Meaningful

Chapter Three

"And in the daylight we can hitchhike to Maine. 

I hope that someday I'll see with out these frames,

And in the daylight I don't pick up my phone,

Because in the daylight anywhere feels like home."

MATT AND KIM - DAYLIGHT 

 

Have you ever imagined yourself just sitting down and dream about forgetting everything?  Now, how often does that actually get to happen?

I've always had trouble with just letting my mind wonder.  It's always been one task after another.  Maybe that's one of the things I dislike most about myself, my inability to forget, even if it's just for a nano-second.  It's also one of the reason why sitting here in this booth right now next to Johnny that my mind keeps going back to writing.

Erica and Johnny wouldn't understand.  They don't even like to read half the time.  Books are some sort of kryptonite to them.  It's not hard to find out why.

Erica has family issues, some what like me.  Erica never knew her father.  He is said to have left days before her mother gave birth to her.  Her mother raised Erica all by herself for nine short years until she died one day of lung cancer.  Her mother never smoke a cigarette one day in her life, but she'd always been surrounded by those who have.  Erica was close to her mom.  Her mom was the kind of strong woman that would help Erica with homework and make her after school snacks.  Her mom was the type of person who would tuck her in at night and read her stories.  Her favorite one used to be about Cinderella.  The way Cinderella came from a poor neglected life and ended up marrying a prince inspired her.  She used to figure that if Cinderella could do it, so could she.  Now, Erica's mother is dead, she doesn't read anymore, and she certainly doesn't believe fairytales.

I look up at her.  She's frowning down at something on her menu.  With her nearly black hair and her dark aqua eyes, Erica looks nothing like her foster family.  It was one of the things that had first confused me.  I remember when I met her foster parents and brother.  They have this generic beach blond hair and hazel eyes that reminded you of autumn.  It wasn't until two weeks afterwards that Erica and Johnny finally told me that they weren't her real family.

Johnny.  I look at him sitting next to me.

His real name was really Johnny, it was Johnathan, but he never took a liking to the name.  If you ask me, I don't think it suits him.  Johnathan sounds so serious, one thing that he definitely isn't.  Johnny's one of those people that live for a laugh.  No day would be worth waking up for if it didn't involve laughter somehow.  He's a really sweet guy.  I feel bad for him sometimes.  His father, like mine, works from dawn to dusk, and even when he's not on the clock.  His mother left his father when Johnny's little sister, Ariel, was just three.  That's one thing the three of us all have in common.  We're mother less.  

On my first day at regular high school I'd walked into the school's gym feeling utterly alone.  All students are required to go to the gym before school starts each day.  I'd looked around at all the people that surrounded me.  Some were laughing and chatting with their friends, while others were reading or drawing.  Some were even sleeping.  Word had spread around school before I came that the daughter of a rich CEO and famous writer would be attending.  They'd also heard she'd had problems from her old school that did not need to be addressed.  You could imagine their surprise when I walked in, or their lack of surprise, that is.  No one even noticed me.  I don't know if they expected this goddess looking girl in million dollar clothes, but that was one thing I was definitely not.  I remember being nervous to sit anywhere, when Johnny ran up to me out of the blue, gave me a gigantic welcome hug, and dragged me over to his small group of friends, which of course include Erica.  Ever since then we have been almost inseparable.