The Spoken Truth

Chapter Nine: Pros and Cons

 So Clyde created a plan to forever breakup Maggie and Chad. It was a genius plan. A plan that could not fail, but I had no idea what it was! He never told me; he just said that he had a creative way to break them up.

         “ It would help if I knew the plan as well,” I said the next day at school, holding in a lot of anger. I was beginning to think that he couldn’t trust me.

         “If I told you then it wouldn’t be as effective.” I could tell that he had so many thing that he was hiding from me that it was all about to spill.

         “So,” I almost whispered the word, “you think I can’t keep a secret from someone that I don’t even get along with?”

         “No, it’s not that I don’t trust you.”

         “Then what is it? Why can’t you tell me?”

         “You just … won’t like it.”

         “Fine,” I gave up on the trying to get him to speak the truth to me. I’ve been trying and trying ever since I got to know him.

         I thought over our odd relationship when I got home and I discovered that there were so many things that I loved about Clyde and I so much I disliked about him. I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the pros and cons of staying with Clyde.

PROS                                      

His protective instinct                              CONS

                                                          He never tells me the

I want to help his family                truth in the beginning

His kiss                                                 He left with out telling

                                                      me.             

His personality 

I can’t stay mad at him for

any thing.                             

I LOVE HIM 

         And that settled it. That settled everything. I put my heart onto that paper and I didn’t want him to ever see it. I didn’t want anyone to see it. So I hid it under the floorboards under my bed. That’s were I hid everything, my old diary, my pictures with grandma, my little special dolls.

I put it with the other junk I had hid.

         I went down stairs to do my homework and once I was done I made a special dinner for Mom and me. I’d never made an actual full meal before so I thought I would try my best. I decided to make spaghetti—with frozen pizza as a stand by. It was a good choice; it was a great meal to make if it was your first time cooking a meal. I worked and worked. I cooked nonstop for hours. I took a long time for the spaghetti to boil. I also made garlic bread and salad. At least mom was surprised when she came in the door and smelled the strong aroma of garlic.

         “You made dinner!” She gasped.

         “Uhumm,” I said, keeping my eyes on the spaghetti as if the strands were going to get up and walk away.

         “I wasn’t expecting this wonderful surprise.” She spoke in a voice I didn’t recognize. It was somewhat sad.

         “What’s wrong?”  I asked still eyeing the noodles.

         “Oh nothing, it’s just that,” she paused, “the damn economy can’t keep all the teachers! So some of my friends were fired today.”

         “Aw, sorry Mom.”

         “It’s OK. I guess it’s good that I didn’t get the boot.”

         I got two bowls and served the spaghetti. I got the little cake plates and served the salad and garlic bread. I sat down and invited her to sit too.

         “So, I’m glad that I made dinner then,” I said looking at the food in front of me.

         “It looks delicious.”

         “Good, I have frozen pizza as backup,” I smiled.

         We had a long conversation about my school life and Clyde—making sure that I wouldn’t say anything about his parents. We talked about her romantic world. She said that she does have one man that she’s know since she moved here, but doesn’t know if he is married or has a girlfriend. She’d thought about an online match up website, but thought that it was a pathetic way to meet someone.

         “Maybe for a last resort,” I said.

         “So what’s up with you and Clyde? Are you guys like a unit now or what?”

         “I wouldn’t say that, but I think we’re dating. He hasn’t been very truthful to me lately. I don’t know what it is with him.”

         “Oh…maybe it’s just the timing. You have to time things with most boys. You get most things out of a guy when they’re eating or while texting him,” she spoke like she knew what I was going through.    

            “OK, I’ll have to try that,” I said trying to read her face.

         We sat there quietly; all you could hear was the sound of the forks meeting the plates. I’d thought about what she had said and put it into deep consideration. I’d also thought about the next time I’m going to have the opportunity to text. My old flip phone wasn’t for texting. I guess the only option left was to talk to him while he was eating. I didn’t understand how that would work but I trusted that my mother would tell me what had worked for her in the past.

         “OK, mom I think I’m gonna go read now,” I said at almost a whisper.

         “Sure, honey. I’ll do the dishes.”

         I went up stairs trying my best not to make them squeak. I didn’t really want to read so I sat up and listened to music. I loved music; it was always my backup if I didn’t have a book or a magazine to keep me busy. I stayed up way too late that night. The thing was that I could never, for my life, fall asleep to music. It was the hardest thing ever to do.

         The next morning, I packed my things, said goodbye to Mom and climbed into my big Ford pickup truck. Then I heard the roar of Clyde’s Mustang, which made me jump out of my seat. I looked around and peered into the red sports car. I hopped out of my car and into Clyde’s.

         He seemed excited to see me. He reached across his seat and hugged me.

         “I’m…sorry. About not telling you,” he looked pretty truthful, but I didn’t know if he really meant it.

         “So…” I was trying my best to be patient “what’s the plan?”