I doubt if the evening could have been much worse, If you want to know the truth. Amelia came out and said she need our help, after entering the restroom I saw Emma, and her marvelous job, I'll tell you. The puke was everywhere except the toilet. The walls, the floor, the sinks- even on the ceiling, though don't ask me how she did that. Amelia, fate would have it, was the one who found Emma and obviously she wasn't doing too well. Seems like one glass of punch really done Emma in, the only option was to clean her up and take her home before the teachers found out about it. Getting drunk was a big deal back then, she'd be looking at suspension or maybe expulsion, if she got caught.
Amelia, bless her heart, didn't want that to happen any more than I did. Though some part of me was like "go ahead! get a suspension letter, punishment for breaking my heart!". But then helper instincts take over me and everyone else too, Amelia took a look at Emma and took immediate charge of the situation. Eric and Diana agreed to stand guard at the bathroom door while me and Amelia tidy it up. So, there I was preached on all fours, cleaning up puke at the homecoming dance in my best blue suit, and Amelia, who actually dragged me into this, was on all fours, forgetting about her dress, doing exactly the same thing.
I could practically here students laughing a squeaky, maniacal laugh somewhere in the distance. Oh my oh my!!We ended up sneaking out the back door of the gym, keeping her friend stable by walking either side of her. She kept mumbling about her boyfriend, seems like a break-up. I wanted to laugh so badly but I controlled, Amelia telling her not to worry, it's all good. She had a real soothing way of talking to Emma, though she was so far gone. I doubt she even knew who she was speaking. We loaded her on the backseat of Amelia's car, where she passed out immediately, although not before she vomited once more on the floor of the car. The smell was so awful that we had to roll down the windows to keep from gagging and the drive to her house seemed extra long. Her mother answered the door, took one look at her daughter, and bought her inside without so much as a word thanks, I guess she was embarrassed, I mean who wouldn't? and we really didn't have much to say to her anyway. The situation spoke pretty well.
By the time we dropped her off it was eleven thirty-five. We both started heading towards the car.
"I'll drop you, so jump in!" Amelia said while opening the door."ok!" i said while thinking, do you expect me to walk home? I was really worried after we started heading towards our home because of the way she looked and smelled, and I said a silent prayer hoping that old Mason wasn't awake. I have never been in good terms with him and after seeing his dearly daughter with me, in this condition, I doubt I would pass English exam this year. Oh, he'd probably listen to Amelia if she was the one who told him about it, but I had a sinking feeling that he'd find a way to blame me anyway.Our apartments are close now, as always she was cheerful and wearing a big smile, but I can't the smell was coming from both of us, awful! so, I had a weird face all along. She stopped talking, guess it was my turn to start a conversation " Do you have any curfew in home?" what kind of question is this?! I so bad at communicating is all I could say to myself now" Well yeah! Amelia Garcia has to be home by one" "of the people I know, you're the only one with an actual curfew" I chuckled.She looked at me and continued with a smile"When the clock strikes one of clock, I turn into a pumpkin. Everyone in the senior is used to it by now. I've never once minded having a curfew." "why?" " Because truly, it's not like I'm missing out anything so wonderful- and what's the old saying? Nothing good happens after two am; unless you happen to be good at flip cup or poker so you would play that for hours. Not me. No, I'd much prefer to be in my pajamas with a cup of coffee, and a book, thank you very much." As she said this we both laughed so hard. I couldn't help but think isn't Amelia Garcia is a normal girl too?So, I walked her to the entrance and we stood outside the streetlight. She crossed her arms and smiled a little, looking just as if she'd come in from an evening stroll where she'd contemplated an island with books.
"So, you won't tell about it to your parents, will you?" she asked"I won't!"She kept on smiling when she finally turned my way. "I had a great time tonight. Almost like you were my date."Here she was covered in puke, actually saying she had a great time. As she went inside I also started walking towards my home. The second floor balcony opened with a bang, I looked up."Kiddo, go home soon or else mummy's boy gonna get scolded."I gave a helpess smile and as I took few steps I realized it. " I am only 2 years younger and I'm not a mummy's boy, you old hag!!!" I shouted, But all she did was laugh.Stomped back into my home, and in a very carefully I reached my room. And chuckled about the evening after thinking about the things that I wanted to avoid came straight towards me and I couldn't avoid them, the thing that hit me hard was only one that, Amelia Garcia could really drive a guy crazy sometimes.In the two weeks following the homecoming dance, my life pretty much returned to normal. My father was back from his business trip, which made things a lot more fun around my house, primarily because I could sneak out the window again and head to graveyard for my late night potato chips party. I don't know what it was about the graveyard that attracted us, maybe the tombstones themselves, because as far as tombstones went they are fairly comfortable to sit on.We usually sat in a small plot where the great family of Hemingson was buried some eighty or hundred years ago. There were six tombstones there, all arranged in a circle, making it easy to pass the chips back and forth between us. One day, me and my friends went to library to find something about Hemingson family. I mean, if you are going to sit on someone's tombstone, you might know something about them, right? It turns out that there wasn't much about the family in historical records, though we find one interesting inf
Even though Emma was sick all over the place and I'd had to clean it up, she was actually pretty fun to be around most of the time. And her dress really had been something, uh..before everything. I figured she was calling to thank me or even get togther for a barbecue or burger or sandwich something."Landon?""oh, hey!" I said, playing it cool,"what's happening?"There was a short pause on the other end."um...how are you?"It was then that I realized I wasn't speaking to Emma. It was Amelia, I almost dropped the phone. I thought i will be unconscious any minute now, I can't say I was happy about hearing from her, and for a second I wondered who gave her my number before I realized it was probably my mom or dad."Landon?""yeah pretty good," I finally blurted out, still in shock."Are you busy?""sort of""oh...I see..." she said, trailing off.she paused again."Why you are calling me?" I asked.it took her some seconds to get the words out.
Amelia seemed quite shocked as I asked the question. Am I missing something?"you really didn't know I was the lead?""nope!""weren't you paying attention in the class?"I seem to remember something, the bell ring in my head. It was the day when Amelia smiled at me, miss chole was discussing about this play. Okay so, I wasn't paying attention since I was busy analyzing other things."oh..I seem to remember it. So, why isn't Eddie brown suitable for this role? so far I think miss chole said afterwards that Eddie will be Harry Preston"Eddie brown was a type of boy who have a squeaky voice, people would just avoid talking to. He was skinny, with pimples all over his face and he usually talked to you with his eyes all squinched up. He had a nervous tic, and he couldn't help but squinch his eyes whenever he got nervous, which was practically all the time. He'd probably end up spouting all his lines like a psychotic blind man if you put him in front of the crowd. To
Amelia turned away, but I could see the tears in her eyes. It was the first time I'd ever seen her cry. I think part of me wanted to cry, too."I am not asking you to do it for me," she said softly,"I am really not, if you say no, I'll not say anything bad about you. I promise. but if you'd like to do something kind for a wonderful man who means so much to me...will you just think about it?"Her eyes looked like those of a cocker spanial that had just messed on the rug. I looked down at my feet."I don't have to think about it." I finally said it,"I'll do it!"I really didn't have a choice, did I?The old Mason wrote The Winter Angel one day and decided to put that on play instead. After I read the script, it wasn't that bad actually. It's basically the story of a man who had lost his wife a few years back. This guy, Harry Preston, used to be real religious, but he had crises of faith after his wife died during childbirth. He's raising this little girl all
--1 month later-- The rehearsals began at three o'clock, and Amelia knew all her lines the first day there, which wasn't really surprising. What was surprising was that she knew all my lines, too, as well as everyoneelse's. We'd be going over a scene, she'd be doing it without the script, and I'd be looking down at a stack of pages, trying to figure out what my next line should be, and whenever I looked up shehad this real shiny look about her, as if waiting for a burning bush or something. The only lines I knew were the mute bum's, at least on that first day, and all of a sudden I was actually envious ofEddie, at least in that regard. This was going to be a lot of work, not exactly what I'd expected when I'd signed up for the class.My noble feelings about doing the play had worn off by the second day of rehearsals. Even though I knew I was doing the "right thing," my friends didn't understand it at all, and they'd been riding
"You want a beer?" Diana asked. I think she was trying to be funny, but no one laughed.Amelia put her hand to her hair, tugging gently at her bun. "Oh . . .no, not really . . . thank you, though."She looked directly at me with a really sweet glow, and right away I knew I was in trouble. I thought she was going to ask me off to the side or something, which to be honest I thought would turnout better, but I guess that wasn't in her plans."Well, you did really well this week at rehearsals," she said to me."I know you've got a lot of lines to learn, but I'm sure you're going to get them all real soon. And I just wanted to thank you for volunteering like you did. You're a real gentleman.""Thanks," I said, a little knot forming in my stomach. I tried to be cool, but all my friends were looking right at me, suddenly wondering if I'd been telling them the truth about Miss Chole forcing it on me and everything. I hoped they missed
The first thing we did was talk to Miss Chloe about our plans for the orphans, and she thought it was a marvelous idea. That was her favorite word, by the way-marvelous-after she'd greeted youwith "Hellooooo." On Monday, when she realized that I knew all my lines, she said, "Marvelous!" and for the next two hours whenever I'd finish up a scene, she'd say it again. By the end of therehearsal, I'd heard it about four zillion times.But Miss Chole actually went our idea one better. She told the class what we were doing, and she asked if other members of the cast would be willing to do their parts as well, so that the orphans could really enjoy the whole thing. The way she asked meant that they really didn't have a choice, and she looked around the class, waiting for someone to nod so she could make it official. No onemoved a muscle, except for Eddie. Somehow he'd inhaled a bug up his nose at that exact moment, and he sneezed violently. The bug flew out
We got to the orphanage just about the time it was getting dark. We were a couple of minutes early, and the director was on the phone. It was an important call and he couldn't meet with us rightaway, so we made ourselves comfortable. We were waiting on a bench in the hallway outside his door, when Amelia turned to me. Her book was in her lap. I guess she wanted it for support, butthen again, maybe it was just her habit."You did really well today," she said. "With your lines, I mean.""Thanks," I said, feeling proud and dejected at exactly the sametime. "I still haven't learned my beats, though," I offered. Therewas no way we could practice those on the porch, and I hoped shewasn't going to suggest it."You will. They're easy once you know you all the words.""I hope so."Amelia smiled, and after a moment she changed the subject, sort of throwing me off track. "Do you ever think about the future, La