Ice (30 page)

“Man, I’m starving,” he said as he picked up his plastic-ware.

“What is it, Molly?” I sighed, moving my fork back to my plate.

“I’m still trying to figure out what’s wrong with you, and why you won’t tell me,” she said as she continued to scrutinize me through her rectangular glasses that were so much like my Aunt Suzie’s, but the frames were thicker. Aunt Suzie’s were slim. I also noticed Molly was wearing pink blush again.

Marcus suddenly turned to me. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with you?” He looked back to Molly and me alarmed and confused.

“I’m
fine
,” I said, huffing.

“You mean you haven’t noticed?” she asked, giving Marcus a bewildered look. He just stared back at her with wide eyes, and then they both looked at me, waiting for an answer.

“I just haven’t had an appetite lately,” I said defensively, but it didn’t have any snap in it at all. It sounded weak and I was shrinking down into my seat. I returned to my food. “I’m eating now, so what’s the big deal?”

They were serving fish that day and I had started to think it wasn’t that bad. It tasted way better than beef, deer, or moose. Or, maybe I just felt that way because I was so hungry….

“I’m surprised you’re eating that,” Marcus said, suddenly not worried. I guess I had convinced him. “Molly, it just seems like she’s not eating much because she’s a vegetarian.” He looked at me again, watching me eat the grilled fish. “…Well, was…sometimes is? I don’t know anymore.”

I
scowled at him. “Of course I still am. I’m just making an exception this time. Wait, don’t some vegetarians eat fish?”

“I don’t know, you’re the only one I’ve met,” he said, still watching me like I was an imposter.

Molly snapped victoriously and declared, “I told you, you can’t survive here long as a vegetarian. Alaska’s all about hunting.”

Marcus gave Molly a
tired look. “Is there anything else the Wikipedia of Alaska would like to share?”

She perked up and said, “Yeah, actually. Like how you can’t walk to school!”

“I was fine today, I’ll be fine tomorrow,” he said in a tired monotone, returning to his food.

“No, you will
not
be fine. Eventually you’ll turn into a popsicle!”

“Is it a snowman, or a popsicle?”

“Don’t get smart with me…!”

I tuned out their argument and focused on my meat. It was becoming increasingly hard to imagine the flaky white meat as a fish. I wonder
ed if this place had changed me…or rather, if it still was. I no longer missed my tan even though I noticed I was still getting paler.

My thoughts quickly went back to my birthday, of course. What was I going to do? Could I call it off? But then everyone would want to know why, and it would be hard to explain to Uncle Justin, who seemed so excited about it. I couldn’t possibly let him down like that. And
,
Charlotte had already bought a webcam for it.

No, I would have to follow through with it. Maybe I could make it work. Maybe I could keep those two in line. The more I thought about it, I was becoming increasingly certain Kavick would try to behave himself for me. Marcus, however, was much more outspoken. If Marcus were to try to pi
ck a fight with Kavick, would Kavick be the boy who ignored the attempts from bullies at school, or would he be the boy who would lose it and throw a chair at him? I remembered the defiant look in Kavick’s eyes when he stood up to Doug. I almost hadn’t recognized him that night. He had actually been daring Doug to shoot him. He had looked like he was ready to
kill
Doug.

That reminded me that he hadn’t breathed a word about the hunters for a while now
, and that concerned me. Though that may seem like a sign that they were backing off, I didn’t think so. It seemed too easy. They had dealt with a fire before and only came back with more force.

I shook my head to try to rid myself of the worry, but I couldn’t. I made a mental note that the next time I saw Kavick I would have to ask him if the hunters had tried to attack anyone lately. Just because we had managed to rescue Kavick from the Factory and successfully set it ablaze didn’t mean the Wolf-People were safe. I couldn’t shake the feeling they would come back for revenge, striking like a snake in the grass, sudden and deadly.

I shut off my alarm clock with a much more violent slap than usual. I stared at my calendar again, uneasily. It was Saturday.

I can’t believe it’s finally here,
I thought dreadfully.

There was a knock on the door and I called out for Justin to enter. He was grinning from ear to ear. “John and I want to wish you happy birthday.”

Justin whistled for Big John and he came running into my room at full speed, jumping up onto my bed. He sat up close to me, waiting for me to pet him. He had a party hat fastened onto his head with several strings. It was adorable.

“It took me all morning to get him used to wearing that thing,” he laughed.

“He’s so cute!” I smiled widely, rubbing the fur under his chin. “Thank you, Justin.”

Justin left to give me some privacy so I could get ready for the big day. I had known Justin was excited about it, but I hadn’t realized he was quite
that
excited. When I left my room later with Big John, fully ready for the festivities, I saw that Justin had decorated the kitchen and living room with banners over every doorway that read “Happy Birthday!” and there were streamers hanging from the antlers of the mounted deer head, the clock, the wooden bass, and some were taped or nailed strategically here and there. Speaking of the mounted deer head, even it had a party hat, perched on the side of its head.

“Wow,” I said as I walked into the kitchen. Justin was working over the sink and the oven was going. He must have gotten up at the crack of dawn to do all of this.

“You like it?” he asked, smiling in anticipation.

“I love it,” I chuckled. “It looks great. I really like the hat on the deer.”

He grinned a little wider before returning to the metal bowl he was cleaning. It looked like a bowl to a mixer. That got me wondering about what was in the oven. Had Justin made my birthday cake himself?

I bent over in front of the old white stove, trying to peer in through the dark window. Before I could figure out what was in there, Justin spotted me.

“Ah! No peeking! You’ll have to see it later with everyone else!”

He shooed me out of the kitchen, making me wonder if he was baking more than just a cake. “You don’t have to go to so much trouble…
.”

“Of course I do! It’s your birthday! Not that it’s any trouble; I wanted to do all this. You know how long it’s been since I got to celebrate something in this house?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t help but notice that Justin had shaved his usual shadow that seemed to linger on his face most days and his hair wasn’t nearly as messy as usual.

“A few years ago I had a couple friends over to watch a game. Our team won, so we had another beer. That’s all.”

Suddenly, I felt so sad for Justin. I had never really thought about how lonely he must have been, living alone in the middle of nowhere. He hadn’t always had Big John to keep him company.

“Now, you can come in
the kitchen if you want, but no peeking in the oven and no working,” he said with a firmness that seemed humorous to me.

“Okay,” I said, raising my hands in surrender. “After breakfast, I promise to waste time in my room doing something girly.”

“Don’t you want to kick back and watch some TV?” he asked, returning to the sink. “Lie down on the couch, relax. I can bring you something.”

“No, no,” I said quickly. The idea of someone bringing me my meal felt strange. “Thanks, but I just want some cereal.”

I poured myself some Cornflakes and stood with my back to the oven instead of sitting at the table. I glanced at the clock that had different colored streamers hanging from the corners. It was after ten because of how I had dragged my feet getting ready. I took an extra long time in the shower, was much more careful than usual with my makeup, and I took longer than necessary deciding what to wear. I dragged out the debate over a blue sweater or a plum colored long-sleeved shirt. In the end, I decided on the plum shirt. I had been doing whatever I could do to stall facing the reality that soon Marcus and Kavick would be here. Never before had I debated so long about what I was going to wear, and never before had I dreaded my birthday.

After I finished my bowl of cereal, I realized it was only an hour and a half until they’d be here. I had never actually told Kavick the exact ti
me since I hadn’t seen him after the night I had invited him, so I didn’t know what I was more afraid of: that he would show up, or that he wouldn’t. At the same time, part of me thought he would show up anyway, I guess because he dropped by so much.

And then it occurred to me why I hadn’t seen him the last couple of nights: what if it was because Tartok or Anana wouldn’t let him? Or, what if he feels like he can’t because he decided to marry Anana? I prayed to God that wasn’t the reason, but it still made me feel sick to my stomach and ten times more nervous.

I went to my room as promised and re-examined my makeup. I eventually set my laptop up on my desk and signed on the Internet. I was hoping Charlotte might be on to help get my mind off of things. She wasn’t on, of course, probably getting ready for the video chat.

I shut my laptop and stared out my window at the white on the ground. The sun had been melting the snow earlier, but had gone back behind a cloud to hide, making the bright day turn gray…which is exactly how I felt.

I wasted time on my laptop, read ahead in my books since I had already done my homework, and listened to music.

“Christine! Someone’s at the door!”

I quickly got up from my desk, not even bothering to shut my laptop. “Okay!”

I ran into the living room and caught a glimpse of Justin in the kitchen. It looke
d like he was frosting a cake. I answered the door; it was Marcus. He had an oddly shaped package in his hand with a red bow on top of colorful wrapping paper. He had his signature smile on that had made countless girls swoon.

“Hey there, birthday girl,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug, which seemed a few seconds too long, and he even swayed us from side to side. At least he wasn’t picking me up and swinging me around like when he first got here.

I awkwardly stepped away from him as soon as he let go of me, taking a second to stand there like an idiot as I got my composure together. I nervously rubbed my hands on my thighs and then stepped aside, welcoming him in. He walked past me and sat the present beside a glittery white gift bag on the coffee table which hadn’t been there earlier. No doubt, Justin must have brought it out while I was in my room.

I glanced at the streamer
ed clock again and said, “You’re early.”

That was very unlike Marcus. When had he ever arrived early for anything in his life? If I remembered correctly, he would show up late to his own birthday parties. School was about the only thing he could manage getting to on time.

“I know. I hope that’s okay,” he said, still smiling widely. It was like he was unable to keep from smiling. Why was everyone so excited? I couldn’t help but think about the irony of it, everyone being excited about my birthday except me.

“Oh, yeah,” I smiled, nodding to help erase any doubt I had imbued.

He looked a bit relieved; I had managed to smooth it over. “I just wanted to spend more time with you.”

It was just ten minutes more, but I could see in his eyes it meant a lot to him. I was a little stunned by it. I could genuinely see he cared for me. Once again, I didn’t know how to react. Once I got my thoughts together, I decided to play like I hadn’t noticed. “So how’d you get here?” I asked, reaching over to pick up the Television remote from the coffee table.

“I asked Molly to drop me off.”

I did a double take, giving him a horrified look; I had purposely kept my birthday a secret from her
. I could only take so much of Molly’s nosiness.

“Don’t worry!” he laughed upon seeing my reaction. “I didn’t tell her it was for your birthday. I just said I was hanging out with you.”

I let out a breath of relief and he chuckled at me a bit more. “C’mon! Molly’s not that bad! She kind of reminds me of Charlotte.”

“I used to think that, too, but you learn quickly that she and Charlotte are very different,” I said with a wary look of warning. “Be careful what you tell her. She can’t keep a secret, unlike
Charlotte.”

“Speaking of which, where’s your computer?” he asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“I’ll go get it,” I said, eager to find an excuse to avoid a chance for any more awkward hints of deep emotions I wasn’t sure if I could return yet, or ever.

I came back into the living room with my laptop and sat it next to the big white gift bag that was already shedding glitter.
Charlotte still wasn’t on, of course. A second later there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it!” I said, jumping up from my seat and running to the door. I suddenly wasn’t so worried,
and happy that Kavick would be arriving. Part of me feared it was really Molly, though, angry that she hadn’t gotten an invitation. She seemed to know everything about everyone. But when I opened the door, it was indeed Kavick. He smiled at me in a nervous way. I smiled back. He had his black coat and scarf on, looking very warm. And, as usual, he was wearing faded blue jeans. He had an arm hidden behind his back, which he revealed held a lumpy gift wrapped haphazardly in newspaper. It didn’t have a bow on it like Marcus’, but it meant just as much to me. I could tell he had wrapped it himself.