Over the Moon (14 page)

"No, I'm sure you love camping," Mark lied. "Okay, you don't
love it, but you need to come with us so you won't mope around this
weekend missing Andrew. That is very unhealthy. Anyway, you need
to breathe some cool mountain air. You've been in this desert heat
too long. I think it's fried your brain."

"I'm not feeling the love, and camping is way out of my comfort
zone. You won't get me to go with you by insulting me, big brother."
I frowned at him.

"We love you, and we really want you to come," Jeremy begged.
"We'll treat you like a princess. We'll do all the work. We'll be your
slaves." He remembered how I used to pretend to be a princess when
I was ten.

"Jeremy will be your slave," Mark clarified. "Come on. It'll be
fun. You can make him do all kinds of crazy things. He will probably
do them anyway. You won't have to lift a finger. You don't want to
miss out, do you?"

"You are going to torment me until I say yes, aren't you?" I knew
I was going to be the loser in this power struggle.

"Absolutely!" they said in unison.

"Life sucks, and then you have to go camping. You might as well
throw in the towel and go pack your stuff. We've got all the food and
gear packed in the jeep already," Mark said, smiling smugly.

I gave in, accepting my defeat gracefully, and went upstairs to
throw a few things in my gym bag. I hated sleeping on the ground.
That's where spiders and other creepy, crawly things hang out, and
I really hate spiders and anything that creeps or crawls. I'd probably
end up sleeping in the Jeep if I slept at all. I guessed it would be better than staying here, bored out of my mind and missing Andrew. I
grabbed my iPod and Andrew's cell phone. I hoped I could get cell
phone service on Cedar Mountain. If not, I might have to punish
my brother and his best friend with a really bad attitude.

The rugged canyon proved to be both beautiful and cool. It was
great to be out of the scathingly intense and scorching heat of Hurricane. The mountains were covered with pine and aspen trees that
grew out of the rocky, granite cliffs. Brian Head was the local ski
area, and the views were boundless and breathtaking. We could see
multiple mountain ranges and vast valleys extending for miles and
miles in almost every direction.

On the way to the campsite, we stopped at Cedar Breaks
National Monument. On the west face of this humongous moun tain, it looked as if God had taken terra cotta clay and mashed it
onto the granite cliffs and then molded it into random shapes: columns, arches, pinnacles, windows, and turrets. It was magnificent.
The red and orange, sandstone-carved castles were shining brightly
in the midday sun. We hiked all around the area. It was teeming
with wildlife, including squirrels, birds, and deer. Wild flowers in
crimson, gold, and periwinkle were sprinkled across the hillsides.
The ancient bristle cone pines towered above us, rustling and swaying in the gentle wind. The cool breezes moved the tall grasses in
secluded meadows, causing undulating ripples in the acres of varying shades of green. It reminded me of the rolling green fields and
cooling winds of Illinois. I only felt a tiny twinge of homesickness. I
must be adapting to my new enchanting environment.

That night, we sat around a crackling campfire roasting marshmallows until they were golden brown and gooey, and I thought
about Andrew. I wondered about his amazing ability to read minds.
I looked at Jeremy. He was almost as tall as Mark with curly, black
hair and steel gray eyes. I hadn't noticed the way he looked at me
before. He wasn't unattractive. I just wasn't interested.

Mark had decided that since I was a captive camper, it was time
to question me further about my romantic involvement. I didn't
want to tell him too much. However, I knew he would want to know
everything. He thought it was part of his sacred duty as an older
brother to torture me into telling him my most guarded secrets.

"Sis, do you really like this guy?"

"Yes, I do."

"He acts like a male model or a star athlete. He's too confident.
He seems too mature for you, if you ask me. Aren't you afraid he's a
heartbreaker?" he continued.

"A little," I admitted. I was still more than a little insecure about
his feelings for me.

"I mean you're okay to look at, but he looks at you like you're the
most beautiful girl on earth," he went on.

"So I'm just okay to look at?" I asked with obvious sarcasm.

"Well, yeah, you're my sister, so I can't see the appeal. Sorry."

"She's beautiful, Mark. You are completely blind if you can't see
that," Jeremy said as he punched him in the arm.

"Ow, that hurt! She looks like my mom. Of course, she's beautiful,
but irresistible? No offense, I don't see it. I'm sorry, I'm just saying-"

"I'm glad you can't see her that way," Jeremy interrupted. "That
would be a little creepy. Take my word for it. She is pretty hard to
resist. By all standards, Tiana is smoking hot!"

"Thanks, Jeremy." I smiled radiantly at him. Andrew might have
been right. I was most certainly going to keep my distance.

"So tell us about this Andrew. Is he as perfect as he acts?"Jeremy
asked.

"Yes, he's pretty close to perfect, and he has the uncanny ability to read minds. It's starting to freak me out. Sometimes it's even
embarrassing."

"Give us an example," Mark demanded.

"He said Jeremy has a thing for me and that I should keep my distance." I cited the first example that popped into my mind. I probably
should have chosen another case in point to support my theory.

"Wow, he's good!" Jeremy admitted.

"You have a thing for my sister?" Mark was using his overprotective brother voice.

"I've thought about it," Jeremy conceded.

"Forget it right now! I told you she is off limits to you. What
part of `You can't date my sister' don't you understand?' Don't forget
I know all about all your past romantic exploits. I am never going to
let you date her, so give it up! Tiana, you're sleeping in the Jeep with
the doors locked!"

I laughed because I had already decided to do exactly that but
not for the same reason. I wasn't afraid of Jeremy. I still thought of
him as a brother. I knew he wasn't going to try anything. Even if he
wanted to, Mark would never allow it, and he had been Mark's best
friend forever, so he would never let a girl come between them. Still,
I thought I had better change the subject before fighting broke out.

"Andrew also seems to be able to heal me on contact. After the
crash, I was sure my leg was broken. The pain was intense like when I broke my arm. He gently massaged it, and the pain went away, and
then there were no damaged bones. He also seemed to make my
facial bruises disappear when he touched them." I went on to tell
them how he had moved the metal door off my leg.

"Maybe superheroes do exist," Jeremy whispered, marveling at
my story.

"No, I've got it!" Mark grinned. "He's an extraterrestrial spaceman from a distant planet in a galaxy far, far away! You know I'm
right! It's the only logical explanation."

"You have seen far too many science fiction movies, Bro." I
chuckled at his impossible conclusion. He is such a dork!

When Andrew called, I told him he might be right about
Jeremy.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm camping on Cedar Mountain with Mark and Jeremy," I
told him.

"Sleep in the car and lock the doors!"

"Don't worry. He won't try anything. He just said that I was beautiful and hard to resist. I'm sure he's completely wrong about that."

"No, he's spot on. You are most certainly beautiful and incredibly irresistible, love. You aren't going to sleep in a tent with them,
are you?" he demanded to know.

"No, silly. I'm sleeping in the Jeep with the doors locked."

"Good girl!" His laughter sounded far away. I wished he was
here. I was really missing him tonight. I looked up into the firmament at the shimmering stars and made a silent wish that my dreams
about Andrew would all come true.

That night I actually did sleep. It must have been because we did
so much hiking, and I was thoroughly exhausted from all that physical exertion. I dreamed about the tunnel again. Andrew was calling
me, and I was running toward his glowing eyes. Before I could take
his hand, he floated up toward the heavens. There, in the spot where
he had been, were five Native American men holding ears of corn
and kneeling in a circle. They watched and waved with me as he
disappeared into the starlit sky.

I woke up on Monday morning feeling all alone and dejected. I knew
I was being stupid, but I couldn't shake those bothersome blues. It
was hard to go to school knowing he wouldn't be there all week. I
had weathered the weekend without him because Mark and Jeremy
had kept me entertained until they left for Vegas last night. I had
talked to Andrew on the phone each night. He said he missed me
already. I was sure he didn't miss me nearly as much as I missed him.
Part of me was absent, and the rest of me knew it.

I dressed quickly and put on my bravest face. I drove my Honda
to Hurricane High, parked, and took several deep breaths before
making my way to history.

I didn't want to be too dependent on Andrew. I needed to have
my own life separate from him. It was probably good that he was
gone until Saturday night. Even so, I longed for his familiar face.
What was my problem? This was ridiculous. He was only going to
be gone one measly week, just one extremely long, never-ending,
and incredibly boring week. It would probably be the longest week
of my entire existence. I could do this, but my heart wasn't in it. He
had my heart. It was gone, and I needed it back. How cheesy did
that sound? I didn't want to be that girl, the one who pines for her
boyfriend when he's away and acts like she can't live without him.
That is so lame. It was just plain wrong to feel this way.

I tried to look happy and confident as I walked into history without Andrew, but I felt everyone's eyes on me, and I knew they were all
wondering where he was. I sat down in the desk next to Tiffany.

"Where's Andrew today?" she asked. It was deafeningly quiet.
Did everyone here need to get a life?

"He's at a pharmaceutical convention in Las Vegas. He was at
a family reunion in Roswell over the weekend. He'll be back Saturday night." I sighed. Everyone stopped listening and started talking
again. I wondered how long it would take that bit of news to travel
through the halls.

"We should have a girl's night this Friday. You need to meet
more girlfriends."

"That's a great idea."

"I'll invite my favorite friends. It will be a good distraction," she
promised. I needed lots of distractions to get me through this week.
I needed distractions and lots of chocolate cake and cookie dough
ice cream with sprinkles and possibly new shoes.

I lived through my morning classes. I sat by Tiffany at lunch.
Jordan came and sat next to me. I desperately needed Jordan repellent and maybe some pepper spray as well.

"I hear the cat's away," he said with an elbow nudge, a wink, and
a big toothy grin.

"Whatever do you mean?" I couldn't help being sarcastic. Had
he completely forgotten that he'd agreed to my "lets-just-be-friends" proposition? He'd been doing a lot of winking since that agreement.
At first I thought I was imagining things, but every time I looked in
his direction I saw that same dopey expression on his face accompanied by that same squeezing of his left eye. Was that a friend thing?
He seemed to have developed a talent for bringing out the worst in
me. I think it was the whole winking thing. I had the sudden urge to
glue his eyes shut so he'd quit all that unnecessary eye twitching.

"A bunch of us are going to the petroglyphs on the Arizona Strip
this Saturday. Do you and Tiffany want to come?" he asked. I bit my
tongue and said nothing. "I'd rather walk barefoot on broken glass or
stick a needle in my eye" didn't seem like an appropriate answer, but
it was all that came into my mind at that particular moment.

Tiffany looked at him and asked, "What time Saturday?"

"We're going to meet in the school parking lot at eight thirty."
He looked at me and said, "I can pick you up, Tiana."

"It's too hot to go hiking," I said firmly. There was no stinking
way I would let him pick me up, maybe in his dreams, but not in real
life. No, I didn't want him dreaming about me either.

"She'll be at my house," Tiffany added. "We're having a girls'
night sleepover on Friday."

"You can all come. It's supposed to rain Friday night, so it should
be cooler on Saturday." He wasn't going to give up. I knew from
experience that he could be disgustingly persistent when he wanted
to be.

"We'll think about it," Tiffany said.

"Come on, Tiffany. Tim is coming. He'll be so bummed if you
don't show up," he coaxed.

"Maybe we'll come if we wake up in time." She was a tiny bit
more agreeable.