Somewhere in My Heart (12 page)

There were manmade lamps lighting up the walkways.  It looked like something you’d see in an old fashioned horror story.  She was waiting to step on bugs or booby traps.  She heard some strange music playing, just beyond the wall in front of her.  She looked around to see if anyone was there.  She saw dancers wearing veils like genies would wear.  They were apparently performing for their master, or the king of the island.  She couldn’t see the man’s face from where she was standing. She tried to get a closer look. At that moment, someone hit her over the head.

She heard a voice saying, “Billie, please wake up.  I’m sorry this had to happen.  If you wake up, I promise I won’t accuse you of what I did ever again.” 

She opened her eyes, and she saw Ricky.  She whispered, “What happened?” 

Ricky believed, “You must have hit your head on the deck or the railing.  We found you unconscious out there last night.  You had us all worried.  It’s a wonder that you didn’t get swept off the boat and in to the ocean.” 

All of a sudden, it was clear to her, her memory restored.

Billie pleaded, “How’s the baby?”

Ricky assured her, “The baby is fine.  It is you we are worried about now.” 

Billie responded, “I don’t remember bumping my head.  But, I do remember the dream that I had.  At least, I think it was a dream. I had amnesia and was on an island with an agent, maybe from the FBI.  It was so strange. And now that I think about it, he looked a lot like Bobby.”

Then, Chris walked up with Joy beside him.  Billie realized, “I think you were there, too.”

Chris joked, “It’s safe to say that you’re not in Kansas anymore.” 

Maria inquired, “What’s that about Kansas?” 

Chris had forgotten that Maria was from Kansas. 

Ricky claimed, “That’s a strange dream you had.  I wonder why you dreamed it.” 

Chris prayed, “Hopefully it doesn’t mean that we are going to be shipwrecked.  Not that I’d mind being on an island with Joy.” 

Billie vowed, “Well, if it’s anything like the island in my dream, I’d rather not go there.  I’m just glad it was only a dream.” 

Jason agreed, “Yeah, there is no place like home.”

-The End

“Naw. 
She’s okay.” I half managed to get out as my friends were teasing me about having a crush on April Powders. 

“Yeah, you do! Ohhhh, yeah, you do!  Jimmy likes April.  Jimmy likes April,” Mikey sang out loud while dancing around our lunch table.  I’m not sure how, exactly, I became friends with Mikey. 
I suppose it was because we had homeroom together since I could remember
.  He was
very tall for
a
thirteen
year old
and built like a lumber-jack.  And, like you’d assume from looking at hi
s unkempt hair and dirt-stained face
, he
had
absolutely no manners.  He d
idn’t
even
care if there were girls around when he needed
to pass gas, or shoot a booger out of
his nose.  And, he certainly didn’t mind embarrassing me in front of April
Powders
. 

I was
quickly turning
beet red, and wanted to die. 

April wa
s
a girl who I sa
t
next to each day in my English l
iteratu
re and biology classes.  She had
curly,
brown hair that always smelled like roses.  She wa
s our class
p
resident, and my lab p
artner in biology.  The truth was, I did
have a bit of a crush on her, but I’d never tell Mikey that.  No need to give him more ammunition to use on me
later.  It was always
so hard to concentrat
e on the biology lesson when I was sitting next to April.  I was
magically transported into the wishful thinking of my mind by the lovely, clean scent of April’s hair.  I
would get so nervous, though, that I had to constantly wipe
the palms of my hands on my pants in class
.  T
hey
would sweat so much when I was
around her. 
I mean, they would sweat a lot…so much so, that I fe
l
t
like a sweat facto
ry in biology!  I probably left
class everyday with pit stains
under my arms
too. 
I’m sure she
thought
I
was
a complete and utter idiot. 

Bei
ng thirteen and in high school wa
s hard to figure out.  As a teen and high-schooler, I
was
supposed to hit on girls every chance I g
o
t and try to get dates or more from them…but, just last year I
was
made fun of if I
even
had a crush on a girl, or a girl had a
crush on me.  I never really knew what to do, and Mikey seemed
to know that and po
unced
on me every chance he got
.
  Unfortunately, for me, he got
a lot of chances.  I mean A LOT!

“Aww…leave him alone, Mike,”
m
y best friend, Connor, interjected.  “Can’t ya see he’s embarrassed?”

Connor was
everything I wish
ed
I was. 
He wa
s taller than me…standing at
five foot nine inches.  He was
athletic
and toned.  He had
brown hair
and
hazel eyes
like me, but also
kind-of a crooked smile that seem
ed
to make girls swoon. 
He was the kind of guy who was
smart, funny, witty, goofy, and outgoin
g.  I felt very lucky to have him as my best friend.  I could
tell Connor anything and know
my
secrets
were
safe with him.  He
was completely trust-worthy, and we had been friends since I was nine years old.  That’s when
he stopped a bully from beating my face to a bloody stump
.  I know he was
just trying to protect me this time too, but Mikey
was hard to reel in when he knew
he
was
getting under
a person’s
skin. 

Just as Mikey was
about to start in again, and likely embarrass me to even greater depths than before, the school bell loudly
rang
. 

RRIIIINNNNNGGGGGG….

Saved by the bell, lunch wa
s over. 

I exhale
d
a huge sigh of relief, as I pick
ed
up my trash and partially eaten sandwich and toss
ed
them in the
fly ridden
trash can.  I miss
ed
while trying to shoot the
balled up wrapper into the can, as if
it
was
a basketball.  I quickly look
ed
around to make sure Mikey didn’t see my failure, and it seem
ed that I was
in the clear for once. 
Now, I just had
to make it through the rest of
the
day. 

Connor and I to
l
d Mikey we would see him later since he had
Algebra class on t
he other end of campus.  As we w
alk
ed
away, Mikey yell
ed
at the top of his lungs, “Jimmy!  See ya later, Loverboy!” and crack
ed
up
laughing to himself as he blew
a kiss
in
my direction.  About thirty
kids
stopped and started looking
at me and laughed…some
hysterically.   

“Don’
t mind him, dude,” Connor offered
, and playfully
tussled
my hair a
s he broke
away
to his locker.  He always knew
how to make me feel better.  

The
next few classes went well.  I did
n’t have any classes the second half of the day with either Mikey or April, so I c
ould
just focus on my schoolwork.  I
was always a
teacher’s
pet type of guy.  I naturally got good grades, and was
always polite and
attentive to my teachers.  I did
n’t brown-
nose or anything, but I still go
t singled out as the example to follow in quite a few of my classes. 

Finally, the last bell of the day
rang
and I
couldn’t
wait to
get home.  Mom said that if I go
t my homework done early enough,
we could
go look at Christmas lights around town.  I’ve always loved Christmas.
Living in Washington State, I was
fortunate enough to get a white Chri
stmas every year.  It just seemed
to make everything so much more magical.  The lights seem
ed
to twinkle more, as they reflect
ed
off the snow and ice…
and the people became
just a tiny bit happier, in spite of having to drive in a foot of snow. 
T
he cold temperature
s mad
e
me
wanna get a fire going in the fireplace, and drink hot cocoa while watching
my
favorite Christmas television special. 
I had to imagine the fire since we never had a fireplace in our house.