Human Genome Project

Chapter 2

The next morning I woke up drowning in my own sweat. I couldn't remember exactly what my dream was, but it had something to do with a hospital facility. I took a long and warm shower to take the sweat smell away. I braided my hair in two pigtails because it always bothered me, the feeling of my hair against my neck; since my hair was really thick it never matter how loose the braid was it would always be stiff.
After getting dress I went down to the kitchen to have some breakfast. I found mom and Daivat jovially talking about something that I couldn't catch. As soon as they see me they stopped the conversation and looked at me. I panic for a second thinking that Daivat might have told my mom about his "condition".
"What happened?" they exchange a look and then looked back at me.
"Daivat here was telling me that there is a festival for poetry at your school today." Mom smiled like if she had big plans for me; knowing my mom that was always a bad idea. I sighted with relief to find out it has nothing to do with Daivat.
"Mmm so?" When I was in middle school I made a fantastic poem. My teachers were so proud of me that they wanted me to keep writing. All the extra attention made me hate writing, so I quit. Though mom and Daivat would never let it go.
"You could recite one of your poems during the festival." I looked at Daivat who was nodding vigorously.
"Please guys, let it be. My poems are for me to keep." The disappointment in their faces was obvious. "I'm sorry; I just rather not share certain things."
"My birthday is coming up soon." My mom said with a singing tone. She blinked several times showing of her long eyelashes, and accentuating a sad expression.
She knew how to make me agree with her, how could you deny your mother a birthday present that wasn't even going to cost you any money?
"Fine, but you better show up." I couldn't remember a time in which my mother didn't show up to my "important events".
"Like always." She gave me a smile of success.
"Yes!" Daivat shouted.
"Why is this so important to you two?" I looked from him to her with suspect.
"Oh don't worry dear." That answer sent a chill down my spine.
My mom was up to no good. She always arranged important meetings with people without telling me about it; according to her it was for me to be myself. From my experience, being me in front of important people like college recruitment people was never a good idea. The last time my mother arranged one of those meetings I ended up calling the college advisor a hypocrite.
"Mom please, has some mercy on me." I look at her with puppy eyes.
"This is not my call honey. This was Daivat's idea." She pointed at him casually.
"Daivat Saxena what are you up to?"
"You will have to wait and see." He grabbed his backpack, and took his car keys. "Let's go."
They didn't give me any time to argued; it was a complot. My mom and Daivat were really close. She had adopted him by "heart" (like she used to say), as the son she never had. Once we were in the car Daivat turned on the radio. He liked to listen to classic music, which I wasn't the biggest fan of. We had argued about his music selection several times, but I always lose the fight. Several minutes after getting in the car we arrived at school.
"You will have to let Mr. Garner know that you are participating in the festival." Daivat said as he got out of his van.
"I will tell him during the second period; I will be taking his class at that time." From where we were I saw Travis getting out of his car. "Hi Travis"
"Hey guys." His smile was quite odd. His eyes weren't smiling.
"Are you feeling ok?" I walked towards him. Daivat made a sign telling me that he didn't care about Travis, so he was going inside. I nodded and then meet Travis. "You look a little sick."
"I'm okay." This time his smile reached his eyes.
"Hey, are you going to take part on the festival this afternoon?" Travis and I meet because of our English class. We were both very passionate about it, therefore, we became sort of friends.
"Yes, I will be reading one of my short stories." Immediately he started getting excited. "I am not sure which one though. I'm debating between two."
"I could help you choose." My voice was persuasive. I loved his short stories; he was really talented.
"I would love that. At what time are you free?" I started walking towards the school front door and made a sign for him to follow me. We weren't running out of time, but I liked to be early to all my classes.
"We can do it during lunch time." I looked at my watch to assure that I wasn't late to my class. I had a couple of minutes to get to my classroom.
"Are you sure you don't have to do anything with Daivat?" There was some jealousy in his voice.
"Well, if there is something it will have to wait. I have to go now, my class is about to start." As soon as he nodded I ran to my class.
I honestly felt bad for Travis. He couldn't understand that I just wasn't into him. He always thought that it was because of Daivat, but honestly he just wasn't my type.
I arrived to my class seconds before it started. The teacher glared at me. I quietly found my chair and sat down. After that rough beginning of my day, everything went fast. During the second period I informed Mr. Garner about my interest on being part of the festival; he was delighted by the idea. After, third period passed by, and lunch time arrived. I meet with Daivat in front of his classroom before he was allowed to go.
"What a surprised." Daivat said with a big smile on his face. "What did you do?" Daivat was usually the one to pick me up at my classroom before lunch. The only times I picked him up was when I was in trouble. For instance, there was a time when I caused a float in the nurse office's bathroom. I was using the sink and when I turn the water on everything got out of control.
"Nothing, but Travis will be accompanying us for lunch today." I realized that I hadn't asked him about his bone condition since he showed me. I was so worry about the situation he and my mom were putting me through that I completely forgot that he was having it worse.
"Why?" He rolled his eyes as he look at the ceiling.
"Don't be that way. I know he annoys you, but I'm trying to be his friend. Plus he needed my help."
"Why do you want to be his friend?" Times like that I wanted to punch Daivat in the face like the first time we meet.
"Because it is really unhealthy that my only friend in the world is you." I actually thought that I need more friends; throughout the years I looked for people that could possibly be my friends, but they weren't what I was looking for. Travis wasn't my first choice either. I decide to be his friend when I realize that I was too picky.
"Fine, but I won't become his friend." I rolled my eyes at him. He was headstrong.
"You will. You will see." I punch him in the upper arm and smiled at him. "Hey. how is your bone condition going?" I chose every word very carefully; I didn't want to upset him nor revealed his... our secret to the rest of the school.
"Its going." His eyes were fixed in the floor and his smile no where to be found. "I am even considering quitting my extremes activities."
"I honestly won't be sad about that; I hate the constant feeling I have about you getting hurt" He bit his lip to stop himself from smiling, but it couldn't be stopped. "Anyway, I think there will be a solution. I will help you find it." I covered one of his hand with mine and started pulling him towards the cafeteria.
We sat on the table all the way to the corner. Travis came to meet us a few minutes after the lunch bell rang. Daivat didn't argue with Travis or the other way around. It felt like if we were a group of friends; I never really wanted to be popular, but I did want to have friends. Unfortunately people didn't seem to want to get to know either me or Daivat better.
Daivat and I read Travis' short stories; Daivat was surprise about Travis talent. We ended up picking a short story about a hermit. The lunch time ended faster than we expected. I didn't tell them anything about the poem that I had chosen to read during the festival. I didn't want them to know. My poems were something personal for me; I didn't like people judging them as if they were good or bad, they just were. I picked a poem that I wrote during summer; I wasn't feeling very lucky, but I knew that was the way life work. During the past summer my mom had to work and I spent most of my free time on the computer boring myself to death. Daivat went to India with his parents, leaving me all alone. It was the worst time of my existence or so I thought.
The time of the festival came after the 6th period. All the students involved or interested in the festival gather around the yard of the school. The decorations were fantastic; there were white tents all over the place with different entertainments, there was also a stage, for those interested in reading their work out loud. I found Travis wandering around the food tend. I couldn't spot Daivat, so I decided to go talk to Travis.
"Hey Travis" He turned around. His mouth was full of something slimy and green. His face turned from pale white to bright red. "You look like a zombie." I said casually.
"Hi" he swallowed quickly the slimy substance, and gave me something that looked like a smile. "Are you ready to face the public?"
"Sure" I said sarcastically. "I love embarrassing myself in front of all of my schoolmates."
"Oh please, you will do great." I raised an eyebrow with disbelieve. "Ok, ok. You will do decent."
"That's more likely." I played with one of my pigtails to occupy my mind.
A pair of hands reached from my back and covered my eyes. They felt warm and strong against my skin; a familiar scent was coming from them. I didn't turned around, or tried to fight the person who was covering my eyes; instead I waited a second so I could identify the individual. Travis tried to say something, but I shut him down at once.
"I didn't expect you here so early." The person behind me laughed. The person uncovered my eyes and moved his arms forward to hug me.
"How did you found out I was coming?" I turned around to give my cousin a better hug. His massive figure covered my tiny body.
My cousin was a handsome guy; brown hair, neat skin, and a killer smile. He wasn't a regular beauty; he was like a single snowflake, unique.
"Mom was acting weird. I knew there was something big like your head happening today." My cousin was ridiculously tall. "Did you kept growing or is just my imagination?"
"I am as tall as I was before, but you are probably getting shorter." He winked at me.
I made myself aware of Travis presence. He had a confuse expression in his face.
"Travis." I snap him out of his lethargy. "This is my cousin Tristan; Tristan this is Travis."
"Nice to meet you" Tristan reached out to shake Travis' hand. "Daivat has told me a lot about you. Is a pleasure to finally meet you."
Travis' eyes opened widely. He looked immensely afraid of what Daivat could have told Tristan. I punched Tristan for causing such a fearful reaction on Travis.
"Since when Daivat and you are such good friends?" Daivat and Tristan never had the best relationship. Their personalities were opposite, so the always ended up in a fight.
"Since you grew wings and flew through the Pacific Ocean."
Travis released a sigh of relief.
"I thought you hated me before you knew me. It is a pleasure to meet you too." I excused myself with Travis to catch up with my cousin. "No problem, you guys catch up. I will be here."
I walked with Tristan around the festival, showing him the place. I was surprised by the fact that Daivat was nowhere to be found.
"What's new in your life?" Tristan putted his arm on my shoulders.
"You know, nothing." I smiled and he reciprocated. "What about you?"
"Well, college is a hell but that's okay."
My attention to Tristan wasn't a hundred percent with him. I couldn't stop thinking about Daivat; it was unlike him to disappear. I was worried that someone has found out what he could do and he was lock up somewhere being torture. I had a powerful imagination and went it came to Daivat my thoughts went from bad to worst. I decided that he was planning a surprise for me; I wanted to believe there was a good explanation for his absence. I remember the way he was acting earlier when I walked in the kitchen; my mom and him probably had something big planned.
"You look distracted." Tristan was always able to look through me. "What's going on?"
"I haven't seen Daivat since this morning." He looked at me like if I was crazy. "What?"
"So what? He is a grown up, sort of. I'm pretty sure he is okay."
"I know that." I lied. "But mom and he forced me to participate in this festival. They were planning something, and now I can't find him. I'm just nervous about what is now to come."
I spotted my mother as we walked through the field. She was getting herself some grape soda. Her blond hair was dancing with the wind. She was an example of traditional beauty; blond and voluminous hair, blue eyes, spectacular figure, and the whitest teeth on earth.
"There is Aunt Rita." Tristan pointed out. "Please go ask her what are they up to, so we can have a good conversation."
"I can't ask her, she won't tell me." I placed myself in front of him, making him stop abruptly. I used my puppy eyes, so he couldn't refuse to what I was about to ask. "Can you ask her for me?"
"Oh, come on! She would know you sent me. She is that smart and you know it." He putted one hand in each of my shoulders and looked me in the eye. "You will have to patiently wait to know what they are up to."
"You are a terrible cousin." I turned my back at him and walked towards my mother.
She saw us coming and smiled. When we were close enough, she gave Tristan a hug.
"You are so big. What are you eating in your campus? Horse steroids?" Tristan laughed and returned the hug. "What are you two up to?"
"Nothing much, we have just been walking around waiting for the main event to start." Mom kissed my cheek.
"When is it going to start?" I looked at my watch.
"In a few minutes. I have to go and get ready. I hope you enjoy the show."
After saying that I disappeared. I had a good 5 minutes before the show start. I took my phone out of my pocket and dial Daivat's number. It rang three times before he picked up.
"Hello?" His voice sounded tired.
"Hey. I hope you didn't make me participate in the festival so you can do a makeover on my room." He laughed loudly.
"I had to pick something up at home. I wouldn't miss your public humiliation for nothing."
We said goodbye and hanged up. My worries went down and back up when I realized that I had only a minute before I had to step on stage. I started looking for Travis; I needed someone who knew what was about to happen to me. I found him pacing around the food tent.
"You still here?" He didn't seem to have moved since I left.
"I am way too nervous to leave this place. Food always makes me feel better." A distorted smile flashed through his face.
"I thought I was nervous, but apparently I have no idea." I mocked him. "You have to get it together boy."
"How are you so calm?" He stopped pacing.
"I am not. Actually I came to find you because I needed emotional support, but you need it more than me." His face lighted up. He wasn't looking nervous anymore.
"I can help you." I bit my lower lip to stop myself from laughing.
"Travis, breathe. I think I feel better now that I know there are people with a greater stage fright than mine." He smiled shamefully. "Let's go backstage; we will be called soon."
He followed me with trembling legs. While backstage we could have a pick of the audience; I saw my mom and Tristan sitting next to each other. I scanned the audience to see if I could find Daivat. When I finally spotted him in the public my heart drop; his parents were sitting next to him in the last road. I jumped back and put myself against the wall.
"What's wrong?" Travis looked very concern. I couldn't make myself smile, so he got even more worried.
"Daivat's parents are here with him to see me perform." I finally said. Travis; face was puzzled. I proceeded to explain myself. "His parents terrify me. They are like a indian king and queen to me. I get really nervous every time I'm around them."
"I guess you don't want to make a bad impression to your future in laws." He said with a bitter tone.
"Don't be stupid. They already know me. Is not like this is their first impression of me, but I admire them. They are like heroes to me." Travis was still puzzled but the jealousy was gone. He couldn't understand why I had such an admiration for my best friend's parents, but he knew it had nothing to do with Daivat.
"You are going to be fine. I am the one who is going to throw up in front of the public." I laugh and gave him a hug to thanks him.