Nametags

Chapter 7

          "CHERYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" I awoke to my mom yelling my name. I sat up quickly and hit my head on the top of my vent. Oh no! I fell asleep in the vent! As soon as her voice was distant, I crawled out and replaced the cover. I Ran into the kitchen and yelled, "Here I am, Mom!" She ran in from the next room and put her hand on her heart. "Oh, Cherry! I thought you ran away! I was about to call the police!" I smiled. "No, Mom. I just went on a walk and didn't realize how long I was gone. I didn't mean to worry you!" She hugged me and sighed. "That's ok. Never run away on me, ok?" "Ok, Mom." I replied. Whew! Safe! I went to my room and realised I hadn't looked in the mirror yet this morning. Scared, I walked into the bathroom. It wasn't too bad! Most of the redness was gone, and the swelling had gone down significantly. Happy, Igrabbed my book, then went to the couch and sat down, reading. Soon, something caught my eye. Across from me on the couch, was Taylor. She was doing something she always did, Played on the family tablet. But that wasn't what caught my eye. It was her name tags. They had developed! I hadn't seen her for almost two days, I realized. She had been at soccer practace, or I had been on dates. I looked down at her name tags. They read, plain as day, "I am a super fast runner" and "I have bad trust issues." I looked up at her face. This poor girl has been through so much! Without thought, I sat up and hugged her. She stiffened. "What are you doing!?" I let go, quickly. "Hugging you..." I replied "Why!?" she seemed thrown off to say the least. We never talked, let alone hugged. "I just thought you needed it. She smiled, confused. Happy, I went back to reading.

          I was in the pantry getting some ramen for lunch, when Jadee called. "Oh, crud." I thought, remembering that I had forgotten to call her this morning. I quickly picked up to a flustered Jadee. "Hello? Jadee I'm-" She cut me off "Cherry? Oh, thank goodness! Dak called about the date, and I thought it was super unlike you to just ditch someone like that, so I called you but you didn't answer your phone, so I called the house phone, and Christina answered and said that you where missing and I was so afraid I did something wrong, that I freaked out and called you, like, a million times! Are you ok!? "Yeah- I'm sorry! I fell asleep and forgot to call you." she sighed in relief. "Why did you ditch Dak?" I took a deep breath, searching for words. "Well, 'cuz I was having an alergic reaction to mushrooms." Jadee said nothing. "I don't think this guy will work out- I just don't really like him. He is very full of himself for sure." Still nothing from Jadee. "Are you mad?" Suddenly, she burst out in laughter. "Mad!? Of course not! This is the funniest thing ever!" I scowled, confused. Alergies are not funny. After several minutes of laughter, she calmed down and said through giggles "He thought your Mom was having a baby! He called me and I was like, 'HOLY CRAP ANOTHER ONE!? Your mother should be put in a museum! I didn't even know she was pregnant!' and I freaked out!" I started laughing, too. It was pretty crazy. "No, Mom is fine, no babies!" We laughed. "I'm so sorry I can't get this right! I thought you would like him. Can I have my last chance?" I thought a second. "Yeah. I promised you 3 chances. This is your last chance." "Yes! Thank you!" I said goodbye and crawled into my vent to read and eat ramen.

          On Sunday, Jadee came over again. "Hey, I just rented Iron Man from the movie store! It's the next movie in the series!" She said quietly as she moved her car out from behind my Dad's. My Dad was going to a funeral with my mother, and we where sat to babysit the youngest 2 kids, while Hannah and Christina Watched the older 3. "Great! I'm super excited! How about after school this Tuesday?" She shook her head. Actually, I was planning on your lat blind date this Tuesday." I raised my eyebrows, surprised. She found a guy already? "Ok, That's cool." She looked at me excitedly. "This guy I've known for a long time! He is a super cool guy, I don't know why I didn't think of him before!" I smiled. Jadee was trying pretty hard to get the right guy for me! I can't wait for Tuesday!