Yazen (Ponith) Read online

  He’s in great shape for his age. He just turned 72 years old and he still acts like a teenager. My grandpa is the best storyteller in the world. Half of the time, though, it seems like you never know if the stories he’s telling you are true or not. He tells me stories about other planets that are part of our world, different rulers and kings that aren’t in our history books, about different magical artists and other fantasy stories. I enjoy listening to them even now that I’m a bit older, so I never argue with him. I just sit and listen, but I know my friends think he’s just a crazy old man.

  As I enter the dining room, my grandpa is already sitting at the table, eating his first slice of pizza. He has a plate out for me.

  “Hi, Grandpa, how was work?” I ask him while getting a slice of pizza from the box. It smells delicious and I can’t wait to devour the piece in my hand.

  “It was a busy day today. We caught tons of salmon; a few schools of salmon swam by just as we had our nets down,” he says while he continues eating his piece of pizza, “It’s starting to get busy with the tourists starting to come. I don’t think I’m ready for them quite yet. How was your day with Jenn?” He questions me following a bite of pizza. A piece of sausage falls off of his pizza and lands on the table. He picks it up and puts it on his plate.

  “It was good, the weather was great, but Misty Fjords Waterfall is starting to get busy. The water was warm enough to swim. I might see Jenn tomorrow; I’m not sure yet.” I grab a second piece of pizza and put it on my plate. “She reminded me that Friday is my birthday, and I was wondering if I can throw a small party?”

  My grandpa looks at me with a blank stare, and he starts to count using his fingers. “You’re turning 14, right?”

  “Close, Grandpa, I’m turning 15 this year,” I say to him after I finish my slice of pizza. I grab another slice and put it on my plate.

  “That’s great news! I didn’t realize it’s your 15th birthday already. This is going to be big; of course you can have a party. I’m so excited, I can’t wait to show you more of our family history,” he says excitedly. I don’t understand why he’s all cheery all of a sudden; it’s not like we won the lottery. I don’t understand what my birthday has to do with learning more about our family history, but my grandpa can be strange like that at times.

  “Can you do me a favor tomorrow while I’m at work? I have an olive green camping bag in the attic. It has a golden tree emblem attached to it. I need you to get it down for me when you have the chance.”

  “Sure, I’ll do it first thing in the morning. Are you going camping?” I’m curious because he hasn’t gone camping in a long time.

  “No, my camping days are coming to an end. It’s something that I want to share with you. It’s from many of my stories that I’ve told you in the past. I’ll explain it to you on your birthday. You’ll have an exciting summer this year,” he says, “Well, Zac, I’m off to bed. I have to be up early tomorrow for work. Do you mind putting the leftovers away for me?” Grandpa, still beaming, gets up from his chair and starts putting his plate in the dishwasher.

  “Okay, Grandpa, I will. Good night, and thanks for dinner,” I say to him as he starts heading toward his bedroom. Now I’m curious as to what my grandpa is up to, and my mind is racing. What is so special about this camping bag? Does he have something special in mind? I haven’t been camping in a while; is he planning a camping trip for just myself? Maybe I can get Alex to go with me.

  I sit in silence for a while, thinking. It must be a long camping trip. It would be cool to go with Alex; he’s been my other best friend since I was really young. I’m looking forward to whatever it is either way. I finish my last piece of pizza and I put the leftovers in the refrigerator. Turning the lights off, I head upstairs to my room, still deep in thought.

  I grab some clothes to sleep in and decide to take a quick shower. I feel gross from swimming and sweating all day. I walk quietly down the hall to the bathroom and take a shower. While I’m showering, I can’t help but keep replaying my day with Jenn. I think I’m going to finally ask her out tomorrow. She seems to be into me as more than just a friend. I finish showering and throw on a pair of gym shorts. I head back to my room and it isn’t long before I’m passed out, waiting for tomorrow and my big day with Jenn.

  Chapter Two

  I wake up to the sound of banging on my front door. I look at the clock and it’s 8 a.m. Who could be knocking on my door this early? I was planning on sleeping in for a while longer. I get out of bed and try to make my way to the door. My eyes are stinging from the light shining in and I try to rub the pain away. When I open the door, there stands Alex Prevett with a huge grin on his face and he has a new hairstyle with lots of hair gel in it. It looks like his blonde hair could be used as a weapon it’s so stiff looking from the gel. Alex and I have been friends since kindergarten.

  “Good morning, Zac, why are you still in bed? It’s the first day of summer; we need to enjoy it before it’s over,” Alex says, as he bends down to tie his shoe.

  “Do you know what time it is? It’s summer; we get to sleep in, not get up early.” I step aside so Alex can come in. I follow him back in and Alex sits at my computer desk. It’s covered in magazines and books I’ve been reading.

  “What did you do to your hair?” I begin to poke his hair with my finger and it doesn’t budge.

  “I’m trying out a new look. What do you think?”

  “It looks … different.”

  “An even better question is what do you want to do today? We can’t sit here all day. That would be lame. Let’s do something fun and adventurous,” Alex says while looking at a fishing magazine that’s lying on my desk.

  “I need to get a camping bag out of the attic for my grandpa before I go anywhere. I also have to call Jenn; she may be hanging out with us,” I tell him while making my bed. I grab a pair of clean clothes to wear and then sit down on the edge of my bed.

  “Why do we always have to hang out with Jenn?” Alex says, while dropping the magazine back down on my desk.

  I feel like he’s about to throw a temper tantrum. I’ve never realized he dislikes Jenn so much, as he has never mentioned it so openly before.

  “I didn’t know that you didn’t care for Jenn that much. I’m sorry, but I had made plans with her yesterday so I can’t just up and change plans on her like that. How about tomorrow we can hang out, just the two of us, and I won’t invite her. Okay?” Alex rolls his eyes and changes the subject.

  “Why is your grandpa going camping? Isn’t he too old for that?”

  “He’s not going camping, I don’t think. It’s some bag he wants to give me. He says there’s a story to go along with it but I’m not quite sure what that means. Maybe he has a trip planned out for me to go camping? In either case, I’m going to go get ready. I’ll be right back.” I grab my clothes and head to the bathroom

  I put on a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. I throw my dirty clothes in the hamper. I freshen up a bit and then head back to my room. Alex is now lying on my bed, looking at his phone.

  “Let me call Jenn real quick and see what the plans are today,” I say while grabbing my phone to call her. I pull her number up and hit call. It doesn’t ring at all and goes straight to voicemail; her phone is off. Odd. I look up her house phone and decide to give that a try instead to see if she’s home. It rings four times and then Mr. Johnson finally answers the phone.

  “Hello,” he says in a deep voice.

  “Hi, Mr. Johnson, it’s Zac. Is Jenn there?” I nervously ask him. My stomach twists just talking to him. I sit down on the computer chair.

  “No, Zac, she went out with Brad for the day. She won’t be back until later tonight. Can I leave her a message for you?” His voice is stern. My mind’s racing … Brad? When did she start hanging out with him? She never mentioned Brad to me.

  “No sir, but thank you anyway,” is all I’m able to blurt out before hanging up the phone. I feel sick to my stomach. I let the phone drop from my hand to
the desk. Alex sits up in surprise and starts looking at me.

  “What did he say?” Alex asks curiously. I really don’t want to talk about it. I know he’ll just talk negatively about Jenn.

  “She went out with her friend for the day and she won’t be back until later. So we’re good; I guess we have the day to ourselves.” I attempt to act happy, but I know I’m not doing a good job at it. I try to distract myself because I know Alex knows I’m lying to him.

  “Oh okay. Well, cool. How about we get that bag out of the attic your grandpa mentioned so we can go have some fun?” Alex says while standing up. To be honest, after talking to Mr. Johnson and learning about Brad, I forgot all about the bag. Who is Brad?

  “Sure, let’s go. It should only take a minute.” I grab my phone, staring at Jenn’s cell phone number still pulled up and put it in my pocket as we head to the garage. I have to move a few boxes to be able to reach the string to pull the ladder down. Alex helps me clear the area. He grabs an open box that contains all of our family photos. He grabs the picture frame that’s lying on the top, a funny look appears on his face while he stares at it.

  “Zac, you look a lot like your dad. I’ve never realized it from the pictures I’ve seen of him in the past.” Alex looks back and forth at me and the picture.

  I walk over and look at the picture frame he is holding. I do look a lot like my father, I guess. I have his dark brown hair and brown eyes. The only difference is I have shoulder-length hair when in all the pictures of him he has a short, military haircut. Also I have the scar on my right cheek from the car accident. My mother was pretty, with straight dark brown hair and brown eyes. Thinking about them chokes me up a bit. I barely remember my parents; I only know them from the photos I have and from Grandpa’s stories.

  “Yeah, I guess I do. Thanks for helping me move these boxes. I think I can get the ladder down now,” I tell Alex. He puts the picture frame back in the box. I jump to grab the string hanging from the ceiling to try and pull the stairs down. I miss it the first time so I jump again and swat at the string. I manage to grab it but I pull it down too fast. The ladder races down, hitting me in the shoulder hard and knocking me to the ground.

  “Are you okay?” Alex asks with a worried look on his face. He offers his hand to help me up. I feel frustrated and flustered, annoyed. Looking at the picture, reminding me about my parents. Thinking about Jenn and this new guy Brad; not a great way to start the summer off.

  “I’m fine; I’m not hurt at all. It just surprised me more than anything,” I tell him. “Let’s go up and see if we can find this camping bag. It should be olive green with a golden tree emblem attached to it.” I begin to slowly climb the ladder up to the attic.

  “Alex, is there a lantern sitting on my grandpa’s work bench?” I shout down to him while I stay at the top step waiting for his reply. It’s dark and slightly musty in the attic, so I can’t really make out too much.

  “Yeah, one sec, I’ll bring it.” He walks over and grabs it, handing it to me from below. I carefully turn it on so I can see. I pull myself up into the attic and carefully step on the beams so I don’t fall through the roof. Alex is following my steps up the ladder. The lantern lights up most of the attic. It’s been a while since I came up here, and I forgot how much stuff my grandpa kept up here.

  “Wow! What is all of this stuff? There is a ton of stuff up here,” Alex says while looking around. I’m surprised myself. I honestly don’t know.

  “I’m not sure. I don’t remember the last time I came up here. Most of this stuff looks like props for some of my grandpa’s stories. Look at this picture … what planets are these?” I ask while lighting up a big framed picture on the side of the attic. There are five planets that don’t look like they match our solar system, and they are circling the sun. Only Earth looks familiar with a large asteroid closer to some of the other weird planets.

  “That’s crazy; maybe they are secret planets with aliens or something. Look at this figurine – it’s a unicorn,” Alex laughs as he picks it up, making the figurine look like it’s walking around. I’m blushing slightly, as I feel embarrassed that I brought Alex up here. He must think my grandpa is crazy. I feel like the attic is a whole different world. A world like in my grandpa’s stories.

  Alex and I keep digging around in the collection of antiques and other stuff my grandpa kept up here. I’m searching everywhere and I’m having a hard time finding the camping bag. After a few minutes of looking through what seems like everything, I spot the bag sitting behind a box. I grab Alex’s attention and say, “I found it. Let’s get out of here so maybe we can go get something to eat.”

  I don’t want Alex to keep looking around the attic. I snag up the bag and follow Alex down the ladder. We both push the ladder back up and close up the attic. The camping bag is heavier than I had expected it to be and it smells like mildew. I’m curious what is in it, but I don’t want to open it with Alex around. I know my grandpa wants to tell me about it so I guess I’ll see what is in it soon enough. We head back out of the garage and make for the front door.

  Alex and I decide to walk to a local diner to get burgers and fries for lunch. We hang out at the diner every once and a while when we have some extra money to spend. We sit in a booth near the window. It has smudges all over it from a kid’s dirty hands, but we can still watch people walk by. The table feels a little sticky today, like there was some syrup spilled on it.

  An older waitress, not one I recognize, comes over to us and takes our order. She has her hair up in a bun, with a food net covering her hair. She takes a wet rag and wipes the table off so it’s not sticky anymore. She’s not one for small talk, so after she gets our order, she goes back over to her counter to put her orders in.

  “So what do you want to do today?” I ask Alex while pulling my phone out of my pocket, checking to see if I have any missed calls. My phone is blank; nothing new on it. I was really hoping Jenn would have called back by now. I don’t mind hanging out with Alex, but after yesterday and now today her being with Brad, I can’t get her out of my head.

  “How about we go hiking in the Tongass National Forest? Maybe we can find some new places to fish,” Alex asks while being distracted by something outside. He’s staring out the window and says, “Did you know that Jenn is hanging out with someone else today? It looks like they’re holding hands.”

  I quickly turn to look out the window at the mention of Jenn’s name. There she is, holding hands with Brad, across the street from the diner. I remember him now; Brad goes to school with us. A year ahead of us, he’ll be a junior next year. He’s the normal preppy jock type of guy. He has short brown hair that falls in place perfectly with facial hair that looks good without having to shave it. Here I am lucky to even have a single piece of hair grow on my face.

  What’s Jenn doing with him? When did she start hanging out with Brad? Was yesterday just a tease when she had me put sunscreen on her? Is she playing games with my head? I have so many questions and no answers. I feel like I’m going crazy!

  “I had no clue that she was even talking to him. Did you know anything about them being together?” I question Alex. My eyes are glued to Jenn, watching her laugh and smile at Brad. She’s also wearing a cute dress that I’ve never seen before.

  “I’ve seen them together a few times around town but never doing anything physical like holding hands in public. I thought they were just friends.” Alex takes his arms off the table as the waitress delivers our food. He grabs the ketchup bottle and floods his fries in ketchup but I barely pay attention.

  “To be honest, Alex, I was going to ask Jenn to be my girlfriend today. Yesterday, she made me think that I had a chance.” I admit to him. I grab the bottle from Alex and put some ketchup on my plate as well. “I guess I’m wrong. I don’t see what she even sees in him. He’s a prick.” I’m beyond frustrated and immediately stop myself after I spurted that out.

  I try to stop watching them as they walk across the street and it sud
denly dawns on me. I realize that they’re coming to the diner too. What do I do? Do I go to the bathroom? Do I duck down in my seat? Do I say hi? There are so many choices. I decide to just start eating and keep my eyes locked on Alex.

  Brad and Jenn enter the diner and the waitress sits them at a table near us. Jenn notices Alex and says hi to him as she’s passing our table. Her smile drops when she realizes that I’m with Alex.

  “Hi, Jenn,” is all that I can spit out of my mouth. I’m mortified but at the same time curious on what she’s going to say. Does she even feel bad standing in front of me like this with Brad here too? Brad himself is smiling and does a small hand wave to both of us.

  “Hey, Zac. I was going to call you to tell you that I could not hang out today, but I lost track of time and I forgot. I’m so sorry,” she says while still holding hands with Brad. It sounds to me like the lamest excuse ever, but I just go with it.

  “It’s fine. I forgot that we had plans, plus I told Alex that I would hang out with him today,” I say, making up a lie to mirror her, although I’m not sure why. I try to play it off like it’s no big deal and hope that Alex will follow my role. I know she’s eventually going to find out that I did try calling once she goes home and talks to her dad, but at least then she won’t be standing in front of me.