Wondering why

Part 21

On Wednesday Jared and Tracy come by my house after school, to take Tracy to the airport. It's about a forty-minute drive mostly on the freeway. When we arrive at the airport, Jared loads her luggage onto a cart and pushes it through the queue as we check-in. We load her luggage into the belt that takes it away. We then make our way towards security. Jared and I can't go any further, so we say our goodbyes.

Tracy pulls me into a tight hug and tells me she will call all the time; I should be excited about the wedding invitation; Plus, at some point we will have to organise for me to get a bridesmaid's dress. I smile and tell her to send me some photos of the home in Miami. Before we pull apart.

She then pokes Jared in the stomach and forces him into a hug. I smile at the two of them before they separate and Tracy waves us a goodbye. I can tell she is emotional about leaving but she has to go home.

On the drive back, I crank up the radio and sing along really badly. Eventually, I get Jared to join in 'Sweet Home Alabama'. We also do some old school Jason Derulo and Lady Gaga. To show off a full range of talent. By the time we've reached my house, we've also done some Justin Timberlake, sugar babes and another song I have never heard before, but Jared knew all the words to.

The next couple of weeks nothing interest happens whatsoever. I find out that the driver that killed my parents was released because his bail was set at three-quarters of a million and somehow, he managed to pay it. Nobody can explain where he got the money from, but he did, and he is walking around as free a bird while my parents are six feet underground.

We have suddenly had a load of finals dropped on us for the week before Thanksgiving and the teachers are being super strict. I keep my head down and study hard. I still have a lot of catching up to do from the beginning of the year.

I'm having to miss lunches to have catch up lessons with teachers and stay after school. The school needs good results for extra funding, so they are doing everything they can to get everyone to a certain level.

I'm at that point in the game where I just think, screw this shit. Just kidding, I need to pass.

When finals week comes I am as ready as I'll ever be. After pushing through the exams all morning, I go to have lunch with everyone and we all just complain about everything. Connor is the worst, he was telling us how he didn't answer half of the questions, but he did better than everyone else because he made sure he turned the pages first. After pushing through the week to Wednesday, it was all done. We finish our last exam and are dismissed to our long Thanksgiving weekend.

When we get home, Lucy is already there, unpacking groceries for tomorrow. Apparently, there is a huge NFL game tomorrow that the boys are buzzing about. But I can tell everyone's a bit disappointed to have not heard from Chris. This is the first year they've had Thanksgiving without him, and I feel partly responsible.

A couple of hours later, Blake and his mum pop over to bring us a pumpkin pie, and I know if Blake's cooking is anything to go by this pie is going to be amazing. Blake comes in and hangs around with us while his mum talks to Lucy. We all decide to play a game of monopoly. Joel is dreadful, he turns himself bankrupt after about three turns and has to start mortgaging his cards. Kyle is by far the best. We all play for a couple of hours until it's just Kyle and Blake. It's obvious Kyle is going to win, he has a huge wad of cash and has hotels on every spot. Blake is just holding on, trying to hide on the free parking or in jail. Eventually the inevitable happens and Blake files for bankruptcy and Kyle wins. It wasn't unexpected.

Not long after Blake has to leave. I go to bed early excited for my first ever Thanksgiving. I didn't even really understand the holiday, but Damien promised me he would give me a lesson on the concept tomorrow.

The next day, Lucy shoves a giant Turkey into the oven and Joel begs her to let him do potatoes. We all know it's a mistake, but she caves in and lets him. Damien tells me about the history of Thanksgiving and why we do it, as we set the table. From what I'm told he can't escape the lectures on Thanksgiving every year, he says its worse than Easter.

About an hour later, we hear the loud screeching of the fire alarm. We all hurry into the kitchen to find Joel bent over the oven with a pair of pink oven gloves on. He looks up and gives the four of us a guilty smile, "My cooking's so awesome, even the smoke alarm cheers me on."

Lucy rolls her eyes and hurries around to the oven to see how bad the disaster is, while Kyle and I go to shut up the smoke alarm. We stand there waving tea-towels in the air in an effort to push the smoke away. By the time we finally get it to shut up we find out that the potatoes are beyond saving.

"Go buy some more potatoes. I will try and fix your disaster." Lucy tells Joel.

Joel waves his arms around, "What shop is going to be open today?" He asks.

"I don't know. I'm sure there's one. We can't be the only family with an imbecile son ruining the food. Take Kyle or Holly with you we don't need you messing that up as well."

"Fine. Holly, you're coming with me; I don't need another lecture from Kyle."

We hop into the car and drive to every shop we can think of. They're all closed. After about an hour of driving around in circles, we go to the one place we know will be open- MacDonald's. "You don't think they'll mind if we order five fries instead of buying potatoes?" He asks me.

"Joel, I think that's the best we can do. We've been everywhere else." So, we order five large fries, which I know is too much but apparently, the whole point of Thanksgiving is to have too much food.

When we get back Lucy has another freak-out but decides it's not worth it so we pour the fries onto a large plate ready to be served with the turkey and vegetables. By the time everything is ready the football game is about to start. So instead of eating at the nice table Damien and I spent ages laying, we eat on the floor in the living room as we watch the football game. Our team loses which is pretty disappointing, seeing as we thought we had it.

The day was by no means perfect, but in an imperfect way, the day was kind of perfect. I know it doesn't really make sense, but it just doesn't. The day could be classed as a failure but in my eyes, this will be a day I treasure for that exact reason. For the first time since my parents passed away, I felt a part of a family. No family is perfect, but that's what makes it family. And this day was perfect for all the little mishaps. I won't remember how nicely the turkey was cooked, I will remember that we ate it on the floor with MacDonald's fries, while we lost a football match.