ANNIE

19 ☼ Something Was Missing

A N N E T T E

For me, the next week went by unusually quickly. School wasn't much different, history was boring, math was easy, and lunch was okay. However, the best part of the week was probably the excitement that came from knowing I was going to go on a two night trip to Canada with my mom come Saturday morning. My passport was ready, I've already done some research as to what I wanted to do while we were there, and I was only a little bit worried about the flight. I'd been in the air so many times at this point that I got used to it.

By the time Friday came around, I was definitely more excited than anything else. Instead of Mr. Bradley taking me home, he took me to the KI building where mom was working late. That worked out nicely because I would get to see Dimi before I left for my little mini-trip. In fact, I went straight into the man's office the second I arrived, knowing that he would be there.

"Hi, Annie, how was school?" Dimi asked as I slipped quietly through his door.

"Boring," I said as I looked over at his desk overloaded with important stuff.

Dimi hummed in response and glanced up from the papers he'd been looking through to check the time. "Boring, huh?"

"Yeah," I answered only a second later. "Well, I guess, I'll go back to mom's office and do some homework until she's ready to go..." I replied, sounding only slightly less disappointed than I felt. He seemed to be really busy at the moment and I didn't want to be a bother.

"She has a meeting until six. You know you can do your homework here if you'd like," Dimi offered as he gestured towards the small desk in the corner.

"Sure," I said with a smile. Usually, I'd come in, get some food and then go up to my mom's office to do homework before venturing out to go to the intern labs or into a meeting with my mom. "I might go get a snack first. Am I allowed to bring it back in here?"

"Of course," Dimi said with a smile.

By the time I was back with an armload of food, we both sat down together and talked about everything from his job to my school day while I ate. Eventually, Dimi was stolen from me to go meet some more department heads. From there I set to work on the essay I'd been assigned and was nearing the end when the door swung up and my mom walked in, startling me in the process.

"There you are, you traitor," mom said with a smile and I rolled my eyes, giggling.

"Dimi said you had meetings and that I could do my work here," I replied before gesturing towards the papers in front of me. "I have an essay to finish over the long weekend and I wanted to get it done before our trip."

Nodding her head, mom picked up the top paper and started to skim over the less than neatly penned letters. "How much do you have left?"

"Not much. I need one more paragraph," I replied as I twirled my pencil between my fingers.

Again mom nodded and set down the paper she'd been holding in favor of straightening her skirt. "Can you do it on the plane?"

"Why can't I finish it here?" I asked with confusion because Dimi hadn't said anything about me needing to go to any of the meetings with her, and I just wanted to get my paper done.

Mom quirked an eyebrow and looked me over with some confusion of her own. "Because it's after six, I'm ready to go home, and I'm willing to bet that you're hungry."