Later that night I was doing my homework when the phone rang.
“hello?” I said
“Bree!” Eliese yelled
“what Eliese” I asked
“they called again, about an hour ago!”
“who?” I asked
“DUH!!!!” she said “them!”
“oh, THEM!” I said with mock enthusiasm
“guess what?” she asked
“what?”
“I told them about my dream”
“which one?”
“the one with the bank”
“oh that one”
“yeah, and Brian wrote it down, incase they ever wanted to make
a video they could use it for a concept”
“wow” I said
“you don’t belive me do you?” she asked
“um, yeah I do” I lied
“I can tell when your lying, even when your just talking to me”
“Eliese, what am I supposed to think? One day out of the blue
the most popular singers in the world call YOU?” I asked
“ME?” she said “why do you say it like that?”
“I don’t know Liese” I sighed
“well fine, don’t belive me” she said hanging up.
I looked at the phone and sighed. Now that I think of it, I
don’t think she was lying. There was no way she would come up with something
like that for no reason. Not with everything that she had going on in her life
right now.
I decided to call her back and apologize for being a jerk.
“hello?” she said
“Eliese? Its me” I said
“oh hi!” she sounded happier than she had three minutes before.
“um, I had to call and apologize for being a jerk. I know you
wouldn’t make something like that up and im sorry”
“I know its hard to belive, but its true. And I have them
holding on the other line, so I have to go, see you tomorrow ok?” she asked
“yeah” I replied
“are you still picking me up?”
“ya, be ready at 6:30”
“sure, see ya”
“bye” I said hanging up. I still didn’t know if I fully belived
her but I would have to try.
~*~*~*~*~
“hello? Im back” Eliese said into her phone.
“who were you talking to?” Howie asked
“Brianna, shes my best friend”
“how old is she?”
“shes 16, like me”
“is she single?” Nick asked
“yeah” she laughed “she was going out with a guy on the football
team but he was too much for her so she dumped him”
“is she cute?” Nick asked again
“um, yeah shes very pretty. But I don’t ever think of her as
‘cute’” Eliese laughed
“oh, can I have her phone number?”
Eliese was a little surprised that Nick was asking for Briannas
phone number. She didn’t want to give it out to him because she didn’t know if
Brianna would mind.
“I don’t know if I should. I’ll ask her if its ok and give it to
you tomorrow night ok?”
“sure, but tell her I say hi”
“ok”
~*~*~*~*~
I drove to school after waiting at Elieses house for 20 minutes
and having her not even be there. I sat in class and wondered where she could
be. Just then she walked in and sat down.
“where the hell were you?” I asked meanly “I waited for 20
fuckin minutes”
“I know, im sorry. I had to go to the hospital at 2 this morning
again. so I didn’t get back till 8 and my dad gave me ride”
“oh, is everything ok?” I asked quietly
“yeah its fine” she said. She always lied to me about it, and I
didn’t bug her about it because I knew how hard it was for her.
We sat watching a movie on body fats and she passed me a folded
note.
‘Nick asked about you’ she wrote
‘did he?’ I asked I had liked Nick since…forever
‘yeah, he says hi’
‘well tell him I say hi’ I wrote not knowing what to say.
‘tell him yourself, he wants your phone number. Can I give it to
him?’
‘hell YEAH’
‘ok, just checking. I’ll have him call you later on’
‘if he calls me I’ll know you arent lying’
‘fuck you I told you im NOT lying’
‘I know I know’
at lunch I sat with Eliese and another one of our friends Jenn.
“are you guys going to the baseball game later?” she asked
“yeah…” I started
“NO” Eliese said cutting me off. “your staying home and waiting
by your phone”
“oh yeah” I said “you know Eliese, if he calls im gonna flip”
“who?” Jenn asked
“no one” we both said and then picked up our stuff to go talk
somewhere else.
“so heres the deal, he’ll probably call you around 6. or I’ll
tell him to and don’t start screaming, they hate teenyboppers” she explained
“jeeze I didn’t know there were rules” I laughed
“im just giving you tips”
“thanks” I said rolling my eyes.
After school I drove my black Jetta from the student parking lot
to the front of the school to wait for Eliese. She came out a few minutes later
and got in.
“thanks for giving me a ride Bree” she said
“no problem” I said “I like cruising anyways”
“I know” she laughed I pulled out and started on the 40 mile
journey to her house. She didn’t want to take the bus and she didn’t have her
car anymore.
“um, so what are we going to do this summer?” I asked “I want to
go somewhere”
“like where” she asked
“on a cruise or something, maybe to california”
“how about not” she laughed “the guys said we could go see one
of their shows and then if were good they’ll let us stay on tour with them for
a while”
“cool” I said smiling.
I got home later
on and laid down on my bed. As soon as I was about to fall asleep the phone
rang.
“hello?” I asked
“hi, um can I please speak with Brianna?” a male voice asked
my heart must have stopped because I couldn’t speak.
“uhh…this…this is her” I said shaking my head.
“hi, this is Nick. Did Eliese tell you I’d be calling?”
“yeah she did”
“you sound shocked”
“well I guess I am. I didn’t actually think that you guys were
calling her”
“we are” he said simply.
“um, mind if I ask why your calling her?”
“she sent her phone number into a magazine, it was a contest I
guess. She won so we called her. It was only supposed to be once but we like
talking to her”
“oh I thought it had something to do with her mother”
“why, whats going on with her mother?”
“she didn’t tell you”
“no”
“well I don’t know if I should. She doesn’t like people to know”
“please, im sure she wont mind us knowing. We wont say anything
about it”
“ok, but don’t tell the other guys, keep it to yourself”
“I will”
“her mom has cancer, and shes dying. Shes had it for about a
month and it spread so fast that she isnt going to live more than another month
or so”
“really?” he asked
“yeah. And now her dads having a break down because of it. And
her little brother is just getting to the age where he needs his father and hes
not thinking straight so he cant do a thing for any of them. So Eliese does
everything at home. She takes her mom to the hospital when her dad isnt well
enough to, she takes care of her brother. I gave her a ride home today because
she had to sell her car”
“why”
“hospital bills and other bills. Her mom used to have a really
good job until she got too sick to work. Now they sold their house and are
moving this weekend. Im supposed to go over and help her move”
“wow, sounds like shes lucky to have a friend like you”
“I guess, but wouldn’t you do the same if your friend was going
through that?”
“yeah” he replied
“but honestly I havent seen her happier since you guys started
to call her” I felt my eyes stinging with tears. “everything she had going for
her just got washed away. So I guess while im talking to you I just need to say
thanks, you probably don’t realize what your doing for her but its enough at
make her smile”
“well than theres your reason for why we’re calling her. To make
her smile” he said softly hearing Brianna crying softly.
“I just feel so bad theres not more I can do” I said
“don’t feel bad, im sure your doing as much as you can”
“im not though. I feel like I could be doing more. Helping her
clean her house, make her family dinner, work with her everynight and weekend.
But I just cant do as much as I’d like for her”
“I wish I could help. Is there anything I can do?” he asked
“no, its not your problem. Don’t worry about it”
“ok, so why don’t we talk about something else” he suggested
“like what” I asked
“you, tell me about yourself”
“me? Um ok. Im 16 im a junior in high school, I have a little
sister whos a slut and a big brother who likes to wrestle. Sounds interesting
huh?”
“very” he laughed “do you plan on going to college”
“yeah, I want to be a marine biologist. Something about the
ocean and the things that live there fascinate me”
“that’s awesome, I love the ocean”
“I know, I read magazines” I laughed “I plan on going to
austrailla this summer. But I don’t know becasue I wouldn’t want to leave
Eliese here alone. And if she didn’t come who would I go with? Myself?”
“me” he said “I’ll go with you”
“yah sure” I laughed “and then we’ll get married in vegas”
“works for me” he said “no but seriously this summer if you and
Eliese come out for a show and if me and you get along as well in person as we
do on the phone me and you will go to austrailla. We’ll bring Eliese too”
“ok Nick” I laughed “but, right now I have to go. I’ve got a
project to do and then I have to pick up my sister from her friends house”
“alright, um do you mind if I call you tomorrow? I really like
talking to you”
“sure, I’ll give you my cell number because im rarely home” I
said reciting a number for him.
“ok thanks, I’ll give you a call ok?”
“ok. Bye Nick thanks for calling”
“thanks for answering” he said
I laughed “bye” I hung up and got up to start my economics project.