An Alienating Secret

Thank You

--Conner—

It was right after school, and all us kids were assembling around Mrs. Jerrak.

"You ready to have some fun?" She asked.

"Yeah!" we answered enthusiastically. Then a chorus of "Thank you for taking us" passed around the group.

"My pleasure!" Our chaperone answered before turning around. The walk would only take 15 minutes. The other kids were talking together, but I wanted to thank Mrs. Jerrak personally for what she was doing for me. Now was my chance. So, I jogged to the front of the group, and slowed right beside her.

"Hey, Mrs. Jerrak. I'm just here to say thank you. You can't imagine how much this means to me."

Mrs. Jerrak smiled at me, with some intrigue in her eyes. "It's no problem. By the way, call me Alana- whenever the kids aren't listening at least."

Her words took me by surprise. "O-ok, Alana. Are you sure about that?"

Mrs. Jerrak raised an eyebrow. "Of course. I consider us friends, you know. And Mrs. Jerrak makes me sound so old."

My spirits rose when she said she considered us friends. "T-thanks. I've been worrying a lot lately, so that's a relief."

Mrs. Jerrak- I mean, Alana- gave a slight frown. "I'm just glad I can help."

"Yeah, I have to admit, you're the only real person I can talk to, so..." Why am I being so honest right now? I checked behind me to make sure none of the other kids were listening.

When I turned back to Alana, I saw her looking at me straight in the eye. "I'm so sorry to hear that, and yet I'm glad I can help. Just know that I have your best interests at heart."

I didn't know what to say. She had always been saying stuff like that, about how she was here for me, and how she wanted to help- but now I really felt it. I suddenly wanted to hug her and cry, like I did with my mom back at home, but I kept a hold of myself. Here wasn't the place to do it... so now wasn't the time.

I just nodded. "Thank you so much." I whispered.

Alana smiled at me and nudged her head in the direction of the rest of the kids. "Go on and have fun, then. I'll be here if you need me."

I stalled for a moment, then retreated to the rest of the kids.

Jeremiah noticed I had come back. "What were you talking to Mrs. J about?"

I tensed inside but passed if off naturally. "I was making sure she got my address from my parents, since she's driving me home."

Jenna overheard and said, "Oh, she's driving me too." 

I remembered Alana's text telling me that Jenna and I would be driven home together. My nervous feeling came back. I stared at the floor as we walked, not quite hearing what everyone else was saying. I suddenly felt alone in this big group of kids. My heart was pounding, and so my chest hurt a bit. Conner, calm down. I breathed in and out. In and out. I could feel myself becoming more relaxed by the second. I forced my thoughts aside and focused on the situation around me.

Soon enough, we were in the frozen yogurt parlor (is that what it's called? It is a parlor, right?). We all started trying out different flavors and selecting which ones we liked.

"Wait, Mrs. J, you're getting some too!" Noah asked excitedly.

Alana turned to him with a laugh. "Of course. Why else would I want to be chaperone?"

I laughed at that. Mrs. Jerrak was so witty and funny. She definitely passed those traits down to Anith, even though they look so different.

My flavor was strawberry. So good! I was just thinking I got too much yogurt when I looked at Noah's full cup of froyo and toppings.

"Noah, do you have enough money to pay for that? That's ginormous!"

Noah looked at me, then at my bowl. "Says you."

Turns out he did have enough money to pay for it. Shame on me.

We combined two tables so that us boys and the girls could sit together. I ended up with Rosie on my left and Jerry at my right. Anith was across from me.

Rosie looked at me. "I like the color of your ice cream."

"Yeah, it's sort of like your name's sake, right?" I chuckled. "A nice, flowery pink."

Andrew leaned over. "It's actually funny that Conner got the pink flavor while Rosie got brown. What is that- chocolate?"

Rosie nodded. "Chocolate's always been my favorite."

Anith jested, "Now I know to get chocolate covered strawberries if Conner and Rosie ever go to the same party."

I couldn't help but smile. "You'd just need to bring raspberries to make me happy, Anith."

Jenna turned from another conversation to ours. "Oh, I love raspberries too, my guy." (Why did she call me her guy? I've heard Anith use the same phrase, but still. I just don't get it.)

Jeremiah shook his head at Jenna's comment. "For me, the texture's a bit off. But I'm sorta texture-sensitive, so..." he shrugged.

Noah shook his head excitedly. "Right?! Some textures are just weird, and they ruin the whole food. Like squash."

"What?" Anith asked. "You don't like squash? My mom fries it up real nice."

Ava looked at Anith. "I remember eating your mom's squash before." She gave a chef's kiss.

I looked at Anith, pretending to be mad. "You never told me you had special family recipes! I demand a list of them."

The table laughed. Anith replied, "I don't have anything as special as lobster with raspberries. Plus, you never asked before."

Ava chuckled. "Ah, the lobster with raspberries keeps on coming back."

Anith looked at Ava. "Just don't bring it up to my mom. She's very passionate about this topic. On and on she'll talk." Anith lowered her tone to a whisper. "I've even heard her mutter about the recipe in her sleep."

We burst out laughing. Andrew reached over and gave me a little hit on the shoulder. "Well, we know who's impacted Anith's house the most, right? Out of all of us?"

Noah rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, let him take all the credit."

I shook my head with a silent laugh, not knowing what else to say. I looked at Anith's face. Wait, is she blushing a bit? Now I really didn't know what to say! Jenna saved me by turning the conversation,

"Speaking of lobster, or something related to lobster- I tried shrimp yesterday!!! I really liked it!"

Jeremiah reacted the most strongly. "Did you have it in shrimp tacos?!"

"Yeah, yeah, exactly." Jenna responded.

"I promise you, you'll never be the same! Los tacos de camarones son tan deliciosos que no puedo comenzar a describir-"

"Woah, woah! I don't speak Spanish just cuz I ate tacos!" Jenna interrupted with a laugh.

"Yeah right." Jeremiah jokingly eyed her suspiciously.

I couldn't help but smile. No issues were happening so far... I was having fun.

Could we actually be friends?