“How are you feeling?” I asked him. “This has all been rough on you, too.”
“I never felt that kind of fear before.” He let out a breath. “I guess when it happened, I didn’t know what to do.” He looked at me and shook his head. “I just froze, and I’m sorry I didn’t do more. When Tia saw me, it felt like I couldn’t breathe. It felt like I was trying to catch my breath, so I disappeared.”
“I think that’s the me in you.” I sat up. “It’s called an anxiety attack.”
“Ahh, so that’s what it feels like.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, I let you down.”
“You never let me down.”
He smiled, and so did I. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep after that.
Chapter 18
I managed to wake up by eleven, and didn’t feel like waiting around the house all day for an update. I knew Clay was there, but he wanted me out of the house too. I needed to keep myself busy. Tia wanted me to go to school, so I ended up meeting her in the cafeteria during lunch.
“They home yet?” she asked me.
“They should be home this afternoon,” I replied, then bit into a burger. “Apparently Nan is excited to meet her granddaughter. They’re doing some tests, but her memory seems to be holding onto new things.”
“Is that because of…him?” Tia’s eyes lit up.
“I think so.” I smiled. She smiled back.
“Bobby’s party is tonight, are you going?” Tia followed up.
I sighed. “I don’t know. Parties were never really my thing.”
“Oh, c’mon. You said I could be your plus one.”
“I know, I know. But I might just want to chill.”
“Big city girl doesn’t want to hit up Yarmouth parties? They’re a different kind of animal.”
“You’re not doing the best at selling this,” I said with a giggle.
“You could bring your friend.” Tia raised an eyebrow.
I shook my head. “That’s an awful idea.”
“I think he would be a great party trick.”
“Tia, Clay isn’t a trick.”
“I know, I know,” she said. “But he must be bored staying inside all day.”
I paused to consider how well Tia was taking the whole ‘Oh my God you have a real life imaginary friend’ thing. That didn’t mean I was ready—more specifically, it didn’t mean he was ready—to be broadcasted to the rest of the world. But I thought about it. Would taking Clay to a party be a terrible mistake? Probably, but it did give me an idea. Maybe he didn’t have to physically be there in order to enjoy it.
Tia went to her class and I made my way to my locker. I walked past room 409. Grampy’s classroom. It had been weeks, but still the sticky notes papered his door. I approached them but couldn’t read any of them. It would be too much. Something inside me wanted to open the door, walk around the room, get a scent of him, and see where he had spent most of his time away from home. I wanted to sit in the chair at his desk. Before I knew it, my hand was on the doorknob.
“Hey, Anna.”
I turned around. Bobby. He had his hair slicked back and was wearing a button-up shirt.
“Hi, Bobby.” I sighed, letting go of the doorknob.
He looked shy, and I could tell he had a crush on me, but he was way too dude-bro to be my type. Besides, he had made me miserable about my name. I couldn’t get past that.
“Are you still down to come to my party tonight?”
“I’m not sure, I might be—”
“You won’t want to miss it!” he cut me off. “It’s gonna be LIT!” He really empathized on the lit part. “Everyone is gonna be there.”
“I don’t really know many people here.” I shrugged. “I don’t think I’ll be missing much.”
“It’ll be a good way to meet some folks.” He smiled.
I sighed. “Okay, I might go—on one condition: I can bring a guest.”
“Sure, bring whoever you want.”
I smiled sweetly. I couldn’t wait to see his face when he saw my guest would be Tia. She had told me that Bobby had made it a point to keep his distance from her. But hopefully bringing her would be double payback, not only for making me hate my own name, but also for using Tia to get back at his dumb ex.
“All right, I might be there.” I tried to contain my laughter.
He blushed for all the wrong reasons and said, “See you there!” and walked off.
I grabbed my phone and shot Tia a text.
Me: K, you win. We’re going.
Tia: Yes!!!!
I still owed her big time for everything she’d done for me, and maybe this was a start.
When I drove home after school I could see Mom’s van parked out front. She and Nan must be home. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I sat in my truck for a few minutes gathering my courage. When I made my way inside, Nan was sitting in the rocking chair. Mom was sitting on the steps getting some marking done.
“I was surprised to not see you here,” Mom said, looking up from her papers.
“I went to school.”
“Ahh, that’s new.” Mom smiled at me. “How was it?”
“Not too bad.” I paused. “Tia’s dragging me to a party tonight.”
“That might be good for you, to get out there and socialize.” Mom always held out hope that I would break out of my cocoon and turn into the social butterfly she was. I was doubtful, but at least one of us held faith.
“How’s Nan doing?” I looked over to the living room.
“Excited to be home!” she shouted from the living room. “Hospital food is a lot of things, but tasty is not one of them.”
I laughed and made my way into the living room. I was glad she’d kept her sense of humour; I shouldn’t have stayed away for so long. I guess after everything was said and done, she wasn’t a scary shell of herself.
