I was skipping school today. When I woke up, I felt sick to my stomach. I told my mom and she just said, "Suck it up your going to school." So I got dressed, got my bookbag and rode away on my bike. I zipped right past the school building and headed downtown.
I parked my bike outside the general store and headed inside. "Hey, Mike!" I called.
Mike, the store owner, appeared out of the back carrying a stack of heavy looking boxes. "Jasmine? Isn't it a little early to be here?" he asked.
I shrugged, then tossed my bag down. "I'm skipping. Can I hang out in the back?"
I was pretty close with Mike. He was only in college and was pretty familiar with teen problems. He had told me a couple months back that if I ever felt like not going to school, I could just come here and crash. He had a cool little lounge in the back of the store with a ping pong table, a TV, two couches, and a drink and snack machine. I guess he spends a lot of time here.
"Sure," he sighed.
I grinned at him. I grabbed my bag and ran to the lounge, giving him a quick hug on my way. I flung myself onto the couch and started flipping through the channels aimlessly. I stumbled upon Drake and Josh, one of my favorite TV shows as a kid. Knowing everything else on was probably little kid shows, I settled for this.
I think I zoned out in the middle of my third episode, because next thing I knew, Mike was running into the lounge screaming for me to hide.
"What? What is it? Mike?"
"Shh, no time to explain. Just hide. NOW!" he scream/whispered.
I did what he said. I hauled myself off the couch and sprinted to the bathroom. I was about to lock the door when I realized that I had left my bookbag in the lounge. I opened the door and looked around. I didn't see anyone, but I did hear Mike talking to some women up front. I took a chance and bolted back to the lounge. I grabbed my bag, then stopped.
My mom was here. She was in the front of the store with her back to me, talking to Mike. I let out a small squeak of fear.
I silently cursed myself. My mom had hears like a hawk, there was no way she didn't hear my squeak.. She started to turn, so I ducked under the couch, breathing hard. She couldn't find me. There was no way. She would freaking kill me.
"Who's back there?" I herd my mom ask.
"No one!" was Mike's nervous reply.
"I swear I saw someone. A girl. Mike, why do you have a girl in the back?" she inquired.
My heart was racing. She was onto me. I could only hope that Mike could come up with a believable lie within the next couple minutes. Mom was hard to fool. After raising three kids, she could catch anyone's bluff.
"Oh, that must be Jeff. Sometimes he likes to put on goofy wigs while cleaning up. Its a weird habit of his."
Now that was a believable lie. Jeff, Mikes brother who helped him run the store, was always wearing goofy wigs. He said they helped him concentrate, but I'm not sure why. All I know is it distracts the rest of us.
"Fair enough. Anyway, I came here to ask you something. I went to Jasmine's school to pick her up early because she said she wasn't feeling well, but the office said she hadn't come in today. And I know you have quite a reputation for allowing skippers to take shelter back there," she said, jerking her head back to the lounge.
"Shit," I muttered. I hadn't even thought about her coming early. She had a nasty habit of randomly coming to school and taking me home without telling me she was going to. I had suffered through quite a few close calls when I was skipping before, but she had never actually found me.
