The Trouble With Girls Chapter 2

Chapter 2
How Hard Can It Be?

“Oh, how rude. I’m Bliss and this is my sister Hope. We are very happy that you can see and hear us. Few people can, you know. I’m not sure if that means we are getting stronger or you are very strong. I mean no one has ever seen or heard us before. Here, we will help you clean up this mess.” Bliss focused on the drawer that held neatly folded wash clothes and dish towels. The drawer flew up, clothes and towels flew in every direction across the room. Tommy began to shout for her to stop, trying to grab them out of the air, Hope giggled and clapped her hands. Ben moaned his distress. “Oh my. That wasn’t a very good idea, now was it.” Bliss admitted as the last of the towels fell to the floor.

“”Don’t do anything else. Don’t help, just be still.” Tommy growled. The room was suddenly empty of the girls presence. Some of the angry boiling through Tommy‘s veins cooled. “Wow, that was easier than I thought. Who were they?” Tommy said to himself as he looked around at the devastation that used to be his mom’s neat and clean kitchen. Mom would have a fit and never believe two flying, magic girls did that. “Ben, get out from under that table and help me. Mom and Dad are going to be home in a couple of hours and we have got to clean this up before they get here.” They worked until all evidence of the mystery girls were gone. They agreed that they would say nothing about the girls because they couldn’t answer the questions that were sure to follow. Ben talked about what had happened before Tommy got there. He told how Hope had warned Bliss they were making a mess, but Bliss won’t listen. They agreed no one would ever believe them, it was too weird, so they would forget about it. It was a pack.

The next week was busy with preparing for school. Football, guitar and his lawn service were already keeping Tommy busy but adding the things his parents thought were important like new school clothes and school supplies were a lot of pressure. Finding clothes that were in style that he and his parents agreed on was almost impossible. Finding out whose homeroom he had and who his best friends had was important. They had found out this afternoon and Tommy wasn’t happy. Billy and Tommy usually were in the same homeroom but every once in a while Billy would end up in Jack’s homeroom class. This was one of those years. Tommy was bummed about it. That evening at dinner Tommy complained to his father saying he knew if they had three classes per grade level the teachers would split best friends up just for spite. Mike rolled his eyes and said “As much as teachers and principles would like to plot and plan to make your lifes’ miserable that’s not how it works. And, no, I’m not going to explain it to you. But there is a reason Billy was moved.” Tommy glared at his father for answering his question before he had the satisfaction of asking it. Mike tried to make it better by adding “Abby is going to be in your class that’s good isn’t it?”

“May I be excused?” Tommy asked as he pushed away from the table and went to his room. School was the next day. He was angry at Abby. It was her fault Billy wasn’t in his class. If she hadn’t come to town Billy would still be in his homeroom, he just knew it. He walked into his room to see his clothes that had been laid out to be ironed burning under the iron. Smoke billowed out from under the iron. “No!” Tommy growled at the image of Bliss who was trying in vain to lift the iron. He ran to the iron and pushed at Bliss’s image. His hand went through her before she escaped. He lifted the iron and set it on the ironing board before reaching for the plug to make sure it as off. Bliss had escaped and joined Hope in the ceiling’s corner. They floated, huddled together relieved to see Tommy. Tommy waved his hand in front of his face trying to clear the smoke. He opened the bedroom window and whispered “What where you thinking?”

“I wanted to help.” Bliss said bobbing her head which made her ponytail bounce. She and Hope both had on Abby’s cloths. Bliss looked to be wearing the green shirt and shorts she was wearing when he met Abby. Hope was wearing the skirt and blouse Abby had on at church. “Tomorrow’s a big day, you know. School, I know things. We overheard your parents talking and school is important. You really should be looking sharp for a day like that. I wish I could go to school. Do you think we could go with you?”

“No. Didn’t I say not to help me? Why are you back? Who are you?” Tommy asked. Good grief, I sound like Abby. Don’t think about her now. Tommy warned himself he needed to deal with the crisis in front of him or above him as he glared up at the girls.

“Well, yes you might have suggested we be less helpful. We told you, we are Bliss and Hope. Is your memory faulty? I really don‘t know if I can help with a faulty memory but I would give it a go, tell you things you‘ve forgotten. I‘m not sure how good my memory is though, because we’re, Hope and I, are not sure who we are, where we’re from or why we’re here, you see.” Bliss said. Hope giggled.

“Why are you wearing Abby’s clothes?” Tommy asked.

“Well, you think about her all the time. We see her in your mind. Did you know you think of little else?” Bliss asked. “We wanted to look … I don’t know really, we just thought we’d try it?” Bliss asked as Hope giggled as she curtsied in Abby’s skirt.

“Does she talk?” he pointed to Hope. “Oh, never mind. Maybe I shouldn’t ask who are you, you aren’t real, but you are real. Maybe I should ask what are you?”

“Well, that. We...you see... that is... it is...one can’t always...oh, honestly...we don’t really know ourselves. We think we’re girls, don’t you?” Bliss shrugged. “We must not be bad girls because we don’t want bad things. We only want good things. We just haven’t exactly figured out how to make good things happened but we are learning. We learned today that we are not strong enough to iron shirts. But we will get stronger, if we can only learn how. Do you think we can learn that at your school?”

“Great.” Tommy threw himself down on his bed ignoring the question. The girls stood over him watching him. “I hate my life.” Tommy moaned. The girls vanished leaving the room cool and empty. A minute later he heard Ben scream like a girl and moaned again, knowing the girls had popped in on him. He went ahead moved over because Ben was going to stick to him like glue tonight. When his door opened seconds later he turned over to face the wall so Ben won’t see the smile on his face. He couldn’t help it. Bliss and Hope were a pain but they didn’t mean to be, sort of like Ben. There was nothing scary about those two, they were just annoying girls.

The school halls were a loud crowded madness. They smelled of disinfectant, old socks and fresh baked bread all at once. Yes, school had started. What was that smell, perfume? The girls were wearing perfume? Well, some of them were, it was kinda pretty. When did Melissa’s lips get shiny? They weren’t shiny at church? Dang, why did Sara hit me? So what if I didn’t say hi, I never said hi before school. Is that Abby? He had never seen her with her hair down, even at church it was in a pony tail. Man it was long. Those were red highlights. At least she had on shoes.

“Ya might wanna shut your mouth, dude.” Billy laughed beside him. Tommy glared at him. “She is pretty. But she talks to much.”

“They all talk to much.” Tommy smiled.

“And questions. They ask questions you can’t answer, which is okay cause they ain’t gonna give ya time to think of the answer anyhow. They get worse ever year, I swear they do.” Billy complained.

“How do you know?” Tommy asked.

“Called Melissa last night. Gave me a headache, that’s for sure.” Billy confessed.

“What’d she say?” Tommy asked watching Abby.

“Who knows, can’t hear as fast as that girl talks. Jeans look good this year.” he laughed looking at Melissa as the bell rang and they separated to go into class. Tommy had to agree. Leave it to Billy to point it out to him.

The assigned seating was given, Jones and Nelson only had one problem that Tommy could see Melissa Mallory. Abby and Melissa did not seem to share Tommy’s feelings. They giggled and whispered and passed notes back and forth completely leaving him out of the loop. Could this get any worse? He looked at the corner of the room in frustration. Worse was in the corner of the room. Waving back at him were Bliss and Hope. “No.” he whispered.

“Mr. Nelson, do you have something to share with the class?” Ms. Roberson asked. Tommy continued to stare at the ceiling corner in disbelief. This could not be happening.

Hope whispered into Tommy’s mind Give me a second and I’ll have you fixed right as rain. You’ll be having the perfect excuse to suggest to Ms. Roberson for you and Melissa switch seats.

You can do that? Tommy thought.

I said so didn’t I? Hope giggled back.

Are we talking without talking? Tommy asked.

I believe it to be so. Hope placed her small hands over her heart.

Cool. thought Tommy.

“Mr. Nelson.” the teacher repeated.

“I’m sorry Ms. Roberson. I thought uh... I forgot something, but I remembered it. Sorry.”

Hope went to work putting thought after thought into Melissa’s mind, that she just had to tell Abby that very minute. She couldn’t wait. Ms. Roberson warned the girls once but Melissa couldn’t stop herself. Every little thought she had, had to be shared that very second. Ms. Roberson told Melissa she would be sent to the office if she didn’t stop talking immediately.

Melissa told Tommy what to say. Tommy raised his hand. Ms. Roberson called on Tommy “Ms. Roberson, Melissa is usually pretty good in school. Abby’s her new friend maybe if I sat between them they couldn’t talk so much. I don’t want Melissa to get in trouble even if she is a pain in the ... well you know.”

Ms Roberson was listen to Hope in her head when she said “And that‘s the truth of it.” The class room exploded with laughter and so did Ms Roberson. Embarrassed at what she had said before thinking she corrected herself by saying “I meant, I understand what you are trying to say and switch seats with Miss Mallory, please.”

Melissa and Tommy switched seats, Melissa mouthed thank you as they did. They soon broke for lunch and headed for their lockers to put away their morning books which had been issued and reviewed. Tommy and Abby had lockers side by side and Melissa’s was below Abby’s. Melissa threw her things in and dashed off to meet up with MaryAnn and save a seat for Abby who was taking too long to organize her locker. “Thanks for keeping Melissa out of trouble in there. Do you always help girls?”

“No. I help friends. Are you about through I‘ll walk you to the lunch room.” Tommy smiled down at her. Tommy gently shut his locker and Abby slammed hers shut. Abby’s hair caught in her locker and the combination automatically spun when she tried to pull it free.

“Ouch. Oh, fix it. It’s stuck. It’s pulling. It hurts.” Tears filled her eyes as she hopped from one foot the other pulling her hair even more.

“I can see that. Be still and stop pulling.” Tommy placed his hand between her shoulder blades the way he did Ben when Ben got himself worked up. Abby stilled. “What’s the combination?”

“I don’t know. It hurts.”

“Okay. Where’s the combination?”

“I don’t know. It hurts.”

“Okay. Do you think it’s in your purse? You check your pockets, I’ll check your purse.”
“You can’t look in my purse.” Abby gasped.

“Do you want to stay stuck in the locker or do you want me to look in your purse?” Tommy was getting frustrated with the situation. How could he fix it for her if she didn’t let him.

After a moment’s hesitation Abby handed over her purse answering. “Fine. Look.” Abby began digging in her pockets and Tommy looked in her purse. Abby found the combination in her front pocket. “Here, now get out of my purse. Open the locker. Hurry.” she ordered. Tommy wanted to comment on her bad attitude but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say so he opened the locker without a word. Abby took the combination from him, took her purse, stiffly said “Thank you.” and walked away like he had done something wrong.

“Wait up.” His long legs caught up in three steps but he could tell she was walking fast for her short legs. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Abby keep her eyes straight ahead. “We’re late to lunch.”

“That’s not the problem. What’s wrong?” Tommy asked stopping her in front of the lunch room doors.

“I...I didn’t want you to look in my purse. That’s all.” Abby still had tears in her eyes. It tore at him to see the tears brimming in her green eyes. He wanted her to laugh, to be happy and smile for him. “Girls don’t like guys me their purses, got it?”

“Geez, I do now.” Tommy still blocked the door to lunch room “I’m a boy so I’m slow, ya know. Let’s make sure I got it. You like guys to open lockers when your hair’s stuck. Oh, and catchin’ fallin’ bowls, that’s okay, but not purses, don‘t look in those. Is that right? Do you like guys to open doors?” He raised his eyebrows at her, she grinned. That was closer he could get a smile or at least try he turned on the worst hick accent he could muster and said “Cause my ma taught me how, ya know. But I‘m a boy so I could slam it in your face. But if you want me to do that your gonna have to say so, cause I’m slow and I won’t think of it myself. Just say the word if ya want me to be rude, but don’t you be tellin’ my pa or he’d be taken me to the wood shed for sure.” That got the giggle he was looking for and he opened the door for them to eat lunch.

The lunch line was mostly gone by the time they got in there. They had wasted a lot of time. Monday’s were Tommy’s favorite lunch day because the dessert was your choice of ice cream bars. Tommy was explaining this to Abby as they went through the line. He told her that at the end of the line there was a freezer and it would be full of trays with your choice of great ice cream bars. She just had to pick the one she wanted. His problem was picking just one. He liked them all. Abby was impressed in Dallas they didn’t get to choose, you got what you got. Tommy opened the freezer prepared to pull out a fudge bomb thinking he might wish for an Eskimo Pie later he turned to ask Abby if he could get something down for her. She was pointing at the freezer with that round mouth of hers. He turned back just in time to see a tray of Eskimo pies dump onto his lunch tray. “No.” he growled.

Well, that didn’t go as planned did it Bliss? Sorry Tommy. Hope sighed.

No indeed, what do you think I do wrong? Bliss asked. He looked in the corner there were Bliss waved and Hope shrugged..

What are you doing here? Tommy thought.

We think your Abby is cute as a button. But you should really avoid her purse dear. Hope answered.

I don’t care what you think. Why did you dump that tray of ice cream out and why are you here. Tommy glared his thoughts back.

I didn’t do it. Besides, you thought you wanted more ice cream I heard you think it and so did Bliss. You knew we wanted to come to school, did you forget? We can help you. We will work on that memory problem with you. We got you seated closer to Abby didn’t we? We are learning a great deal in your school. We are learning to speak like a native. Dude is fun word. It can be used for both boys and girls right?“ Tommy growled in frustration. The room cooled as they vanished.

“Did you see that? Oh my goodness. That was wild. No one will believe it.” Abby was talking non-stop. The lunch ladies were gathering around her. Tommy was too busy talking to Hope to worry about Abby or the lunch ladies. He was going to the office for sure and he didn’t even do anything. “Tommy didn’t touch that tray. I swear he really, really didn‘t do it. He was reaching for the one above it and that one just came down. Look at the mess it made. I think he’s in shock. Don’t you think he’s in shock? He hasn’t said a word. He keeps looking at the ceiling like he’s mad at the ceiling or something. Should we get him to the nurse. We do have a school nurse don’t we? Is it a law or something to have a nurse? Tommy?” Abby reached for him. Her eyes were wide with wonder. “Are you okay?”

“What? Oh, yeah.” Tommy frowned at Abby with frustration. Abby frowned back with concern. “Sorry. Did I see what?” Tommy picked up the tray off the floor.

As he tried to place the tray back in the freezer Abby rolled her eyes “The tray moron. What else? I mean it came tumbling down at you. I think it’s broke. Don’t you?”

“No. I don’t.” at her puzzled look he said “Don’t ask.” He started putting ice cream up and apologized to the lunch ladies who were muttering about children and cleaning up after them. “Go eat with Melissa if you want, I got this. I’m not that hungry any more.”

Abby started picking up ice cream handing them to him as he put them away. He smiled but didn‘t say anything “You seem mad. Do ya want ta talk about it?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, then. I can’t eat either, that’s what happens when my friends are upset. I can’t eat ya know.” When Tommy frowned at Abby she grinned at him and her eyes twinkled so bright he couldn’t help but smile. Were did that smile come from? He didn’t want to smile. Why did she make him smile? They finished putting up all the extra ice creams Tommy grabbed two fudge bombs and nodded to Abby to lead the way. They joined Melissa.

Abby went immediately into telling Melissa about what happened. Tommy ate his fudge bomb and watched Abby’s melt in her hand, as she talked in girl short hand to Melissa. Out of mercy for both the slow agonizing death of the fudge bomb and Abby’s hands he traded his empty stick and a napkin for Abby’s dripping fudge bomb and devoured the dripping mess. Abby didn’t stop talking. This was kind of cool. When Melissa looked at him and said “Really?” once he nodded to swallow the cold wad of ice cream in his mouth she took it as a yes and ignore him again. He tried it the next time she asked him that “Really?” question and it worked again.

No more visits from Bliss and Hope before the bell rang to end signal the end of the school day. Tommy did discover he liked Melissa sitting behind him and using him to pass notes. Every time she wanted to pass one up she would scratch his back and he would stretch putting his hands behind his head. Melissa would slip the note into his hand. He would cover the note and bring his hands back to the front of his desk. The best part was getting the note to Abby. He would tap her on the back. She would lean up in her seat and he would slip it under the edge of her rear end. Yes, sixth grade was going to be just fine. Tommy found Ben after school they changed into their football practice uniforms and they walked to football practice. “How was your first day, Buddy?” Tommy asked.

“Good. I got the new teacher Miss Angel, she‘s a hottie.” Ben grinned as he told his big brother all about the new teacher.

“Don’t tell Dad that.” Tommy warned hitting Ben in the stomach with his shoulder pads.

“What, I’m stupid? How bout you?” hitting Tommy back.

Like Ben, Tommy gave him a short version of the day. But he knew he had to tell him about the ice cream incident because Abby told Melissa which was like announcing it on the school intercom. Everyone at school would know before tomorrow. Ben grabbed Tommy’s arm. “I can’t handle them following me around school. I can’t.” he panicked.

“Relax. They didn’t follow you. They followed me. If they follow you just say ‘go bother Tommy’ in your head, not out loud, just in your head and they will. Trust me. Hope looks for a chance to bug me. Bliss is always causing trouble with Hope. Besides, I got to sit were I wanted because of them so, see, it‘s not all bad.” Right after they turned the corner onto the football field Ben stopped in his tracks.