Is Home Really Where The Heart Is?, chapter 13
BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... stupid Mondays. I got up and shut off my alarm clock, but it wouldn't turn off. Then I realized I was trying to shut off my math book. Oops. I shut off my real alarm and got out of bed. After getting dressed in some jeans and a red and black strippy t-shirt, (and a pair of coolio shoes), I grabbed my backpack and went downstairs.
"Good morning mom." I said as I took out a box of cereal.
"Good morning." She was in kind of a trance as she read the paper. Hey! I get the paper daily too! Wow, I used to only get it on Sundays...so many changes! When I finished my cereal, I went back upstairs to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. After which I gelled my hair in a cool fashion then continued to the door and to go to school. The moment I walked out the door I noticed Syd. Oh great, I can just see how today's going to go.
"Hey Syd," I yelled across the street.
"CARL!" was what I heard in reply. I then saw Syd running across the street to me.
"I'm guessing your Ritalin wore off."
"Yeah, my mom said you can't give me my medicine anymore. Although she did like the brisket I made..." she stopped to soak in what she had just said, then began walking again.
"Wait, do you even know what brisket is?"
"Is it a biscuit shaped like an 'R', 'cause that's what I made. Hey! 'Arrr!' Like a pirate! I like pirates! I want to be a pirate! Yo ho ho and a cup of mud!"
"It's actually...never mind." I shook my head, but just subtly enough that she didn't notice. We saw Mike and Billie Joe up ahead of us.
"Bill-ay! Mike-ay!" Syd yelled as she ran up to Mike and Billie Joe, after which was followed by her jumping on Mike's back.
"Come on Mike, I want a piggy back ride!" she struggled to stay on his back.
"NO! Get...off!" he finally managed to flip her off onto the lawn in front of Billie Joe's house. She laid on her back looking up at Mike in a sort of dazed and confused way. I just stood by and watched. Then Syd turned to Billie.
"Billie?"
"No." and he began to walk away. Very quickly too...I wonder why... Then I looked at Syd and helped her of the ground. She gave me an evil type look. Crap! They left me here alone! Now I'm her last resort!
"Ohhh Caaarrrrl...you want to give me a piggy back ride?" she looked up at me batting the thick lashes which lined her deep blue eyes.
"Not particularly." I said in a scared manner.
"OK then!" and before I could do anything, I had Syd hanging on my back. Also, considering I'm not as strong as Mike, (you know he does gots those massive muscles from playing bass...maybe he works out? Hmm...) Syd remained on my back until we got fairly close to school, which is when I collapsed pinning Syd between me and the hard ground. I stayed there just to keep Syd under control for once during this day. I imagined it must have looked pretty odd to walk by and randomly see my laying on top of Syd and her struggling to get out from under my back. Eventually I got bored so I got up and helped Syd up too. That's when I realized that Mike was standing there watching us the whole time.
"Mike! How come you didn't help me?!" she looked up to Mike. Then again, who doesn't look up to Mike, he's so tall and all...whoa...more rhymes!
"I was enjoying watching you become trapped underneath someone and having no way to get out." He shrugged then went along to catch up with Billie Joe. I should come up with a nickname for Billie Joe...I'll start thinking now...
We did eventually make it to school. Once homeroom was over, I made my way down the halls to Mr. Romanowski's room. After a while, I noticed Billie Joe and Syd were following me. Ok, so Billie Joe is in this class, but Syd, I don't know what she's doing. I got to the room, with Syd still behind me. I then turned around to try and figure why she was here.
"Syd, why are you here?"
"Well, you see, 16 years ago, my mom and my dad-"
"I mean, why did you follow me into this classroom?"
"Or maybe it was you who followed me...plus I was following Billie anyway thank you very much." Then she went over and sat in Mr. R's spin-y chair.
"Syd. Why are you in this classroom? You're supposed to be in Mr. Gfeller's if I remember correctly."
"Hey, just because my schedule said 'Mr. Gfeller' for math doesn't mean I should actually go there. They should be happy I'm even in school."
When Mr. R came in, I took my usual seat next to Billie Joe in the back of the room ' cause I have a phobia of the front of classrooms. Then I saw Mr. R stand next to Syd as she spun the chair in circles. He put his foot out and stopped the chair suddenly, sending Syd flying off and leaving her head to narrowly miss the garbage can. After helping her up, the questioning started.
"Excuse me, but who exactly are you?"
"I'm Sydney Elise Joan Overman... Why do you ask?"
"Are you a new student in my class or something?"
"No, I'm supposed to be in Mr. Gfeller's class according my schedule."
"So then why are you here?"
"You see, 16 years ago my mom and my dad, well they kinda-"
"I get it, but why are you in my room when you should be in...whose room?"
"Mr. Gfeller."
"Well?"
"I see it as my schedule didn't exactly specify which room I should be in, it merely suggested a room...and it said that I had math for this period, and you're a math a teacher so...Can I stay?"
"You can stay, I don't care. I just want my chair back."
"OK!" With that, Syd got up, went over to the desk next to me and grabbed a chair then pulled it up to his desk, pushed Mr. R's chair over to him, and sat at his desk with the chair she had taken before. At this point I was hitting my head with a notebook trying to knock myself out so I wouldn't have to put up with this all day...it didn't work.
"Carlie? Are you ok?" Mr. R asked me.
"Hold on," I hit my head one last time. "Yeah, I'm ok now."
"Can I still sit up here?" she asked and since Mr. R ignored her, I assume she took it as a 'yes'.
"Today class," Mr. R began. "Ve vill learn avout asymptotes." Now he was talking with a random accent.
"Wait, what was that? Ass-and-toast?" Billie Joe asked loudly as he wrote it down on a blank piece of paper in his notebook.
"Sure, whatever you want Billie. Now an asymptote is-" I kinda tuned out the rest of what he said until he somehow got on the topic of algebraic equations and how multiplication and addition is commutative.
"Since this is commutative, you can flip it like a pancake." Mr. R just continued on with the rest of lesson in spite of the whole class not even paying attention. Then Billie Joe poked my shoulder.
"Psst...Carlie!" he whispered loudly with a notebook held next to his face. (to hide our conversation from Mr. R of course)
"What Billie Joe?" I whispered back with a notebook also in front of my face. Then Billie Joe ended up laughing and spraying spit all over the place.
"Ewww! You spit!"
"I have spit all over me!" he screamed (kinda like a girl would scream too)
"What's going on back there?" Mr. R looked at the two of us.
"Uhh...Billie Joe just spit all over the place and we freaked out...him more than me." I said to 'cover up' for our conversation.
"Ok then, just keep it down."
"Ok." we both said.
"I was going to ask if you're coming over to Mike's today? You can meet Jason if you do."
"Uhh...ok, but who's Jason?"
"Jason Relva, he's one of Mike's friends from another school district. I forget how he knows him though."
"Sure, is Syd coming over too?"
"What do you think?"
"Oh god, this will be interesting."
"You can say that again."
"That again."
"Oh and Carlie?" he asked me. duh it was me...I'm the only 'Carlie' in the class...
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry about Saturday, I was just tense and annoyed. I didn't mean to take it out on you."
"That's ok."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Billie Joe, I'm sure, don't worry about it."
"So are we cool now?"
"Yeah we're cool." I said.
"Good." he smiled.
He turned back to his notebook which of course was no longer in front of his face, and began to write in it. As he was flipping through it, I noticed that most of what was written in there was either poems or songs. I'm guessing songs though, seeing as he's got the band and whatnot.
"WHEEEEEEEE!" If you could not figure out who that was, you must be that one defected Lego in the box that won't connect to the rest of the pieces. You know what I mean? (It was Syd for those of you who act like defected legos) Syd had successfully stolen Mr. R's chair back and was spinning around in it again. So again, Mr. R stuck out his foot and stopped the chair...luckily for Syd she was holding on so she wasn't sent into any garbage cans. As she got up, she kind of wobbled around then the bell rang and Syd ended up being pushed into the garbage can anyway. Billie Joe and I walked up to her and helped her out as we shook our heads.
"Ha ha...my butt was in a trash can." She laughed as she got pulled out. "Fun."
We walked down the hall, down the stairs and to the cooking room. We parted with Billie Joe because he had to go to art. Since the teacher for my homeroom suddenly took a leave of absence (permanently), mine and Syd's homeroom were combined. This means I have cooking with Mike!...and Syd. It's quite interesting. As soon as we got in the room, the groups who were cooking today had to put their books down and start with the cake we were required to make today. Syd and Mike got paired up ironically enough. I was paired up with Evan LaNunziata. He's cool, and in my science class in which we make fun of the teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's also one of them there defected legos in the box of a thousand or so. Darn it, I started thinking all hillbilly-ish when I said 'them there'...ha ha...Billie Joe...Billie the Hillbilly...that's funny.
"No Mike, you have to crack the egg, not pulverize it!" I heard Syd yelling in another 'kitchen'.
"I did crack it, it just so happens that my hand went pffft and the egg went crrrrsssshhhh..." was Mike's response. He talks funny when he uses sound-y words.
"Evan, do you know how to crack an egg?" I asked, obviously, Evan.
"No."
"Then we'll keep you away from them. Wait, this recipe doesn't use any eggs...oh boy." I ran over to Syd and Mike's area to inform them of this.
"Syd, you do realize that there are no eggs used in this right?!" I said quickly and wide-eyed.
"Aww, man." They both said looking at their 'cake mix' which looked more like dog vomit than cake mix. I shook my head and walked back to Evan.
"This should be interesting." I said to him.
"You can say that again."
"That again...but I mean, first, Syd and Mike are paired up together, and then the school allows them to use cooking appliances. I find this amusing." We both laughed at this and began to mix all the ingredients together Not the eggs, 'cause no eggs were used in the making of this cake...only vinegar and baking soda...and other stuff of course. But the vinegar/baking soda was used in place of the eggs.
We were just about done with everything when the fire alarm went off. I wonder why... We quickly ran outside and ended up standing outside of the school...in the pouring rain.
"Great job Syd... " I said as I went over to her.
"Why me? It was Mike too!"
"You're the one who made the cake."
"But, but, but, Mike was the one who set the timer...it's his fault it caught on fire!"
"Well, at least we're out of class for a while. And nothing serious happened, like an explosion." Right as I said that a small 'pop' was heard and more smoke started coming out of the building.
"Oh Sydney..." I just shook my head...for about the 6th time today. If Syd keeps this up my mind will be all defected from shaking my head so much.
"WHAT DID WE DO?!" Mike yelled as he ran over to us.
"Mike shut-up! Maybe they don't know it was us." she responded while covering up his mouth.
"OVERMAN, PRITCHARD HERE...NOW!" I heard the principal yell. Syd took her hand off of Mike's mouth.
"We are so getting detention for this." Mike stated as he walked away.
"You think." Syd said, then turned to me. "Carl, if I don't return, take good care of Cheese Doodle. Remember, he's in locker 1387, just knee it hard and it'll open. I hope he's ok."
"OVERMAN! NOW!"
"Good bye Carl!" she said dramatically and walked away into a mass of people to where Mike was just visible over everyone. She whimpered as she walked away.
"Good morning mom." I said as I took out a box of cereal.
"Good morning." She was in kind of a trance as she read the paper. Hey! I get the paper daily too! Wow, I used to only get it on Sundays...so many changes! When I finished my cereal, I went back upstairs to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. After which I gelled my hair in a cool fashion then continued to the door and to go to school. The moment I walked out the door I noticed Syd. Oh great, I can just see how today's going to go.
"Hey Syd," I yelled across the street.
"CARL!" was what I heard in reply. I then saw Syd running across the street to me.
"I'm guessing your Ritalin wore off."
"Yeah, my mom said you can't give me my medicine anymore. Although she did like the brisket I made..." she stopped to soak in what she had just said, then began walking again.
"Wait, do you even know what brisket is?"
"Is it a biscuit shaped like an 'R', 'cause that's what I made. Hey! 'Arrr!' Like a pirate! I like pirates! I want to be a pirate! Yo ho ho and a cup of mud!"
"It's actually...never mind." I shook my head, but just subtly enough that she didn't notice. We saw Mike and Billie Joe up ahead of us.
"Bill-ay! Mike-ay!" Syd yelled as she ran up to Mike and Billie Joe, after which was followed by her jumping on Mike's back.
"Come on Mike, I want a piggy back ride!" she struggled to stay on his back.
"NO! Get...off!" he finally managed to flip her off onto the lawn in front of Billie Joe's house. She laid on her back looking up at Mike in a sort of dazed and confused way. I just stood by and watched. Then Syd turned to Billie.
"Billie?"
"No." and he began to walk away. Very quickly too...I wonder why... Then I looked at Syd and helped her of the ground. She gave me an evil type look. Crap! They left me here alone! Now I'm her last resort!
"Ohhh Caaarrrrl...you want to give me a piggy back ride?" she looked up at me batting the thick lashes which lined her deep blue eyes.
"Not particularly." I said in a scared manner.
"OK then!" and before I could do anything, I had Syd hanging on my back. Also, considering I'm not as strong as Mike, (you know he does gots those massive muscles from playing bass...maybe he works out? Hmm...) Syd remained on my back until we got fairly close to school, which is when I collapsed pinning Syd between me and the hard ground. I stayed there just to keep Syd under control for once during this day. I imagined it must have looked pretty odd to walk by and randomly see my laying on top of Syd and her struggling to get out from under my back. Eventually I got bored so I got up and helped Syd up too. That's when I realized that Mike was standing there watching us the whole time.
"Mike! How come you didn't help me?!" she looked up to Mike. Then again, who doesn't look up to Mike, he's so tall and all...whoa...more rhymes!
"I was enjoying watching you become trapped underneath someone and having no way to get out." He shrugged then went along to catch up with Billie Joe. I should come up with a nickname for Billie Joe...I'll start thinking now...
We did eventually make it to school. Once homeroom was over, I made my way down the halls to Mr. Romanowski's room. After a while, I noticed Billie Joe and Syd were following me. Ok, so Billie Joe is in this class, but Syd, I don't know what she's doing. I got to the room, with Syd still behind me. I then turned around to try and figure why she was here.
"Syd, why are you here?"
"Well, you see, 16 years ago, my mom and my dad-"
"I mean, why did you follow me into this classroom?"
"Or maybe it was you who followed me...plus I was following Billie anyway thank you very much." Then she went over and sat in Mr. R's spin-y chair.
"Syd. Why are you in this classroom? You're supposed to be in Mr. Gfeller's if I remember correctly."
"Hey, just because my schedule said 'Mr. Gfeller' for math doesn't mean I should actually go there. They should be happy I'm even in school."
When Mr. R came in, I took my usual seat next to Billie Joe in the back of the room ' cause I have a phobia of the front of classrooms. Then I saw Mr. R stand next to Syd as she spun the chair in circles. He put his foot out and stopped the chair suddenly, sending Syd flying off and leaving her head to narrowly miss the garbage can. After helping her up, the questioning started.
"Excuse me, but who exactly are you?"
"I'm Sydney Elise Joan Overman... Why do you ask?"
"Are you a new student in my class or something?"
"No, I'm supposed to be in Mr. Gfeller's class according my schedule."
"So then why are you here?"
"You see, 16 years ago my mom and my dad, well they kinda-"
"I get it, but why are you in my room when you should be in...whose room?"
"Mr. Gfeller."
"Well?"
"I see it as my schedule didn't exactly specify which room I should be in, it merely suggested a room...and it said that I had math for this period, and you're a math a teacher so...Can I stay?"
"You can stay, I don't care. I just want my chair back."
"OK!" With that, Syd got up, went over to the desk next to me and grabbed a chair then pulled it up to his desk, pushed Mr. R's chair over to him, and sat at his desk with the chair she had taken before. At this point I was hitting my head with a notebook trying to knock myself out so I wouldn't have to put up with this all day...it didn't work.
"Carlie? Are you ok?" Mr. R asked me.
"Hold on," I hit my head one last time. "Yeah, I'm ok now."
"Can I still sit up here?" she asked and since Mr. R ignored her, I assume she took it as a 'yes'.
"Today class," Mr. R began. "Ve vill learn avout asymptotes." Now he was talking with a random accent.
"Wait, what was that? Ass-and-toast?" Billie Joe asked loudly as he wrote it down on a blank piece of paper in his notebook.
"Sure, whatever you want Billie. Now an asymptote is-" I kinda tuned out the rest of what he said until he somehow got on the topic of algebraic equations and how multiplication and addition is commutative.
"Since this is commutative, you can flip it like a pancake." Mr. R just continued on with the rest of lesson in spite of the whole class not even paying attention. Then Billie Joe poked my shoulder.
"Psst...Carlie!" he whispered loudly with a notebook held next to his face. (to hide our conversation from Mr. R of course)
"What Billie Joe?" I whispered back with a notebook also in front of my face. Then Billie Joe ended up laughing and spraying spit all over the place.
"Ewww! You spit!"
"I have spit all over me!" he screamed (kinda like a girl would scream too)
"What's going on back there?" Mr. R looked at the two of us.
"Uhh...Billie Joe just spit all over the place and we freaked out...him more than me." I said to 'cover up' for our conversation.
"Ok then, just keep it down."
"Ok." we both said.
"I was going to ask if you're coming over to Mike's today? You can meet Jason if you do."
"Uhh...ok, but who's Jason?"
"Jason Relva, he's one of Mike's friends from another school district. I forget how he knows him though."
"Sure, is Syd coming over too?"
"What do you think?"
"Oh god, this will be interesting."
"You can say that again."
"That again."
"Oh and Carlie?" he asked me. duh it was me...I'm the only 'Carlie' in the class...
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry about Saturday, I was just tense and annoyed. I didn't mean to take it out on you."
"That's ok."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Billie Joe, I'm sure, don't worry about it."
"So are we cool now?"
"Yeah we're cool." I said.
"Good." he smiled.
He turned back to his notebook which of course was no longer in front of his face, and began to write in it. As he was flipping through it, I noticed that most of what was written in there was either poems or songs. I'm guessing songs though, seeing as he's got the band and whatnot.
"WHEEEEEEEE!" If you could not figure out who that was, you must be that one defected Lego in the box that won't connect to the rest of the pieces. You know what I mean? (It was Syd for those of you who act like defected legos) Syd had successfully stolen Mr. R's chair back and was spinning around in it again. So again, Mr. R stuck out his foot and stopped the chair...luckily for Syd she was holding on so she wasn't sent into any garbage cans. As she got up, she kind of wobbled around then the bell rang and Syd ended up being pushed into the garbage can anyway. Billie Joe and I walked up to her and helped her out as we shook our heads.
"Ha ha...my butt was in a trash can." She laughed as she got pulled out. "Fun."
We walked down the hall, down the stairs and to the cooking room. We parted with Billie Joe because he had to go to art. Since the teacher for my homeroom suddenly took a leave of absence (permanently), mine and Syd's homeroom were combined. This means I have cooking with Mike!...and Syd. It's quite interesting. As soon as we got in the room, the groups who were cooking today had to put their books down and start with the cake we were required to make today. Syd and Mike got paired up ironically enough. I was paired up with Evan LaNunziata. He's cool, and in my science class in which we make fun of the teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's also one of them there defected legos in the box of a thousand or so. Darn it, I started thinking all hillbilly-ish when I said 'them there'...ha ha...Billie Joe...Billie the Hillbilly...that's funny.
"No Mike, you have to crack the egg, not pulverize it!" I heard Syd yelling in another 'kitchen'.
"I did crack it, it just so happens that my hand went pffft and the egg went crrrrsssshhhh..." was Mike's response. He talks funny when he uses sound-y words.
"Evan, do you know how to crack an egg?" I asked, obviously, Evan.
"No."
"Then we'll keep you away from them. Wait, this recipe doesn't use any eggs...oh boy." I ran over to Syd and Mike's area to inform them of this.
"Syd, you do realize that there are no eggs used in this right?!" I said quickly and wide-eyed.
"Aww, man." They both said looking at their 'cake mix' which looked more like dog vomit than cake mix. I shook my head and walked back to Evan.
"This should be interesting." I said to him.
"You can say that again."
"That again...but I mean, first, Syd and Mike are paired up together, and then the school allows them to use cooking appliances. I find this amusing." We both laughed at this and began to mix all the ingredients together Not the eggs, 'cause no eggs were used in the making of this cake...only vinegar and baking soda...and other stuff of course. But the vinegar/baking soda was used in place of the eggs.
We were just about done with everything when the fire alarm went off. I wonder why... We quickly ran outside and ended up standing outside of the school...in the pouring rain.
"Great job Syd... " I said as I went over to her.
"Why me? It was Mike too!"
"You're the one who made the cake."
"But, but, but, Mike was the one who set the timer...it's his fault it caught on fire!"
"Well, at least we're out of class for a while. And nothing serious happened, like an explosion." Right as I said that a small 'pop' was heard and more smoke started coming out of the building.
"Oh Sydney..." I just shook my head...for about the 6th time today. If Syd keeps this up my mind will be all defected from shaking my head so much.
"WHAT DID WE DO?!" Mike yelled as he ran over to us.
"Mike shut-up! Maybe they don't know it was us." she responded while covering up his mouth.
"OVERMAN, PRITCHARD HERE...NOW!" I heard the principal yell. Syd took her hand off of Mike's mouth.
"We are so getting detention for this." Mike stated as he walked away.
"You think." Syd said, then turned to me. "Carl, if I don't return, take good care of Cheese Doodle. Remember, he's in locker 1387, just knee it hard and it'll open. I hope he's ok."
"OVERMAN! NOW!"
"Good bye Carl!" she said dramatically and walked away into a mass of people to where Mike was just visible over everyone. She whimpered as she walked away.
