My Worst Nightmare

“Ditch?” I hesitantly repeated. I didn’t have much time to think this through considering we really needed to get to school, detention or not. I had a big science test that I couldn’t miss.

“Yeah, come on! Please Haylee? For me?” Caleb begged. Oh how could I say no to that face? Plus I really wasn’t ready for this test and the weekend was the best time to cram before I got the beat down on Monday. Well, what the heck?

“Alright, fine, but you so owe me Caleb Turman! I have a test today that I’ll be missing!” I exclaimed.
“I’ll make it up Haylee I swear.” Caleb smiled.

As we continued to finish our waffles in silence a simple questioned popped into my head. Were we going to be going anywhere? Then how would we get there with no transportation? And if we stayed at my place what were we going to do? Ok, maybe I had more then one simple question, but one just leads to another that leads to another!

“Hey Caleb?” I started and he turned to me while taking a gulp of water, “I was just wondering what we were going to do today.”

“We could go into town. I want to pick up some new shirts anyway my mom’s been bugging me to go shopping for better looking tees.” he stated.

“That’s sounds like fun.” I shrugged.

“Yeah and it’ll be easier since I have a girl with me” Caleb smiled at me, “Just pick them out for me and my mom will think I am an excellent shopper!”

“That’s cheating you have to try something on to like it.” I laughed.
“Not for guys. We look at it and if it looks any good we buy it. It’s a mans way!” he exclaimed putting his fists on his hips and jutting out his chest.

“Well you don’t look too much like a man to me,” I giggled slapping his chest back down.

After about just a half hour of hanging out it was just a little past 6:30 in the morning. Not exactly a good time to look for open shops considering everything was still probably closed. So we had to wait another two hours before we could actually leave the house while thinking we could just walk into a store. During those two hours we just watched cartoons on Nickelodeon. Although I feel asleep for most of the two hours and when Caleb finally woke me up I was pretty much refreshed and ready to go.

“Ok! Off to the shops!” Caleb shouted jumping up off the couch heading toward the front door.
“Well hold on I need to get money first. Oh and I hope you brought your own so you can buy those shirts.” I shouted as I headed upstairs for my bedroom. When I reached the top of the stairs I heard Caleb shout, “Shit!”

I shook my head while lightly laughing to myself. Of course he didn’t bring any money. I went to my secret stash that was under my mattress (Real original right?) and took about twenty bucks. Who knew what I would be in the shopping mood for.

When I got downstairs I saw Caleb looking glum and I knew that he was going to ask me for money. When he did I turned him down.

“Aw come on Haylee! Please? Can’t I just go under your mattress and pull a twenty?” Caleb pleaded.

“No!” I shouted laughing, “Wait, how did you know my money is under my mattress?”
“Hey, I have my ways.” Caleb winked.

“I, uh, don’t want to know.” I said with my eyebrows furrowed.

“Then I have absolutely no cash.” Caleb sighed.

“Just go home and grab some.” I suggested.

“Yeah and get my ass kicked by my mom. No thanks.”
“Just sneak in, grab some money from your room, and get out of there!”
“But if I get caught I’ll be in even more trouble.”
“Like that has ever stopped you before Turman!”

We bickered back and forth, but in the end I was victorious. Caleb decided he was going to take the risk and run home to get some money. How he was going to manage that was beyond me though. All I really wanted was to see how things played out. Wrong, I know, but it makes things a hell of a lot more interesting in my day. Plus I was sure Caleb could manage. He was sneaky like that.

When we got to his house we went around the back into his backyard. Usually his back door was open because him and his father frequently forgot their house key. It was a hazard for sure, but honestly there was nothing that could be done to help these guys. I mean they tried the whole hiding a key, but let me tell you it did not work.

Anyway, Caleb took a deep breath and quietly but slowly opened the back door after peeking inside to make sure his mom wasn’t around. She was here and in the house because her car was still present in the drive way. When Caleb got inside while also closing the door he looked back at me. I gave him the thumbs up and he sighed turning back around creeping further into his house.

I looked around myself as to make sure that I would not be seen so I went around to the left side of the house where Caleb’s window was. I waited and hid by the bushes and looked up occasionally thinking maybe he knew I was waiting here and he’d toss me some things he wanted to take with him or whatever. I was right too because I heard the window open and then the screen slide up. Looking up I saw Caleb sticking his head out the window.

“Haylee! Help! My mom is upstairs with a baseball bat! She heard me come up the stairs!” he quickly whispered.

“What?!” I whispered back.

“You heard me!”
“That’s crazy! Well, I don’t know! Do you have money?”
“Yeah I grabbed it real quick, but man my mom is still up here! She hasn’t gotten to check my room yet!”
“Can you climb down the side of your house?”
“This is two story Haylee!”
“Baby!”

“Fine!” Caleb shouted then covered his mouth. He did it now, even I could hear his mom running down the hallway to his room. I heard a door bust open and his mom yell. I ran and jumped into the big bushes along side the house. However, next thing I knew I heard a loud thump and some other noises I couldn’t understand, but I did understand the big weight on me when it came.

“Caleb get off me!” I whispered trying to shove him off.
“Haylee we have to get out of here put his hoodie on, quick!” he replied getting off.

I did just that and put the hood up. Just as I had finished Caleb grabbed my hand and started off down the side walk with me inches behind.

“My mom got a good swing at me that I fell out the window!” Caleb exclaimed as I looked at the back of his hooded head and down at our hands.

“Lets get back to my house so we can take a breather and ditch the jackets.” I said as he nodded becoming out of breath.

When we got to my house we went up into my room and took the jackets off. It was quiet for a little bit until all of a sudden we broke out into laughter.

“Did your mom really hit you over the head with a baseball bat?!” I cracked up.
“Yes! Stop laughing that shit really hurt.” Caleb whined rubbing his forehead.
“Well at least you know that your mom can defend herself.” I giggled.
“Yeah she has one nasty swing.”
“And you fell out of the window too how does your back feel?”
“Terrible, but manageable.”

“Come on, lets go downstairs, I’ll get you some ice for your head at least.” I stated motioning with my hand for him to follow me. I went into my pantry and grabbed a plastic bag. Then I went into the freezer and grabbed a handful of ice to put in the bag. I pressed it to where I could see a large bump forming and he instantly grabbed my hand with the bag and held it away.

“That’s so fucking cold Haylee are you crazy?!” he shouted still holding my hand with the bag. I think I might have even blushed.

“We-well its to stop the swelling.” I stated, “You don’t want your mom seeing it do you?”

“I guess your right,” he signed as he pull the bag and my hand to his forehead again and took it like a man. My hand was starting to go numb actually from holding the ice in the bag, but Caleb’s hand touching mine for this long kept me distracted.

A few long seconds passed and I pulled my hand out from under his and stuttered, “I, um, t-think that I should go change m-my clothes. You know. Just in case your, uh, mom goes into town.”

“That would be a good idea. I think I’ll change my shirt at least when we get to town,” Caleb nodded, “I feel like a real criminal and you’re my partner in crime!”

“Well I don’t know about that” I laughed as I left him in the kitchen and headed upstairs.

About an hour later we felt it was safe to wander outside the house and into town. Town wasn’t too far from my house at all either. After the three long blocks to Vinny’s there was just another three blocks, a turn, and the last two blocks into the start of town. When we got there we hit the first clothing store we could duck into away from the busy street with adults.

We spent a long while in there because actually there were a lot of good shirts that Caleb liked. I had even got him to try on at least three or four of them while we were there. In the end before we left he only got one of them that cost five dollars out of the thirty he brought. When we left we tried not to be too noticeable, but there were a lot of adults that gave us looks. The ones that had seen us before in school or leaving from school that were recognizable to us. However, we knew that they would never call or talk to our parents, we didn’t know them like that.

When the clock struck twelve in the afternoon I was sweating. It was so hot out and we had be ducking in and out of stores looking around for quite some time now. I was thanking the gods that I had worn a blue tank top that looked really good on me and saved me from even worse heat if I had worn a t-shirt. When I had suggested to Caleb that we go into the nearest café for a lunch he couldn’t agree more.

As soon as the door opened from the place we had picked a cool chill sensation hit my skin like a torpedo. The air conditioning felt wonderful, I was hungry, and just in time because my tummy rumbled so loud.

“Someone’s extra hungry,” Caleb pointed out.
“Like I didn’t know that,” I teased as we stood a bit away from the register and looked up at the food choices. There were so many things to pick from that I just didn’t know.

“Well I know what I want! What about you?” Caleb asked next to me after about two minutes.
“I’m not sure. What are you getting?” I asked.
“Just a chicken sandwich and chips,” he shrugged.
“I think I’ll get the same, sounds good,” I smiled.

We placed our orders and took a seat. I sat facing the front door of the place while Caleb sat with his back to it. Who came through that door next I wasn’t expecting at all. As a matter of fact I thought that maybe I wouldn’t really hear of them again considering we only really had a nice conversation. Jonathan, the Jonathan I had met the night before, came through the door taking his hat off and wiping his forehead off. He placed the hat just right back onto his head again and went over to the register.

All the while I’m sure Caleb was talking, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Well, more like I wasn’t paying attention. I wasn’t able to keep my eyes off Jonathan. When he had finished his order he stood way from the register, but lead up against the counter. He scanned the area and then his eyes landed on me. We stared for a few seconds and then he smiled at me and waved.