It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 32

“Dannon?”

I poked Dannon’s cheek.  We were in his room, working on the project after school.  It was Friday, so there was no need to worry about what time I needed to be home—thank the Lord.  We’d been in here for over an hour.  You’d think that we wouldn’t get much done, but we actually did.  We taped interviews of each other—even though we both knew that those clips were barely going to be used if at all.  I mean, interviews didn’t really show the real you.  Sure, they told you information but who said you weren’t lying?  Not paying attention while being videotaped really showed who you were.  It was spontaneous.  Unplanned.

And now, Dannon fell asleep.

In the middle of a sentence, too.

“What about chocolate milk with oreos?” I demanded, flicking his cheek.  “Dannon Barone!  We have work to do!”

He sighed deeply, evenly, only proving that he was asleep.  I groaned, letting my head fall back on the wall.  I knew his bed was comfortable, but sheesh.  How were we supposed to get any work done when he was sleeping?

I stretched over Dannon, grabbing the video camera from his hand and aimed it in his direction.  I grinned, forgetting for a moment that I was video-taping him for a grade.  “Look guys, Dannon’s sleeping!” I announced cheerfully.  I zoomed in on his face.  “You see, this is what his face looks like when he’s not smiling.  I know, hard to believe.”

I hopped up from bed, showing off Dannon’s boring room.  “And this is his bedroom.  Ha!  I feel like such a stalker.”  I stopped and zoomed in on random objects in his bedroom before turning my attention back to said sleeping boy.  “You wanna go meet this guy’s daddy?”  I grinned, flipping the camera lens to face me.  I wondered what part of my face you could actually see.  Oh well.  “I think you do!”

I skipped out of the room, closing the door lightly behind me.  “Tommy!” I shouted cheerfully.  Tom and I had grown close since our first meeting—really close, actually. He was swiftly becoming like Kyla’s mom—another parent to me.  I’d been over pretty much every day this week, and Tom had always seemed to like having me there. 

As I walked, I spun the camera slowly in my grip so that viewers could see the assorted pictures of Dannon the walls.  As I exited the hallway, I showed them around the living room, not wanting to miss a single detail.  Ha!  It was like I actually thought this was actually going to be in the video.

Tom sat on the chair flipping through channels.  “Come meet the camera!” I called playfully.

Tom glanced away from the TV to cock an eyebrow at me.  “The camera and I are having a feud,” he said simply, shaking his head.  “Aren’t you and Dannon supposed to be working?”

I gasped in mock-horror.  “Everyone, Tom’s afraid of the camera.  Cameraphobia!”

I aimed the camera in Tom’s direction, laughing as he covered his face with his hands.  “Dannon,” I mused, “fell asleep, so you’re my next victim.”

Tom’s hands fell from his face as his eyebrows furrowed with concern.  “He fell asleep?”

I didn’t really understand why that caused for so much concern, but, then again, I didn’t really know what Tom worried about.  “Yeah.  Did you know that one time I dumped a bottle of water on his head and he still didn’t wake up?”

That was supposed to make him laugh, but it didn’t.  In fact, he only looked more worried.  I tilted my head to the side, wondering if I should have been worried.  My stomach dropped as concern suddenly fluttered about.  “Is everything okay with Dannon?” I asked softly.