Under a Bed of Tulips: Ch1 Pt2

As I snap out of my daydream, I figure that I need to call her brother John. He picks her up from the library after work everyday so he might of picked her up today and she might be stuck at his apartment. She hates being stuck there with him and Jenny, his long-time girlfriend. They have been together for almost a year and a half now and have been living together for about 2 months. She says his apartment looks like a bunch of colorblind girls live there. She says that Cheryl would have a stroke because of everything clashing. I hate to admit it, but, I would PAY to see her reaction. But since we're such loving friends, we don't tell her what kind of a color mayhem lived there. She would always beg us to tell her what its like over there at his "pad" as she puts it. She's always wanted to see his place, or really any excuse to see him. Yes, John is unfortunately another one of Cheryl's crushes she fantasizes about. And we have to hear about them constantly at lunch. No wonder Roni doesn't eat lunch. Fantasies about her brother is the last thing she wants to hear about, especially at lunch. Even though her brother was kinda attractive. Though the last time she told bout one of her little "dreams", Roni turned about three shades of green and passed her sack lunch towards us to raid through before she chunked it in the garbage can.

I dialed his number. It rang twice and then someone picked up.

"Hello?" It was a female voice that wasn't Roni's, so I knew it had to be Jenny.

"Umm..hi; is John there?"

"May I ask who's calling?"

"Just tell him it's Anna; he should know who I am."

"Well...I just think you might need to call back later sweetie."

"Is he not there?"

"Well he's around but he's kinda busy."

"I think he can hold off on whatever he's doing and talk to me. It's really important that I talk to him now."

"Well you're gonna wait awhile then."

"I need to talk to him now! What part of that don't you understand? Where is he?"

"Somewhere out of the cord's reach. And don't talk to me like that!" I heard a door open in the background and a male voice, most likely John. "What did you say your name is? Anna? Anna what? I don't know any Annas and neither does John so don't call back here Anna whatever-your-last-name-is. I don't care what your business is with John, but leave us alone!" And then she hung up on me. About a minute later, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Anna, It's John."

"O hey John."

"First, I want to apologize for Jenny. She doesn't like any females calling up asking for me; especially if she doesn't really know them. She just gets a bit...testy. So she said you needed to speak to me?"

"Yea. Have you talked to Roni today any?"

"Well, I did after school. I called her up and saw if she needed a ride home or not. She said she had stuff she had to do after school so no. I knew it was you all's girl thing tonight so I thought she would go after work to your place. Is everything ok?"

"Yea I was just wondering if she was with you because she isn't here yet. But probably just running behind. I'll call her cell in a sec to see what's going on. And don't apologize for her; it's okay. I know she doesn't like me at all and I don't really care." We both laugh at this because we both knew it was kinda true.

"Well, we all know how she is sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

"Hey! Be nice. Just because she isn't the sweetest person to you doesn't mean you shouldn't either."

"Ok ok, you win. But you have to admit-she does have her days..."

"Yeah-"

"that turns into weeks and then months and then years, and that brings us to where we are now."

"The same old Anna. Well don't cause anymore chaos than necessary and I've got to go finish fixing the wall. And if you need me later, you all know the number."

"But what if Jenny picks up again?" I ask teasingly.

"Be nice. My last warning. But I don't know why I even bother; you didn't hear my first one, so what makes me think you'll hear my last one? Well a man can hope can't he?" We both laugh at this.

"Come again? I wasn't paying attention to you. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Alright, I'll TRY to be nice. See my emphasis on the word 'TRY'? And speaking of the wall, what happened to it?"

"It......it um....it's a long story. But I need to get back. So have fun. I guess that's safe to say. Well at least to an extent. But there are some cases-"

"You're rambling again John."

"Sorry. Bye."

"Bye."

That boy could always crack me up with his rambling. But he only did it when he was worrying, mainly about us. I'm just like a sister to him, since I've known Roni for a while and because of all the time we spend together hanging out. I remember the first time Roni told him about going out with James. She said he would not shut up. And that he used up 80 of her minutes just trying to convince her that teenage boys are evil creatures. That they've always got one thing on their mind 24/7 and that makes them labeled as untrustworthy horny little dogs. And when she found out and broke up with James, she was heartbroken and crying when she arrived at her brother's place. She said that he tried to console her. But mainly it was an attempt to do his little 'I told you SO' thing without her not noticing it wasn't concern he was showing rather feeling like a Know-it-all and kinda rubbing it in her face. She saw through it but didn't care. She just wanted someone there with her that she trusted that wouldn't hurt her.

Ok, I have to think who might have seen her in her last peri- OMG! Maire! She saw Roni after school today. Me and my stupid forgetful self. Now I remember. Marie caught her out in the hall by her locker after class right before she made her way through the doors. Her and Roni have a history exam next week some time.

I pick up my phone to call her. Her phone number was so easy to remember. If you've ever heard the song by Tommy Tutone, 867-5309/Jenny's number, you had most of her number already memorized. Just change the 9 on the end to 3 and she should pick up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Marie?"

"Yes"

"This is Anna."

"O hey Anna. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just another day."

"At least it's a friday."

"Amen to that. But the reason I called was, did Roni tell you where she was going after school today?"

"Um..let me think. I stopped her in the hallway right after the bell rang to ask her what chapters the test is on, which is 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 because I know you don't pay attention anyway. And we were talking about our Spanish project while walking towards the doors to outside. What's weird is, the next thing she does is cut me off mid-way through my idea for her to do a project on, which she asked for, to say: 'I have to go. I have to go meet a friend. I'll see ya.' And then just left me there by myself looking stupid. I don't know about you, but someone needs to work on her people skills a little bit more. But what can you do? It happens. I figured you guys were waiting on her and she was running late."

"Sorry about that. And I actually pay attention in history thank you very much!"

"Well, I figured you never were considering the fact you were always doing something in your notebook never looking up, or daydreaming throughout the entire class. What do you dream about anyway? I know it couldn't be anything history related especially after today when half way through your little fantasy, you looked as if Mr. Dreamboat came and swept you off your feet from the big grin you were sporting around for about 20 minutes straight. Who is he? And don't say it's isn't a guy because I'm not stupid."

"You know what? You are right. I do daydream a lot in class. But not about a guy."

"Whatever you say. I wish you would stop denying it."

"Denying what?"

"I bet I know who the subject your little day dreams are."

"O really? Humor me. Who could I possibly be lying about?'

"I bet that your little Cassanova is none other than Aaron. I know you have the hots for him but you just keep denying for some reason. I don't know why; probably your pride. Am I right so far?"

"Nope not even close."

"Liar."

"I'm serious. One: I don't like Aaron in anyway, shape, fashion, or form. Two: I have no reason to deny something when it's not even close to true. And Three: My pride doesn't get in the way of anything I do."

"You're good I have to admit but I can see past it into what you're really thinking."

"Will you just drop it?"

"Sure, sure."

"You aren't going to drop it are you?"

"Not a chance. But I won't talk about for awhile. But maybe you need to watch out when you're day-dreaming. People might jump to conclusions-"

"Marie, I have to go. Bye"

"Well I never! I guess it is spreading. I told-" and then I hung up not wanting to hear the rest of her speech towards me. Man, these people around here love to chat on and on without taking a breath it seems.

Well, Marie was right on the pride thing; it does become a nuisance after awhile. But there's just something in the back of my mind the won't go away. Marie is a very smart girl and is usually always right, was wrong about something. Something that didn't hit me until now. She said that Roni said she had to go meet a friend thinking it was us. But Marie was wrong; it wasn't us.