Project: LOVE [Chapter 5 - Edited]

To be pushed away, to be judged – no one has to go through that. No matter what a person did wrong, they’re still human. We have no right to criticize them. All of us have our own flaws, and heck, we probably don’t even know the whole story to attempt to point out how wrong an action was. We may not even know the truth to the situation. I –

I know how it feels – how it’s like feeling helpless and alone. I know the pain of knowing no one would be there should I break down the next minute. It haunted me for so long that I became accustomed to only have myself as company.

“No one needs me so I don’t need them.”

That was the credo I lived up to for some time, until Kasey and the others came into my life that is. It wasn’t always that way though. I wasn’t always by myself. There used to be a few others who were there for me… well, at least, so I think.

Sure, my family was there, as well as some friends, but it wasn’t like they were by my side all the time. I just had to suck up those moments, the hours that I wasn’t with them, and sit quietly at the farthest seat, hoping that the day won’t be as uneventful as the last. There was always a set of eyes staring at me, and to be honest, it scared me, but I still put up a fight. I refused to let them see how much they affected me. Eventually, I made myself look indifferent and continued on, even though inside, I was shivering – from the cold, from the fear, and from the anger that they were instilling within me.

During my high school graduation, I told myself that I would no longer let anyone, except for those who stayed by me, get close to me. That way, there should be less drama in my life – a life I just wanted to piece back together peacefully, without strangers trampling on whatever was managed to be built again. That, of course, didn’t happen because here I am, in the car of a person who continuously reached out to me.

It wasn’t like we were always this friendly. Kasey had to tail on me (as I said before), break down barriers I’ve set up around myself, and include me in whatever outings she and the other girls planned. She would even haul me when she and a group of our female blockmates would go eat. We only ever really managed stay with each other like this when the others had to go away on exchange.

On exchange.

They would be back by the end of the year, which was just a few months away. There was a dull ache in my heart. I cleared my throat.

“So, they’re going to be back by the end of December.” I stared out of the windshield, only to take glimpses of her time to time. “Danica and the others, I mean.”

“Huh?” She turned her attention to me. She seemed like she was taken by surprise but soon enough, a smile lit up her face. “Oh yeah, they are. I kind of miss them already. I’m not used to not having them around, to be honest. They have a way to grab attention.”

Figures.

“What’ll you do when they come back? Are you throwing them a party or something? If you’re planning to have alcohol, I’m pretty sure one of them will get home very drunk.” I smirked as I gave her a sidelong glance.

“We both know Danica promised not to drink as much anymore,” she chuckled. “But knowing her, she’s going to get drunk all the same. Back to your question though, no, I haven’t even thought about planning them a party. That’s too much work for a lazy gal like me.”

Sure, Kasey. I know that you love pulling out surprises.

“Well, the gang will be hanging out again for sure. We’ll be going to lots of different places and annoy each other about what happened to each of us while they were gone.”

“Sounds fun,” I said. “Seems like you’re going to have an exciting year ahead when they come back.”

We stopped at an intersection near my house as the stoplight turned red. I felt a light punch to my arm.

“What’re you saying ‘you’ for? By ‘we’, you’re included. Hello, you’re part of the group now, Lara. If you won’t go along with us, I promise I will drag you out of the door and even bribe Nate to help me.”

I sheepishly smiled at her and flicked her hand away.

“Are you okay now?” she asked, getting ready to shift gears as the timer on the stoplight was getting close to zero. “You were really spacing out a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” I brushed her off.

“Are you jealous?” Kasey gave me another one of those mischievous smiles. “You’re jealous, aren’t you? You want to spend more time with me.”

Hold up. What? Did she really just pull my leg?

I don’t think I ever turned my head as fast as I just did before. “What? Oliver’s rubbing off on you too! Don’t get too cocky.”

The car, which was silent most of the way home from the store, was suddenly filled with Kasey’s laughter. “I’m messing with you, chief. See, you finally have another expression on your face rather than looking blank. Effective, aren’t I?”

I shook my head in disbelief but grinned at her. “Whatever.”

“That means yes, doesn’t it?” She snickered. “But really, Lara, you don’t have to worry about anything. It just means we have more people to be around with. I’m not going to disappear.”

“If you say so,” I said.

After a few more minutes, we were in front of my house. Kasey parked outside the garage, just like I had asked her to. We got out of the car, grabbed the bike, settled it in its place, and then went inside with the groceries in hand.

“I’m home!” I called out, placing the bags on the floor and taking off the heels. “Kasey’s here with me.”

“Mom went out, squirt.” Nate’s voice came from the living room. “I’m over here. You two want to join me? I’m going to watch Step Up 2: The Streets.”

I looked behind me at Kasey. She nodded her head as she stretched her arms.

She danced what I could only identify as the Old Man hip-hop move. I guess she was serious when she said she’d practice it when we found it in YouTube some time ago. “Think I can audition for their next film?”

I rolled my eyes. “Show off.”

“Are you guys coming?”

“Yeah, just give me a minute. I’m going to change.” I popped my head through the archway leading to the living room, and afterwards, turned back to Kasey. “Sorry, but can you bring these over to the kitchen? You can go ahead after and I’ll catch up.”

“Sure thing.”

I ran up the stairs and went in my room. I put Kasey’s outfit into the hamper, switched into a loose shirt and shorts, then changed the hairstyle to a simple ponytail. When I went back down, Kasey seated next to Nate. Before I made my way over to them, I quickly went into the kitchen and grabbed two snacks we just bought.

Movies are always better when there’s food around.

With the chips and box of Pocky in hand, I walked into the living room and stopped right in front them.

“Make way, butt’s coming through.” I plopped right between them.

Nate sighed. “Are you guys ready?”

“I am,” I said, nudging Kasey. “How about you, Kase?”

“Wha? Yup. I am!” She shifted her eyes to the window as I looked at her.

Weird. What was that about?

When I gave her the bag of chips, Nate eyed me suspiciously.

“I didn’t bring snacks for you, bro. If you want some, get it from the kitchen or just ask from me and Kasey.” I waggled my eyebrows.

“You’re mean, you know that?”

“I told you earlier this morning that I’d get payback when I get back home.” I chuckled, biting a stick of Pocky.

“What’d Nate do?” Kasey joined in, offering Nate some of her chips. My brother grabbed some.

“Thanks, Kasey. At least you’re considerate unlike my crazy little sister over here.” He munched on some of the chips. “She thinks I pranked her, but I didn’t.”

“Don’t play dumb with me. Mom said you went upstairs and played with my clock! Do you know I just broke the record for a how fast a teen can get ready for school?”

“Uh… what time was this?” Kasey tapped my shoulder.

“About 6:40 am. Why?”

Kasey gave Nate a look like she made sense of something. I stared at them in confusion.

“Someone explain to me what’s going on.”

Kasey started. “Remember when I was sort of at a loss for words earlier this morning when I saw you? That was because I sent your mom a text that we had the class off.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. She texted mom? Why didn’t she text me instead?

“That was around six twenty in the morning,” she continued. “I was at the university early and I bumped into our classmate who’s a friend of the beadle. He was the one who told me Doc called in sick.”

But, if that was the case, then the one who pranked me wasn’t Nate but…

“Lara, you just got pranked by mom.” Nate laughed. “She implied it was me and you totally fell for it.”

B-but… WHY? That was such an evil wake up call (yes, I’m complaining again).

“She told me right after you left. I found it funny you ran out and biked since dad just went over to the car wash. He said he wanted to surprise you with it shiny and clean, so I asked her what all that buzz was about.”

He took a stick of Pocky. “Mom figured you could use the exercise, knowing you had most of the morning off.”

“But if she wanted me to exercise more, I could’ve done it during the weekend!”

Both of them laughed at me. I think I could feel the pain in my legs now.

“Tough luck, sport. At least you got some good cardio today.”

“I could grab some ice and place it in some plastic for you, if you want.” Kasey offered.

So basically, I woke up thinking I was late, was told my brother pranked me, got wet on the way to school, borrowed some clothes and a hygiene kit to get myself cleaned up, only to find out it was some sort of elaborate plan made by my mother.

Well, that sucks… but genius nonetheless.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kasey stared at me, amusement clear in her eyes.

“Just start the movie.” I sighed. “I need to see some other person get herself exhausted.”

Knowing that they probably won’t get much more of a coherent response from me, my brother hit the play button and we began watching the movie. A lot of times, we were moving along in our own silly ways as we were listening to the beat the actors danced to. There was a lot of snack sharing as well, if sharing constituted as simply grabbing food from the other without asking. They got half of my box of Pocky, anyway.

We laid down on the couch (Nate and me, anyway. Kasey sprawled herself on the carpet), teased each other about how we couldn’t do some of the stunts the dancers did (I tried to do what Andie did when she auditioned to get into Maryland. I failed, horribly), and got ice for those silly enough to even dare do those moves (me). It was a pretty interesting afternoon, I’d say. Mom came home halfway through the movie. Needless to say, she was smiling at me innocently, knowing full well by then that I found out about her trick. I didn’t say anything about it, but I may plan some prank to get back at her.

When the movie finished, it was evening. We were all fixing ourselves to get ready for other tasks ahead of us. Even though I told her to stay for dinner, Kasey refused and said her mom probably would have cooked something over at their house already. Since I couldn’t do anything about it, I simply just walked her to her car.

“Hey, Kase.” I leaned on her left backside door. “Anything wrong?”

“What do you mean? I’m totally fine.” She chuckled as she leaned in beside me.

“You were sort of out of it for a few minutes before the movie started. I also noticed you seemed to be thinking of something when you were lying on the floor.”

For a moment, neither of us said a thing. I kept my gaze on Kasey as she looked at the plants on the lawn.

“I was just wondering about something. It’s nothing too big,” she confessed. “You’re pretty good at observation.”

“You already told me that before, remember? I guess I’m just proving the point even more.”

“I guess you are.” She scratched her chin. After a few seconds, she clicked the button on the remote key and opened the driver’s side door. “Well, see you tomorrow, chief. Good night and get some rest, okay?”

I got myself off her car and hugged her. “Text me when you get back home.”

“Will do!”

I closed her car door when she got in and saw her drive off the street. Minutes after, just when I got into the house, Nate and I made our way to the kitchen and dining hall.

“Oh, Lara, I forgot to tell you that you got mail today. It’s from the elementary school,” he said as he was getting a bottle of soda from the refrigerator. “It should be on the counter.”

I was about to go there when a package lying on the dining table grabbed my attention. I took it and checked. It was addressed to me.

“What’re you talking about? It’s over here.” I opened the envelope and found a CD plus a couple letters. Two of them were in envelopes that seemed to be made in an arts and crafts class. I shook them out and spread them on the table. “Then again, mom must’ve placed them here.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Both of us looked at the door leading to the small patio outside the kitchen. Mom was standing there, as she was about to go inside.

“It was there when I came home.”

“Huh. Well, I must’ve thought I placed it on the counter.” Nate shrugged. “Honest mistake, but really, I thought I put it there when I got a glass of water earlier.”

I smirked and checked the mail one by one. Two were from teachers, one of them being the principal of the school, while the other three were written by kids. I smiled as I noticed one of them had my name written inside the heart used to seal the envelope.

You think she would have used a sticker like the others instead.

Nate sat down in front of me and toyed around with the CD. “What is it this time? The usual? Do you normally get stuff like these?”

“Same as always… children progress reports and letters from the kids themselves. The CD thing is new though. I don’t have a clue what it’s about at all.” I opened the letter sealed with a heart cut-out. “I have no idea why they send me these reports. It’s not like I won’t know what’s happening anyway.”

“Probably just a formality,” Nate said. “You want to watch what this CD is about?”

“Maybe tomorrow. I have some assignments I need to take care of.” I stood up, picked up my backpack which was near the front door, and headed upstairs. A chuckle escaped my lips I remembered the message of one of the letters I skimmed through.

Can’t wait to see me, huh?

As I was doing my assignments and reading the rest of the letters, I found myself scribbling ideas for our group project. There were many crossed out words, doodles, and multiple random pen marks. What could I work on first?

The idea hit me when Nate came to call me to dinner. I remembered he was a fan of our basketball varsity. I wrote down the idea and opened a different Facebook tab, typing in a name that came to mind.

Senior year student, Richard Parker, MVP of the season. Ask for permission.