• Nathon Power's Journal Entry #3
    March 14, 2010


    tab "You feeling ok?" Of course it would be my best friend, Evan, who'd first notice how odd I was acting. Just one glance at my sulkish attitude as I walked down the halls to the next hour, and he knew. It was nice having a friend who always looked out for you, but sometimes, I'd rather he didn't.
    tab "Yeah," was my obvious lie. Getting emotional in school was the last thing I wanted to do. "Why?"
    tab "I dunno...You just look kinda...glum." The moment he said that, I made a big, ridiculously fake smile, just to prove my point that I wasn't glum. I knew I'd be kidding myself to actually believe that, but I needed to put on a mask, something to keep me from being shrouded with pity. He laughed, and slapped me on the back.
    tab "All right, all right! No need to overdo it." Then he elbowed me in the ribs.
    tab "Hey. I heard there's a new girl who's livin' at your house." I rolled my eyes.
    tab "Yep. And I think I know what you're thinking..." Evan was the typical chick-magnet-jockey. The problem was, the longest he ever kept any of his dozens of girl friends I'm sure he's had, was two months. That's why I had my obvious assumptions when he said that.
    tab "For your information, I have a life beyond girls." I rolled my eyes again. I highly doubted it.
    tab "So, what's up? Why'd she come in all of a sudden, anyway?" I looked down at my shoes, trying to think up of my own answer. Why did she come? Maybe she was some shoe-string family member who needed somewhere to live, and dad couldn't say for some reason.
    tab "Nathon?" Maybe she was some fugitive, and needed my dad to keep it secret from us...But, of course, I dismissed that thought the moment it came to mind.
    tab "Nathon?" I looked up, and snapped out of my train of thought, quickly stammering,
    tab "O-oh, uh, she just needed to stay at our house for a couple weeks. Th-that's all. Nothing permanent." Stupid, stupid, stupid! Couldn't think of a better thing to say? That's not even a reason, stupid! Evan, of course, raised an eyebrow to this, and said,
    tab "You sure you're feeling all right?" And this time, I didn't answer.

    tab Back at home, ever since my mom left, there was an eerie silence. We all just seemed to ignore eachother, and go about our business, oblivious to the absense of mom. Of course, that didn't mean we really were oblivious. We just didn't want to talk about it. It was almost like everyone was holding a secret that everyone knew.
    tab I hate to say it, but when I stared at Jenna while I was setting the table; Jenna, who was sitting in my mom's seat, I couldn't help but feel like a teenage girl I didn't know had just replaced my mom. But I could never have been able to say that to her face. Never.
    tab "Jenna, would you please take the hat off. It's impolite at the table." She took of the beanie she told me about earlier. For one reason or another, she seemed very attached to it.
    tab "Oh...Sorry." My dad smiled.
    tab "Thank you. Now, Nathon..." He nodded towards me.
    tab "Would you like to say Grace?" I shrugged. What did he think I was going to say? "No"?
    tab "Uh, yeah, sure." We bowed are heads simutaneously, and I began,
    tab "Dear God..." There were dozens of things I could pray for, dozens of things I could ask. Why did this girl come into our house? Who was she? What was my dad hiding? But most importantly: Why? Why was this happening to me?
    tab So many things to pray for, so many thing to say, and yet all that came out of my mouth was,
    tab "Uh, thanks for the food, and, Amen." Classy, Nathon. Very classy.
    tab When we all looked up, my dad just kind of smiled at me, and teased,
    tab "Very nice prayer. Short and sweet. I think God likes those kind of prayers." I hoped not, because I was planning on talking to him a lot more...in private. He gulped down a bite of macoroni and cheese (left over and microwaved) and asked,
    tab "So...how was school?" Now we weren't even trying. We were obviously just glazing over the fact that someone was gone, someone who had been a part of my life for 15 years. But I decided to play along with it. After all, I didn't want to talk about it either.
    tab "Fine, dad. Absolutely fantastic."
    tab "Well, that's, uh, good to hear. And how about you, Jenna? How was your day?"
    tab "I don't think the kids at school like me..." I, myself, raised an eyebrow at this. Not like her? To me, she was the absolute ideal girl. She was pretty, quiet and most importantly, she knew when to keep to her own business.
    tab "Don't like you?" My dad raised his voice. "Don't talk down about yourself like that!"
    tab "No--no! I'm serious! I mean...there are already rumors that I'm a...that I'm a..." She buried her head in her arms in showers of tears.
    tab "They called me a slut!" My dad threw down his fork, hollering at the top of his lungs,
    tab "What?!"
    tab "They said...they said they saw me...they saw me outside...doing...doing..." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Jenna, a slut? Not in the slightest!
    tab "Who said that? Who?!" I found it odd how worked up my dad was getting. Another secret, I thought to myself, but I didn't dare say it.
    tab "I--I don't know. A lot of people. But...Mr. Powers! I didn't! I never...I never...At least, I don't remember."
    tab "You never did, Jenna," my dad growled. "And don't even think of yourself like that." He stood up, and stomped over to the phone, screaming over and over how "he was going to show to show the school how to teach his daughter".
    tab Suddenly, I felt guilty saying how simply dandy my day was going, when this was happening to Jenna. And when I looked at her tear glistened face, I just couldn't help but think of a reacurring question:
    tab Just what the hell was going on?