Read My Forever Friends Online

Authors: Julie Bowe

My Forever Friends (13 page)

BOOK: My Forever Friends
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Brooke too.
Silently.
Sometimes even seven girls can't think of one thing to say.
Chapter 13
“Ida!” Rachel calls to me as she runs into the hospital waiting room. Not the hospital where Mrs. Drews is. We already left there and drove to another hospital with my dad and Mr. Drews. This one has a special nursery for babies who get born too soon. “I got to see the baby!”
“He's not
the baby
anymore, Rachel,” Jenna says, pushing up the sleeves on the blue smock she's wearing over her clothes. Rachel is wearing one too. “His name is Tyler.”
“Oops,” Rachel says. “I forgot. Jenna got to pick his first name and I got to pick his second one. Any name I wanted as long as it wasn't Biscuit.”
I give Rachel a smile. “Which one did you pick?”
“James,” Rachel says. “Daddy told me that was my grandpa's name. And when we called Mommy she said it would be a keeper. Plus, there's a nice boy named James in my class. Sometimes he lets me and Tess play connect-the-dots with his arm freckles. We make hearts and stars and flowers even!”
“Lovely,” Jenna says, rolling her eyes.
“You should see him, Ida!” Rachel continues. “Tyler, I mean. He's tiny like a baby bird! Well, not
that
tiny, but still, he's very small for a person. And guess what? He doesn't have one bit of clothes on, but he's not cold because it's nice and warm inside his escalator.”
“Incubator,”
Jenna corrects her.
Rachel nods. “He's red and skinny and he's got wires and tubes and—”
“That's enough, Rachel,” Jenna says. “You're making him sound like a robot. Besides, Ida can see Tyler for herself.”
“Really?” I say. “I'm allowed to go in there?”
“No,” Jenna replies. “Family members only in the
NICU
.” She straightens her smock. “
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,
in case you didn't know. But my dad took a picture on his cell phone.”
Jenna walks over to where Mr. Drews and my parents are talking. She takes her dad's phone and clicks up a picture of the three of them—Jenna, Rachel, and Tyler in his incubator.
Rachel was right. He
is
tiny. And red. And skinny. Wires are taped to his chest. A tube goes into his nose. His eyes are covered with patches.
“Those are to protect him from the light,” Jenna explains.
Rachel giggles. “Daddy says he's a baby pirate!”
Jenna frowns. “He's not a baby anything, Rachel. He's just a baby.
Our
baby.”
 
It's dark and drizzly when we finally leave the hospital. Mr. Drews is staying behind. Jenna and Rachel are spending the night with us. Their grandma is coming tomorrow to stay with them until things calm down again.
We stop at the Purdee Good for something to eat. Lots of people we know are there. Even Brooke's family. Mom and Dad tell them about Tyler. Before long a little crowd is gathered around our table.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Brooke's mom asks.
“Nothing at the moment,” Mom replies. “They say it's going to be one day at a time until he reaches a healthy weight.”
“It's lucky they managed to hold off the birth as long as they did,” Stacey's mom says.
“Very lucky,” Dad replies. “Any earlier and—” He glances at me, Jenna, Rachel, and Brooke. “Well, let's just say, that's one lucky little guy.”
Brooke's dad rubs his chin and does a low whistle. “Think of the bills,” he says.
All the grown-ups nod.
Brooke ducks her chin and glances at Jenna.
Jenna taps the table with her spoon.
The drizzle turns into rain as we head to Jenna and Rachel's house to get their pajamas and toothbrushes and Biscuit. Rachel is conked out when we get there. Me and Jenna grab an umbrella and take Biscuit to the backyard so he can run around while Mom packs up their stuff. Dad waits in the car with Rachel while she sleeps.
“Still want to take that walk?” I ask Jenna, glancing at her little woods. I do a half smile so she'll know I'm kidding.
“No way,” she says. “Bears are impossible to see at night. They have very dark hair, you know. Thick hair, too, so a little rain isn't going to keep them from prowling around.”
“I was just joking,” I say. “But, anyway, I don't think bears live in this neighborhood.”
Jenna grips the umbrella tighter. “You don't know everything, Ida.”
I look away. “Nope,” I say quietly. “I don't. But I'd rather not know everything than be a know-it-all.”
Jenna turns and squints at me under the umbrella. “What's that supposed to mean?”
I shrug. “Just that it's okay to know lots of stuff without always reminding people that you know it. Take Tom Sanders, for instance. Everyone knows he's the smartest kid in our class, but I've never heard him tell anyone. He just . . . shows it.” I look away again. “Showing is friendlier than telling.”
The umbrella tips a little and drops of rain splash against my cheek.
“I'm just as smart as Tom Sanders,” Jenna mumbles.
“Mmm-hmm,” I reply. “I know. Even without you telling me.”
Mom calls my name from the doorway. Jenna scoops up Biscuit. We head to the car.
 
 
Mom and Dad get Rachel settled in our spare bedroom. I find an old towel and rub the rain off Biscuit while Jenna unrolls a sleeping bag next to my bed.
She teeters over it for a minute and then sits down hard, like she fell from a tree. Her shoulders shake and tears spill from her eyes.
“Jenna, what's wrong?” I ask, letting Biscuit go and tossing the towel aside. “Are you worried about Tyler?”
Jenna's chin trembles. She squeezes her eyes shut, but the tears still trickle out. “I'm the unluckiest girl in the world,” she says, her voice all quivery. “I wished that Brooke and I would stop being enemies. We haven't. I wished my parents would stop fighting. They haven't. I wished we wouldn't have to worry so much about money. We still do. I even wished that . . . that . . . Tyler would never be
born!
”
A sound comes from Jenna's throat like a door creaking open. “But he
did
get born and now he'll know I wished it!” She sinks all the way down and sobs into her sleeping bag. “He'll
hate
me. Just like Rachel. Just like Brooke. Just like everyone.”
Biscuit whimpers and sniffs Jenna's arm. She pushes him away.
“Tyler doesn't even know how to burp yet,” I say. “He doesn't know how to hate you. Neither does Rachel. Remember how she ran right to you when we found out your parents were at the hospital?” I pet Biscuit and let him lick my hand. “People hardly ever hug you if they hate you. Plus, I don't hate you. I bet Brooke doesn't either. Nobody does.”
Jenna cries louder. “J-just g-go away!” she stammers. “L-leave me alone!”
But I don't go.
I stay.
And keep talking.
“I didn't hear your parents fight one bit at the hospital. And I'm sure they'll figure out the money part. Grown-ups are in charge of that stuff.”
Biscuit sniffs Jenna's arm again.
She's crying too hard to stop him.
“You're Tyler's big sister now,” I continue. “Rachel is too. Give him a chance. He'll be crazy about both of you.”
Jenna buries her face deeper in the sleeping bag, sniffling and taking big jagged breaths.
I just sit there and rub Biscuit's belly and listen to Jenna cry until they both fall asleep.
Chapter 14
Jenna and Rachel's grandma comes just after the rain stops the next morning. I watch from my bedroom window as they drive down the wet street. One stop at Jenna's house to drop off Biscuit and then they're heading to the hospital.
I think about Jenna and Rachel having to watch no-sound cartoons and draw in scribbledup coloring books all day. Sometimes family stuff is no fun.
There's something else I'm thinking about too. The secret in Jenna's woods.
“It's probably nothing much,” I say, glancing at George. “Just some old wind chimes hanging in a tree, right?”
George doesn't answer. He just stares out the window, toward Jenna's house.
I look out the window again and tilt my head so I can see the treetops in Jenna's woods. The sun is peeking through the clouds now, but I still can't see any secrets hidden underneath the trees.
“But if it's just wind chimes, why would she promise to keep them a secret? It has to be something bigger. Big enough to share with her best friend.”
Her best friend
.
“That's not Brooke anymore, George. That's me.” I think for a moment. About how things have changed lately, with Jenna and Stacey and the other girls. And all the time I've been spending with Jenna. And how much time Stacey's been spending with Brooke. “Maybe Stacey isn't my only best friend anymore. Maybe Jenna is too.”
I pick up George and study his smile. “I'm going to Jenna's woods. It won't be like I'm sneaking around, because she already invited me. Do you want to come along?”
George glances away. He's not a big fan of nature.
“Okay then,” I say, setting him down. “I'll go by myself.”
When I get to Jenna's house I ring the doorbell to make sure they've already left for the hospital. Biscuit comes running and barking. His claws scratch against the door with each jump, like he's trying to open it and let me in.
“It's just me, Biscuit!” I call, cupping my hands against the door. “Ida May! Jenna's friend?
Calm down.
I don't need to come inside. I already know the way.”
Biscuit stops jumping and starts whining.
I scoot around back and head into the woods.
The crooked path looks more trampled than the last time I saw it. Like someone has walked down it recently. Maybe Jenna? But how could she? She's been at school or my house or the hospital since Thursday.
“Probably just squirrels,” I say, darting my eyes back and forth between the sun-speckled trees.
“Or rabbits.”
I gulp.
“Or very small bears.”
I walk down the crooked path as quietly as I can, secretly wishing someone was with me. Even a stuffed monkey. Scary feelings are easier to take when you can share them with a friend.
I climb over a damp log.
And turn two corners.
Then I gasp.
“Oh wow,” I whisper.
And gasp again.
There's a little clearing at the end of the crooked path. A big tree is in the center of it. It has four thick branches, like elephant legs, angling up out of the trunk. A tree house sits in the center of the branches, about halfway up to the sky.
It must be an old tree house, because the green paint on its walls is mostly chipped away. A branch is growing right through the mossy roof. Wind chimes clink in an open window. Another set hangs from a rung on the ladder that leads from the ground to a trapdoor in the floor. Bolts. Screws. Sticks. String. The same wind chimes Jenna made with me.
“A Little House in the Big Tree,” I say. “Jenna's secret.”
An acorn falls from the open trapdoor.
Shoots
from it, actually. Like some rude squirrel spit it out. It ping-pongs down the ladder and then bounces to my feet.
I hear a swishing sound and look at the doorway again.
It's not the swish of a squirrel tail.
It's a bigger swish.
Much bigger.
Do bears have tails? Can they climb ladders?
Suddenly, I can't remember.
Swish! Swishhhh!
More acorns fly. Leaves. Twigs. Sticks.
I stumble back, my eyes glued to the tree house and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.
Run!
My brain shouts to my feet.
Runrunrun!
But the message only gets as far as the knot in my stomach. My eyes and my tongue and my feet stay put.
A shape flashes past the window. Tall, with long dark hair.
Bear
hair.
I turn and make myself run. But not for long, because there are roots everywhere and one of them trips me. Trees can be like that sometimes.
I fall to the ground and taste wet leaves.
Randi was right.
They're not so good.
“You're trespassing,” I hear someone say.
I glance up, half expecting to see a talking bear standing over me.
Brooke frowns down from a window in the tree house.
“I . . . I . . . I . . .” I stammer, sitting up and spitting leaves. “I . . . thought you were . . . a
bear
.”
BOOK: My Forever Friends
6.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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