Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1) (15 page)

He took a bite, then quickly ate the whole thing. “Can I have another?” he asked, his mouth full.

I laughed and handed him another. Then Amy and Zac each took one.

“Well?” I asked as they chewed. “Do you like them?”

“They’re delicious,” Amy said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever tasted something so good.”

I smiled at her praise, but realized sweet desserts were probably rare for them and that they would think anything with a little sugar was going to taste great.

“Where did you learn to make those?” she asked.

I hesitated, not sure what to say. I could have said school, but I didn’t think she would have believed me. Teaching students how to make fattening desserts didn’t seem like a course that would be following the pledge. And telling the real answer, that Mom had taught me, seemed even less believable. “I don’t remember.”

As my siblings were enjoying the rare treat, Mom came home, but she seemed much less enthusiastic than they had been.

“What are you doing, Morgan?” she asked.

I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t happy that I’d taken the initiative to make an after school snack. “I baked some cookies.”

“Who told you that you could do that?”

 Amy, Zac and Brandon quietly stuffed cookies in their mouths as they watched the drama unfold.

“I didn’t realize I needed permission.” Which was true, although I didn’t know if Mom had ever told the Morgan from this world if that was the rule.

Mom put one hand on her hip. “I’m sure I’ve made that clear in the past.” She sighed. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, Morgan. Is this some sort of new phase you’re going through? Where you don’t like my food, but you can help yourself to use my ingredients to make whatever you feel like making? You know how expensive sugar is.”

“They’re really good,” Brandon added helpfully, crumbs falling out of his mouth as he spoke.

Mom glanced at him before looking back at me. “So what’s going on, huh?”

It was odd, but having this little fight with Mon was the first time I really felt like I belonged here. The two of us had had so many fights recently that this actually felt comfortable. I felt myself relax and I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.

“What’s so funny?” Mom asked, clearly not having the same warm feelings I was.

I forced the smile away. “Nothing. I’m sorry I made the cookies. I was just craving something sweet.”

My apology seemed to wash Mom’s anger away. She sighed again. “Please ask first next time.”

“Okay.”

She turned to Amy and the boys and asked about their homework. I turned back to the cookie dough and spooned another row of dough onto the baking sheet. When the kids were busy doing their homework and another batch of cookies had cooled, I decided to put a few aside for later, in case I got another uncontrollable craving. I found a plastic baggie and shoved as many as I could inside before zipping it closed, then I stashed it in a back corner of a cupboard until I could hide it in my room later.

“Morgan, what about you?” Mom asked. “Do you have any homework?”

“Uh, not really. It’s only the first day.”

I could tell she didn’t believe me.

“I know it’s the first day, but I also know the teachers usually assign some reading at least.”

I hadn’t brought any of my books home but wasn’t about to admit that. With a sinking feeling I realized I was going to actually have to put in some effort. Although I had decided to not worry about school since I planned to be out of here in a couple of months, I hadn’t put Mom into the equation. She would never let me get away with failing all of my classes.

“I guess my teachers decided to go easy on us on the first day,” I said, hoping she would buy it.

“Hmm. Well, I’ll expect to see you working on assignments tomorrow, young lady.”

“Yeah, okay.”

She left me alone then and I was able to finish baking the cookies, then I cleaned up the mess I had made.

That night at dinner no one was very hungry, having filled up on my cookies. I could tell Mom wasn’t happy about that, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She made me do the dishes again as punishment, even though it wasn’t my turn. When I had finished cleaning up I was able to take my cookie stash up to my room. Glancing around for a good hiding place, my gaze stopped on the beat up backpack I’d been using that day. I decided this was a good time to see what the other Morgan had stashed in her backpack.

First, I put the baggie of cookies under my pillow, then I sat on my bed and unloaded all the items from the backpack, laying them out on my comforter. My gaze skimmed over the items: a broken pencil, a pen, a working pencil, a notepad, an eraser, a romance novel, a stick of gum (sugar free, of course), the class schedule I’d gotten that morning, and a pair of earrings.

I frowned, disappointed that I hadn’t found something more useful, like maybe a cell phone. It was true that I didn’t have anyone to call, but it would have been nice to have a cell phone nonetheless. I knew I shouldn’t be surprised that the Morgan in this world didn’t have a cell phone. There seemed to be barely enough money to buy food.  A cell phone for a teenager was certainly a luxury.

I put everything back into the backpack and tucked my baggie of cookies inside, then went downstairs to spend the rest of the evening with my family. After working so hard to find them, I actually wanted to spend time with them. The boys wanted to watch television—just like they did in my home world—but Mom made them leave the TV off and instead she brought out a board game. I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had and decided when I got back home I would do things like this with my family more often.

The next morning I left the house and began walking to school, dreading the long walk and hoping I wouldn’t get lost. Thirty minutes later I was at the school. Pleased with myself that I had found it on my first try, I smiled, hoping that my luck would hold out and I would have a good day. Heading straight to my locker, I entered the combination, then looked at the books inside. I reluctantly pulled out the ones I would need for my first two classes, then closed the door and spun the lock.

As I slid into a seat in the class, I glanced at the other students. The day before I’d come in late and had felt too self-conscious to look at anyone else, but today I was a few minutes early, so I checked out the other students without being too obvious. Just like I’d noticed the day before in lunch, not one person was overweight. Again, it felt strange to see everyone looking so much the same as everyone else.

I noticed many of the students looking my way too and I wondered what they were thinking. I wasn’t fat, but I knew it wouldn’t kill me to lose ten pounds or so. But compared to all of them, who were mostly skin and bones, I did look a little chunky.

It doesn’t matter, I tried to convince myself. I’ll be out of here in a couple of months anyway.

But what if I can’t get back and I’m stuck here? Then what?  Am I going to start worrying about every morsel I put in my mouth? Am I going to have to start exercising for hours every day?  A sudden feeling of panic engulfed me and I tried to tamp it down and convince myself that of course I would get back home.

I had to get back home
. I didn’t know if I could survive in a world that exerted such control over everyone’s lives. In the meantime, just to prove to myself that I was different from all these weight-obsessed people, I would follow my own instincts on what I should eat and how I would behave and I would resist the brainwashing that I saw going on around me.

Chapter Sixteen

As I waited for the teacher to begin class, I pulled out my notebook and prepared to take notes. Even if I refused to be drawn into the fixation with being thin, I still had to face my mother, which meant doing my best at school.

“Hi,” the girl in front of me said, her body swiveled in my direction. “I’m Lori.”

“I’m Morgan,” I said, smiling at the friendly look on her face.

“I set a goal to talk to at least one new person each day. I’ve heard there are no strangers, just future friends.”

“Oh. Well, that’s a nice idea.”

“I think so too. That’s why I’ve adopted it as my motto.” Lori paused, but only for a second. “So, how long have you lived here? I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

“My family just moved here a couple of months ago.”

She nodded. “Do you like to run?”

I flashed back to a few days before when I’d chased after the boys who had stolen my backpack. “Not really.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Why’s that?” I wasn’t able to think of a single reason
not
running could be a bad thing.

The teacher stood in front of the class then and everyone began to settle down.

“Because we need one more person on our relay track team,” Lori whispered, before turning to face the front of the room.

Whatever, I thought.

Then the teacher made us stand for the pledge. She asked one of the students to stand in front and lead the rest of us. Even though I didn’t agree with them, I recited the words along with everyone else. It felt strange to say the words out loud though, since I was so adamantly opposed to what they stood for.

When the teacher began her lecture I tried to pay attention since I knew Mom would be checking up on my schoolwork. When class was over, Lori was right behind me as I left the classroom.

“What class do you have next, Morgan?” she asked.

“English,” I said, happy to have someone to walk with. “What about you?”

“My favorite class. Gym.”

I never particularly liked gym, especially the part where I got all sweaty. “Why is it your favorite?”

“I just like to be active. That’s why I run track.”

“Oh. That’s cool.” But it still wasn’t something I saw myself doing by choice, although I knew I needed to decide about what sport I was going to do.

“Hey, Lori,” a deep voice said from behind us.

We both turned around.

“Hi, Connor,” Lori said.

I smiled at him, but didn’t say anything. Today he looked even hotter than he had the day before. The blue of his shirt really set off his tanned face.

“This is Morgan,” Lori said.

He smiled at me and I felt my heart flutter.

“Yeah, we already met,” Connor said.

“How’s it going?” I asked, trying to contribute something to the conversation.

“I should ask you that, since you’re new and everything,” he said.

I smiled at his interest. “It’s okay.”

“I tried to get her to join the track team,” Lori said. “But she doesn’t like to run.”

“You don’t like to run?” he asked, clearly shocked by such an idea.

“Well, I can do it,” I said. “I just haven’t done a lot of it lately.” Suddenly running was something I thought I might want to do more of.

“Then this is a good time to start,” he said, an encouraging smile on his face. “Unless you already chose your sport?”

“Actually, no. I haven’t.” But now I knew what I was going to choose.

“Are you going to join track?” he asked.

“Sure. I mean, I guess so. I just need to let the office know, I guess.”

“Okay. We’ll tell the coach you’ll be there for Monday’s practice,” Connor said.

Lori nodded, apparently not caring why I had suddenly changed my mind.

“Great,” I said. “I’ll see you guys there.”

By the time lunch rolled around, I knew I would have plenty of homework, which would make Mom happy. I went into the lunch room and saw Anne, Lori, and Connor sitting with a group of other kids at a table.

“Morgan,” Lori called to me, then motioned for me to join them.

I had to admit, I was starting to like this school. It was only the second day, and already I had made several friends and been invited to join the track team. I slid into an empty seat next to Lori and said hi to Anne and Connor.

“This is Morgan, everyone,” Lori said before introducing me to the other people there, which included two boys and three girls I hadn’t met before.

They all said hi, then went back to their conversation. I didn’t say much, but just watched and listened. It didn’t look like any of them were paired off as boyfriend/girlfriend. At least it didn’t look like Connor had a girlfriend, which was the most important piece of information I gathered in my observation.

I reached into my backpack for the food I’d brought and noticed the baggie of cookies I’d stashed in there, which gave me an idea. Pulling out the bag, I waited until a lull in the conversation. “Would anyone like some of my homemade cookies?”

They all shifted their gaze to me, then looked at the cookies.

“Put those away,” Lori whispered as she pushed my hand down.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“You know those aren’t allowed.”

Actually I had no idea they were forbidden, but somehow I wasn’t surprised. Everyone at my table stared at me as if I’d just laid out an assortment of drugs.

“I’ll take one,” Connor said, a grin on his face.

“Connor!” Anne looked shocked. And worried. “You could get in trouble. You could get us all into trouble.”

He held out his hand and I slid the bag of cookies across the table. He removed not one, but two, and popped the first one in his mouth, then slid the baggie back. “These are really good, Morgan.”

His words filled me with pride, though everyone else looked scandalized, like he’d just announced he was dropping out of school so he could sell drugs.

“You made these?” he asked, ignoring the looks of disapproval on everyone else’s faces.

I nodded and smiled, not able to hold back my pleasure at his compliment. “Yesterday.”

“And you used real sugar, right?”

“What else would I use?” I asked.

“Sugar substitute, duh,” Lori said. “You are aware how many calories, empty calories I might add, that sugar has in it, aren’t you?”

 “No.” I had never thought about it before, actually. I looked at the others and saw them all staring at me.

One of the girls, Jen, looked me up and down. “Do you eat refined sugar a lot?”

I felt like I was back at the
Come On Inn
diner under the scrutinizing gaze of the waitress, and I didn’t like the way it made me feel. “I don’t know. I never really paid attention before.” Somehow I knew that was the wrong answer, but I refused to get caught up in their weight issues.