The next day was a Sunday, another day for me to sleep in late, but my brother, great as he was,
could be quite obnoxious, and me, I could be quite dumb. He actually bribed me to wash his new Jeep for
him. The pay was OK I guess, just a little more than usual. So I trudged out at 10 in the morning, incredibly early
for me and grabbed the hose. I was in the middle of humming 'Man from Milwaukee' from my MDman when I turned on the hose, and nothing came out.
That was annoying, and I was positive I had turned the main switch on. Now I had to run all the way to the other side of the house and check.
Tossing the soapy sponge down on the hood, I turned around to walk to the other side of the house. Suddenly, something hit me sqaure in the back.
I turned around to see the sponge lying on the ground, and Tyler, holding a dripping hose.
"Hands up! This is a break-in." He had a silly grin on his face.
"Good morning Tyler." I said dryly. It just had to be him, didn't it? Who else was so immature?
"I don't have anything for you to take, now gimme back the hose." He did something I
should have expected him to do, but I didn't, stupid me. He turned the hose on, full blast
right at me. I was drenched from head to toe. I glared at Tyler, this meant war.
"Oops?" Tyler squeaked.
"Oh thanks!" I stormed over and snatched the hose, turning it on him. His face was this mixture of shock
and disbelief as he fell over. I turned the hose back on the car, sullenly. Tyler probably did sense my
anger and total frustration. He just went away. I told you, Tyler was a jerk, even though he had bailed
me out of Ander-monster's clutches, he still was a jerk.
I was still fuming on Monday, at lunch time. I didn't know why, usually I got over things in a drop of a hat.
It was different this time, it just was and there was no explaining it. Renee was talking and laughing with some guy
in my Computer Science class. I didn't want to seem like a rude intruder, so I decided to walk down to the canteen
just to hang out there, and maybe have lunch. An-mei and the rest of my friends were nowhere to be seen, except for
Patrice. I wasn't awfully close to Patrice, but she was a likeable person. I guess, she was funny and happy and all,
but at times, she could be really thick, in the head I mean. What the heck, I went and sat down next to Patrice,
she was reading some magazine and listening to her MDman.
"Patrice, hi." I said. She looked up, a blank expression on her face, then she opened her mouth.
"Oh hi... uh... uh.... ummmmm...... what's your name? Ah! Robbie! Hi! Sorry.. I was just-" Patrice held the magazine up.
"J-17?? Oh, I see." I said smiling, trying to cover up my hurt. I couldn't believe she actually forgot my name! Was I all
alone in this world? I felt like a cartoon character shivering out in the cold without anyone there. Maybe that was a little
drastic, but that's how I felt. Patrice went back to her reading and humming along to some weird pop group and I was left to daydream.
I had a lot of friends, and all, like a normal life. Sometimes I feel something is missing. Oh well, until I know what that something
is, I'll never be able to fill the missing gap.
"Food fight!" A familiar voice yelled, a split second before hell broke loose. Patrice immediately ducked under the table, very smart. Who was that anyways?
I whirled around, only to meet head on with a plate of spagetti and tomato sauce. Oh man! My new white top was covered with the guck of the canteen's awful food.
Well, guess who was smiling at me when I opened my eyes? Who else could it be? Who else could it possibly be?
"Tyler!" I shouted angrily. I probably must have made a lot of commotion, because everyone stopped and was silent. Tyler held his hands up, like barricades for defense.
"Whoa, Robbie, chill girl." He said uneasily. Well, he should have been uneasy, he was going to regret ever seeing me today, I thought as I snatched up a can of Pepsi.
Ignoring the "Hey!" I got from somebody I splashed the Pepsi all over Tyler's shirt and then over his head, throwing the empty can at him as well. His mouth dropped open,
like he couldn't believe I had actually done that to him. "What.... what is your...your problem?" He stuttered. My problem? I felt like this nuclear bomb,
detonating.
"I'll tell you my problem." I said in a low voice. "My problem is.... YOU!" I pointed at him, exploding.
"You are my only problem! You are like a disease with no cure!" I yelled, his expression was so dumb. I felt like
throwing something at him.
"Robyn.." Tyler's voice was soft.
"Pulezze! Just leave me alone will you? You are like a plague!" I didn't mean to say that, not something so nasty anyway. It
just slipped out, you know, one of those things. A plague... now that was mean. I never said something so mean to someone before.
So, OK, I called my brother a slob when I was younger, but that was about it.
There was this kind of silence, where it was like nobody was breathing and everything was just really still. Like in those movies,
where the cast has just had some shocking thing happen to them and they're waiting for it to sink in.
Well, Tyler backed up, his dumb expression traded for an angry one. Someone behind him snickered. If I had been watching, I would have laughed.
It was different though, even with Pepsi dripping down his sandy blonde hair, Tyler didn't look one bit funny.
"Listen Robyn, if you want to be that way, then fine." He said calmly.
"What way?" I asked rudely.
"The short fused way you are."
"Me? Short fused? If you were the one who got this stuff all over something brand new, you would yell too!" I exclaimed.
He was so unreasonable, acting like it was all my fault when he was the one who started it.
"See? You're doing it again! Fine Robyn! That is fine with me!" Tyler turned around and marched off. I should have been happy
he ran away, but inside, I felt all sad. I just turned around and stomped away in anger.
Chapter 3