Pick-me-up by Cecilia La France Page A

topic. “Listen, I have to go. What do you
think?”
    “Well,” Emily considered, “we’d already be
kinda crashing Collin’s party. He didn’t really invite me
personally, but he kind of smiled at me in the hall this morning. I
guess if Tim showed up out there, then it wasn’t necessarily us who
brought him. Does he have a car?”
    “No, but his friend does. I’ll ask him
tonight and let you know, okay?”
    Emily looked slightly put off, sitting
expectantly in the driver’s side. She obviously expected Katelyn to
jump on the chance. “Oh,” she blinked hard. “Okay, um, text me
tonight.” Emily gave one last plea. “It’ll be fun, plus you need to
help me with Collin. I think he really likes me. Come on,
Katelyn.”
    Katelyn hated to say no or to leave her
without an answer. Emily seemed to actually need her. But, things
were different. It hit her then. She was now part of a couple. She
didn’t want to make a plan without Tim. She wanted him to be there
with her. She was used to him being a daily part of her life
now.
    “I’ll text ya later, Em,” Katelyn said more
solidly, and closed her door. She leaned back in through the open
window. “Thanks a lot for the ride.”
*****
    Katelyn dropped her books off and ran over to
get the kids from her grandma’s house. She gave them a snack and
looked over her math study guide. No worries, she thought. She
could pass this one. She tucked it back into her bag and checked
the time. Tim should have been there by now. He only had to go to
school in the afternoons and they weren’t forced to take finals at
the alternative school, just finish their work.
    She was excited to see him, though. After
thinking about how accustomed she’d become to him being in her
life, she felt happy about it. He was a new, welcome part of her
life. She thought back to just a month ago and how she seemed like
a different person—young, alone, her parents’ daughter. Now, she
felt different, more in control, like more of her life belonged to
her. Was that because of him? Yes, she thought. I’m becoming
someone new with him.
    She had flipped open her science packet, a
12-page manual more than a study guide. Katelyn sighed. Besides the
directions, the first page contained words she couldn’t pronounce
let alone define. She looked the first term up on the Internet.
“Homogeneous: composed of parts of elements of the same kind.” She
sighed and gave up on terminology. Who cares?
    “Kate'n, let’s go to the park,” Kayla was
behind her.
    Katelyn looked back once, but turned back to
the study guide. “Sorry, kiddo, I have to do homework.”
    “I’ll help,” Kayla cheered and tried to come
around to sit on her lap.
    “No, Kayla, go watch your movie, alright,”
and Katelyn gently pushed her back from her leg. Katelyn checked
the time. Tim was officially late now.
    Kayla had gone back to the cartoon movie
without much trouble. Katelyn switched browser windows to check her
Web page. Nothing from Tim. She sent a text on her phone and then
checked his page. He had added a couple new song links since last
night, but there was no reported activity today, except a wall post
from someone named Christian. “In town for awhile—hook me up.”
    She linked to Christian’s site, but it was
limited access. She could see Christian had a lot of Des Moines
friends and his profile picture was a crossbone. Tim never talked
much about his former city. She never pushed it either, scared to
have him close off or see her as snoopy. It didn’t matter, really.
What mattered was who he is now, but she wanted more of him, wanted
to expand the identity she already had of him.
    Katelyn browsed through Tim’s friend's links.
There were mostly girls. She couldn’t help feeling a little
jealous. How many of them were friends and how many were girls who
wanted more from him. She posted a note of her own on his wall.
“Save me from studying!”
    She kept clicking through Tim’s pages, his
groups—mostly