Chapter 12-Planning

It was official. Krystal and Tiana were coming with us to Hawaii! It was going to be so fun. We were going to leave in two days. A week and a half of Hawaii, what could go wrong? Except there could be a tsunami..It was fall, after all. I shoved those thoughts away. I grabbed a tube of sunblock and shoved it into my bag. At school, I hadn't even been thinking about what I was doing. That was probably why it had passed so fast. I was so excited!
Lily burst into my room, "Which sundress do you think I should bring?" she asked. "I was thinking of going with the purple or white one. Yellow looks terrible on me," she said in a rush. She finally decided to bring both when I wasn't much of a help. I decided to leave the rest of the packing for after dinner. I was starving! I could smell alfredo sauce and boiling pasta. Mom was just calling us down to eat. I immediately grabbed a plate and started heaping food onto it. I yanked the utensils drawer open and grabbed a fork. I shoveled food in to my mouth, barely tasting it. It was sooooo good. When I told that to Mom, she smiled and continued eating her plate. I realized that we were just standing there waiting for Lily and Dad to come down and eat. I started walking to the living room, but Mom stopped me.

"Honey, I was thinking that we might eat in the dining room today," she said. I turned and looked at her incredulously, but she looked absolutely serious. So, I sat down at the dining room table. When Lily and Dad came down, I searched their faces for something to give me a hint about what was going on, but Lily looked as confused as I did. On the other hand, Dad knew something for sure and had been expecting this. Lily mouthed to me, "Maybe Mom's pregnant." I stared at her. Seriously, Lily? Sometimes the smartest person could have the silliest ideas. She shrugged, as if to say, "It was just an idea, seeing as you have none." I looked at Mom, who had just sat down. She sure didn't look pregnant. We sat in silence for a while, the only sounds were forks clinging on plates and chewing noises. Ew.

"We were hoping to talk to Lily a few minutes," Mom finally said, looking at me, "Alone." I slowly stood up. They could have just told me to eat in the living room in the first place if I wasn't going to even be in the dining room for long. Whatever. Parents did what they liked. I turned on the TV to Nickelodeon and started watching "Victorious" it was the episode where they're stuck in a hot trailer for a few hours without water and then they find out that they could have just opened the door when the trailer next to them left, but they didn't notice that it was gone until Cat came back. I stood up to get more alfredo. This time I got more broccoli. I loved it when the crowns were drenched in alfredo sauce. Dad had closed the dining room door, so the conversation must be pretty serious. Just as I was about to head back to the living room, I heard the doorbell ring. Who could that be? I yanked the door open just as the bell rang again. I glared at..Michael? I quickly made a calm expression.

"What are you doing here, Michael?" I asked. Had Lily invited him over for dinner or something?

He fidgeted nervously. "Lily didn't tell you? She invited me for dinner," he said.

"Oh! She didn't really have a chance to talk to me. She's umm...busy right now," I said. Seeing his forlorn expression, I quickly added, "But she'll be able to talk to you in a few minutes. Grab a plate. Today we're having alfredo." We sat down on the couch. I was grateful for the TV's noise.

"Do you mind that I'm dating your sister?" he asked suddenly.

"If you make her happy...," I said, "then no."

"I mean, I haven't really known her for long, but it seems like forever," he said slowly.

"Well..that's good. I guess," I said, "As long as she's happy."

"You really love her, don't you?" he asked, looking at my expression carefully.

"Yeah. She's the best sister anyone could have," I said honestly. He smiled then. We didn't talk much after that, but it felt like I knew him better now. I heard a door open, and Lily stepped out. She went to get another plate of alfredo and then sat next to Michael. She seemed kind of in a mood, so I wolfed down my second plate of alfredo and went into the kitchen to get more. Sorry Michael, you're on your own. I thought. I heard murmured voices a few seconds after I left the living room. Hopefully he could get her into a better mood.

After dinner, I went up to my room. Mom and Dad hadn't come out of the dining room yet, and Lily and Michael were still sitting in the living room. I was surfing online when my phone buzzed. I checked the screen. That was strange, it was Eric.

Eric: Hey. I heard that you invited Krystal and Tiana to Hawaii.

Me: Yeah. What of it?

Eric: I wasn't invited? LOL

Me: Sorries.

Eric: Sorries? Is that even a word?

Me: Yeah. One I made up. =P

Eric: Whatever. Can we come?

Me: Come where? And who?

Eric: Hawaii. Steve. Justin. Duh.

Me: Why would you guys want to go anyways?

Eric: We need a break from school. Oh, and our parents want to come, too.

Me: Idk...I have to talk to my family about it. I dropped my phone and ran downstairs. Thankfully, Mom and Dad had came out of the dining room. I asked them if Eric and his friends could come with us on the trip, and they said yes if their parents let them.

Me: Back. My parents said you guys could come.

Eric: Cool. We'll be at your house early in the morning on Saturday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, I walked into the school without stopping at the flagpole. These days, we just waited for each other in homeroom. Krystal and Tiana weren't there yet. I dropped my bag and sighed. I had been up all night packing. Someone tapped my shoulder.

"Hey. So what time do we come tomorrow?" Eric asked.

"I don't know....the flight is at eleven, so you should come at eight or so in case you guys forget something," I said slowly. He nodded. Tiana and Krystal slid into their seats just as the bell rang. I smiled at them. Even through my fatigue, I could see how excited they were for the trip. I grinned back. Ms. Plurmington made her speech about the project, then let us get to work. We were going to have a whole week with the other group, so we'd be able to do our project then. Plus, the plane trip could be very interesting. Bryan had decided to come with us, too. So was Eric's brother, since he knew Eric and Michael.

In physics, Eric nudged me.

"I took your advice....About making up with Danielle," he said. "It was good advice, might I say."

"Oh...what'd you do?" I asked.

"I found her at the mall, so I explained everything to her," he said.

"Hmm...you never did explain everything to me," I teased. Surprisingly, his face was completely serious.

"Well---" he started, but was cut off by the bell. He shoved a piece of paper at me. It said, "I'll tell you later." I shrugged, then nodded. It was about time.

At lunch, we all sat at the same table. Steve and Justin nearly started a food fight, but Eric got them to calm down after a few minutes.

I took out my book and started reading. Krystal was studying her textbook and Tiana was texting somebody. All of a sudden, Bryan showed up.

"Hey, Eva," he said.

"Hey," I said distractedly, immersed in my book.

"What time do I have to go to your house tomorrow?" he asked.

"Hmm... around eight," I replied.

"Cool," he said, "So I'll see you then."

"Sure," I looked up at him and smiled. Strangely, he was glancing at Eric out of the corner of his eye. It looked like they were having a...stare down? What? Bryan realized that I was staring at them, so he looked away.

"See you around," he said to me.

"Bye," I said. I looked at Eric suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"Why do you assume that I did anything? What if it was him?" he asked defensively. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my book.  I tried to concentrate, but it was kind of hard to. I finally gave up because I had a killer headache. No one was saying anything, so I sat there awkwardly for a few minutes until the bell rang. I quickly stood up and said bye to everyone. The rest of the school day went by in a flash.

Before I went to sleep, I made sure that I had everything packed and walked around the house making sure everything was in order. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. Normally, not that many people came with us, including their parents. I couldn't wait!