Standing Out

“Hey Mya, guess what?” Jeanne rushed into my room. My bleary eyes shifted to read 4:28 a.m. on my clock.

“What do you want?” I snapped.

“Jack and I are back together! I dumped all of my other boyfriends to make him feel special.”

“What about Brianna?” I was suddenly interested in her gossip.

“What about her?”

“Is she okay?”

“Of course she’s okay. She’s dating John now. She’s totally over him.”

“Are you sure?” I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know she’s not just trying to make Jack jealous?”

Jeanne paused for a moment. “Hmm, you might be right. But it’s not like Jack would ever leave me for her.”

“I don’t know, Jeanne. He might if you treat him poorly enough.”

“Well he loves me so I’m sure he’ll stick around.” She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself.

“Just be nice to him and stop thinking about yourself all of the time.” Tired, I reached for the bed sheets and pulled them over my face.

Jeanne sounded nervous. “I came in here to ask you something.”

“Ask me what?”

“I want you to come with me to Jack’s house.”

“Why? So we can spy on him sleeping and make sure that he isn’t cheating?” Sarcasm crept into my voice, but Jeanne clearly didn’t sense it.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

“What? I was only joking, Jeanne, seriously.”

“Are you coming or not?”

“Fine,” I sighed, defeated. “Just get out of my room and let me change into some clothes for the day.” After I slipped on a long sleeve shirt and some sweatpants, I grabbed my socks and sneakers, shoving them on. Half awake, I reached for my jacket and put it on.

“Hurry up!” Jeanne called.

I couldn’t believe that I was going along with her on another escapade. I suppose we have to slip out and hope that we get back in time before our parents wake up. Great thinking, Jeanne, you just couldn’t wait for them to leave at 5:30.

Annoyed at my sister’s lack of common sense, I followed her out the door. Snow still covered the streets, so going by bike this time would be hopeless. “We’ll go on foot.” She told me.

It was just yesterday that I walked to and from Mr. Ashworth’s teaching lessons at Long’s Park. I had told my parents about it and they alerted the school board, but we haven’t heard a reply so far. Even though school was cancelled today too and Mr. Ashworth had ordered us to report to the park again, my parents forbade me from doing so. They were afraid that I’d get sick or injured on the long trek and were very alarmed at Mr. Ashworth’s incompetence as a teacher.

And there I was, back out in the cold again, this time with my sister over a boyfriend.

It wasn’t as though we were taking the mile walk slowly, though. Jeanne had me running as fast as possible so we would have enough time to gawk at Jack and then run back to the house before Mama and Papa got up for work.

We sprinted at a breakneck speed and by the time Jack’s light brown house loomed in the distance, we both paused, gasping for breath.

“If we get caught by Mama and Papa, I’m blaming you.” I warned.

“You chose to come with me.” She had a point.

“Fine then, but you better keep us out of trouble.”

She nodded, gasping for air at our long run.

“If he doesn’t see you peeking at him, he’ll definitely smell you.” I laughed as the scent of perspiration crossed my nose.

“Okay, well, we better hurry up.” At that, we were running again. We shook with coughs, however, as a result of pushing our bodies so hard.

After about a minute, we reached Jack’s house. “So what should we do, Jeanne?”

“We have to go into his house.”

I froze. “You want me to break in with you?” I was incredulous. There was no way I would help her if that were the case.

“Yes,” She replied defiantly. “It’ll be pretty easy, too. He left his window open.”

“Yeah, on the second floor,” Sarcasm edged my voice. “You didn’t bring a ladder. What, do you want us to climb?”

She sighed. “I guess I’m crazy for hoping to see him.”

“Uh, yeah you are.” I frowned. Did she just realize that?

“Look, why don’t we go to Brianna’s house? If he’s likely to cheat on you, that’s where he would go.” When she looked unconvinced, I added, “according to your daily gossip, you said she sleeps on the ground floor.”

“Good thinking, Mya!” She gave me a pat on the back. “Let’s go!”

Brianna lived a couple of blocks down from Jack, so it didn’t take us long to get there. As we approached her charcoal gray house, my eyes strained to peer through the window. I couldn’t see anything. I heard voices on the inside, though. They were rather loud so I could pick out most of what they were saying.

“Oh, Jack, I love you. I know it’s wrong to meet in secret like this, but I couldn’t say no again.”

“I feel the same. It’s hard pretending that I like Jeanne during the day, though.”

Hearing these words made me pity my sister. She really liked Jack. It would break her heart to tell her this, but I had to.

“Hey Mya, do you see anything?”

“Yes, actually,” I tried to keep my voice even, but it wavered.

Jeanne rushed over, looking through the window. Then she paused. “I hear voices!” We both strained to listen.

“Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are, Brianna?”

“Too many times,” Brianna joked. “I love you, Jack.”

Jeanne stiffened. “Was that what I thought I just heard? Jack is cheating on me!”

She rushed to Brianna’s door, punching it and yelling. A concerned Brianna opened it. “Who’s there?”

“Jeanne.”

“Oh, uh, come back later.”

“No, I need to come in now.” Hesitantly, Brianna stepped aside, letting her in. I followed. “Jack, what is the meaning of this?”

“I don’t know what you –” He began.

“Don’t even explain. I heard you.”

“Look, I’m really sorry Jeanne. I just really like Brianna.”

“So you just cheat on me and make me think that you love me during the day? I don’t think so. I know you probably want to hear these words, but we’re through.” Jeanne eyes began to water and she grabbed me by the arm, pulling me out of the house. She started to run aimlessly, hoping to somehow reach the house. Trying to be supportive, I followed her.

“I’m so sorry, Jeanne.”

“It’s fine. What just happened really opened my eyes. It hurts a lot, but I guess I should have realized it sooner. That’s what I get for having eight boyfriends. Now I have zero.”

The winter air never felt colder as we raced home. We had to get back as soon as possible. As we approached the house, I was mortified. My parents were standing out in the driveway, waiting for something. They saw us right away.

“Oh there you are.” Papa glowered at us. Fear crawled up my spine.

Jeanne spoke up for me. “It’s my fault.” She told them. “I asked Mya to come with me to spy on Jack. We discovered that he was cheating on me.”

Mama suddenly looked sorry for her. “You’re still in serious trouble, but I understand. We’ll be back after work and we’ll deal with this then. Don’t leave the house.” They hopped into their cars and drove away, headlights illuminating the road.

I turned to Jeanne as we watched them fade into the distance. “Thanks for protecting me. I could have gotten into a lot of trouble too.”

“I shouldn’t have asked you to come with me and I shouldn’t have gone in the first place. I’m really sorry, Mya.”

She reached over and gave me a hug. “I’m so lucky to have a sister.”