Earth Angel
Chapter Eleven
(A
few days later...at school.)
Chloe
stood in front of Jan's locker in complete confusion. She had no clue as to what Jan's locker combination might be,
or how to open it. Suddenly, she
felt fingers tapping at her shoulder and she quickly turned to face Mimi.
"Jan...
Did you forget how to open your locker or something?"
Chloe
cringed in fake embarrassment. "Yeeeeah.
I've been gone for almost two weeks, it just kinda slipped my
mind."
Mimi
grinned and brushed Chloe aside, deftly turning the lock until the locker
popped up in one swift move. She
turned back to Chloe and smiled widely.
"See,
it's a good thing you told me a long time ago.
I have a pretty good memory for numbers. It's 21-7-45 by the way."
Chloe
looked impressed. "Wow...
thanks a lot, Meems."
"Not
a problem. So... you're back
kinda early, aren't you?"
"Just
a few days. My doctor gave me the
'all clear' earlier than I expected. But,
uhm... I don't have to do toilets and the showers right now.
Not until I'm done with physical therapy anyway.
Instead, I get to work in the office."
Mimi
sighed softly. "So, no poopy
mildew hands for you, lucky girl. Have
fun filing and filing and uhm... whatever else they do in there."
Chloe
grabbed a few things out of her new locker and shoved them in the backpack she
was carrying. She shut the locker
and turned back to Mimi with a sympathetic expression.
"I'm
sorry, Meems. I know it's not
fair... but it's only for a couple of months."
Mimi
shrugged apathetically. "That's
okay... I'll live. It'll just be
lonely with only me and the sponges and mops.
So, how ya been? I'm sorry
I haven't really come by for a visit, but between school and babysitting
Connor... I have no time for anything anymore."
"I
feel... good, actually. The
accident was terrible, to say the least... and I'll never forget what
happened, but I feel like something good will come out of it maybe. It's a brand new start for me.
I don't know if it's because I'm changing, or because everyone feels
sorry for me but Shawn and Belle have been calling and coming by my house all
week, and Brady too."
Mimi's
eyes widened. "And Brady
too? Boy, that's a surprise.
Anyway, I think it's you, Jan. Shawn,
Belle and ESPECIALLY Brady aren't the types to be your friend because they
pity you. You really have
changed, like a complete 360 or something.
Before the accident, you weren't exactly the sunniest person to be
around... and even though you're not like 'Teletubbies running on grassy
hills' perky now, you're at least normal and you're actually pleasant to be
around."
"Wow...
thanks. I'm glad to see that it
IS possible for people to put the past behind them."
Mimi
shrugged and replied, "Well, we're young... we haven't had enough time to
become as cynical and hardened as our parents."
Chloe
chuckled and nodded. "Lucky
break for me, then."
The
bell rang through the hallways and the two girls walked across the hallway to
their first class.
***
(Lunchtime...)
Chloe
was one of the first in the lunchroom on her first day back at school.
She quickly grabbed a sandwich and made her way to a small round empty
table. After taking a few bites
of her sandwich, she was joined by Shawn, Belle and Mimi.
Belle
smiled happily at her as she sat down with her lunch. "Hey Jan... how's the first day back coming along?"
"I
never thought I'd say this... but I'm actually GLAD to be at school."
Shawn
blinked his eyes rapidly in shock and grinned.
"Really? Have you had
your temperature checked lately? You
MUST be delirious."
Chloe
laughed and shook her head. "Nope...
I'm serious. After almost two
weeks of doing absolutely nothing, I'm relieved to actually have a purpose to
my day. Sitting in a hospital
room or in my house 24 hours a day is extremely boring.
School is a like a break from all of that."
Mimi
shook her head in awe. "Jan...
you frighten me. I'd love to have
a week off." Mimi paused
thoughtfully and continued, "But I wouldn't want to be in a car accident,
so never mind."
Chloe
nodded with a grin. "You
know what else is weird? You
completely lose track of time when you don't have school to go to. I didn't know what day of the week it was half of the time,
or even the time of day because I'm so used
to having a schedule."
Belle
nodded sympathetically. "As
someone who has also spent a great deal of time in the hospital and out of
school, I know EXACTLY what you're saying."
"Well,
it's good that someone does." Chloe
smiled thankfully at her. "By
the way, I don't know if I had the chance to thank you both for coming over
and keeping me company. If it
hadn't of been for you two, and Brady, I would have gone insane this
week."
Belle
smiled widely. "Not a
problem. It's been surprisingly
fun."
Chloe
chuckled softly. "Funny...
it seems that 'surprising' is a word that has become associated with my name
quite frequently in the past couple of weeks."
Shawn
raised an eyebrow and pointed a finger in Chloe's direction.
"Speaking of surprising, what is up with you and Brady?"
"What?"
Chloe sat back in her seat in surprise.
"What are you talking about?"
"How
many times has he been over to your house in the past week?"
Chloe
shrugged. "I don't know...
four times, maybe?"
"And
how many times has he called you on the phone?"
"Uhm...
every day. What's your point,
Shawn?"
Shawn
leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms across his chest.
"I think Brady Black has a little crush on you, Jan."
Chloe
nearly choked on her soda and her eyes widened in shock.
"You have gone INSANE, Shawn Brady.
That's absolutely ridiculous. He's
just trying to be a friend, and trying to help me get through some of my
issues. That's it, and that's
all."
Belle
bit her lip thoughtfully and interjected.
"You know, Jan... Maybe Shawn isn't too far off in his thinking.
My brother talks about you a lot, and calls you all the time and goes
to see you. He's usually pretty much a loner, and besides me, the only
person he has hung out with a lot was Chloe."
Chloe
shook her head vehemently. "No,
no, no, no. You two are imagining
things that aren't there. Besides,
Jason died less than two weeks ago, don't you think it'd be inappropriate for
him to put the moves on me?"
Mimi
nodded and spoke to Belle. "Yeah,
she's right about that. Totally
inappropriate. Besides, Belle,
you mentioned that he was close with Chloe, so maybe he's clinging to Jan to
try and get over Chloe's death."
Chloe
stuck her lower lip out and thought to herself that she should scale back her
Chloe act, to keep people from getting suspicious. "Well, don't think of
me as a Chloe replacement or something. That
is BEYOND weird. Plus, it would
make Phillip's head explode."
The
group laughed in unison at the idea that Chloe's worst enemy was now a friend
to all of them.
Mimi
nodded and retorted, "I didn't mean that you ARE replacing Chloe, because
that would be weird. I just meant
that maybe he's helping you out, but also helping himself at the same time.
Like, he doesn't have to be hurting about Chloe if he can think about
helping you instead. That's all."
Shawn
shrugged slightly in defeat. "Maybe
you two are right... but it's still weird and somewhat un-Brady like."
Chloe
paused thoughtfully and looked at Belle.
"So did this whole Chloe thing really hurt Brady that much?
I mean, I know they were friends, but I didn't think they were as close
as you and Chloe. Brady doesn't seem the type to get weepy about very many
things."
Belle
nodded sadly. "You'd be surprised, really. Chloe was my one of my best friends, but I know how she is,
and she would have told me not to go around moping and crying all the time.
I can just hear her saying, 'Belle, I'm not that important.
Don't waste your time moping over me.
Enjoy what you have instead.' So,
that's what I'm doing. I still
grieve for her, and it still hurts a lot, but I have to move on and keep
living my life like she'd want me to. But
Brady... he's totally different. He's
been a complete wreck since he found out.
I think he knew what a special person she was, and it kills him that
she's gone. He doesn't think I
notice, but I've seen him cry... and I saw him at the funeral... he was a
complete mess. Worse than any of
us..."
Chloe
smiled weakly, she knew that Belle had hit the nail on the head.
She wanted Belle and everyone else to be happy and not to waste their
time grieving over her. She only wanted happiness for the people she cared about, and
she hoped that Phillip would eventually take a lesson from Shawn, Belle and
Mimi. Chloe wanted him to move on
and find happiness, and not be this cold, angry person he had become.
"Brady
seems fine now..." Chloe paused and sighed softly.
"Because he's got a project to work on.
Me."
Belle
sighed in return. "Don't
think of yourself as a 'project'. You're
a friend, and I'm glad. Brady
needs a friend right now, and so do you.
You're having as much of an effect on him as he is on you."
Chloe
nodded and took a sip of her soda, glad to hear that she was somehow helping
Brady deal with his grief, but still amazed that he was feeling it so deeply.
They were good friends, and had a unique connection, but she never knew
that he would be hurt so badly by her death.
Chloe shook those thoughts away as she heard Mimi groan under her
breath.
"Oh
great... here comes Mr. Bad Attitude..."
All
heads turned as they noticed Phillip had come into the cafeteria and was
walking towards the soda machine.
Chloe
frowned and she started to pick up her tray.
"I guess that's my cue to leave."
Shawn
shook his head vehemently and put his hand on her tray.
"No way, Jan. Don't make Phillip force you out of existence. Stay right
where you are."
Belle
nodded in agreement and continued Shawn's train of thought.
"Yeah, he's just going to have to get used to you being around,
that's all. We like having you
here, and he needs to get over it."
"I
just don't want to have any more confrontations... I'm tired of it.
I know that he's in pain, I understand that.
But, hating me is not going to heal it.
I've been in pain for most of my life, but I finally realized that
acting like a demon isn't going to make it go away.
It just makes it worse."
Mimi
nodded sympathetically. "You're
totally right. Phillip needs to
CHILL out. He's never going to
get over Chloe if he acts like such a jerk all the time."
"I'm
still going to go. He needs his
friends right now more than anything, and I don't want you guys shutting him
out just for my sake."
Chloe
stood from the table and Shawn looked up at her, placing his hand on her arm.
"You don't have to go."
Chloe
smiled sweetly at him. "I
know, thank you. But, I am going
to. He needs you guys more than I
do right now... believe it or not, I think I'm more stable than he is right
now. Maybe we can work out a
custody plan later on. I get you
on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he gets you on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, we
rotate weekends. Something like
that..."
Chloe
laughed softly and turned to leave, but Phillip was standing right behind her.
Her smile disappeared and she felt a lump in her throat.
Her heart missed him so much, but not this Phillip, the Phillip she had
known before the accident. Looking
into his eyes, she barely recognized the person he used to be and only saw the
sad, angry young man he had become.
"Jan..."
Chloe
rolled her eyes and muttered, "Phillip..." Phillip just stared at her with a steely gaze, and she
continued, "Don't trouble yourself.
I was just leaving."
"Good..."
Chloe
turned to Shawn, Belle and Mimi and waved at them. "Good luck... you'll need it."
Chloe sighed and took her food outside to the courtyard. She sat underneath a tree and finished her sandwich and soda in silence. Chloe wondered if Keyes had been right about this whole 'true Chloe' thing. Maybe Phillip didn't love her as deeply as she had thought. They were young and naive after all. Chloe may have acted mature, but her inexperienced heart wondered how you could tell the difference between puppy love and true love, and if she would ever figure it out.