In Search of Tomorrow ✓

Thirteen

I woke up Saturday morning with a permanent smile on my face, staring up at the ceiling for a long time while my alarm clock rang. Finally, I rolled over and slapped it off, then stood on my hardwood floor.

In my bare feet, I crossed the room and pulled on shorts and a t-shirt. Just as I was about to leave the room and head downstairs to start on breakfast, my cell phone rang from my nightstand.

I smiled when I saw who was calling-Cameron and I had exchanged phone numbers the previous night, and I could hardly believe he was calling me already.

"Good morning," I said pointedly when I answered; after all, it was only seven thirty, and if I hadn't been such an early riser, he would have woken me up.

"Evelyn?" he asked. "I'm so glad you answered. I need major help with something."

Collapsing back on my bed, I fluffed the pillows and then leaned back, stretching out my legs. "Last time I checked, you're the one tutoring me. I don't think I can help you with much."

"'Course you can, Evelyn," he said. I could almost feel his smile on the other end of the line. "You're brilliant."

Even though he was miles away, my face was flushing.

"Anyway." He paused and I could hear typing on a keyboard, as if he were on his computer. "I'm working on this English essay and I really need help."

"How so?"

"Just this little thing called writer's block."

I stared up at the ceiling while he explained the premises of his assignment: basically, he was supposed to write an essay about himself (which seemed like an odd assignment for an AP Literature class).

"The thing about senior year English," he said after he'd finished explaining, "Is that I can't just say I have brown hair and blue eyes and like soccer-if you know what I mean."

"Oh, I completely know." I twisted my messy hair around my index finger and then began to untangle it, thinking. "Well, how about you tell me some things about yourself?"

There was an enormous delay before Cameron spoke again, and for a second, I thought we'd gotten disconnected. But a few tense moments later, he cleared his throat a little loudly and said, "Um..."

"It can't be that hard. Even I can rattle off five things about myself, easily."

"You try, then."

I thought for a second. "My middle name is Elisabeth, I used to be a cheerleader, I have blonde hair and blue eyes-"

"Ah, see. You're not allowed to describe your appearance. You have to think deeper."

My brow furrowed, and I abruptly stopped untangling my hair. I tried to think about myself-truly. I was a worrier; that was for sure. I cared about my two little sisters more than anything else in the world. I didn't have either of my parents, and I'd been forced to grow up too fast. But could I tell Cameron any of that?

"I...actually love school," I said instead. "I used to be a straight-A student. My favorite thing in the world used to be to watch a sad movie and cry, but now I can't do that anymore." My voice was growing softer, and I felt myself slipping back into the days when my parents were still with me. "I used to go to the bird park with my dad when I was little. I'm scared of sitting in the passenger's seat of a car."