Five years ago

After days of torrential rain, the sun blazes like a ball of fire in the sky. The blue firmament brings the color of flowers to life as birds sing a happy melody of the summer months. Between my empty house and me sitting on the floor, I play video-game, not bothering to go outside or seeing a single soul.

Playing Donkey Kong on my Super Nintendo, I don't see the hours flying on my clock. Honestly, I've been playing the game all night long without bothering to go to bed. At some point, I know I will need to shut my eyes and fall asleep like a normal human being, but yet I can't.

"What are you doing?" Jason enters my room. The door is usually locked, but Jason knows the trick to come in. He doesn't need a key. He just knows. Of course, he doesn't do that when my parents are home. He looks for the signs that they aren't here. Dad usually doesn't park the car in the garage. Only in the driveway. My mother's car is gone, too.

"What do you think?" I don't look at him.

He removes the console out of my hands. "You can't do this today. It is summer, and it is nice and warm outside. Where is Mildred?"

"Mother left last night with a small bag of clothes. She got the last bus to Seattle."

"For what?" He asks as if he does not believe me. "I thought she was looking for a decent job. When is she coming back?"

"She is not coming back." I get the console back from his hands and continue on my game without looking at him. Donkey Kong jumps high into the air when I press the bottom, but then he falls immediately into the abyss and dies.

"You see? You're probably trying for many hours. I can play with you later." He removes the console again from my hands, pauses the game, and turns the TV off.

"Any suggestions for now?" I don't blink as I glance at the boring white wall.

"Let's get out of the house, Cassie," I know he is trying to cheer me up. The Super Brothers and I are going to Elliot's to spend the day at his huge pool."

This time I look at him, "No kidding. I thought you guys were frenemies." Maybe those are the meds kicking in inside his brain, working all the way in. It's been only a few weeks, but definitely, that was probably all he needed. Adele can't take me enough for having convinced him to go to the doctor with him, and I no longer saw her crying as I did a few weeks ago. Everything is peaceful at her place.

Jason chuckles, "You're right," he pauses for a moment and then talks again, something he often does when he wants to tell me something but doesn't know how to start. "Well, he said we could only use the pool with one condition."

"What condition?" I ask dubiously, not entirely believing that Jason and Super Brothers were invited to his mansion.

"We can only use his pool if you came over," he says the words he'd been hiding since he got here.

"Forget about it," I tell right away. "I am not going there," I turn the TV on again.

"He has a pool, Cassie."

"So what?" I'm impatient, maybe from the lack of sleep. My mother just left home last night, not sure where to Seattle, and he wants me to take me to a pool that belongs to someone I hate. I don't think he gets it.

"Who doesn't want to spend a beautiful day in a huge pool? Your mom is not coming back today, Cassie."

I look at him in disbelief, "She is not coming back today or tomorrow. Period."

I know Elliot's intentions well with me. His obsession with taking me on a date is what bothers me the most. He'd sent me letters inviting me on a date through some kids from New street, and honestly, I don't know whether it is true or a prank from there just to piss me off. I always throw those letters into the garbage when I get back home. I don't either bother to read them.

I know Elliot's writing style. Totally. The R and the Ls are always similar, and sometimes they look just like a B. A few girls say that he is good-looking, but I don't think so.

Something tells me his letters are from him just because I know his writing style, though. I know because I studied with him for years in the same classroom.

"No, I don't want to go," I tell Jason, remembering the letter in the garbage.

"C'mon," he insists. When Jason wants something, no one can't change his mind. His hands touch my waist as he pulls me closer to him. "Please, Cassie."

"Is Jessa going?" I don't want to be the only girl in the middle of four boys.

"No, she is spending the day at my dad's house."

"Why don't you go spend time with your dad?"

"For what? He is just like Mildred, if not worse," and his comment makes me want to punch him in the face. He knows what I'm thinking, but he can control his mouth from telling whatever it is in his mind. I know what he means. My mother and his father are both absent. The right word is probably not in Jason's vocabulary.

"Going to Elliot will be awkward, Jason. He makes me uncomfortable."

"He won't cross any boundaries. I promise it." He grabs my hands, pulling me from the floor. "C'mon, he has a huge swimming pool, probably bigger than the Olympics."

"Don't be dramatic, Jason." He tends to exaggerate everything. "

"Ready?"

I look at his dark eyes, "Why do you want me to go to Elliot's place so bad?"

"I just want to use the pool. That's all." Jason always knows how to convince me of things. Otherwise.

"Okay," I finally give up to argue with him. I get my bikini out of my drawer and head to the bathroom to get changed. He waits. 

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