Chapter 122: Jonathan X—Things Look Better
Mom and Dad seemed so happy when Jonathan asked them if it were OK that he invited Elena to the game tomorrow. Mom was scraping the cheese off her pizza and Dad was in the midst of a big mouthful when he told them. They had both showered and smelled so nice with no trace of any perfumes or colognes or any foreign scents. It was as if nothing had ever been wrong.
"How lovely!" Mom said, "I wish I had thought of that sooner. It would be so nice if she could come."
So going to bed, Jonathan didn’t feel as worried.
School wasn’t so hot however. Billy kept re-repeating the story of how Jonathan had chickened out against Anderson’s father and it had so evolved to the point that now everyone was saying that he had been sobbing and crying in terror begging his Mommy to save him. On top of that, the entire incident in the cafeteria had turned into a pathetic scene where Jonathan had to beg for Billy’s mercy until the cafeteria aide had come to his rescue. That’s what everyone was saying! Dammit Jonathan knew he should’ve pounded Billy unconscious cause now... argh! He couldn’t got through a single class without someone whispering behind him, "Wah, Wah, Wah."
"They’re just assholes!" Nick and Danny said trying to pep him up at lunchtime. "You know we can beat the hell outta em!"
Jonathan sighed, and glanced over at the lunch table where Elena was sitting with her girlfriends. Why was she sitting way over there and not with him? Of course he didn’t blame her really. He knew it had to be tough to sit with him when every kid nearby was taunting him. Elena was talking with the girls and then she smiled looking at him. Jonathan blushed and the girls looked at him as well, smirks on their faces. What had she told them?
"Hehehe, so Jonathan is your dad gonna kick ass tonight?" Scott asked through ravioli filled chews.
"Yup," Jonathan said, turning back to his own lunch.
"Cooool," Nick said, "And again why can’t I come like you promised??" There was a wink to him and a grin.
Jonathan swallowed and grinned back. "Cause Elena took your seat!"
"Damn it begins," Nick said shaking his head. "Thrown over for a girl." He then sighed dramatically.
"Cry me a river," Jonathan said ignoring the new chant of Wah Wah Wah that was springing up at the table nearby, the kids rubbing their eyes as if they had been crying. He had to find a way to get some respect back, and soon!
After school let out, Elena was already at Jonathan’s side, a big smile on her face. "Don’t forget about me!" she said. And then with her hand she took hold of his and squeezed it. Jonathan could feel the heat burn his cheeks.
"Hey is that your Mom?" Elena said softly, Jonathan was snapped back into reality, and he looked over to where she was pointing. That was Mom all right.
"Yup," Jonathan said, "Come on!"
They jogged over to the car and climbed in.
"Hello Elena," Mom said sweetly to her.
"Hey Mrs. Roy," Elena replied, "Thanks for letting me come over! My mom definitely is gonna give ya a call."
"Oh is not a problem," Mom said starting the car up. "Always a joy to have friends over no?"
Jonathan looked at Mom and she gave him a smile before turning her attention to the road. He then leaned over to take a discreet sniff. She smelled like herself, there was not a taint of Noter, she looked happy and pretty. Things were looking better then! What a relief! Then he noticed her hands as she turned the steering wheel. He could see some faint, pink blotching on her wrists... well those would fade, won’t they?
"Elena come on!" Jana squealed as soon as they got home, the little girl gripping onto her dark hand. "Play more piano for me!"
Jonathan sighed. "Jana! Don’t bug her!" Dammit the last thing he wanted was for Jana to be all over her.
"Oh I don’t know," Elena said a little tightly. "I mean..."
"It’s tuuuuned!" Jana insisted and a sunshine smile spread over Elena’s face.
"Ooooh!" she said and she glanced briefly at Jonathan before running with Jana to the parlor.
Jonathan shoved his hands in his pockets and followed them. Elena had already swung herself onto the piano bench with Jana crawling on next to her. With no hesitation the girl attacked the keys and began to sparkle out a tune. Jana laughed and kicked her legs back and forth while Jonathan flopped down onto one of the chairs. Freddy sidled into the room and sat on the carpet next to him.
"Do you think that it’ll wake up Dad?" he asked.
"I dunno," Jonathan said. "It’s almost time for him to wake up anyway."
All of a sudden there was a smattering of excited barking from Gigi and Elena gasped and stopped playing, turning around. The puppy’s claws they could hear tearing over the wood of the floor as she went running. That could only mean that someone was at the door, and Jonathan ran out of the room to see who it was. He could hear his siblings and Elena behind him.
Mom was at the door first and he could hear Debbie Sakic, "Hi!"
"Oh hi Debbie!" Mom said in a bright voice. "Ooo you have the whole family here!"
"Yeah," Debbie said, "We were out to a late lunch and we figured we might drop in. Joe I said put her hat on! It’s cold out here!"
Mom stepped back to let them come in and Gigi tore out the front door to greet everyone. Debbie was pulling off her stylish leather gloves and as Cecile came in with Chase in her arms, Debbie took him from her. "Husband’s," she said to Mom, "I swear if they had their way they would let the babies catch their death of cold!"
Mom nodded her head in agreement. "Oh hello, Cecile," she said kindly. "So nice to see you today, my you’re looking pretty that green brings out your eyes."
"Thanks," Cecile said quietly before she wrapped her arms around Mitchell and swung him into the room. "You’re looking nice too."
Jonathan looked at Cecile, was she being sarcastic or not? He wasn’t too sure about her still.
"Hehehe," Elena giggled at his ear. "It’s a weird world where the Sakic’s just come on in as a whim!"
"Eh?" Jonathan said. "It’s just the Sakic’s!"
"Please," Elena said, "Don’t make me sick."
Jonathan grinned at Elena who rolled her eyes, but she didn’t seem mad so he supposed it was OK.
"Cameron hates her hat," Joe said as he came in holding the little girl and shaking Gigi off his pant leg. "And it’s just the walk from the car to the door, I’m not gonna torture her just for a short walk."
"You mean you won’t be the bad guy," Debbie said.
"Is it snowing yet?" Freddy asked running to the front door and immediately squeezed in a hug by Debbie.
"Nooo," Debbie said, "But it feels cold enough."
"Mommy my boogers froze," Mitchell said wrinkling his nose.
Jonathan laughed and Elena said, "Oh he’s cute."
"Hi Joe!" Jonathan said but not before Jana squealed and ran to Joe, hugging him around the waist.
"Hey don’t knock me down, Princess," Joe laughed and then he looked at Jonathan, "Hey, kid! Oh and hello... Elena was it?"
"Omigod you know my name!" Elena gasped to Jonathan’s sudden irritation but he wasn’t sure if it was because Elena seemed so taken by Joe or that Joe remembered her name and called him kid. Either way, he knew he was jealous about something.
"Sure, the little piano prodigy," Joe said lowering Cameron to the floor. "Hey Jonathan.."
Jonathan perked up at the sound of his name. "Yeah?"
"Where’s your dad?"
"Sleeping," Jonathan said. "Do ya need him?" He didn’t like the idea of having to wake him up early, even if it was for Joe.
"Naw," Joe said. "Just making sure he’s napping like he’s supposed to, wouldn’t want any mishaps for tonight!" He winked and Jonathan couldn’t help but smile.
"Oooo," Mom growled in a playful voice, "Be nice!"
"I’m just joking," he said drily as he peeled off Cameron’s bubble gum pink coat.
"Oh Joe," Debbie said patting him on the back.
Jonathan felt a lot better as Mom closed the front door and Jana dragged Mitchell up the stairs with Cecile following. Everything seemed a whole lot better today, it was as if nothing had been wrong.
Links to other sites on the Web