Prince Tennyson (6 page)

“I don't know.” Tyler tightened his hold, probably thinking I would try to get away. “I'm figuring that out.”

“Well, I'm kind of tired. Do you think we could sit down until you decide?” There was no way I could escape—we both knew it. Tyler Johnson was really tall and a lot faster than me. I figured maybe if I could sit down, he'd get bored and leave me alone. “Oh, uh, sure. I guess we could sit by that tree over there.” He walked me over to the tree that was even farther away from the screaming, happy kids on the playground.

When we sat down, Tyler just held one of my arms and let the other one go.

“Thanks. It kind of hurt when you had both my arms.”

“Oh, sorry.” He shrugged and held my arm a little bit tighter, but not too tight. “You'd just better not try to get away.”

“I won't.” I nodded, just in case Tyler didn't hear me. Then I waited for him to decide what to do. After we sat there for a while watching the other kids play, I asked, “So, why don't you like our club?”

He looked over, really surprised with his eyebrows raised, and said, “I don't know. Just cuz it's a girls' club, and girls' clubs are stupid.”

“So are boys' clubs.” I picked up a piece of grass and threw it. It landed about six inches from my feet.
Darn.
I was hoping it would go a lot farther.

Tyler took a deep breath. “Yeah, you're probably right. I've known some pretty dumb boys' clubs.”

I didn't know what else to say, because I had known some pretty dumb boys' clubs too, but I didn't want to sound rude. “Oh.”

After a couple of minutes more of us both picking grass and throwing it, Tyler asked, “So is it true that you have a dad who was a prince, or something?”

I rubbed my hand on my jeans—I didn't want to pick grass anymore. I watched some boys chase a little girl in a bright yellow dress around the basketball court. “Yeah. It's true.” I glanced over at Tyler and was surprised to see him looking straight at me. My eyes dropped to my feet and I brought them up to tuck under my legs. “It's just his nickname, though. He's not—he's not really a prince.”

My hair fell forward as I put my elbow on my knee and leaned over on my hand. I didn't push my hair away; I liked it covering my face. Instead, I looked out toward the swings and watched some kids as they pumped their legs back and forth.

Tyler was still watching me. I could feel his eyes as they stared at the side of my head. It felt really weird.

“Chelsea, is it true that your dad died in Iraq?”

I was afraid he would ask that. I moved my head so more of my hair covered my face. Tyler's hand tightened on my arm, and I knew he waited for my answer.

I had to answer him. If I didn't, it would be worse.

I know.

I closed my eyes from the girl whose feet stretched to the sky on the swing. She was smiling. She was free, and the sun shone right down on her smiling face. I didn't want to see her anymore. I didn't want to see her feel like she was flying.

Swinging used to be my favorite. My dad would swing me higher than all the other kids at the park. I would fly. The sun shone right down on
my
smiling face.
I
was free.

I will never be free again.

Not like that. Not the way it was with my dad.

All at once I didn't want to be caught by Tyler anymore and I definitely didn't want to answer his questions. I jerked my arm away and stood up.

“Chelsea?”

I ran away. I ran as fast as I could, all the way to the back of the grass field in the playground. The part where the kids weren't supposed to go. It felt so good to be out there, away from everyone else. When I found a spot behind another tree, I collapsed right to the ground so no one could see me. Then I tucked my knees up to my chest and rested my head on top and closed my eyes tight from everything. My hair spilled all around my legs and made my own secret cave so I couldn't see out. I covered my ears so I couldn't hear the other kids laughing behind me, even if they were across the park—I didn't want to hear them. I didn't want to hear anything, not even my tears.

Chapter Eleven

I COULD HEAR MY tears. I wished they were quieter, but they weren't.

“Chelsea? Chelsea?”

Tyler's voice sounded far away. I thought he was still calling me from the other tree by the playground until he touched my arm. I uncovered my ears, but kept my head down.

“Chelsea, why did you run away? Did I make you sad?”

Great. Wonderful. I hated questions like that. Why else would I run away? “No,” I lied. I didn't want to tell him the truth.

“Oh, good, cuz I thought I made you sad.”

I didn't say anything.

I heard Tyler sit down next to me and I could feel the tree move as he leaned against the back of it. He didn't touch me. “You know you're not supposed to be out here, right? Maybe they didn't tell you when you came here, but we can't go past the field over to this part of the playground.”

“I know.”

“Oh.” Tyler sighed. I thought he would leave when I didn't say anything else, but instead he said, “I'm sorry your dad died in Iraq.”

I squeezed my eyes shut tighter. My heart hurt so badly.

I wanted Tyler to just leave me alone and go away, so I ignored him. I hoped it would work, but it didn't.

“I know how you feel, though,” Tyler said quietly. “My grandpa died last year. He was my favorite grandpa, too. He used to take me to all sorts of places and we'd do lots of stuff. Cool stuff like camping and fishing and four-wheeling and baseball games and stuff.” Tyler moved a bit. “I miss my grandpa so much. My dad doesn't do any of the cool things my grandpa did. Now I don't have anyone to do those things with.”

I opened my eyes and peeked out through my hair. I could see the road behind the chain-link fence in front of me. “Really?” My voice sounded funny.

“Yeah.”

I shook my head a little bit so some of the hair would move out of the way. “Where is your grandpa right now? Do you know?”

I don't think Tyler understood me exactly because he said, “I just told you—he died.”

“I know.” I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes and face. Then I sat up straighter and looked right at that road. “I meant, where did he go when he died?”

“Oh.” Tyler brought his legs out in front of him. “He went to heaven. Just like everyone does.” I wondered if he would say that. I turned around and stared right at him. “How do you know that? How did you find out?”

Tyler looked really shocked for a minute. Then he lowered his eyebrows and looked at me funny. “What do you mean?”

“Heaven. How do you know your grandpa is in heaven? Did someone tell you that, or did you find out for yourself?”

He watched me really long and hard. He even turned on his bum and looked right at me. I didn't look away. I wanted him to know I was serious and I wanted him to know I needed a real answer, not something he would say just to make me happy, like I was a little kid. I wanted the truth.

“Everyone told me that's where he went.”

“Oh.” My shoulders sagged and I glanced at the ground.

“But it didn't matter that they said it, because I already knew that he did.”

I stared into his brown eyes. “How? How did you already know?”

“Because it was here.” Tyler pointed to his chest. “Right here.”

“What?” That was the answer? It was in his chest?

“I could feel God inside. Like something was warm and burning and soft and nice and like—“

“Burning? God felt like burning?” I didn't think I wanted to feel burning.

“No.” Tyler sat up on his knees. “Not like I was on fire. But it was good. Like hot chocolate going all the way down to my chest and stomach and making me all warm.”

I nodded. I liked hot chocolate. “So that's how you know? You can feel God?” I couldn't believe it was that easy. I had to know more. “How did you feel Him? What were you doing to make your chest warm? Were you reading the Bible?”

“The Bible? No.” Tyler smirked.

“What were you doing, then? Where were you?”

“I…” Tyler looked down at the grass. “I was crying in my room. In the back, by my dresser, so no one could see me. I just sat back there and cried, because I missed my grandpa so much, and I knew he was never coming back. And that's when it happened.”

“When you were crying?”

“Yeah, when I was saying, ‘I'll never see him again, never, ever.' That's when my heart started to get really warm and then it spread to my chest and stomach and then to my arms and legs and all the way to my hair. And the crazy thing was, it was so warm and so nice, but I still had goose bumps like I was cold, but I wasn't. Not at all. I knew right then that I would see my grandpa again. I knew he was in heaven.”

“What about God?” I couldn't help asking. Did Tyler know about Him, too?

“I felt God in my chest, Chelsea. He was inside me making me warm and happy even though I was the saddest I had ever been in my whole life. He really did.”

“Wow.” I sat back against the tree and thought about what Tyler said. Some of it made a lot of sense. But there was still a small part of me that had to wonder if he was wrong, because I had cried in my room lots of times for my dad and I never felt warm like that. But it made me think, and wish it had happened to me.

Just then the bell rang and we both jumped up and began to run. I knew we'd have to run super fast to get to our classes in time. Even though he could run faster, Tyler didn't. He ran with me.

I liked that.

It was funny, but I went from not knowing him very well to knowing Tyler Johnson a whole lot in just one recess. He wasn't as mean as he pretended to be. In fact, he was pretty cool.

“Well, see ya,” Tyler called as he ran up to his classmates waiting in line for his teacher. Tyler was in Mr. Brandon's fifth-grade class.

I made it to my class line first. Mrs. Sheridan was already waiting for us. I ducked to the back and tried to make my breathing seem more normal. Jasmine and Sarah came to the back to stand with me. They had very curious looks on their faces, but they couldn't say anything because right then Mrs. Sheridan told us it was time to be quiet and to head back to class.

Our class walked right past Tyler's. He was looking at me, so I smiled. He smiled too. I liked it. I had never had a friend who was a boy before, but he wasn't too bad. For a boy, that is. I still wasn't about to forgive him for not liking my club, though.

Chapter Twelve

MY SOCCER GAME THE next day went pretty well. Our teams tied. There was another team waiting to get on the field, so the referees just kept it a tie. As I walked over to the bleachers to get my stuff, I looked up. Grandma must've already taken Cameron and Hannah over to her team for warmups, because no one was there.

I sighed and collected the snacks the team mom gave us. She gave us treats after every game. Then I turned around and searched the whole soccer park until I saw my sister's green uniform across the way with her team already warming up.

I slowly headed over there past a couple of different soccer fields. There were parents cheering in both of them. It seemed like everyone had their parents at their games except me and Hannah.

Dad used to love to come to my soccer games and cheer me on. Hannah didn't even know what she was missing, since this was her first year playing. I did. I missed my dad. I missed the way he would come to a game even when he was super busy. I missed when he would volunteer to help out and sometimes be the line referee. I missed when he would yell, “Go, Chelsea, go! Get the ball!”

By the time I made it to the bleachers and climbed up next to Grandma Haney and Cameron, the game was going full force and heated. Grandma held Cameron and was hollering all sorts of cheers just for Hannah. I smiled at her when she nodded, and then sat down to watch.

Hannah was good. Really good. She was probably the best player on her team. Dad would've loved to see her play. I wished Mom were here to see her—she would have loved it too.

When Hannah made a goal, I jumped to my feet quicker than anyone else. I cupped my hands around my mouth, and before I realized what I was doing, I yelled, “Hannah! That was awesome! You are the most determined girl ever!”

All at once, I couldn't cheer anymore. Hannah turned and smiled at me and waved. I waved back. My heart stopped beating for a few seconds. Everything hurt.

I had to find out if my dad was in heaven or not. I had to.

***

On Sunday, I was more confused than ever. The speaker was talking about how you could find God in your life everywhere you looked. He said there was even God in the trees and the water and stuff.

Huh? Excuse me? Trees and water?