Return to Love (10 page)

“No, I am not awake I am asleep, and it is way too cold and bright to go outside.” Joanie replied with her eyes tightly closed.

Jessica laughed from the other side of the room, and Joanie frowned as Eric untangled himself and went into the bathroom. He was back quicker than she would have thought and wondered vaguely if she fell back to sleep. He had showered, and Stanley was back, as well. Eric bent low over her so only she could hear him. “Good morning Joanie, the roads are open.”

Knowing she was out numbered one to one she rolled on her back and forced her eyes open. School. The horrible word swept past her brain, and she sat up straight. She didn’t want to go. Not today not ever. She sighed. Her little fairytale escapade was over she had to go home. She stretched and sleepily made her way to the bathroom pulling her skirt down as Stanley turned his head away and Eric did not.

She took a quick COLD shower cursing as Eric had used up all the lukewarm water during his shower. The early bird… she mumbled to herself towel drying her hair as best she could. She dressed and wished for a brush as she stepped out from the bathroom surprised to still see Jessica and Stanley still there since they had been ready to leave before she went in the shower. Eric seeing her surprised look spoke up smiling. “They are staying to protect your virtue.”

Joanie smiled at the couple and asked Eric to borrow his comb. He gave it up willingly and she went to hacking the rat nests out of her hair. Soon after they said goodbyes and she and Eric were back on the road. Eric had called Chad that morning and found out that school was delayed so she had just enough time to go home, change and walk to school. Perfect.

Kate jumped her in the hallway. “I talked to Brad last night, and he told me what happened. Boy was he pissed!” Kate said laughing.

Joanie smiled she was so glad to see Kate; she had missed her. “Brad is an over reactor, nothing happened it was too dang cold to get naked anyway.” Joanie laughed at Kate’s shocked expression and she spent the next ten minutes filling her in on the details.

The day flew by before she knew it Friday was here. She was kind of disappointed that she hadn’t seen Eric since Wednesday. She learned from Chad that he had a construction job, and they had been pretty busy lately. Sighing she watched the hands of the clock mounted on the wall in front of her. Only three minutes to go but it seemed like hours.

Then finally the bell rang. It’s ironic how the same sound that you dread in the morning you yearn for in the afternoon.

She hurried to her locker and thankfully laid down her load. Having no homework over the weekend, she hurried over to meet Kate at Jane’s locker. Sally was there also with an unexpected guest. Joanie covering her surprise quickly went to the group. Kate winked at her for support.

“Hi April are you coming too?” Joanie asked as nice as she could.

April smiled, but it looked more like a smirk. The gleam in her eye belittling her words. “Yes Jane’s mom invited me she works with my mom.”

Joanie looked to Jane who just shrugged helplessly as the group headed out. It was a short walk to Jane's house. She lived surprisingly close to school. Too close Joanie thought. You could see the school grounds from her upstairs window. The girls stowed their bags in Jane's room and headed into the kitchen for a snack. April kind of kept to herself as the friends chatted and made quite a mess out of the peanut butter and jelly. After the sandwiches, they headed into the living room and moved the coffee table against the wall to give them more room to sleep. Sprawling around the furniture the girls chatter was guarded. They were careful about what they talked about in front of April. ‘You guys want some hot chocolate?” Jane asked. There was a chorus of yeses.

“I’ll help you.” Joanie offered getting up and following Jane out of the room.

“I’m sorry about April. I couldn’t tell my mom no after she invited her already.”

“That’s okay. I just wonder why she came.” Joanie said as she poured the hot chocolate mix into the cups that Jane handed her. Soon the kettle was hissing madly, and Jane poured the hot brew into the cups as Joanie stirred. They returned minutes later with the steaming cups.

April smiled glad to have the attention turned to her. “It’s a book where you write your deepest thoughts, but it’s totally anonymous. You go by a number instead of your name.”

Sally hesitated. “I don’t know. What kind of things. How does it work?” Kate spoke up. “I’ve heard of them! You take like twenty sheets of paper and at the top of each sheet is a question. Underneath the question. It’s numbered to twenty. Everybody picks one number and puts their answer on the same line of each page. You cover the page so only your line shows. Then when everybody is done you read everybody's answers.”

Joanie was unsure about this, but since everyone else seemed interested she went along. What harm could come from it. Jane ran and grabbed a notebook. She and April poured over the pages whispering and giggling to each other. Finally, they were done. They filled out their answers first and passed the book along to the others one by one.

Then Joanie had the book. She slowly opened to the first page. Who’s your favorite teacher? She picked line #3 and quickly entered her answer. She tried to change her hand writing so no one would recognize it. The first couple were trivial, and Joanie quickly answered each of them, then they started getting more personal. If you could go out with any boy you wanted, who would it be? Joanie hesitated before scrawling Eric Phillips. Done. She turned the page. Who’s the cutest guy in school? She wanted to say Eric again, but he didn’t go to her school. Sighing she wrote Chris. He was beautiful on the outside. Too bad his head was so much bigger than his brain. Next page. What base have you gotten to? Joanie looked around at before writing first. It wasn’t a complete lie. She would have gotten to first base if it wasn’t for Brad. Maybe more. Blushing she handed the completed book back to Jane.

“Alright fav. teacher. Coach, Coach, Mrs. Barnes, Mr. Redmond, and Coach.” Page by page she went. “Now it’s getting good ‘who would you go out with?’ Brad Caldwell,” Joanie choked on her hot chocolate who would name her brother? She looked around the group suspiciously. “Marc Johnson, Eric Phillips, Mr. Redmond?” She looked up with a disgusted look on her face. “And Chris Harper.”

“Alright prettiest girl Joanie Caldwell, Joanie Caldwell, April Miller, April Miller, Joanie Caldwell. Okay the cutest guy in school-Chad Phillips, my them Phillip boys are popular today, Chris Harper, Chris Harper, Mr. Redmond!?” Jane shook her head as the other girls made retching sounds. “and, once again, Chris Harper. Okay quiet now! Last but not least which base have you gotten to? Third base, third base, first base?! home run and second base.”

The girls were talking and arguing about the results when Jane's parents came in Jane quickly hid the book under a couch cushion as the girls quieted down.

“Hello girls.” Jane’s stepfather said. “We’re gonna head to bed and let you have some privacy.”

“Well hello April! I’m so glad you could come. You are the spitting image of your mother. Well goodnight ladies.” Her mom said as they headed down the hall to their room. A chorus of goodnights followed.

“You look just like your mother.” Kate mimicked amongst the snickers. April glared at her.

The girls settled down shortly after and went to bed. Several hours later they were woken by April. “Hey come on wake up.” She whispered. Sleepily Joanie opened her eyes. The other girls were slowly coming awake also.

“What time is it?”

“Nighttime! Let’s sneak out and find some action. It’s Friday night for Pete’s sake.” April groaned. Sally giggled and slipped on her clothes.

Joanie sighed and slipped into her jeans. They quietly tiptoed to the front door and snuck out into the night. The air was cold, and you could see your breath. April pulled out a cigarette and took a long drawl. She offered it to the other girls. Sally took a puff and almost choked the others declined the offer. “Chicken shit.” She murmured.

Joanie spun around to face her. “I’m sick and tired of your jeering and mocking everything we do.” April’s face turned hard, and Joanie advanced. “We can have a good time without getting drunk, stoned or pregnant. If you dislike us so much then leave us alone!” She turned to Kate. “I’m heading back this is stupid. Anyone else coming with me?” And with that she headed back to Jane’s house. Jane and Kate quickly followed her.

“Well I see we separated the wheat from the chafe! We’ll see you in the morning.” April laughed as she walked off. Sally hesitated then scampered off after April.

Without a word, the three girls snuck back into the house and snuggled down under the warm covers. Thankfully they hadn’t been discovered. Morning came too soon. Joanie woke up with a start. She quickly looked around noticing that April and Sally weren’t there.

“Wake up!!” She whispered to Kate who was closest to her. She roughly shook her shoulder. The house had gotten colder, and she was reluctant to rouse from her warm cocoon. “They’re gone!” Kate sat up quickly as the words sunk in. They quickly woke Jane and decided to go look for them. The girls were dressing again as Jane’s parents came in.

“You girls are up awfully early. It’s Saturday you know!” Jane’s mom chided.

“Um we’re gonna go jogging!” Jane said finally looking frantically around the now smaller group.

“Well alright I guess, you girls have a good time.” Jane’s mom added as she headed into the bathroom to shower. The girls quickly ducked out the door relieved.

“Jogging?!?!!!” Joanie asked. “She’s gonna think that’s mighty odd.”

Jane sighed. “Well what the heck did you want me say? That we all snuck out last night, but April and Sally never came back? She’d KILL me!”

Joanie shook head and groaned. They had to find them but how? They decided to first head towards the school. Some of the kids had cut a hole in the fence, and they sometimes climbed on the roof to drink. As they were heading towards the school, they noticed two familiar looking figures heading towards them. The three girls slowed as the pair came nearer. April was helping Sally along.

“Where the hell have you been all night?!” Kate yelled. She wasn’t a morning person, and she resented the fact that they had to go out into the cold dawn to look for the reckless girls.

Sally groaned as she held her head and sank to the sidewalk. “Please don’t talk so loud.” she whispered.

April just grinned and looked over to the others coyly. “She can’t hold her liquor she’s been puking her guts out most of the morning.”

“No thanks to you!” Joanie said looking at them disgustedly. “Just where the hell were you last night?” She asked for the first time noticing the rather large fresh hicky on April’s neck.

April stood inches away from her as her eyes narrowed. “I’m sick of your better than everyone attitude. All you are is a tease Joanie. Unlike you, I don’t start anything I’m not prepared to finish.”

Joanie smiled wickedly her green eyes growing darker with her anger. “Well April here I am let’s finish it.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Kate said grabbing Joanie as Jane grabbed April. “You two settle down! Come on Joanie trash like that ain’t worth fooling with.”

The girls helped Sally up and drug her back down the street towards Jane's house as April turned to head home.

‘Damn goody two shoes! Who needs ’em? Not me.’ April muttered to herself as she lit a cigarette. She was shivering from the cold as she headed home and sadly knew that she would find no warmth there. A single tear slid down her face as she walked slowly away alone.

The chilled girls swooped into the kitchen along with the cold air. They were thrilled to find that Jane’s mom had hot chocolate waiting for them. Sally passed up the chocolate and instead lay gratefully down on the living room floor and soon fell asleep. Joanie and Kate decided to pack up and walk home after thanking Jane’s parents. Her father offered to drive them, but they turned him down they needed to talk. They thanked Jane and her parents as they left.

The cold wind bit through Joanie’s jacket and sweater as the two headed home. It had started to snow and the tiny frozen flakes bit into their skin.

“At least it wasn’t Coach.” A mental picture flashed through Joanie's head of Coach in a smoking jacket, and she broke into gales of laughter.