Healing Rain (11 page)

 

 

Friday morning had a great feel to it. I loved waking up knowing the weekend was about to begin. It was especially that way during football season. There were games every Friday night, and I loved the excitement that came with them. I danced around my room, listening to the radio and singing loudly as I chose what to wear. It didn't take long to decide on my favorite worn jeans and the new Pacers T-shirt that Anna had gotten for me as an early birthday gift. My birthday was still a week and a half away, but she already gave it to me so that I could have something to wear to the games. I had actually gotten up in time to straighten my hair, which didn't happen often, so my straightener doubled as my microphone as I made my natural waves disappear. Once that was finished, I put on my makeup and rushed into the kitchen to grab a Pop-Tart before Ethan would be there to pick us up.

Mom was moving slowly through the kitchen, packing Tyler's lunch as he sat at the table eating his cereal. I could tell she was tired. She had worked late the last three nights in a row, and it was catching up to her. Of course, there was no end in sight for her – she had a double today, followed by a morning shift on Saturday and another double on Sunday. I admired her for working so hard to try to pull us out of our debt.

When I heard Ethan's SUV pull into our apartment complex, Tyler and I grabbed our stuff and started to rush out the door. We gave Mom hugs and kisses good-bye, and before I left I turned to her. “So you'll be at work tonight?”

“I'm afraid so,” she replied, looking weary.

“Okay. I'll take Tyler to the game, then, and just bring him home afterward. Could you let Mr. and Mrs. Simpson know to keep an eye on him, just in case you're not back yet?” That was the latest system we had come up with. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson were the people who lived in the apartment right next to us. They were a really nice middle-aged couple who had no children of their own, and they absolutely loved Tyler. Mom hated the idea of me spending all my weekend nights at home with him, and when she explained the problem to the Simpsons, they volunteered to watch him any time. So, I took him to the game every Friday night, which he loved, and then we took him home and let the Simpsons come over for the hour or so until Mom came home from work, so that I could go out with my friends. Tyler was usually so tired that he would just take a bath and go to bed, so their job was pretty easy.

“Sure, sweetheart,” she replied. “Have a good day.”

I took off down the stairs and hopped into the front seat next to Ethan. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek when I got in, and then took off. I could tell he shared my good mood as we both danced to the radio and he sang incredibly off-key. Tyler was cracking up at both of us.

Once we dropped him off, Ethan turned down the radio. “So, I just realized this morning that tomorrow could be our first official date. Your mom only works the day shift, so you should be free to go out.”

“That's true,” I said. “What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I was thinking we could go out to dinner and maybe see a movie. Not very original, I know, but there's something to be said for it.”

“I think that sounds perfect,” I replied. “Can't wait.”

We pulled into the school parking lot. As usual, Ethan came around and opened my door for me. He put his arm around me as we walked into the school. We stopped at our lockers and put our things away, and then walked hand-in-hand into the gym where we joined Anna and Melissa at the top of the bleachers until the bell rang.

“Where is everyone else?” I asked.

Melissa shrugged. “Ryan had to make up a test this morning. I don't know where Scott or Brooke or Alexis are.”

Just as she said that, Alexis came breezing into the gym. Her black miniskirt and heels made my jeans and T-shirt look like a paper sack. She swayed through the crowd, smiling at a group of boys as she walked in who were obviously checking her out. She came straight up the bleachers to where we were, of course, and said hello in her sing-song voice. She looked directly at Ethan as she sat down, and he nodded slightly to her before looking away.

As if Ethan could sense my insecurity, he moved closer to me and put his arm around my waist. When I felt his touch, I suddenly forgot all about Alexis. I thought that after a couple of weeks, my body would stop responding so strongly to his, but if anything, the pull was getting stronger. I felt my heart rate pick up as he rubbed his fingertips up and down my side affectionately.

I looked down and saw Alexis watching his hand as it moved on my body. He was talking to Anna as he did it, not even paying attention as Alexis stared at his hand with a look of hatred. Part of me wanted to smirk at her, but the other part of me held back. Knowing I helped cause the obvious pain in her eyes when she saw me with Ethan made me unhappy. I felt a wave of sympathy wash over me, but only for a moment.

My thoughts were interrupted by the bell. I turned to Anna. “We better go; we've got a geometry test.”

She groaned. “Don't remind me.” Geometry was not her strongest subject.

“I'll walk you. See you guys later,” Ethan said. He followed me up the hall to my class, just as he did every day, with Anna on my other side. It felt so comfortable and normal already, and it had only been a couple of weeks. I heard Dr. Hope's voice in the back of my head, and distanced myself slightly from him. I knew it wasn't right for me to rely on him so much.

He didn't seem to notice my sudden change in mood. We stopped in front of my classroom, and he kissed my forehead. “Good luck on your test,” he said. “I'll see you after third period.” His second period was on the opposite side of the building, so I didn't see him until after third hour each day. It was then that I realized I knew his schedule as well as I knew my own. I felt that pang of discomfort again, but tried to ignore it.

“Thanks,” I told him with a tight smile. “See you later.”

Once Mr. Wright passed out our tests, I forgot about everything else. I had studied hard for the test, and I knew I did really well. Like always, I was one of the first ones finished. On my way back to my seat, I glanced at Anna. She was sitting hunched over her test with her forehead propped up on her hand. Her eyebrows were furrowed in frustration as she worked. I had studied with her, but she really struggled with the material. I felt bad for her.

The bell rang when she was still on the last problem. “See ya later,” she whispered, hurrying to finish.

“Bye,” I whispered back, hurrying out the door. I walked to Mrs. White's classroom and got to the door at the same time as Aiden.

“Hey, Aiden,” I said.

“Hi, Rain,” he replied.

Aiden and I were usually two of the first people to class. We both had classes first hour that were really close to Mrs. White's room, so we were there with several minutes to spare. We talked during that time, and had become pretty good friends. When we took our seats, I suddenly had a great idea.

“Aiden?” I began. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he said, turning toward me. “What's up?”

“You remember how I told you I wanted to take guitar lessons from you?”

“Yeah!” he said, his face lighting up.

“Well, do you think I actually could do that? I would pay you,” I added quickly.

He laughed. “Rain, you don't have to pay me. Of course we can do that. When would you want to start?”

I bit my lip. “Would next week be too soon?”

He shook his head quickly. “No, of course not. I work after school on Mondays and Fridays and then on Saturday mornings, but I'm free every other day.” He worked at the local video rental store. Ethan and I had seen him there one day when we brought Tyler in to rent a movie.

I thought for a moment. “How about Tuesdays? Would Tuesdays work?”

He smiled. “Yeah, that would work. Where do you want to do it?”

I shrugged. “Well, I live pretty close to here. We could do it at my house, if you want.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said, as his smile got even bigger.

I was grinning from ear to ear as well. This was the perfect hobby to pick up! It was something that I was totally doing for myself (Ethan was great, but he was about as musically-challenged as he could possibly be), and it was something that I had always wanted to do. Suddenly, I had another thought. “Aiden, I don't have a guitar,” I said in panic.

He laughed. “I have three. I'll bring you one. In fact, you can keep it for a while. It was the one I learned to play on, so it will bring you luck. We'll call it yours until you decide to get your own.”

“Thanks,” I said with a grin. I realized Aiden was as excited about teaching me to play guitar as I was about learning when I saw the goofy expression on his face. “You really like to teach people to play, huh?”

He shrugged. “Actually, you'll be my first student,” he said. “It will be a learning process for both of us.”

I shook my head. “Are you sure I can't pay you?”

He gave me a look. “No way. I would never take your money, especially not for teaching you to play guitar. That would be like stealing.”

I nodded. “Okay. Well, we'll just say that I owe you one. You can cash that in for something when you decide what you want it to be. I'll do you a favor sometime.”

He looked at me for a moment, and then smiled. “I like that idea.”

With that, the bell rang, and Mrs. White came strolling into the room. She quickly took attendance before we opened our books to begin a new unit. She always began each unit with a Web Quest, where we partnered up to find information about the historical background behind that time period. We had just finished Native American oral tradition, and we were moving on to Puritan Literature. She passed out a set of questions to each of us and told us to use our books and the Internet to find the information.

Aiden and I partnered up as we had done for the last unit and moved to the back of the room to get on a computer. Using the same system we had used before, we split up the questions and began our search. As we worked, we talked about a new album that one of our favorite bands, Caged Lion, was releasing the following week. We always enjoyed each other's company, in a way that was different from the way I enjoyed spending time with Ethan or Anna or any of the rest of our group. Aiden and I could talk about music, which was something I didn't share with my other friends. Sure, they liked music, but not the way I liked music. They couldn't name the members of bands and talk about lyrics the way I could. Aiden and I were so in-sync when it came to music that sometimes, it was scary. He once joked that I was his musical soul mate.

Music had been something that I had shared with my dad. I know that sounds crazy, because let's be honest – usually, parents do not have good taste in music. But my dad was an exception. He loved music, and he was one of those people who had never had an actual lesson of any kind, but could pick up any instrument and play it like he'd been doing it for years. He was so talented, and he could talk about the latest bands with me. He used to have so many different DVDs of live performances from all of our favorite groups and we would turn up the speakers and watch them together. Whenever we could, we went to concerts as well. We had probably seen at least forty concerts together. His love of music was definitely one of the things I missed the most about him. I had to admit, it was nice to find that in Aiden, but sometimes, it made me a little sad, too. It brought back so many bittersweet memories.

Before I knew it, the bell rang, and it was time to move to third period. I waited on Aiden to get his things so that we could walk together as we always did since our third period classrooms were right across the hall from each other. Once we were in the hallway, he asked me, “So, what are your weekend plans?”

“Well,” I said, “tonight I will be going to the football game. You going?” I asked, knowing the answer to that question.

“No,” he said, turning to me with a smile. Aiden worked on Friday afternoons, but that wasn't why he didn't go to the games. He really wasn't much into sports and school spirit and all of that.

I nodded. “I figured. Then, Saturday, I think Ethan and I are going to the movies or something. How about you?”

He looked ahead for a moment, and then said, “Well, I have to work early tomorrow morning so I'll probably just chill tonight after I get off work. We're doing inventory at the video store this weekend. Then, tomorrow night, I'll probably go to Steve's house so we can practice.” Steve was the drummer of his band.

“Why do you guys need to practice? You're already awesome.”

He laughed. “You don't have to suck up. I already told you I'll give you the guitar lessons. We have to practice so that we can learn new songs. We're actually…we've kinda got an idea for a new gig, a steady one. But it requires a whole new set list.”

“Oh, yeah? What's that?”

He looked down at me with bright eyes. “Well, this may sound weird to you, but Steve and his family started going to church not too long ago, and a couple of weeks ago, I started going with them. Steve and I have been talking about it quite a bit, and we've decided to start learning some Christian rock stuff. We're hoping that we can play at local youth rallies, church camps…you know, things like that.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise. I hadn't pegged Aiden as the church-going type.

“Yeah, I told you it would sound weird. I've been talking to their pastor a lot, and he's been giving me some books and stuff to study, and I've gotten pretty into it. And I've been listening to a lot of inspirational stuff, trying to learn the music.”

I elbowed him playfully. “Why would that sound weird to me? I think it's great if you're enjoying it.”

He shrugged. “I don't know. I didn't know if you, you know, went to church and all – people that aren't part of it usually don't really get it. Or at least,
I
didn't until just the last couple weeks.”