A Change in the Tide

Pain

The rest of the day was normal, except for not seeing Travis, but Markie assured me he was probably just playing hookie. People heard that Mr. Dolski wanted me to play football and would ask me as they walked by, "Gonna join? Or nah?" and then walk away laughing. I would just ignore them and keep walking.

When I got home my legs were hurting. I felt like I had small cramps all up and down my legs.

"Hey dad where's the Tylenol?" I asked as he walked in the front door. He pointed towards the cupboard above the sink.

"There should be some in there otherwise I have some in the bathroom upstairs." He said setting down his bag. "What's hurting?" He asked as he kissed the top of my head.

"My legs." I said rubbing my thigh. "It feels like little small cramps all over." I looked up at him before I grabbed a glass and filled it with water.

"Did you do a lot of running today?" he asked while he undid his tie and took his shoes off. I shook my head no and I popped the pills into my mouth and took a long drink of water. "Hmm. Doesn't sound like anything I would know about." He said sitting back in the chair. I shrugged my shoulders and put my glass in the sink.

"I think Markie is coming over to watch the eclipse tonight. Do you mind if I invite some other people?" I asked.

"There's an eclipse tonight?" He asked not answering my question. "Of course." He looked like he was lost in thought.

"Well I'm taking that as a yes and now I'm going to do my homework." I said heading out of the kitchen.

"Sure sounds good." He muttered. I walked up to my room and grabbed my phone.

Hey meet me at my place to watch the eclipse tonight. Bring food and some other friends if you want. I sent a message to Travis and Markie. I got a reply right away from Markie saying she would try to get off work an hour early, but she had to bring her little sister, Nia, because her parents were going on a date. I replied saying that's fine but I still had no answer from Travis, that stinker. He wasn't at school and now he's gone MIA. I decided to give him a couple hours before I ran over to the pack house where he was living to check on him and make sure he's not sick or something.

I laid all my homework out in front of me and then started with the hardest, AP Physics, it's a really fun class but the homework is brutal.

I finished all the hard homework around five and began woking on the easy stuff until sixish. I pushed away from my desk and stretched. The small cramps had gone away probably because of the Tylenol. I opened my door and headed downstairs to get a glass of water and see when we were going to eat dinner. When I entered the kitchen mom was cooking and dad was watching tv.

"Hi honey how was school?" Mom asked wiping her hands on a towel. I shrugged my shoulders as I reached for a glass.

"Pretty good. Travis was gone all day and Mr. Dolski asked me to try out for football." I said turning the faucet on and filling up my glass. Mom looked a little bewildered at my football statement but then laughed.

"Interesting, he must really see something in you. You are very tough." She said turning around and working on the food.

"He's not a wolf either so I think that's why." I said. I finished my glass of water and set it in the sink where my other glass had disappeared. "I have some homework to finish but I'll see you for dinner." I said waving and walking out of the kitchen.

"Okay sounds good." Mom said without looking at me. I hopped up the stairs two at a time and right as I landed on the top step a breathtaking pain shot through my stomach.