June
The new term wasn't nearly as much fun as the last. With the end of year assessments looming, the teachers were setting more homework than ever as well as dropping deeply unsubtle hints about the difficulty of the forthcoming examinations. For his part, Sully didn't seem overly bothered about his school work and was more concerned about how many music lessons he would miss. His mother was determined that he scrape a decent grade this year and Sully spent many long hours in the library developing elaborate schemes that would enable him to make it to his class and get his assignments in on time. Of course, the location for these mass scheming sessions was most definitely not his first choice but the word "examination" seemed to have ignited a previously dormant neurotic side to Michaela's personality and she had taken to burying herself in the library at every opportunity. On the rare occasion that she stayed home, she refused to be tempted out of her room by frivolities such as food and television. Not that Sully hadn't tried. One Saturday afternoon, he had emerged scowling from her bedroom, rubbing a tender spot on his head where an artfully thrown pencil case had just made contact. Joseph, to whom Michaela's fits of temper at times of stress were horribly familiar, had merely laughed as Sully growled out his annoyance. As an astute physician, he had long since worked out a sure fire remedy to his daughter's curious ailment and he had sent the unwilling, wounded soldier up ten minutes later with a plate of double chocolate brownies. Mere moments later, he had slumped back down on the couch with a satisfied smirk as the sound of raucous laughter filtered down the stairs.
Time flew by and the week of the examinations finally arrived. Sully arrived at school early on the Monday to find Michaela meticulously arranging her freshly sharpened pencils in a row. Though he was longing to make a joke about her apparent OCD, he knew better than to antagonise her right before an exam and took his seat in silence. Besides he liked the shape of his head and didn't fancy trying to sit still for an hour with a razor sharp pencil lodged in his skull. Michaela relaxed enough over lunch to join in Sully's abuse of their despicably hard math paper and by the time school let out on Friday, she was thankfully back to her normal self.
"So what are you doing for summer vacation?" asked Michaela casually as she dealt another hand. It was the weekend after their last exam and as Joseph had the day off, Sully had arrived bright and early to celebrate their freedom. Too early for Joseph's liking; he'd had a busy few days at the hospital and was desperate to catch up on some sleep. Michaela had assured him that he could go back to bed, that they'd be fine and would even keep the noise level to a background hum. Joseph had fixed her with a sceptical gaze but had eventually caved. Having quickly laid down ground rules that covered everything from running in doors to open flames and marshmallows in cereal, he'd retreated gratefully upstairs leaving Michaela and Sully to a round of poker.
"Not sure," mused Sully, examining his lot, "nothing special. Mom's working so I'll probably be round the Cooper's a lot. What about you?"
"I'm going to Boston for two weeks in July," replied Michaela, frowning at her cards, "and I'm helping out in the lab at the hospital for a while. Dad fixed it up for me a few weeks ago."
When the silence following this response remained unbroken for several minutes, Michaela glanced up in surprise.
"You didn't tell me you were going home," said Sully, hastily dropping his gaze.
"I'm not going home, I'm going to Boston." corrected Michaela, "My mom rang last night to say she'd booked my ticket."
"It's only two weeks, fourteen days of being yelled at by Marjorie," she added with a grin as Sully failed to look up, "and I'll email every day. And I promise I'll help out when I get back."
"Sure you will," replied Sully, rolling his eyes, "leave all the hard work to me."
"You've already done the floor and two walls," retorted Michaela, "it's hardly like there's loads left to do."
"You make it sound like a hut in the middle of the jungle," said Sully with a scowl.
"It's a tree house in the middle of your back yard," giggled Michaela, "what's the difference?"
At the thought of the knee high grass and wild untamed weeds that threatened to tangle around his legs every time he ventured outdoors, Sully conceded the point with a laugh before turning the conversation to the advantage of his grumbling stomach.
July
Tue July 28 0800:
Sully,
Just two more days to go then I'm out of here. I can't wait to get home. Marjorie's driving me crazy. She's either making out with Billy on the couch (seriously, we know what tonsils look like, we don't need to see yours!) or yelling at me. Is it my fault that the one time I decide to try on her sweater, Becky decides to attack me with a jello shot? The girl is totally wild but she hates Billy too which is great. I wish you could have seen Marjorie's face when she strolled downstairs to breakfast yesterday in a pair of tiny shorts and a tank top. Billy's eyes nearly bugged outta their sockets and Majorie looked like she was having a stroke. She had to slap him he was so zoned out. Priceless!
Becky's going to try and sneak me into the bar where she works tonight. I'll fill you in on the details when I get back. I can't wait!
Love, Michaela
Wed July 29 1100:
Sully,
I'm never ever having a drink! Beer is the grossest thing ever…it smells like someone's already digested it. The bar was cool though. Becky managed to sneak me into the back though I had to duck under the counter whenever her boss came by. My knuckles are never going to be the same again. I got to meet some of her friends too. I can't wait for my turn to go to Harvard.
My plane lands at midday tomorrow.
Love, Michaela
Wed July 29 1500:
I'll ask your dad if I can ride to the airport with him.
I can't wait to show you the tree house. Matthew helped out and we finished it last night.
Sully
Wed July 29 1600:
I don't think that's such a great idea.
Meet me Friday at the hospital after your class?
Michaela
Wed July 29 1700:
Why don't you want me to come to the airport? Is something wrong?
Sully
Wed July 29 1900:
No, nothings wrong.
See you Friday
Michaela
"Your boyfriend's waiting out front, Mike!"
"He's not my boyfriend," came the automatic response.
"Not yet," laughed Emma, flipping her long brown curls over her shoulder, "Though he's such a looker, I don't know what you're waiting for."
"Sully and I are friends," replied Michaela, carefully labelling the specimens on the bench before her, "best friends. But that's all."
"Uh huh," agreed the lab technician with a knowing grin as she turned back to the array of equipment laid out before her.
"Ok I'm done," said Michaela, hopping down off her high stool and grabbing her back pack from the floor, "See you Monday, Em?"
"Sure thing, honey," chuckled Emma, "have fun with your non boy friend. And lemme know what he says, word for word."
"Sure," replied Michaela, rolling her eyes dramatically before heading out the door. Seconds later, she was hurtling across the beautifully trimmed lawn to the railings where Sully was waiting, her long brown hair flying loose in the breeze.
"Hey," she called out excitedly, as she slowed to a halt before him, "you came."
To her surprise, Sully merely continued to fiddle with the strap of the battered back pack slung over his shoulder, his expression malignant.
"Sully?" she queried with a frown, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"You wanna tell me?" stated Sully icily, staring moodily at his sneakers.
"Tell you what?" she asked innocently.
"What ever it is that you're hiding from me. Why I wasn't allowed to come meet you yesterday. Why your dad said you were washing your hair every time I rang to speak to you last night. Take your pick."
Michaela bit back a laugh and continued to stare at him with what she hoped was a baffled expression.
"And don't even try the innocent face," growled Sully, "I invented it remember, to get us into that horror movie? Not that that would be cool enough for you now, what with all the bars you've been going to and all."
"Why are you laughing?" he fairly snarled as Michaela cracked up beside him. Dropping her backpack on the ground, she swiftly opened the main zipper and dug around inside. Moments later, she straightened up, a leather binder in her hands.
"Happy birthday Sully," she giggled, holding it out to him.
"I'm sorry you couldn't come over yesterday," she continued, as Sully stood frozen in front of her, "I had to finish sticking in the last bits and I knew I'd never get it done in time if you were around."
"Well aren't you going to take a look?" she teased, the laughter still dancing in her eyes.
Mutely, Sully took the binder and opened it up to the first page. In the middle was a picture of the two of them sitting side by side on the Quinn's porch. They'd just finished dinner and were enjoying dessert in the late evening sunshine when Joseph had pulled out the camera. Sully remembered the series of crazy faces that they'd pulled as Joseph snapped one shot after the after but he had no idea that this moment had been captured. Michaela, who had suddenly decided that experimenting with rocky road hadn't been a good idea, had been staring so mournfully at his ice cream that he'd agreed to trade with her. Joseph must have been pretty quick to snap the exact moment they'd made the trade and the beaming grin that had instantly lit up Michaela's face as her fingers closed over his cone. Glancing down, Sully smiled at the comment Michaela had scribbled under the picture: "Best friends, even when chocolate ice cream is involved."
"A photo album?" he asked, glancing up with a half smile.
"Keep going," encouraged Michaela, her hands twisting together in excitement.
Grinning at her infectious enthusiasm, Sully turned the page. His eyes widened as he scanned the black and white print, his forefinger tracing across the title and down the first few lines.
"Is this …" he began breathlessly.
"Yep," beamed Michaela, "Becky took me to this amazing little music shop in town. You would have loved it Sully. It had every track ever released by every band you could think of. The guy who ran it apparently knows my sister and when I asked if he had the scores for sale, he just pulled out this folder and told me to pick. Dad got the folder and some of the extra prints done whilst I was away so technically it's from both of us. Make sure you tell him I said that, ok, he thinks I'm going to hog all the glory."
"So do you like it?" she asked when he remained silent.
"This is awesome," he whispered, looking up from the pages in his hand, "it's the best gift ever!"
"You've got no excuse now," replied Michaela smugly, "you can really start playing what you wanna play."
"I can't wait to try these out," he began excitedly, flipping frantically through the pages and exclaiming in delight as he encountered songs and artists he had worshipped for the better part of his life.
"We'd better get going or Mrs Cooper's going to start wondering where we are," sighed Michaela, glancing at her watch, "she made you a cake and everything and if we're late, the dog's gunna get our share."
"Ok, let me just put this away," agreed Sully, reverently tucking the binder away inside his bag.
"Thanks so much Michaela," he continued, as he slung the backpack into its rightful position, eyes shining with unveiled exuberance, "Sorry for being grouchy before."
"That's ok," replied Michaela with a broad smile, swinging her own bag up as they set off down the street.
"Hey Sully," she said suddenly, as they waited at a crossing for the traffic lights to change, "two out of the five times that you rang last night, I really was washing my hair."