Chapter Two
Drew McClaren walked down her driveway to the mailbox. She was hurrying because it was cold and the snow was deep. When she opened the box, there was a large pile of letters.
"Bill, bill, junk, magazine, bill, BSB, bill. . ." she did a double take in the middle of her driveway. Most of the colour in her face drained away. Drew started to run to the house. She dumped the mail in the hall, ran to her room, and shut the door.
With shaking hands, she tore open the envelope. There were two parts; one for her and one for her friend Tanna Thompson. Ignoring the one for Tanna, Drew unfolded the sheets of paper. Nick's message was on top.
As she read, a smile appeared and slowly grew, breaking into a grin at the words:
Love always,
Nick
She fell backwards onto her bed, crying. Once she'd gotten a grip on herself, she read the private messages from Kevin, Brian, AJ, and Howie, all expressing encouragement and support.
Drew picked up the phone and dialed Tanna's number.
"Hello?"
"Tanna? It's Drew!"
"Hey! What's up?"
"I got the letter today." Drew's voice shook with excitement.
"From Nick!? What did he say???"
"Umm… that he loves me too!"
"Aiea!" Tanna shrieked "I knew it! What else did he say?"
"That he understands my hesitation about going from just friends to boyfriend and girlfriend, and about long distance relationships. But he wants to try and make it work anyway."
"That's so sweet! So are you going out there this summer? If you don't…" she left the threat hanging.
"Well . . . if my mom says yes, I will."
"Good! Better start sucking up, eh??"
"Oh, yeah! By the way, there's another envelope for you. It looks really thick."
"Cool. You're going to bring it to school tomorrow, right?"
"No, I'm not!" Drew's tone was heavy with sarcasm. "What a stupid question, Tanna!"
"Just making sure. Anyway, my mum's calling me, so I gotta go. Sorry."
"Okay, see ya tomorrow, Mrs. Littrell!"
"You too, Mrs. Carter. Bye!"
"Bye!" both Drew and Tanna were laughing.
"Hey Kris! Seen Drew yet this morning?" Tanna opened her locker, which was filled with pictures of Brian, Nick, and her family. She hung up her coat.
"Yeah. She's in the bathroom. She told me to tell you not to go anywhere. She's got something for you." Khryztena was sitting in front of her locker reviewing notes for Social.
"Where am I gonna go? To see Carol and Annie?" Tanna rolled her eyes.
"Well, you never know!" they both laughed.
As Tanna was unloading her backpack, Drew came back. Tanna looked up expectantly.
"What!?" Drew tried to look innocent. Tanna narrowed her eyes. "Okay, okay! Here!"
"Thanks!" she quickly hugged Drew and sat down to open the envelope.
"Is today the day you've got your spare?" Drew asked.
"Yeah! This way, I'll be able to read uninterrupted. You don't have a spare, do you?"
"No. You'll have to tell me all about it at lunch." Drew picked up her bag. "Gotta go, the bell's about to ring."
"Okay, have fun!! Bye Kris, Monica, Kennedy. See ya later!" Having said goodbye to her friends, Tanna took out the letter and began to read. Instead of starting the letter "Our new friend Tanna", (as they had the first one), this one started with:
Tanna,
Thanks for writing. It was great to hear from you again.
By the time the bell rang to end first period, Tanna had read the letter twice and had already started her response.
Drew sat in second period dreaming. She should have been paying attention to John, her Physics teacher, but she was thinking of the letter she had received the day before.
Her daydreaming was part happiness, and part apprehension. She was so happy that Nick loved her back. But she was also really worried about how it would affect things. Not only her relationship with Nick, but also with the other four guys. Drew was worried about how uncomfortable the summer would be.
She weighed the pros and cons for the next forty minutes. When the bell finally rang, she jumped. It occurred to Drew as she put her books away that when the bell had rung, she had been concluding that the pros of going to spend a week with them far outweighed the cons. Plus, she was sure that the positive side of a relationship with Nick was far more influential that the negative would ever be.
With that in mind, she made her way, still smiling, to her locker to have lunch.
"Hey babe!" Tanna smiled noting that Drew had a goofy smile on her face. She wasn't worried though, because she was sure that she was wearing a matching one.
"Hi." Drew opened her locker. "How was your letter?"
"Good, good. Yours? … Oops! Stupid question, eh!?" Drew laughed along with Tanna.
"Well, aren't you going to tell me what's in your letter?" Drew asked impatiently.
"Sure. I won't read it out loud here though. You'll get that some other time."
"Okay. But details??"
"Well, Brian says that he's disappointed that I'm not going to swoon and gush over him, but that he'll get over it. I'm sure he's kidding! Nick says that he's glad that he cheered me up and that he hopes things will get better between me and my former best friends." Tanna paused to take a bite of her lunch.
"Yeah, that sounds like them! Especially Bri! What else did they say?"
Tanna went on to describe the rest of what had been in the letter, only pausing to eat her lunch.
Kevin sat in the den watching the news on television when Brian walked by. He was heading to the piano.
"Hey Bri, could you come in here for a minute?" This was the first time since the night before that Kevin had had the chance to talk to Brian alone.
"Sure Kevin, what's up?" Brian sat down on the couch.
"Well, … are you okay man? You seem a little down." Kevin flicked off the TV and turned to face Brian.
"It's nothing much." He looked down at his hands.
"I think it's a little more than that. Come on. You can talk to me. Is it a chick?" Kevin leaned forward.
"Umm, kinda." Brian hesitated, "What do you think of that friend of Drew's who wrote us?"
"You mean Tanna?"
"Yeah." Brian shifted uneasily.
"I think she's too young for you." A small smile tugged at the corners of Kevin's mouth.
"What!" Brian exploded. "You are telling me about age differences!? Look at you and. . ." he broke off when he noticed the look on Kevin's face.
"No, I'm not. But it got you talking, didn't it!?" Kevin held his hands up in defense as Brian threatened to hit him.
"That was dirty pool! What do you really think of her?"
"I don't really know, because we've only gotten two letters. But if she's a close friend of Drew's and Drew trusts her enough to let her write to us, she must be special."
"That's what I thought. She also seems so open and friendly in her letters. -- All two of them!"
"So what's the problem?" Kevin leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
"I dunno. I guess I don't understand how I could feel like this after only two letters." Brian reached for the beer on the table and took a swig.
"I know what you mean. It was like that with Mackenzie and I. I thought she was really cool when we met her, but I really started to like her after a few letters."
"So what did you do about it? What am I supposed to do about it?"
"Nothing, yet. At this point in time, there's virtually nothing you can do, until you know her better and see if what you're feeling is real. Sorry, that's all the advice I can give you." Kevin shrugged.
"Okay, thanks, I think." Brian started to get up. "What's the plan for tomorrow?"
"Our flight is at 8 a.m. to South Carolina. The concert is at 7 p.m."
"Okay. See ya later. I'm going to pick up some Mac and Cheese. We ran out yesterday."
"Later!" Kevin turned the TV on again and flipped to MTV.
"Nick! Dinner!" Mrs. Carter called up the stairs. "Angel, where's Nick?"
"He's laying on his bed staring at the picture of Drew, again!" Aaron jumped in before Angel could answer.
"Thank you Angel!" she smiled and him the bowl of potatoes. "Here, take these to the table, then run up and make sure that Nick heard me."
"Okay!" after putting the bowl on the table, he thundered upstairs. He burst into Nick's room. "Dinner. Come on!" Aaron jumped on the bed beside Nick.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Get off my bed!" Nick placed Drew's picture on his bedside table. Then he grabbed Aaron, slung him over his shoulder, and ran downstairs, Aaron shrieking all the way.
For the first part of dinner, the only sounds were those of eating. When they had begun to slow down, and Nick was on his second helping, Mrs. Carter cleared her throat.
"So Nick, have you gotten any letters from Drew lately?" she tried her best to look innocent, but Nick wasn't buying it.
"Yeah. We mailed the response day before yesterday. Why?" he took another bite.
"Well, I was just wondering if you had heard if she's coming out this summer with Mackenzie."
"She thinks so. Mackie's coming for the whole summer. But if Drew comes, it will only be for a week, because she has summer school. She still has to talk her mom into it."
"Hmmm. Maybe I should talk to her mother about it."
"Why are you so eager for Drew to come out, Mom?"
"I would like to finally meet her, and I want a week without you mooning over her picture!" everyone around the table laughed.
"Mom!!" Nick blushed bright red.