My Brother's Best Friend

Memory Nineteen

Even as kids, Jensen was always the girl who noticed everything and maybe it was just because she was so quiet but she just sort of found things out. She was the first one to realize that Coach Matthews and Mrs. Carter were dating, she caught the lunch lady picking up food she'd dropped on the floor and saw her put it on a tray, and so it wasn't really that surprising that she'd seen Drew and I... Jensen basically caught everyone doing something they probably hadn't wanted people to know and the best memory I had of that was in the 6th grade when I went to her sleep over.

      My dad had dropped me off at her house that night and when I got there Amber, Macy, Mariah, Emily, and Chanel were already there. Jensen was coming into the living room with popcorn when she saw me. "Hey Sky, glad you could make it!" she said smiling in a way that made me believe she really was glad. I sat my bag by the door and sat down to watch the movie with the rest of the girls. The night was pretty typical as far as sleepovers go. We played dress up, ate junk food, told secrets, played truth or dare and stayed up as long as we could that night. Amber as usual was the first to fall asleep. She could never stay up past 12... After that, one by one we all just started dozing off.

      The next morning when I woke up, everyone was still sleeping. I'd probably still have been sleep too if I hadn't had to pee. I crept into the bathroom and closed the door. When I finished, I washed my hands and splashed a little water on my face. When I opened the door, Jensen was standing by the wall listening.

"Hey Jensen, what are--" I said before she shushed me with her finger.

"Be quiet. I think something's up with Emily..."

"Why?" I asked making my voice as low as hers.

"I heard them..."

"Heard who?!"

"Emily. I heard her on the phone with her dad. He was yelling at her and he said he's coming to get her."

"So... maybe she wasn't supposed to be here."

"Then why is she crying?"

I peeked into living room to see Emily putting her sneakers on with shaking fingers only she's not nervous. And the look on her face is not the look of a child who's about to get in trouble with her dad. She's scared and I could tell. Only what was Jensen and I supposed to do? We stood there for maybe 5 more minutes until we heard a knock on the door. Emily slowly opened the door for a man who had to be her dad. He had the same blue eyes as her, the same full brown hair, and the same big white teeth. He was angry. "What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Mom brought me! She said I could come!" Emily explained.

"I don't give a damn what your mother said. You didn't ask me!"

"But dad... She's my mom."

"And she's crazy!"

"Don't talk about her like that."

"I'll do whatever I want! Now let's go before we wake these girls up."

Emily doesn't move. "I said, 'Let's go'" her father says. She still doesn't move. He grabs a fist full of her hair and pulls her out the door. Jensen and I could both hear her painful scream. He slammed the door, but not before we hear the loud sound of him striking her. We were both speechless. I don't know how long we stood there just thinking. Should we tell or not tell? What would happen to Emily? What would her father do to us if he knew we told? So we didn't say anything, at least not that day. We climbed into our sleeping bags and tried to go back to sleep. I don't think I ever had that hard of a time sleeping...