Portal - BK 1 Page 3

  I found a cell phone in the bag, my iPhone, which was comforting. Well, that’s until I checked my contacts, music and applications. Someone had messed with it. I didn’t recognize most of my contacts but I did notice Simla and Justin in there though. I had a look at my favorites: Mom, Dad, Harry, Ella, Kellan, Ali, and Maria. Who were these people (apart from Mom, Dad and Ella of course)?

  I decided to give Dad a call first. I needed some answers. So, I clicked on Dad and waited for him to pick up. A man answered on the second ring. It wasn’t my dad but I recognized the voice. It was Rupert. I disconnected quickly but he called me right back.

  “Arizona, you called?”

  “Just pressed your name by mistake, sorry,” I said apologetically.

  “Come downstairs, Grandma is leaving soon,” he said as he turned off his phone.

  I tapped my dad’s cell number into my phone and hit dial. It went straight through to an automated message telling me that the number was not in service. I have to try his office later, I thought to myself as I heard the loud honking of a car and went to investigate out the window. It was a taxi to take Grandma home. I rushed down stairs to hug her goodbye.

  As I walked back upstairs, I stole a glance at the various photographs on the wall. It was mostly pictures of me with Mom and Ella. Most of the pictures also included Rupert and a boy I didn’t recognize. These were mostly staged photographs taken during vacations (I recognized Paris and London) and artsy shots. I guess Mom was still into her digital photography thing. I looked so different in these photos, always smiling and not a blonde hair out of place.

  When I was back in the bedroom, I pulled a chair towards the full-length mirror on the wall and sat down opposite it to take a good look at myself. I started with my toes, pedicured. They looked so clean and tidy, not like my normally dirty, broken toenails, feet rough from hockey skates. Same story with my hands, beautifully manicured except for the nail I had broken yesterday while scrambling for the boots.

  I touched my face. My smooth skin had a sun-kissed warm glow, not a zit in sight. My eyebrows had definitely been plucked and my teeth whitened. I smiled at my reflection – who knew I could clean up so nice. My teammates were going to die laughing!

  My teammates. Maybe not? I certainly didn’t look like a hockey-playing, snarly teen girl. I looked more like a girl straight out of Gossip Girl.

  Time to investigate the closet. I opened the door to my walk-in and turned on the light. Jeans, pants, dresses, skirts, t-shirts… there was a varied selection. Mainly designer clothes, but I would manage to find a way to dress down. The shoes were more problematic. No skater sneakers, my main foot attire. All I could spot were ballet flats, sandals, heels… I spotted a row of flip flops, great! That would do for now.

  After a quick shower, I threw on a pair of Marc Jacobs (not sure why I even mention that!) jeans and added a Juicy hoodie. Really! Did they not have a Pacsun here in wherever we were? I needed to better pinpoint my location. I slid on a pair of flip flops and emptied the orange Hermès bag onto my bed: wallet, makeup, tissues, gum and a set of keys.

  I had heard Mom and Ella leave to do the weekly grocery shopping and I knew Rupert had left earlier. I was all alone in the house apart from Gertrude. It was a perfect time to do some snooping, starting with my sister’s room since it was closest to mine. Same story as mine, very nearly identical to the room she had in Princeton. She had her own bathroom and walk-in as well. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, Jonas Brothers posters on the wall and pink everywhere. I left her room untouched and walked toward the room at the end of the corridor, the one with double doors.

  It was an absolutely gorgeous suite, like the ones I had seen in magazines Mom liked to leave sitting around. There were two bathrooms, two walks-ins and a flat screen in the sitting area. Mom’s walk-in was the size of my bedroom. I was tempted to go through her drawers, but decided to do that later. I had no idea how long they were going to be away and certainly didn’t want to get caught.

  I then moved on to the other rooms. There were two guest bedrooms, they both looked spotless and unused at the moment.

  There was a sixth room on the floor but the door was locked. I tried the various keys from my set, but none of them unlocked the door so I decided to go downstairs and investigate.

  It was a magazine-worthy house, Mom had obviously gone all out. There was wood paneling everywhere, the walls were painted a warm red and the furniture was neutral – creams, beiges, and browns. The family room was warm and cozy with an elaborate Guitar Hero set up. I wondered who was so into GH, not Rupert surely. Ella?

  Next, I wandered into the kitchen. It was modern apart from a big green Agha oven in one end. I knew all about Aghas. Mom had gone on endlessly about these, now she finally had one. The rest of the kitchen was all chrome with a big table in the center, heavily used by the look of things. Gertrude’s bowls were on the floor next to the pantry. They looked new, as did her Burberry bed by the kitchen table. I decided to head down and investigate the basement.

  The basement door was locked, somewhat to my relief. I didn’t cherish the thought of going down there on my own. Instead, I went back into the kitchen and got Gertrude ready for a walk. I opened the doors to the patio and stepped into the fresh air. It was way too warm for a hoodie so I pulled it off and tossed it onto one of the garden chairs, happy that I had thrown on a tank top underneath.

  There was an enormous pool out back with a pool house on one side. I stepped inside to find changing rooms, showers, a refrigerator and bar area. Cool. I went back outside. It really was too humid so I walked Gertrude around the house hurriedly. Just as we got back to the patio, I heard Mom’s car, so I ran back inside and hid back in my room.

  I decided to call Darren to check if the party was still on. It seemed ridiculous under the circumstances. How would I even get to a party in Princeton? However, when I looked for his number, I noticed he was no longer in my contacts list – surprise, surprise. I did notice Justin’s though and called him instead. No pickup, so I texted him asking about the party. Then I put my ear buds on, turned up my iPod and floated back to my last game.

  The music stopped abruptly and my ears hurt. Ella had yanked my ear buds out and was shouting into my ears.

  “Dinner is ready, come on down!” She ran off downstairs. The little brat! Some things never change.

  Dinner was much the same as brunch. Mom’s home-cooked chicken penne (which I love, but will never admit to) with garlic bread and a fruit bowl. Ella grumbled about ice cream but my mother’s rules never change: Friday is ice cream night, not Sunday.

  “Have you done your homework, girls?” Mom asked.

  Homework? I wasn’t even sure what that really meant, so I grumbled a “yes” under my breath. Ella was all done with hers and proudly read us her piece on volcanoes. She’s always been obsessed with natural disasters. It was apparently family movie night and we all headed down to the basement after dinner.

  The basement space was awesome! It had been converted into a movie theatre, popcorn machine and all. We watched Grease for the zillionth time. I couldn’t help noticing how very intimate Mom and Rupert were again. It was impossible not to. There was not a moment when Rupert didn’t look her way to make sure she was happy. They sat close together as they watched the movie, his arm lazily around her shoulders. Her head was resting on his chest as he casually played with the strands of her hair. She looked happy and content, regularly glancing up at his face and smiling.

  Ella got bored sitting by herself half way through the movie and climbed onto Mom’s lap and fell asleep. I did feel envious of their closeness and I hugged Gertrude tighter.

  After the movie finished, Mom turned to me as if to start a conversation. I really wasn’t in the mood so I hastily excused myself saying that I needed to finish some homework I had overlooked. She stopped me before I reached the stairs.

  “Arizona, can you drop Ella off at school tomorrow on your way in?”

  I wa
s taken aback. Drop off? How? Where? I held my breath and then nodded as I walked up the stairs.

  “Sure, Mom.”

  I had no idea what to do or how to handle this situation. Confronting Mom with this would just be translated as Arizona having an episode with a journey to the psych ward. I decided to wait for Ella to come up so I could talk to her. I could get her to shed some light on this, surely. An hour or so later, I heard the skipping sounds of Ella’s footsteps and peered into the hallway as she was about to head into her room.

  “Ella, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  She nodded as she ran into my room and plunked herself on my bed with a wicked smile on her face. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was up to.

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “Oh, nothing, really. I just wondered how you’d like me to drop you off at school tomorrow?”

  She looked puzzled, “The usual way, silly!”

  I tried another tactic, “I thought we’d try a different way. The usual one gets boring.”

  “No, I like you driving me in your Jeep, it’s fun and bouncy. Taking Mom’s car is too boring everyday.”

  My Jeep? Now that sounded more like it! Sweet!

  “Ok then, let’s try to make it fun another way. How about you shout out the directions?”

  She looked bored and sighed. “I don’t understand what’s so fun about that, but whatever! Can I borrow your MJ clutch for tomorrow?” she asked, suddenly sweet again. I guessed that’s what the earlier grin had been all about.

  “Sure, why not? Good night, see you in the morning.”

  Ella got up and quietly ran out the room with a mischievous smirk on her face. I got the feeling that she’d expected a different response. Maybe I shouldn’t have given in to the MJ (whatever that was) request so easily. I could hear Mom and Rupert coming up the stairs so I quickly closed my door. However, they opened it and walked in to say goodnight before they went into Ella’s room.

  I lay back on my pillow and wondered what was going on. This could no longer be a dream, surely. I seemed to be in some kind of alternate universe. What would tomorrow bring? Maybe I would wake up back in my real life. However, what if I didn’t? I needed some answers; there must be a computer in here somewhere. I looked around, maybe in my desk? Could Arizona Darley be that organized? I opened the obvious drawer and there it was, my very own pink MacBook. I brought it over to my bed and turned it on. First, GPS locate my position. My iPhone would do that more efficiently. I hit the Maps application and the locate icon.

  Searching…..

  California….I knew that from the driver’s license.

  The locator homed in on blank fields. Mountain View seemed to be the nearest town. I turned to my computer and googled Mountain View, Ca. I had sort of expected that, Mom had moved to Mountain View but I knew nothing about it. I tried Wikipedia first.

  ‘Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 70,708.’

  So not interesting. I scrolled down. It seemed to be one of those “Silicon Valley” towns. I remember Mom mentioning the Silicon Valley. She had been offered a senior physicist position, if I remembered rightly, at NASA? I googled Mountain View and NASA.

  Ames Research Center

  That rang a bell, yes, Ames. I had heard that mentioned many times before. That’s obviously where she worked.

  There was a sharp knock on my door. It opened and Mom stuck her head in.

  “Arizona, lights out, school tomorrow,” she said as she closed it again.

  I guess Ames would have to wait. However, I did need to know where to head off for school. This was truly insane. I had no idea. Why was I even considering school! I should go and have this out with Mom! I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. No, I wouldn’t risk psych intervention.

  The thought of a new high school filled me with dread. I was hoping that Ella would direct me to her school, but where should I head off to next? Thank goodness for computers!

  Mountain View High seemed to be the nearest high school – home of the Spartans. Were there any sign of Spartan in my room? I rummaged through the closet, nothing. I guess Darley wasn’t into displaying her school name or maybe she had a special place for her school stuff. The desk? Yes, bingo! Folders, files, books all labeled with my name, well Arizona Darley, and Spartan stickers. Phew, at least I knew where to head.

  I searched for a schedule and found one in my bag. Great. I was exhausted. The rest would have to wait till the morning. It was already past midnight. I jumped into bed and cuddled up with Gertrude once again.

  I woke to the sound of my iPhone alarm, it was already five. I was apparently still in Barbie Arizona land. I had decided to wake early, as I’d no idea what was expected of me. Or how long it would take to get to school. I got up and printed off a map of Mountain View High so that I wouldn’t be totally lost once I got there, if I got there.

  What to wear? I thought jeans and a t-shirt would be the safest way to go. I threw on a worn out hoodie to disguise myself as much as possible. I wanted to keep a low profile, which was not going to be easy with this Barbie hair. I tied it in a ponytail and stuffed it down my back. Much better. I decided that I couldn’t really head to school in flip flops, especially with pink tipped toe nails. After rummaging around in the closet, I found a pair of muddy, black sneakers and put those on. Perfect. I grabbed my backpack and shut the door, after throwing a backward glance at my once tidy room. Well, it was back to being a mess, nothing a shut door couldn’t deal with.

  I put my ear to Ella’s door and listened for morning sounds. I could hear music, so I knocked and opened the door. She was sitting on her vanity chair, drowning herself in lip-gloss. She turned around and stared at me with a bemused grin.

  “What’s with the new look, Arizona? You look ridiculous.”

  “What’s so ridiculous about it, Ella?” I demanded angrily.

  She shrugged. “What did you do with your hair? You always wear it down!”

  “Well, I feel like a change,” I said defiantly.

  “Are you ready for breakfast, Ella? What time do you want to leave the house and head to school?” I asked changing the subject.

  “Dad said that he would drive me on his bike this morning so I’m going with him. But I’m ready for breakfast now, let’s go.”

  I was slightly concerned at Ella’s obvious distaste in my attire. What if the school kids here dressed a certain way and I’d got it totally wrong. I would stand out and that’s the last thing I wanted–attention. I looked over to see what Ella was wearing. She was wearing a pair of blue skinny jeans with a Juicy t-shirt and Uggs, so I couldn’t be that far off the mark. She was just being a pain, as usual. I was not about to start worrying about the way I dressed!

  Mom and Rupert were already sitting at the table sipping coffee and pouring over newspapers as we got to the kitchen. I spied an Ames Research canvas carrier by the door, stuffed full of papers.

  “Good morning, girls,” they both said in unison and looked at me with puzzled expressions. They thankfully managed to keep their thoughts to themselves. I had obviously dressed unlike Barbie Arizona normally did. Well they’d just have to deal with it for now.

  “I have an early meeting, so I’ve got to rush off. Dad’s taking you to school, Ella. So, Arizona, you’re off the hook. You can head right to school this morning. Give Simla a call though, she may want you to pick her up. She got her car taken away from her last night by her mom. I don’t know the details. Rup, meet me for lunch?”

  He nodded, stood up, gave her a hug and kiss. She was dressed in a pair of black slacks, a cream Chanel jacket and carried her cream Kelly bag (or old lady bag, as I like to call it) – her usual uniform. She grabbed her keys and the Ames canvas bag from the floor, blew us kisses and left.

  “Arizona, can you walk Gertrude before you head off? I filled
your Jeep with gas last night, so you are ready to go. Drive carefully, and I’ll see you back at the house at five. I’ll pick Ella up from school and she can hang out at the studio for a while.”

  I nodded at Rupert as I went to get Gertrude’s leash, and headed off for a walk with her. A Jeep – I just couldn’t wait. I went back to the house to gather my stuff once I spied Ella and Rupert leave on his bike. I put some more food and water down for Gertrude and then went over to the garage. To the Jeep! I was beyond thrilled. I had been driving with my learners permit in Princeton for a while, but I’d never driven on my own.

  The Jeep was parked in the garage, a bright yellow Wrangler. So much for keeping a low profile! There was a huge Spartans sticker on the back window. Well, at least it was clear that I was heading off to Mountain View High school this morning.

  I programmed the directions into the GPS system, drive time 35 minutes. School started at 7:30 AM, I had plenty of time, but it would be good to be early. This was a first, driving by myself with no one in the passenger seat constantly nagging at me. It felt wonderfully freeing. Just me in this awesome Jeep! I could drive anywhere I wanted to, no one could stop me.

  I turned the knob to the radio, but couldn’t get it to work. I decided to figure it out later. Perhaps I should head to New Jersey instead of this school. It was very tempting; I even had my own credit cards. I guessed it was about three thousand miles away? It would take me three or four days….

  I drove on, without noticing my surroundings, concentrating on the GPS directions. I arrived at Mountain View High in no time, found the parking lot, parked and sat in my car watching the other students arrive. It dawned on me that I had completely forgotten to call Simla. What would she be doing here anyway? She should be back in Princeton wondering what happened to me. I’d try calling her later.