Wondering Minds

Chapter 4

"Luna!" I am once again standing in the middle of a dark room. A silver car appears in front of me with bright headlights blinding me. I walked up to the car to take a closer look. "This car looks familiar like I've seen it somewhere."

The back of the car had a heart sticker on the bumper. I walked around the driver's seat to find no one inside. "Luna!" The voice makes me jump.

"Who is saying my name?!" I yelled out into the darkness. All of a sudden the car horn blares making my ears ring. "Ughh!"

The horn gets louder and louder making me fall to the ground. "Please, stop!" I held my ears till I passed out.

"Luna!" I abruptly woke up with my Mom staring right at me. I rubbed my eyes trying to clear my vision. "Luna! Get up! You got stuff to do today."

"Like what?"

"Did you forget? I found out you were smoking m*******a yesterday, so now your Dad is coming and you have an appointment today." She says angrily.

"Okay, I'm getting up." My Mom leaves the room but this time she shuts my door.

I checked my phone to see if I had any text messages, but there weren't any. I jumped out of bed and went straight to the bathroom to pee, take a shower, brush my teeth, and then put my makeup on.

I rushed out of the bathroom to my closet. I chose to wear jean shorts with a pink baseball T-shirt. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun. "This should do," I said to myself.

I walked out of my room to only be surprised by my Dad sitting on the couch.

"Hey sweetie, take a seat so we can talk."

I cautiously walked over to the couch and sat down. My Dad is about six feet with wide broad shoulders and brown skin that glistened when in the Sun.

"So... tell me where you got the weed from." He sits and waits for my answer.

"Dad..."

"Don't Dad me... Answer the question."

I sigh, "I was hanging out with this boy named Braden, that's where I got the weed from." I start to fidget with my fingers a little.

My Mom walked out of her room with her arms crossed as she stood in the kitchen to eavesdrop.

"Who's this Braden guy? Is he your boyfriend?"

"No, just a friend."

My Dad looked me right in my eyes, "I don't want you ending up in jail like your brother. You're very smart and I don't want you going down the wrong path." I could see the hurt in his eyes.

"I'm not going to jail... I'm not selling drugs and I'm not addicted. It was a one-time thing that I won't do again."

"We'll see about that Luna, next time I'm taking you to rehab." He stood up, took a glance at Mom, and then walked out the door.

I sighed in relief as I sat back on the couch. My Mom walks over to me, "Do you understand that we want the best for you?"

"Yeah, but you didn't have to tell Dad," I said while crossing my arms. She sighs while putting a sweater on, "Come on, your doctor's appointment is in thirty minutes." She walked out the door as I followed behind her.

Five minutes into the car ride was in silence, I watched as trees and cars went by.

"Are you okay?"

I continued to stare out the window, "Yeah."

"Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"Nope..."

We finally arrive at the hospital, she parks the car and then gets out. I slowly got out of the car and then walked into the Hospital with my Mom. "I'm going to the restroom," I told my Mom.

"Okay, hurry before they call your name."

I rushed into the restroom and then locked the door behind me. I pulled my phone out and immediately called Emma. "Come on, pick up." The call goes straight to voicemail. I tried calling again only to go to voicemail again.

"Emma, why aren't you picking up your phone? I hope you're okay." I hit send on the text and walked out of the restroom. I looked around for my Mom to find her sitting near the TV. I walked over and sat down next to her.

"Can you take me to Emma's house after?"

"Sure honey." She goes back to watching this bootleg kid show that's showing on the TV.

A lady in pink scrubs comes through the door with a clipboard. "Luna Jenkins!" Me and My Mom stands up and the Nurse takes us back into a room. "The doctor will be with y'all shortly."

I carefully sat down on the examination table, trying not to crunch up the paper. I swung my feet looking at the random pictures on the wall.

A few minutes later we heard a small knock at the door. "Hello. How are you guys today?"

Doctor Ford's smile lights up the room as he sits down in the rolling chair. "I'm good," Mom says with a smile.

"And what about you Luna?" My body tingles when my name rolls off his tongue. He stares directly at me with his perfect green eyes. "Um... I'm...Fine."

"That's good to hear." He rolls his chair to the computer to type something up. I looked at Mom and I could tell she had a burning question to ask.

"Doctor Ford, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." He smiles again making me feel warm inside.

"How old are you? You look very young, I didn't want to be rude last time we saw you." He chuckled. "I'm 20 years old." Mom's mouth drops, "Oh! Wow!"

"Yeah, it's a long story...Okay, we're going to get started with some questions."

I nod.

"How long have you had anxiety?"

"Umm...Umm... Since I was seven." He writes it down on the computer. "Do you have any allergies?"

"No."

"Okay, one more important question. "Are you sexually active?" I look over to Mom who is already looking and waiting for my response. I clear my throat, "No." Mom's face quickly relaxes but I know she's going to be on my ass about it.

He types it into the computer, "Okay, I'm describing Luna more antidepressants and we'll get started as soon as possible for therapy to help Luna step out of her comfort zone." He hands Mom some papers.

"Will the therapy be here?" My Mom asks.

"No it'll take place at home, no need to drive all the way up here." He turns towards me while I run his fingers through his luscious hair. "I'll see you tomorrow around 3 p.m." I smile showing my whitening teeth. He smiles back making me smile more. He stands up to shake my Mom's hand. "Have a great day."

"You too Doctor Ford." He walks out of the room and we gather all our things. We walked to the car and hopped in, "Don't forget to take me over to Emma's house."

She starts driving as I try to call Emma but she doesn't pick up.

A few minutes later, I arrived at Emma's house. "Do you need me to come get you?"

"No, I can walk back home." I got out of the car and watched her drive off. I walked up to the door and then lightly knocked. I hear noises coming from inside and then the front door opening.

Emma's big brother Ethan steps outside, "What's up?"

"Is Emma home?" I said shaking a little.

"No, she's at a party over at Braden's house. Do you need a ride there?"

"No, I can walk."

He smiles and then shuts the door. I started walking down the block then made another turn and walked down that block. I started to get sweaty but I didn't care at the moment.

When I got to the house I could see Braden's two-story house and I could also hear loud music coming from inside the house. I walked right into his house and saw many people mingling in the hallway. I stood there scared to even move forward. "Come on, you can do it. Don't let the anxiety win." I thought in my head.

"Hey."

I turned around to see Braden smoking a vape. "I didn't know you were going to show up." He takes another puff of his vape as his brown eyes stare into mine.

"I just came to look for Emma..."

He smiles, "Oh, I thought you were coming to see me." He offers me a puff of his vape and I take it. I take a long puff and then let it out slowly. "Cherry?"

"Yes, it's cherry."

I take another puff then let's it out. "I needed this."

Braden stares at me with twinkles in his eyes, "I can tell... Um, I heard what happened with the drug test, does that mean we can't smoke weed together anymore."

I handed him back his vape and he immediately took a puff from it. "I wouldn't say never but not for a very long time."

He smiles as he looks around, "Sounds good to me."

"By the way... why are you having a party in the afternoon," I said.

"Because I already got the police called on me for noise complaints because people in the neighborhood were trying to sleep."

"Oh, I understand now. Do you know where's Emma?" I smile.

"She might be over here, follow me." We squeezed past some people as we walked over to the cup-pong table. I could see Emma standing by the cup pong table holding a glass of Whiskey. It soon dawned on me that she was not supposed to be drinking.

"Thanks, I found her," I said to Braden rushing over to Emma.

"Emma!" I whispered loudly in Emma's ear. She turns around surprised but you can tell that she was drunk. "Oh! Hey!" She turns to the girl she was standing next to, "This cutie right here is Luna. I have a crush on her but she doesn't know it." She says slurring her words.

She tries to take another sip of her drink but I take it from her. "Okay, that's enough for you." I dragged her outside and sat her down on the porch step.

"What's wrong with you?!" I yell.

Emma held out her right hand and then started gagging. She rushes to the grass and then uncontrollably throws up. I sat beside her while rubbing her back. She rubs her mouth on her shirt and then walks back to sit on the porch step.

I walked over with my arms crossed, "What's wrong with you? You're not supposed to be drinking."

"Don't worry I'm getting an abortion anyway." She says still slurring her words.

"What's wrong with you?! I told you I'll help you out! You're not getting an abortion!"

"You can't tell me what to do with my body!" Emma yells.

People start to gather around us to see what's going on.

"Emma you're just drunk, let's think about this." She stands up and comes face to face with me. "I love you Luna, but this discussion is over." She turns to walk away.

I stood there in disbelief as the crowd started to disperse.