Back to Me

The Festival (part 1)

On Friday my parents once again were out of town. And Jason was visiting his parents so I was home alone. Melissa and Ian were in the barn and they were supposed to check on me but I doubted they would. Toby knew I was by myself and came over with dinner for the two of us. We used to do this a lot before Alison found out about us and it was nice to have him around again.

/

"So where are your parents this time?" Toby asked as we put away the dishes we had just washed.

"Um, Boston, I think. Maybe Pittsburg, I'm not sure." I shrugged.

"Your parents leave town for a week and they don't tell you where they are? Why am I not surprised?" He questioned.

"But I do know where they are." I stated and then explained further. "They were going to Boston on business and if they had time they were going to visit my nana in Pittsburg."

"So you know but you don't know." He quipped as we sat down in front of the fireplace.

"Yeah, it's something like that." I nodded.

"Do your parents ever take you on trips with them?" He asked. "I mean wouldn't they take you with them if they were visiting your nana?"

"They used to take Melissa and me on trips with them. But we argued too much so they started taking us separately. We were supposed to have turns but then trips with me stopped altogether. My parents said that I needed to study harder and concentrate more on school." I admitted to him sadly.

"I'm sorry, Spencer. That must be pretty rough."

"Don't be, I've gotten used to it. You know, once when I was seven, I got into a fight with Melissa. My parents took her side so I decided that I was going to run away."

"You ran away from home?" Toby asked skeptically. It was probably hard to imagine Miss Perfect doing such a thing. "Where did you go?"

"To the movies, it was something animated." I sighed a little at remembering. "Afterwards I got lonely so I decided to go back home. But when I got back I almost wished I hadn't. They never noticed I was gone."

"How about another game of Scrabble?" He asked trying to cheer me up.

One of the things that made Toby and I such good friends was that he got me. I didn't have to speak a word but he knew. He knew how I felt about my family. He knew how I felt about school and my friends. He knew how I didn't like talking about certain things. He just knew me.

"Why do you play with me even though you know I'm going to win?" I asked as I stood up to get the game.

"Hey, one of these times I am going to win." He stated playfully.

"Oh yeah, that will be the day the sky falls, pigs fly, and it snows on the 4th of July." I mocked.

The game was in my room and I knew that Toby still wasn't comfortable going in there. Things had finally stopped with Jenna and her threats turned out to be empty, but Toby was still apprehensive about certain things. But I was okay with that, I was just glad that he felt comfortable around me.

"You know in some places it actually does snow on the 4th of July. Now, those places might be in countries that don't celebrate like we do, but it does snow." He commented and I glared. "What? You're the only one that's allowed to state random facts?"

"Being a wise guy really doesn't fit your personality."

"And weren't you the one that told me that everyone's luck has to change for the better some time. At some point you have to get dealt at least one good hand, it's a statistical fact." He quoted me perfectly with a smug grin and completely ignoring my comment.