Counting Down The Days To Go

Mike was back in school on the third day and he looked much better, almost like how he looked like on the first day of high school. Almost. There was still something a little bit off about him though. But the crooked grin and the gentle touches were back so I wasn’t complaining.

I didn’t rake up the whole weird thing Alice pulled on me the other day because who wants to bad-mouth a mother in front of her own son? I sure don’t want to.
The seasons were changing soon and winter was coming. The air was a whole lot chillier and more dead leaves were found under the trees. Change was in the air.

Currently it was a Saturday and I was lazing around at home, surfing the internet. Mike and I weren’t doing anything today because he had to finish up a project. I was bored and after watching America’s Next Top Model on YouTube, I decided to just find something on Google.

This story-writing website caught my eye and just when I was about to click on the website called Mi-, my phone started ringing.

The name “Amanda” was flashing on the screen. I accepted the call without a second thought.

“C-crystal?” Amanda’s shaky voice asked.

“The one and only.” I said, wondering why Amanda sounded so weird today.

“I-I…could you come to my house for a bit? I’ve got something important to tell you,” Amanda whispered almost inaudibly.

“Amanda, is anything wrong? Are you okay?” I asked in concern.

“Yes-No. I don’t know. Could you just come over? Please?” Amanda asked, sounding like a lost child.

“Sure. I’d be there in five,” I said.

“Could you bring Chanel along too?” Amanda asked.

“Oh-kayyy,” I said before hanging up. Amanda was seriously freaking me out.

After picking up a bewildered Chanel, I whizzed into Amanda’s driveway. I really didn’t get why Amanda was sounding so distressed over the phone but I suppose I’d be finding out soon enough.

I pressed the doorbell frantically, hoping that Amanda would just open up the goddamn door and just tell me what was wrong already.

The door finally opened up to reveal a timid-looking maid. I barged past her impolitely and ran up to Amanda’s room with Chanel hot on my heels.

“What’s wrong?” I asked breathlessly after flinging open Amanda’s bedroom door.

I saw a little lump in the middle of the giant canopy-like bed and my guess was that the lump was Amanda.

Sure enough, as I got nearer to the lump, I saw that it was shaking and making odd sniffling noises. Chanel sat down gingerly on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on the middle of the lump.

“Are you okay, Amanda?” Chanel asked gently.

A fresh burst of sniffles and moans answered Chanel. After a few minutes, the blanket was thrown away and Amanda was revealed. There were tears and snot all over her bare face. It had been a long time since I had seen her in this sort of state and it shocked me, to say the least. The Amanda that I’ve known since high school was immaculately dressed with the perfect amount of make-up highlighting her nice features.

“I’m not okay!” Amanda wailed.

I perched myself on the bed too and asked, “Do you want to tell us what’s wrong?”

“My period is late!” Another wail emerged from Amanda.

“Your period is late,” Chanel said slowly. “You’re crying because your period is late?”

“It’s not that! It’s been late for THREE WEEKS!” Amanda half yelled, half cried out.

“Do you think you are…?” I asked. I caught on to what Amanda was trying to say.

“I don’t know,” Amanda said with a helpless shrug.

“We just have to take some tests to prove it then,” Chanel said matter-of-factly.