Quarantine

Baden stretched out on the couch after doing her homework. She was starting to hope for fall break to begin soon, but there were still a few weeks before that would happen. She would just have to bear through the school days. Her eyes darted to her cell phone and hoped for Joshua Miller to call her. She kind of knew that he wouldn’t call her this early, but she still hoped for it nonetheless. She wanted him to apologize for not telling her that he was partnered with his ex on the science project. That was another false hope, and she couldn’t help it.

Josh wasn’t one to apologize for something like that. He figured it wouldn’t matter since he didn’t want to be back with his ex. In fact, he had absolutely no feelings for his ex-girlfriend. He even told Baden that, but she had argued that he was just saying that so she wouldn’t suspect anything. He was honestly not interested in the girl who had cheated on him twelve or more times during their one year relationship. If anything, he was expecting an apology from her for overreacting to something like that and thinking he would do something like that.

Baden focused on the TV, trying to distract her from her hopes. The show wasn’t all that interesting, but none of her favorite shows were on at the moment. She heard the door open and looked up to see her uncle Thomas walking into the house. He had two bags from the local fast food restaurant in his hand and two Styrofoam cups of soda. Baden sat up and went to help him carry the food to the table.

“Thanks, Baden,” Tommy said warmly. He had gotten used to having her live with him. It was odd at first, but now that she had been here for a few months they had a few unspoken rules and compromises. They got along with each other and seemed to know when to leave the other alone.

He even liked it having someone else in the house now. His ex-wife had moved out and took their son, James, to the neighboring town known as Waterville. He got to see his son on the weekends and on the breaks. During the rest of the time, he was alone in the house until his oldest niece moved in. He had gotten so used to having someone in the house that it was odd for those few months of having the house to himself.

Baden got along with James when he was hear, and she even watched him when she wasn’t babysitting Adalynn. Well, sometimes, she babysat for both of them if it was on a weekend when James was here. The rest of the time, Baden went over to Waterville to watch him.

They sat down to eat and made a bit of small talk. Tommy asked how school was and if she finished her homework. He knew that she would have it finished by now, and he was just asking that to make conversation. They always talked about small things when they were eating, and it was becoming a habit of theirs.

Baden looked at her uncle and realized that he was one of the fewpeople who weren’t acting weird so far. The rest of the town as a whole had been acting like there was something odd going on. Most of them looked freaked out and seemed to jump at the smallest things, particularly around her. She didn’t know or understand what was going on.

“Is there something going on with you and that Josh guy?” he asked, noticing something was up with her.

“Sort of. He got assigned to work with his ex in class and didn’t tell me about it,” she admitted, after debating if she should tell him or not. “I’m not mad that he has to work with her because he didn’t have a choice. It was just that I had to hear about it through someone else.”

“Well, does he still care about her?” Tommy questioned, figuring he could give her some advice. He understood that she got mad about hearing about it through someone else, but he didn’t think that she should worry too much about it.

Baden told her uncle that Josh told her that he didn’t have any feelings for the ex-girlfriend. She also explained that she believed him, but felt like he was just saying that to shut her up or to stop her from worrying. Baden honestly didn’t know what to think about this whole situation. She wanted to believe Josh because she cared about him. Yet at the same time, she didn’t want to find out that he was cheating on her.

“Every time I see you with Josh, he always looks at you like he is in love with you. I don’t think he would ruin what he has with you for a girl that he broke up with. It was over for a reason, and there is no reason to bring up the past like that,” Thomas Harlan pointed out. He hoped that would help her some.

Baden nodded when he was done talking. What he said made sense to her, and now she was confused on what to do. She knew that Josh wouldn’t call to apologize; he may not even call her tonight. She finished eating as she thought about what she could do. She got up and went to her phone.

Calling him seemed like the only option at this time. It was kind of late to show up at his house. She waited with the phone by her ear, listening to it ring, until he picked up on the third ring. She almost thought he wasn’t going to answer, but that was just the negative voice in the back of her head.

“Hello?” Josh said into the phone. It was clear that he didn’t look at the caller ID, and that he was probably in the middle of his homework. He always took a long time to finish homework mainly because he got easily distracted when it came to things that he didn’t like.

“I’m sorry,” she said immediately. The earnestness of her words was extremely clear in her voice. “I just don’t want to get hurt.”

He was a little shocked by the words until he realized that it was Baden who called. “I understand,” he said calmly. In a way, that was the truth. He could get why she got mad, but at the same time, he felt like she didn’t trust him as much as he wanted her to. “You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. I wouldn’t even dream of doing something like that.”

“I’m just a little stubborn, but I think you know that,” she pointed out, laughing slightly. She was glad that he sounded so calm and caring. “I let my own insecurities get the better of me.”

Josh nodded, knowing that she couldn’t see him. “You don’t have to worry about me hurting you in any way. I care about you too much to think about doing that. Your stubbornness wouldn’t scare me off,” he assured her for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

She laughed at the last part of his words. “I’m an idiot,” she muttered. She wanted to ask him if he had noticed the way the people were acting in school. She didn’t notice him acting like that, and she immediately assumed that he wasn’t affected by whatever that was going on.

“Should I agree with that?” Josh teased. There was a warm smile planted on his face. His white teeth seemed to shine in his dull room. He wished that she was there with him, just so he could hug her and show her how little she had to worry about. “Anyways, what was up with Erica? She was acting weird all day.”

Erica Corey was one of Baden’s closest friends who was dating Josh’s best friend, Alasdair Davidson, since the start of high school. She was one of school’s cheerleaders which was odd for Baden who never thought she would be friends with a cheerleader. Erica had acted weird all day and avoided Alasdair as much as she possibly could. She had jumped when the teacher had walked by her in the middle of class. Then she tried to act like nothing happened. She jumped more than once. Erica was more jumpy than the other people in the high school. No one had ever seen her like that since she was normally such a composed person.

“I have no idea. I did try to talk to her about it twice today, but she changed the subject as fast as she possibly could without any form of an answer,” Baden admitted. She couldn’t help but be worried about her friend. “I don’t think that she will tell me even though she does usually tell me everything.”

“Alastair had asked me about it and wondered if you would know anything about it,” Josh said.

“Well, that’s all I know. I’m sure she has him left further in the dark than she does me,” Baden replied. “It’s clear that there is something up with her.”

Josh thought about that, and wasn’t going to argue with that when she was right. It just didn’t seem like Erica to hide something that was going on with her, but what did he know? He didn’t really bother getting to know his friend’s girlfriend. He tolerated Erica to an extent. Josh couldn’t help but find her slightly annoying most of the time.

“Do you have any idea on what is going on with this town?” Baden asked, out of pure curiosity. She wanted to know what her boyfriend thought about what was going on since he was one of the few that didn’t seem to be having issues with the odd events going in the town.

“I think there is something going on with that wall that they built around the perimeter of the town. I don’t know how, but I think it’s related to it in some way,” Josh answered honestly. Baden could hear how much he believed those words.

Josh didn’t know how right he was about what he just said. Baden didn’t agree with him because she didn’t think that a wall could cause anyone to act differently. It was just a wall that was meant to keep the wild life out of Four Trees for the safety of both the humans and the animals. There was no way that it could make the town become scared and nervous about every little thing.