Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1) (23 page)

“Hi there, Morgan.”

People were just starting to come in, so no one else was at our table yet. Anne had already set out her lunch: an apple and a power bar.

“Hi,” I said as I pulled my lunch bag out of my backpack. Feeling a little guilty that my meal wasn’t quite as meager as Anne’s, I nevertheless set out the goods:  half a sandwich, an apple, and a baggie with three of my homemade cookies. Even though I’d recently heard that treats like my cookies were forbidden on school grounds, I thought the idea was so ridiculous that I almost felt a need to dare someone to tell on me.

I pulled out my sandwich and began eating. As I chewed, I decided to get right to the heart of my concerns before anyone else joined us. “Hey, Anne.”

“Yeah?” she asked as she nibbled on the power bar.

“I know this will sound dumb, but have you heard anyone talking about me today?” To my surprise, she nodded and I felt my heart lurch with worry.

“It was kind of weird, actually. I heard a couple of people saying something about your date with Connor. How he didn’t want to be there with you. What do you think that was all about?”

I couldn’t believe this was happening. Somehow I knew Lori was behind this rumor, but what could I do about it? People would believe what they wanted. As I thought about people laughing at me behind my back, I took another bit of my sandwich to distract myself from the tears of humiliation that were pressing at the back of my eyes. As I furiously chewed, my mind raced and I found I’d finished off the sandwich without realizing it. Inhaling deeply, I slowly released my breath. “You don’t believe them, do you?”

“Well, no. Of course not.  Connor’s my brother and I know he likes you.”

Pure joy shot through me, crushing all of my other feelings. I savored her comment, picturing Connor’s smiling face. “Anne, I think Lori started that rumor.” I actually grinned as I spoke.

“I would think you’d be less happy about it.” Her face showed confusion.

Laughing at her puzzlement, I said, “Oh, believe me. I’m mad at Lori. I’m just happy you think Connor likes me.” I picked up my apple and took a bite.

Anne smiled. “Oh. Okay. But what makes you so sure it was Lori?”

I swallowed the bite I’d been chewing. “Because she and her friends saw us there and then in class this morning she was all too happy to tell me what she’d ‘heard’.”

Anne nodded as she finished off her power bar. “And I suppose you think she had something to do with the phone call Connor got at the bowling alley?”

“Don’t you?” I asked, drinking from my water bottle.

“I guess it’s possible.”

“Who else could it have been?”

“Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe the guy at the bowling alley misunderstood or maybe he gave Connor the message when he was supposed to give it to someone else.”

Her arguments were valid and I found myself gnawing on the inside of my lip as I considered that it had all been a big misunderstanding.

“But I think I might know how I can find out,” Anne said, glancing over my shoulder.

I turned to see who she was looking at and saw Lori and her pals getting in line to buy some lunch. Either they hadn’t seen us or they were ignoring us.

“Do you trust me?” Anne said

I turned back to face her, not sure what she was implying. “Yes?”

A sly smile appeared briefly on her face, then a look of anger replaced it. She stood abruptly and frowned at me.

“No, Morgan,” she said loudly enough for pretty much everyone in the lunchroom to hear. “No. You need to just stay away from me, my brother and my whole family. Okay? Is that too hard for you to understand?”

My mouth hung open and tears sprang to my eyes. Although I was certain she was just putting on a show for a reason known only to her, it had taken me by surprise. I watched as she gathered her things, completely snubbing me now, and walked past me to another table.

My lunch forgotten, I grabbed my backpack and stumbled toward the nearest door. As I pushed the door open I glanced toward the lunchroom and saw everyone staring at me. Mortified, I was about to walk through the door, but then movement at another door caught my eye and I saw Connor just entering the lunchroom. He had missed the whole show. I watched as he seemed to notice something was going on, but before he looked my way I hurried out of the room and rushed down the hall, letting the door slam shut behind me.

I went to the rest of my classes in a daze, reminding myself that Anne had just been pretending, but the feelings roiling inside of me were genuine. I felt completely alone. It seemed everyone had not only heard the rumor that Connor hated me so much that he had to end the date early, but everyone had either witnessed or heard about Anne’s outburst in the lunchroom.

I was certain each and every student at my school thought I was a total and complete loser. When the bell rang to allow us to go home, relief swept over me. I had been tempted to leave school early, but had decided if I did, it would be even harder to come to school the next day.

Before I left, I needed to go to my locker to pick up a textbook. As I walked down the hall I stared at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. People snickered as I passed but I pretended not to hear. As I approached my locker I looked up and saw something had been taped to my locker door. Hurrying closer, I stood in front of it and stared.

Someone had drawn a picture of a person who I assumed was supposed to be me. But this person looked like she was extremely overweight. And taped just above the drawing was the baggie of home-baked cookies I had left in the lunchroom when I’d run out.

I ripped the cookies and the drawing down and stuffed them both into my backpack.

I hate it here, I thought as hot tears pushed their way into my eyes. Blinking several times to clear the tears, I faced my locker until I had gotten myself under control. Though I was supposed to go to track practice, there was no way I could face Connor. Instead of heading to the locker room, I walked out of the school building and began the long hike home.

As I walked, I half-hoped Connor would pull up next to me in his car, offer me a ride, and tell me to ignore what everyone was saying because he really liked me. But the closer I got to my house, the more I came to accept that he wouldn’t be coming.

Suddenly I wondered why I was staying in this world. What if I had been wrong and I didn’t need to wait until November to try to get home? Maybe I should try to get home now. If I didn’t need to wait, I was staying here, suffering, for no reason.

Pushing aside my hurt feelings, I decided to walk to a nearby grocery store on my way home and pick up the last of the supplies that I needed. Then first thing in the morning, instead of going to school, I’d leave.

The decision made the bad feelings I’d been having completely disappear. Instead, I had a spring in my step as I headed toward the grocery store. When I got there, I picked up a package of batteries for the flashlights, a six-pack of water bottles, and two boxes of the appetite-suppressing power bars.

I had just enough money to pay for everything. After placing everything in my backpack, I walked home, thinking about how I would get up north.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Very few options came to mind. If I had some money I could take the bus, but I didn’t and stealing from Mom, assuming she even had any money to steal, was something even I wasn’t willing to do. I could convince Connor to drive me there, but how I would talk him in to that, I had no idea. Or I could hitch a ride. That had worked out pretty well for me to get here. I thought about Fred and how nice he had been.

Fred!
He had given me his phone number. Maybe I could call him and see if he would be willing to drive me back to Fox Run.

It felt like all of my plans were finally falling into place. I walked faster and soon arrived home. No one was home yet, so the first thing I did was to take the pillowcase out of the cabinet in the garage and carry it into my bedroom. I took out the GPS device and the charger, the flashlights, and the ax, and set them on my bed. Then I took the items I’d bought at the grocery store and set them next to the other things.

When I heard the garage door open and my family coming in the house, I unloaded my school stuff from the backpack and shoved in the items I’d laid out on my bed, then zipped it closed and put it in the closet.

 “Morgan,” Mom called up the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“I need your help. Can you come down here please?”

“Okay.” I went downstairs to see what Mom wanted.

“How was your day?” Mom asked.

“Okay.” I paused. “What’s up?”

“Tonight is Back to School night at Zac and Brandon’s school, so we need to eat a little early. Can you start on dinner?”

“Oh. Okay.” This was the first time I’d been asked to make dinner and I had no idea what to make. “Did you have something in mind?”

Mom handed me a recipe. “We should have all the ingredients.”

Relieved that I wouldn’t have to wing it, I read the recipe and began to pull out the items I would need. Following the recipe was relatively easy and while I worked in the kitchen I was able to fantasize about how the next day would go. I would easily find the tunnel and then when I got to the hut I would hack my way through the walls. Then I would hurry home and it would be so wonderful to be back in my normal world.

But what if the timing was all wrong? What if I needed to wait until November? What might happen then? When I came out of the hut would I still be in this world? Or worse, would I be in another world altogether?

Doubting now if my plan would work, I waffled on what to do. But then I decided I
had
to try. I couldn’t suffer through two more months of this place unless I knew I had no other choice. As I set dinner on the table, I tried to focus on the here and now.

“This turned out great, Morgan,” Mom said as we ate the casserole.

“Thanks.”

“Can you make some cookies for dessert?” Brandon asked around his mouthful of food.

His mention of cookies brought back the memory of all that had happened at school and my joy in leaving was tempered by the humiliation that was still so fresh.

“Not tonight,” Mom said before I had a chance to respond.

“Why not?” he asked. “I like her cookies.”

Mom frowned as she glanced at me and I felt like she was silently accusing me of something, though I wasn’t sure what it was.

“I think we’ve had enough cookies for a while, son.” Mom turned her gaze to me and raised her eyebrows, then turned her focus back to her meal.

 I thought I understood her message—
No
more cookies, Morgan—
though I didn’t understand what the big deal was. It didn’t matter anyway, now that I was planning on leaving.

After we finished eating, Mom told Amy she wanted her to clean up.

“But it’s Morgan’s turn tonight,” Amy said, frowning.

“She made dinner,” Mom said, then turned to me. “Besides, I need to talk to her.”

My happiness at not having to clean up was quickly replaced by worry at the tone of Mom’s voice. “Okay.”

Amy sighed loudly. “Fine.”

“Morgan, let’s go up to my room.” Mom stood from the table.

My worry grew as I followed her up the stairs. What could this be about? Had she heard about my humiliation at school?

Mom sat at the foot of her bed and patted the spot next to her. “Sit down, Morgan.”

I did as she asked, but didn’t say anything, waiting for her to take the lead. A look of sadness crept across her face and I felt my heart drop. Whether in this world or the one I had come from, I knew that look. Disappointment. I’d only seen that look on her face directed toward me one other time.

It was before we’d moved to Fox Run. I’d been out with a group of kids from school—I wouldn’t exactly call them friends, but more like popular kids I wanted to fit in with—when we’d gone to a party. Some of the kids had been drinking. Well, let’s be honest—all of the kids were drinking. Wanting to be one of the group and against my better judgment, I’d accepted a drink that someone had handed to me. Even though I hadn’t really liked the taste, I kept sipping at it until it was gone. Somehow a full glass replaced the empty one in my hand and I worked on that one too.

Next thing I knew, I was kneeling in front of the toilet, throwing my guts up. Eventually I was able to get up and stagger back out to the party. The group I’d come with had left. I was stranded and it was way past my curfew. I didn’t know anyone else at the party and it was too far from my house to walk, so I had to call home and have Dad pick me up.

He didn’t say anything to me as we drove home, but I could feel his disapproval as he glanced my way. I didn’t realize it at the time, but later he told me I reeked of alcohol. When Dad and I got home, Mom was sitting on the couch, patiently waiting for my arrival. As I walked in she stood and came toward me, a warm smile on her face.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she’d said. “I was so worried.”

But then she got close enough to get a whiff of me. The look of utter and complete disappointment that filled her face made me feel worse than I had ever felt in my life.

Now, as I sat next to her on her bed, that same look was clearly etched across her features. I couldn’t imagine what I had done to elicit that response. “What?” I finally asked, my need to know overwhelming my calm.

“Oh, Morgan. You know what.”

I shook my head, my mind jumping from one thought to another, trying to figure out what it could be.

“The cookies, Morgan. The cookies.”

Fresh confusion swept over me.
The cookies?
What was she talking about? Frustration replaced the disappointment. Obviously Mom thought I should know exactly what she was talking about. “I don’t understand,” I said.

She sighed and shook her head. “I got a call today. From your school.”

I still didn’t get it. Everyone had turned on me and she was upset about cookies? “Okay.”

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

How I wished I knew what I was supposed to be telling her. I certainly didn’t want to tell her something I didn’t need to.
Oh yeah, Mom. The whole school thinks I’m a complete loser and that Connor hates me. Oh, and the one person I thought was my friend? Connor’s sister, Anne? Yeah, she turned on me too. I think it was just for show, but it seemed pretty real, so I’m not completely sure. Is that what I’m supposed to tell you? Oh, and by the way, tomorrow I’m going to head to our old house in Fox Run so I can try to cross through a wormhole to get back to the world I came from where being overweight isn’t a crime.  
Instead I said, “No, not really.”