chapter 8

The next day, Sandra woke up feeling as if it were going to be a bad day. She tried to shrug it off, but couldn't ignore the tension in the pit of her stomach. She tried as hard as she could to keep herself from puking all morning. It was the end of math class, and so far she was successful.

Stacey didn't meet Sandra in the hall like she usually did. Sandra kept her eyes wide, looking for Stacey on the way to her next class. She wanted to at least apologize. Sandra knew it was just a miscommunication. She hoped she could make Stacey see that she hadn't meant to hurt her feelings.

She found Stacey sitting in their history class. Sandra took her usual seat next to her. She turned to try and talk to Stacey, but Stacey turned away. Sandra tapped her, not letting Stacey dismiss her that easily.

"Stacey, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Sandra said to the back of Stacey's head.

"Oh really?" Stacey asked as she turned to look at Sandra. "Then why is it that whenever you're grounded, I'm the only one you can't hang out with. You're never grounded when it comes to Katie or Imene." Stacey said with venom in her voice.

"It's not like that. I swear to you. I really am grounded, but Imene kind of sweet talked my mom. Just like you did!" Sandra hoped Stacey wouldn't stay mad.

"I guess that makes sense." Stacey said, dropping her crossed arms. "I'm sorry I got so angry; I thought you just would rather hang out with anyone else than me." Stacey said, bashfully.

"No! I love hanging out with you!" Sandra said with a wave of her hand.

"So did you make that appointment?" Stacey asked.

"Yeah, it's for tomorrow. I don't know if I'm really going to go through with it or not yet." Sandra said, looking at her hands.

"I really don't think you should." Stacey said sincerely.

"I don't think I want to, but we'll see." Sandra said as the teacher walked in.

The day seemed to fly by. Sandra couldn't help but think 'it figures, the days go faster when I don't want them to'. Although Stacey said she had forgiven Sandra, she seemed a little more distant than usual. Sandra didn't realize just how much attention Stacey really paid to her until it wasn't happening anymore.

When the final bell rang signalling the end of the day, Sandra grabbed her large duffle bag out of her locker and planned on making her way to the softball field. As she walked down the front steps of the school, she saw her mom's car. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. As she reached the car, she tapped on the window, as a message for her mom to roll it down. When it rolled down, Sandra leaned over, resting her forearms on the door.

"Mom, I have softball practice today." Sandra said, hoping she would leave.

"Well, hop in. I'll give you a ride." She said cheerfully.

"You hate giving us rides places." Sandra muttered as she opened the door and plopped down into the seat.

"Oh don't be silly!" Her mom gave her a dismissive wave of her hand. "I think I may watch." She said thoughtfully.

"Oh God, why me?" Sandra said under her breath, hoping her mother didn't hear.

"What was that dear?" Her mom asked politely.

"Nothing. I thought I was going to sneeze. False alarm." Sandra said sarcastically.

"Oh, okay." Her mom said, eyeing her.

The car pulled up to the softball field and Sandra jumped out before her mother even had the car in park. She ran down to the field and sat on the bench as she changed into her cleats. Her mother followed behind her and sat on the small set of bleachers a few feet behind Sandra.

As Sandra took her position as catcher, she couldn't help but think about everything that was going on. 'The appointment is tomorrow. Jimmy still hasn't called. How am I going to make it a full week without Katie?' She became unfocused and it showed with the way she was playing. She kept missing the ball when the pitcher threw it and when Sandra threw the ball it was even more off target than usual.

The coach told Sandra to go take a break, so she sat on the bench. She leaned forward and put her head on her knees, trying not to be upset. Her mother came and sat beside her. She rubbed Sandra's back before she spoke.

"Are you okay?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

"Fine." Sandra said, picking her head up.

"You know, I think being with softball is really good for you. You should try a little harder to be focused." She said, trying to be supportive.

Sandra ignored the statement. A coach came over and asked her mom to wait on the bleachers with the rest of the parents. Sandra sat on the bench for the rest of the practice. At the end of the practice, she offered to help the coach put the equipment back in her car.

"So where have you been the past few practices?" The coach asked, taking a bag of softballs from her.

"I've had some stuff going on." Sandra said vaguely.

"Well, let me know if you need anything." The coach said with a consoling smile.

"Actually, Coach, there's a reason I wanted to help you today." Sandra started, the Coach put the bats in her trunk and turned to give her full attention to Sandra. "I'm not going to be able to play anymore. I have a lot going on and it wouldn't be fair to the team for me to take up a starting position for someone who deserves it more."

The coach stood there looking at Sandra for a few moments. She was considering what Sandra said as she bit her lip. She was young, probably in her late twenties. She had chestnut brown hair and dark brown eyes. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"Whatever is best for you, Sandra. If you think softball is a burden to you at this point in your life, then it probably is best to focus on other things. I'll give you until the end of the week to change your mind though, okay?" She added the last part with a small smile.

"Thank you, Coach." Sandra said as she turned to walk toward her impatiently waiting mother.

"What was that about?" Her mom asked as Sandra got within a few feet of her.

"Nothing." Sandra responded as she picked up her duffle bag and continued on her way to the car.

"Imene wanted to know if she could come over and study with me again." Sandra said meekly as she threw her bag into the backseat of the car.

"I guess its alright, as long as it doesn't turn into a party like last night!" Her mother said as she shook her head disapprovingly. "You're still grounded, don't forget that. The only reason I'm letting your French friend come over is because she needs your help." Her mother lectured her.

"Yes, mother." Sandra replied, not wanting to start an argument.

"Call her and see if she needs a ride." Her mother handed Sandra her cell phone.

After digging through her purse, she finally found the number and called Imene. Sandra asked about getting picked up and Imene said yes. Sandra's mother made her way toward Imene's house with the help of Imene's directions.

When the girls got to Sandra's house they ran straight upstairs. Sandra closed and locked her door as Imene pulled out her laptop. Imene plugged it in as it loaded up. Sandra hopped onto the bed and propped some pillows behind her to lean on.

"So, have you made a decision?" Imene asked anxiously, typing her password into the log on screen.

"I think so." Sandra said with a sly smile.

"Well, whatever you do, just make the best of your decision. Okay?" Imene said as she passed the laptop to Sandra, who went straight to her email. She smiled as she saw Katie's email address.

Sandra,
So far, Puerto Rico is amazing! It's so beautiful. One of my mom's new boyfriends (yes, I said "ONE of") took us on a tour of the city we're in. It's called Old San Juan. He brought us to a really pretty beach. I forget the name of it, but my mom bought me a new bathing suit today. It's super cute. It's white with a pink Lily on the front left of the top and on the back of the bottom.
My mom's boyfriend is pretty cute. His name is Samuel (pronounced sam-well). He has a six pack. He gives tours of a bunch of different cities for a living. Some of the museums were interesting, but you know me, they got boring really quickly. I haven't met her other boyfriends yet, I've just seen her hanging at the pool with them.
Anyway, John is great! He asked me out on a date to some sushi restaurant. I forget the name, I was barely paying attention to what he said! Haha...It was dragonfly something or butterfly something or other. But either way, my mom said no at first because she was being paranoid about those girls that go missing while on vacation. Samuel was with my mom at the time (she was sitting by the pool and he was giving her a shoulder massage) and he suggested that they go with us, as a double date! Of course, my mom agreed, and John had no problem at all with it! We had a really good time. My mom hit on John a few times when she started getting tipsy. It was kind of funny, but kind of embarrassing. I think John liked it! Either that, or he's a very good sport. Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. Tell me what's going on with you! I hope you called Jimmy, if not I'm going to be so mad!
Heart you and mish you! xoxo
*Katie

Sandra watched her bedroom door for a moment before beginning to type her response. She wanted to make sure her mom wouldn't come walking in as Sandra was typing. Imene finished her math homework as she sat beside Sandra.

Katie,
It sounds like you're having so much fun! You better be taking lots of pictures so I can live vicariously through you! I can't wait until you get back, I feel like I'm missing part of myself without you. Especially since I haven't been talking to Jimmy. I really miss him. I tried to stay strong, but I guess I got used to having him around with his whole goofy personality.
My mom has been acting kind of nicer to me lately. I think it's because the appointment is tomorrow. I wonder how mad she'll be when she finds out I don't want to. I hope they don't kick me out or anything, I'm not that ready to leave yet. Well, sorry this is so short, but I don't want my mom to catch me on here. She'd probably have a cow. Send me pictures with your next email!
Heart you and mish you! xOx
Sandra*

It was Tuesday afternoon, and Jimmy still had a headache. His hangover was lasting much longer today than it usually did. He figured it had a lot to do with the fact that he drank a lot more than he usually does the night before. Opening the bottle of rapid release pain relievers, he popped three in his mouth, swallowing them dry.

"Man, that's sick." Vinny said, watching Jimmy from the office door.

"They're gelcaps, they go down pretty easy." Jimmy defended himself as he leaned over a Mitsubishi Eclipse to look under the hood. "Speaking of which, how come you haven't seemed to have a hangover at all and you drank more than me?" Jimmy asked accusingly.

"I'm at my peak of twenty five. I have enough experience to be able to handle my liquor." Vinny said, boasting.

"And when you turn twenty six, you won't be able to drink a beer without feeling it the next day." Jimmy said, laughing.

"Har har, what a joker." Vinny mocked as he took a sip of his soda.

"I dreamt I called Sandra last night." Jimmy said as he turned a wrench.

"That was no dream buddy." Vinny said, walking over and patting Jimmy on the back. "Actually, you called her a few times."

"And she didn't pick up?" Jimmy asked disappointedly.

"You said it went straight to voicemail. I tried to take the phone from you, but by the time I finally got it from you, you'd already left three messages. You were like a crazy broad. Every message was a different emotion." Vinny said laughing.

"Oh no." Jimmy groaned as he put his hand over his face. "Please tell me you're fucking with me." Jimmy said painfully, without opening his eyes.

"Man, I really wish I were." Vinny said, handing Jimmy a soda.

"And by the way, why didn't you tell me Courtney was all over you?" Vinny said with a sly smile.

"Because I want to forget about it." Jimmy said, hoping Vinny wouldn't keep talking about it.

"What?" Vinny asked incredulously. "Man, I'd give anything for Courtney to even look at me for more than four seconds!"

"I think she's gross. Her and her four friends. She's like a piranha, all of them are. The instant they smell fresh meat, they attack." Jimmy said, using his hands to illustrate his theory.

"Well, I wouldn't mind getting attacked by any piranha as hot as any of those girls." Vinny said with a whistle at the end. "Amber, Courtney, Bridget, Diana, or Felicity." Vinny spoke as if he were picturing them as he said their names.

"Whatever." Jimmy said, trying to end the conversation. "I only want Sandra."

"Blah blah blah." Vinny said loudly.

As Vinny and Jimmy locked up the garage, Vinny invited Jimmy over to play some cards. Jimmy agreed, reluctantly, hoping Vinny hadn't also invited the "piranha sorority". As much as Vinny denied inviting them, Jimmy knew it was extremely unlikely that Vinny wouldn't invite them. The girls were always with Vinny and his other friends.

When Jimmy and Vinny arrived at Vinny's apartment, he knew before the car was even parked that the five girls he wanted to see least were already there. Bridget's Firebird was parked on the street in front of the apartment building. Jimmy knew the girls had an extra key to Vinny's. Vinny would do anything for any of them if they looked at him in a way that made him think he had a chance at getting with one of them. It was too late for Jimmy to turn around now, Vinny had driven him and Jimmy was too tired to walk the two miles back to his car. Jimmy sighed heavily as he followed Vinny up the stairs and tried to pretend that he wasn't too disappointed the girls were there.

"Hey Jimmy!" The girls shouted, almost in unison. It was obvious they had already started drinking.

Through the night, more people showed up. By the time people stopped showing up there were about fifteen people in Vinny's apartment. That was at about ten o'clock. Around that time was when Bridget started following Jimmy around. Jimmy tried to ignore her as much as possible, but she was making it difficult. She kept trying to hold his hand and he kept pulling his hand away.

"I'm not single." He turned and said sternly.

"Honestly, I really don't care." Bridget said with a slur.

Jimmy thought of Sandra. He reached into his pocket looking for his phone. Maybe he'd call her. It wasn't in his pocket. Jimmy froze as he tried to think of where it would be. He asked Vinny and a few other people, but no one had seen it. Jimmy went into Vinny's guest bedroom, hoping it didn't end up in there. As he was walking out the door to the living room, Bridget rushed into him. Jimmy dropped his bottle of Guinness as she wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him while he was pulling away.

Sandra sat at home. It was Tuesday night, Imene had already gone home. It was almost eleven o'clock and Sandra couldn't sleep. She wanted to call Jimmy so bad. She missed hearing his voice, smelling his cologne, being wrapped up in his arms.

"I'm going to do it." Sandra decided out loud as she got out of bed and tip toed down stairs. She found her mother's purse and fished through it until Sandra found her cell phone. The minute she turned it on it started buzzing, letting her know she had four voicemails. She dialed her voicemail.

The first message was Jimmy, the morning after the fight. "Hey Sandra. I really want to apologize for how I acted last night. I'm sorry, I was barely even awake." There was a short silence as he was probably thinking of what to say next. "Well, just call me back. I miss you. Even though it's only been a few hours, just the thought of not seeing you soon hurts. I hope you call. Bye."

Sandra smiled as she deleted the message and played the next.

"Sandra!" Jimmy slurred, the background was very noisy. "Pick up the phone! I know you're there. You can't ignore me forever. You know you love me. Okay, call me back."

Sandra almost laughed as she saved that message for blackmail and played the next one.

"I'm sorry!" Jimmy slurred emotionally. "Don't leave me Sandra, I am nothing without you!" Sandra could hear Vinny in the background trying to take the phone. The message stopped there.

"Sorry that Vinny hung up on you. Anyway, who do you think you are? You think you can just ignore me? You need me! It's not the other way around." Jimmy tried to sound angry. "I think." He started to sound a little confused. He kept losing his train of thought through the whole message. "Anyway, like I was saying. I need you. So call me back."

That was the last message. Sandra couldn't stop smiling as she hung up the call. Now, she couldn't wait to talk to him. She went back to her room and dialed Jimmy's number. After a few seconds of her finger hovering over the call button, she finally pressed it. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it were fluttering. She thought of what she'd say.

'Jimmy, I decided I don't care about anything but you and this baby. I want you to come get me and we can run so far away that no one will ever find us and we can be happy together and have a family.'

No, that sounded too corny. The phone was on it's second ring. Sandra decided just to let the words come out however they may. Hopefully, he'd understand her. A smile grew on her face as she thought of how happy Jimmy would be to hear her voice. Her smile disappeared instantly as she heard a voice on the other line.

"Hello?" A woman answered.

"Who is this?" Sandra asked with unintentional attitude.

"This is Courtney, who is this?" The girl asked just as nasty.

"Sandra, I'm looking for Jimmy." Sandra tried to keep her voice low.

"He's busy." Courtney said slowly. Sandra heard someone yell Jimmy's name in the background.

"Jimmy, don't touch me like that! You know I'm not that type of girl." The girl in the background laughed. "You already got me all wet with your beer! Now it's time to make up for it."

"I already told you, Bridget. And to be clear I know exactly what type of girl you are." Jimmy began to say something else, but it was cut off as Courtney hung up the phone. Sandra fell back into bed. Tears were filling up her eyes as she tried not to cry. He couldn't really have moved on that quickly could he? Maybe he was just playing Sandra all along. Just as Sandra got up to bring the phone back downstairs, it rang. Looking at the caller ID, she realized it was Jimmy.

Jimmy shoved Bridget off of him forcefully as she screamed ridiculous statements about what kind of girl she was and his spilled beer. It was getting really annoying. Jimmy didn't know how much more he could take. Obviously these girls wouldn't get the hint as long as Jimmy was nice to them. He tried to be their friend, but they were way too aggressive for him.

"I already told you, Bridget. And to be clear I know exactly what type of girl you are." Jimmy yelled back. "I told you to get off of me. I don't want anything to do with you, or Courtney or any of you for that matter!"

Bridget's face turned white with fear as Jimmy's face turned red with anger.

"I want you and all your skanky friends to keep your hands off of me and stay ten feet away from me at all times! Do you understand that?" Jimmy said threateningly.

Bridget just nodded her head with her jaw ajar. She didn't say another word to him as she turned and walked toward the door. Setting her drink on the table, she gave Vinny a hug. The whole room was silent and stared at Jimmy.

"I'll see you later, Vin." Bridget said with a shaky voice.

Amber, Diana, and Felicity all followed, giving Jimmy a stare of death. They each gave Vinny a hug and kiss on the cheek as they thanked him for inviting them. Courtney walked up to Jimmy before following in her friends footsteps.

"I thought you were nice, but you really are just an ass." Courtney said, looking him up and down disgustedly. "I found your phone on the coffee table." She slammed the phone into his hand.

Jimmy looked at the phone and saw that it was blinking. He opened it and read the front screen. It said 'call ended: Sandra'. Looking at his call log, he realized Sandra had called not more than a few moments ago, and someone answered. The call lasted almost two minutes.

"Fuck." Jimmy muttered to himself as he pulled on his jacket and rushed out the door, holding the phone to his ear. Sandra answered, she sounded upset. He didn't notice anyone calling his name as he slammed the door shut, angry with Vinny.

"Sandra!" Jimmy exclaimed with a smile. "Darlin', you called!" He almost jumped for joy.

"Yeah." Sandra sniffled. "The abortion is tomorrow, I just thought you should know." Sandra said in a soft voice.

"You're definitely doing it?" Jimmy asked as he walked toward the garage.

"I guess. I don't know." Sandra's voice started to break. "We'll find out tomorrow, my mom's taking me. Goodnight Jimmy, I have to go."

"Sandra," Jimmy wanted to console her. There was a silence on the line for a few seconds as if she were waiting for him to speak. Then he heard the beep and his phone blinked 'call ended: Sandra'. Jimmy walked to his car. He got there about midnight. After seriously considering sleeping in the garage for the night, Jimmy turned the key in the ignition of his car and drove home. He decided he wasn't going to work the next day.