Melinda’s Journal

Tuesday, March 13

I can’t remember the first time my father let me have a sip of his beer. I was probably about ten. It was disgusting and I couldn’t imagine why anyone would ever want to drink alcohol.

Before starting Hartfield, I thought teens only drank in the movies. After all, how many lectures have we had at school about alcohol being bad?

But I guess not everyone feels the same way. All those nights driving DMH with Pat? How many drunk people have I encountered?

People even drink at school! I’ve seen so many empty bottles—of beer and liquor—in the trash barrels on the football field or the MAC bathrooms. I have no idea how they even get the alcohol, but somehow they do.

The thing is, I always thought my friends felt the same as me. I never thought I would see any of them drunk, but especially not Walter.

I’m starting to wonder how well I really know my best friend.

Melinda’s Story

I felt the car stop and heard the engine die. When Pat sighed, I opened my eyes.

“I’m awake. Just trapped.”

Pat reached over to push Walter toward the side of the car so I could scoot to the opposite side. Since Pat had left the roof down, I quickly stood, climbed onto the seat and swung my legs over the side of the car. I landed nimbly as Pat came around to offer me a hand. I pointed to Walter.

“What do we do about him?”

Pat shrugged. “I’m gonna have to tell Mom. Let her figure out what to do with him.”

“I’ll go with you. Tell her what happened.”

Pat kissed the top of my head as he led me toward the house. “No. I can do it. Why don’t you go turn back into Melinda? Maybe we can watch some television or something before bed.”

“I like that idea.”

Pat walked me to my room, where I immediately showered to get rid of the makeup and hair color. I put on some shorts and a tee shirt and felt more like myself.

When I reached the playroom, I was a little surprised to see Miss Kara sitting on the couch. I sat on the floor beside Pat, glancing at the television. He had cued up the show we had watched earlier that evening. I raised my eyebrows.

“Really? You want to watch it again?”

Pat smiled. “This is the first episode.”

“Oh. That sounds fun.” I turned to Miss Kara. “Are you going to join us?”

“Actually, I wanted to hear a little more about your night. Did you kids have fun?”

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. The last thing I wanted was to get Walter in trouble. I had no idea what Pat had told his mother, if anything. I turned to Pat.

He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Who was there?”

Pat listed everyone and his mother asked what we did there.

I pointed at the television. “We watched this. Talked for a while about colleges and stuff.”

Pat had decided not to attend college immediately after graduating, allowing himself to continue working. Miss Kara took a few minutes to again express her displeasure at this decision before steering the conversation back to the party. “Tell me what happened to your brother.”

Since Pat looked extremely annoyed, I helped him out. “When we got there, Walter just kind of disappeared. We found him playing video games upstairs with some kid named Logan.”

Miss Kara sounded unconvinced. “That’s all? They were just playing video games?”

“Yeah. Walter was dying a lot, which is not like him. And then I saw him drinking this bottle of root beer. And I told Pat, and he convinced Walter it was time to leave.”

“Was anyone else drinking?”

Pat shrugged. “Maybe Logan? I don’t know. Downstairs, where we were? I don’t think so. I mean, I saw Dante and Ari with what I thought were glasses of soda, but now I have no idea.”

Miss Kara stared at Pat. “Did you have anything to drink? Be honest.”

Pat shook his head. “No.”

That wasn’t quite right. I didn’t want him to lie to his mother. I quickly corrected him. “That’s not true. You had a glass of water. You brought me one, too.”

I didn’t understand why Pat laughed, but Miss Kara didn’t seem to care. She frowned at me.

“Has Walter ever done this before?”

Pat frowned. “I doubt it.”

I shook my head. “He didn’t know he was drinking. He said something I didn’t understand. But I got the impression he thought it was just soda.”

Miss Kara turned to her son, her face full of concern. “Why couldn’t you understand him? How drunk is he?”

Pat shrugged. “You heard him. He’s not slurring his words. Well, not too much. He was just using his esoteric vocabulary.”

I barely understood Pat, but Miss Kara must have. To my surprise, she smiled at her son. “Colin does that. So does Pop-Pop.” Her smile disappeared. “Do we need to have a discussion about alcohol?”

“Please, no?”

Since Pat was nearly whining, I figured I should help him stay on his mother’s good side. I smiled. “Alcohol is bad. We’re underage. If we do drink, we shouldn’t drive.”

Miss Kara pursed her lips, looking directly at her son. “And, if you do drink, you will not be in trouble. I don’t want you hiding it from me or your father. We will be mad. You will have to sit down to a long lecture so we can figure out why you were drinking. But we won’t yell.”

Pat raised the remote. “Can we watch the show now?”

Miss Kara pursed her lips, but settled into her seat with a nod. Pat pressed play, draping his arm around me as the announcer explained the concept of the game. By the time the first contestant sang, I had relaxed against Pat. I enjoyed the show, but didn’t stay awake long enough to find out who anyone was.

---

The next morning, after waking up on the couch with Pat, I returned to my bed and slept for a while longer. When I finally went down to breakfast, I found Walter and Pat already eating. I helped myself to a bowl of cereal before sliding into the breakfast nook beside Pat.

Walter was eating some sort of sandwich. I sent him a sympathetic smile.

“How you feeling?”

“Miserable. My head hurts. I’m nauseous. And I’m pretty sure I owe you an apology.”

“For what?”

“My memory is a little hazy, but according to Pat, I called you abecedarian. I kind of remember saying it. And I am really sorry.”

I shrugged. “What does it mean?”

Walter frowned. “That you have a very . . . rudimentary vocabulary.”

Replacing one big word with another didn’t really help. I raised my eyebrows at Pat.

He smiled. “Um . . . elementary. Basic.”

I turned back to Walter. “Is that how you think?”

Walter shrugged. “Kind of. I mean, I was just trying to point out that you don’t have a very extensive vocabulary, but I didn’t mean for it to be insulting.”

I shook my head. “No, I mean, inside your head. Are all those big words like always there and you just dumb it down for me?”

Although Walter said nothing, his expression answered my question. I picked at my cereal, no longer hungry.

Walter sighed. “It’s not just you. I do it all the time.”

“Last night, you said I was your best friend.”

“You are.”

“Shouldn’t you be able to be yourself with your best friend?”

Walter sent me a confused look.

I sighed. “I don’t want you to use a filter when you’re talking to me. Use your big words. How else can I make my vocabulary unabecedarian?”

Walter smiled. “Yeah. That’s not a word.”

“And now I know that.”

“You’re serious? You want me to just speak what’s in my head?”

When I nodded, Walter simply shrugged. “Okay.”

Pat’s Story

I spent most of the drive trying to figure out whether I should rat on my brother. This wasn’t my first time around a drunk person, and I knew Walter would be fine if he slept this off. I didn’t want Mom to freak out about it, and I didn’t want to get him in trouble. Especially since I was pretty sure Walter had no idea he had even been drinking. But at the same time, not telling Mom felt a lot like lying to her, and I really didn’t like that idea.

In the end, Walter ended up deciding for me. I pulled into the garage and turned off the car. When I turned to look at my passengers, they had both fallen asleep. I sighed.

“I’m awake,” Melinda murmured. “Just trapped.”

I smiled. Leaving the roof down, I reached into the back and helped push Walter against the side of the car. Melinda quickly got to her feet and climbed over the side of the car. I dropped my brother to help my girlfriend, but she had no problem getting down. She pointed toward Walter.

“What do we do about him?”

I shrugged. “I’m gonna have to tell Mom. Let her figure out what to do with him.”

“I’ll go with you. Tell her what happened.”

I kissed the top of her head. “No. I can do it. Why don’t you go turn back into Melinda? Maybe we can watch some television or something before bed.”

“I like that idea.”

I walked Melinda most of the way to her room, then continued toward Mom’s. I figured she was probably waiting up for us. Sure enough, the door was open, and Mom was reading in bed. She looked at me as I entered.

“Oh, good.” She put her tablet on her nightstand with a sigh. “Did you kids have fun?”

“Yeah. The show was really cool. But, uh, I need to show you something in the car.”

Mom jumped out of bed. “What happened? Were you in an accident?”

“No. The car’s fine. Everyone’s fine. I just need you to see something.”

I went down the front stairs. Mom waited until we were at the bottom before beginning the interrogation. “What happened?”

I sighed. “Well, Walter decided he’d rather play video games with Logan than watch television with the rest of us. When Melinda and I went to find him, we realized something was wrong. Melinda saw him drinking this bottle of root beer and she said it’s what her dad likes to drink. That it’s not regular root beer. There were like three or four bottles next to him, but I don’t know whether they were all his. I don’t think he realized what he was drinking. And I swear, I had no idea. As soon as I saw what was going on, we got him out of there.”

“So, why are we in the garage?”

I just pointed to the car. Walter was curled up in the back seat. Mom swore.

“What do you want me to do? Carry him to bed?”

I shrugged. “I have no problem leaving him here. But I figured you would get mad at me if I did.”

Mom sighed. “Do you think you can help him upstairs?”

I shrugged. “Probably.”

With Mom’s help, I pulled Walter into a sitting position, then over the edge of the car. It was just enough to wake him.

“Hey. We home? Oh, hey, Mom! What are you doing here?”

“Pat says you had some fancy root beer.”

“Logan gave it to me. I told Melinda it was piquant, but she didn’t understand me. She has trouble with lexemes. But don’t tell her I said that. I think she’s a little abashed.”

Mom shook her head, following us as Walter babbled all the way to his room. I dumped him on the bed, face down, and Mom followed me back to the hallway.

I sent her a hesitant look. “How much trouble are we in?”

She frowned. “Is Melinda awake?”

I nodded. “She was going to shower all the gunk out of her hair and then we were going to watch a movie or something.”

Mom pursed her lips. “Do I need to chaperone?”

“No.”

“Has she been drinking?”

I shook my head.

“I’m going to check on you. But you won’t know when.”

I held my hands in surrender. “We’ll be watching television.”

Mom returned to Walter’s room, and I went to change. When I went across the hall to the playroom, Mom was already sitting on the couch.

“Did you decide to chaperone?”

“No. I wanted to hear the whole story.”

“Well—”

“Nope. I want to hear Melinda’s version.”

I sighed. “Fine. Can I at least turn on the television?”

She nodded, and I searched the various streaming and on demand menus until I found back episodes of Music Box. I wanted to see if I could figure out who Number Seven was.

Melinda joined us a little while later. She glanced at the screen as she sat beside me. “Really? You want to watch it again?”

“This is the first episode.”

“Oh. That sounds fun.” She turned to Mom. “Are you going to join us?”

“Actually, I wanted to hear a little more about your night. Did you kids have fun?”

Melinda looked at me. I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Who was there?”

I sighed. “Dante, obviously. Ari. Tyrone Cooper.”

“JJ’s son?”

I nodded. “And his girlfriend, Kori something. And then Logan was up in his room.”

“What’d you guys do?”

Melinda pointed at the screen. “We watched this. Talked for a while about colleges and stuff.”

Mom looked at me. “Really? And is everyone else going to college?”

I sighed. “Dante and Ari both go to SoCal. Tyrone isn’t sure where he’s going yet.”

“So, Dante and Ari took time off to apply to colleges?”

“Mom, we’ve discussed this. Should I give up In the Running just so I can write college essays?”

Mom sighed. “Tell me what happened to your brother.”

Melinda frowned. “When we got there, Walter just kind of disappeared. We found him playing video games upstairs with some kid named Logan.”

“That’s all? They were just playing video games?”

Melinda shrugged. “Yeah. Walter was dying a lot, which is not like him. And then I saw him drinking this bottle of root beer. And I told Pat, and he convinced Walter it was time to leave.”

“Was anyone else drinking?”

I shrugged. “Maybe Logan? I don’t know. Downstairs, where we were? I don’t think so. I mean, I saw Dante and Ari with what I thought were glasses of soda, but now I have no idea.”

“Did you have anything to drink? Be honest.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“That’s not true,” Melinda said. Mom and I both looked at her. “You had a glass of water. You brought me one, too.”

I knew Melinda wasn’t trying to be impertinent, but I wasn’t sure if Mom realized that. I gave a small laugh. “Fine. I had some water.”

“Has Walter ever done this before?”

“I doubt it.”

Melinda shook her head. “He didn’t know he was drinking. He said something I didn’t understand. But I got the impression he thought it was just soda.”

Mom looked at me. “Why couldn’t you understand him? How drunk is he?”

I shrugged. “You heard him. He’s not slurring his words. Well, not too much. He was just using his esoteric vocabulary.”

Mom couldn’t quite hide her smile. “Colin does that. So does Pop-Pop. Do we need to have a discussion about alcohol?”

I closed my eyes. “Please, no?”

Melinda tried to help me. “Alcohol is bad. We’re underage. If we do drink, we shouldn’t drive.”

Mom nodded. “And, if you do drink, you will not be in trouble. I don’t want you hiding it from me or your father. We will be mad. You will have to sit down to a long lecture so we can figure out why you were drinking. But we won’t yell.”

I couldn’t quite hide my smirk. My red-headed mother had an Irish temper. I couldn’t imagine her not yelling. But I held my tongue. Instead, I asked if I could turn on the show. Thankfully, Mom nodded.

The first episode had a different group of six people. A few of the voices sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place any of them. Eventually, Three was eliminated, and the box lifted to reveal an actor I knew by name only. Mom went nuts, though, because they had done several movies together when she was younger.

I had hoped to spend some alone time with Melinda, but Mom insisted on watching another episode. She was determined to discover the identity of the celebrity in box one. However, I fell asleep before I could find out.

---

Tuesday morning, I was a little surprised to wake up on the couch with Melinda in my arms. Why hadn’t Mom woken us and sent us to bed? Not that I was complaining. I loved seeing her when I opened my eyes.

I gave her a quick kiss, suggesting she rest in her bed before I headed to my room. After changing for my morning run, I went to check on Walter.

I wasn’t surprised he was still in bed. “Time to get up!” I announced in my brightest voice.

“Ugh. My head.”

“Yeah, I heard that could happen. Come on. A run will make you feel better.”

“I think I’m sick.”

“That’s one word for it.”

“Another is hungover,” Mom said from the doorway. She turned to me. “Why are you here?”

I put up my hands in self-defense. “Just waking him up to go running.”

“I’m not running,” Walter muttered into his pillow. “I’m sick. My head hurts. I’m nauseous. I think I have the flu.”

Mom pointed to me. “You, out.”

I frowned. “Fine. I’ll go run alone.”

It had been months since I had done so. It wasn’t fun.

After my shower, I found Mom having breakfast. I made some toast before joining her.

She turned to me. “Dave contacted me. Said he set up a meeting for you at ZigZag today. What’s going on?”

I sighed. “When you see something wrong with one of your scripts, you usually say something, right?”

She nodded. “It depends on the situation, but yes. Usually.”

“You ever change your lines because it thought it sounded better?”

She frowned. “Munchkin, what’s going on? Do you not want to do the movie?”

I sighed. “It’s not that. It’s just, I was reading some reviews about Tomodachi and some of the comments had more to do with the way they wrote the script than with my delivery of it. And I had the same concerns when we were filming. But I never said anything. Because I didn’t think it was my place. But now, I’m wondering if I should have.”

“What does that have to do with a meeting at ZigZag?”

“Before I sign this contract, I want to know that the producers will listen to my concerns. There are a few things in the script that I think need some work.”

Mom got to her feet with a smile. “I’m proud of you. Your meeting is at ten. Would you like me to bring Melinda to work with me so she’s not home alone all morning? You can pick her up when you’re done?”

I shrugged. “I’ll ask her. But knowing her, she’ll probably want to work on her puzzles all day.”

Mom shook her head. “I don’t get it. I mean, good for her and all, but I just don’t get the appeal.”

Mom wasn’t looking for an answer. A moment later, Walter slid into the seat across from me. He didn’t look so good. I nodded toward him as Mom went to the counter.

“Feeling any better?”

“No. Mom said I had to come downstairs.”

She set a glass of orange juice in front of him. “We leave for work in an hour.”

“Ugh. Can’t I stay home?”

Mom went back to the counter. “No. You’re going.”

When she returned to the table with a sandwich, I raised my eyebrows. “You do know it’s breakfast, right, Mom?”

She rolled her eyes, but I wasn’t sure what she was saying about me. “It’s your father’s favorite hangover cure. Turkey club with extra bacon.” She glanced at the clock before turning back to Walter. “Eat and get dressed. One hour.”

When she left the kitchen, I raised my eyebrows. “She’s taking this really well. I expected you to be in big trouble.”

Walter held his sandwich as if he thought it might attack him. Warily, he took a small bite before answering me.

“I am. Mom said she’s not going to give me special treatment just because I don’t feel good. She wants me to remember this feeling so I don’t drink again.”

“But it was an accident, wasn’t it?”

Walter shrugged. “She doesn’t care. She wants this to teach me a lesson. Then, I had an hour-long lecture about responsible choices.”

“Ouch.”

He winced. “No. Ouch was when Mom said I couldn’t go to Lily’s school after work for the rest of the week.”

“Ouch. Have you talked to Melinda yet?”

Walter shook his head. “Hour-long lecture. My memory is a little fuzzy. Weren’t you guys fighting last night?”

“No.”

“Then why was she sitting in back with me?”

“Because you were supposed to sit in front.”

Walter frowned. “Oh.”

“You were really mean to her.”

“I was?”

“You called her . . . I forgot what you said. It sounded like you said ABCD.”

Walter took another bite of his sandwich. I wasn’t sure if the face he made was because he was disgusted by what he was eating or he was trying to think of what he said. I saw the moment he remembered. He closed his eyes and swore.

Melinda walked into the room, so I let the conversation die. She made herself a bowl of cereal before sitting beside me. I greeted her with a quick kiss on the top of her head. She smiled at me before glancing across the table.

“How you feeling?”

“Miserable. My head hurts. I’m nauseous. And I’m pretty sure I owe you an apology.”

“For what?”

“My memory is a little hazy, but according to Pat, I called you abecedarian. I kind of remember saying it. And I am really sorry.”

Melinda shrugged. “What does it mean?”

Walter frowned. “That you have a very . . . rudimentary vocabulary.”

I could tell he was choosing his words carefully so he wouldn’t insult Melinda. Unfortunately, she seemed to still be clueless. She sent me the most adorable look. I tried not to smirk, but she was more or less proving Walter’s point. I helped her out.

“Um . . . elementary. Basic.”

She turned back to my brother. “Is that how you think?”

Walter shrugged. “Kind of. I mean, I was just trying to point out that you don’t have a very extensive vocabulary, but I didn’t mean for it to be insulting.”

Melinda shook her head. “No. I mean, inside your head. Are all those big words like always there and you just dumb it down for me?”

Walter didn’t answer her right away. He didn’t have to. His expression spoke volumes. Melinda must have seen it too, since she started playing with her cereal. Walter sighed.

“It’s not just you. I do it all the time.”

“Last night, you said I was your best friend.”

“You are.”

“Shouldn’t you be able to be yourself with your best friend?”

It was clear Walter had no idea what she meant. With a sigh, Melinda tried to explain.

“I don’t want you to use a filter when you’re talking to me. Use your big words. How else can I make my vocabulary unabcedarian?”

Attention Hammerheads

Melinda is always trying to build her vocabulary. What were some words in this episode that were new to you? She will add them to her vocabulary journal.This episode will be released on Wednesday, June 5.