Souls in Peril (35 page)

“Okay.” Max didn
’
t really want to leave
. H
e even doubted what her father said until he verified it with the nurse.

It was six-thirty. If he hurried, he could get home and changed in time
to catch the
bus. He jogged to his house, making good time.
Mel
stood in the kitchen, making herself a PB and J sandwich
as he came in the front door.

“
Good morning
, sweetie. How
’
s Izzy?”

“
They took her to surgery. No visitors till tomorrow.
I wish I had a cell phone so I could check on her later,”
M
ax said,
half to himself.

“No cell phones, fat boy. You want one
, y
ou get a job.” Tim strutted in wearing a Farmer Joe
’
s t-shirt. He
’
d
finally
got
ten a
job.
Max didn
’
t bother pointing out Tim
’
s hypocritical statement.

“Timmy, please don
’
t talk to JD like that. He
’
s sensitive.” She stroked
Max
’
s
head.

“You mean spoiled. The lazy lump doesn
’
t do anything around here, Mel. Why can
’
t he get a job?
” Tim shoved Max out to the way to
mak
e
himself a sandwich.

“He
’
s tried, but he hasn
’
t had any luck.” Tim sneered but
said nothing
.

Mel slipped her sandwich in her purse
as a small gray Prius pulled up in front of the house.
“There
’
s my ride. Have a good day.” She gave Max a kiss on the cheek. When she kissed Tim, he slapped h
er playfully on the butt. “Stop.
JD
’
s in the room,” she said with a giggle.

Max wanted to throw-up. He
’
s seen his parents flirting with each other, but watching Tim made him want to join a monastery.

“Your mother coddles you, boy. You
’
re lazy.” Too tired to bother with
him
, Max
w
ent and got in the shower.
Thankfully
,
Tim left before
he got out. He dressed and ran out the door
, finding
Emma sitting out front
,
waiting for him
in her car
.

“Want a ride?” She smiled
and
his heart melted.

“Sure. Thanks.” He got in, setting his backpack in the rear seat.

“I figured you
’
d be worried about Izzy and could use some company
.
” She handed him a small paper bag. Max recognized the small brown bag instantly.
She
’
d
bought
him a bagel from
Bagel Heaven
.

“Oh, man. I love this place.” He tore open the sack and pulled
it out
; a
whole wheat
bagel
with garlic
,
and low-fat
cream cheese.

“This is my favorite kind.” He sunk his teeth into
it
and groaned.

“I took a chance. It was Max
’
s favorite too, and since you two have so much in common
,
I hoped you
’
d like it too,” she beamed proudly. “I h
a
ven
’
t bought one of those since . . .
well,
you know
. Anyway, it was kind of fun getting to buy one again.”

“Well don
’
t let me stop you from having fun.” He ate the bagel way too quickly
, loving every bite
.

S
he pulled into her usual parking space
at school
. “
JD,
I
’
m sure you
’
ll
want to call and check on Izzy throughout the day, so here.” She handed him her phone. “Just don
’
t get caught,” she warned.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. It
’
s not like I can use it. I
’
ll get it from you after school when we go by the hospital to see
her
.”

“Thanks. I
’
m not sure she can have visitors
though
, but we can check.” Max slipped the phone into his pocket.
“See you at lunch.”

The day dragged. Even eating lunch with Em did little to speed things up. He
’
d called the hospital
twice
, but each
time
her father told him she hadn
’
t come out yet.
Not until he checked
after sixth period,
did he find out
she was
in recovery and doing great.
As predicted, she
’d be in
the
intensive care
unit
until tomorrow.

“Okay, thank you
,
Mr.
Thurston.” Relieved, he
tracked down Em before the bell for seventh period and told her.

“JD, that
’
s
great.” She hugged him. The hug caught Max by surprise, and he didn
’
t get
the chance
to hug her back.
He handed her the phone and she tucked it in her purse.

“I think we should celebrate. It
’
s Friday, which means no school tomorrow, obviously. Why don
’
t you come over and we
’
ll order pizza and watch movies?” she offered.

“Sure. That sounds like fun.” He was going on a date with Em.
If
JD had
known how, Max
w
ould have done a backflip.

“It won
’
t be a ton of fun. My parents are going out, which means my little brother will be there.”

“That
’
s
cool
. I like Noah.” Okay
,
not a date, but a night of pizza and movies with Emma McKay was still great.

“See you after school.” Max watched as she headed for her next class.

The kid who squirted root beer all over him walked by, laughing. “Dude, she is way out of your league.” He shook his head and
strolled
away.

But not even an obnoxious ten
th
-grade
r
could bring him down today. Izzy
’
s surgery went well, and he
’d
spend
the evening with the hottest
cheerleader in all of New York, quite possibl
y
the world.

After school, they went straight to her house. With time to kill before dinner, Em asked him to show her some more
tricks
, as she called them, on the computer.

“Em, they
’
re not
tricks.
The things I
’
ve
show
n
you are how you work the program,” he laughed.

“Whatever,” she waved her hands at him. “Show me again how to insert
s
mart
p
ictures
.
” She sat down at the computer next to him.

“
SmartArt
you mean?” he grinned.

“Keep teasing me
,
and I
’
ll make sure they put anchovies on your half of the pizza
.
”
S
he smiled
innocently.

“Hello you two. I brought your little brother and the pizza.” Bev held the back door open for Noah, who came in carrying two pizzas.

“Hey, JD. Hope you like anchovies.” Unlike his sister, he flashed a mischievous grin.

“Love
’
em!
 
Fish is an excellent source of protein, because
we both know that I
’
m training to be a cage fighter
,” Max
said
, quoting his favorite movie as he and Em went into the kitchen.

“
So,
Napoleon
,
how was school
?”
Noah quoted back, not missing a beat.

“
The worst day of my life, what do you think
?” Max answered in his best
Napoleon Dynamite
voice.

“Man, I love that movie,” Noah said, stuffing a large slice of pizza in his mouth.

Max nodded, to
o
busy filling his mouth to answer.

“Why don
’
t we watch it tonight? I haven
’
t seen
Napoleon Dynamite
in over a year.” Em sat down next to Max and
picked up a bread stick.

Max thought about the last time they
’
d watched it. It
was
on their one year anniversary. The local theater offered a one day showing to help stimulate lagging summer sales. As they watched, they repeatedly quoted lines from the movie to each other, annoying several people around them. They moved to the back row to keep from being kicked out of the theater. And it was easier to sneak in some kissing there.

Em took the boxes of pizza into the family room as her parents left for a dinner date.
“Don
’
t start the movie without me. I need to take a shower.”
Noah shoved half a slice of pizza in his mouth.

“Noah, take one after,” Em complained.

“
Ugh
,
Gosh
,” Max quoted.

Noah laughed.
“No way. I smell like you
r
gym shoes.” He darted out of the room, narrowly escaping the TV remote she
chucked
at him.

“My gym shoes do not stink.” She
picked up
the remote and sat down next to him. Max smiled but said nothing. Noah had it right. Her gym sho
e
s did smell pretty bad.

“I
’
ve been working on a photo journal. Want to see it?” She asked.

“Sure.”

Emma went to her room, returning with a large twelve inch by twelve inch photo album. She sat next to Max and opened the book to the first page. “These are tickets to a movie Max an
d
I went to on our first
official
date.” She mounted them in the book alongside a miniature movie poster.

“Where did you get that?”
M
ax pointed to the poster.

“
I printed it off the web
. See, I
’
m learning,” she beamed.

She had flyers from all the school dances they attended, tickets from the varies plays and movies they
’
d seen, and pictures. Dozens of pictures. Some mounted, some waiting to be mounted.

“
This is
Max throwing the
final
pitch of the season last year
.
A
nd this one is of the team carrying him on their shoulders after they won,” she said proudly.

“I remember that game. It was awesome.” For just a moment, Max was back in time reliving that moment.

“You were at the game too, JD?”

“Yes
.
”
F
ront and center
.

When Noah clumped down the stairs, Em quickly closed the book and slipped it under the couch. “Shh. He
’
ll tell my parents.”

The fact that her parents didn
’
t let her talk about him
got
on his nerves. He nodded, but said nothing.