Shirley Temples
Mom gets off the phone and looks over at Karrie, Lola and me.
“Tuesday,” She says.
“No!” Lola pouts unhappily.
Tuesday is when we’re all going to St. Mary’s cancer research center to get a check up. Ever since Aunt Laura and Charis’s death she’s been paranoid, looking at us and thinking we’re all exhibiting signs of kidney cancer. None of us want to go, but we’re all obliging to please her. All of us except for Lola, that is. She hates doctors more than cats hate taking a bath.
“We’re going, Lola.” My mother says with a sense of finality.
Lola makes a pouty face and crosses her arms, but doesn’t say anything further.
“Hop up,” I tell her, since she’s sitting on my lap and I need to go to my bedroom. She grouchily scoots off of me, her arms still folded. I watch her until she’s stomped all the way into her bedroom. Karrie follows her behind and calmly shuts the door.
I get off the vinyl chair and go to my room, taking the phone with me so that I can call Bryan about biking again. Before I can dial his number, though, the phone lights up and someone is calling.
“Hello?” I say.
“Hey Kyra,” The voice at the other end of the line says.
It’s Bryan.
“Hey, I was just about to call you.” I tell him.
“Oh. What about?”
“Well, I wanted to start biking again.” I say.
“Tomorrow?” He asks.
“If you want to.”
“I do. I’ve been missing our bike rides. That’s why I called you. I figured even though we haven’t been biking lately you might want to go do something today?”
The sentence sounds like it should be phrased as a statement, but his voice catches at the end like it’s a question.
“Like what?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
I laugh. “Let’s go eat lunch.” I say.
“Okay. Where do you like going?” He asks me.
“Hm. Usually I like Dori’s Bakery- the one over by our school. They have really good soup. But I think today I’m feeling more like Fuddruckers.” I tell him.
“I love that place!” he exclaims. “I’ll pick you up in an hour or so.”
Pick me up? I didn’t even know he could drive.
“Okay. See you then.” I say.
I hang up and go to my closet to get dressed. I should have been dressed a long time ago, but I’ve been so lazy lately.
Even though I took a shower yesterday, I take another one because I feel grimy. I take care not to get my hair wet though, because if I wash it too frequently it starts getting seriously unmanageable.
I put my hair up the same way that I put it up for Laura’s funeral, but looking at it depresses me so I change it a little bit, leaving two strands of hair out of the up-do and curling them. This time, I decorate my medium brown hair with tiger lilies.
I’m just sitting down to read a book when the doorbell rings.
I get up to answer it and remember I didn’t tell my mom I was going out to eat.
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Finishing Crazy
Teen FictionKyra and Bryan have known eachother their whole life, but it wasn't until recently that they've become really close. After spending every single morning biking mile after mile with eachother, Kyra confides in Bryan that she wants to race in the Iron...
