Evacuated

The Upbring of April 18th

So, this chapter is going to fix where I went wrong. I made it seem as if April 17th was the end of an era. But Brenda and I concluded that it really wasn't. Things got a little better by the end of the day and believe it or not things were alright up until April 19th, that's when everything went wrong. So the day I described previously as April 16th was actually April 18th. I just assumed it was the 16th because it was before the 17th and I already was well aware as to what happened on the 15th. I would do a chapter on April 19th and what really left the month of May as a month of ignorance but that story is a lot less interesting than you would think. I'll maybe briefly cover it sometime but not now. This is what really happened April 18th, not 16th...

That day, April 18th, Jess and I went out and got slushies together. I remember walking to the bus stop to head to the store in complete silence. After the whole April 17th fiasco, I was ultimately worried about what would happen if I decided to talk first. But that worry didn't last long. "Guess what?" Jess finally started when we got on the other side of the road. "What?" I asked. "I like someone" he laughed. I immediately sprung up to him and demanded he tell me who it was. "Y'know Miss Edmunds, our music teacher--" and before he could finish I started giggling like a child who'd just been given a giant rainbow lollipop. I mean, I did know this beforehand but I reacted like the world just ended because he'd never told me anything real before.

I mocked him for it the whole way to the slushy store. I made fun of Jess for mixing multiple flavors together, I'd never tried it before so I thought it must've tasted like a mucky mess.

The walk back, we saw Miss Edmunds walking out of the grocery store nearby. I called out to her and waved at her, which she responded to by joining us on the sidewalk. "Hello Leslie, Jess!" she smiled. She was always a ray of sunshine, the kindest teacher at Lark Creek School. Jess was evidently nervous around her and now that he admitted the truth, it was all the more enjoyable to watch.

"You should come and meet my parents" Jess suggested when she told us her house was down the next street. "Oh, well I've already met your mother" she said. "But you haven't met my dad yet!" his eyes went wide. I laughed a little to myself, trying not to be noticed. She ended up agreeing to stopping by on the way to her house to meet Jess' dad, which made him happy.

When we got there, his mom was on the phone talking to someone about the family's unfortunate financial situation. But Jack Aarons, Jess' dad came our immediately and demanded Jess to shut up because his mother was talking on the phone. "Who's this?" he asked. "That's Leslie" Jess told. "Not her, her" he said gesturing to Miss Edmunds. "Oh, that's Miss Edmunds, our music teacher." She smiled and shook his hand. "Jess, those shoes are filthy, clean um up right now" Mr. Aarons said, tossing Jess a rag on the ground. I sighed and quietly watched the interactions between everyone.

The two began discussing Jess' progress in school. Mr. Aarons seemed to be shocked by her opinion that he was actually a good student, which no other teacher had told them about him. "Oh yeah, he's a great student. Lots of potential" she smiled. "Never heard that one before" he grunted, looking down on Jess. "Get off the ground, boy, those shoes are fine" he snarled before walking away.

Jess stood up and took Miss Edmunds to see his bedroom; the one he shared with May Belle and Joyce Ann of course. We stood near the doorway and talked for a bit. Jess' nervousness was plastered all over his face and it made me laugh.

"Well, I better be going" Miss Edmunds told Jess and I. "I'll walk you out" Jess said, taking her grocery bags from her arms and carrying them downstairs for her. "Oh, how kind" she smiled at me, I waved her goodbye.

Jess came back upstairs where I was sitting on his bed. We began talking about the encounter with Miss Edmunds and even he laughed a little. "So you don't mind having girls in your room?" I laughed. "No, not really but she's an exception" he explained. "Oh, what about me?" I asked. "Well I don't want you here" Jess said in an exaggerated tone. "Wow, okay!" I laughed. "I'm kidding" he added. May Belle frolicked into the room dancing like a ballerina and smiled at us. "Wanna do our nails?" she asked. "No, I have to shower now" Jess brushed her off. "Please!" the little girl cried. "Leslie will do it" he said. "What? I haven't done my nails in four years!" I argued. Jess winked at me and walked out of the room and into the bathroom.

May Belle dragged me downstairs and sat on the floor in front of the TV, her usual spot, where Brenda and Ellie were watching. She grabbed all her nail polish and set them all out. We painted our nails multiple colors; pinks, blues, blacks and silver sparkles to be exact. I wasn't doing a very good job on mine. I got it all over my face, my feet and hands; everywhere. It was just one big mess.

Jess popped his head out wrapped in a towel. "Hey!" I laughed. "What happened to you?" he laughed. "You can probably guess who did my nails" I said, referring to my own work. "Haha yeah" he laughed and went into his room to get dressed.

After he was done, we stood in the kitchen getting ourselves drinks. "I thought May Belle was getting better at the whole nail polish thing" Jess stated. "What do you mean?" I asked, turning to face him. "She did a pretty awful job on yours, I thought she was passed getting it all over the place" he said. I suddenly clued in and realized what he meant. "Um Jess?" I said in a squeaky voice. "Hmm?" he said, drinking his pop. "May Belle didn't do my nails, I did." Jess started laughing, trying not to choke on his pop but didn't do a very good job of that. Once he finished coughing half to death, I stopped patting his back and let him talk. "Yikes" he said trying to hide his laughter. "I told you I haven't done it in years, I don't know what I was doing!"

Truthfully, the rest of the night shows up blank in my mind. I have no idea what happened at the end of the night. So I guess that concludes this throwback chapter of Evacuated! Chao!