A Normal Day. A Normal Day. (1-2) by Liddy Dodge "It was just a normal day." for my secretly admired significantly other. 1. It was hot. I looked around the classroom, kids where dripping in their own sweat. Mrs. Jameson had three fans on us, but it didn't do much to lower the temperature. It seemed to rise every time I moved. I looked to Jackie, the girl in front of me, and my best friend. She wasn't doing well. I tapped her back "Hey, you alright," I wiped her sweat off my finger, "you don't look to hot." "Quite the contrary, dear." She said in a whisper. "It's pretty warm for up here. My mom said it hasn't been this bad since 1973." I said. "Really? Mine too.." She drifted off. She wasn't used to the heat, neither was I, but I wasn't from Alaska either. Here in Lockport, NY; we had little heat, but mostly blizzards. It was 98 degrees today. Jackie was not looking good. Pieces of her hair had fallen out of her messy bun, and stuck to her neck, she was beading at the forehead and under her eyes. Her underarms had drenched her shirt. Her face was red and she was breathing out of her mouth. "Are you sure you're alright?" I asked. "Yeah..yeah, I'm fine..I'll be fine." She then put her head on her desk. Poor Jackie I thought. I stood up and started at Mrs. Jameson, I approached her desk and whispered: "Mrs. J? Can I take Jackie to the nurse? She needs to cool off." She looked up at me from her book, then lowered her glasses and squinted at Jackie. "Jackie, dear?" She said politely. Jackie picked her head up. She looked like a sunburnt dog who was just pulled up from underwater. Breathing heavily and soaking wet. Mrs. Jameson looked at me as soon as she finished analyzing Jackie. "Go ahead Adeline." She said to me. I walked to Jackie's desk, some kids looked up from their work to watch us. I assisted out of her chair and took her arm. "Thank you." I directed towards Mrs. Jameson. She gave me a head nod then buried herself back into her pages. We walked out. I could hear Jackie breathing, though I didn't look at her. Poor thing. She passed out last year at my pool party. She wouldn't get in the pool, and she over heated from standing under the sun in jeans and two top layers. I had told her to dress lightly, but being where she was from, that was light. That was the first time she came over. She was too insecure about being pale. I was the thick one. She was so sweet. She still is, just now she doesn't smell it. We took the elevator. I wasn't doing the stairs with her. We walked into the nurse's office, I saw two other kids. I chubby ginger and a kid with crutches and a ankle band. He was cute, but drenched. The nurse looked at Jackie, "Oh my, lay her down." I did, the nurse brought a bowl of water and a towel. She then plugged in yet another fan pointed it at Jackie. We drew a foldable wall together and blocked her from the light and boys. She grabbed a chair for me and said, "Wet the towel, ring it slightly, then dab her skin." She handed me the bowl, "sorry hon, I gotta unwrap Victor." She pointed toward the boy with the crutches. "What's your name?" She asked me. "Adeline, Adeline Jacobs." She nodded then sped walked to the boy. I started to dab Jackie. I reflected on the past, on all she had done for me. On my birthday, someone I thought was my friend, (Gianna) told my crush that I liked him at the party. Then she got drunk and kissed him. It was terrible. But with a few girl movies, and a lot of junk food, Jackie fixed it. When my parents got a divorce, (2 months ago) Jackie invited me over and we had a night, then she took me camping so I could get out of my house for a week. She fixed it. She's fixed so many small things. Those are just the big ones. Honestly, I'm glad I'm the one who saved her from that heat. I'm glad I was the one cooling her off, it was the least I could do for her. She had fallen asleep the minute we laid her down. She was so pretty, I thought. I liked her fare skin. 20 minuets had passed. At 30, I changed her water. She was still asleep. "How's she doin'?" The nurse asked. "Good," I replied. "She's resting." The nurse smiled, "Do you want me to take over? Vic's all good." "No," I said quietly, "I've got this." She winked at me and I giggled. I went back to her said and squeezed the towel on her face. She woke up. I put down the bowl. "Hey there," I said softly, "how are we feeling?" "Much cooler, thank you" she said. I dabbed her head and said; "Good." She fell back asleep. She was so drained. It was 1:40pm. I spent the next 20 minutes grabbing our things from our lockers. I got back just in time for the dismissal bell. I helped her up. "Morning sunshine." The nurse said to her, she had taken over,"let's go home." I helped Jackie to her feet. "Better?" I asked. "Better, thanks." She addressed her bag I had grabbed for her. "Thanks!" She yelled back into the nurses office as we walked out. I turned to see the nurse wave and smile at us. We walked out of the main door and we were hit with a blast of hot air. "Phew," I said. "I know, thank god it's Friday." Jackie said. "Right." We hugged. I started toward my bus, "see you Monday!" "Yeah, text me!" She waved and walked to the cars where her mom picked her up. So far; a normal day. 2. I got off at my stop. I watched the bus roll off and started to walk away and then I heard a clatter. I looked around to see the kid with crutches from the nurses office. He had fallen over. I was confused, why was he riding my bus? Didn't the nurse say he was "all better"? I could tell he was struggling, so I walked back to the stop to help him up. He had dropped all of his papers. So I started to grab them, I took them and put them neatly back in his bag. I stood up, then looked down at him. "Hey, thanks," he said. "I'm Victor." I just looked at him. He WAS cute. He had dimples and a nice smile. He's eyes were a magnificent green color, one that I could possible never repeat with my paints. They looked like newly cut emeralds. He was still sweaty, but he had nice hair. It was a light brown. It was parted nicely at the side, originally. It had gotten messed up in the heat. He had the perfect mixture of tan and fare skin. I looked to his face again and he smiled and looked down. Those dimples ran from his mouth to chin. I found them really attractive. I found HIM rather attractive, too. "I'm Adeline." I said. I extended my hand to him, and he took it. I helped him up from the ground. It was a struggle. When he was up he looked at me and we started laughing. As soon as he was steady, I handed him his bag. "So Adeline," he started, "I believe we met earlier, yes?" He was talking about our glance in the nurse's office. "Yeah, you hurt you ankle or something, right?" I asked. "Yes, I did, about two months ago. It was just a sprain, and the doctor said it should have healed last week." He said. "But, with all to moving around.." He trailed off. He was looking down. He looked at his ankle and he winced in pain. "Hey! Hey, hey, you ok?" I asked quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, I um, I'm fine, Adeline." He gave me a fake smile of reassurance. "Oh quit it. I can tell when you lie." I said. "How? We just met!" He started to laugh and I giggled a little. "C'mon, let's get you home." I said we started to walk. We talked about the heat, about common interests. I liked to paint. He liked zombie films. I told him about Jackie. He said I was a good friend for sticking around. I laughed and asked him what happened to his ankle. Last month back in Minnesota, he was playing football. Tackle, not touch and his good friend Michael landed on it funny. It was a sprain, but it was taking forever to heal. Only because he was moving. It was their last time together ironically. He moved here because of his parents divorce. I told him I was sorry, and that my parents split recently too. He looked at me; "Really?" He asked with a smirk. "Yeah. What's so funny about that Victor? It's terrible." I said. "Nothing, never mind. Adeline." He gave me a grin, I just looked back at him in confusion. "This is my place." We stopped in front of a white house with navy blue shutters and a red door. An oak tree hung a tire swing. And a for sale sign read "sold" on the top. "Lovely house, Victor." I said. "Hah, thanks." He replied. We walked up to the front steps. He turned back at me with a raised brow. "What?" I asked. He chuckled. "Close your eyes, I have to grab the key." "You don't carry it?" I laughed. "No, I lose them too much. So I hid my spare. Close you eyes, Adeline!" "Fine." I peeked when he turned around. I saw him reach under the mat. Obvious. That's a good way to get robbed. I chuckled to myself. "What?" He turned around and I shut my eyes. "Nothing." I laughed. "Did you peak?" He asked. "Nope." We laughed, and walked in. It was pretty inside. A woman was sitting on the couch with the newspaper. She turned and saw Victor. "Honey!" She jumped up and ran to his side with open arms. "How was my baby's first day at his new school," she spoke as if talking to a dog or child. "Mo-" he started. "Shh, you can tell me all about it at our family meeting in ten minutes!" She said ecstatically. I chuckled and she finally noticed me. "Oh! Hello. I'm Tracey." She said "Victor's mom, if that wasn't already made clear. And you must be...?" "Adeline, Jacobs. Hi." I said. I was surprised when she went right in for the hug. I laughed and Victor rolled his eyes. We sat down. Family meeting was canceled due to a guest. We talk about how we met, and how Victor's ankle was still not healed. "Oh my." Tracey said, "let's look at it honey." He showed her his ankle. They talk to each other for ten minutes. I just sat and watched. Victor. Victor Victor Victor. I gazed at him. Thankfully he was distracted with his mom pushing on his ankle. I stared at him long enough that everything around him went all fuzzy. He was polite. Humorous. And handsome. And I was in his house. I guess this is when I really developed a like for him. I realized in the past that you grow a crush in someone faster when you're away from them. I've spent my whole day with Victor. We haven't had any time apart from each other. But now that I had taken a step back to just take in the view, I really started to like what I saw. A grin grew in my face and I got a happy, jumpy feeling inside. Yep. That was it. That's when I knew I liked him. This moment right now, is when I realized that I really liked Victor. My staring was interrupted by my phone vibrating. They looked at me and I grabbed it from my back pack. It was mom. I excused myself and stepped out side. "Hello?" I said. "Oh thank god. Why aren't you home?" She asked. "Sorry mom, the time passed me. I'm at a friends." "Who?" "His name is Victor. I met him today. He's new and he rides the bus, he hurt his ankle so I walked him home to his mom. Sorry I should have texted you." "You sure should have!" She was upset. As always. "Mom, I'm sor-" "Get your ass home, Adeline." "Okay." I hung up, "bitch," I said to myself, as if she could hear me. I walked back in to find Tracey on the phone with the doctor. Victor looked at me and smiled. I looked at him, grinning back. "Hey," I walked over and sat beside him. "That was my mom. I gotta get home." "Okay," he stood up, "it was lovely meeting you. Adeline Jacobs" "And you, Victor." We laughed, Tracey hung up the phone. "We can go in now, urgent care will have it xray-d." She looked at me, "you'll have to go now Miss Jacobs." "Oh, I was just heading out," I said. She walked to me with extended arms and hugged me. "It was great meeting you." She said. "You too." I patted her back so it wasn't more of an awkward hug. Victor looked at me and blushed. I smiled at him. He grinned and rolled his eyes. "I'll drive you home," Tracey said. "No, don't trouble yourself. I live just around the corner." I said. "But dear, it's pouring" "What?" I looked back. Out the window, it WAS raining. "Thank The Lord. It's been so hot." "It's the humidity," Victor added. Tracey turned to him. "That's right! Let's go." We headed it to the car. So far; a pretty good abnormal day.