I Can Not Tell a Lie But I Kind Of Have To
The Day With Scarlet Fever
“Neil?” I heard my mom’s voice the next morning. “Are you okay?” I peeked out from under my blankets and saw her standing in my doorway. I looked over at the clock. I should be getting up for school right about now.
“Are you okay?” she repeated. After last night, I consider myself lucky to be in one piece. But right now, I felt like my head exploded. I pushed the blankets aside and jumped up. I immediately regretted it, putting my hand to my head.
“Okay, did that a little too fast,” I said, sitting back down. Mom rushed over and felt my forehead.
“Oh sweetheart, you’re sick,” she said, pushing me back down. “You go back to sleep, and I’ll go call the school.” I highly doubt I’m actually sick. Just a little tired after having a knife shoved into my head.
“Mom, I’m fine,” I said, sitting up.
“No you’re not,” she said. “I’m going to call the school and tell them you’re sick. Then I’ll bring up some breakfast.” Before I could protest, she had whipped out of the room and closed the door.
I sat up, feeling my own forehead. It was burning up but other than a horrible headache, I felt fine. There was a knock at the door and Sidney walked in.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “You’re sick and don’t even care that you get the day off.”
“I’m not sick Sidney,” I said, rolling out of bed and walking over to the window.
“According to mom, you are,” she said. “I’ve tried to skip school seventeen times this year. Mom has never bought any of my tricks.”
“She loves me better,” I said, throwing open the window and looking around.
“The first time you even try this, and she buys it,” Sidney continued. “It’s unbelievable. You are the perfect child, so why wouldn’t she believe you? But still, what are you avoiding?”
“Nothing,” I said, turning around to look at her. “I’m not avoiding anything.”
“Then why are you staying home?” she asked.
“Because mom’s making me,” I said.
“You said it yourself, you’re not sick,” she said, crossing her arms. “You must be avoiding something. I know a school-skip when I see one.”
“Tell that to mom,” I said. “She’s the one who won’t let me go.” I stuck my head back out the window.
“What are you even looking for?” Sidney asked. What was I looking for? I had no idea. I was expecting… what was I expecting?
“I, as your big brother, have the power to ignore you,” I said, looking back at her. “Although, I have no idea how we’re even related. Me and you are nothing alike.”
“You and I,” she corrected me. “Well, I do have my theories. You were adopted from the circus and then they wanted a real kid and had me.”
“I think you’re the adopted one,” I said. “You’ve got red hair and blue eyes. I mean, where the hell did that come from? There’s no body in our entire family that has red hair. And the blue eyes? No clue how you got those.”
“Great Aunt Shirley has blue eyes,” she said. “That’s where I got them from. But I do think that we are somehow related.”
“Oh yeah?” I said still looking out the window.
“We’re both afraid of mom,” she said. I pulled my head out the window.
“You wouldn’t,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her. She returned the look and smiled.
“Mom! Neil’s out of bed and has the window open in his room!” she shouted before going back to her room. It was as if Mom had super speed too because she immediately appeared in the doorway with a tray of oatmeal and orange juice.
“Neil, get back in bed!” she said sharply, and I leaped into my bed. She smiled and set the tray on my lap. Behind her, I could see Sidney silently laughing.
“Oatmeal?” I said, eyeing the gloppy mess in the bowl in front of me.
“Yes Neil, oatmeal,” she said. “It will help build up your immune system.”
“But it’s gross,” I said, stirring my spoon in it.
“Eat it,” she said. I quickly stuck a spoonful into my mouth and swallowed the lumpy glop. She walked over to the window and closed it.
“Honestly,” she mumbled to herself. “You’re going to get sicker if you keep that window open.” I pretended to take interest in the oatmeal and didn’t answer.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “I volunteered to help at the hospital today so I won’t be home to take care of you.” Darn. What a shame.
“You’re father’s already gone to work,” she said. “But you have all of his numbers and all of mine so if you need one of us for anything, just call.”
“Okay, mom,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I have to go now,” she said. “I hope you feel better.” She closed the door. I listened to her footsteps as they traveled down the hall, down the stairs, out the front door, and into the car. I waited until I heard the car go down the street until I walked over to the window and threw it open again.
“I must be going crazy,” I said to myself. I pulled my head back in and closed the window. I walked into the hallway, slid down the banister, and walked into the kitchen to find something more appetizing than oatmeal.
“Hey squirt,” I heard Millie’s voice say. My heart must have leapt out of my chest. I spun around and saw Millie sitting on the counter, eating an apple.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, catching my breath.
“What does it look like I’m doing, scaring you of course,” she said, smiling.
“Get out of my house,” I said. “Nothing good ever happens when you’re here.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said, taking a bite of her apple.
“Well, the first time you showed up here, I made a fool of myself in front of my dad,” I said. “Then my mom announced that she thought she was pregnant. Most recently, I got a figurative kick in the head and then a nice knife in my brain.”
“So did mommy dearest take care of you schnookie-poo?” she asked mockingly. “Does my little squirt have a fever?”
“No, I don’t,” I said, opening the refrigerator, gazing into it, and then closing it again.
“Yeah you do,” she said. “It’s a 102 temperature.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. “And you couldn’t have had a vision of me taking my temperature. I haven’t done that.” She cocked her head to the side and looked at me.
“No way!” I suddenly realized. “You’re doing this?”
“Yes, squirt,” she said. “I’m in complete control of your body temperature. Watch this.” I suddenly felt really hot.
“Oh my gosh, Millie,” I said, pushing up my sleeves. “Stop it!”
“Right now, your temperature is 106,” she smiled.
“Well, bring it back down! You can die at like 108 or something,” I said, wiping my forehead. She rolled her eyes and I began to cool down. I got a glass and filled it with tons of ice.
“Thank you,” I said, picking up an ice cube and eating it. “Now why did you give me a fever?”
“I thought you deserved the day off,” she shrugged. “After what I did to you last night, I felt kind of bad.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, putting my glass on the counter. “You feel, dare I say it, guilty?”
“Yes, I do,” she said. “Sorry I kind of almost chopped your head off.”
“Figuratively, right?” I asked.
“Yes, squirt,” she nodded. “And I’ve decided to take the day off too.”
“You’re not hanging out with me though,” I said. “My day off includes no Millie around to bug me.”
“Relax squirt,” she said. “I’m going to go to HQ and talk to different teachers about how to get deep into someone’s mind without getting hurt.”
“Okay,” I said, and before I could even say good-bye, she was gone. I spent the rest of the day sitting on the couch watching TV despite the fact that the only thing on was little kid shows like Dora the Explorer and Handy Manny.
When I got hungry or thirsty, I tried to telepathically get a can of soda or a bag of chips from the kitchen. The first time I tried it, the bag of chips fell on the floor halfway between me and the kitchen. I got better after that though. Then I lost the remote to the TV and was stuck watching Loony Tunes until I realized that I could just get up and press the buttons on the TV. After I laughed at that, I just pressed the buttons telepathically.
At about three, I heard a bus stop in front of our house for a moment and then drive away. A minute later, Sidney walked in the door.
“So how’s our little trooper here?” she said amusingly. “I hope you haven’t died of scarlet fever.”
“You don’t even know what scarlet fever is,” I said.
“Neither do you,” she retorted, walking into the kitchen. I turned off the TV and walked up to my room, where the tray of oatmeal and orange still sat on my bed. I walked it down to the kitchen and dumped them down the drain.
“Disposing the evidence?” Sidney questioned me. I rolled my eyes and walked back up to my room. I grabbed my iPod and headphones and drowned out all other noises. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.
In my dream, I was at a Beatles concert and even more strange, all of them were alive and onstage. Although, I must say Lennon and Harrison did have a hazy look. Anyway, I was a Beatles concert and then suddenly a giant Mark Chapman stomped on the stage. I acted quickly, flying over to him. He swatted at me and knocked me to the ground. I looked up and saw Millie laughing at me.
Then the scene shifted and I was driving my car to school. But I was sitting on top of the car, with the steering wheel, not connected to anything, in my hands. I pulled into the parking lot before Debra chased me out again. I drove over to Tuck’s where Daniel and Eric were playing pool and Kyle was sitting in the middle of the pool table, balancing a salt shaker.
I woke up from my dream, staring into the eyes of my mother.
“Mom?” I said confused. “What are you doing?”
“Can’t a mother check on her son without being interrogated?” she said. “How are you feeling?”
“Same as I felt this morning,” I said, untangling my headphones from me. “Fine.”
“Really?” she said. “Let me take your temperature.” She left the room and went into the bathroom medicine cabinet.
“Mom! I’m fine!” I shouted to no prevail. She came back and shoved the thermometer in my mouth.
“Mom, I’m not sick,” I mumbled with the thermometer still in my mouth.
“Shh!” she barked. I rolled my eyes and waited until the thermometer beeped.
“103?” I read off of it. Mom looked worriedly at me and pushed my hair out of my face with her fingers.
“My poor baby,” she cooed.
“I’m going to kill Millie,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What was that sweetheart?” Mom asked.
“I said I’m chilly,” I said, slipping a sweatshirt over my head.
“I’m going to get you some soup, okay?” she said, walking towards the door. “You stay there.” She left the room and closed the door. I fumbled around in my dresser drawer trying to find my cell phone. Once I found it, I looked through the contacts until I found Millie’s number. I called it and waited patiently as it rang.
“Hello?” she said.
“Millie! I have a 103 fever!” I shouted. “This is your doing!” She laughed.
“This isn’t funny! My mother thinks I’m going to die or something!” I said frustrated. “Please fix me!”
“Okay, okay, squirt,” she said after she stopped laughing. “Say the magic words.”
“Please?” I said hopefully.
“Okay,” she said. “You’re good now. You’re temperature is back down to 98.6 degrees.”
“Thank you,” I said exasperated. “Can you keep it that way?”
“I’ll try my best,” she said.
“So what have you found out about mind reading?” I asked.
“I’ve been in the library all day, talked to the ten different teachers we have for telepathy, and researched the history of mind reading,” she said, “And found nothing. The most useful thing I found was from Ms. Bashing. She said that the telepathic supers can’t get deep into other people’s minds because they have some inner conflict.”
“The person having their mind read,” I asked, “or the Super?”
“The super,” she said. “So you apparently have this conflict inside yourself.”
“So I’m pretty much a nut,” I concluded.
“Yeah, pretty much,” she said. There was a knock on my door and Mom entered carrying another tray.
“Okay, Millie,” I said. “I’ve got to go. Sorry you couldn’t find any good research for our project.”
“I’m guessing your mom is in the room,” Millie said.
“Maybe the teacher will give us an extension,” I said, ignoring Millie all together.
“Tell her you love her,” Millie said hopefully. “Go on, mama’s boy. Do it.”
“Okay, see you later, bye,” I said, closing my phone before my mom would say anything embarrassing that Millie could later use against me.
“Mom, I think my fever’s going down,” I said, feeling my forehead.
“I don’t think it would have gone down in five minutes,” she said.
“Mom, I really think it’s okay now,” I said. She rolled her eyes and put her hand on my forehead.
“Well, you do feel cooler,” she said, putting her hand in her pocket.
“I told you I’m fine,” I said. “Please let me go to school tomorrow. I was so bored today.”
“Well, if you feel okay in the morning, maybe you can go,” she said. “Okay, I made your favorite. Brunswick stew.” She set the tray on my stomach.
“Thanks mom,” I said, spooning up some of the soup and taking a bite. “Yum.”
“Okay, we’ll be downstairs if you need anything,” she said, leaving the room and shutting the door. I had hardly taken another bite before my phone started ringing.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey man,” Daniel said. “So are you sick or what?”
“I’m not sick,” I said.
“Hey guys,” I heard him shout. “I won! He’s not sick! He just ditched!”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“At Tuck’s,” he said, “And I just won fifty bucks.”
“I didn’t ditch school you loser,” I said.
“Never mind,” he said disappointingly to the others on the other line.
“So why did you stay home today?” he asked.
“My mom thought I looked sick,” I said.
“Kyle, you were right!” he said to Kyle on the other side. “It was his mom that made him stay home!”
“That means you lost Daniel,” I heard Charlie say.
“Oh, right,” Daniel said sadly.
“Hand it over,” Kyle said to Daniel.
“Why do you always have to be right?” Daniel asked.
“Because he’s a genius,” Mike said.
“Hey Daniel,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“How many guys are at Tuck’s with you?” I asked cautiously.
“About twenty or so,” he said.
“So let me take a guess here,” I said. “You and Eric went around school today, asking guys why I wasn’t there, am I right?”
“Well, technically, yeah,” he said. “On the plus side, the entire grade is going to find out that your mommy made you stay home today in just an hour. By tomorrow morning, the whole school will probably know.”
“How is that the plus side?” I asked.
“Well, I never said it was the plus side for you,” he said.
“I really should trade you in for a better best friend,” I said.
“But you would never do that to me,” he said.
“And why not?” I asked.
“Because you love me,” he said, elongating the word “love.”
“You are the biggest moron I know,” I said.
“Neil!” I heard Mom shouting. “Are you on your phone?”
“Yes,” I said timidly.
“Well get off,” she said. “You need to go to sleep.”
“Mom! It’s eight o’clock!”
“Now mister!” she shouted.
“Okay,” I said to Daniel. “I gotta go.” But I doubt he heard me because he was talking to the guys on the other side.
“As we speak, his mommy’s making him get off the phone so he can go beddy-by!” Daniel shouted, making the room fill with laughter.
“Good-bye Daniel!” I shouted, closing my phone.
“Are you okay?” she repeated. After last night, I consider myself lucky to be in one piece. But right now, I felt like my head exploded. I pushed the blankets aside and jumped up. I immediately regretted it, putting my hand to my head.
“Okay, did that a little too fast,” I said, sitting back down. Mom rushed over and felt my forehead.
“Oh sweetheart, you’re sick,” she said, pushing me back down. “You go back to sleep, and I’ll go call the school.” I highly doubt I’m actually sick. Just a little tired after having a knife shoved into my head.
“Mom, I’m fine,” I said, sitting up.
“No you’re not,” she said. “I’m going to call the school and tell them you’re sick. Then I’ll bring up some breakfast.” Before I could protest, she had whipped out of the room and closed the door.
I sat up, feeling my own forehead. It was burning up but other than a horrible headache, I felt fine. There was a knock at the door and Sidney walked in.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “You’re sick and don’t even care that you get the day off.”
“I’m not sick Sidney,” I said, rolling out of bed and walking over to the window.
“According to mom, you are,” she said. “I’ve tried to skip school seventeen times this year. Mom has never bought any of my tricks.”
“She loves me better,” I said, throwing open the window and looking around.
“The first time you even try this, and she buys it,” Sidney continued. “It’s unbelievable. You are the perfect child, so why wouldn’t she believe you? But still, what are you avoiding?”
“Nothing,” I said, turning around to look at her. “I’m not avoiding anything.”
“Then why are you staying home?” she asked.
“Because mom’s making me,” I said.
“You said it yourself, you’re not sick,” she said, crossing her arms. “You must be avoiding something. I know a school-skip when I see one.”
“Tell that to mom,” I said. “She’s the one who won’t let me go.” I stuck my head back out the window.
“What are you even looking for?” Sidney asked. What was I looking for? I had no idea. I was expecting… what was I expecting?
“I, as your big brother, have the power to ignore you,” I said, looking back at her. “Although, I have no idea how we’re even related. Me and you are nothing alike.”
“You and I,” she corrected me. “Well, I do have my theories. You were adopted from the circus and then they wanted a real kid and had me.”
“I think you’re the adopted one,” I said. “You’ve got red hair and blue eyes. I mean, where the hell did that come from? There’s no body in our entire family that has red hair. And the blue eyes? No clue how you got those.”
“Great Aunt Shirley has blue eyes,” she said. “That’s where I got them from. But I do think that we are somehow related.”
“Oh yeah?” I said still looking out the window.
“We’re both afraid of mom,” she said. I pulled my head out the window.
“You wouldn’t,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her. She returned the look and smiled.
“Mom! Neil’s out of bed and has the window open in his room!” she shouted before going back to her room. It was as if Mom had super speed too because she immediately appeared in the doorway with a tray of oatmeal and orange juice.
“Neil, get back in bed!” she said sharply, and I leaped into my bed. She smiled and set the tray on my lap. Behind her, I could see Sidney silently laughing.
“Oatmeal?” I said, eyeing the gloppy mess in the bowl in front of me.
“Yes Neil, oatmeal,” she said. “It will help build up your immune system.”
“But it’s gross,” I said, stirring my spoon in it.
“Eat it,” she said. I quickly stuck a spoonful into my mouth and swallowed the lumpy glop. She walked over to the window and closed it.
“Honestly,” she mumbled to herself. “You’re going to get sicker if you keep that window open.” I pretended to take interest in the oatmeal and didn’t answer.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “I volunteered to help at the hospital today so I won’t be home to take care of you.” Darn. What a shame.
“You’re father’s already gone to work,” she said. “But you have all of his numbers and all of mine so if you need one of us for anything, just call.”
“Okay, mom,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I have to go now,” she said. “I hope you feel better.” She closed the door. I listened to her footsteps as they traveled down the hall, down the stairs, out the front door, and into the car. I waited until I heard the car go down the street until I walked over to the window and threw it open again.
“I must be going crazy,” I said to myself. I pulled my head back in and closed the window. I walked into the hallway, slid down the banister, and walked into the kitchen to find something more appetizing than oatmeal.
“Hey squirt,” I heard Millie’s voice say. My heart must have leapt out of my chest. I spun around and saw Millie sitting on the counter, eating an apple.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, catching my breath.
“What does it look like I’m doing, scaring you of course,” she said, smiling.
“Get out of my house,” I said. “Nothing good ever happens when you’re here.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said, taking a bite of her apple.
“Well, the first time you showed up here, I made a fool of myself in front of my dad,” I said. “Then my mom announced that she thought she was pregnant. Most recently, I got a figurative kick in the head and then a nice knife in my brain.”
“So did mommy dearest take care of you schnookie-poo?” she asked mockingly. “Does my little squirt have a fever?”
“No, I don’t,” I said, opening the refrigerator, gazing into it, and then closing it again.
“Yeah you do,” she said. “It’s a 102 temperature.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. “And you couldn’t have had a vision of me taking my temperature. I haven’t done that.” She cocked her head to the side and looked at me.
“No way!” I suddenly realized. “You’re doing this?”
“Yes, squirt,” she said. “I’m in complete control of your body temperature. Watch this.” I suddenly felt really hot.
“Oh my gosh, Millie,” I said, pushing up my sleeves. “Stop it!”
“Right now, your temperature is 106,” she smiled.
“Well, bring it back down! You can die at like 108 or something,” I said, wiping my forehead. She rolled her eyes and I began to cool down. I got a glass and filled it with tons of ice.
“Thank you,” I said, picking up an ice cube and eating it. “Now why did you give me a fever?”
“I thought you deserved the day off,” she shrugged. “After what I did to you last night, I felt kind of bad.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, putting my glass on the counter. “You feel, dare I say it, guilty?”
“Yes, I do,” she said. “Sorry I kind of almost chopped your head off.”
“Figuratively, right?” I asked.
“Yes, squirt,” she nodded. “And I’ve decided to take the day off too.”
“You’re not hanging out with me though,” I said. “My day off includes no Millie around to bug me.”
“Relax squirt,” she said. “I’m going to go to HQ and talk to different teachers about how to get deep into someone’s mind without getting hurt.”
“Okay,” I said, and before I could even say good-bye, she was gone. I spent the rest of the day sitting on the couch watching TV despite the fact that the only thing on was little kid shows like Dora the Explorer and Handy Manny.
When I got hungry or thirsty, I tried to telepathically get a can of soda or a bag of chips from the kitchen. The first time I tried it, the bag of chips fell on the floor halfway between me and the kitchen. I got better after that though. Then I lost the remote to the TV and was stuck watching Loony Tunes until I realized that I could just get up and press the buttons on the TV. After I laughed at that, I just pressed the buttons telepathically.
At about three, I heard a bus stop in front of our house for a moment and then drive away. A minute later, Sidney walked in the door.
“So how’s our little trooper here?” she said amusingly. “I hope you haven’t died of scarlet fever.”
“You don’t even know what scarlet fever is,” I said.
“Neither do you,” she retorted, walking into the kitchen. I turned off the TV and walked up to my room, where the tray of oatmeal and orange still sat on my bed. I walked it down to the kitchen and dumped them down the drain.
“Disposing the evidence?” Sidney questioned me. I rolled my eyes and walked back up to my room. I grabbed my iPod and headphones and drowned out all other noises. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.
In my dream, I was at a Beatles concert and even more strange, all of them were alive and onstage. Although, I must say Lennon and Harrison did have a hazy look. Anyway, I was a Beatles concert and then suddenly a giant Mark Chapman stomped on the stage. I acted quickly, flying over to him. He swatted at me and knocked me to the ground. I looked up and saw Millie laughing at me.
Then the scene shifted and I was driving my car to school. But I was sitting on top of the car, with the steering wheel, not connected to anything, in my hands. I pulled into the parking lot before Debra chased me out again. I drove over to Tuck’s where Daniel and Eric were playing pool and Kyle was sitting in the middle of the pool table, balancing a salt shaker.
I woke up from my dream, staring into the eyes of my mother.
“Mom?” I said confused. “What are you doing?”
“Can’t a mother check on her son without being interrogated?” she said. “How are you feeling?”
“Same as I felt this morning,” I said, untangling my headphones from me. “Fine.”
“Really?” she said. “Let me take your temperature.” She left the room and went into the bathroom medicine cabinet.
“Mom! I’m fine!” I shouted to no prevail. She came back and shoved the thermometer in my mouth.
“Mom, I’m not sick,” I mumbled with the thermometer still in my mouth.
“Shh!” she barked. I rolled my eyes and waited until the thermometer beeped.
“103?” I read off of it. Mom looked worriedly at me and pushed my hair out of my face with her fingers.
“My poor baby,” she cooed.
“I’m going to kill Millie,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What was that sweetheart?” Mom asked.
“I said I’m chilly,” I said, slipping a sweatshirt over my head.
“I’m going to get you some soup, okay?” she said, walking towards the door. “You stay there.” She left the room and closed the door. I fumbled around in my dresser drawer trying to find my cell phone. Once I found it, I looked through the contacts until I found Millie’s number. I called it and waited patiently as it rang.
“Hello?” she said.
“Millie! I have a 103 fever!” I shouted. “This is your doing!” She laughed.
“This isn’t funny! My mother thinks I’m going to die or something!” I said frustrated. “Please fix me!”
“Okay, okay, squirt,” she said after she stopped laughing. “Say the magic words.”
“Please?” I said hopefully.
“Okay,” she said. “You’re good now. You’re temperature is back down to 98.6 degrees.”
“Thank you,” I said exasperated. “Can you keep it that way?”
“I’ll try my best,” she said.
“So what have you found out about mind reading?” I asked.
“I’ve been in the library all day, talked to the ten different teachers we have for telepathy, and researched the history of mind reading,” she said, “And found nothing. The most useful thing I found was from Ms. Bashing. She said that the telepathic supers can’t get deep into other people’s minds because they have some inner conflict.”
“The person having their mind read,” I asked, “or the Super?”
“The super,” she said. “So you apparently have this conflict inside yourself.”
“So I’m pretty much a nut,” I concluded.
“Yeah, pretty much,” she said. There was a knock on my door and Mom entered carrying another tray.
“Okay, Millie,” I said. “I’ve got to go. Sorry you couldn’t find any good research for our project.”
“I’m guessing your mom is in the room,” Millie said.
“Maybe the teacher will give us an extension,” I said, ignoring Millie all together.
“Tell her you love her,” Millie said hopefully. “Go on, mama’s boy. Do it.”
“Okay, see you later, bye,” I said, closing my phone before my mom would say anything embarrassing that Millie could later use against me.
“Mom, I think my fever’s going down,” I said, feeling my forehead.
“I don’t think it would have gone down in five minutes,” she said.
“Mom, I really think it’s okay now,” I said. She rolled her eyes and put her hand on my forehead.
“Well, you do feel cooler,” she said, putting her hand in her pocket.
“I told you I’m fine,” I said. “Please let me go to school tomorrow. I was so bored today.”
“Well, if you feel okay in the morning, maybe you can go,” she said. “Okay, I made your favorite. Brunswick stew.” She set the tray on my stomach.
“Thanks mom,” I said, spooning up some of the soup and taking a bite. “Yum.”
“Okay, we’ll be downstairs if you need anything,” she said, leaving the room and shutting the door. I had hardly taken another bite before my phone started ringing.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey man,” Daniel said. “So are you sick or what?”
“I’m not sick,” I said.
“Hey guys,” I heard him shout. “I won! He’s not sick! He just ditched!”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“At Tuck’s,” he said, “And I just won fifty bucks.”
“I didn’t ditch school you loser,” I said.
“Never mind,” he said disappointingly to the others on the other line.
“So why did you stay home today?” he asked.
“My mom thought I looked sick,” I said.
“Kyle, you were right!” he said to Kyle on the other side. “It was his mom that made him stay home!”
“That means you lost Daniel,” I heard Charlie say.
“Oh, right,” Daniel said sadly.
“Hand it over,” Kyle said to Daniel.
“Why do you always have to be right?” Daniel asked.
“Because he’s a genius,” Mike said.
“Hey Daniel,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“How many guys are at Tuck’s with you?” I asked cautiously.
“About twenty or so,” he said.
“So let me take a guess here,” I said. “You and Eric went around school today, asking guys why I wasn’t there, am I right?”
“Well, technically, yeah,” he said. “On the plus side, the entire grade is going to find out that your mommy made you stay home today in just an hour. By tomorrow morning, the whole school will probably know.”
“How is that the plus side?” I asked.
“Well, I never said it was the plus side for you,” he said.
“I really should trade you in for a better best friend,” I said.
“But you would never do that to me,” he said.
“And why not?” I asked.
“Because you love me,” he said, elongating the word “love.”
“You are the biggest moron I know,” I said.
“Neil!” I heard Mom shouting. “Are you on your phone?”
“Yes,” I said timidly.
“Well get off,” she said. “You need to go to sleep.”
“Mom! It’s eight o’clock!”
“Now mister!” she shouted.
“Okay,” I said to Daniel. “I gotta go.” But I doubt he heard me because he was talking to the guys on the other side.
“As we speak, his mommy’s making him get off the phone so he can go beddy-by!” Daniel shouted, making the room fill with laughter.
“Good-bye Daniel!” I shouted, closing my phone.
♠ ♠ ♠
So, i'm BAAACK! but in a good way... i hope. i'm not going to post the next few chapters tonight but they pick up the plot and get more interesting so please read them! i'm guessing it'll be maybe this friday or saturday that i post them so... until then comments = love