The first page was covered with pastel pink flowers, pale green leaves, and a blue sky filled with fluffy clouds. There were kittens and puppies among the flowers. The whole thing shouted “cute little baby stuff.” The facing page was a form filled out in Ginnie’s neat cursive.
Name: Delisa Jane Oberon
Born: April 21, 2139
Mother: Virginia Dale Oberon
Father: __________
I wrote all that down, making a particular note that Ed’s name was missing. He was married to someone else. Besides, this wasn’t her birth certificate. Maybe Ginnie hadn’t wanted a reminder of Ed in the book.
There were hand-drawn curlicues and flowers all around the page. Ginnie’d been a real doodler, just like me. She and I would even draw pictures together sometimes. She’d stick them up on the cook center in the modular, next to my art class drawings. The door buzzer went off. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Running to the viewer, I squinted into it. “Hello?”
“Let us in.” Mike’s face was plastered up to the screen—his nose a big blob. “We’re here to cheer you up.”
Crap. Why did none of my friends ever listen to me? I’d really wanted to be alone. I couldn’t be angry at him, though, he meant well. I pressed the entry pad. “Get up here.”
Racing into my room, I hid the book and got to the door right as they knocked. Mike and Derek tried to push past each other, like some comedy team. Derek tumbled in first.
“Look who we found on the way over.” Mike pulled Sal out from behind the door.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
I barely nodded. Sal was the last person I’d expected, or wanted, to see. The minor heart palpitation I felt could not possibly have been caused by the twinkle in his brown eyes as he half suppressed a full-out grin.
He pointed behind me. “Looks like you dropped something.”
I glanced over my shoulder, and there on the floor was the pad with my notes—faceup and wide open.
XIII
I contemplated diving for the notepad but thought better than to make a big deal out of it. Before I could do anything, Sal crossed the floor and picked it up.
In two strides I was beside him. “Hey…” I snatched the notepad away.
“Sorry.” He raised his eyebrows.
“Touch… eee,” Derek said. “What’s in there, government secrets? Lemme see…”
“It’s private.” I stuffed the pad into my back pocket.
“Wow!” Mike called out from the kitchen. “This is lots bigger than their other place. Where is everyone? Hey, Pops, it’s Mike!” He strolled back into the living room with an apple in his hand.
“They’re at Grant Park,” I said. “And yes, Mike, why don’t you just make yourself at home?”
“I did.” He took a bite of the apple and grinned at me.
Some things never changed.
He and Derek prowled around the living room while Sal studied the contents of the bookcase.
It was impossible not to notice how cute he was. I purposely turned away. I was not going to go all sex-teen like Sandy, ogling every good-looking guy she saw. It was only to see what he was doing that made me peek over my shoulder, taking in his profile.
“Is this your dad?” He pointed to a photo on the shelf. “You look like him.” He picked up the picture and held it out, looking from it to me. “Hey, Derek, don’t you think Nina looks like him? His name was Alan, right?”
“Yup, Alan Oberon.”
Derek and Mike joined Sal, glancing from the photo to me.
“She does, I guess.” Mike shrugged.
“Yeah, lots,” Derek said. He, Mike, and Sal all peered at my face.
“Are you guys done inspecting me?” I rubbed my neck to hide the blush that was rising up under Sal’s gaze. He put the picture back.
“Where’s your room, Neenie?” Mike said. “You get one all to yourself ?”
Mike’s questions stopped any further comparison of me to Alan, and they all stopped staring at my eyes, my nose. I wondered, did Sal think they were okay, maybe even pretty? I raised my eyes to look at him, and a warm feeling enveloped my shoulders for half a nanosecond…
Ugh! How typically sixteen could I get? Turning around, I stomped down the hall, totally aggravated with myself. What did it matter if he thought anything about me? I refused to be like Sandy, or practically every other almost-sixteen-year-old girl. I didn’t primp in front of a mirror or practice XVI Ways tips on getting boys to notice you. I was not going to let some random guy complicate my life, period.
I opened the door to my room and cringed. It was a mess, filled to capacity with the two beds, several boxes, and my fake dresser. I’d never worried about Mike and Derek seeing my stuff. It wasn’t the tier thing. Even though Mike was tier one and Derek, well, he was tier five, we were all friends. Tiers didn’t matter to us. But what would Sal think? He’d been dressed homeless when I’d first met him, but later, when we saw him at the zoo, he was wearing clothes that were definitely not Sale or Megaworld. They were at least as good as, if not better than, what Derek wore. I noticed the corner of the baby book jutting out from under my clothes. Sidling over, I nudged it back into hiding with my heel.
“Dee’s staying in here, too, for right now. She’s still really upset about Ginnie and it’s hard for her to get to sleep. Eventually she’ll move into her own room across the hall.”
“How are you?” Sal’s look was penetrating and the sympathy in his eyes was so obvious, A lump caught in my throat and I didn’t dare say a word; I would’ve lost it. He picked up a picture of Ginnie that was by Dee’s bed. “Is this your mom? She’s beautiful.”
I wanted to rip her picture out of his hands and scream at him to keep his hands off my mother’s picture. “Yes, that’s her, and I’m fine.” I reached for the frame, and grabbed Sal’s hand by accident. Our eyes met, and like a couple of kids playing stare-down, neither of us was willing to break the gaze. What started as a confrontation, however, morphed into a place I’d never been before. I wanted to look away, but something inside of me didn’t want to stop what was happening. Mike popped in.
“Holding hands?” He gave me a sly grin. “Gettin’ all loveydovey���”
“Ugh, no.” I dropped Sal’s hand like it was a river rat and seized the photo.
Derek frowned at me. I pressed the picture to my chest, wishing Ginnie’s wisdom about boys would flow out of it and into me. We’d never talked about guys. I’d always said I wasn’t ready to when she’d tried to bring it up. I hugged the picture closer.
“I almost forgot.” Mike pulled a Wolf Bar out of his pocket. “You guys want some? It’s the seventy-two percent kind.”
“Where’d you get credits to buy that?” Derek asked.
“Mom snuck some to me after Dad got paid for one of those experiments he does.”
Figured, I thought. His dad would never be that nice to him. He used to smack Mike around but eventually quit when Mike got bigger than him.
We divvied up the chocolate and for a few minutes the only sound in the room was mmmm.
“Let’s go to Jackson’s and check out new releases,” Derek said.
“I’ll be right there.” I motioned them out of the room. The baby book would have to wait. “Mom,” I whispered to her photo, “I miss you so much.” I kissed her smiling face and set the picture back in its place, swallowing the tears that were aching to come out. Finally, I found the spot inside, the one empty of emotions, and then I was ready to join my friends.