A Summer To Remember

Dyl

Jade and I texted most of the time over the weekend. I told mom I would go to school on Monday but it was really to see if she went there. She said she was fifteen, almost sixteen. So she was around my age.

It wasn't until Sunday night that she actually called me rather than texting me. Her voice was soft and it sounded like she was trying to keep it low in case her mom heard her.

"What are you doing?"

"Talking to you. Same thing I've been doing since Friday." I said, smiling like the cute idiot she'd called me before.

"I should've known. An idiot who smiles all the time surely doesn't have anything better to do."

"You got me there."

She laughed on the other end. "Wanna know something weird?"

"About you? Sure."

"You're going to school for the first time since your accident and you haven't once asked me where I go."

"Where are my manners?"

"Must've been in your feet. I go to the ugly all girls' prep school across town. We wear plaid skirts and everything. It's awful."

I laughed and rolled onto my side, pressing the phone harder to my ear so I could hear her better. "That does sound awful. I mean, unless you're gay or a dude. Then it's like a fantasy."

She laughed. "You're so gross."

"Just telling it like it is."

"Do you have to go to sleep now or can you stay up and talk a little bit?"

"I can stay up. Why, would you miss me too much if I hung up?"

"Yeah." She said with a small voice. "You're the only person I can joke around with."

"I find that hard to believe." A girl like her being shy? There was no way. I didn't think there was a single shy bone in her body.

"Well it's true. The girls at my school don't get my humor and the nuns think I'm being disrespectful. Plus, I don't know anyone who's... like me." That was a heavy thing for someone like her to say and I was glad I picked up on it.

"Me neither."

"Will you tell me if I'm being a jerk? Because I don't want you to hate me."

"Oh, I'll tell you."

She laughed and it sounded just as beautiful as she was appearance wise. I liked being the one to make her laugh like that. "I'm sure you will."

"What's your mom up to? Is she asleep?"

She scoffed. "Yeah, right. She's couponing right now."

"She really is crazy."

"Super crazy."

"Would it be crazy of me to ask if you could come over tomorrow? After school?"

"Crazy as hell. But I will. My mom doesn't get home from work until five."

I loved how careless she was. Maybe it wasn't smart of her considering how obsessive her mother sounded. But I didn't care because I really liked her.

"School let's out at 2:30-"

"I can pick you up. We get out at 2." I loved how eager she was to see me. I was glad I wasn't the only one who wanted to jump right into things.

"That's a really short school day."

"We start at 7."

"Then you should go to bed."

"If I wanted a lecture, I'd have talked to my mom instead of you, idiot."

"Okay, whatever. But if a nun uses a switch on you, don't tell me cause it might feed that school girl fantasy I have."

She laughed. "You're sick, Dyl."

"So is every other guy out there." I said, my face flushing at her choice of nickname for me. Dyl. I didn't get it often and I hated it from friends but from her... she could call me whatever she wanted and it would sound nice. Even idiot sounded nice coming from her.

"Dyl, how did you... the whole... bacteria thing... How did it happen?" She was trying to be polite about it, unlike most people who didn't understand. It made people uncomfortable and I got that. I was uncomfortable too. Then I had to deal with it so those thoughts had to disappear.

"It was a family picnic a few weeks ago. Mino Lake in Clearspring. The water was fine but I cut myself on a rock or something. I got really sick and we went to the hospital. They tested everyone else there but only I got it. There wasn't much they could do for me other than amputate my limbs."

"Are you... okay now?"

"I have weekly check ups to make sure. So far, this is as bad as it'll get."

She was quiet for a minute which made me think she'd hung up or fallen asleep. But then she spoke softly into the phone. "I'm really sorry."

"Don't be. It's something I have to deal with but it hasnt been bad so far."

"You haven't been to school since then?"

"No. I only said I'd go tomorrow because my aunt came to stay for a while and I wanted to get away from her."

She laughed but it was sad. "Kids are jerks, you know? They'll pick on you for anything and everything."

"Do the girls pick on you?"

"Sometimes they will walk around with one arm tucked in their sleeves. Then they laugh when they see me."

I laughed at how ridiculous it was. "Well I'm sorry too. You don't deserve that."

"Remember that tomorrow, okay? You might have been popular before this happened but things are different now and people don't like different."

We were silent a while. I felt like I was going to fall asleep but the guy couldn't fall asleep first. That was lame and uncool and she'd hate me for sure if I did.

"I'm gonna go to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Where?"

She laughed as she spoke. "Outside your school. I'll stand outside the doors like a stalker and push you down the sidewalk. How's that?"

I laughed at the thought. "That sounds nice."

"Goodnight, Dyl."

"Night, Jade."