FicWad

“You wanted to see Junee?”, I ask, a little confused.

“I’m sorry Vivian. There I go, being nosy again. I shouldn’t have come here without telling you first. I don’t even know what I was thinking. I’ll understand if you’re mad at me. I should have told you,” she says.

“Grace. It’s O.K. Really. I’m glad you came to see Junee. I was actually just telling her about you. I’m sure she’d love to see you”, I reply.

“What? You’re not mad at me? But, I came here to see your Grandma and I didn’t even tell you first!,” she says.

“No, I’m not mad. Why? Should I be? Do you want me to be?,” I ask.

“No, but... never mind,” she says.

“Ok. Let’s go see Junee!,” I say. She smiles at me and follows me back down the hall.

“Miss! You need to sign in first!,” shouts the lady from the front desk.

“My name is Vivian. I’m already signed in. This is Grace. She’s with me,” I tell her.

“Alright, you only have 45 minutes left untill visiting hours are over,” she tells us.

“Thank you,” Grace says, leading the way down the hallway. “What room is your Grandma in?,” she asks.

“She’s in room 387, but don’t call her Grandma, call her Junee. She says ‘Grandma’ makes her feel old,” I say. Grace smiles at me.

“3rd floor room 387! Got it,” she says. We walk in and once again, Junee doesn’t respond. “Junee?,” Grace says.

“She’s still sleeping,” I say. “Sorry. You can still talk to her, but I’ll have to bring you back sometime when she’s awake. You’re welcome here anytime you want,” I tell her.

“Really? Thanks Vivian,” she says. She walks over to Junee and touches her hand. “Hello Junee. My name is Grace Daniels. I’m friends with Vivian. She says she told you about me,” she says. I find it amazing how she’s so calm. I mean, most people aren’t that comfortable talking to really sick people who aren’t talking back. But, then again, her grandma was sick too, so I guess she’s used to it.

“Yeah. I told her about your grandma too. I told her about how she got better and how she’s going to get better too,” I say. “What’s your Grandma’s name anyway?,” I ask, surprised I didn’t ask before.

“Her name is Katie. Most people call her Kate though. You should come over to my house sometime and...sorry,” she stops in the middle of her sentence and continues talking to Junee. I crinkle my eyebrows in confusion. “I have a brother. He’s older than me. I tried to get him to give me a ride, but he said he was too busy. He wasn’t even doing anything! He was just reading. So, I got his friend to give me a ride instead. I’m glad I did. It was very nice to meet you,” she says, still holding Junee’s hand.

“Wait. Ian said he was too busy to bring you here?,” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says. She looks around the room. Anywhere but at me. “But, I guess he really takes his studies serious,” she says. All the sudden she looks nervous. Something in her pocket, a cell phone I’m guessing, vibrates. Suddenly she looks relieved. She pulls out a small pink cell phone and opens it up. She clicks a few buttons and puts it back in her pocket. She smiles at me and says, “It was very nice of you to introduce me to Junee. Thank you. I have to go now. Logan is waiting for me in the parking lot,” she says, turning to leave. I follow her.

“Wait! I’ll go with you. Visiting hours are over in 5 minutes anyways, and I have lots of homework to get back to,” I say. She looks nervous again. “Sure,” she finally says.

“Is everything OK?,” I ask. “You’re acting kind of strange.”

“Oh, sorry. Ever since Grandma Kate was sick I haven’t really been a big fan of hospitals,” she says. We reach the elevator and she presses the button that will take us down to the lobby. We walk out the doors and then she stops. “See you at school tomorrow, Vivian,” she says, waving as she continues to walk strait. I wave back and turn right. I stop at the end of the sidewalk and watch as she gets into a very expensive looking black Porsche. The car starts but it doesn’t move. I continue to watch. It looks like Grace and that Logan dude are talking, well, kind of arguing, but I can’t really tell do to the fact that the windows are tainted. The car starts to move, and so do I. I’d only been walking for about five minutes when the Porsche slows behind me and honks.

I turn around to look. Grace’s head is sticking out of the passenger window. “Hey Vivian! Do you want a ride? It’s really cold outside,” she says. The truth is, I really do want a ride. It’s dark now and about 20 degrees colder. Strange for a day in the middle of September. I want nothing more than to say yes, but Logan looks kind of annoyed, so instead I say,”No thanks Grace. I can walk. I’ll be OK.”

“Get in the car Vivian! It’s freezing! You’ll be sick for a year if you spend too much time in this weather. Come on, you can’t live more than 20 minutes from here! This town’s not that big!,” she says. I look at Grace and then send a nervous glance to Logan, biting my bottom lip, something I do when I’m nervous and don’t know what to do.

I guess he notices my glace cause he rolls down his window and says, “It’s OK Vivian. You can get in. I won’t hurt you.” He rolls his window back up and waves for me to get in the car. I sigh in defeat and get in the car. The seats are leather and the sound system is awesome.

“You have an amazing car,” I say.

“Thanks. I’m pretty fond of it,” says Logan, smiling at me through the rearview mirror.

“So, where do you live Vivian?,” asks Grace.

“On 2nd street. It’s the big yellow house. It’s kinda hard to miss,” I say. Grace starts to type in a 2 on the computer looking thing up front, but Logan stops her before she types anymore.

“I don’t need directions, Grace. I know how to get to 2nd street,” he says.

“But I wanna see if these things really work,”Grace says.

Logan sighs. “Fine. But I’m not going to listen to it. It’s going to make me take all the big roads and I don’t wanna do that. It’s quicker to take the back roads,” he says.

“So, I still wanna see if it works!,” says Grace.

“Fine, but it’s just gonna keep on telling me that I’m going the wrong way,” Logan says. Grace doesn’t seem to care. She sets it up to take us to 2nd street. Either she doesn’t actually know what she’s doing, or we’re going about 30 miles over the speed limit, cause by the time she gets it, we’re at my house.

“You have reached second street,” says the computer.

“Dang it Logan! Why can’t you just drive the speed limit!! Just once!,” Grace says, resetting the computer. Logan chuckles a little in response. I can’t help but chuckle myself.

“Thanks for the ride,” I say, getting out of the car.

“No problem,” says Logan.

“See you tomorrow, Vivian!”, she says to me. Then she faces Logan. “I’m totally setting this thing to tell me how to get to my house!,” she says. “And don’t worry about trying to get there before I’m finished setting it. I already have.” She presses the enter button.

“Turn left ahead,” says the computer.

Logan rolls his eyes and turns left. I walk into the house and grab my bag. I make a quick sandwich and walk up to my room. Once I’m finished with the sandwich, I set my alarm and finish my homework before heading off the bed.