Chapter Four

Part of Your World

January 16-17, 1998

Tulsa, Oklahoma

            Later that day, Joni and Kaitlynne were seated on the couch watching Beauty and the Beast. As many times as they had watched it, it never got old. Joni thought back to when she and Kaitlynne would sit on the floor in front of the TV and watch Disney movies all day. It seemed like the only problem back then was what kind of jam your sandwich had. Kaitlynne was thinking, too, but not about the movie. She dreaded going to school tomorrow. She wanted to stay home and have her aunt Lynda teach her. She loved school, really. She just didn’t want to face all the kids. She wanted to be alone.

            Whether she liked it or not, school was getting closer with every second. Already, it was almost dinnertime. The movie ended and Kaitlynne and Joni got up and went to wash up for dinner. Just in time, too. Dinner was served. Kaitlynne was her old bubbly self all through dinner. After dinner, she went upstairs and got all her school stuff. She pulled out all her poems from her secret place and placed them in her notebook. She got a picture of her whole family the week before the accident. They had gotten her father’s friend to take a picture of them. Her father and mother were seated in chairs next to each other with huge grins on their faces. Joni was standing behind their mother, leaning down so she was level with her shoulder, Joni’s hands on her upper arm. Kaitlynne was seated on their father’s lap with his head rested on her shoulder. Kaitlynne smiled at the memory and put the picture in the little picture pocket on the front of her notebook. She put folders in it for all the subjects she had wanted. She threw in a couple of blank spirals in case she needed one for any of her classes. She tossed her notebook aside and pulled her covers to her chest, clapping so the lights would turn off.

            “Mom… Dad… If you can hear me, I love you guys very much. Joni loves you, too. I miss you,” Kaitlynne whispered, feeling as though she were talking to the ceiling more than she was her parents.

            The next morning, Kaitlynne awoke to find Joni sitting at the foot of her bed. She  sat up and smiled at her sister. She looked at the clock, hoping that it was too late to go to school. She knew it wasn’t, but she liked to think it was. She rolled her eyes at the clock and pushed the covers off her. Joni stood up and helped Kaitlynne move the blanket, though Kaitlynne was more than capable.

            “Time for school,” Joni reminded her, smiling as much she could.

            “Oh joy. I can’t wait,” Kaitlynne groaned.

            “We have to deal, Kaity. As much as I’d like to, I can’t change anything.”

            “You aren’t even in the same school as me, Joni.”

            “I know… but I’ll be picking you up after school and dropping you off everyday,”

            “Oh, that makes it so much better.”

            Despite her dismay, Kaitlynne arose from the bed and walked over to her closet. She chose a cute little white top that merely had The Moffatts scrawled across the front in a shade of blue. She slipped on a worn pair of jeans that had lots of pockets and fit fairly loose, unlike her shirt that was a perfect fit. Joni was already dressed in jeans that had small holes scattered, for a worn effect, and a purple long-sleeved shirt that fit very nicely. Kaitlynne grabbed her book bag and her thin leather jacket and she and Joni headed out the door. Minutes later, Joni pulled up in front of the middle school. She bid Kaitlynne good luck and pulled away. Since Jacob and Lynda had already registered Kaitlynne and Joni, all they had to do was go into the office and pick up a copy of their schedule.

            Once Kaitlynne had picked up her schedule, she was left to find the first class on her own. How nice. She absolutely loved this school. They were so helpful. Hah. Yeah right. Despite the lack of help, Kaitlynne found her first class. She had English first; a great way to start the day. She sat in the back and, following what the other kids were doing, pulled out a spiral. Her favorite one, actually. The yellow one. The teacher greeted her and told her what she was to do.            “The spiral is for your journal. Everyday, you are to write a little of what’s on your mind or something that happened,” Mrs. Grey had explained.

            “And you read it when we turn it in?”

            “Well, not if you don’t want me to. Just put ‘do not read’ at the top of your entry. I’ll glance to make sure you did something each day and give you the grade. Simple as that.”

            “And that’s not a lie?”

            “Of course not, dear. Why would I lie?”

            “Because you’re a grown up. Grown ups always lie.”

            “Well, not me.”