Holding On

January 2nd

Day 2 (later that day)

I slowly opened the front door of my brick house and walked in, gently shutting it behind me.

Jade and Cliff are waiting for me outside. I just need to get my things, tell Nana I'm okay and leave. I ran through the things I needed to do. I started towards the stairs and one by one, I climbed them as quietly as I could. It was pretty easy though, seeing as I had no shoes on and I was walking on carpet. I leapt over the last two stairs and landed on the second story floor where the bathroom, my room, and Nana's room where. I tip toed forward into my room and, without shutting my door or turning my light on, started packing my drawstring GAP bag. It felt like it was made out of a sweatshirt and I absolutely loved it.

I was almost done when I heard a sort of shuffling sound behind me, like someone was dragging their feet across the carpet. I turned around to see Nana standing in the hallway, staring in the direction of the stairs. She was wearing her pink silk pajama pants and her pink fuzzy robe. I assumed that under her robe, she was wearing her pink silk tank top that matched her pants. She was holding a small circle pillow.

"Selene, darling, are you here?" she moaned. She sounded sad and alone. I hurried and finished packing my bag and slipped on a pair on tennis shoes.

"Nana, I'm going to go spend the night with Jade." I walked past her and spoke.

"Okay Selene." She said sadly. I bounded down the stairs when I heard a faint whisper.

"I'm sorry." I turned around to see Nana sitting on the top step clutching the round pillow. It was only then, as I looked at her, I saw which pillow it was.

That's the one Mom and I made together. She sewed it and I drew on it. Remembrance struck me like a silver bullet. The pillow was white and had flowers and butterflies all over it.

We had made it for Nana for her birthday the same year Mom died. I thought sadly. Tears welled up in my brown eyes again, but I blinked them away.

"It's okay Nana, I just need to cool down." I whispered back and went out the door without a reply.

I walked outside and got in the backseat of Cliff's car without a word. Jade turned around and went to say something from her spot in the passenger seat, but kept her mouth closed and turned back around. Cliff reached toward the radio and turned it on. Again, the sweet sound of Eddie Vedder's voice wrapped around me like a soft, warm blanket.

"If something's cold, I want to put a little fire on it." The words of The Fixer spread to every inch of the car and I closed my eyes. The music video played in my head. Eddie was jumping around the stage and singing his heart and soul out in every word. Then, it died away as the song stopped and a new song replaced my safety net. Though it was no longer Pearl Jam, one of my favorite songs came on next.

"Livy High! No Angel!" Jade screamed. This was her favorite band. As the music played, she waited patiently to start singing along.

"Emptiness has a face, take a look at my eyes. Windows to my soul are tempted." She sang and turned around and looked at me with joy filled eyes.

"Trading substance for space, so you can't see inside. Deepest thought are completely hidden." I sang with her. Together, we sang the whole song as Cliff drove us to her house. In that happy moment, I forgot about like and just sang with my best friend in the entire world. Cliff started to hum the song as Jade and I sang, and we all smiled. Then, he turned onto March Lane and pulled over on the side of the road where Jade's house lied.

"Thanks babe. I'll call you tomorrow." Jade said as she kissed Cliff on the cheek and got out of the car.

"Thank you Cliff." I said and got out of the car and bounded up the small grassy slope to the sidewalk where Jade was standing. Cliff waved his hand in farewell and drove off. Together, Jade and I walked through her lawn to her front door. I glanced over to see that there wasn't a car in the driveway.

"Where are your parents?" I asked her as she unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"They had to go out of town again." She mumbled and kicked off her shoes. I followed her inside and closed the door.

"Oh, alright." I said as I took off my shoes.

"I'm going to go put my bag in your room, okay?" I asked Jade as I started towards her twisting, white carpeted steps.

"Okay!" she called as she walked into the kitchen. I bounded up the steps, skipping every other step and through my bag on Jade's bed. I ran back down stairs and into the kitchen. Jade had a bag of Lays sour cream and onion potato chips open. I giggled and walked over to her.

"Are you hungry?" she asked me through a mouthful of chips. I shrugged and spun around to her red wood cabinets. I opened the doors from the shining silver handles and scanned the food. I saw rice, peanut butter, chocolate chips, cake mix, coco, roman noodles and, I gasped and reached for it.

"You love me." I smiled as I held up a box of white cheddar shell macaroni. Jade smiled and pointed with her pinkie. She swallowed another mouthful of chips and laughed.

"You can fix that, but later you have to fix me some baked bacon." She said smiling.

"Okay, but you do know you can make baked bacon." I nodded.

"Nope, not like you. I swear, you should become famous for that bacon! You season it and bake it and it doesn't have grease and I love it, so you fix it or no white cheddar macaroni!" Jade said as she ate another chip. I nodded and walked over to her stove. I opened the small white drawer at the bottom of the stove and grabbed a small pot and cookie sheet. With a smile, I closed the drawer and sat the pot and sheet on the stove. I opened the box of macaroni and poured it into the pot and filled it up with water, turning the stove eye to medium-high heat. Then, I walked over to the shining white refrigerator and grabbed a pack of bacon out of the drawer.

"I need some aluminum foil." I told Jade as I grabbed a small knife and cut the pack of bacon open. She clapped and opened the black painted drawer the aluminum foil was in. I pre-heated the oven to 425 degrees and, as Jade handed me the aluminum foil, tore off a sheet and covered the cookie sheet. I washed my hands, dried them, and then one by one, I placed the bacon in a single layer.

"Are you happy now?" I asked Jade with a sarcastic smile. She returned the smile with her own and nodded.

"I'm ecstatic!" she said, though I could tell she really meant it. I waited for the 'ding' the oven would make when it was done pre-heating by stirring the pasta with a slotted wooded spoon.

"What are you going to write about for the essay?" Jade asked suddenly. I heard the 'ding' and put the bacon in the oven and setting the timer for 25 minutes. Then I walked over to her and sat in one of the bar stools.

"I think I'm going to go with my original plan and write a report on mythical beings and animals. What about you?" I asked her as I reached into the Lays bag and took a handful of chips.

"I think I'm going to do something on the stars. You know, kind of talk about how technology has bettered over the last few centuries." She said.

"That would be pretty cool." I nodded and glanced over at the macaroni. I sighed and walked over to it, stirred it and noticed it was done. Jade was already standing beside me with the drainer and a smirk on her face. I smiled and drained the macaroni. I shook the metal drainer and ran hot water to wash away the unclear, starchy, pasta water down the drain. Then, I walked back over to the stove, poured the drained macaroni shells into the pot, turned the heat off, cut the white cheddar cheese packet and poured the cheese onto top of the macaroni.

"Hey Selene, do you like RJ?" Jade asked suddenly. I glanced at her as a stirred the cheese into the shells.

"What do you mean? I like him as a friend." I replied. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks as I began to blush. I quickly turned around and faced the pot so Jade wouldn't see.

"Selene, come on. He is way hot, he's smart and the best part about him is he likes you." Jade said.

"How do you know he likes me?" I asked her in a calm voice.

"How do I know he likes you? Three words; Clifford Franklin Ackles." Jade said happily.

"What are you talking about?" I acted as if I had no clue what she meant.

"Selene, you know what I mean. Where is that A+ student?" Jade asked as she tapped on my head. I batted her away and she laughed as she went to sit back down.

"Cliff and RJ are best friends. Cliff tells RJ stuff and RJ tells Cliff stuff. RJ just happened to tell Cliff he likes you." Jade said with an I-told-you-so smile. I opened my mouth to answer her, but she cut me off.

"Selene, RJ is a great guy. He is sweet and caring and has a good soul. Why are you so against dating him?" Jade asked. You would have thought she would have a smile on her face, but there wasn't one. She spoke clearly and softly and the smile had faded into nothing.

"I just don't want to have to deal with guys right now. I want to focus on school; get good grades, maybe even a scholarship. A scholarship is the only way I'll be able to go to collage and I want to go to collage more than anything right now." I said in monotone. Just then, the oven timer went off. I turned the oven off, got a pot holder and took the cookie sheet full of bacon out of the oven. Though the sight usually made a smile appear on Jade's face, she looked disappointed.

"Thank you for the bacon Selene. It smells great." She looked at me and threw me a weak smile. I tried to change the subject.

"Hey Jade, did you see the news this morning?" I asked her as I grabbed a bowl and got some macaroni. She looked at me and shook her head in puzzlement.

"I watched it this morning. A girl, I think her name was Crystal, she died. She was found by the side of the road with almost all the blood drained from her and then strangled." I told her. Jade did always like to keep up with what was going on. I looked at her and saw her face was filled with fear.

"Who do you think did it?" she asked slowly. I shrugged as I shoveled a fork full of delicious pasta into my mouth.

"That is so weird. Stuff like this doesn't happen around here." She said as she stood up and got a piece of bacon. She took a bite and closed her eyes. She quickly finished it and grabbed another one and turned to me.

"As always, it is delicious!" she complemented and took another bite. I did a little curtsy and took another bite of macaroni. Suddenly, Jade jumped, a look of excitement on her face.

"What?" I screamed at her sudden movement. Without a word she grabbed my arm and pulled me into living room. I sat down on her black Lazy Boy nine seated leather couch as she turned the 40x62 inch flat screen television on. She flipped through the channels and landed on the CW. I looked at her until I saw why she was so excited.

"The Supernatural marathon is on starting. . ." she said and drug out the 'starting'.

"Now!" she screamed as the clock turned and said 8:00 p.m. I screamed for joy as she ran into the kitchen. I heard a kind of clanking sound, the sound of wrinkling aluminum foil and her running across the black kitchen tile. She ran in front of me with a plate full of bacon and stared intently at the TV.

"Dean Winchester; proof there is a god and he wants us to be happy." I smiled and leaned back into the couch, slowly sinking into the cold leather. We watched the Supernatural marathon all night long, forgetting about our talk about RJ and Crystal. We forgot it all and watched Dean Winchester kill some poor demon butt.

To start everything off, Supernatural is a real TV show if you didn't know that. I LOVE it and Dean Winchester is my favorite character, though Bobby is a close second. They are currently filming the, get ready . . . are you ready yet? . . . 7th SEASON! *screams for joy* It should be back sometime in I think, September.

Alright, moving on, how did you like this chapter? This chapter was kind of like a filler, but oh well, let me know what you think. Now, to end on a weird note:

Did you know Napoleon was afraid of cats? If you didn't, then there is one of the useless facts provided by Sunmist, and if you did, then you wasted 10 seconds of your life reading that sentence!

Alright . . . . because I'm in a good mood today, I'm going to tell you another useless fact!

Did you know Belize is the only country in the world with a jaguar preserve? Okay, I will give more useless facts in further chapters. . . . until then. . . REVIEW!

-Sunmist