The S.P.E.

Chapter 7

"Look at my baby boy! He's so grown up!" My mom was sobbing into her shirt sleeves since we forgot to bring tissues to the ceremony. Gene did look grown up. He lost some his childhood weight and now looked like my dad's younger twin. If my dad's twin had hair to his shoulders and a bald upper lip, that is. Gene tried growing out facial hair for graduation but for some reason, his face remained smooth. Mom was bawling now. "Stand with your sisters and let me get a picture. Bobby, look!" Gene grabbed me and Tina around the shoulders and squeezed hard. He had grown taller than us both by now.

"Ow, Gene. Stop... please." Tina gasped.

"Yeah, Gene," I wriggled out of his hold after the camera flash."Lay off." He smiled at me.

"I can't help it you guys. I'm done! I'm happy! Oh, look there's Peter. Hey, Pescadero!" Gene rushed over to celebrate the end of high school with his friends. We watched him awkwardly try to do a cool handshake with Peter and Lenny DeStefano, two of his closest high school friends. Lenny was also in his band. They started talking about music, so I knew it would take them a while. I looked around at Gene's classmates wearing caps and gowns. Huxley high's colors were gold and white, and nobody looked good in the gold/yellowish robes. Tina and Zeke started reminiscing about their graduation two years before. Then dad started to talk about his graduation one hundred years ago. Before Mom could start talking about her graduation or cry about my graduation in two years, I ducked out of there. The restaurant was closed for the occasion and I was not about to waste a day off with my family. I loved them and all but... no. Not today.

It wasn't often I got the house to myself. Or more importantly, the shower with a full hot water tank. I rushed home to take advantage of the solitude and the warm water. Sometimes being the youngest really sucked, and I was always last in the shower rotation. My family tried, but our water tank was tiny and old. I was going to take a long hot shower and sing as loud as I wanted to without my mom trying to join in or my dad telling me to shut-up, so he could hear the weather station or, Gene trying to score me.

The shower put me in a better mood. Unfortunately, when I got back to my room it was spoiled again once I realized that I hadn't given Mom my laundry and therefor had no clean clothing to wear. I hung up my towel, wrapped myself in my fluffy robe, and started to look through the federal disaster area that was my closet.

"Old. Ugly. Tina's old stuff. Halloween costume. Is this Gene's?" I muttered to myself as I looked though the hangers of stuff. I looked down and decided to rifle through the clothes on the floor, most of which were victims of teenage girl syndrome- try on shirt, decide you hate it, and toss into closet without hanging back up. "Wow, I need to get some clothes. I haven't worn this in years!" I pulled out an old green dress. I wore that thing for years, until I got too tall to wear it as a dress anymore. Then I made it a shirt I wore with leggings, but Mom eventually said it was too old and if she saw it again she would throw it in the trash. For a person as sentimental as my mother, I figured she really hated the ratty thing and I better hide it. I had hung it up and forgotten about it, but it must have fallen off the hanger at some point to make it down here into the pit of the discarded. I folded it up and put it aside. Underneath it was a book.

Logan's journal... Out of curiosity I picked it up and began to leaf through the pages. I didn't get very far into it after I took it- only about halfway through his senior year of high school. Given the day, I was curious what his graduation was like. I flipped through the pages to the end of May.

Big day is here. Cannot wait to get out of this town and off to Princeton. Thanks to B.B.'s letter I think they already love me there. It sounds so heroic. "Teen saves young girl from inferno"