Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1) (17 page)

“Oh, he couldn’t make it today.”

“What? Why not?” When Lori narrowed her eyes at me with suspicion I added, “I mean, after he practically forced me to come today, why wouldn’t he even bother showing up?”

That seemed to turn her attention away from me and the distress I had shown at the news.

“I’m not sure, but I heard that one of the guys he works with is being taken away today to a F.A.T. center and they needed him to fill in at the last minute.”

“Oh.”

“I think it’s disgusting how people let themselves get so fat, don’t you? I mean, can’t people control what they eat? Don’t they realize the pain it puts their families through when the government has to step in and help them get back to a healthy weight? It’s so selfish.”

“But Lori, why do you think it should be up to the government to decide when someone is too fat?”

She stopped stretching and stared at me. “Are you saying you think it’s okay for people to be fat?”

The way she said it with such disgust, plus the look on her face, made me feel like I should agree with her, like I shouldn’t make waves.

“I don’t know,” I said, not able to hold back my opinion. “It just seems like the government is getting a little too involved in people’s lives. Like they think they know best.”

“Are you a sympathizer?” Lori asked, looking horrified.

“A what?” I asked, not sure what she was talking about.

“Come on, Morgan. Don’t play dumb. I can tell you sympathize with those people.”

“What people? What are you talking about?”

“Those people who are taken away. You act like it’s not their own fault that they found themselves in that situation.” She paused. “You know, the government is only doing it for their own good. Not to mention the good of everyone.”

“A healthy me is a healthy world, right?”

She nodded. “That’s right.”

Not wanting to get drawn into a conversation about the evils of obesity, I said, “I’m going to see if I can find the coach and talk to him about being on the relay team.” Then I stood and jogged away.

When I found the coach and made my request, he agreed without even seeing how fast I could run. I guess they needed anyone they could get, which didn’t exactly boost my confidence. Then he had us run laps, which I hated for the first ten minutes, but then I started to get in to it and found it wasn’t all that bad.

When the coach had us practice the relay, I did better than I had expected to and felt my confidence grow.

After practice, I changed back into my school clothes and started the long walk home. I heard a horn honk and turned to see Connor pull up next to me.

“Need a ride?” he asked.

My lips turned up into a wide smile, and not only because I wouldn’t have to make the long walk home. “Sure,” I said.

I climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door, then Connor pulled away from the curb.

“How was practice?” he asked.

“Great. I noticed you weren’t there.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I had phrased that differently. I didn’t want him to know I was watching his every move.

“You noticed, huh?” he said with a grin.

I felt my face redden, but pretended I wasn’t embarrassed. “Lori said you had to fill in at work.”

“Yeah, but then someone else came in, so I was able to leave.”

“Lori said one of your coworkers was taken away to a F.A.T. center?”

“Lori talks a lot,” he said, a frown on his face.

“I noticed.”

He laughed, which made me feel good.

“She got pretty upset when I told her I didn’t think the government should decide how much people weigh,” I said.

“Well she would.”

My eyebrows drew together in question. “Why do you say that?”

“Didn’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“Her dad’s the head of the local F.A.T squad.”

I almost asked what the F.A.T squad was, but decided I would look it up later, certain Connor would think I was an idiot if I asked. “Oh,” I said instead, like that explained everything. “I hadn’t realized that.”

“Yeah, so she gets pretty worked up when people start criticizing the government.” He glanced at me. “I liked the cookies you brought yesterday.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling at the compliment.

“Do you have any more?”

“What about the refined sugar?” I asked, a bit of sarcasm in my voice.

“Yeah, I don’t really care about that.”

Thrilled to hear he wasn’t the fanatic so many seemed to be, I felt my heart warm. “I’m afraid I don’t have any more.” Then I had an idea. “But if I could get the ingredients, I could make more.”

“What ingredients do you need?”

I listed off the items I would need, then added, “It’s too bad I didn’t have any chocolate chips. That would have made them even better.”

“I’ll make a deal with you. If I get you those ingredients, you make the cookies and give me half.”

My eyebrows went up. “You only want half?”

“Well, you’ll be doing all the work.”

It sounded like he hadn’t spent much time in the kitchen and I decided not to tell him how easy it was to make cookies. I wondered how hard it would be for him to get the ingredients. And how expensive. But I decided to let him worry about that. “It’s a deal.” I held out my hand to shake on it and when he took my hand in his, my heart raced at the contact. He released my hand and smiled, but I wasn’t sure if it was from touching me or from excitement over getting the cookies.

“You may not want to say anything to Lori and the rest of them about our little deal,” he said, one eyebrow raised.

I laughed. “You just don’t want to have to share.”

He grinned. “Maybe that’s part of it, but now you know how Lori is when it comes to people eating anything that might put them over their approved weight.”

“I’m learning.” I rolled my eyes at the memory of Lori’s comments earlier. “And yesterday Jen got pretty upset when she found out the cookies were made with real sugar.”

He nodded. “Some people go a little overboard.”

We pulled up to my house and I reached for the door handle.

“When I get those ingredients, I’ll bring them by,” he said.

“Sounds great.” I climbed out of the car. “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Morgan.”

Closing the door, I smiled at the sound of my name coming from his mouth. I hoped I would hear it a lot more.

Chapter Nineteen

As I walked into the house, I enjoyed the solitude. After spending all weekend with my siblings, I didn’t mind the quiet. I’d found out that Amy and the boys stayed after school for a school-sponsored exercise program, and then the bus brought them home, which is why they usually got home so late.

To my surprise, Connor came by later that evening with the ingredients I had told him I would need.

“I hope I got everything,” he said as he stood on the porch.

“Do you want to come in?”

He shook his head. “I’m on my way to work for my regular shift. I just wanted to drop these by.”

Though disappointed that he was just there to drop off the goods, I smiled, glad he had actually come. “Okay.” I dug through the bag, then looked up at him and saw him grinning. “Connor! You brought chocolate chips!”

“Yep.” He looked like a little boy on Christmas morning.

“Were they hard to find?” I paused and frowned a little. “Or expensive?”

“Don’t worry about that. You just keep your side of the deal and we’ll both be happy.”

I smiled. “If I don’t get them done tonight, I’ll definitely get them done tomorrow afternoon.”

“Great. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“Bye, Connor.” I closed the door and carried the bag into the kitchen.

“Who was that, Morgan?” Mom asked.

I hadn’t had a chance to explain my deal to her, but I couldn’t see how she could object. After all, I wouldn’t be using her ingredients.

“It was a friend of mine from school,” I started.

Her eyebrows went up. “It sounded like a young man.”

I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. “Yes, it’s a boy.”

“Is he cute?” Amy asked from the other room.

“Yes, in fact, he is,” I said. “His name’s Connor and he’s on the track team too.”

“Ah,” Mom said. “Now it’s starting to make sense.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, I was wondering why you suddenly had this interest in running track when in the past you’d always refused when I’d suggested it.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t realized my other self didn’t particularly enjoy running either. “Well the important thing is that I’m doing it now, right?”

“Right,” Mom said, a smirk on her face. “So, why didn’t Connor come in? Why was he here?”

“That’s what I needed to talk to you about.”

“Okay,” she said, wariness on her face as she eyed the bag in my arms.

“You know those cookies I made the other day?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I gave one to him and he really liked it. I know you didn’t want me using up your food to make more, so I made him a deal that if he supplied the ingredients, I would make him some cookies.”

One of Mom’s eyebrows went up in a question.

“But he said he only wants half of what I make,” I hurried to add. “So all I have to do is the work of baking, which is really easy, and we’ll get to keep half of the cookies.” I paused. “And Mom, he included chocolate chips.”

Now both her eyebrows went up and I hoped it was because she was excited about the treat and not because she was terrified to gain a pound or two. She was already quite thin, so I didn’t think she had to worry about going over her “government-approved weight”.

“Well, I can’t really think of a good reason to say no,” she said. “You just have to be careful not to overdo it, Morgan. You know how close you came to weighing too much last year.”

I did? That was completely unexpected.  I wondered what my approved weight limit was, anyway. Suddenly I felt a little worried that I might gain too much weight. But as quickly as the worry came to mind, I pushed it away, refusing to get caught up in that.

“Can I make these tonight?”

“Sure.”

As soon as the dinner dishes had been cleaned up, I set to work making the cookies. Both of my brothers hovered near the kitchen, obviously hoping to get some freshly baked cookies.

“Are they done yet, Morgan?” Brandon asked, a hopeful look on his face.

“Almost,” I said as I pulled a pan out of the oven. “But I have to put half of them aside for Connor before I can give any to you.”

“Ahhhh,” Brandon said, frowning. “That’s not fair.”

I turned to him, hands on my hips. “You’re lucky to get any at all, so quit complaining.” Then I turned back, trying not to laugh at the pout on his face.

When I was sure no one was looking, I used my fingers to scoop a generous amount of dough into my mouth and closed my eyes at the wonderfully familiar flavor.

Once I was done baking all the cookies and they had cooled, I put half of them into a large baggie and set it aside, then filled another baggie, which was smaller, with as many cookies as I could fit. That one I hid with the intention of stashing it somewhere only I could access.

“Okay, who wants a cookie?” I finally called out.

Zac and Brandon raced in first, but Amy wasn’t far behind. Then Mom came in and I could tell that although she tried to act like she wasn’t overly interested, she was just as eager as everyone else to have one of the unusual treats.

I handed out the cookies like they were a priceless gift, which in a way they were. The boys wolfed theirs down, but Amy and Mom took their time, savoring the rare chocolate flavor.

Mom allowed my brothers to each have only one and made me put the rest in the freezer, which was actually a really good idea. I wondered if I could hide my secret stash in there as well so that they would stay fresh. But I was afraid they would be found and eaten by my younger brothers.

My own obsession with food is getting pretty serious, I thought. Then, just to prove to myself that I wasn’t obsessed, I tucked my extra baggie of cookies into a back corner of the freezer behind bags of frozen vegetables. In my other life the vegies would get freezer burn before being used, but here they might actually get pulled out sooner rather than later.

I shook my head as I closed the freezer door, trying not to think about the delicious cookies secreted inside.

The next day at school when I saw Connor I waited until he was alone, then hurried over, thrilled to have an excuse to approach him.

“Hi, Morgan,” he said when he saw me and I smiled at the sound of my name.

“I have something for you,” I said in a near whisper, not wanting those nearby to overhear.

“Is it what I think it is?” he asked, a grin on his face.

I nodded. “Do you want me to give them to you now? I have them in my backpack.”

He shrugged his backpack from his shoulders. “Sure.”

I pulled out the large bag of cookies and handed it to him, then he set them inside his backpack and zipped it closed.

“I’ll think of you with every bite,” he said as he hefted the backpack onto his shoulders. Then he winked at me.

My heart pounded at the wink and his words. It hadn’t occurred to me that baking the cookies would benefit me when I wasn’t around him, but the idea of him thinking of me when he ate them pleased me and  I decided right then that I would make him other treats as well.

“I hope you like them,” I said, smiling.

“If they’re anything like the other ones you made, I know I will. You’re a great cook.”

My eyes met his gray ones and I felt my heart flip at the compliment. “Thanks.”

“Hey, I’ve got to get to class. I’ll see you at practice though, right?”

“Yeah.” I watched as he walked away from me, then I went to my own class and sat in an empty seat. After the brief time I’d spent with Connor, I felt like I could face anything.

But then Lori slid into the seat in front of me and immediately turned toward me. “I saw you giving something to Connor, Morgan. What was it?”

I didn’t want to make an enemy out of her, but after her reaction the last time I brought cookies, plus the comments she’d made at practice the day before about people gaining weight, made me think twice before telling her anything. “It was nothing.”