The Cat That Went to Homecoming (6 page)

Mom went off in the direction of the
restroom, and I waited until she was out of sight before I dug in
my purse for a pen and paper. I wanted to slip the security guard
my mom’s phone number, but then thought better of it. I didn’t want
to make my mom mad.

We made our way through the crowd to the main
stage and took our seats. It was packed to capacity, mostly young
women all dressed to catch attention. I thought they were rather
silly, I mean, if any girl actually thought the lead singer would
notice her in this crowd, she would have to be one very conceited
person!

This was my first live concert and for the
first time in my life my excitement seemed to override my anxiety.
I was so eager for the show to start that I was chewing my nails. I
wasn’t the least bit concerned about bumping into anyone I knew,
and didn’t notice Cindy Haskel pass by.

Apparently she noticed me because she stopped
and squeezed through the aisle of people to reach me.

“Ellen!” she said and reached out to hug me.
I was shocked by this and stiffened up. It must have felt to her as
if she were hugging a surf board!

“Hi Mrs. Jones, it’s nice to see you again.”
Cindy politely acknowledged my Mom.

“Well, hi, Cindy, I haven’t seen you in
years!” Mom said to Cindy, offering her a hug that was not stiff
like mine had been.

“I’m just heading to the snack stand for some
nachos, but on my way back, why don’t I grab you two and bring you
to our seats? Two people in our group didn’t show up so we have two
extra seats, and we are much closer to the stage than you are.”

“That sounds great!” Mom replied for us. This
terrified me. I thought I knew who the two missing people were, but
who else was in that group? I didn’t think I could go through with
this.

“Okay, see you guys in a little bit,” Cindy
said as she made her way out of our row.

I waited until she was out of earshot then
scolded my mom. “Why did you agree to sit with them? I can’t do it!
I don’t even know who else is with her.”

“Yes, you can,” Mom said, “and it doesn’t
matter who is with her. Loosen up Ellen and let yourself go. Have a
good time.”

Deep inside I knew it wouldn’t matter if I
was opposed to this or not, Mom was going to make me go sit with
Cindy and her group of friends. I already knew they were going to
laugh at me for being at a concert with my mom. I knew they would
be looking at my clothes and shoes. They would wait until we were
gone to start bashing me because they wouldn’t dare do it in front
of my mom, but it would happen. And just wait until they found out
who was responsible for Darcel and John’s eviction from the
grounds! Oh, I was doomed.

My one last hope was that Cindy would regret
her offer, and just bypass us on her way back to her seat. Not so.
She came back with nachos in hand and motioned for us to follow
her.

Mom and I made our way out of the row, Mom
looking happy and confident, me with a heart pounding so hard I was
sure it could be seen through my shirt.

Cindy led us to her row of seats, which were
definitely better seats than ours were. I scanned the row for
familiar faces to prepare myself, but I did not recognize anyone. I
felt a slight flitter of hope. We followed Cindy through the row to
three empty seats. I saw a boy and two girls around my age sitting
in the seats next to ours, but thankfully, I did not know any of
them.

Cindy introduced Mom and me to her friends.
It turned out that Cindy’s friends were members of her church youth
group, and they all volunteered together at a local food pantry.
She introduced us to Brandon, Sarah, and Margaret.

“Since Karen and Billy can’t make it, would
it be okay with you guys if I invited my friend Ellen and her mom
to join us?” Cindy asked the group

“Sure,” they all said in unison.

So, it wasn’t Darcel and John that were the
original seat owners. Whew! I felt much better.

Mom introduced herself. “Hi, guys. I’m
Ellen’s Mom, Mrs. Jones, but please, call me Kayla so I don’t feel
so old and out of place.”

“You don’t look old to me.” Brandon said as
he shook my mom’s hand.

Mom even had a way with the young men!

Mom smiled at him, and turned to me. “Ellen,
aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Awkward! Thanks Mom!

I stepped forward and offered a weak wave to
the three of them, “Hi, I’m Ellen.”

All three of them introduced themselves to
me, Brandon being the only one to shake my hand.

Mom made me sit next to Brandon, probably
some secret conspiracy on her part! We had a good half-hour before
the show was scheduled to start, so Mom engaged the group in
conversation. She asked about their volunteer work, and listened to
them talk. Then she blurted out, “Ellen is working on her own
volunteer project, aren’t you honey?” I blushed and wanted to slide
down into the seat and hide.

“Ellen, what are you working on?” Cindy
asked.

“I’m working on becoming a therapy animal
handler.” I said so quietly that Brandon asked me to repeat
myself.

“Oh, so that’s why you’ve been walking
Hershey on a leash,” Cindy said.

“What do you do as a therapy animal handler?”
Brandon asked. I had no idea why, but I suddenly felt a confidence
that I had never experienced before. Maybe it was because a boy was
paying attention to me, or maybe it was because I was proud of my
work with Hershey. Either way, it didn’t matter. I started to talk
about my training and what animal therapy is about. All four of my
peers seemed very interested in what I had to say. Mom just sat
back and quietly listened to our conversation. I think she may have
been proud of herself for turning the attention onto me!

The concert was awesome and my mom was a hit
with Cindy’s friends. She danced and sang through every song. She
stood on her chair and danced, she danced on the ground, and she
grabbed Cindy and danced! I was timid because I had never danced in
front of people before and I had a difficult time working myself up
to do it. Every time Mom tried to dance with me, I’d back away and
shake my head ‘no’. She’d frown, but then latch onto someone
else.

About halfway through the concert, I looked
at the five of them dancing and carrying on and realized I wanted
to be a part of that. I worked up enough courage to stand amongst
them and move from side to side. Then I watched Mom’s hip movements
and tried to imitate her. Eventually I was having so much fun that
I found myself laughing, singing, and dancing with no inhibitions.
There were several times that I had to pull up my jeans because
they were slipping down over my hips.

At one point, Brandon took my hand and asked
for a dance. I was so stunned that I couldn’t move! He did not seem
to notice, he just led the dance and I meekly followed his lead,
never looking him in the eye.
Oh my God
, I thought as I felt
his hand on my waist,
can he feel my fat roll?

I gradually started to relax, and actually
found myself looking at Brandon and smiling. He was smiling back at
me.

When the concert was over, I was bummed. It
had been the best night of my life and I didn’t want it to end! The
six of us left the main stage area and walked through the festival
grounds together in some kind of post-concert euphoria. As we made
our way to the main gate, we sang and skipped and laughed. We
ladies all had our comments on how sexy the lead singer was, while
all Brandon would say was “Give me a break!”

Mom offered to give them all a ride home, but
Cindy’s mother was already on her way to pick them up so we waited
for her with them. I knew Mom was concerned about their safety more
than anything, but I was still grateful to spend those last few
minutes with them.

“Ellen, we’re all getting together at my
house next Saturday. Would you like to join us?” Cindy asked.

My euphoria changed back to anxiety just that
fast. Spending the day at Cindy’s meant swimming, and swimming
meant swim suit. I didn’t even own a swim suit, let alone would
want to be seen by Brandon in one! I had to think quickly about how
to respond.

“That sounds like a lot of fun,” I said, “but
I’ll have to get back to you about that. I’m not sure if I’m
available or not, you know, with my animal therapy work and all.”
Liar! I hadn’t even taken the test yet and even if I had, I wasn’t
an animal handler yet. There were a few more steps to take before I
was ready.

“I hope you can make it,” Margaret said.

“I do, too,” Sarah agreed.

Brandon didn’t say anything. That was a
little disappointing.

Chapter
Ten

I was in a great mood for several days
following the concert. I didn’t understand it, but I had so much
motivation. I took Hershey out for his daily walks faithfully and
took the online handlers exam. I passed the exam, but I needed to
print out registration paperwork that had to be completed and sent
to Pet Partners, one of which was paperwork to be filled out by his
veterinarian. Since we did not have a printer, I didn’t know how to
go about this, so I asked my mom.

She told me to wait until she got home from
work that evening because she would ask a few coworkers for advice.
She also told me to call and make Hershey’s vet appointment.

After Mom left for work, I opened my laptop
and decided to internet surf. I knew what Facebook was, but had
never been on the site. My curiosity was peaked after meeting
Brandon, Margaret, and Sarah. To be honest, it was probably Brandon
that I was the most interested in looking up, but I would tell
myself it was all of them!

I typed in Facebook and found out that I
needed to create an account in order to go into it. I didn’t know
that, nor did I know you had to be “friends” with someone in order
to see their profile. Oh, brother! That meant I could not
anonymously look at Brandon’s profile…I meant Brandon, Margaret,
and Sarah’s profiles!

To create an account, I needed an email
address. Jane had helped me create one on the day she brought over
the laptop because I needed one for communication with Pet
Partners.

Hershey hopped up onto the table and walked
across my keyboard, then lay across it. He rubbed his face against
the screen to mark it so all of his imaginary foes would know who
it belonged to.

“Hershey, are you trying to tell me
something?” I asked him, thinking maybe this whole social media
thing was a bad idea. It was probably in my best interest to stay
away from that kind of socialization.

Hershey climbed onto my shoulder and nuzzled
in my hair. I laughed and stood, picking him up with me.

“You’re absolutely right, Hershey, I don’t
need Facebook!” I carried him into the living room and sat on the
couch. He curled up on my lap as I stroked his back. I couldn’t
help thinking about how special Hershey made me feel, and I felt a
twinge of jealousy.

What if he treats everyone we encounter the
way he treats me? What if I wasn’t going to be able to share
him?

I picked him up and laid flat on my back
across the couch, placing him on my stomach. He quickly resettled
and seemed to realize that it was nap time.

I laid there for a long time just staring at
the ceiling and listening to Hershey’s soft snoring. My thoughts
wandered off to Brandon and I wished I had exchanged phone numbers
with him after the concert. If we had done that, would he actually
call me? Maybe he was just being polite that night. I was confused.
Was it normal to think about someone you didn’t know as much as I
thought about Brandon?

I’d had a crush on John Peck throughout most
of my life and had thought many things about him. In my
imagination, John took me to amusement parks, he took me roller
skating, we went to movies together, and he even gave me his class
ring! I knew John Peck would never do those things in real life, so
those daydreams were a pleasant distraction from everyday life.
Thinking about Brandon was not as comfortable because thinking
about him in itself was a distraction!

I sighed and tried to sit up without
disturbing Hershey, however, that was impossible. He opened his
eyes and looked at me as if he were saying “What are you doing? I’m
trying to sleep here!”

It was time for me to be bold and make a move
I would never have considered in the past. I didn’t know what came
over me, but I told Hershey I would be right back and I walked over
to Cindy’s house. It had been over three years since I was in her
house, or yard, or even her side of the subdivision. She lived
dangerously close to Darcel.

I walked up to her front door and lightly
knocked. If no one answered, then at least I could tell myself I
tried. Cindy did answer the door, and standing behind her was
Brandon.

“Hi, Ellen, come in,” she said opening the
door wide enough for me to enter.

I walked in and looked around nervously.
There was no one else in the house, so I relaxed just a little
bit.

“Cindy, are you still having your gathering
on Saturday?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said and laughed. At first I
thought she was laughing at me, but then I noticed that Brandon was
tickling her ribs. I felt a little jealous! I felt myself blushing
because I came to the realization that Brandon and Cindy might be a
couple.

I carried on with my plan, asking Cindy if I
was still invited.

“Yes, come over around two o’clock, and bring
your suit and a towel,” she said.

“All right, I’ll be here. Brandon it was nice
to see you again,” I said as I made my way back to the door.

“It was nice to see you again as well,” he
replied. He held the door for me and then added, “I hope to see you
on Saturday.” If I hadn’t seen him tickle Cindy, I might have felt
a little elated at that, but I was too busy trying to hide my
disappointment.