POV-Janelle- I glanced at Bandit, she was awfully quite all of a sudden. By the way she was grinning I couldn’t tell if it was because she was just happy or because she really couldn’t help it when she sees Gerard and I in the same room. I figured the second option was almost dead on the spot. “So Bandit, I came in here to see if you were okay but I guess your dad beat me too it.” I said smiling. “Yeah, I beat you by a few seconds flat. But don’t worry Janelle; you’ll get to her next time!” Gerard said laughing while he mocked me. his laughing made me begin to giggle and soon turned into a full off laugh just like Gerard’s. Then Bandit was laughing so hard she was crying. I wasn’t sure what was so funny but by the time we stopped laughing we didn’t care, because after all we’ve been through in the past few days if felt good to just laugh for no reason. “So ummm Gerard, Bandit I made dinner. Are you guys hungry?” I asked just to fill in the silence. “Yeah!” Bandit shouted jumping to her feet and running into the kitchen. Gerard hopped up from the bed and opened the door, motioning for me to go first. I stepped out and we walked side-by-side into the kitchen. On the way to the kitchen Gerard asked, “So Janelle what did you make?” “Waffles! Yummy my favorite thanks Janelle!” we heard Bandit shout from the kitchen. I giggled to myself as I said, “That answer your question?” Gerard grinned and chuckled to himself privately. “Yeah… I guess it does.” I sighed; I couldn’t wait any long I had to ask. The suspense was driving me insane. “Are you okay Gerard, I mean ever since we arrived here you seem, well, distant. Like not all the pieces are there and you can’t help but get lost in thought and stare into space?” For several seconds he didn’t answer me and I began to think I wasn’t going to get an answer. Then finally he said, “Tomorrow is Bandit’s birthday. She’ll be 15 and its just so strange not having Linz around always freaking out about what we are going to get her and all the party planning. I want Bandit to have a good birthday, even though we are stuck here in this stupid station.” I knew something was wrong, I hadn’t said anything to anyone but I was secretly making big plans for Bandits birthday, so I decided to let Gerard on the inside just to put him out of his misery. “Well I knew tomorrow was Bandits birthday because she told me just before the explosion. Ever since I have made a few last minute plans. It wont be anything big but I promise Bandit will have a good birthday.” “What are you planning?” “You’ll just have to wait and see. By the way what did explode?” Gerard’s face light up and he full on grinned while giggling he said, “Frank and Mikey were trying to get the toast out of the toaster, but it hadn’t pooped up yet and they were worried that it might get burned. So Mikey had the bright idea to stick a fork into the toaster and it got stuck and exploded. But of course when they tried to put out the fire they turned on the sink and put it under the water which electrocuted them. I was laughing so hard that we couldn’t tell them otherwise.” By now we were in the kitchen and when Gerard finished the story Bandit and I were giggling and Frank and Mikey were blushing. I walked across the room and over to where my room was. I reached under the bed and grabbed my phone. Amazingly I had services in the desert, I knew I might regret it later but I dialed my mom’s number. It rang three times then she picked up with a kind, “Hello?” and I knew right then that she didn’t know the number. She was speaking to kind, because I knew she wouldn’t do that once she knows it’s me. and to my amazement I started crying.
