70 Days Of Summer

Day 27

We are awaken at 2 am, and paige and Catalina are standing in front of us, in fancy clothes. Vanessa squeezes paige ignoring the vomit on her loose sequin dress and stroking her bruises. Minou pecks Catalina on the cheek and makes a large drama about how worried she was. Catalina's dad briefly hugs her and walks off to make a business phone call. I hug paige and breathe,
" thank god your alright." I look at her face and she looks dead.her eyes are in space and her mouth is agape as if she is looking at something extraordinary, but is still looking for it. I feel....bad for her. I walk over to Catalina and give her a hug and whisper,
" thank god your alright."
Catalina grins as if nothing happens and says,
" why thank god!? Thank the canton police department!" Catalina whoops. I'm the only one that chuckles and I shut up when I notice everyone's stern looks. I notice Catalina's dad pulling out a wad of cash and shoving them in the police officers hand. I notice him whispering something in the police officers ear, slaps his back and walks away. The police officer is frozen and we all get ready to leave. As we are walking out the fat officer,John,runs up to us and says rapidly,
" it's happened again! 2 girls in Cincinnati have been abducted last night, and drove off in a white SUV. Please we need your help!" Paige and Catalina's parents spend the next 10 minutes arguing with the police officer. After 10 minutes, paige whispers something, but nobody sees or hears over the arguing.
" shut up! Listen to paige," I shout.
Minou gives me a
' why are you still here stare?'
Catalina's dad gives me a
'Can we hurry this up. I have business to attend to.'
Vanessa mouths the words,
'Shut up.'
I walk over to paige and give her a light shakes.
" what were you saying?" I ask her sweetly.
" we have to help them," she whispers very quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Catalina nods and Vanessa slaps her hands on hee wobbling thighs and says,
" I guess we're staying."
We all trudge back inside and the officers start pulling out some files. Catalina's parents and Vanessa deal with the police while we all fall asleep on the waiting chairs. I wake up at 9 am and find Bryan with his arm around paige, but she still looks dead. Catalina is still asleep and there is no sign of Justin. Vanessa comes and sits next to paige. One hand around paige and the other covering her face. Bryan decides to go and get some breakfast for everyone and Catalina's parents come back to sit next to Catalina.i would've thought Catalina's dad would've left by now, but maybe he has business with the police officer. After 30 minutes Bryan walks back in with 3 brown bags full of pastries, and some takeaway coffees. I'm actually starving! Well I am until Lindsey comes running in flapping her hands like a chicken that can't fly.
" we've identified the other kidnapper. Misty farkas."
Vanessa's mouth drops open and suddenly her face goes red. She starts cursing to herself, stands up and screams,
" bloody hell! I knew he was cheating, but they were planning to kidnap my daughter! Jeez! That man has some nerve!"
" do you know this woman?" Lindsey asks, already knowing the answer.
" bloody hell I do!" Vanessa shouts again.
" madam, please come with me," Lindsey says walking away, her orange ponytail bobbing. Vanessa follows her and Catalina's dad and Minou. Paige starts to tear up and Bryan, Catalina, and I try to cheer up but she just shakes and has that lost look in her eyes. It's 10 pm and Justin runs into the waiting area calling,
" Catalina. Oh, Catalina! Are you ok?"
Catalina and Justin kiss each other passionately and then they sit down and cuddle together. They whisper to each other and Justin strokes the scar on Catalina's cheek and the cut on her chin. We all munch on croissants and sip coffee and talk normally except for paige who is asleep. The parents aren't back yet and we are talking about when we were younger and Catalina used to flirt with Justin. A player at age 6. That's a record. Catalina and Justin snog each other and at that moment Catalina's dad walks in. Oh my god! Oh shit!
" Minou. Honey, come please," Catalina's dads deep voice booms. Catalina and Justin pull away and both notice their dad staring at them. He has an awkward but stern look on his face and Minou rushes in, her one shoulder beige dress swinging while her beige suede heels clacking.
" honey, what is it now? Vanessa's in quite a panic, it must be very tough for her. Besides, I thought you were supposed to be in a meeting," she says tightening his tie and brushing his shoulders like a good housewife.
" yes. Well....I was on my way out when I encountered a small dilemma," stutters Catalina's dad fiddling with the leather buckle of his Gucci snakeskin briefcase. Why is that at the police office anyway?
" oh my god, dad! Just say it! Catalina and Justin were kissing on the lips! I should probably tell you that we're engaged," Catalina says cooly, but I can sense a hint of panic in her voice. She flashes a golden ring with a small red ruby attached and i didn't notice that before. How could I not have asked to see the ring? I'm a terrible friend! Minou's eyes open in horror and for some lame reason I notice that she wears a lot of concealer over her slightly darker than tan skin.
" what?" She shouts so loudly while Catalina and Justin kiss.
" no,no,no! This can't be happening! What will the ladies of the Dar group think of me? They'll move me to the last teacup, not the first, and every body knows the last teacup leads to expulsion. Oh dear! No! We will not let this happen! Right Asim? Catalina you will hand the ring back to Justin and Justin you will get a refund. Where did the money come from anyway? Oh no! Have you guys had s-e-x? Did you lose your virginity? This is too much for me too handle," exaggerates Minou, sitting down on the plastic waiting room chairs. Her voice changes from worried and panicked to angry and serious throughout the exaggerate speech.
" Asim, sit down. We need to have a family talk. Justin please tell us about your relationship with.....your sister," Minou says calmly. Asim, Catalina's dad sits on the edge of the seat, feeling awkward as hell since his role in the family is to make money and be home for dinner. He never has heart to hearts with the children,but, then again, Minou doesn't either. Bryan and I decide to leave them in peace bad paige is still sleeping so we head to the park. We sit on a bench and play truth or dare.
" truth or dare?" I ask popping a popcorn in my mouth which we bought on the way.
" dare" he says cooly, crunching a popcorn.
" I dare you to freak out that little kid and pretend to be a serial killer," I challenge him, swallowing a popcorn.
Bryan shoots me a 'this is a piece of cake' look, and walks up to the little boy. He starts whispering things in the boys ear and the boy starts to cry. Suddenly, a very thin and frail women in a lime green baggy t-shirt and cargo pants with ripping slippers and pushing a pram with baby twins screams,
" hey! Hey kid! What are you doing to my son?"
Bryan glares at the mum and starts to run when she gets closer. I run with him and we run through the woods dodging low branches and pricks and then stop after 3 minutes of running because that lady is not going to chase us. She is probably breast feeding one of the 2 twins right now. Or both. Ugh!
" that was so fun" I say in between breaths, my back leaning against a tree.
" yah. That was," he says choking on his words while bending over.
" remember when we were kids and used to play superman. You used to always be the superhero and save paige while Catalina and I would be the evil villains," I say staring straight at him. He takes a few steps closer, fallen leaves crunching below him as he steps, and we are so close I can feel his heavy breath heating up my cheek.
" yah" he says staring into my eyes. We stare into each other's eyes and have one of those romantic scenes, but don't go any further than staring. He lives paige and I love Berun. Also, because we hear screaming/ singing of little children a few feet away. Out of nowhere, Kurt the towns camp coordinator comes marching by us with a trail of 7 year olds behind him. They are all wearing a khaki military uniform with the
'Camp cacoon' crest stitched onto the blouses. No way! That's the camp we all used to go to when we were little smidgens. Kurt used to be out counselor too, except in those days his hair was black, he had hair, and weighed a few 50 pounds lighter.
" well, hey there kids! Is that my little clara girl and Bryan boy," Kurt says squinting his eyes to see Bryan and I. He says that to every boy or girl he sees that he remembers or knows vaguely.
" yep. How are you?" I ask politely.
" I'm doing good, keeping this heart pumping....whatever it pumps. In fact, just yesterday I went for a blood check up and apparently I'm a b+ blood type....."
He tells us a long story that lasts 30-45 minutes and basically we We end up helping him out with the kids because when is short of staff. I would tell you all about Ernie's infectious flu but I don't think you have the interest or care to know. Bryan and I spend the whole day designing t-shirts with the kids that end up looking like muck. We also try to teach them how to light acute using only twigs which i think is stupid because what person teaches a 7 year old how to make a fire, period. At around 5 pm we head back to the hospital but stop to eat a burrito, and Bryan has to go home so I drop him home. I get to the hospital at 7:30 where paige is staring hopelessly at the wall, Vanessa and Minou are still with the cops, Asim is going through work papers, Catalina is sleeping, and Justin is looking bored.
" hey. How is everything?" I whisper to Justin.
" do you want a taco?" He asks loudly, giving me a look to say yes.
" sure" I say awkwardly.
He tells me everything while we go around the corner to get a taco.
" well, we're not getting married. We're allowed to date and make out under the radar, though. Now that I think about it, getting married is so unrealistic. She's my sister and sure we have fun under the sheets but whenever we go out, we never seem to get along. I guess it's for the best," he explains to me.
I shrug my shoulders and say non-chalantly,
" I guess."
I eat my taco and Catalina wakes up. We talk for awhile and eventually fall back to sleep. I leave Berun a text,

Hey! Where r u? Btw: do you like the name Berkeley for a dog?
Love clara

Catalina and Justin may not have a future ahead of them, but that doesn't mean Berun and I don't! I'm talking 3 children and a dog named Berkeley. But a different name for the dog is alright too........nah! This is my fantasy. The dog is called Berkeley!

Hey! I hope your enjoying the book! I wanted to remind everyone that the competition is still open until Sunday night! If you have no idea what competition I am talking about please pm me or comment below and I will tell you about it and the prize because I don't feel like explaining everything here. I just wanted to remind everyone to VOTE AND COMMENT?!
bYE now