Love, Your Secret Admirer

Chapter 3

I wake up the next morning smiling and having Our Song by Taylor Swift stuck in my head.  I get out of bed and dance into the bathroom and take a shower, joyfully do my hair, and happily brush my teeth.  When I dance down the stairs my father stares at me over the edge of his paper.

            “Do you guys ever wake up and have the feeling that something wonderful is about to happen?” I ask.

            “No,” my father says dully.  The seriousness of his answer makes me laugh.  My father cocks and eyebrow at me since I am not usually this cheery in the morning.  “What did you do?” he asks.

            “Nothing.  I just have this feeling that today is gonna be a good day," I say grabbing one of the muffins my mother just baked.  “What’s wrong mom?”

            “Nothing.  It’s just, I miss your sister.” my mother replies.

            “I miss her too.  Well got to go. Love you!” I shout as I run out the door and skip to my car that is parked across the street. 

            When I pick up Tiffany she takes one look at me and knows something's up.

            “What?” she asks.

            “My secret admirer sent me a whole bouquet of roses last night.”

            “Really?  What did the card say?”

            “It said ‘Sorry I wasn’t at Stop, Shop, Go.  I got held up at practice.  If you write to me put it in the maple tree in the park by our school’."

            “That’s weird.”  When I didn’t say anything she knew there was more.  "What?”

            “I think we should wait outside the park and see who checks the tree so then we will know who my secret admirer is,” I explain.

            “Yeah," she says, her cheeky eyes going wide.  "Yeah we can go after school, so hurry out of class.”

            When school ends Tiffany and I run to my car.  No time to answer questions from Stephanie or Larissa, we just run.  We park across the street from the tree.  With our sunglasses on and hoods up, we wait.  We sit there, waiting, watching the tree.  There are kids from school passing us.  Later the crowd of kids slims down and we are alone, still watching the tree.  Other than some kid riding his bike past us, no one is around.  We sit there until the sun goes down and the street lights come on.

            “Uh, Janeen, I think we should go home now.  I have a lot of homework to do and my dad is gonna be wondering where I am," Tiffany says breaking the silence.

            “Okay," I say pulling away from the curb and heading home.

            After I drop off Tiffany and get home I realize that my parent’s cars aren't in the driveway.  I guess dad’s working late and mom has her basket weaving class on Thursdays.  When I walk up to the door there is an envelope taped there with my name in the handwriting that I learned to recognize.  I take it off the door and go inside.

I have done some thinking and decided that I want to remain a secret.  Life would just be too easy if everyone told us everything we want to know.  And I knew you were a nosy girl but I never thought you would try to hide out and see who I am.  I saw your car at the park so I didn’t go to the tree.  I’ll see you later.

Love,

Your Secret Admirer

Damn!  Who is this person and why is he so sneaky?  I go into the kitchen and have some left over spaghetti for dinner.  When I finish I run upstairs and sit at my desk looking at the letters.  I grab a piece of paper and a pen.

I really wish that you would tell me who you were.  Just tell me what color your hair is.  Then maybe I could get a glimpse of who you are.

-Janeen

           

            I put my pen down and fold the note into fourths.  I change into another t-shirt and boxer shorts and go to bed.  That I night I dream about my secret admirer being Zach.  We were arguing.  I stomped away.  When I turned around to say something he was right there.  He grabbed my face and when he touched it, it was strong so I couldn’t get away yet gentile so he wouldn’t hurt me.  Then before I could say anything he kissed me.  It was passionate and long.

BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!

No!  Where did the night go?  I get dressed in the usual v-neck shirt and shorts.  Tie my high tops and go downstairs.  Grab a muffin and walk over to the calendar my mother has hanging on the wall.  I realize that it was Friday the 13th.  Great.  I just hope nothing too extreme happens to me.  When I finish my muffin I walk across the street to my car and get in the driver’s seat, put my keys in the ignition, and try to start it.  But all I hear is click click click.  I try again but the same thing happens.  Crap.  My battery is dead and now I have to take the bus.

As I walk to the corner I call Tiffany telling her that my battery is dead and I can’t pick her up.  When I finally get to the bus stop the bus is just pulling up.  I walk on and find a seat in the back next to a boy.

“Hi," he says as I sit down.

“Hi," I say back.

“I’m Tom," he says extending his hand toward me.

“Janeen," I say taking it.  Tom has wavy black hair and pale blue eyes behind thick black glasses.  He went to elementary and middle school with me.  We used to be best friends in elementary school.  We would go to each others house all the time.  I remember when we would play hide and seek I would always win because I hid under the window seat in the den at his house.  I remember when I was seven and his sister, who was ten, was making fun of me because my two front teeth fell out and she called me a hobo.  Tom got up and kicked her in the knee.  Then she pushed him down, then I pushed her down, and Tom grabbed my hand and we ran and hid under his bed for about ten minutes while his sister looked for us.  I remember at my house we were sitting in the grass and made rings out of flowers and got married.  Tom kissed me on the cheek because I had cooties at the time.  We drifted apart when I started hanging out with Stephanie, Larissa, and Tiffany.  I don’t know much about him now, but what I do know is that he’s in the AV club and the chess club and he probably doesn't remember anything from our childhood.

“So what are you doing taking the bus?  You usually drive to school don’t you?” Tom asks me.

            “Um, yeah, but my battery is dead.”

            “Well that’s really bad luck, but I guess it makes since considering what day it is.”

            “No kidding.”

            “Well if you ever need a ride you can ride the handle bars on my bike any time," Tom says smiling.

            I start laughing really hard.  “I’ll hold you up to that," I say.

            “Deal," he says extending his hand toward mine again.  I take it, sealing the deal.  By then we are at school already.  “It was nice talking to you, Janeen.”

“You too, Tom.”