Elijah woke up just as they passed by his high school. "I'm gonna have to go back to that place on Monday. Fall break's over," he thought to himself.
His mother pulled up in their driveway, and the two of them hopped out of the car.
"Elijah, why don't you go over there now."
"Okay, mom," he replied sleepily as he walked across the street.
"Elijah! Next time, you need to look before you cross the street!"
"No one's coming!" he shouted back as he reached Peter's front door.
Ring! Elijah could hear the doorbell from outside. Peter's mother opened the door.
"Why hello Elijah! You here to see Peter?"she asked with a smile similar to Peter's.
"Yeah."
"He's up in his room. Grab one of the surgical masks outside of his door to keep you from catching what he has."
"Okay," he replied dryly as he walked up the stairs and towards Peter's room.
Peter's mother waved at Elijah's mother from across the street. "Lillian, are we still goin' to get our nails done tomorrow?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay! I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Bye!"
Elijah grabbed one of the surgical masks from the table outside of Peter's room. Though they were a strange bunch, Elijah liked Peter's family and enjoyed being over at their house.
He tied the mask onto his face and walked into Peter's room. Peter was hanging off the side of the bed with his feet tied awkwardly in a blanket.
"Hi!" he said as he looked up at Elijah.
"What are you doing?"
"I was trying to get up and walk around, but my feet got caught in the covers, and my upper half fell on the floor." Peter smiled his crooked smile. "Now I'm stuck, and my voice is being stupid, and I can't shout for help."
"Well," Elijah sat in the chair in the corner, "that's nice."
"Eli!"
Laughing, he walked over and pulled the blanket from Peter's feet, and Peter fell onto the floor.
"Thanks." Peter's voice was muffled since a pillow fell from the bed and covered his face. Elijah grabbed Peter by the wrists and helped him to his feet. "So," Peter began once he balanced himself, "we were chosen!" He jumped up in the air.
"You look like a girl when you jump up and down like that."
"Who cares? We're going to Pakistan to climb a mountain! Woo!" He coughed as he jumped up, and he fell awkwardly on his foot. "Ow." He sat holding his foot.
"You did that to yourself, man."
Peter began to laugh really hard as he spoke, "Eli, my foot hurts really bad. Why am I laughing? I'm in pain!"
"You must've hit you funny bone, but hey! At least we know it ain't broken." Elijah smiled. Something about the sight of others' pain brought joy to him.
"I guess." Peter pulled himself up and sat on the bed. "Eli, I can't believe that we, out of every other guy in the country, got chosen! There must be something wrong with the person that chose the people!"
"Uh, Peter, the president, himself, chose each of us with a little guidance from professional mountain climbers."
"My point exactly! Anyway, I guess it's a good thing he chose the people, or we wouldn't be going!" Peter smiled his usual smile.
"So," Elijah interrupted, "how long did it take for that medicine to wear off?"
"Oh, I don't know. I think I fell asleep right after I hung up on you, and I woke up maybe thirty minutes before you came over. I don't know. Why?"
"Oh, I was just curious. No real reason."
"Cool!" There was a long silence before Peter jumped up off the bed and shouted, "We're going to Pakistan!"
"Yeah!"
"Hey! Eli, did you ever figure out what they speak in Pakistan? We need to start learning whatever it is."
"Urdu."
"Oh! That is so cool! We are going to learn how to speak Urdu! Woo! Move out of the way Spanish! Urdu movin' in!"
"Are you seriously goin' to try to learn Urdu before December?"
"Yeah!"
"You know, it's already November."
"Yes, I know. It's not like I'm going to learn it fluently, but I want to be able to say a few things," Peter paused, "Nice mask."
"I know, right? Your mom said that I needed to wear it so I didn't catch your disease."
"In that case, you're goin' to have to wash your hands."
A long, awkward silence fills the room.
"So," Peter broke the silence. He couldn't stand complete silence. He needed some sort of noise.
"So."
"Fall break's almost over."
"Yup. Just tomorrow and Sunday, and then it's back to school."
"Yeah."
Elijah, looking down, noticed Peter's pajama pants. "Nice pants, Peter."
Peter looked down at his pink, flowery pants and smiled.
"Is there something I should know about you, Peter?" Elijah looked up at Peter.
"No! I, sort of, threw up on my pants, so my mom handed me a pair of Sarah's old pajama pants to wear just in case."
"You're wearing your big sister's pants? Really?"
"Well, she's in college. She won't miss 'em. Plus, they're very soft and comfortable," Peter said with crooked smile.
"You're so weird sometimes, you know?" Elijah smiled too.
"Hey!" Peter shook his finger at Elijah, "It's better to be abnormal than to be a clone."
"Yeah, I guess so!"
"See? I'm not a, complete, idiot!"
"Whatever you say."
"Shut up."
"Well, since you're not dying or anything, I guess I'll go home and leave you to rest."
"Okay, but for the record, I've gotten so much food and sleep the past few days, I'm goin' to be obese by Sunday." Peter laid back on his bed.
"That's hilarious!"
"It's true! I can feel myself gettin' fatter every time I lie down or eat something! I need to go outside and run, like, ten laps around the neighborhood!"
"Just go back to sleep, fatso!" Elijah said as he walked out the door. "See you later."
"Bye!"
Elijah pulled the mask from his face as he stepped down the stairs. As he opened the door, he called back, "Bye Mrs. Auchinleck!"
"Bye Elijah!"
He closed the door behind him and walked towards the road. Noticing the trashcans at the end of the driveway, he placed the mask in one and, once again, crossed the street without looking.
Does that help, or did you mean something else?
