Just Like Heaven

Chapter Five

The moment the bell rang, I packed my stuff and took a hold of my bag, immediately leaving the class and making my way to the school’s office.

      “Ah, Mr. Hudson!” Mrs. McMillan – the middle-aged woman behind the desk – exclaimed as I walked in. “What can I do for you?”

      “Er… I was wondering if I could make a quick call home?” I said as I walked toward her.

      “Of course, of course!” She smiled, turning the telephone my way and going back to her paperwork.

      With one last breath I took off the telephone and dialled our house’s number, waiting for my mother to pick up, which she did after the third ring.

      “Hello?” said Mother.

      “Hi… It’s me, Edwin,” I said, my heartbeat slightly picking up.

      “Edwin?” Her voice had become worried. “What is it? Trouble at school?”

      “No.” I shook my head briskly, even though she couldn’t see me. “I – I wanted to call and ask permission if I could come a little late tonight?”

     “Why?” Her tone had changed again. This time it sounded stern and firm.

     Of course I knew she wasn’t going to let me get away after school for no good reason, so I said, “I promised Tommy I would help him with our lessons. So I thought I would to his house to tutor him.”

     “Tommy? Tommy Olson?” she asked.

     “Yes.”

     “Have you asked his parents?”

      “Er…” And here I saw the loop in my lie. Of course my mother was going to think it was rude to go to a friend’s house without prior permission.

      “I’ll call Tommy’s mother then, and talk to her personally. I think I’ve got her number in my phonebook –”

     “Really, Mother, there’s no need –”

     “Oh don’t be ridiculous, Edwin. It’s all about good manners.” And before I could come up with a better lie to get myself out of it, we had said our goodbyes and hung up.

     “Thank you.” I nodded at Mrs. McMillan politely before leaving the office, on my way to find Tommy. I already knew where I could find him when he wasn’t around. And sure enough, when I walked into the cafeteria, I saw Tommy sitting around a table alone, eating in silence as he was reading a comic book.

      “Tommy,” I called as I approached him, catching him off guard.

       “Hey, Eddie!” he said excitedly. “How are y–?”

      “Look, I need your help?” I cut him off urgently.

     “Sure. Anything.” He smiled up at me and so I took a seat next to him around the table.

     “Remember how I told you how strict my parents are?” I asked and he nodded. “Well… I wanted to – er – go somewhere today after school, but my mother wouldn’t allow me unless I told her I was going to be home late because of studying or something similar.”

      “And…”

      “And I had to tell her that I was coming over to your house so we could study together. I really was going to come in the first place, but turns out she’s planning to call your mother. She says it’s for good manners to ask the parent permission first, but I got the feeling that she wanted to check up on me.”

      A short silence followed my words as Tommy gaped at me.

      I sighed, saying, “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I understand if you don’t accept –”

      “Are you kidding!” Tommy suddenly yelled, making me jump out of my skin. I looked around, trying to see anyone was looking our way. “Man, I’ve been trying to invite you over for ages now – you were always busy, somehow – but this is awesome! Oh, I’ve been dying to show you my comic collection –”

      “Er… right. Thanks.” I nodded and broke him off before he could get the chance to name all his comic books alphabetically. “So I’ll see you after school?”

      “Yeah! Of course!”

      “Thanks.” I patted him once on the back and stood up, leaving the cafeteria and making my way to the library, where I could have a few minutes of peace and quiet.

After what felt like ages, the bell rang and we were dismissed from our last class. I packed my books and left the in my locket quicker than ever before getting out of the school, waiting at its entrance for Tommy, checking my watch every once in a while. But my attention was caught when beneath the mass of student leaving the school, someone started yelling, “Eddie! Hey, Eddie!”

      Shaking my head at him, I turned around only to see Tommy running toward me, bumping into at least three people as he kept apologizing until he finally reached me.

      “You do know that I can still hear you calling me even if you don’t shout, right?” I told him with a grin.

      “Oh… sorry.” His face fell for a split second before he beamed up at me once again. “So ready to go?”

      “Yeah.”

      We walked with each other back to Tommy’s house, which thankfully wasn’t too far away from school, otherwise my ears would’ve started bleeding from Tommy’s chattering. His house wasn’t as big as ours, but it was almost enough for my mother’s approval, which was saying something.

      “Well, here we are,” said Tommy, throwing in his key and opening the door to their home. “Ooh, I smell my mom’s freshly baked cookies! She only makes them when we have guests –”

      “Jer, is that you?” We heard a woman’s voice coming from the kitchen, and moments later Tommy’s mother appeared and came toward us. She looked rather chubby but her eyes were kind and inviting. “Hello, there! Edwin, is it?” she said when she spotted me.

     “Yes, ma’am.” I smiled at her politely.

     “Well, I knew you were coming, so I made you cookies. Your mother had called earlier and informed me. She’s a nice lady, she is.” I nodded awkwardly, not knowing how to respond.

     “C’mon, Eddie,” said Tommy, yanking at my sleeve, “let’s go up to my room.”

      When I followed him upstairs, I looked around the house. With every step that we took, there was a picture in a frame on the wall of their family; Mr. and Mrs. Olson, Tommy, and his little sister who was now around seven years old. We never had too many pictures in our house.

      As we entered Tommy’s room, I was faced with a mess of clothes thrown everywhere, piles of comic books, and many posters of Elvis Presley covering every inch of the walls.

     “Sorry ‘bout the mess,” said Tommy, taking a pile of clothes and shoving them into the closer. “Would’ve cleaned up, if I knew you were coming.”

     “It’s all right,” I muttered, trying to find a neat spot on the bed to sit on which.

      Perhaps this was what an average teenage boy’s room would look like. But I personally always kept my room neat;m at first it was to save myself the trouble of having Mother scold me for it, but it was a few years now that I had gotten used to the cleanness and so I just always kept it that way.

     “So what’s your plan?” Tommy asked me. “Are you leaving now?”

     “I’ll have to call Mother first, so she’ll know I’m still here. And then I’ll go,” I explained.

     “Just out of curiosity,” Tommy started, hoping on his desk and sitting there, “why are you doing all this?”

     I fell silent. Why was I doing this?

     Why did I feel the need to see Adam Smith again? Was my guilt that livid that it made me want to apologize to him? Or was it because I wanted to prove him wrong for calling me out on being scared of living out of my routine. Maybe I had lied to my mother and wanted to sneak away, just to prove myself that I was courageous.

     “It’s – it’s a long story,” I finally answered.