“Hi, Debbie!” he exclaimed as he started to walk towards the stairs to join Alex.
“Hey,” she replied with a frown on her face. Not wanting to chat with him, she continued up the stairs without saying anything else. She really didn’t care what anyone thought at this point about her attitude.
“You okay?” Nicholas asked loud enough for her to hear since she was walking away from him.
Still not saying anything, she finished climbing the stairs, went to her bedroom and closed the door.
---------------
Nicholas was excited that it was finally Monday night. He had rushed through his homework right when he got home from school and even rushed through dinner, something that his mom had repeatedly told him not to do. With his dirty dishes put in the sink and a quick run up to his bedroom to make sure it was clean before he left for the night, he was ready to go.
He ran downstairs and put on his coat and boots and proceeded out the front door.
“Have a good time!” Ms. Michaels yelled out so her son could hear her.
“I will!” Nicholas shouted back and then closed the door.
Nicholas ran down his long driveway, stopping at the end of it to watch for any cars. After one car flew past, Nicholas ran again up the Harringtons’ driveway.
It was really dark outside since it was the dead middle of winter, but the lights from the Harringtons’ screened-in front porch showed the way Nicholas had to go. He rang the doorbell when he reached the door.
As always, Mrs. Harrington answered it, fully expecting who it was.
“Hi, Nicholas. It’s good to see you again,” she greeted with a smile.
Nicholas always felt welcome at the Harrington home. He smiled back and asked, “Is Alex upstairs already?”
“I do believe so,” she responded.
“Okay. Thanks.”
Nicholas, knowing right where to go, went past Mrs. Harrington, through the porch and into the living room. When he got into the living room he saw Deborah just about to head up the stairs. He smiled, waved and said his hello to Deborah, but she didn’t act her usual self. When she said her hello back, she sounded sad and not interested in seeing him tonight.
That’s odd, he thought.
He asked if anything was wrong, but she didn’t say anything.
That is totally unlike her.
Nicholas shrugged his shoulders, brushing off the incident, when he heard Deborah closing a door.
Probably her bedroom door, he imagined.
He proceeded up the stairs to find Alex in the family room in front of the TV. Alex already had the TV set to the right channel and was in his usual spot on the couch, looking like the only thing left was for him to arrive.
“Hey, Alex!” Nicholas exclaimed.
“Hey! Glad you made it. I’ve got the TV ready, we’ve got our snack and so the only thing left is for me to get our drinks.”
Nicholas took a seat on the couch on the opposite side of Alex. He liked having an armrest to put his arm on.
“Robert couldn’t make it tonight?” Alex questioned.
“He didn’t feel like it,” Nicholas answered.
“Okay. Let me go get our drinks a minute.”
Alex ran down the stairs and into the kitchen where he knew that Deborah had the drinks. He was a little upset that she didn’t bring them upstairs with her like he overheard his mom ask her to do, but was thankful that she wouldn’t be butting in on him and Nicholas tonight.
Or any Monday night for a while, he thought.
Once he had the drinks, he went back upstairs and into the family room where he got back just in time. Monday night wrestling had just begun and the boys started hooting and hollering. Every now and then they would yell and scream, getting into the sport, just depending on who was against whom, what moves were made and who won or lost the match.
Deborah could hear the boys from her room and it was very tempting to go and check what happened, but she stayed behind in her room, coloring pictures with Robyn.
As much as Nicholas was getting into the game, he now and then thought about Deborah and why she acted the way she did.
I hope she’s okay, he’d think.
Then something exciting would happen and he’d focus on the wrestling match again.
Halfway through the evening, Nicholas started eating the snack that was in the room. “Wow. This is really good!” he pointed out.
“It’s not bad,” Alex responded.
“Who made it?”
“Deborah.”
“Speaking of her, usually she hangs out a bit. Why isn’t she here, especially since she made the snack?”
Nicholas thought maybe this could lead to the cause of her bad attitude.
“I told her she couldn’t join us because she’s still too young and I don’t like her butting in all the time when you and I hang out,” Alex revealed matter-of-factly.
“I don’t mind if she does. I think it’s fun to have her here. She’s funny when she gets all excited about the sport.”
“Well, our mom found out too and so she isn’t allowed to watch wrestling with us on Monday nights anymore,” Alex added, just so that he wouldn’t feel like the bad guy in this situation.
“Oh, okay. Is that why she seems a little mad or sad or whatever?”
“Maybe. I don’t really care.”
Nicholas felt that Alex could be a little mean sometimes in regards to his sisters, but if their mom said no then Nicholas wasn’t going to try to get Deborah in trouble by talking Alex into letting her join them this time.
Once the next commercial came on, Nicholas excused himself so that he could at least talk with Deborah a little bit. He walked down the hall to the girls’ bedroom and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” he heard one of the girls say.
Nicholas opened the door and gave a smile to both the girls. “Hey, Debbie, I just wanted to let you know that your snack was really good.”
“Oh, thanks,” Deborah replied.
Still seeming bummed out to Nicholas, he said, “Hey, Alex told me what happened and I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have minded if you joined us, just so you know.”
“I know. It’s just that Alex didn’t want me to hang out with you guys. I think he gets jealous,” she replied while her eyes stayed focused on the picture of flowers she was still coloring.
They all kind of stayed silent for a few seconds.
In an attempt to cheer her up, Nicholas suggested, “Hey, I know what we can do. This weekend, let’s make a point to have a snowball fight. I know you love to do that and it’s been a while.”
Deborah appreciated the fact that Nicholas was trying to make her feel better. She really did enjoy playing out in the snow so she agreed.
“Sounds like fun. Let’s do it!” She looked up at him and gave him a smile.
Robyn, doing her best to stay out of the conversation, couldn't stay quiet any longer. She too wanted to join the planned snowball fight.
"I want to have a snowball fight too!"
Deborah and Nicholas laughed
"You can join in too," Deborah said.
As Nicholas began to leave, he uttered, “Cool. Okay. I’m going to get back to the wrestling match that’s on. If I don’t see you again tonight, I’ll see you either Friday or Saturday to play out in the snow.”
Nicholas gave Deborah a wink and smile as he ended his last statement.
“Sounds good,” she responded.
Nicholas, taking pride in the fact that he made her happy again, headed out of the bedroom and back to the family room where Alex was still glued to the TV. He seemed to not have missed Nicholas at all.
“Hey, looks like I’m coming over sometime this weekend to have a snowball fight,” Nicholas mentioned to Alex.
“Sounds fun,” Alex responded, never taking his eyes off of the TV.
The two of them watched the rest of wrestling, hooting and hollering like before. When it was over, Nicholas said his good bye to Ale
x and went home. He was excited to have plans to hang out with the Harringtons again later in the week.
Meanwhile, Deborah, likewise was looking forward to the weekend.
This time I’m going to get him good, she pondered as a smile formed on her lips.
---------------
Deborah felt like that week dragged on forever. When school was over on Friday, she was excited that the weekend had finally arrived. She found out later that night that Nicholas wasn’t coming over then because his mom had other plans to celebrate Robert’s birthday, but that he’d be over on Saturday.
Deborah secretly hoped it would snow even more that night.
Fresh snow is always more fun to play with and throw around, she mused.
Nicholas arrived after lunch on Saturday, completely decked out in his winter gear. He had on his black snow pants, royal blue and black boots, a matching coat and black mittens, scarf and hat. When he had arrived at the Harrington home, he was disappointed that no one was ready yet.
“Come on, guys,” he teased. “What’s taking so long? Let’s get going!” He clapped his hands together a few times to get them to hustle.
Alex, Deborah and Robyn all rushed to get their things on. When they had finished, the four kids went outside.
It was a beautiful winter day in January. The night before did deposit a fresh layer of snow, which glistened in the sun’s strong rays. The sky was clear of clouds, but it was still bitter cold. As the children ran and played in the snow, their breaths came out in a swirl of vapors and each step was followed by a loud crunch.
Winter was one of Deborah’s favorite seasons. She felt fortunate enough to live in such a place to be able to experience all weather patterns. Her favorite thing about winter was the beautiful snow and the things you could do with it.
The children were busy making snow angels and snowmen when they first headed out. The back yard offered plenty of open space to decorate it as they wished, which it didn’t take them a long time to do. After only a half hour outside, there were a few snowmen propped up and tons of snow angels imprinted on the ground.
It was Deborah who decided to throw the first snowball since she got a little sick of doing the same thing over and over. She acted nonchalantly as she took a small amount of snow and made sure it was packed tight into a ball.
Who’s going to be my first target? she wondered.
Robyn didn’t like getting hit by snowballs all that much so Deborah passed on throwing it at her even though she was the closest. She was still a little mad at Alex and thought about throwing it at him as a means to get him back. But then she thought about throwing it at Nicholas since he was the one that mentioned having a snowball fight the other day in the first place.
Hmm.
“Who should I throw this at, Robyn?” she whispered while the two boys had their backs turned to them a few feet ahead, finishing up the last snowman that they made.
“Throw it at Nicholas,” she suggested.
“Okay.”
Deborah took the snowball and threw it as best she could towards Nicholas. It landed right in the middle of his back with a loud thump and splattered into a million specks of snow to the ground.
Nicholas quickly turned around to see who the culprit was, knowing full well it probably wasn’t Robyn since that was a pretty good hit.
“Hey, who did that?” he asked with a smile as he looked at Deborah. He quickly forgot about the snowman and started making his own snowball to throw back at her.
Knowing that he’d probably come after her, Deborah started running away from the boys as soon as he turned around to face them. They were already in the back yard so she took off running to the front. Deborah was to the side of the house when Nicholas had a snowball in his hand and started chasing her. Shrieks and shrills of laughter from both of them filled the cold, brisk air.
“I’m going to get you, Debbie!” he shouted after her.
Nicholas was a much faster runner than Deborah and because she had a hard time running through the almost knee-deep snow, it wasn’t hard for Nicholas to catch up. Deborah had just rounded the corner to the front of the house when Nicholas felt he was within reach of throwing his snowball and it hitting its target. He gave it a good toss and the next thing Deborah knew she felt a smack against her back.
“Ah!” she giggled. “You weren’t supposed to catch me yet!”
“What can I say? You’re too slow,” he teased.
Deborah stuck her tongue out at Nicholas for that insult and then picked up some more snow to start going after him again. Before she got to throw her snowball though, Nicholas already had another one made and had it thrown at her. That hit took her by surprise and she dropped her ammunition.
“Hey, that’s unfair, Nick. You have to give me a chance you know,” she said in a tone that was just short of a playful complaint.
“You started it,” he reminded her.
The two of them continued throwing snowballs at one another for some time while Alex and Robyn hung out in the back yard. Occasionally they would see Nicholas and Deborah running around the back of the house away from one another in hopes that the other one wouldn’t catch up. Alex decided he wanted to join in the snowball fight and left Robyn to herself, who ended up going back inside to warm up anyway.
Alex joined the other two kids in the front yard with a snowball ready in one hand. He wasn’t about to go against his best friend so he made Deborah his focus.
She’s such an easy target, he thought.
He threw it just a little too hard in her direction and got her at the top of her right shoulder.
“Ouch, that hurt,” she whined as she turned to see who threw that while rubbing the sore shoulder.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to throw it that hard at you.”
“Whatever, Alex,” she retorted.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby!”
“I’m not!” And with that, she threw a snowball back at him.
Nicholas decided to join Deborah’s team and the two of them went after Alex. Not being able to defend himself from the two others for very long, Alex surrendered and went back inside the house.
“Looks like it’s just you and me,” Nicholas said with a smile and wink. “I’m going to get you!”
He took up a snowball and threw it her way, but missed.
“Ha ha, you missed!” Deborah exclaimed as she stood there with her hands on her hips.
She then bolted away from Nicholas as fast as she could because she knew she had one coming.
Nicholas chased Deborah back to the rear side of the house. He didn’t even have a snowball in his hand because he decided to tackle her instead. He caught up with her, grabbed her by the waist and they both flew to the ground that was cushioned with what seemed like a foot of snow.
Deborah landed face first in the snow with Nicholas at first on top of her, but then to her side on his back. She brought her head up, brushed the snow off her face and spit out anything that got in her mouth.
“What was that for?” she asked as she looked in his direction.
“I felt like taking you down,” he explained.
Deborah playfully threw some snow on top of him for being so cocky. She didn’t like how cold and wet she was now, but did kind of like it when he grabbed her around the waist. Those thoughts gave her cheeks a little more color to them than what was there due to the frigid temps. She hoped Nicholas wouldn't notice.
Brushing those feelings aside, she just hung out there on the ground beside Nicholas for a few moments.
A few moments later, both of them, chilled to the bone, decided to call a truce and head inside to warm up and get some hot chocolate. They teased and giggled the whole way.
4
Winter turned into spring and spring was slowly making its way to summer. It was now the middle of June, a couple of days after Alex and Nicholas had each graduated from the eighth grade. Each of their schools had a tiny ceremony and it was this weekend that the two fami
lies were going to celebrate the occasion together. The Harringtons took care of all the food since the party was at their house, while Ms. Michaels took care of the cake and decorations for the family and friends that would be in attendance.
Deborah was specifically asked to make some punch since it was one of the simpler things she could do, and then to pour some in the cups that Mrs. Harrington picked out at the store earlier that week. Her mom and dad were in the kitchen as well, her mom cutting up vegetables to go with some dip and her dad cutting up fruit for the fruit salad. No one really spoke to each other.
Probably because there’s so much to do before the guests arrive, Deborah thought, as she noticed the silence.
Occasionally Deborah would hear her mom instruct her dad on how to cut this or that, which greatly irritated him. He would get mad and snip back after each comment. They managed to keep the tone low though so that it wouldn’t be obvious to the kids that they were arguing. After pouring some punch into a few more cups, her mom did it again.
“You need to cut that pineapple a little smaller, Jon.”
Mrs. Harrington sounded like she was getting frustrated with the work that her husband was putting into making the salad.
“This is just fine, Barb.”
“No, it’s not. You’re cutting it so large that it doesn’t look like it goes with the rest of the fruit. Plus, the larger it is, the less there is to go around for everyone.”
After a few moments of bickering back and forth between one another, Mr. Harrington dropped the knife, stepped back and threw up his hands in surrender.
“Fine. If you don’t like the job I’m doing then do it yourself.”
He then walked out of the kitchen to leave Deborah and her mom alone to finish the party preparations. Deborah looked at her mom with a little bit of shock and thought she could see a tear coming down her mom’s cheek.
“I can try to cut the rest of the fruit,” Deborah offered.
“No, it’s okay. I can do it when I’m done with these celery stalks.”
“Okay.”
Deborah shrugged her shoulders and then started focusing on the punch again.
Growing Up Neighbors Page 6
