A Story to Tell

February 16, 2016

"DANI!!" I hear from far away. We finally made it to California and Jamie was just getting out stuff. I turn around and my hair swings. I had my purse around me and a short dress. A big smile spreads across my face when I see Ashely and Kaylee running towards me. Ashely isn't supposed to run though! I put a hand in front of me to stop Ashely from continuing running. She slows down once she noticed what I was doing. I walk towards them and give them a big hug.
"How was it?! Show me pictures!" Kaylee says full of enthusiasm.
"It was beautiful! Best experience I have ever had. Where is Jillian?" I ask trying to get the attention to Kaylee.
"He's in the car." She says her face falling. Her eyes narrow. I blink a bit to understand what is happening.
"With Marco." Ashely finishes. She also frowns. I look confused for a bit. I haven't spoken to him since Ashely told him about the baby. I guess it's time.
"It's okay. Jamie, the car is outside. Did Diego take your car back to your house?" I ask getting distracted. I saw Ashely and Kaylee were still stiff. I walk towards Jamie.
"Ya he did..." He says and looks confused when I pull him away.
"What's wrong?" He asks once we were away from Ashely and Kaylee.
"Marco and Jillian came to pick us up. We have to be on our best behavior okay? Right now he is important to Miranda." I saw slowly. He stiffens when he heard Marco. He didn't say anything. Just gave me a quick nod. We walk back to the girls holding hands.
"Okay they are outside. So we can go." Kaylee says quietly. We follow them still not letting go of each other. We finally got to a big white van and we put our things in the back. Jamie and I jumped in the back.
"Jillian. Marco." I say greeting myself.
"Hey dani." Marco says. His face was stiff. A hard line was across his lips. I went in the back and then Kaylee and Ashely went in front of us. Through out the whole ride Kaylee and Ashely talked to us about the trip. I answered politely as always. Marco didn't say a word at all through the ride. We finally made it home.
Home.
It feels weird to say. We got off and Jamie took his phone out. Probably to pick him up.
"Hey. You don't have to leave right now. You can stay to have breakfast." I say pleading.
"I'm sorry Dani. You might be ready but I'm not." He said giving me a sad looking smile. He crossed towards me and gives me a kiss on my forehead and continues with his call. My shoulders slouch. We had the best weekend in the entire world and it's officially over. We still have forever though. So I take a deep breath and take my purse and small luggage back to my cottage.
                                 ~
"Hey. Where's Jamie?" Ashely asks as I walk in through the back door.
"He had to go." I say blankly. Ashely's eyes were filled with sorry. She knew.
"Well. There is oatmeal as toast." She says handing me a plate. I smile grabbing the plate and walked to the table. Everyone was walking except Marco. Do doesn't seem comfortable. I told most of me time in bora bora except....
"What did you guys do on Valentine's Day?" Kaylee asks with a wink at the end. I roll my eyes.
"We took a trip all over Bora Bora in a boat, then we went swimming, and then went dancing." I saw trying to avoid the next conversation.
"Oh no. Tell me every detail. Every romance scene! I know me and Julian humped each other like humpback whales!" Kaylee screams!
"EWWW!!! Please stop!!!" I say covering my ears and closing my eyes trying to get rid of that image. I heard laughter everywhere once I let my ears open.
"Hahaha! Whatever. Are the waters as clear as I think the are?" She asks once she calmed down.
"Beautiful! It was like glass. The water was SOO thin and you could see everything under. Best experience ever." I say grinning the entire time.
"And how's the baby? Did he or she enjoy it?" Ashely asked grinning. I laughed.
"I hope so! I know I did." I say. Suddenly the moving to Hawaii pops up in my head. Too soon.
"Well that's good. You want us to help you unpack? Jillian, Marco, you guys wash dishes please?" Kaylee asks pleadingly. They both nod and Marco jumps from his seat straight to the kitchen.
"Actually, how about Kaylee, can you help her? I'm going to start my first shift." Ashely says with the biggest grin.
"You got a job?!" I ask loudly.
"Yes! I got it at Dormbon Elementary down the street. They have another opening. If you want to go." She says. I do need a job.
"Ya, of course. You know what I'll go right now to get the applications filled. I'll unpack later." I say getting my purse ready. Kaylee looks at me.
"Are you sure?" She asks.
"Ya. If Miranda can do it, so can I." I say with a proud look.
"Okay. Have fun." She says with a bright smile. I smile back and head out with Ashely. It's barely 9:30. We drive for about 5 minutes and we were there. I got out and noticed I was still wearing my joggers and t shirt. I need to get ready!!
"Oh my gosh. I didn't even get ready!! I'm gonna go back real quick okay?" I tell Ashely. Ashely laughs and I roll my eyes.
"Here don't worry about it. I went shopping yesterday and forgot to take out the clothes part. I'm not ready to start wearing fat people's clothes." She says laughing.
"Oh so you are calling me fat?" I say presenting to be offended.
"No! Not like that! You know what I meant!" She says laughing. She opens the back and takes out a pencil skirt and a loose pale pink blouse.
"Not bad." I say picking up the clothes.
"Here get in the car and change. I'll make sure no one is here." She says and opens the back door. I hop in and start taking off my top, I touch my belly and notice it a bit bigger. I put the blouse on and then the skirt. I still have my white sanders but I guess it's okay. I hop off and fix the skirt.
"Not bad. It looks good on you. Better then it did on me. Keep it." She says with a smile. I burst out with laughter.
"Ashely, I'm going to get huge too. I think we will wear this once all the fat is gone and that will take months after the baby is born." I say still laughing. I notice she wasn't laughing.
"What?" I ask confused.
"I'm not gonna have a pretty body anymore?" She asks and little hurt. I realized what I did. When Ashely and i were little she was always bullied for her weight. They even said stuff in freshman year. Through out the summer she stopped eating junk food and went to the gym about twice a day everyday. Every time I talked to her she was either eating a salad or was on the way to the gym. Once we came back and we were sophomores, she was one of the most beautiful girls in the whole school. She had a perfect body, long hair, beautiful face. Boys drooled over her and the popular girls got jealous. Ashely's intensions were never to get a guy cuz of her body. She was just tired of the bullying. Now she is a bomb shell that is going to get fat again and take a while to loose all her weight.
"No Ash I didn't mean it like that. It's the truth but your pretty skinny. I'm sure you'll be fine." I try to say but my words were shaky.
"No it's fine. It's the truth that's all. I guess I'm going to have to live with it." She says with a crooked smile.
"Come on let's go. We don't want to be late." She says.
"Okay." I say and follow her to the nice small school down the parking lot.
                                  ~
"Okay so you are a straight A student, Online classes, recently moved not so long ago, and pregnant. Is that it?" Mrs. Cope asks reading my papers. The is an older woman. Maybe in her 40's. She has short faded brown hair covered by grey hairs as a replacement. Her blue eyes met with her straight pale lips and was hunched over her chair reading the papers.
"That is correct." I say trying to sound smart.
"So you are related to Ms. Miranda, are you?" She asks me pulling up her think golden glasses.
"Yes. Adopted sisters." I say smiling at the end.
"Then your school work... How do you plan to fit this in your schedule?" She asks looking up at me.
"Well I can be here from the beginning of school till around noon. Maybe some days longer if I finish my work fast enough." I say quickly.
"And this is your first job?" She asks.
"Yes. I'm 16 and am going to turn 17 in a few days." I say proudly.
"Any experience with kids?" She asks looking through my application.
"Not as much as other people. Recently I've been spending a lot of time with my boyfriend's niece and nephew. Then I'm pregnant and so is my sister and so is my boyfriend's sister, so I'll eventually will get experience." I say with a small chuckle in the end. I was nervous. I've never had a job before.
"What is your career path. Are you planning to major in teaching?" She asks looking back up.
"Umm... Not necessarily. Wildlife suits me more. Maybe a vet, or a marine biologist, or a climatologist. But this is just a job so I can get some money as I get to collage." I say playing with my fingers.
"You live with your cousin?" She asks.
"Yes. She has space in her back for like a privacy home. My sister and I live in it because we want to be a bit more independent." I say.
"You graduate of the class of 2016-2017?" She asks.
"That's my class but I'm ahead on my studies so they recommended me to graduate early. They told me around December or January. November or October if I continue during the rest of the summer." I say feeling proud of all my research.
"Well I don't see any red flags. Dormbon will be happy to have you here. The teachers will be excited that you guys are here. So let me just tell you, more likely you are going to be bounced to bounced in different rooms since you are here to T.A. The front office will let you know where to start. Right now I'm going to get these accepted then you can start once I email or call you. More likely it will be Wednesday or Thursday." She says standing up.
"Okay that will be great!" I say and we shake hands.
"I'm glad I could help. So I'll see you one of these days. If you have any questions or concerned please email me. And congratulations on you baby." She says with a weird smile. She thinks the same as all the other people.
"Okay thank you!" I say and walk out of her office. I text Ashely saying I'm going to take the car home and to call me once she gets out of work. I walk to the car and start driving home.
~
I get home and walk straight to my cottage. I open it and see everything is in the same place. Nothing untouched and unmoved. I walk to my room and found my bed done and still clean like always. I rolled my luggage over to my bed and started unpacking. I turned on the tv and The Best of Me was on. I haven't watched this movie since one night I came home from Alex's house. I continued unpacking and folding clothes up. I put some in the laundry and did a little cleaning in my closet. Once I was finished I got my camera and box and looked at all the pictures I took. They were so beautiful. He was so beautiful. I put them in my closet and put my luggage away. I lay in bed and and finish the movie in tears. Why are movies so emotional? I changed the tv to some other weird sit com and started rubbing my belly. I eventually fell asleep.