Alphabet Girl

Chapter 7

Paisley dragged herself out of her room to the kitchen. It's been two days since she returned home from Art Camp, and she passed out on her bed. Her body was exhausted from the last four weeks and her argument; she didn't even had the energy to find some kind of contact with Carrie.

Meals were skipped. Her hair got greasy. Her clothes were sweaty. She smelled like a corpse. Her throat was dry. Caleb ventured into her room yesterday to check on her only to run to tell her parents she looked dead; they told him to leave her alone, that she was going to have to be moving into the Rhododendron dorms.

So here she was now, dragging herself into the kitchen with a hand combing through her hair to remove some knots, squinting at the floor. Her stomach growled when she smelled Mom's famous pancakes, reminding Paisley she hadn't eaten in a few days. The rumble vibrated from her stomach to her chest in an aching manner. Any conversation was far from her mind and mainly focused on food.

Caleb failed to notice her target. The minute she walked in, he laughed. "Quick, run! The zombie apocalypse is upon us!"

She raised her head to glare at her brother. Mom spoke for her, "Caleb, honey, leave your sister alone," and dropped a pancake on Paisley's plate. She resumed to stand by the stove to flip some more.

Almost immediately, Paisley coated her cake in cream cheese and jelly. Most people, when eating pancakes, cut them into thin squares with a fork and knife. Not her. She cuts a piece with her fork, eats it, and then slices another piece. The technique was quicker and less messy. Meanwhile, Caleb loved the feel of a sticky butter knife.

Paisley ate two more in silence with her cheek rested on her fist. After the two, she set down her fork and said, "I need a new phone."

"What happened to your old one?" Dad asked. He sat across from Mom.

She didn't want to go into full details since it would remind her of Charlie, but she shook him out of her head. "A horrible destiny consumed it."

Mom smiled. "Meaning?"

Paisley coughed into her fist. "I dropped it in a tub full of water."

"Right. Of course. We've been meaning to talk to you about that," Dad said.

"About getting me a new phone?" That was great! Paisley didn't have to argue her parents into getting her a phone. In a day, she would be reconnected with Carrie.

Her heart dropped once Dad started to explain. "Actually, we're switching companies."

"What?"

Mom continued for him. "Since your dad and I would be travelling overseas, our old company isn't able to make international phone calls, so we decided to switch to Interstellar. We'll all be getting new phones."

"But what about my phone information?"

"If you have the memory card, you can transfer the information into the new one."

"I don't have a memory card. It got damaged with the device."

Mom and Dad shared a look. "Then there's nothing we can do about it," Mom finally said.

Slouching in her chair, Paisley dragged her fork against the table, causing uncomfortable shivers to run down her spine. "How am I going to contact Carrie?" The question came out tense and quiet, causing her throat to hurt. They've been friends for ten years, and Paisley never memorized Carrie's phone number. Tears threatened to spill, but she refused to cry in front of Caleb.

Dad said, "I'm sure you'll find some way to reach her. Don't you both have Scrapbook?"

She shook her head. "It got shut down. Ugh. This sucks!" Paisley stood, knocking her chair to the floor, and ran to her room. There, she locked her door before sinking to the carpet.

Being back home was supposed to solve her issues, not create even more problems. She felt angry at herself for wanting to blame her parents even though they had nothing to do with her issues. The cause of them were her fault. Paisley was the one who didn't graduate early. Paisley was the one who ruined her phone. Paisley was the one who didn't save Carrie's number on a separate piece of paper. So basically, Paisley had herself to blame and not anyone else. And that made her even angrier.

So what does Paisley do when she's angry and alone? She laid on her bed and blasted music through her stereo until she could no longer hear the outside.

Carrie must be worried. Carrie might be trying to reach Paisley. Carrie might have given up trying to contact Paisley and was currently searching for a new friend. The thought had Paisley clawing at her wrists.

But what if Carrie didn't care? What if she was glad Paisley no longer kept in touch. Her neighbors were girls who would soon be her classmates at Ridge. Once, Paisley heard girls giggling in the background. Anxiety sent her heart into a beating mess, scared they were laughing at their conversation. Even Paisley had to excuse herself to howl with laughter from something the girls said. Carrie already had some new friends while Paisley sat around in her room in a pair of girl boxers and her bra.

At this point, she felt done.  Defeated.  It was pointless trying to get to Carrie. So she turned on the television and lounged on the bed, watching some soap opera for the rest of the day.  When she returned to Rhododendron, Paisley would shut her awkwardness in a jar and make lots of new friends to forget about Carrie. Or at least until Paisley found Carrie again.