THREE
My eyes must have shown some astonishment because Cam laughed after his question. "I’m really sorry Cam, but I am going to have to say not right now. I have only known you for a little bit, and I would want to get to know you before we try a date, again." "Fair enough." He said sounding disappointed. He opened the door and walked out slowly. "Bye." His voice was weak and shaky, sounding as if tears were about to burst out from his almost hidden eyes. The door shut with a smack. For a minute, I felt horrible about what happened shortly before. Then I came back to reality. If he wanted to come on to me so prompt, knowing I was un-comfortable with it, I had to put a speed bump in the road to stop him. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
At exactly 9:22, my dad and Josh stepped into the front room. A warm nighttime breeze swept in through the open door. "It’s an awesome night out there Kat, I say we go for a swim in the new pool." Josh’s voice was sounding pretty anxious, and hopeful. My dad’s on the other hand was tired. "You two can swim for an hour. You better be in here and dry by 10:30."
In the next two minutes, I had wrapped myself in a Marineland towel, which was concealing my tanned skin and yellow one piece. My brother and I slipped into the clear water and played pool volleyball. Josh made a high serve and the multi colored beach ball flew over my head. I turned around to go and get it. I was almost at the ball, when something rustled in the bushes surrounding me. Josh didn’t notice because he was motioning for me to get on with it and serve the ball. I glanced away from Josh to the bushes. What looked to be a head rose up from the branches. I could tell it was human. The moonlight just caught the eye enough to make a reflection. "Josh! Get out of the pool!" I screamed, horrified. Josh gasped and stumbled out of the warm water. "Get in the house right now!" Josh knew that I'm not freaked out easily, so when I was, he knew to listen closely. I yanked the towel out of the plastic lounge chair where I had thrown it before entering the pool. Shielding myself from the cool breeze that was starting to destroy the warm air with my towel, I ran into the house. Josh was practically stepping on my heels. "What happened?" Josh asked, rushing his shaken voice. "I saw somebody in the bushes!" I yelled at him. Feeling guilty, I gave him a wet hug. "What the heck is going on?" My dad had come thumping down the stairs, tired and upset. "Kat thinks she saw a person outside in the bushes." Josh sounded like he was trying to be brave. He didn’t do a good job. At all. "This is ridiculous." Dad sighed and stepped into the now cool summer air. He walked shakily in his robe and looked around in the bushes. Obviously, he didn’t see anything or anyone because he was shaking his head in irritation. The sliding glass door made a squeaky sliding sound as dad stepped inside the warmth of the house. "There’s nothing out there you two. Dry your selves off and get into bed, it’s already eleven."
I toddled into my huge closet and found the immense woven cloth bin. The black cloth had been labeled with a florescent white tag. On the tag, "Pajamas" was written in cursive writing with black sharpie. I yanked the bin off one of the many shelves in the closet. I searched through the bin until I found my black skin tight, three quarter length tights. They had red lace stitched to the ends and red pin stripping down the sides. I matched it with a crimson tank top. I crawled into my lovely, spongy bed and drifted off to sleep.
Thursday was the next day. Only two more dreadful days of cramming my butt in a tiny school chair. At least that’s how I had looked at it. Thursday came and went like butter melting on a freshly toasted bagel. Cam wasn’t at school though. I mean, not that I cared.
Friday on the other hand started good. The window had a light mist on it, showing the smiley faces I had drawn last night. My routines were normal, and I spent some extra time in my outfit. It was the last day of grade eleven, finally. I had wrapped up in a well-fitted tropical blue mini dress. It looked like a scarf was just spread out and wrapped around my curves tightly, but it did have a soft liner in it.
