~*Smile Again*~Chapters 17 & 18~Pg 15~ (Page 3)

Chapter 4

David goes to North Carolina State University in Raleigh and he comes over during Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter. He is majoring in mechanics and aerospace engineering. Although, that sounds as exciting as watching a grass grow and if you don't get my drift, well, frankly it's as boring as hell, I try to support him. I mean, I need a rich brother, who can actually support my life when I am in my 30's and I don't have a job and I get kicked out of our house by my parents and no boy friend. It's a sad fact of life that I've learned to live with.

Anyway, since Easter was coming up, my brother was planning to come down from Raleigh for the weekend. And my mom was going all berserk, cooking up a big storm and a chance for spring cleaning greeted her. My mom is so weird, but then again, aren't all parents? Anyway, she loves cooking and cleaning, and crappy stuff like that. But, the one interesting thing about her is that she is writing a book on some political stuff, and as much as it pains me to say it, I don't really care. So, since now you're getting me and starting to know me, I might as well be honest with you, right? I couldn't care less about anything, even if the world was being scheduled to be destroyed, oh say, I don't know, tomorrow?

That Friday was like any other crappy day at school. I went to all my classes and had some crappy lunch with Jake and Scott and Damien. But thank god, it was Friday, because, like I said, on Fridays, I have a tea party with Jane. She insists that I call her Jane instead Mrs. Pratt, because according to her I was her best friend, which I kinda agree to.

So, I was somehow happy, knowing that I would spend some time with Jane, cause I didn't want to spend a lot of time, talking to the guys about how hot the new girl was. Anyways, when I walked up to her door, Jane herself ran out the door and hugged me. This is a first, I thought. I mean, sure, she hugged me all the time, but this gave me a feeling of being happy. Which was totally impossible.

When she finally, let me go, she said, in a high and giggly voice " Cassie, I have to tell you, something very important. My daughter- Caroline is coming from England to visit me!"

"Oh my god, Jane!!!! Are you totally serious?"- I jumped up and down and for a moment I really did feel happy. Not only did I know how important it was to her that her children were finally coming around, I now myself saw it with my own eyes.

We laughed and hugged and just for a second I felt my old-self tugging at the very end of my conscience, telling me that this is the me that I should be or rather the me that I wanted to be. I mentally kicked myself and we went inside. I had to know all the details.

"So, when exactly are they coming?"- I asked eagerly.

"In about a month or so. Isn't that so exciting?" I had never seen her this happy and that almost made everything worth. After all, she was very important to me. I mean, I was closer to her than my own family, which sucked.

After, they had their tea and cookies, they sat on the porch, drinking lemonade and watching the world pass them by.

Suddenly, she said "I have a favor to ask you, Cassie." she looked at me intently. I hated that name -Cassie, cause it was the name of the girl, who used to bully me in 5^th grade, but I only let Jane call me that, no one else. Usually, people just call me Cass. Even though, that's not very different from Cassie, it was the world to me. I mean, I didn't want to be called by the same as the girl who bullied me.

"O-o-k" - I said, slowly nodding.

"Ok, I was thinking that I should, well, maybe, you-know, fix up my place a little bit, since my daughter is coming and all. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, she is coming with her children, too."

"Really?"- I asked her, now quite interested.

"Yeah, she has three children. I don't really know them very well, because you know, I haven't been in touch with my children that much. I mean, sure, they would call once in a while, but we've never been very close. But now is the perfect timing, I would get close to them, and convince them to stay. Perfect, huh?"- she winked at me. She was a funny lady, even though she was pretty old. She had almost gray hair, and round glasses. She was shorter than me and had gray-blue eyes. Later, as I was about to go home, Jane gave me some of the pasta that she had made.

"Take it home and eat it or, you know, give it to your brother, so that you don't have to cook" she looked concerned, after all, she knew that cooking always bothered me, except, ahem, I've, uh, never cooked before in my life. I mean, sure, I fry eggs and easy stuff, like that but I wouldn't say, cooking is my personal favorite.

Anyway, I came home and found that Lucas was at home with Michaela, and mom and dad were out again. As soon as I came in, Michaela said something about going out with her friends, but I didn't get the details, seeing as how I wasn't even paying much attention, but spacing out as usual. She slammed the door behind her and I was left alone with Luke.

About 10 minutes later, he came downstairs and told me that he didn't have dinner and he was hungry. So, I heated up the pasta from Jane's and made him eat it. Or rather tried to make him. But he wouldn't eat it.

"This is so gross! Where did you get this thing?"

"It's pasta and it looks totally fine. Just try it."

He made a face at me.

"Aww, you poor baby, do you need me to feed you?"

So, he took a fork and took a big bite.

"Ewwww!!!" he yelled and threw up on the table.

"What the hell?" I screamed and slapped his head. God, just the thing to make my day perfect.

He ran to the bathroom and I scrambled sponges and a bucket full of water. He came back and I demanded him to clean it

.

"Why me?" he whined

I looked at him, like he was crazy. "Because, you idiot, you are the one who threw up, not me! I mean, you're 11, dude, you should be able to clean up after yourself!" with those words, I ran upstairs, to start on my homework. Another crappy thing for me to do.

Later, as I settled on my bed, I really wondered if Jane's spaghetti tasted that bad. I mean, she's been cooking for, what, her entire life?

I went downstairs, to check on Luke. He was in the living room, watching soccer. And the table was half cleaned. He had some crackers and a soda in front of him. Poor guy, I thought, he probably is hungry. So, that's when I got this wacky idea that maybe I could cook for him. I grabbed a cook book from the kitchen and leafed through the pages and spotted a recipe for pasta puttanesca. It looked fairly easy. So I got out a pan to boil the spaghetti. Meanwhile, I made a sauce and it tasted ok, I guess, cause I have never in my entire life cooked pasta before. When my mom made it, I was never in the kitchen and she never asked me for help. So, I put the pasta on a plate and brought it to Luke. He looked more scared than surprised. He also knew that I never cooked and neither did anyone in my family except my parents.

"Try it" I said with a wicked smile

"No but thanks, Cass, I'm not hungry. I think I'll pass on this"- he answered. So all my work is going to waste. he probably thought, it was going to taste disgusting.

"Yeah, you're right, it probably tastes really gross" I said, not able to keep all the sarcasm out of my voice.

I went upstairs and finished my French homework. Or tried to, anyway.