The Special Smile

SPECIAL SMILE ! 🎀

The ring of the phone filled me with delight. I loved answering the phone because the only people who called were people I cared for. I picked up the phone and heard the raspy voice of Lucas. ''Erica wants you here,'' Erica is his little sister and we talk a lot about Mike and Lucas. She's just the ideal 10 year old to talk to. Sometimes we'll go to the backyard and do gymnastics. I replied, ''I'll be there in 10. I just have to get dressed.'' I could hear Lucas yell down to Erica. ''She's getting dressed!'' He laughed. ''It's insane how your my girlfriend and you spend more time with my sister.'' I giggled. ''Kind of. Anyway I will be there soon!'' I ran my hands through my hair and did one sweep for any knots, the curls weren't going to go away so there was no point in trying. My straightener is broken. Lucas doesn't care about my curls and neither do the people that I am actually going to spend time with today. I slipped on some blue shorts that were so short they made my legs look relatively long and a Whitney Houston t-shirt. I looked in the mirror and my mom came in behind me. She stood beside me and finally I realized we were like a parallel. Her freckles lay in the same spot and her curls were bouncy; like mine. Her hair was the same color as mine, yet 3 shades darker. I took my black converse off of the shoe holder at the front door and grabbed my skateboard. I had gotten a new one since Billy purposefully ran it over. It was a gift from my mom for Christmas. I told my mom I was going to leave and went out. I threw my skateboard on the ground and pushed off. I skated through streets, neighborhoods, and a forest. I finally got to Lucas's and knocked on the door. Erica answered. She grinned and we went in. Lucas lay in the living room watching, ''The Golden Girls'' I smiled and put both hands on the doorway. ''Didn't know you watched this kind of stuff.'' He automatically flipped the channel. I laughed. He turned to me. ''Are you staying over?'' I shrugged. ''I don't know, I didn't ask my mom if I could. Can I use the phone?'' He and Erica pointed to it. I darted over and dialed my mom. She answered. ''Hey, can I stay at Lucas's house tonight?'' My mom replied. ''Sure, Neil and I are going out tonight so it'll be better than you with Billy.'' I smiled and silently nodded to Lucas. ''Thanks Mom!'' I put the phone back on the receiver and went back to Erica. ''Ok, Lucas. I will spend time with Erica during the day and you during the night. Sound good?'' He chuckled. ''Perfect.'' He got up and went to the kitchen. Erica grabbed my hand and dragged me to the backyard. I giggled. ''What are we doing today?'' She looked at me and started. ''Same thing as last time.'' I nodded. I ran up and my hands hit the floor, my legs stayed up. Erica copied what I did, I looked over my shoulder and smiled at her. It was around lunch time and we went inside. Lucas's mom had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the table. Lucas was sitting down eating. Dustin, Mike, and Will must've come while we were out because they were sitting down at the table. It's a four person table so I don't know how this is going to work. I got a chair from the pantry (why was that in there?) and placed it next to Lucas's chair. I sat down and smiled. Erica got herself a chair and sat down next to me. I bit into my sandwich and told Mrs. Sinclair thanks. Me and Erica finished. ''We're going back out.'' I said as I pecked Lucas on the cheek. Mike mumbled. ''Wish El told me where she was going.'' He glared at me. ''Oh, don't blame me, your girlfriend wanted to shop with me instead of being with you! You lied in her face anyway.'' We opened the door and went back out. I skipped out and Erica showed me her best roundoff. It was pretty good. The sky became a purplish black and we started to think we should go inside. We stumbled in and Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin were dead asleep on the couch. Erica looked at them dully. She then turned to me. ''I'm going up to my room.'' I nodded and plopped down on the couch next to Lucas. I was pretty tired from the day so I let myself fall asleep. The next morning I woke up from the loud clasp of Mrs. Sinclair's pan. I rubbed my eyes and turned to Lucas. He was still asleep. I shook him. He jolted up and grabbed me, wrapping his arms around me. ''I had this dream when we were in high school, and you died!'' I smiled. ''Well I'm still here.'' He tightened his grasp on me. I giggled. ''Ok Lucas! Let go.'' ( playfully ) He let me go and I went to the kitchen. ''Hi Mrs. Sinclair!'' She turned to me and smiled. ''Hello Maxine!'' Her voice had a welcoming tone that would make you think she was the nicest woman on the planet. (she kind of is) I hated when people called me Maxine but she was an adult so I didn't mind. ''How are you?'' She turned back to the counter as I stood in the doorway. ''Oh, honey. Stressed as always.'' I nodded. ''Understandable, usually it's Mrs. Wheeler with all the kids.'' She sighed. ''Most of the time. But Mrs. Wheeler is out of town again.'' My eyes widened. ''She has to deal with Mike all week?'' I thought to myself. ''Well, honey. Did you pack?'' I shook my head. ''No, mam. Lucas suckered me into staying.'' She laughed. ''Go see if Erica's clothes can fit you. I think she has some oversized things.'' I stumbled upstairs and went to Erica's room. I told her about what her mom said and found a blue and white t-shirt. I was fine with wearing the same shorts. Mrs. Sinclair called us down. The four person table wasn't working out. Erica was shunted aside, I was across from Mike who was staring deeply into my soul and Lucas and I were closer than ever. Mrs. Sinclair put down a plate with pancakes. Erica set the table a few minutes before we sat down. I looked over to Lucas and Dustin. ''I see you guys have just woken up?'' They nodded, facing me with their faces stuffed with pancakes. I put a pancake on my plate and as per the usual me and Erica were deviously looking at each other pouring too much syrup. I stopped, putting the syrup bottle down on the table and starting to eat. Mrs. Sinclair made the best pancakes. They were fluffy on the inside but solid and crunchy on the outer layer. I finished my pancakes, grabbed the plate and went to the sink to wash it. I scrubbed it under the water and put it in the drying rack. I slid back into my chair. ''What are we doing today?'' Everyone shrugged but Will. ''D&D!'' Will shouted. Everyone went silent for a second and it became an uproar of ''No's'', I don't have the heart to tell Will no after the things he has been through. I slid my chair closer to the table. ''What about Starcourt?'' Asked Dustin. ''Well sure.'' I raised an eyebrow. ''By the way, where is El?'' Lucas turned to me with the expression, eyes wide, mouth closed. ''We should probably call.'' Erica said. ''Erica!'' Lucas said loudly. ''What, why can't we call her?'' I said as I turned to look at him with narrowed eyes and an irritated expression. I got up, Erica trailed after me. Lucas put his head in his hands. I dialed El. Hopper answered. ''Mike, for the last time-'' I stopped him right there. ''It's Max, actually.'' The tone in his voice changed, getting lighter. ''Oh, El! Come over here.'' El took the phone. ''Hello?'' I started, ''Hey, El! Want to go to Starcourt today?'' She replied. ''One second,'' She laid the phone down on the dresser. ''Dad! Can you drive me to the mall today?'' I heard Hopper yell, ''Sure.'' El had a delighted voice. ''Yay!'' She picked up the phone. ''My dad said yes!'' I responded. ''Yes!'' El shoved the phone back on the receiver, before she did it gave her a hard time. Everytime you call El when you're about to hang up you can hear the phone hitting the receiver over and over until she gets it in correctly. I came back into the room, so did Erica and we sat down in sync. Everyone finished their plates and we all got up. We all squeezed into the car together. Mrs. Sinclair drove off while me and Lucas were not paying attention. He ended up squeezing me. The time flew by and we got to Starcourt. I thanked Mrs. Sinclair, slid down the seat, crawled under the others and got out. They all walked out like normal human beings. ''How did you get out here so fast?'' I shrugged. I heard the slam of a car door and turned around to see El standing in a white t-shirt with a pink overall dress. Hopper sped out of the parking lot, probably late for work. I tugged Lucas by the wrist. ''Movies?'' He nodded, smiling. Everyone tagged along. We paid and found our seats in the theater. The movie started, Mike and El were being awkward while Dustin and Will actually enjoyed the movie. I fell asleep. Lucas started shaking me. ''Hm?'' I said as I rose up from my seat. ''Movie's over.'' We walked off to Scoops Ahoy and ordered. The girl behind the counter had a freckled face, a brown pixie cut with blonde highlights, she was normal sized and looked as if she was a normal girl who didn't decide they would starve themselves to become skinny. Her lips were average sized. A natural color but they kind of looked like a little bit of makeup was attempted at, wiped off however. A little bit of mascara was left, clumped up. Her legs were long and skinny, she was a rather tall girl I'd say. Then there was the usual 'Scoops uniform. I read her name tag that struggled to hold onto her chest. ''ROBIN'' It was red and white around its edges, with the thing that they put in the water so that the boat doesn't move beside it. She handed our ice cream with a fake smile that looked as if she had been using it all day and was pushed aside as Steve came booming through the doorway. Dustin conversed with him while we sat down. I plopped down next to Lucas. We all started eating. By the time we had finished eating was around the time Dustin stopped talking to Steve. We walked around and around until we got bored, found Erica and went back home.