17

Chapter 7

"Ok, I will try," I said and turned my attention to the turtle again. It didn't seem to have anything wrong with itself. All its movements looked like it could be very natural. Even if some parts of it didn't appear quite right, it was definitely still beautiful to look at. I tried to remember all the words Carlos taught me last week. Then, slowly and carefully, I started to call the turtle's name and after a few tries and lots of hesitation, I managed to say it correctly without anyone calling me crazy or making fun of me for it.

I didn't know whether to feel satisfied, relieved or ashamed.

"Wow! It worked! You can talk to turtles!" exclaimed Carlos excitedly when he learned what happened and then, before long, we were joined by my friends too.

Mom and I didn't say much during the rest of our visit at the aquarium. We spent most of our time staring at the different kinds of animals inside their enclosures. After several hours we were able to leave, but not before taking pictures for our souvenirs. I couldn't wait till I would be able to show it to Dad. And he would have such a great idea to make a drawing of the turtle to use in class.

When we got back home, Carlos insisted on helping me clean and cook dinner since he didn't finish his homework yet. Mom had agreed but had already told him she wanted to help him finish it tonight, since he was already going to spend the evening reading and writing letters for all of his classmates to share their stories and poems. I guess she really believed that Carlos deserved the opportunity to read about himself every day.

We ate dinner together and talked about how school was going for everyone. There was nothing serious happening at school – only silly arguments between girls over boys and fights among our friends over things that aren't worth fighting over. Everything was alright.

I felt a sudden urge to tell them about my meeting with Jenson at the coffee shop. I knew they wouldn't understand it completely – Carlos would probably think I was nuts, Mom would think I was crazy and even dad will probably get mad, but maybe telling my parents will give me strength to deal with Jenson if that is indeed the worst outcome. So I told them about what happened and they seemed to be really surprised.

"You met Jenson?" Carlos exclaimed. He sounded really shocked. "Why would you meet him and why would he come to find you, of all people? Why didn't you bring him to me instead?"

My brothers reacted the same way. But unlike Carlos, they were not shocked. They didn't seem surprised at all. And, although they didn't express it openly, I knew my brothers weren't pleased about that. It wasn't good news if they felt annoyed because of something I did. I understood it, though. My meeting with Jenson was not part of my plan, and it was definitely not what I hoped to happen. It was something that just happened and now that I had accepted it, I should deal with it.

We finished eating and the three of us cleaned the kitchen while my mom stayed upstairs doing what she always does after dinner. When it was done, we went into our room and played Monopoly until bedtime. Mom wanted to let us stay up late and watch TV to play some games with her until the morning came. I had no problem with this; I enjoyed playing games with her and spending time with my family. However, I was tired from the long day we had today and I decided to sleep early tonight.

"Good night guys," I said and laid on my bed. As soon as I closed my eyes, I instantly fell asleep. When I opened them again, it was morning. It took a couple of minutes before I realized that I was laying on my stomach and that I had my head resting against something solid.

"Hmmm..." I mumbled. For some reason I was still feeling slightly sleepy and I couldn't figure out where exactly everything around me was located. Suddenly, as I lifted my head off whatever I was laying on I realized I was facing Carlos. His head rested directly on top of mine and I could clearly see all of his freckles and the dark blond hair that covered his forehead. I stared at him silently for a moment before turning my head away and getting up.

"Where are you going?" Carlos asked, sounding a bit confused.

"The bathroom…" I answered him quietly.

I went out into the hallway and ran into my mom and she looked at me curiously.

"Did you sleep okay, sweetie?" she asked me.

"Yes, I slept fine," I assured her and walked past her into the living room where my father was already watching TV.

As soon as I entered the living room, he turned his head around to look at me and raised his eyebrows expectantly. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Nothing happened," I said simply and he turned back around to continue watching his program. I sat down next to my brother on the couch.

After a few minutes, Carlos turned around to face me.

"What happened between you and that guy yesterday? Are you ok?" he asked seriously.

I sighed. I didn't want to lie to him but I also didn't want to be rude.

"Jenson showed me his turtle."

Carlos gasped, clearly amazed by my answer.

"He showed you his turtle? That's awesome! Do you think you can convince him to teach you how to communicate with them somehow? Or… maybe you can ask him to come here so we can talk to him?"

I shook my head at his suggestions and chuckled.

"That won't work, bro. The turtles here are different from the ones at your neighborhood. They live in the ocean and they usually travel all over the place. Besides, I have other plans for that…" I hesitated, trying to decide whether or not I should tell them what I planned to do once I figured out a way to communicate with him. "Actually I need to go somewhere else for that. Something important has arrived in our neighborhood recently and I need to go there to take care of it."

Carlos and my father exchanged a quick glance. I could tell they didn't understand my reasons and that they were both kind of disappointed in my choice of going there.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. It might even be fun to see him." I added, knowing that they would agree with me if it were my idea rather than theirs.

They just smiled and nodded, accepting what I was saying.

~ ~ ~

As soon as I reached the pier the next day, I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down enough to think clearly about what I needed to accomplish. In the beginning everything seemed so simple, but now all of a sudden my brain had gone blank. I wasn't sure what would I do in front of him, especially considering that he could actually sense emotions. What would I possibly talk about if he asks how is life treating me lately or how are things at home? Well, it's not like I could tell him everything that happened since last Wednesday because I haven't seen him for two whole weeks. Although I'd love to tell him about how sad Mom was, I didn't even know how I'm supposed to start talking about that, anyway. I mean, I've already told my brothers everything except about him and the turtle. I wasn'