Worlds Keep Spinning Round
You're Not Keeping Me Around?
“You really outdid yourself on dinner squirt,” I heard Uncle Danny say from the dining room. “It’s obvious you inherited our families cooking skills.”
“Thanks,” I said walking in with two plates, two forks and the cake that James had brought by earlier that day.
“Whoa, you baked a cake too!” he exclaimed.
I giggled. “No, a neighbor brought it over,” I said in reply.
“Oh. Let me guess. You’ve met James, right.”
I gave him a weird look. “How did you know that. You have two sets of neighbors you know.”
He laughed. “Yea. But as soon as James knew that my seventeen year old niece was coming to live with me, I could see the wheels turning in his head. That kid is the biggest flirt in town. Everyone knows it. So be careful around him,” he answered seriously all of a sudden.
“Ok,” I said as seriously as he did. We sat eating our cake for a while and finally I said, “Listen, I was wondering if I could go over to the high school and check it out and stuff. I mean I know it’s summer, but there must be some sort of sports team that meets for practices and stuff. So it should be open. Right?”
Uncle Danny sat in silence for a long time. It was kind of awkward. Finally he said, “Listen squirt, I don’t know how to tell you this.” His tone of voice told me I was about to have another bomb dropped on me, and I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't really looking forward to that. “Look, I have no idea why your mother sent you to live with me. All she said was that things were getting out of control over there in California and that she needed you to get away to get your mind off of something. I said yes because Ruth is my baby sister and I could never really say no to her. But the thing is, I have no idea how to take care of someone else. Let alone a seventeen year old girl.”
I cut him off. “Are you saying that you’re not going to keep me around?”
He looked taken aback. “No. No, of course not. What I was going to say is that I’m bringing in some reinforcements. My other neighbor, Josh, he’s the manager of a band and he needs a personal assistant. I’m sure that you working with him will be better than you just hanging around the house not doing anything.”
“So, you’re saying I’m getting a summer job?” I asked trying to understand what I was being told.
He sighed. “Well, sort of.” His voice was a bit apprehensive, as if fearing my reaction to what he was going to say next.
“What do you mean sort of?” I asked. I didn’t like where this was going. Not one bit.
“Well, you see, the band is going on tour in a few weeks.” He paused.
“Meaning,” I edged him to continue.
“Meaning, you will be going on tour with them. And it’s going to be a long term job. Not just a summer job,” my uncle finished in a hurried breath.
“But what about school?” I asked.
“Well, you are going to be home schooled, like the boys,” he answered relieved that I hadn‘t blown up over being told that technically, I really wasn‘t going to be kept around.
“Boys? What boys?”
“The boys in the band,” he answered as if it were obvious, a bit more comfortable with where our conversation was going.
“They’re high school guys?” I asked a bit interested.
“Yes.” Right then his phone rang. “Excuse me, I have a few business calls to attend to.”
I sat in silence as I heard him talking in his office. After a while I got up and cleaned the kitchen. Then I went up to my room and e-mailed Sarah. A few minutes later, I heard a beep from my computer telling me I had a new instant message. It was Sarah.
“Hey u. y didn’t u txt me bak earlier?”
“Sorry. Right wen I wuz about 2, sum guy bumped in 2 me n everything fell. Den I jus 4got”
“where were u?”
“ the mall. I wuz comin outta Pac Sun.”
“love dat store. So wut wuz wit dat guy?”
“idk. Guess he wuz in a rush or suttin. But he was HOTT!!”
“LOLZ! Aww man 2 days there n already runnin into guys.”
“hey, they follow me everywhere. Lol. Wen I got home my new hot neighbor James came over & brought me a cake.”
“whoa 2 guyz in 1 day. Things never change.”
“lol. I thought the same thing. So how r things bak in LA?”
“it’s HOT! I’ve practically been livin in the pool.”
“haha. Yea uncle Danny has a pretty cool pool 2. I’m thinkin of goin for a swim l8r.”
“yea his pool is pretty cool. Well look, Brady is here so I g2g.”
“k much luv. Tell him hey.”
“will do. L8r”
I closed the IM box and opened up my myspace. I had a few comments from people back in California asking me if it was true I had moved. There was a really long message from my friend Cody telling me how upset he was I moved and didn’t say goodbye. I felt a pang of guilt at that. Cody was one of the popular jocks, but he was different. We sort of had a thing going before I started dating Todd. Afterwards he was really cool about it. He was also the only one that still talked to me after Todd’s death and he seemed to understand how I felt. He had been the one I turned to, my support system through those horrible months and I was going to miss him a lot too. Trying to turn off the guilt trip, I clicked on the green plus sign that indicated I had a new friend request, praying that it wasn't another one of those annoying bands sending me a request. You'd think they got the hint once you denied them once! To my relief and somewhat surprise, it was James from next door. I went to his page and left him a comment asking how he found my profile. I mean, I had only told him my first name and I didn't share Uncle Danny's last name, so there was no way he could have found me easily if he searched for me under my first name. Going back to his profile, I saw that he wasn’t on so I closed the computer and went to watch TV.
What an eventful day. I can’t believe that I’m going to be the assistant to the manager of a band. And going to tour with them across the country. And plus they are high school students! Yup, New Jersey isn’t so bad after all. My thoughts then floated back to the guy I bumped into at the mall (well technically he had bumped into me, but you know what I mean). He was really cute. For a split second, I thought he had looked familiar but I came to the conclusion that it was because he looked like the guy of my dreams. Too bad I wasn’t going to school in New Jersey. Then I would have had the chance to meet him. That thought made me a bit sad, but I got over it. I started tunning out the sounds of bratty girls complaining how things weren't going as they planned for their party (yea I was watching My Super Sweet 16, but there wasn't anything else better on this late at night) and eventually I fell asleep with a grin on my face, thinking of Mr. Mall.
---
“Nat, get up. Come on Natalie get up, you have to go meet Josh in the city,” I heard uncle Danny say, followed by the persistent shaking of my shoulder.
“Huh,” I said rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“You have to meet Josh at 9:00 a.m. in New York City,” he said.
“What time is it now?” I asked a little bit more awake after all the shaking. I glanced at my clock. “OMG Uncle Danny! It’s 7:30!” I exclaimed, sitting bolt right on the bed, sending the throw pillows I had fallen asleep on flying to unknown areas of the bedroom.
“Yea so,” he asked bewildered.
Didn’t he know anything? “Hello, New York City is an hour away from here. That leaves me less than thirty minutes to get ready. I’m a girl, I can’t get ready that fast!” I yelled back running into my bathroom. I quickly showered. There was no time to dry my hair so I left it wet. I had no time to decide on an outfit. So I quickly put on a pair of khaki capris and a black polo with flats, hoping the ensemble looked a bit professional. I quickly did my make-up and scrunched my hair, then raced downstairs. Uncle Danny was already waiting for me in the car. We drove for more than hour, including traffic, until we reached Josh’s office. He was already waiting for us.
“Well look who finally decided to show up,” he said with a hint of humor in his voice.
I gave him an apologetic look and said, “Yea sorry about that. It’s obvious my uncle has no experience with girls. He woke me up at 7:30. That only left me thirty minutes to get ready! Can you believe that! Plus we hit traffic on the way here.”
This resulted in him bursting with laughter. “Oh I learned the hard way. I have a daughter myself and she always freaked out when I gave her less than an hour to get ready. I’m Josh. It’s very nice to meet you,” he said reaching out his hand.
I shook his hand and flashing him my best smile replied, “Nice to meet you too Josh. I’m Natalie.”
“Well Natalie. Lets get down to business."
“Thanks,” I said walking in with two plates, two forks and the cake that James had brought by earlier that day.
“Whoa, you baked a cake too!” he exclaimed.
I giggled. “No, a neighbor brought it over,” I said in reply.
“Oh. Let me guess. You’ve met James, right.”
I gave him a weird look. “How did you know that. You have two sets of neighbors you know.”
He laughed. “Yea. But as soon as James knew that my seventeen year old niece was coming to live with me, I could see the wheels turning in his head. That kid is the biggest flirt in town. Everyone knows it. So be careful around him,” he answered seriously all of a sudden.
“Ok,” I said as seriously as he did. We sat eating our cake for a while and finally I said, “Listen, I was wondering if I could go over to the high school and check it out and stuff. I mean I know it’s summer, but there must be some sort of sports team that meets for practices and stuff. So it should be open. Right?”
Uncle Danny sat in silence for a long time. It was kind of awkward. Finally he said, “Listen squirt, I don’t know how to tell you this.” His tone of voice told me I was about to have another bomb dropped on me, and I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't really looking forward to that. “Look, I have no idea why your mother sent you to live with me. All she said was that things were getting out of control over there in California and that she needed you to get away to get your mind off of something. I said yes because Ruth is my baby sister and I could never really say no to her. But the thing is, I have no idea how to take care of someone else. Let alone a seventeen year old girl.”
I cut him off. “Are you saying that you’re not going to keep me around?”
He looked taken aback. “No. No, of course not. What I was going to say is that I’m bringing in some reinforcements. My other neighbor, Josh, he’s the manager of a band and he needs a personal assistant. I’m sure that you working with him will be better than you just hanging around the house not doing anything.”
“So, you’re saying I’m getting a summer job?” I asked trying to understand what I was being told.
He sighed. “Well, sort of.” His voice was a bit apprehensive, as if fearing my reaction to what he was going to say next.
“What do you mean sort of?” I asked. I didn’t like where this was going. Not one bit.
“Well, you see, the band is going on tour in a few weeks.” He paused.
“Meaning,” I edged him to continue.
“Meaning, you will be going on tour with them. And it’s going to be a long term job. Not just a summer job,” my uncle finished in a hurried breath.
“But what about school?” I asked.
“Well, you are going to be home schooled, like the boys,” he answered relieved that I hadn‘t blown up over being told that technically, I really wasn‘t going to be kept around.
“Boys? What boys?”
“The boys in the band,” he answered as if it were obvious, a bit more comfortable with where our conversation was going.
“They’re high school guys?” I asked a bit interested.
“Yes.” Right then his phone rang. “Excuse me, I have a few business calls to attend to.”
I sat in silence as I heard him talking in his office. After a while I got up and cleaned the kitchen. Then I went up to my room and e-mailed Sarah. A few minutes later, I heard a beep from my computer telling me I had a new instant message. It was Sarah.
“Hey u. y didn’t u txt me bak earlier?”
“Sorry. Right wen I wuz about 2, sum guy bumped in 2 me n everything fell. Den I jus 4got”
“where were u?”
“ the mall. I wuz comin outta Pac Sun.”
“love dat store. So wut wuz wit dat guy?”
“idk. Guess he wuz in a rush or suttin. But he was HOTT!!”
“LOLZ! Aww man 2 days there n already runnin into guys.”
“hey, they follow me everywhere. Lol. Wen I got home my new hot neighbor James came over & brought me a cake.”
“whoa 2 guyz in 1 day. Things never change.”
“lol. I thought the same thing. So how r things bak in LA?”
“it’s HOT! I’ve practically been livin in the pool.”
“haha. Yea uncle Danny has a pretty cool pool 2. I’m thinkin of goin for a swim l8r.”
“yea his pool is pretty cool. Well look, Brady is here so I g2g.”
“k much luv. Tell him hey.”
“will do. L8r”
I closed the IM box and opened up my myspace. I had a few comments from people back in California asking me if it was true I had moved. There was a really long message from my friend Cody telling me how upset he was I moved and didn’t say goodbye. I felt a pang of guilt at that. Cody was one of the popular jocks, but he was different. We sort of had a thing going before I started dating Todd. Afterwards he was really cool about it. He was also the only one that still talked to me after Todd’s death and he seemed to understand how I felt. He had been the one I turned to, my support system through those horrible months and I was going to miss him a lot too. Trying to turn off the guilt trip, I clicked on the green plus sign that indicated I had a new friend request, praying that it wasn't another one of those annoying bands sending me a request. You'd think they got the hint once you denied them once! To my relief and somewhat surprise, it was James from next door. I went to his page and left him a comment asking how he found my profile. I mean, I had only told him my first name and I didn't share Uncle Danny's last name, so there was no way he could have found me easily if he searched for me under my first name. Going back to his profile, I saw that he wasn’t on so I closed the computer and went to watch TV.
What an eventful day. I can’t believe that I’m going to be the assistant to the manager of a band. And going to tour with them across the country. And plus they are high school students! Yup, New Jersey isn’t so bad after all. My thoughts then floated back to the guy I bumped into at the mall (well technically he had bumped into me, but you know what I mean). He was really cute. For a split second, I thought he had looked familiar but I came to the conclusion that it was because he looked like the guy of my dreams. Too bad I wasn’t going to school in New Jersey. Then I would have had the chance to meet him. That thought made me a bit sad, but I got over it. I started tunning out the sounds of bratty girls complaining how things weren't going as they planned for their party (yea I was watching My Super Sweet 16, but there wasn't anything else better on this late at night) and eventually I fell asleep with a grin on my face, thinking of Mr. Mall.
---
“Nat, get up. Come on Natalie get up, you have to go meet Josh in the city,” I heard uncle Danny say, followed by the persistent shaking of my shoulder.
“Huh,” I said rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“You have to meet Josh at 9:00 a.m. in New York City,” he said.
“What time is it now?” I asked a little bit more awake after all the shaking. I glanced at my clock. “OMG Uncle Danny! It’s 7:30!” I exclaimed, sitting bolt right on the bed, sending the throw pillows I had fallen asleep on flying to unknown areas of the bedroom.
“Yea so,” he asked bewildered.
Didn’t he know anything? “Hello, New York City is an hour away from here. That leaves me less than thirty minutes to get ready. I’m a girl, I can’t get ready that fast!” I yelled back running into my bathroom. I quickly showered. There was no time to dry my hair so I left it wet. I had no time to decide on an outfit. So I quickly put on a pair of khaki capris and a black polo with flats, hoping the ensemble looked a bit professional. I quickly did my make-up and scrunched my hair, then raced downstairs. Uncle Danny was already waiting for me in the car. We drove for more than hour, including traffic, until we reached Josh’s office. He was already waiting for us.
“Well look who finally decided to show up,” he said with a hint of humor in his voice.
I gave him an apologetic look and said, “Yea sorry about that. It’s obvious my uncle has no experience with girls. He woke me up at 7:30. That only left me thirty minutes to get ready! Can you believe that! Plus we hit traffic on the way here.”
This resulted in him bursting with laughter. “Oh I learned the hard way. I have a daughter myself and she always freaked out when I gave her less than an hour to get ready. I’m Josh. It’s very nice to meet you,” he said reaching out his hand.
I shook his hand and flashing him my best smile replied, “Nice to meet you too Josh. I’m Natalie.”
“Well Natalie. Lets get down to business."
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