Portal (10 page)

“You should maybe think of trying some girl’s hockey. I bet you’d be awesome,” he suggested proudly.

I was still unsure how to broach the varsity hockey thing to him but decided to give it a go.

“Harry, wouldn’t it be great to be able to play on the same team? Do you think that’s an insane idea?”

He looked surprised and turned silent. He took my hand as he thought about it. We skated over to the side and walked over to the bleachers. Harry told me to wait at the bench while he got us some hot chocolate. I wondered if I had just blown it with Harry. I really liked him and wanted him on my side. He did not seem like the kind of brother who would be a buzz kill. He came back carrying two large hot chocolates and handed me one carefully as he sat down beside me.

“Arizona, you just took my breath away. I’m completely blown away by your skating; you are awesome. I’m not really sure what to say except I think we should get Ella onto the ice too. I bet she’s like that chimp in MVP!”

I chuckled. No chance. That girl was born to be a princess.

“Shrimp, we really should spend more time together this year, especially since I’m off to college soon. Playing on the same team may not be the best way to do it though. I’m the captain of the varsity team. Even if you made the tryouts and onto the team, the rest of them would assume you only made it because of me. The other issue for me would be safety. I don’t know that I could concentrate on the game with you on the ice. I would spend the entire time worrying about you. Have you thought about a girl’s team? I hear the Mountain Cats are really good.” He looked over to me waiting for a response.

He was right, of course. All those things had not been relevant at Princeton – no brother. I would really have to prove myself at the tryouts. Prove to him that he needn’t worry about me. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.

“Harry, you’re right, I didn’t think about those things. It would be awkward for you. Will you give it a chance though, just for the tryouts? It’ll be fun. You can cut me if you want. I won’t be upset. Just let me give it a go?”

Harry nodded and said he would drive me over to the sports store for some supplies, but I reminded him that he had a date with Maria.

“Can you drop me off at school by the Jeep? I’ll drive over and get what I need. Can you help me with all those forms when you get home though?”

He laughed and took my stick and we headed over to get the bike. He dropped me off at the Jeep and sped off. I couldn’t wait to see Ariele. I programmed her address into the GPS and headed down the road to her place.

It took forever to get there. It started raining, and I could hardly see though the windshield. The defogger was not doing its job. I passed the house three times before I found the obscured driveway to the front of the house. It was much smaller than I had expected but cute. I ran up to the front door and knocked. Ariele’s mother answered.

“Dr. Moreau! It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s nice to see you too, Arizona.” She turned, looked up the stairs and shouted, “Ariele, come down. Arizona is here.”

Ariele came bounding down the stairs and hugged me. She grabbed my hand and led me upstairs to her bedroom. Her bedroom was nice and light, covered with posters. She closed the door and jumped on to the big bed. I sat down next to her. I had so much to tell her, but I wanted to hear her story first.

“Ariele, Simla cornered me earlier and told me to beware of you. Muhaaaaa, apparently you’re from the future!” I teased, putting my fingers to my head like antennae and wriggling them.

She collapsed laughing and said, “She’s right. We are from the futuuuure, beewaare!”

Then she turned somber, “Seriously though, we did fail the psych assessment at the hospital after the accident.”

She started rambling; I could barely understand what she was saying. She told me that when they regained consciousness they had all been asked, “What year it was? Who was the president? Blah blah. Obama of course and it’s 2009! But no, it was apparently 2008.”

I could barely grasp anything thing she said through her hurried rambling. I gathered that the psychiatrist had kept at them, but they had, naively, insisted they were right. So, they had failed the psych assessment carried out by Simla’s dad (whom I gathered was the psychiatrist) and the word spread. So much for patient/doctor confidentiality.

“Hold on!” I interrupted, “Accident? Ariele, slow down, I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“You haven’t heard?” she asked.

I shook my head.

Ariele explained, “Remember the last time we saw each other in Princeton? Just after the SAT’s. Monica, you and I said our goodbyes as I was leaving for the airport. Well, I drove home first and did some last minute stuff before the limo picked us up. Mom, Dad and I got into the limo and headed for Newark airport. It was a miserable day, the rain was coming down in torrents and there were huge delays at the airport. The turnpike was jammed, but the limo driver managed to get us to the airport on time. I was surprised and excited to find out that we were being flown to California in a private jet, super cool. Apparently Ames Research was so desperate to have my mom come and work for them that they were going all out to get us here. The limo drove us right up to the plane. It was small but had a bar and super comfy seats. There were no other passengers. I had my own seat that folded down to a bed and a games console with Guitar Hero! We were strapped in for takeoff, which was delayed for over an hour due to the rain. Once we were up, I got served my favorite food, Taco Bell! I couldn’t believe it. My mom and dad got some sushi, yuck. We ate and then watched an early release of the new
Harry Potter
, which was awesome. It’s not even out in the cinema yet! The ride itself was bumpy. I guess due to the rain but no one seemed concerned. About half an hour before landing time, the ride became very bumpy, to the point we were getting thrown around. So we put our seat belts on and even had to assume the crash position, just in case. I have never really been afraid of flying until then. Then suddenly everything went calm before we felt a tremendous force and were sucked back into our seats, a bit like when going down a rollercoaster. I don’t know what happened next, I think I must have blacked out.”

She took a deep breath and continued, “I woke up in a hospital and found Mom and Dad sitting holding my hands. We were kept in isolation until your mom came to visit us. She explained that our plane had crashed and that the rescue team had found us and brought us out here. We all seemed to have survived the crash without any major injuries. No injuries in fact. Not even a scratch, which was weird. I was thankful. Your mom was very sweet and arranged to have us moved to a house. It would have been fairly smooth, the move I mean, had it not been for Simla’s pesky dad. He insisted on a psych evaluation first. None of us liked him. He’s a really irritating little man and we thought that he was being a pain arguing with us over simple things like the present year. I’m not sure how it happened, but your mother managed to get us discharged and out of there. She set us up here until we find a house we want to buy.”

She took a deep breath and continued. “We quickly accepted that we were perhaps a bit confused after all. It
is
October, 2008! We just couldn’t work it out. We still can’t, but decided to keep a low profile and get on with life as best we can while we figure it out. We wondered what your mother was doing here and how she had found us, but after the incident with Simla’s dad, we didn’t want to stir anything up until we found out what was going on. We didn’t even know that the psychiatrist was Simla’s dad until I started school.” She paused but I nudged her to carry on.

“My mom started her job at Ames and she was surprised to find out that your mother was her boss. She was the Dr. Darley who had headhunted her with this amazing job offer. They don’t really run into each other much so she’s not been able to corner her for answers. October seems to be their busy month. My mom has been working non stop on her assigned project, whatever that is, with her team.”

I was trying to absorb all this. It was complicated. I had gathered that Mom worked at Ames. Nothing else made sense.

“Ariele, do you know what kind of project your mother is working on?”

“No, but we can ask her. Tell me what you are doing here though. When did you arrive?”

“Ariele, my story is even more bizarre that yours if that’s possible. I don’t know when I arrived here. I can only remember this week, but I’ve obviously lived here a lot longer. Ella is here too. I seem to have a new dad, Rupert. And also a brother, Harry.”

Ariele looked at me in pity and sighed, “We really have a lot of stuff to work out.”

My phone interrupted us with a bleep. A text from Kellan.

Avoiding getting beat at GH?

I had to head home. “Got to go, Ariele. We have to get back to this soon!” I promised. “Ariele, I’ve decided to tryout for the varsity ice hockey team.”

She shrugged, unexcited, “You’re bound to make the team.”

I kissed her and turned around to leave but hesitated.

“What’s up,” she asked.

It seemed like such a ridiculous question given our situations, but I wondered if she could tell me a bit about Kellan.

“Ariele, this is a bit embarrassing. I’m heading back home to meet up with Kellan. I don’t remember who he is. Or what’s between us. I seem to get flustered in his presence. Can’t imagine why! All I know is that he seems close to Harry, my new brother, and is very chummy with Ella. He hangs out at the house, a lot! He seems comfortable calling me
Shrimp
. The only other person who does that, so far, is Harry, but I don’t seem to mind that. I like it, in fact. Kellan makes me feel really uncomfortable but he seems fairly familiar with me. I was sort of wondering if we have dated in the past or if we’re dating now or…” I looked at her sheepishly.

Ariele chortled, “All I’m sure of is that he can’t take his eyes off you during physics. Part of the ‘stalking you’ involved trying to find out what was up with you two. I asked Simla before I knew how evil she was. She probably thought that I was into Kellan. She let me know in no uncertain terms that he’s way out of my league. She said that he was not dating anyone and that you two had known each other for as long as she could remember. He apparently regards you as a kid sister. Are you into him?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I felt excited every time he came close to me and desperately wanted to reach out for him, but I also felt a sense of fear. Maybe not quite fear but danger. I wasn’t quite sure what it all meant. All I knew was that I was now desperate to get out of here and head over to see him.

“I’m not sure, Ariele. I’m just trying to work things out. It’s way easier for you being the new girl! I don’t know who I am! Will you tell me everything you find out about me?”

“Sure thing,” she said comfortingly as she squeezed my arm. I texted Kellan back.

YOU get ready to get beat…. I’m on my way.

It was almost seven by the time I got home. It was already dark, but the moon shone brightly, lighting up the night sky. I had missed dinner. Mom would probably be furious and I expected to have to kiss the Jeep or iPhone good bye for a while. I decided to delay the wrath for a bit longer and went into the garage to check on my hockey kit. As I was walking in, I could hear frantic barks from the house. Gertrude had sensed that I was home. This would have to be quick. I went to where I had hidden the hockey bag and picked up the U+. I couldn’t wait to give her a try! The yaps were getting louder so I put the stick under the boxes carefully. It wouldn’t be long till I could enjoy the full thrill of swinging it from my hands.

Kellan’s bike was parked up front. I wasn’t sure why he had waited for me this long. I was unacceptably late. I didn’t see Harry’s bike. He was probably still out with Maria. I wondered what their story was? They made a cute couple although I could see Ariele with Harry. Now that would be cool. I suddenly remembered that Ariele was not really into guys.