He Never Knew

Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while.  My computer was taken to get cleaned up and I was just busy.  I have a few more chapters written of this story though, so updates should come at least once a week.

Jeffrey's father died later that month.  His mother had found him lying dead in a pool of whiskey when she arrived home from work.  For that entire week, family and friends sent letters, cards, and called to offer their condolences.  Jeffrey would have liked to say that he was heartbroken that his father had passed, but the truth was that he wasn't.  Neither  was his mother.  They both saw this as an opportunity to do better. 

Cara's mother, Debbie,  brought food over every night and soon became good friends with Jeffrey's mother, Jewl. Right now Jewl really needed support.  As much as it was a relief to get away from her former husband, she wanted to make the next chapter of her life better, for both her and Jeffrey.  Now she made sure Jeffrey was taken care of; no more sleeping outside for him.

As a few months went by, Jewl realized that having her current job was too much for her and Jeffrey.  She never got to spend time with him.  Since her husband had been using up so much money for alcohol, and that was no longer a problem, she decided that they would be okay financially if she got a part time job.  She applied for a job at a local cafe, which allowed her to work while Jeffrey was at school.   

"Thank you so much for all of your help," Jewl said, hugging Debbie tightly, "I'm so thankful to have someone who is willing to help."

"What are friends for?" Debbie answered, hugging back.

November 29, 2015

I think my life is finally hitting a normal note.  My mom actually seems happy. Last week we went to the movies together.  Cara and her mother have been such a great help.  I'm glad that there are people like that in the world.  Although my home life is much better, school isn't.  My only friend is Cara, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing.  I'm just saying that everyone else still hates me, just like every other year.  Although most people don't even make comments about me any more.  They just ignore me.  I don't know what I'd do without Cara.

As the snow began to layer the ground, Cara and Jeffrey made snow angels and snow forts.  They had snowball fights and drank hot cocoa when they came inside.  He was still quiet at school, even when no one would pay attention to him except Cara, but when they would get away from school, he was confident.  He would ask her questions about her interests and the constantly changing pictures covering her walls.  He developed an especial liking for the band Skillet. He thought that the beat was spectacular and would head bang along with almost all of their songs.  He also liked the lyrics.  They seemed so pure, not tainted like some other music he had listened to on occasion.  He tried to explain his feelings for music to Cara, but he could never quiet describe them.  She would just nod her head and smile, like she knew exactly what he was feeling.

The more he listened to it, the more he liked it.  Music made him feel like he belonged.  Jeffrey needed that more than anything.  Though he admitted that he sounded like a dying donkey when he tried to sing, he quickly learned to play a few instruments like piano and a little bit of guitar.  Cara and he would play duets for hours on the grand piano in Cara's study.

Jeffrey had never felt a school year go by so fast.  Fifth grade was ending for him in a mere few days.  As a final project before summer break, Miss Mortemer told the children to write a few paragraphs bout one of their favorite aspects of the past school year.  They were given a sufficient amount of class time to complete the assignment, and the following day, each student was required to share a few sentences about what they wrote.

Someone talked about her new baby sister.  Caleb said that his favorite football team won the Superbowl.  Lauren spoke in depth about how her mom let her get her ears pierced, and then she had to show them off.  Cara stated that her favorite memory from this year was when Jeffrey asked  who the man in the picture next to her bedside was.  Miss Mortemer politely asked her to explain.  Cara continued to describe how her brother was in the army and he had apparently died in battle.  They had never found the body.

"I like telling people about him though.  It makes me happy to see that people actually care.  I'm so proud to have been his little sister," Cara finished.  

When Jeffrey's turn to share came, he said very quietly, "My favorite part of this year was meeting Cara."

Cara turned around and smiled so widely that her mouth stretched from ear to ear.  All afternoon she giggled and laughed, throwing her head back as they talked outside.  They walked home to their respectful houses still in very good moods.  Another school year had gone by.

"Hey Jeff," Jewl greeted him as he entered the small kitchen.  She had brochures spread out over the small table.  "How would you like to go to a summer camp for a week or so this summer?'

"Sounds fun... I guess," Jeffrey answered, disappointed that his mom already was trying to pawn him off somewhere else.

"It's just that I want you to be able to have some fun this summer.  You know, meet new people experience new things."  Jeffrey just nodded.  He really wanted to believe that his mom was doing this with pure intentions, but something just seemed wrong about it.

"Great," she said, looking toward the papers covering the dining table, "So what kind of camp do you wanna go to? I've got a bunch to look through."

She threw on her gaudy red reading glasses, and she and Jeffrey sorted through all the camps.  Once they had gone through a lot of them, Jeffrey found one that specialized in music.    

"Hey, what about this one?" He asked quietly.

"Music?" she answered, taking a look at the brochure, "Yeah, this one looks good.  If this is what you want I'll go fill out the paper work and call them."  She smiled and started filling out the paperwork.

"I'm gonna go over to Cara's," Jeffrey said, dropping off his backpack in his room.

"Kay, see ya later," Jewl answered.  He was really happy about being able to go to summer camp.  All the thoughts of his mother's ulterior motive forgotten.  He wanted to tell Cara.  When he had finally gasped out what he was trying to tell Cara, she grinned so big that her teeth looked like they'd pop out of her mouth.

"That's great!" she spouted. "I've also got some news for you."

They spent the next few hours talking about the new season of Supernatural, Skillet's new album, the new Star Wars movie, and basically anything they could think of.  Jeffrey was having so much fun that he didn't even notice that Cara had a suitcase packed.  

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He never knew she lived with her dad in the summer.  He never knew that meant she would be in Los Angeles.  He never knew her dad was rich and had a two story apartment with a spiral staircase.  He never knew what it was like to have a friend that actually wanted to be your friend until he went to Cara's house the next day and saw her throwing her suitcase into a silver rental car.  She explained that she was leaving to be with her dad until the end of August.  She gave him a hug before she left.

"I promise that I'll be back before the fair," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.  She had never considered the fact that she would actually miss someone when going to visit her dad.  "We still gotta go on rides together." She wiped the tears away and hopped into the shotgun seat of the running car.  She waved until the car turned the corner. 

A/N: Thanks for reading.  I hope you are enjoying this story so far.