Lonely Together

'Looks like a Shih Tzu.'

I was right. School was completely normal just like any other day. Warren and I didn't say two words to each other. No acknowledgement whatsoever. Just the way I liked it. We both attended our classes, we both hung out with our friends and at lunch Warren got into a fight and got sent to the principal's office. It was a completely normal day. Jodie had practically fallen off her chair trying to get a good look at the fight, but she recovered well and only a handful of people laughed at her. Jodie gave me a ride home after school. You couldn't miss Jodie's car if you tried, it was white and covered in pink and purple flower stickers. It suited her personality perfectly. A little bit quirky and a whole lot of heart.

  'Do you think you did well on the test? I don't think I did. I should have stayed with you the other night to cram a bit longer. Damn my need for frozen treats.'

I laughed at my eccentric friend.

  'I hope I did. You probably have too; just think of ice cream as your reward for spending so much time in a dusty library on a Saturday night.'

  'That's true. Did you stay long after?'

  'Only for a few more hours, I walked home and went to bed then.'

I hadn't told Jodie about what had happened with Warren, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it and I knew Jodie would do exactly that. Not to mention Warren had obviously not told his friends so maybe he didn't want anyone to know so I thought it best I did the same. I did feel bad keeping things from my best friend though but I told myself there wasn't really anything to tell.

  'Omg I didn't tell you what happened to me yesterday did I?' Jodie gasped wide eyed.

She spent the rest of the ride home telling me all about finding her neighbour's cat in a tree so she decided to climb up to rescue it and proceeded to get stuck alongside the cat. She had been stuck up there for forty minutes before someone heard her yelling. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee myself. Jodie had the great gift of being funny without really trying, she just found herself in these situations. She had once got her head stuck in her little cousin's doll house balcony window for two hours; she had had to be cut out. I could just imagine her, with her short little legs hanging over a tree branch. Her red hair getting frizzier the longer she was up there.

  'And to top it off Edie, the freaking cat just jumped down no bother and left me there. It's hard to explain you're trying to rescue a cat when there's no cat in sight. The fireman really looked sceptical.' She recounted with a lopsided grin.

We laughed until Jodie pulled up at my house. I said my goodbyes and promised to text her later. I made my way into the empty house; my Mom was still working so I was alone again. I decided to make myself some dinner then settle down to watch some TV. Oh how riveting my life was. I noticed when Jodie dropped me off that Mr and Mrs Meeks were home from Paris, but I hadn't seen any sign of Warren, not that I had been looking for him at all. Perhaps he knew his parents were home and was avoiding them like the plague after the trouble he had got into at school. After a few hours of watching TV, I got up to wash my dishes. I was elbow deep in soap suds when all of a sudden I could hear a ruckus through the open kitchen window coming from next door. I could hear loud shouting and banging coming from Warren's house. Warren was obviously home because I could hear his voice shouting as well as his parents. I peered out the window to see the back door fling open and the sound of Mrs Meeks voice leaked out.

  'We are sick to death of this Warren. We arrive home from a lovely holiday, we are home not two hours and the housekeeper tells us there's been a phone call from the school telling us that yet again you have been fighting. Do you know how embarrassing that is for us? How does that make us look? And to top all that off, she also tells us that you locked yourself out of the house and slept on the front lawn because you were drunk. Disgusting! What if the neighbours saw you? What would they say? You're an embarrassment.'