365 Days At War

by Nancy Isaak

  “Sorry, Sailor Moon,” Jude apologized. “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “Yes, you will,” Lily announced. “When we get home, you’re going to make valentines with me.”

  The look on Jude’s face was one of pure dread.

  I burst out in laughter, quickly jumping back—out of her reach.

  * * * *

  If I’d met the kid in charge of the Point Mugu sentry station before, I hadn’t remembered him. He said his name was Larry and he was about 15-years old. I thought he was handsome in kind of a Ryan Gosling way—great abs, but kind of a goofy face.

  “He didn’t make it up here until the morning, so I have no idea where he spent the night.” Larry was talking about Victor and the day after he had attacked me and been booted out of the tribe. “Kid seemed hinky to me, though, so I trailed him around Mugu, up into Camarillo.”

  “Victor didn’t go to Oxnard?” I asked.

  Larry shook his head. “Kid followed the hills up to the 101 Freeway, then turned and headed back towards the Conejo Valley.”

  “How far did you follow him?”

  “Up into Moorpark. That’s where the Crazies caught up with him. Last I saw, he had his hands up and they were carting him away. Where Victor went after that, I have no idea. But I will tell you this—kid was talking really fast. I could see his mouth moving and I could see them listening so, whatever he was saying—Crazies were taking it all in.”

  This was bad news.

  Although Victor didn’t have access to any of our tribe’s plans, it was always possible that he had overheard or seen something that he shouldn’t have. If Victor somehow got in front of Brandon, Orla, and Tray with that information, it could be disastrous for us—and the spies we sent up.

  Jacob was not going to be happy.

  * * * *

  It was late when we finally rode back into Malibu, slowly riding along Zuma Beach. Looking out onto the waves, we saw Xavier and Nate out on their boards. I wondered if they had been there all day; more likely, they had simply come back to enjoy the sunset on the water.

  They looked so ‘normal’ out there—just a couple of surfers having a fun day at the beach. If we hadn’t just come back from building bonfires all along the coast to protect our tribe from murderous cannibals—you would have thought it was just another sunny day in California.

  * * * *

  And then…suddenly…it was February 13th.

  The day before my wedding!

  My nerves were shot and I was feeling sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Taking pity on me, Jay pulled me up to the roof as dusk fell to drink lemonade, talk about nothing and everything—and try and settle me down.

  “It’s completely normal,” Jay told me. “I’d be worried if you didn’t have the jitters the night before your wedding.”

  “Do you think I’m making a mistake?”

  “Stop saying that! Of course, you’re not. You’ve been in love with Jacob since the moment you first saw him. And he’s been in love with you.”

  “But we’re so young.”

  “Not anymore, you’re not,” she said. “Let’s face it, seventeen is old in this world. In fact, you’re kind of senior citizens.”

  “Thanks…you make me feel so much better.” But I was smiling when I said it, so she didn’t take offense. “I miss you, Jay,” I sighed. “We spend so little time together these days.”

  “Well, you’re busy with Council and Jacob, and I’ve got the Medical Clinic.”

  “And Porter.”

  Jay shook her head. “That can’t happen. Not with Jude liking him the way she does.”

  “So, is there anyone else in the tribe you like? What about Connor?”

  “I like Connor,” she shrugged. “Just not in that way.”

  “Pauly?”

  Jay burst into giggles. “Too much energy.”

  “Rhys?”

  “Too young.”

  “But if you guys fell in love and got married, we’d be sisters for real.”

  She shook her head. “Not going to happen.”

  “So, you’re saying that there’s absolutely no one else in the tribe who’s caught your eye?”

  “Not, yet.”

  “Then, I guess we simply need to get more guys in the tribe.”

  “Or we could just not worry about it,” reasoned Jay. “If someone comes along, that’s great. If not, I’d rather not think about it at the moment. Especially with everything that’s going on right now.”

  I took a long sip of lemonade, looking up at the stars. “Things really have changed since we woke up that first morning, haven’t they?”

  Jay nodded. “Remember how scared we were? How we hid in my parents’ attic?”

  “And then we found Lily and it suddenly wasn’t as scary.”

  “Because we had to be responsible,” said Jay. “We couldn’t afford to be so scared anymore. We had to take care of Lily.”

  “Don’t forget Jude. Remember bringing her home on the wagon?” We both began giggling. “She was so out of it—and then she puked over the side.”

  “What about when she tried to run away,” said Jay, “but she was still so drunk that she couldn’t run very fast, so you just jogged beside her until you could turn her around.”

  “I think she thought we were demons.”

  “You were demons.”

  Spinning around, I saw Jude at the open door. She was holding a bucket of sodas and grinning at me. “Happy bachelorette party, Barbie.”

  There were squeals behind her and Lily and Hannah pushed by. They were each carrying three pillows, and Lily was also pulling Pugly behind on a leash.

  “Happy bachelorette party!” They screeched in unison, laughing at my shocked expression. “We’re gonna’ have pillow fights!”

  Peyton moved past them, carrying a chair and a bottle of champagne. She placed the chair across from me and sat down with a tired sigh. Then, she handed me the champagne. “Don’t give me any grief about you being too young to drink? If you’re old enough to get married, you’re old enough to have a good luck toast with your friends.”

  Jude plopped her own chair down beside Peyton’s. “Did she suspect, Skipper?”

  Jay grinned. “Nope.”

  I turned to her, my mouth still open in amazement. “How long have you guys been planning this?”

  “Long enough,” said Jay. “Now, where’s the food?”

  “Coming!” It was Sophia, maneuvering a trolley onto the roof. It was covered with various Mexican dishes—the spicy odors already making my mouth water. “And don’t worry, because I made everything vegetarian.”

  Peyton looked disgusted. “This girl needs her meat, Soph.”

  Sophia waggled her finger in front of Peyton’s face. “You get too much meat. That’s part of your problem.”

  Jay and I immediately began to giggle. Sophia looked at us, confused.

  “What?” she asked. “Did I say it wrong?”

  Cherry appeared, sitting down beside Jude. “You just told Peyton that she’s getting laid a lot.”

  “Which sadly is not the truth at the moment,” sighed Peyton.

  “I didn’t say that,” Sophia insisted. “I didn’t say anything about boys.”

  Shawnee ran in through the doorway, carrying a large box decorated in pink wrapping paper and a large green bow. “What’s going on?” she asked, brightly.

  “Well,” drawled Peyton. “Kaylee was surprised, Sophia’s made tree-hugger food, and I’m not supposed to have penis anymore.”

  “Cool,” said Shawnee, reaching out toward a bag of chips on the bottom of the trolley. Cherry quickly whacked at her sister’s hand, frowning. “Wait until everybody’s here. We’re still missing Cammie.”

  “I’m here, I’m here!”

  Cammie ran through the roof door carrying a long veil, complete with tiara, held high in the air. “I told you I knew where it was!” she triumphantly told the other girls. “Two houses down, three houses over. Right
where Porter’s scavenging book said it was!”

  “All right,” said Jude, “let’s get this party started. Cammie put the lid on the bride. Peyton, you go get the stripper!”

  * * * *

  Thankfully—Jude was kidding about the stripper.

  But I did have to wear the veil and tiara all night. Plus, Jay pulled a blue garter out of her pocket that—laughing so hard she almost peed herself—she rolled up onto my thigh as Cherry and Jude hummed a burlesque song.

  I felt like a fool—but in a good way.

  All of the girls had way too much fun—tormenting me about everything from how Jacob was going to look without clothes, to how long the ‘first time’ would last.

  “We should probably place bets,” said Jude. “Like do one of those football pool charts, except it’s for the bopping.”

  “You are not taking bets on how long—uh…” I couldn’t continue; it was too embarrassing.

  “This is not very polite,” suggested Sophia, sipping ladylike from her champagne glass. “Perhaps we should open the present now.”

  Peyton leaned in close to Sophia, making her very uncomfortable. “But they’ll be married, Soph. Even God won’t object when Kaylee and Jacob do it. And don’t forget—Kaylee’s a vegetarian. That means she won’t even be eating the meat like me.”

  It wasn’t just Sophia who looked like she wanted to crawl under the food trolley.

  “Peyton!” I exclaimed. “We’ve got young girls here!”

  “Whoops.” Peyton turned and looked at Shawnee, Lily, and Hannah, who were all staring at her, open-mouthed. “Sorry, girls.”

  “What did Peyton mean?” Shawnee asked Cherry. “About eating the meat?”

  As Jay and I began giggling again, Peyton looked at Shawnee and deadpanned. “It means that I like meat. Lots and lots of meat—the juicier the better.”

  Repulsed, Sophia put her fingers in her ears.

  Meanwhile, Cherry motioned Shawnee over and whispered in her ear. As she listened to Cherry’s explanation, Shawnee’s mouth dropped open—first in surprise, then in disgust.

  “So, Kaylee,” asked Peyton. “Speaking of meat—in all seriousness—how are you and Jacob dealing with the veggie thing?”

  I shrugged. “It’s no big deal. He eats what he wants. I eat what I want.”

  Jude burst into laughter.

  “No,” I quickly said. “I didn’t mean that. I meant…”

  But, it was too late.

  They were all laughing now…except Sophia, of course.

  * * * *

  When everyone had finally settled down, Cherry handed me the pink present. “Heckle and Jeckle there found it,” said Cherry, nodding toward Peyton and Jude. “But it’s from all of us.”

  “I wrapped it,” said Shawnee, proudly.

  “And you did a great job,” I told her.

  “Open it!” urged Lily and Hannah. “Just rip it open!”

  With a grin, I grabbed at the paper and tore it from the box.

  “This is from a drycleaner’s,” I said, reading the name on the carton. “Is it clothes?”

  “Just open it,” Jay sighed, impatient.

  The box was taped shut and I had to use my nails to score it open. When I finally pulled off the lid, I gasped at the sight of the satiny wedding dress inside. It was a simple A-line with spaghetti straps, but the bodice was covered in what looked like tiny diamonds.

  “It’s absolutely beautiful!” I gasped. “Where did you find it?”

  “A house down on Grayfox Street. We think it belongs to an actress,” said Jude. “She even had an Emmy on the mantle.”

  “Personally, I wanted to get the other wedding dress, but Jude wouldn’t let me,” groused Peyton. “She said that you’d like this one better.”

  I looked at Jude; she shrugged. “The other one would have shown your twinkie. It was very short.”

  “Then, this is definitely the one,” I said. “Because I absolutely love it! And it looks like it’s my size and everything.”

  “Look under the dress,” ordered Peyton. “I added a little something for Jacob.”

  Carefully lifting an edge of the dress, I peered underneath to find a slinky set of underwear—a tiny pink bra and panties. Burning with embarrassment, I quickly replaced the dress over top, before the younger girls could see.

  “Like I said,” Peyton smirked, “that present is for Jacob.”

  * * * *

  As the night progressed and we girls ate Mexican food, toasted with champagne, and hit each other on the head with pillows, I noticed that Cherry kept excusing herself to draw in a sketch book. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me and I went over to see what she was doing.

  “It’s my personal gift to you,” Cherry explained. “You can’t have wedding photos so, hopefully, this will be the next best thing. But you can’t look at the pictures now.” She held the sketchpad against her chest. “You need to wait until after you get back from your honeymoon.”

  “You’re having a honeymoon?!” Jude looked surprised. “Where the hell are you going?!”

  I shrugged. “Who knows…Jacob is planning it.”

  “I’ll bet he is!” teased Peyton.

  Jude started hooting, moving her hips in such a way that Sophia looked quickly away, taking a big gulp of her champagne instead.

  * * * *

  In the old world, I suppose I would have had a much different shower.

  No doubt I would have been dragged to a club, gotten drunk with my friends, worn a too short skirt, and had some half-naked guy climb into my lap. I would have pretended that I was enjoying everything while, inwardly, I would have been cringing from embarrassment and humiliation.

  Instead, I sat on a roof with girls who were both my friends—and my family. We laughed and we giggled and we talked into the wee hours.

  It was perfect.

  Although—to be completely honest—Sophia might not have agreed.

  By the end of the evening, we found her, sitting in a corner, her head slumped against her shoulder. She was muttering away, half-drunk on champagne—apologizing to anyone who would listen about her ‘stoopid mistakes’.

  Jude carried her down to bed—tucking Sophia in—to snore through the night. The rest of the girls eventually followed, carrying pillows and empty soda cans.

  Jay, however, remained behind for one last, private conversation. “This time tomorrow,” she grinned, happily, “you’re going to be married.”

  “Oh god.”

  “You’re still going to let me do the ceremony, right?”

  “Of course…I think that would be amazing.”

  “All right, then. I guess you deserve this.” She held out a tiny red and gold jewelry box—the size a ring comes in. When I hesitated, Jay pushed it into my hands. “Don’t be a doof…it’s not a ring.”

  Slowly, I opened the box; inside were a pair of yellow-gold hoop earrings. They had tiny emeralds in them, and little hearts that hung down, one from each hoop.

  “These are the earrings that your dad got you in Pakistan!” I gasped. “I’ve always loved these earrings.”

  “I know,” she grinned.

  “But—but how did you get them? I mean, how did you bring them down here? They were back at your townhouse.”

  “It wasn’t easy,” admitted Jay. “Let’s just say that I paid with my first French kiss.”

  “What?!” Then, I got it. “Ohmigod…you got Pauly to get them for you!”

  Jay nodded, blushing. “And he wanted a kiss for payment.”

  “That little pervert!”

  “It was okay,” she shrugged. “I mean, honestly—he’s a really good kisser. And it was worth it to get you a good wedding present.”

  I reached over and hugged her. “They’re absolutely perfect. I love you so much.”

  She grinned. “I love you, too.”

  As I threaded the earrings through my lobes, I wondered if—in spite of all her objections—there might actually be something
growing between Pauly and Jay. In a way, I kind of hoped that there was.

  Because Pauly was definitely beginning to grow on me.

  * * * *

  The morning came way too early for me. It seemed like I had only just placed my head to my pillow before Lily and Hannah came bounding into my room.

  “It’s wedding day, wedding day!” they sang.

  “You have to get up now, Kaylee,” Lily announced—way too loudly. “Peyton and Cherry said you have no choice.”

  “We’re supposed to bounce on your bed,” added Hannah, climbing up beside me. “Peyton said to bounce until you get your fat bottom downstairs.”

  “But Peyton used another word instead of bottom,” Lily tattled. “It was a bad word.”

  Yawning, I moved my tired body inch-by-inch until I was sitting on the edge of the bed. As I did, Jude walked in carrying a cup of coffee. “Mine,” I growled, holding out my hand.

  She handed me the cup, grinning. “Dude, you looked wiped!”

  “Thanks.” I took a big swig of the coffee. “That makes me feel so much better.”

  “Could be worse,” Jude shrugged. “At least, you don’t look like Sophia.”

  “That’s mean. Sophia’s been trying really hard lately.”

  “Don’t take it there, Barbie. All I meant was that Sophia looks like crap this morning because she’s hungover.”

  “How much champagne did she have last night?”

  “Well, considering as how the rest of us mostly just had a sip—I would say that Sophia drank at least half of the bottle.”

  “No wonder she’s hungover.”

  “Don’t feel too bad for her. She’s still down in the kitchen right now, yelling at everybody.”

  “She’s making a cake,” said Hannah, excited.

  Jude tapped her on the head. “Which you’re not supposed to be talking about, Hannah-banana.”

  Hannah giggled, whispering to me. “It’s your wedding cake!”

  * * * *

  Although Jacob and I had decided to hold our wedding in the ballroom of the prince’s mansion, we still intended on keeping it a ‘family’ affair. To that extent, only those closest to us were invited.