Someday: Pt 2

This is the second part to Someday. This won't make much sense if you don't read the first part, so I suggest you do that first. I'm really proud of this part so I hope you all like it, but I also want to improve it.

Part Two

I woke up to the smell of eggs. I wondered why Jason would be making breakfast. Wasn't that my job? I rolled over and then felt a stuffed animal. Why would I have a stuffed animal? I forced myself to open my eyes and saw my bear to the side of me. But that wasn't all I saw. I was in my old room!

Was that really all just a dream? It felt so real. I was sure it wasn't just a dream. But yet here I was, back on my bed just like any normal school morning. On the bright side, at least now I knew that I wasn't crazy.

"Brittany come on!" I heard my brother shout from downstairs. "Mom made breakfast and you're going to make us late."

"Okay," I barked. "I'll be done in a minute."

"Don't tell me you just barley woke up!" he shouted up the stairs.

"I said I'll be done in a minute!" I heard him mumble something and then I didn't hear anything else. I got up out of bed and started to get dressed.

Only ten minutes later I was downstairs and ready to go. My brother gave me a sour look as my mom handed me my plate of eggs. "Hurry," she told me. "You only have ten minutes before you're supposed to be at school."

Despite what she said, I didn't act like I was in any hurry. I didn't care much for my fifth period anyway. It was science, my least favorite subject. And I'm sure Mr. Becker wouldn't miss me either.

But my mom still managed to get me to school within the next ten minutes. I doodled to class and managed to get through my first two periods. I was looking forward to lunch, because Jason was in that lunch but Julia wasn't, so I had an excuse to sit by him.

So once lunch came around it didn't surprise me when I saw Jason sitting by Paul. I wasn't one to be shy, even around him, so I came right up and sat by them. Jason seemed to look at me weird, but Paul just smiled.

"Hi guys," I greeted them. "I hope you don't mind if I sit here."

"You're fine," Paul said. "We actually needed to talk to you anyway. You see we kind of have a little problem with the project."

I hated problems. They never seemed to go in my favor. "What's the problem?" I asked, trying not to sound worried.

"Well my mom got sick with the flu yesterday so there's no way we're going to be able to do it at my house."

"And my dad went on a business trip and my mom told me she didn't feel comfortable having someone over when he wasn't home," Jason told me. "So we don't know whose house we're going to go to."

My eyes lit up. This was my chance. Maybe after going to my house I could finally get Jason to notice me. "We can do it at my house," I offered. "Both of my parents should be home and I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem with it if I told them it was for school."

"That's perfect," Paul said immediately. "Can you give us your phone number just in case we need it?"

"Yeah," I said as I took out a piece of paper. I made sure to give it to Jason and not Paul, although Jason just seemed to look at me weird. He did that a lot. But he took it anyway.

"So what time should we make it for?" Paul asked. Why was it that Paul always did all the talking? I only wished it could have been Jason for once.

"Six is fine," I told them. "Is that okay with both of you?"

They both nodded. "Sure, I can even drive," Paul said. "I got my license about a month ago. I can just have Jason meet me at my house."

"I thought there was like a six month rule or something?" Jason asked.

"There is, but who ever follows it?"

Jason and I both laughed. Then Jason suddenly looked up and I saw something light up in his eyes. This was either a really good idea, or really bad news.

It was the one I didn't want. I looked back and saw Kim, a girl I recognized from some of my classes, sitting a few tables over. It was kind of hard to ignore the fact that Jason was always talking to her and he seemed to laugh at everything she said. He always got nervous around her and Paul teased him about her a lot. I already knew he liked her, but I wasn't sure if I was jealous or just mad that she didn't even like him back. She hardly ever gave him the time of day. But he was a boy, so of course he was oblivious.

"Paul," Jason said. "Let's go sit over there." Paul looked kind of annoyed, but then got up and followed.

"See you Brittany," Paul said as they left.

I just sat there really frustrated. This wasn't the first time this has happened. I know he didn't like me, but he didn't have to do this to me.

I turned around when I saw Julia behind me. I gave her a weird look as she sat down. "Hi," she said.

"What are you doing in this lunch?" I asked her.

"Don't worry I'm not sluffing," she assured me. "My teacher decided we were doing to take this lunch. It's Mrs. Feverton, so she's just kind of random in that way."

"Oh, well hi."

"So I saw you sitting by Jason. Did anything happen?"

"No," I sighed. "He went to sit by Kim."

"I'm sorry. Someday he'll wake up and realize he likes you. Trust me."

"Someday," I whispered. "That's not soon enough."

But she seemed to have her mind on something else. "What are you thinking about?" I asked.

She came closer to me and whispered, "Okay if I tell you something do you promise you won't tell anyone? Especially the person I'm talking about."

"I promise. Now what do you want to tell me?"

"What if I were to tell you I was over Jeremy and I had a new crush?"

"No way," I said in disbelief. "You've had a crush on Jeremy since elementary school. And you were going to go on a date with him. How can you just get over him?"

"He hardly ever gives me the time of day," she complained. "And he has tons of girls after him. I'm only one of the few. Well I woke up this morning and decided I was done. Someday I would get a great man and it would start with finding someone that actually knew my name. So I told Jeremy I wanted to cancel the date this morning during fifth. He just shrugged it off like it was nothing. That was a sign that I was making the right choice."

"So then who's your new crush?" I asked anxiously.

She paused for a minute. "I'll give you a hint. You were just talking to him."

I gave her an awe look. "You mean Jason?"

"No of course not," she replied. "He's yours. I mean Paul."

I laughed. She liked Paul? That was something I had never even expected. But my dream suddenly started to come back to me. "Why is that funny?" she asked.

"I talk to Paul all the time, and I never would have imagined you liking him. This is crazy. Why Paul?"

"He's such a nice guy. I mean the other day I tripped in the hall and all my stuff spilled everywhere. Well he helped me and picked it all up, and then gave me a smile when I said thank you. But that's not the only reason. He's always been a nice guy. And sometimes I catch him looking at me and then he looks away all embarrassed. It's so cute."

"And this has been going on forever and you just barely decided to notice it now?" I asked.

"No I've noticed it, I have just never thought it's important."

"Well I'm happy for you. And I hope things work out between you and Paul."

"And I say the same thing about you and Jason." We both heard the bell ring. "See you," she said. "I'll have to update you later. He's going to your house tonight right? Maybe you can do me a favor and ask him what he thinks of me."

"We're going to be doing a history project and I promise that my dad will be breathing down our backs. I don't think I'll get the chance. Besides, with Jason there, Paul will be the last thing on my mind." This really must have meant a lot to her if she was talking even after the bell rang.

"Okay. Just try please."

"Okay I'll try," I promised.

"Now I really have to go." And this time she actually got up and went.

After school I ran home. I couldn't wait to tell my dad. I wouldn't mention I liked Jason of course, I just wanted to hear him say I could so nothing could go wrong. I ran inside and my mom came over from the kitchen.

"What are you so excited for?" she asked me.

"Mom, can two of my friends come over for a history project?" I asked excitingly. "We're going to be doing it tonight at six. We're a group and it's a group project."

She gave me a your-up-to-something look. "Do these two friends happen to be boys?" she asked.

I started to go red. "Maybe," I replied. "But it's just a history project I swear. They'll only be here no later than nine."

"I think you should ask your father. He'll be the one that will be concerned." I was hoping to get out of that. Mom was much nicer about boys than dad. He was almost sure to say no. Then what would I do? Call and cancel? That would really suck.

I spent the next two hours cleaning. I had to make sure this place look absolutely perfect. What would he think if it was dirty? I couldn't let him think badly about me. I didn't usually care what people thought, but Jason was an exception.

My dad finally came home around five and I hoped for a miracle. I came up to him and of course tried to beat around the bush. "Hi dad," I said. "How was work today?"

He gave me a smile as he took his coat off. "Good actually. But of course it's not as good as coming home to you guys."

"And we love it when you come home too. You know because you're so nice and you know that I'm really responsible. And you accept that I'm getting older."

He gave me a funny look. "What do you want Brittany?"

"What would make you think I want something?" I asked innocently. "Is it illegal for me to just ask about how your day was going or how much I appreciate you?"

"No, but I'm not stupid. You and I both know that you want something."

I looked down. "Okay you got me. I'm just going to come out with it. I have a history project I have to do with some friends from school. Well I kind of need them to come here because we can't do it at their house."

"Why is it that big of a deal?" he asked. "There has to be something more to the story?"

"Well yeah I guess. I mean the two friends I'm talking about are both boys," I whispered.

He looked at me like I was crazy. Then he started to laugh. "Okay now it makes sense. You knew that I wouldn't like the idea of two boys coming over. And you're right. You're only fifteen. You're not old enough to be having boys over yet."

"Dad I'm fifteen," I said. "And it's just a history project. It's not like we'll be doing anything we're not supposed to. I already told them I'm sure you would say yes, and they're coming over in an hour."

"You know you should tell me before you agree to things," he scolded. "It's an hour before and you're just barely telling me now?"

"Well it was kind of a last minute thing. Both of their parents said no at the last minute, so I was their only hope. And it's due next week."

"Next week is plenty of time for their parents to put it in their schedules."

I was losing, but I think I had an idea. "Well dad I guess you're right. I'll call them both up and tell them I can't. Then we can just go to their house later while one of their parents are home and then go downstairs to work on the project without any supervision."

That got his attention. "Without supervision?" he asked. "You mean their parents won't be watching you guys?"

"Well you know not all parents are like you. Most just don't care. But if that's the way you feel I can call and go some other time."

"Wait," he said right before I was about to turn around. "I think you guys should come over here. I mean I would be able to watch you guys, so that way I would know exactly what you're up to." I smiled but tried not to show it. But I wasn't sure how well that worked.

"Okay. Well they should be over soon."

"On one condition," he said as I tried to book it for the door before he changed his mind. I turned around with an uh-oh look. Now I was worried I had gotten myself into something I didn't want to.

"And what condition is that?" I asked.

"You have to stay in the living room with your project, and absolutely no going into any bedrooms with them. You have to stay where I can see you at all times, and you or them better not try anything. You know exactly what I mean."

And there was over paranoid dad coming to work. "Dad calm down. I told you, it's just a history project. I promise you nothing is going to go on."

"Well this way I can be sure."

"Okay, thanks," I said as I ran past him.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was already five thirty. I spent the next half hour making sure that everything looked perfect and we had all the supplies out so I wouldn't have to do that when they got here.

At about 6:20 I started to get worried. Jason and Paul never seemed to be late for school or class. My usual what ifs were buzzing through my mind. Like what if something had happened? Or what if they had gotten lost or one of them was sick? But the one that scared me the most was what if going to my house was all a big joke and they didn't really plan on coming, they just wanted to see what I would do. That one seemed to be the most realistic.

The phone rang a couple minutes later and my dad answered it. A few seconds later he called my name. My heart did a summersault as I realized who it was. I could only hope it was Paul and not Jason.

My dad gave me one of his paranoid looks as he handed me the phone. I'm sure he recognized that the voice on the other end of the line had been a guy's. I answered with a shy, "Hello," afraid of who would be on the other end.

Of course it was Jason. But I guess I didn't have anyone to blame but myself, since I'm the one who insisted on giving him my phone number and not Paul. "We're kind of lost," he told me. "Paul said he knew exactly where your house was, but now he has no clue where we are."

"I remember her house being over here when we were in elementary," I heard Paul tell him. "We passed her house once when we were walking for a field trip and she pointed it out. She must have moved since then."

"No I haven't," I told Paul. "We've been in the same house since I was six." I heard Jason laugh, and then Paul went silent. I heard Jason mumble something to him, but I couldn't make out what it was through the phone.

"Well we need your address," Jason said. "Since we're already late enough." I figured he meant that to Paul and not to me.

"Okay," I said as I gave them my address.

"Ha, told you," Paul said to Jason afterwards. "We're really close. It's just a couple blocks away."

"You still managed to get us lost, so I wouldn't be talking."

"Hey, who's the driver, you or me?" I laughed just to myself.

"We'll be there in a couple minutes," Jason told me.

"Okay," I said with a smile. Then he hung up without even saying goodbye.

My mind started to race after that. I had already done everything that was necessary, so I really couldn't do anything else but wait. But I couldn't just wait. I knew this was only for our history class, but I felt like it was a date. I mean he was coming to my house after all to meet my parents. The only thing that kept it from being a date was Paul would be here. If I had invited Julia it would have been a date. The thought troubled me. But this wouldn't be like what I always saw in movies where they would say it was just to study and then they ended up kissing. There was no way my dad would allow that. I knew that for sure.

The sound of the doorbell took me out of my thoughts. I heart started to pound as I moved toward the door. I knew I couldn't be slow, because then my dad would get it first. And I definitely didn't want that.

I slowly turned the doorknob and Jason and Paul stood behind it.

"Hi Brittany," Paul greeted me with a smile. I had to hand it to Julia, he was pretty nice. But Jason was my one and only. I knew Jason was nice, he just didn't show it as much as Paul.

"Let's get started," Jason said. "My mom told me I had to be home by nine."

"Yeah that won't be a problem. We should be done plenty before nine."

"Well we're not going to finish it all today," Paul said. "We'll have to finish some of it tonight and then the rest either tomorrow or the next day."

"Isn't Mr. Freeman going to give us some time in class?" I asked.

"He'll say he will, but then he'll go off on some subject and leave us only twenty minutes to do that day's work so we won't be able to finish the project," Jason said.

I had to giggle at that. It was so true. I didn't know if all history teachers were like that or if it was just Mr. Freeman. I know all my other history teachers had it to a point, but not as bad.

Jason and Paul walked in. They got as far as the doorway when my dad stopped them.

"Well hello boys," he said with an intimidating tone. I started to picture the millions of things that could go wrong right now.

"Hello Mr. Madison," Jason said.

"How do you know my daughter's last name?" he asked. I shook my head. This could be a long night.

"Well sir we have a class together and they always say our last names when they call role," he explained. My dad looked annoyed. He probably thought Jason was treating him like he was stupid. But hey, he's the one that asked the stupid question.

"I know that. Well it doesn't matter. What's your name?"

"Jason Yorks sir," he replied. "You've probably seen my dad around. He's on the city council."

"The city council huh? Well I guess that's impressive. What does he do?"

"He was the sheriff about four years ago, but now he's just a council member."

"The sheriff. Well then I guess you can't get away with much can you?"

"Well I guess I can get away with what any normal teenager could at home, but I've never been in trouble with the law or anything."

I gulped. I didn't know his dad used to be the sheriff. That kind of scared me. But my dad seemed satisfied, so that was good.

"And what about you?" he asked Paul. "What does your dad do?"

Paul looked kind of nervous. And I didn't blame him. My dad was a big guy. He was really tall with that intimidating face. He had huge hands and his dark hair was like a jungle on his head. How he ever fell in love with a small and sweet girl like my mom I would never know. Well it wasn't like my dad wasn't nice, he was just really intimidating when he wanted to be. And right now was one of those times.

"My dad is a journalist," Paul replied nervously.

"A journalist?" my dad asked.

"You know he writes things for the paper or for magazines. He works with a magazine called Grester's and then also works with the paper. When there's a major accident or someone robs something he's always the first one on the scene to write about it."

"So do your parents work close?" he asked as he pointed to them both.

"Sort of," Jason replied. "We met one day when there was a huge accident that my dad was called to and Paul's dad wanted to get an interview with the sheriff in charge. They ended up doing the interview after coming to dinner at my house and he brought his family. Paul and I started to talk to each other at school after that. So yeah, I guess you can say that they used to work close. But they don't really anymore."

My dad seemed to be pondering this. "Dad," I said. "We have to get started. We have so much to do and a little over two hours to do it."

"Right," my dad said like he had just remembered something. "Well off you guys go. But I'm going to give you a warning right now. Stay in the living room at all times. Neither of you are allowed to step foot in anywhere but the living room and the kitchen. And I'll be watching you like a hawk."

Both Jason and Paul gave him a weird look. Well I couldn't tell if it was weird or scared. It really could have been either one. "Okay," Jason said in a squeaky voice.

"We should be going now," I said as I headed toward the living room. Jason and Paul followed immediately.

Once we were in the living room they both gave me a look. "I'm sorry okay," I said. "He just decided he was going to go all over protective dad tonight. But don't worry, his bark is worse than his bite. He may seem like he's all big and tough, but when it came down to it he would be too big of a chicken to do anything."

They still looked kind of unsure, but they came over and took a seat on the couch. "Well let's get this report done," Jason said.

Paul pulled out a sheet of paper. "I've already done some research on it," he said. "And I found a couple of famous people during World War II. One guy that really caught my eye was Alexander Fleming. He was a huge help with the advancement of medicine. But I think the biggest reason he caught my eye was because my great-great grandfather fought in World War II and he would have died if it wasn't for the recent advancement in medical technology created by Fleming. Pretty cool huh?"

That whole spill just made me realize how much I hated history. But Jason seemed completely into it, so I tried to look like that didn't bore the crap out of me. "We should put him in our report," Jason said. "That's who we can start with. We can even have a whole slide on him in our power point."

I saw my dad in the doorway. He smiled and then walked into the kitchen. I guess Jason and Paul just proved to him that we really were here to work on our history project. At least now he could settle down.

"I found out he invented one of the most important medicines for World War II, Penicillin," Paul said. Jason was busy opening up PowerPoint on my computer. I kind of felt like I wasn't doing anything, but I also didn't feel like I was nearly anywhere near as smart as them. So I decided to play it safe and sit back.

"So what she we put on our PowerPoint about Fleming first?" Jason asked Paul.

"Let's start with him being married to a woman named Sarah Marion McElroy," Jason replied. "Then we can move on to his advancement in Penicillin. There are a million things we could write about him."

"Sarah," Jason said like he was off in his own little world. "I really like that name. I don't know why, it just has this certain ring to it."

Paul laughed. "Is that what you plan to name your daughter or something?" Paul asked. "Or if you end up never getting married maybe that's what you'll name your cat."

"I don't know what I'm going to name my daughter. I haven't thought that far ahead, I just know that I like the name Sarah. And of course I'm going to get married. Why would you say I would be alone with a cat?"

"I'm kidding Jason," Paul said.

My eyes lit up. He liked the name Sarah. This dream was really starting to freak me out. "Are you alright Brittany," Paul said as he waved a hand in front of my face.

I snapped out of it. "Oh yeah I'm fine. I just had a moment."

"Well we have a little over an hour left, so let's get working," Jason said.

"Well now that we have an outline of Alexander Fleming, we can move on to some other people. Remember, outlines first and then we can work with the rest later."

I suddenly realized I wasn't only lucky to be able to work on this history project with my crush, but I also got two of the smartest guys in the class. That had to have some luck to it.

"Japanese war crimes," Jason told Paul. "Let's move on to that subject next."

Paul sighed. "Okay Jason if you insist. I don't see why you're so stuck on that."

I stood up. "I already did some research on that," I said proudly. I came home last night and remembered that Jason wanted to do the Japanese war crimes, so I decided it would make him happy if I had already done some research on it.

"Oh really," Jason said. "Well that's nice but I already did some research on it." My happiness evaporated. Could anything I did ever impress him?

"Well we can compare both of yours," Paul suggested. "I'm sure she's bound to have some information that you don't."

"Okay," Jason said. "Where is it?"

"In my room," I said while trying not to sound overly excited. "I'll go get it."

I ran out of the living room and up the stairs. I knew they wouldn't try to follow me. I'm sure my dad scared them enough for them to stay away.

The paper was sitting right on my desk where I had left it. I grabbed it, went to check my hair in the mirror, and then ran back downstairs. I came as far as the door when I heard them talking so I hid behind the door frame. I mean how often do you get the chance to overhear your crush talking?

"I just don't get why you won't give her a chance," I heard Paul say in kind of a quiet voice. I assumed that meant they didn't want to be overheard. "I mean she's a really nice girl. I'm not saying I like her or anything, I just think you could give her the time of day better than you do."

"I do give her the time of day," Jason said a little louder than Paul had. "I let her sit with us all the time at lunch. It's not like I try to make her feel unwelcome or anything. And I let her work with us on this project. That has to count for something. I could have easily just told her no."

"You let her sit with us and then you run off the second you see Kim."

"You just don't get it. Kim's my soul mate Paul. She's going to be the one I marry someday. I know that for a fact."

"Oh please. You're fifteen-"

"Almost sixteen," Jason corrected.

"Whatever. Kim doesn't even give you the time of day. She likes Jeremy. I've told you this a million times. Are you trying to make a giant love triangle?"

"How is it a giant love triangle?" Jason asked.

"Think about it. Brittany likes you, you like Kim, Kim likes Jeremy, Julia also likes Jeremy, and I like Julia." I gasped at that last sentence. I couldn't wait to tell Julia tomorrow.

"You sound like a female right now."

"I'm just pointing out the facts is all."

"Well it's not like Julia ever gives you the time of day either," Jason said. "She likes Jeremy, remember?" I so badly wanted to pop out and tell them that that wasn't true, but I restrained myself. I was sure I could figure out more if I didn't give away my position.

"She will someday," Paul said. "You just wait. It's not like she completely ignores me. I mean I helped her pick up her books the other day and she seemed pretty thankful for it. How can you say she ignores me as much as Kim ignores you?"

"Look," Jason said so low I had to strain myself to hear. "It's not that I don't think Brittany is a cool girl, she's just not the girl for me. If you like Julia then all power to you, but I don't like Brittany. So stop bothering me about it."

I looked down at my feet. I guess it was my own fault for eavesdropping. But why did he have to say exactly what I didn't want to hear?

"Where is Brittany anyway?" Paul asked. "I mean how long does it take to get a piece of paper?"

That was my cue. I came out from the doorway and acted like I was out of breath. "Sorry guys," I said. "My room is a deathtrap and I was having a hard time finding the paper."

I came down and sat on the couch. "Let's just finish this," Jason said. "We have less than an hour left."

We spent the remainder of the night finishing up the project. I didn't feel like I was doing much, because my mind was stuck on what I overheard earlier. But we managed to get some more of the project done and agreed to make arrangements to finish the rest later. Jason and Paul didn't seem satisfied with what we got done, but if you asked me we finished over half of it. We put everything up and then they headed to the door.

"Have a good night," my dad said with a smile. They gave him what looked like a scared smile back. I wasn't sure what my dad was trying to pull. They left without even saying a word to me. But that didn't surprise me.

By then it was almost nine, so I decided I should head to bed since I had to get up for school in the morning. My brother stopped me at the stairs.

"How did your date go?" he asked with an evil smile on his face.

"Cody I already told you," I said. "It wasn't a date. He came here for a history project. Now lay off."

"That's not what it looked like to me."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean I saw the way you got all googlied eyed whenever he would look at you, or how you tried everything to please him."

"Were you watching us the entire time?"

"Most of the time," he replied. "Except when dad would come over and tell me to leave you guys alone."

I rolled my eyes. "Goodnight Cody," I said as I headed upstairs.

I relaxed on my bed and thought about everything that had happened that day. It wasn't like it had been the first time I ever heard Jason say he didn't like me, but every time I did hear it it stung just as bad as the first time. But I tried not to think about it as I fell asleep. I tried to think of the bright side. At least I still had another day of the project with Jason. And with how much that happened today, who knows what would happen the next time.