Beside Myself
Ch. 1
All alone. I should be used to it
now. But what can I say? It does nothing but bother me.
My sister Claire and my mother fought again. Claire was yelling
because mom didn't let her go to the mall with her best
friend Joslin. Who cares about the mall? It's boring, and all
you do is shop. My friends like it, and keep forcing me to go
with them.
I flip on the TV. No use wasting this valuable alone time.
Commercials. Always, commercials. I flip through until I get to
Toddlers and Tiaras. My favorite show! I love watching little
girls get treated like barbie dolls.
This super crazy mom has a daughter with ADD. That's sad. I
don't like it when girls have disorders. Because then they
think they're not beautiful.
I watch about another 20 minutes of it when my friend Bethaney
calls.
"Yeah? What's up Beth?"
"Oh Renee you won't believe this!" Bethaney
squeals.
"What? What is it?" I ask.
"Johnny just asked me out for pizza! I'm leaving in an
hour! Oh what should I wear? What do I say?" Bethaney
trills.
"Beth, relax! Wear something casual yet cute. And I thought
Johnny was dating Sally!" I joke.
"Oh, stop that Renee! I would have asked you to come
shopping with me earlier, but you know, you hate it."
"Oh...who cares? You have enough clothes."
"Uh, excuse me? Do you even speak girl? We never have enough
clothes!" Bethaney stresses.
"Well, ANYWAY, how did he even get the guts to ask
you out?"
"I don't know! But he called at noon and I had a
spoonful of Spaghetti O's in my mouth so I sounded like a
complete fool but he understood and I guess he got really nervous
because it took him a whole half hour to ask me and
when he finally did, I was like 'SURE!!' and then I hung
up and finished my lunch and took a nap and woke up and watched
some T.V. and I called you and here we are!"
I felt like going to bed after that whole thing. See, Bethaney
has a habit of talking too fast.
"Whew! Well, I'm happy for you! Say, where are you guys
going?"
"Bizzy's Pizza, why?"
I take a deep breath. It's a long jump, but I remember
Johnny, and my feelings for him.
"I want to come with you."
The silence that follows on the phone is almost
eerie.