Chapter 7 - Revisiting Bygone Days

Math was the period before Study Hall. I felt prepared. Last night had been fruitful and I had gone to bed satisfied about my knowledge.

The school bus was packed with students, some of them with their heads buried in Math books. Some looked like they hadn’t slept for days. I guess we all were making a big deal of this Math quiz, but it was the first of the second semester and it was an opportunity to start all anew and correct last semester’s bad grades.

We four seemed to be the only people with no books in hand. Tumi, I noticed, was awfully quiet. Her parents had returned from their trip and I knew that it was definitely something to do about that. She didn’t say anything, so I didn’t either.

The bus always got us an hour early to school. So we sat at the desks in Study Hall, just goofing around. Suddenly, I heard sobbing. I turned to face Tumi who was sitting beside me. Nicky and Jaden were at her table in a flash.
"Tumi?" I said softly. Her head was buried in her hands. "Tumi, look up."
Nicky and Jaden were quiet. Men. Obviously, they expected me to handle the situation myself.
"Tumi?" I tried again.
"Dee," Tumi said in between her sobs.
"Yeah, come on, look up, tell me," I said, stroking her hair and taking a Kleenex out of my bag.
"Dee," Tumi said, looking at me with terrified eyes. "My parents...," she said, looking around at all of us, gathering up the courage to say whatever she had to say next. I didn’t know what to expect. Nicky and Jaden were kneeling down near her table, staring at her with wide-open eyes.
"My parents... are getting separated," Tumi said, shuddering with fresh sobs.
I was wordless. So were Nicky and Jaden. I didn’t know what to do or what to say, except hug her and say absolutely nothing. Jaden and Nicky hugged her too and so there we were, a big ball of people, not knowing what to say or what to do, just assure Tumi in our own little way, that we were there for her and will always be.

Nicky let go. "Tumi?"
"Nicky," she said, her voice thick.
"I have been through all this. Let’s be optimistic, it’s only a separation, not the ultimate divorce. Maybe, after the trip, they came to the conclusion that they just need a break from each other."
"Thanks, Nicky," Tumi said smiling a small smile.
"These adults can be so selfish sometimes. They tend to think only of themselves. Tumi, don’t let them ruin your life. Show them that you are not affected and go on with your life. Tumi, remember, this can only make you stronger. And, I promise you Tumi, we will always be there for you. I know we can never take your parents’ place, but we’ll always be there for you. That is my promise," I said, tears rolling down my cheeks.
"I promise," said Jaden.
"I promise too," said Nicky.
"Thanks, you guys," Tumi said, smiling. "I don’t know what I’d do without you all."
"Tumi, let’s leave this behind us. Just tell yourself that whatever happens, you won’t let it affect you and you’ll do everything you can to enjoy yourself and have fun. Whatever you want, call us anytime. Right now, let’s concentrate on the test we have and in the evening, let’s do our homework at my place. All right?" questioned Jaden with a very serious look.
"Jaden, that’s sounds great," Tumi said, getting up and squeezing us all with a giant
bear hug. "Bell rings in five minutes, lets get our books," said Tumi.
"Our Tumi’s back!" I yelled, opening the door for her.

So, it happened. Tumi’s parents have separated with her father staying at the house near the Huron River. Nothing more to say about it. School went on as usual with our Math quiz in the end. It was good, we all agreed. Results were coming tomorrow.

After school, we hung out at Jaden's with pizza and ginger beer, watching our favorite TV shows, after which we did our homework. Tumi seemed her normal self, and knowing her, I knew she had made up her mind to not let the matter bring her down. And, I knew we were helping to take her mind off things.

I was glad to get back home with nothing to do. A whole free evening. Nicky’s mother, stepfather and him were going out to dinner. Vincent was at school in detention for misbehaving in class. George’s father could be very strict at times. He was also fuelled by the fact that Vincent had let Nicky get all the blame. Jaden and his parents were going to Maytown to visit an aunt they hadn’t seen ever since Jaden’s first birthday. Tumi was at home... doing nothing.
"Hello, Tumi?" I asked, recognizing Tumi’s voice on the phone.
"Hi, Dee, what’s up?" Tumi asked. I knew she had made up her mind not to think about her parents and acted as if her life was just perfect and hassle free.
"Dee, I was thinking, since Nicky and Jaden have their own plans for tonight and we are the only ones idling at home-"
"You want me to sleepover at your place tonight?" Tumi always had this knack of guessing what was on my mind.
"Exactly. How does that sound?" I badly wanted her to say yes. We hadn’t had a sleepover in ages.
"Did you ask your parents?"
"No, you know that they wouldn’t mind. You want me to ask them?"
"Yeah, do that now." Tumi was so proper. She never wanted to be a nuisance to anyone.
"Ok, here goes," I said, taking the cordless with me to the kitchen.

"Mom, is it okay if Tumi stays the night here?"
Mom knew what Tumi’s parents were going through. She smiled. "Sure, Dee, tell her to come over." Mom gave me a thumbs up.
"You heard her, Tumi."
"Okay, I’ll come over."
"I’ll come and help you get your stuff. Bring your books and uniform. We’ll leave for school from here."
"All right, I’ll get my stuff ready." I heard Tumi smile.

I put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and was at Tumi’s in a jiffy. Her mother opened the door. Mrs. Montgomery hugged me with tears in her eyes.
"Thank you, Diane."
"It’s all right, Mrs. Montgomery, I will take care of Tumi," I said, tears rolling down my face.
"Thank you. I know you will. Don’t tell her about all this, okay," she asked, her face breaking into a sad smile as she wiped away her tears.
"I won’t."

Upstairs, Tumi was stuffing clothes into a bag. Her uniform was on a hanger. She put her shoes into a separate bag. She then opened her cupboard and took out an old bright pink box, which looked like a box that would hold jewelry. I knew that box very well. It contained beads of different colors and shapes. When we were small, it was our favorite game. We would spend hours and hours making brilliantly colored necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings. Then we’ll act like our mothers, grown-up, pretty women going shopping, wearing our mothers’ high heels, long dresses, hats and our ‘expensive diamond’ jewelry. We’ll take turns being the bride and get married behind the white lace curtains, which acted as the veil. We’d say our vows and put rings on each other’s fingers and have our first dinner as a married couple: chocolate chip cookies and milk. Then Nicky would join us and we’d forget our marriage and get on our bicycles and cycle to the park and play on the monkey bars. Nicky would push the both of us on the swings. He had always been like a brother we both shared.

I smiled. We were going to have a great night together. Back at my place, our parents stayed out of our way and the house seemed almost empty except for us.
"Why don’t we cook dinner and then watch Fools Rush In?" I asked Tumi, who was seated next to me on the swing-bench.
"Mathew Perry and Salma Hayek? Sure. I have watched it before but I sure won’t mind watching it again." It was just the kind of movie Tumi would enjoy watching.

We prepared vegetable noodles and mixed in eggs and prawns, all the while singing along to the tunes we loved, playing on the radio. She washed the vegetables and I chopped them up. She mixed everything up while I put together mashed potatoes and coleslaw. It felt great and stealing a glance at Tumi, I noticed that her parents were the last thing on her mind at the moment.

After popping some popcorn, I delivered some of the dinner we both prepared to my parents up in their bedroom. Tumi and I then settled on two quilts I had lain on the floor and watched Fools Rush In, while eating popcorn and sipping apple juice.
Triiing! The cordless next to me rang.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Hi, Dee!" Nicky said.
"Hi, Tumi’s here. We are having a sleepover."
"Cool, remember the times we all did that?"
"Yeah," I said smiling, recalling for the second time that evening, the good times we had had together. "Where are you?" I asked, hearing some noise in the background.
"We decided to visit one of George’s friends after dinner on the way home. Seeing the way things are going, we won’t be home before two. Could I speak to Tumi?"
"Sure," I said, handing the phone over to Tumi.

After a few minutes, Tumi handed me the phone. "He wants to speak to you."
"Yeah, tell me, Nicky."
"So you both are going to string beads late into the night?"
"You got that right!" I said, laughing.
"Shall we walk to school tomorrow? Let’s leave for school early. I want to spend some time in the park. You know how beautiful and fresh it looks in the morning." Nicky was thinking of the good old days too.
"Sure, Nicky, we’ll do that. I’ll tell Jaden to be ready by nine then?"
"Yeah, that will be good. Good night, Dee."
"Good night, Nicky."

After the movie, the both of us took our dinner outside to the swing-bench. Tumi ran upstairs to get the pink box. So for three hours straight, we sat on the swing-bench in the cool breeze of the night, stringing beads, eating dinner and talking of everything we could think of. It was so much like the old times. We talked about all the trouble we three had got into over the years, the times we spent in the tree house on Tumi’s uncle’s and aunt’s ranch, the times we had gone camping and the times the three of us had baked cookies for our parents. That had been messy. At the end, we were coated with batter and everything else that went into those cookies that it was surprising that there was anything else to put into the oven. The three of us had eaten most of the chocolate chips and finally forgot to add them into the cookie batter. That attempt at cookie baking turned out to be a total disaster.

After dinner, we showered, donned our pajamas and got into my bed. I then took out my nail manicure kit. Tumi took out candy bars, chocolates, chips, and biscuits out of her bag.
"Tumi, you glutton!" I screamed.
"Same to you, Dee!" she said flinging a pillow in my face. Then ensued a pillow fight and we both ended up on the floor exhausted and our sides hurting from laughing so much.

I went downstairs and got whip cream, chocolate syrup, jelly, honey and Pringles.
We both gorged and did each other’s nails. At about 3 a.m., we settled into bed and talked into the wee hours of the morning.

Everyone knows no one sleeps at a sleepover.