“Gina! I thought David was calling me,” Kara said.
“Hey,” I said as I turned the tablet so she could see me too. “Why haven’t you taught your sister how to do this kind of stuff?”
“I was waiting until she started college. Our parents are set in their ways, and my dad is convinced that the Russians will take over his PC if he logs onto the Internet,” Kara explained.
“If he’s that worried, he just needs a firewall and VPN. And Internet security software, of course.”
“Believe me, we’ve tried. My dad fancies himself tech-savvy and won’t listen to anyone about cybersecurity stuff.”
“You mean we could’ve been talking like this all along?” Gina asked.
“Well, yeah. I video chat with Emily at least a couple of times a week,” Kara shared.
Clearly, it upset Gina to find out her two sisters talked more than she did with them. Gina was a smart girl. I would bet she’d have a tablet soon. I made a mental note to send a text to Kara to suggest one as a graduation gift.
“Sorry, but I’ve got to go,” I announced. “I’ll send you a text when Suzanne is ready for us.”
I left the girls to catch up.
◊◊◊
Suzanne fell right back into tutoring mode. She’d had our calculus class and Ms. Lowden as her teacher. She scanned and sent us a copy of the final she’d been given when she took the course.
I loved how Suzanne would explain the concepts from a different angle to help us understand them. Both Gina and I felt we had a firm grasp of the material, but we each had ‘aha’ moments as different concepts suddenly made a whole lot more sense.
Once we finished our session, I was convinced that I would seek out a tutor when I got to college. While I was sure I would have gotten an ‘A’ on my final, I understood the material better after sitting down with Suzanne.
◊◊◊ Wednesday May 3
When I came back from my run with Duke, my mom was waiting for me in the driveway.
“David Allen Dawson!”
Oops.
“Carol Suzanne Dawson!” I shot back and mimicked her hands on her hips and her head sway.
My dad burst out laughing from the back door. He seemed to find us entertaining.
“Did you take a dump on the new neighbor’s back porch?”
“I want my lawyer,” I declared.
My poor mom tried; she really did. But she couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.
I’d purposefully not let Duke do his business this morning. He is regular as all get-out, so I was shocked when he just looked at me when I tried to get him to return the favor Max had left on our sidewalk. Out of desperation, I’d taken matters into my own hands—or, perhaps more accurately, butt.
Duke, of course, had to go once we got a block away. I’d started to feel a touch guilty about what I’d done until I had to clean that up.
“Did he actually see who did it?” I asked, not quite admitting it.
I imagined Judge Mom would appreciate my obfuscation (a fun word I’d learned while prepping for my SATs, meaning the action of making something unclear) of the truth.
“No, and I pointed that out to him when he called. I asked him how many other places his dog had left a mess, and maybe he might have some more suspects,” she said and then paused. She gave me the ‘I’m your mom, and you will listen to me!’ look. “If it happens again … I will assume you did it.”
Even Dad knew not to chuckle as Mom twirled around and stomped into the house for good measure. I filed that one away for future reference on Scary Parenting 301. It was an advanced class that most parents hadn’t mastered. Then again, most parents didn’t have sons who would actually deliver that kind of payback.
◊◊◊
I spotted Gina as I walked into school. She looked like death warmed over.
“You okay?”
“Here, take this back,” she said, thrusting my tablet into my hands. “I haven’t slept in two nights.”
I’d loaned my tablet to her so we could have our tutoring sessions with Suzanne.
“Did you find my porn stash?” I asked, acting upset.
“No!” Gina exclaimed and then saw my smirk. “Don’t tease me. I’m worried I might have a gaming addiction.”
“What?!”
“I’ve been playing Sims every spare moment. That’s why you have to take it away from me. If you don’t, I’ll fail all my finals.”
Sims was the kind of game you didn’t touch for months, and then when you did pick it back up, you would play it for several days straight. The game allowed you to build characters called ‘Sims,’ which you customized. That included their clothes, personality, career, home, and much more.
You basically created a mini-you and guided them through life. The funny part was your Sim would sometimes do something idiotic like set themselves on fire or jump to their death.
Now I was pissed at Gina because I wanted to play the stupid game. I’d read about a couple of expansion packs I might want to try out. One was a house party, and the other let you have your very own pets to play with.
That was one of the problems with the game. Every month, they seemed to have a new expansion pack. If you bought them all, it got pricey in a hurry.
I grudgingly took my tablet back. I would have to fight the urge to waste time playing later today.
Gina gave me a weak smile.
“When I hear you guys talking about playing video games, I figure you were all just being boys. I never imagined it would be so much fun,” she admitted.
“You might want to get it out of your system before you go off to college and flunk out,” I advised.
I suspected gaming was like the cliché preacher’s daughter who goes wild. If you didn’t play video games when you were younger to get it out of your system, when you finally discovered them, they were all-consuming. Maybe Gina would play all summer and hopefully get past the urge to play all the time once she needed to focus on college.
“Incoming,” Gina warned me.
Darius and Chrissy walked up.
“Are you sick?” Dare asked Gina.
“She’s been up the last few nights cramming for her math final,” I said.
Chrissy slugged me.
“What?” I complained.
“Quit teasing him, or I’ll have to distract him like you suggested,” Chrissy admonished me.
Gina figured that one out and began to laugh. We all laughed when Dare still looked clueless as to what Chrissy was talking about. I would bet big money that once he did, all his worries about being the smartest kid in class would go away.
“Prom is Friday,” I suggested.
Chrissy pulled Dare away from me and my reasonable suggestion.
“The same advice goes for you,” I said to Gina with a straight face.
There was the Gina I had come to love. She stormed off, leaving me to wonder if Cassidy planned to fulfill the implied Prom Contract and sleep with her date—me—after the dance.
◊◊◊
At lunch, I grabbed Cassidy and made her eat with me away from prying ears at our lunch table.
“What’s this all about?” Cassidy asked.
“Tell me about your volunteering at the large animal clinic at State.”
“I wanted to see if I really do want to become a vet or not, so I asked if they’d let me spend some time helping out.”
“And …?”
“And I think I do,” she said sheepishly.
“That’s good. You should do something you love. I just wish I had a better idea what I wanted to do when I grow up.”
“You’re not mad?” she asked.
“Why would I be mad?”
“Because I wouldn’t have time to be your trainer,” she admitted.
“Do you plan to stop being my friend?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then, I’m fine.”
She still didn’t seem happy, which confused me a little.