A Table for Two?

The Different Side

Chapter 9:

My mom had told me that my dad had died in a car accident.he was driving home from work. He was on the highway, when a semi truck came speeding towards his bumper, and he had no time to react. The truck collided with him, the truck near eighty miles per hour. It was enough to send my dad away.

As I told this to Valerie, she didn't seem happy, or excited anymore. She seemed sad, like if I just stabbed her in the back. She looked like she was listening to every detail, and really talking everything in. As I finished my story, she took a deep breath.

"I know how you feel," she said, with sorrow in her voice and eyes. I didn't know what she was talking about.

"What you mean," I asked with gratitude in my voice.

"I too have lost a family member," she said, and now she looked sad. I had never seen her depressed, until that moment.

"It was my brother," she continued," he was deployed in Afghanistan. He had a late night shift one day, and he got show my an Afghanistan scout. This all happened two months ago."

"Oh I'm so sorry," I said, trying to sound friendly. The next few minutes were silence. We just sat there, thinking of our loved ones and how we would feel if they were still alive. Finally, after five minutes of no one speaking, Valerie broke the silence.

"I thought I would never be happy again after my brother died," she said," but then I realized I just have to move on and be grateful for living."

I had to admit, that was true. I never thought or realized what Valerie said. I could move on, it won't be hard, but I can. I just need to get my mind off of my dad's death, and do something exciting. It felt like all that was when I punched Michael's nose an inch towards his face.

"Is that why you never called?" Valerie asked me, and I totally forgot about her number.

"Yes it was, I'm sorry," I apologized.

"It's ok, I mean that's something to understand from what you went through," she said.

"Thank you for showing me how to get through this," I said, although I didn't really need to thank.

"Your welcome, just helping out a friend," she said.

After that we talked about our favorite Hispanic dishes. My favorite was rice and beans with bistec. Hers was the same thing too. We both laughed at that coincidence. I felt like this girl knows me more than any girl I have ever met. It's like we are long, lost siblings. The conversation was over as soon as we stopped right at our school.

"Ok now you be happy the rest of the day," she told me when we were getting off the bus.

"I will I will," I repeated, while throwing my hands up in the air. She giggled a little. It was a sweet sounding giggle. Gosh was this girl amazing at ring herself. We entered the hallways, and I walked to my locker. I was putting my backpack in there when all of a sudden, Juan jumps out of no where like a flying hawk.

"What happened last night?" He asked, wanting to know the details in a short amount of time.

"I didn't call her," I said, and he went from a smile to a front face. I immediately got playfully slapped in the back of the head.

"Why?" He squealed like a chipmunk.

"I didn't have anytime to do it," I lied, right in front of his face. It felt bad, but I didn't want him knowing about my father yet.

"Oh ok, but today you will," he demanded me.

"Ok ok fine I will," I said.

"Good because I want to help a brother out," he said, and that had me finally smiling. We did our favorite handshake, which is pretty cool and took a long time to figure out. As we left my locker, we saw Valerie in the hall.

"Oh thank god," she said with relief," I thought I as going to lose my way to class again."

Me and Juan were surprised she walked with us to our homeroom. We aren't really good at getting attention. But today, everybody had there two eyeballs on our faces. I never had this attention before, even Juan. I was finally getting happy for once, with the help of Valerie. She was becoming a very good friend.