms. Derkins called me and told me that it was nice to see you two together again." My heart sunk in my chest. It was bad enough that what happened actually happened. I figure my mom must be an awesome defense lawyer.

"Well... we just needed to catch up. Nine years is a long time to be away from someone that was attempting to be your friend." Someone who loved you, I thought quietly to myself.

"Leave a note next time, okay honey? You know you shouldn't scare me like that." Mom was worried I'd run my bike into a car or something. I guess she's still living through when I was six, and my dad trying to teach me how to ride a bike. I imagined that the bike itself was alive and trying to kill me. If only it wasn't the other way around...

--

"I've been trying to call you for like... ever! Where were you?"

"Catching up on old times."

I hated calls like this. You don't want to lie, so you have to butcher the truth. "What do you mean 'Catching up on old times'?" Crystal had me. I didn't know what to say or what to do, so I just said, "Uh... I was reading my journals. I told you about them, remember?"

"Oh right... I forgot." That's how much Crystal and I are the same. We keep forgetting the small things. The fact that I told Crystal about my journals that I had been keeping... I think she looked into one. As a matter of fact... let's look back to that day real quick.

--

"Calvin..."

"Yo."

"Who's this Susie person you keep writing about?"

"Hm? Oh, I don't know. Someone I don't remember, I guess."

--

Funny how things turn around, huh?

"I just called to remind you about what happens next week!"

"What's that? Our anniversary?" I loved doing this. She'll get mad cause I don't remember. She knows I know her birthday is coming up soon. Her Sweet 16th as a matter of fact. She says that she's getting a nice car for her birthday. Well, Crystal was one of those kinds of girls.

"No! My birthday! God, why are you so mean to me?"

"'Cause." All I needed to say.

She giggled and said something I didn't want her to say, and I didn't want to hear. "Hey, why don't we hang out at your house tomorrow after baseball practice?" I really didn't want to. After what happened with Susie, I didn't want to see her. It would feel weird.

"Actually, I need to get some things done for... the band." A half-truth at least. We were thinking about creating a skit for the CD we were working on. But we're going to work on it on Wednesday.

"Okay, I'll help you, then! Oops, gotta go. I'm supposed to be taking out the trash." I figured I might as well faced facts here. She was coming over, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow." I reluctantly uttered out of my mouth.

"I love you, Calvin." That was the last thing I wanted to hear.

"Yeah... bye." I've never said "I love you" to anyone but Mom after the funeral. And maybe Hobbes. Story of my life.

--

At school the next day, Crystal quickly found me and flung herself at me, kissing me right on my nose. "Hi there." I was too tired to give a response. One thing my dad knew was that I am not the most pleasant person in the morning.

Hours go by. School has gotten to the point where it just speeds by. To me this is funny, cause when I was a kid, I used to think that time itself slowed down when kids were in school, but now it seems that time goes too fast when teens are in school. Suddenly, I found myself right back where I was the day before. Susie right next to me, Mike behind me. Mike sent me a note. "Quick meeting, you and me after practice." Uh-oh, I thought. Mike never calls quick meetings unless it's important. Crystal would be devastated though. She rarely gets any free time, thanks to her parents. "I don't know if I can make it. Crys is coming to hang out after practice." I sent the note back, and I got two at once. The one Mike had, same red ink he always uses, said "Well, you can bring her too if you want. It won't take long." The other one had newspaper clippings, like the one I got yesterday. "Oh no..." I muttered to myself.

"Susie, if you want to see your doll again, leave $100 in this envelope by the tree out front. Do not call the police. You cannot trace us. You cannot find us. Sincerely, Calvin." Was this a joke? There was something paper clipped to the letter. I looked at it; a picture of some doll tied to a chair. At this point, Susie was scaring me. Did I really tie a doll to a chair? Was I that messed up? Then again, I thought a stuffed tiger was actually living.

I didn't protest to anything. Another crazy note from my childhood, another reminder of all the priorities I had in life. Whatever.