It was the day after and my family and Katrina had gone shopping. We did some shopping in Giant for groceries and school suplies. I was wandering through the aisles, looking for the stupid magazine section that they relocate every week. After going through almost all the aisles, I finally found the magazine section in with the paper towels/toilet paper/tissues. As I walked over, I saw that someone was already there. Katrina stood there, reading a magazine, as I approached, it was a parenting magazine. I saw Katrina in a whole new light then. She was a scared teenager, but she was somewhat curious to what exactly was happening to her. She read the magazine with interested eyes.
"Katrina?" I called. She looked up at me.
"Isn't that adorable!" she cried, pointing at a picture in the magazine whose article was called "Interacting With Your Infant". It showed a baby and her mom nose to nose and the baby's hand was in the mother's mouth. It was a cute, weird, picture. It reminded me of a pic that I had of me as a baby trying to shove my hand down my dad's throat.
"Sure is," I agreed,"We have to go soon,"
"Do you think your mom will let me get this?" she asked. I paused, then smiled.
"Sure," I said, leading her over to the cash registers.
We finally got home after shopping for school clothes and supplies for Jewel and I. We were starting school in a few days and I was nervous. I suddenly thought of something. I had never seem Taylor at school, and I knew that he was in a the same grade as I was. I wondered if he went to the same school I went to. If he did, I was sure that were a TON of girls there who liked him. He just had that sort of quiet charm and eyes that hypnotizes teens and preteens. I sighed.
Katrina walked in, totally engrossed in the magazine. She sat down next to me.
"Anything interesting in there?" I asked.
"Yeah, some stuff. It's getting harder to suck in my stomach now," she said. I smiled, she was taking her pregnancy well. She was accepting it.
"So what's in there?"
"Stuff.....um......they have labor tips in here," she chuckled,"Sorta like asking questions to see if the pregnant woman can answer them. It sorta gets the pain off their mind."
"Mmhmm..." I said. Just then Jewel walked in, sitting between Katrina and I.
"Katrina, are you going to have a baby?" she asked. Katrina looked a little caught off guard, but soon answered.
"Yeah, I think so," she said.
"I remember when Mrs. Hanson had Mackie," Jewel said,"He was really cute! What are you going to name the baby?"
"Actually, I haven't thought about that," she said,"I don't know now." Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I stood and went to the front door. It was pretty late and I didn't know who would be coming to our house at that time of night. Looking through the window beside the door, I cringed.
Rick stood on the other side of the door.
I tried to be as slow as I could to open the door. In the short glimpse I had caught of Rick, he did not look happy. I finally opened the door, but Katrina had walked up behind me, wondering who was at the door. I saw her face go pale as she set eyes on her father. She was afraid of seeing him. She knew he would be mad.
"Hello Katya, Katrina," he said. Mom walked into the room, cooking spoon in hand.
"Oh hi Rick! How nice to see you," my mom said, smiling. He nodded.
"Thanks for letting me come here on such short notice," he said, looking directly at Katrina.
"You're always welcome here. Would you like something to eat? I experimented with some spaghetti squash and it was pretty good," Mom said, leading her brother-in-law into the house.
"No thank you, I just ate," Rick said politely,"May I speak with my daughter, alone please?"
"Sure," Mom said, ushering Jewel and I out of the room. Katrina and Rick talked in the living room while everyone else went upstairs. I sat in my room, my back to the door, trying to hear the voices downstairs. Ocsasionally, I could hear a raised voice among the murmuring. I could guess that Rick was extremely mad. Suddenly, I heard a whole bunch of yelling, Katrina's voice higher, Rick's voice lower. I cringed, I hated listening to people argue. There was more shouting and then the sound of a door slamming. Uh oh, that wasn't good. I opened the door and crept down the stairs. Peeking into the living room, I spotted Katrina sitting on the couch, crying as if her heart was broken. She sobbed, wiped her face and looked up.
"That wasn't my daddy," she sniffled, catching sight of me. I walked over and sat down next to her, placing my arm around her shoulders.
"Shhhh," I said, trying to calm her down.
"He said he didn't want to see me again...." she said.
"Oh he didn't mean it. You know he didn't. Your dad loves you very much. He's just a little upset, you know that."
"He was never really mean to me before," Katrina said.
"C'mon Katrina. I told you, he was upset. He has to be upset every once in a while. I mean, he was upset when he and your mom separated."
"Sure, whatever," she said, not sounding very convinced,"I'm really tired right now. I'm going to go to bed now."
I sighed,"All right. Goodnight, see you tomorrow." I stood up and went back upstairs, while Katrina went into her room. I stepped into my room, worried about what the future would bring.
The next morning, I woke up to the phone ringing around 8. I blindly reached for the phone and picked it up.
"'Lo?"
"Hello? Is Katya there?" a voice asked.
"....Is she..."
"Katya! Guess what?! My brothers and I got signed to a record deal!"
"Huh? Who is this?" I asked.
"This is Taylor!" he said. I immedietly woke up.
"Yeah? What about?"
"I'm sorry, were you asleep?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Sorry, but I just had to tell someone, and you were the first one I thought of!"
"About what again?"
"Me and my brother's band..."
"Band? Huh?" I asked.
"Yeah, me and Ike and Zac are in a band and we just got signed to Mercury Records!" he said, his voice excited.
"You're in a band? You never told me..."
"Um..." his voice got softer,"I, uh, thought you would think I was a geek if I told you that I was in a band...."
"No, no, no, no! That's awesome. So are you going to make a cd or something?"
"Yeah! We're going to go to L.A. for a few months to record!"
"For how long?" I asked.
"About six or seven months..." he trailed off. My heart sunk. Oh well, I thought, That's that.
"Hey, that's pretty cool."
"Yeah, isn't it! It's gonna be so cool! We'll be famous and everything!"
"Well, don't let it go to your head," I joked. He seemed to take that to heart.
"What? You think I'm going to take all the fame?"
"Nah, I was just kidding. You know that. I'm sure everything will be great!" I said... except for me.
"Yeah, oh, I gotta go. I'll see ya later!"
"Okie dokie!" I said. He hung up before I did. That was weird, he thought I would think he was a geek if I found out that he was in a band. If he had told me that in the beginning, it would have been even cooler. I had never even heard him play an instrument before. I had played flute in sixth grade, but the teacher was too boring, the classroom was too hot, and it wasted time.
Shrugging, I snuggled under the blankets and went back to sleep.
I woke up a few hours later by Fudge licking my face, begging for his breakfast. I got out of bed and went downstairs. Katrina was still asleep, she had been sleeping a lot more lately. I fed Fudge, who happily began eating. I wasn't in the mood for food, so I just went outside. It was warm outside. Sam was still asleep, Jewel was at Jessica's again and my parents were at work. Taylor had told me that he was going to see me later. Was he just using that as a figure of speech, or was he serious? My question was answered a few minutes later. Taylor came skating around the corner, his long hair whipping around behind his head. Taylor's blue eyes were wide with excitement as he rollerbladed down my driveway, up to where I was sitting on the front porch.
"Hi!" he said.
"Hi!" I answered, mimicking him. He sat down next to me on the steps.
"I'm just so excited!" he said.
"You must be," I smiled,"So, how long are you staying in L.A?" I asked. Taylor looked down at his feet.
"Around six or seven months to record and make a video," he said.
"A video?
"You know, music video."
"That's awesome," I cried. I wanted to give him a hug, but I don't know how he would take it. Who cares, I thought, giving him a light hug. When I pulled back and looked at him, his face was flushed. Seeing him blushing made me blush too.
"So, how have you been?" he asked.
"Just fine. You?"
"Great!"
"I can imagine," I grinned. He smiled back.
"I'll send you a cd as soon as we're finished with it," he said.
"Thanks! Wait, what do you play?"
"I play keyboards, Ike plays guitar, and Zac plays drums."
"You guys must be pretty good."
"We're not THAT good," he said, blushing again. I lightly punched his shoulder.
"If you weren't that good, then you wouldn't have gotten a record deal," I said.
"Well, yeah," he grinned. We sat there chatting about different stuff that wasn't really important.
"Hey, maybe.....uh....maybe....nevermind..." he said, looking bashfully down at the ground.
"Maybe what?" I asked. He looked up, his eyes met mine. My heart lept.
"Maybe...maybe we could, go to the movies or something. You know, just a get together, nothing big." I felt incredible goofy, sorta stupid like.
"Sure, if it's okay," I said, grinning like a goof. Taylor's eye lit up even more, if possible.
"When are you leaving for L.A?" I asked.
"In one or two weeks,"
"Really? Dude, that's not long...."
"Yeah, I know. I'll call you when I find out when we can go, okay?"
"Sure!" I said.
"Well, I gotta go now," Taylor said, standing up. I stood up with him.
"I'll talk to you later?" he said. I smiled up at him.
"Sure thing," I answered. With one last look, Taylor turned and skated back down the driveway. Wearing a goofy grin, I walked, or floated, whichever, into the house.