Footsteps

8

As I walked inside, I didn't feel like conversing about my emotionally confusing day with my dad, so I bolted straight to my room. But, after watching TV for about ten minutes, he was knocking at my door. "I don't wanna talk!" I hollered.

"But I do," he came in anyway. That was his standard reply when I denied conversation. "Tell me about your upbeat friend!" He grinned.

"Uh...she's cool, her name's Aaliyah—"

"Oh, she was sure to tell me that!" He rolled his eyes.

"Don't be a jerk-wad, Dad!" I laughed.

"Anyway..."

"Anyway, she's pretty cool, we're in Choir together, and I'm friends with her cousin, Joey, who's in my Gym," I sighed, thinking about meeting him this morning.

"And, what about your mystery dance class, and is Health just as annoying here?"

"Uh, I'll find out about the dance thing tomorrow, and yes it is, but here it's called HBS, or human body science,"

"It sounds ten times worse,"

"It's really not,"

"Well, not bad, then!"

"Sure," I practically pushed him out, holding back my emotions that threatened to spill.

"How about your dance class you do know about?" He asked.

"It's cool, all of the girls in it are brats, though," I shrugged.

"Oh...well, that's okay, as long as you're having fun,"

"Well, of course!" I snapped.

"So...tell me about this Joey kid,"

"I'd rather not,"

"That's suspicious,"

"No, it's not, he's my friend, and if you should be concerned about anyone, you should be concerned about Bade!" I regretted the words that came out of my mouth the second they did. For multiple reasons. The first reason was because I didn't want him asking any questions about Bade. The second reason was because it felt strange discarding Joey like that.

I shook off my weird feeling and nodded awkwardly. "Who's Bade?" Dad asked, raising his eyebrows.

"A kid at my school," I answered stubbornly.

"Well I know that!" He shook his head. "Well, I'm glad you like your new school, hun," he smiled. I nodded, and he began to walk out.

"Hey, Dad, speaking of Joey, he's got music club later, and he invited me to come," I stopped him.

"Okay, sounds fun, where does he live?" I grabbed Dad's sleeve and pulled him to the door and into the hallway.

"There," I pointed to the door across from ours.

"Oh!" He seemed quite impressed. "I'd like to meet this kid then!" He hovered over the door and knocked. A petite woman that looked very similar to Joey answered the door.

"Hello, you must be the new neighbors!" She said, very happily.

"Yes, I'm—"

"Oh, I know who you are, and this must be Eaden, Joey told me about you...well, so did Aaliyah, mainly Aaliyah, come on in!" She hurried us in and sat us on the couch, hurrying into the kitchen.

"How friendly," Dad leaned over to tell me, giving me a look that said "what wackos."

"Aaliyah, Joey, company!" The woman called.

"Coming, Mom!" Joey hollered back. He and Aaliyah came in from opposite sides of the room.

"Hi, Eaden!" Aaliyah grinned. I waved, grinning back.

"Hey...Eaden," Joey smiled awkwardly. Not regular Joey awkwardly. Just...awkwardly...

"Hey...Joey," I mocked him.

He rolled his eyes and laughed. "Clearly you've met my mom," he said, motioning to the waving woman in the kitchen.

"We have, and she's very nice," Dad pointed out. I face-palmed multiple times. "We wanted to meet our new neighbors, and even talk about Eaden going with Joey later tonight," he added.

"Don't say it like that," I continued face-palming, rolling off the couch. Aaliyah grabbed my arms and dragged me down a hallway. Another woman and man entered the room with my dad and Joey's mom/Aaliyah's aunt.

Aaliyah propped me up on a bunk bed. "Ugh, your dad is just like my aunt, embarrassing," she rolled her eyes.

"I second that!" Joey chimed in.

"They act like you guys are going on a date or something," she laughed.

"Yeah, no way, she likes Bade," Joey scoffed.

"Not again, Joey, why do you hate Bade so much?" I asked.

"I don't hate Bade!" Joey argued. Aaliyah backed away from the bickering that was about to begin.

"It sure looks that way!" I pointed out.

"Well, that's not the case," Joey deflected me.

"Then what is?"

"I just dislike things about him,"

"And what are those things?"

"He likes you!" Joey replied, the same thing he had been saying. I still didn't understand why that mattered.

"What does that have to do with you?" I asked.

"Don't you dare answer, Aaliyah!" Joey threatened.

"Not anymore I won't!" She backed into a bookshelf.

"I don't want to answer that, let's just forget it...please," Joey begged.

It took me a minute, but then I considered what would happen if I dragged on the argument. I could chase him off again, and I didn't want that.

"...Fine," I sighed.

"Come on, Eaden!" Dad called from the living room.

"See ya later at music club, right?" I asked.

"Duh, Foley, where else am I going?" He gave me a stupid look. We high-fived, I hugged Aaliyah goodbye, and then I headed back to our house.

"I'll give you the okay," Dad said when we got back.

"Cool!" I gave him a thumbs up. "Love you," I hugged him and ran off to my room. I sat quietly as I considered everything that could go wrong, but decided to keep the thoughts pushed away. I plucked at my hair, picked at my nails, and played on my phone as I watched the forty-five minutes go by on my clock.

When they did go by, I sprung up and ran out the door, nearly forgetting to tell my dad I was leaving.