Sleeping World

by K M Frost

  When we got home, Dad was trimming the large bushes in our front yard, and he asked for my help. After putting my book bag in my room, I returned to the yard and took the sheers he offered me.

  I’d been helping Dad prune the bushes in our yard for a few years, and by now I could do it almost without thinking.

  While we worked, Dad asked me about school, and I gave him a brief recap. Then I asked about work, and he told me things were fine, though he did toss a look toward the closed door, almost like he was waiting for Mom to come out and scold him.

  I remembered what he’d said about Mom warning him not to scare me or Ellie, and I wondered what might be going on.

  I knew things had been tense since the criminals had come through, but I didn’t really know what that meant. I mean, were people just tired and crabby, or was something more serious brewing—something dangerous?

  I didn’t want to think about it.

  I was glad when Dad changed the subject—it was my birthday tomorrow—and I could push the worries from my mind. I didn’t know how many more troubles we could take, and I didn’t want to find out.

  Chapter 20

  Rick tosses me a look at the beginning of the night, and I know he’s right: It’s time to make a decision.

  Leah and Abby are both my friends, and the last thing I want is for either of them to hate me. The only problem is, I don’t know who I should choose. I’m too new to this territory of ‘liking’ and ‘leading on’—I have no idea what to do.

  I don’t realize I’ve already decided until I’m walking toward Abby, surrounded as she is by her books. If my hair were hanging in my face like that while I was trying to read, it would drive me nuts. Abby just keeps reading.

  She looks up when I reach her, and she smiles. “Hi, Jonas.”

  I’m nervous and extremely self-conscious. “Uh, hey Abby. So . . . have you found anything interesting?”

  Her eyes are bright. “I’ve found lots of interesting things. But I don’t know how much use most of it will be.”

  I nod and dip my hands into my pockets. I don’t notice until she shifts on her bed, breaking the stillness, that the silence has stretched on far too long and gotten very awkward.

  Abby sets her book aside to give me her full attention. “Is something on your mind?”

  Oh, great. It was easier when she was distracted.

  My mind scrambles for a good place to start. “Um, I think there might have been a misunderstanding, and I wanted to get it cleared up.”

  She waits for me to continue and I clear my throat, wincing at how loud it sounds. “Well . . . Actually, it was Rick who told me about it.” I’m stumbling over my words and I must be blushing like an idiot. “I didn’t even know. So I wasn’t trying to be a jerk or anything. I just didn’t know that you . . . or she . . . So . . . is it okay, then? We’re good?”

  Abby’s mouth twists in amusement, and I can tell she’s trying not to laugh. “Jonas, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  I chew the inside of my cheek and toss a glance around, glad no one is close enough to overhear.

  “Do you . . . like me?” I barely manage to get the words past the lump in my throat, and they come out as little more than a whisper.

  Abby looks surprised, but she grins. “Yes, Dreamy Boy. I like you.”

  My face flushes, and I drop my eyes to my shoes. I’m trying to come up with a reply when she speaks again, sounding uncertain.

  “Is that a problem?” Her expression hesitates somewhere between a smile and a frown.

  “It’s not a problem.” My voice cracks on the last word. “It’s just . . .”

  Abby reaches out and grabs my hand. “It’s alright, Jonas.” She gives my hand a squeeze. “I understand.”

  Relief washes over me. But before I can fully relax, a thought occurs to me. “We can still be friends, right?”

  Abby laughs and lets go of my hand. “If you still want to.”

  I can’t hold back my relieved smile. “Definitely.”

  She smiles too. “Then it looks like you’ve got yourself a friend.”

  But then Abby asks a question that makes me tense all over again. “What are you going to tell Leah?”

  I glance toward Leah.

  She’s on the other side of the room, moving slowly through rows of sleeping. I can’t even imagine having that conversation with Leah.

  “I’m not going to say anything.”

  Abby’s eyebrows draw together. “Why not?”

  I push my hands deeper into my pockets and drop my gaze to the floor again. “It’s too embarrassing.”

  When I finally look up, Abby’s smirking.

  That’s not helping.

  “What?” I demand.

  “Oh I wish I could be there when that conversation happens!” She laughs, then sobers, looking me steadily in the eye. “You won’t make her wait too long, will you?”

  I can only shrug, and Abby sighs.

  “Boys.”

  I ignore her teasing and make my way over to Leah. She doesn’t say anything when I step up next to her, and I’m worried she’s mad at me again.

  I brace myself for a burst of anger. “Any luck?”

  “Nope.”

  She moves on to the next body without looking up. I follow her silently, and a second later, she speaks again.

  “I was starting to wonder if you were going to help me tonight.” There’s genuine hurt in her voice.

  “Of course I’m going to help. I said I would, didn’t I?” I’m oddly bothered by her lack of faith. I mean, we’re friends. Aren’t friends supposed to count on each other?

  “Yeah . . .” She glances briefly at me before moving on. “I just thought maybe . . .”

  I look over my shoulder at Abby and know what she would say—that this is the perfect time to tell Leah I like her. I’m nowhere near brave enough for that, so I settle for something a little less intense and much less embarrassing.

  “Hey, I was wondering if you want to come over after school. We’re having a party, and I thought you might want to come.” I see her watching me from the corner of my eye, and I shrug. “It won’t be anything big—just my family. And you, if you want to come.”

  “What’s the occasion?” she asks casually. I have a feeling she’s already decided she wants to come, though.

  “It’s my birthday.”

  My words make me self-conscious in the way that only admitting it’s your birthday can.

  Her grin widens and she shoves my shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have made a big deal about it and embarrassed you in countless ways.”

  “Exactly why I didn’t give you warning.”

  “Killjoy.” She sticks out her tongue. “What’s so bad about a birthday anyway? Why does everyone try to keep it a secret?”

  I know better than to get into a debate with Leah, so I study the young woman next to me. She looks about twenty and her red hair is bright and curled. I don’t recognize her.

  Leah’s still philosophizing. “It’s almost like people are ashamed they had the audacity to be born.”

  Despite my better judgement, I feel a need to defend myself and everyone else who’s shy about their birthday. “I think it has something to do with the attention people usually get on their birthday. I mean, it’s a day completely your own, and it’s kind of intimidating to have everyone pay attention to you.”

  “But if you think about it, there’s like, millions of people who share the same birthday, so it’s really not your own.”

  I roll my eyes. “Yeah, well, most people think of it as ‘their day’.”

  Leah’s fighting a grin. “But why would the attention be intimidating? We spend our whole lives hoping to get noticed—academically, socially—but the one day where people actually pay attention to us, we hide so no one will notice us.”

  I sigh. “Never mind, Leah. But, for the record, I’m in the majority.”

  She laughs. “I’d love to com
e.”

  * * *

  School passed at a crawl, probably because of my excitement. It’d been years since I’d been this excited for my birthday. I mean, when I was Ellie’s age, the whole year revolved around my birthday. But the past few years I’d taken more of the shy route where I tried to keep the day a secret. One year I’d even tried to convince Mom and Dad my birthday wasn’t for another month. It hadn’t worked.

  But today I was counting down the seconds until school ended, and I knew what I was looking forward to this year.

  Leah had gotten permission from her dad to come to my house after school, and I was more than a little excited to spend the rest of day relaxing with my family and best friend. Though Leah kept teasing me about my birthday (luckily low enough no one else heard), I knew she was excited, too.

  Mom met us after school and we walked home together. When we reached the crossroads, Leah stayed with us, a quiet grin on her face.

  Ellie’s excitement wasn’t so quiet.

  She talked a mile a minute the whole way home, and hung on Leah’s arm the entire time. I thought about trying to subdue Ellie, but every time I got ready to pull her off Leah or tell her to stop talking so much, Leah would laugh at something Ellie had said and I didn’t want to be a spoilsport, so I kept quiet.

  When we got home Mom started to decorate my cake, and Leah was quick to volunteer her help. Ellie wanted to play a game outside, and I went with her. I didn’t want to abandon Leah, but she seemed happy to talk with my mom inside.

  When Dad came home, he joined our game, making Ellie squeal all the more.

  As soon as the cake was finished, Mom and Leah came outside too, and at Dad’s insistence, we played the Birthday Game. It was a special game we reserved for birthdays, and it was one of my favorites.

  The person who was having a birthday would have a long cloth tied across their eyes so they couldn’t see, and then they’d get spun around several times until they were too dizzy to walk straight. Then everyone else was supposed to make noise—whether talking, clapping their hands, or making some other kind of sound—and the blinded, dizzy person would chase the sounds. When they caught someone, they had to guess who it was. If they guessed right, the captured person had to move to the sidelines. If the guess was wrong, the person jumped back into the game and started making noise again. It continued that way until everyone had been caught and identified.

  I’d been playing this game for years and had gotten pretty good at following the sounds to catch people, and I was also good at recognizing who I caught.

  But after they’d covered my eyes and spun me until I could barely stay on my feet, I heard new sounds and realized Leah would throw the whole game off. Rather than being discouraged, I embraced the challenge and tried to distinguish familiar sounds.

  As soon as I found Ellie’s high-pitched and laugh-filled voice, I chased her down and snagged her arm.

  She squealed, making her identity perfectly clear, but I knew she loved this game, so I made a show of thinking hard and then guessed I’d caught Dad.

  Ellie laughed and danced away, obviously proud she had fooled me.

  We played for a long time, though I only caught Mom (Dad was very hard to catch, and I didn’t have the heart to make Ellie sit out). Mom warned from the sidelines that we needed to finish up soon because dinner was done and it was getting late. With the blindfold on, it was hard to tell how much time had passed.

  With the last few minutes I decided I was going to catch Leah, and that’s exactly what I did.

  It hadn’t taken me too long to figure out which voice was hers (though the added noise made everyone’s voice sound different), and now all I had to do was catch her.

  As soon as I heard her voice I ran toward it, running faster than was probably smart, considering I was blind.

  I heard her short laugh when she saw me running toward her, and I picked up my pace.

  I could hear her running and I followed the sound.

  I grunted when I managed to snag her arm, and she laughed.

  “Gottcha!”

  “You’ve still got to guess who it is!” Ellie’s grin was so huge I could hear it in her voice.

  I grinned too, and though I couldn’t see Leah, I turned to face her and put on my best thoughtful face. “Hmm . . . Let’s see . . .” I slid my fingers from her elbow to her hand and made a show of judging the size of it. “Too small to be Dad . . .”

  Ellie laughed.

  I heard another snort, and I’m pretty sure it was Leah.

  My mouth tipped into a smile and I caught her other hand. “Too short to be Mom . . .”

  Leah tugged her hand free and swatted my head.

  Dad and Ellie laughed at that, and I did too.

  “All right, all right. Could it be . . . Leah?”

  Ellie cheered.

  The blindfold was tugged off and I blinked at the light. Leah held the blindfold in her free hand with a grin; I was still holding her other hand.

  Mom waved us toward the house. “Come on. Let’s eat before the food gets cold.”

  Dad and Ellie were quick to follow her inside, and then it was just me and Leah.

  I hurried to let go of her hand, but didn’t know what to say.

  When Leah gestured for me to lead the way I did, glad the setting sun helped to hide my blush.

  Chapter 21

  Dinner was delicious, and I had to admit this had been the best birthday of my life.

  It was nice to enjoy the evening with my family and Leah—I hadn’t spent enough time with any of them lately.

  We took our time with dinner—though that might have been because Dad kept telling jokes and making us choke on our food. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time.

  After we’d eaten the cake and our conversation started to lull as contentment set in, Mom and Dad began to clean the kitchen. I was quick to help, but Mom took the dishes from me with a smile.

  “It’s getting late,” Mom said. “Leah should probably be getting home so her dad doesn’t worry.”

  Leah looked disappointed, but she nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t tell him when I’d be home for sure, but I don’t want him to worry.”

  I didn’t want her to leave, but I knew she was right.

  Mom frowned as Leah stood from the table. “But it’s already pretty dark. I would feel better if you didn’t have to walk alone.”

  Leah tried to brush her concern aside while Ellie nearly tackled her with a hug.

  Dad took Mom’s side, though. “Things have been quiet lately. But you shouldn’t be walking in the dark alone.”

  Mom’s face brightened like she’d had a great idea. “Jonas. Why don’t you walk Leah home—make sure she gets there alright.”

  “Sure.”

  I glanced at Leah and saw she was fighting a grin. Mom wore the same expression. I wondered what secret they were sharing.

  Ellie hung on Leah’s arm. “Can I go, too?”

  But Mom shook her head immediately. “I don’t want you out in the dark, Ellianna. You can help clean the kitchen.” She smiled like the offer was the greatest thing in the world.

  Ellie pouted, but she knew better than to grumble about it.

  So Leah and I went alone.

  The sun had already set, though the sky was still blue—darkening in the East, with the lightest section behind my house. We walked in relative silence as the sky drifted to darker shades and the first stars began to blink far away.

  Leah broke the silence after a few minutes, wearing a quiet smile. “That was a fun game. I’ve never played it before.”

  “It’s one my parents taught us. When we first started playing it, it was like any other game, but Ellie loved it so much, she didn’t want to play anything else. We didn’t want to overdo it, so Mom and Dad decided we would save it for birthdays. Sometimes I miss playing it when it’s not someone’s birthday, but it makes it even better when we get to play.”

  Leah frowned thoughtfully. “You know, if it jus
t has to be someone’s birthday, you could play it every day. There isn’t a day that isn’t someone’s birthday.”

  I rolled my eyes, but I laughed. “Just don’t tell Ellie that, because she’ll use it against us.”

  “Hmm . . . I could give that kid some great ideas.”

  “If you dare cross my mom, go ahead.”

  Leah laughed. “I think I’d be okay as long as I had your dad on my side.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. It wouldn’t be that hard to recruit him, either. Dad likes that kind of thing—plotting, wreaking havoc.”

  “I can respect that.”

  “Yeah, I think you two will get along great.”

  I had the distinct impression Leah really liked my family. The thought made me smile.

  Her house was dark, but I knew it was the right one—after all, we’d been walking her home from school for the past week, and I’d come to recognize it easily.

  I led the way into the yard and stopped at the base of the stairs leading to the door.

  I turned back to face Leah, and though she wasn’t laughing, she was still grinning.

  All of a sudden I remembered that moment when I’d found myself holding her hand after the Birthday Game. The memory surprised me, and heat crept up my neck. But though I had been embarrassed, there’d been something nice about it too.

  The night was dim, but there was enough moonlight to see her face. As I watched, her grin slipped into a smile and her eyes softened.

  Leah took a small step closer and looked up at me. “Happy Birthday, Jonas.”

  She slid her hands around the back of my neck and gently pulled my head toward her, her eyes never leaving mine. She stopped moving when her lips were a breath away, leaving the decision up to me.

  I hesitated for the briefest of moments, then closed the space between us to kiss her waiting mouth.

  One part of my mind screamed at me to come to my senses. The rest of me was cheering. I was kissing Leah! And I liked it.

  My hands were on her hips, and I pulled her closer, shifting to kiss her again. Leah’s arms went around my neck, pulling herself up against me. I held her close as she kissed me back.