January 7, Tuesday, 3:30pm, La Push High School

Forget, (v.) to cease or fail to remember; be unable to recall

It’s raining. Which, considering it’s Washington, shouldn’t be all that big a surprise to me. But it is. Because I have to walk home in it. The sad thing about being the middle child between two rowdy, cute (or so my best friend Tala tells me) brothers, is that your often left behind – forgotten. Which also means you have no ride home.

Which is just great.

But, I’m sure walking home for 3 miles in the rain with no umbrella could happen to anyone. Really.

I took a deep breath, pushed open the wooden door, and headed out into the pouring rain.

Then I was running. It was hard to run – with the rain pounding hard on me, my backpack bouncing on my back, and the mud splashing on my jeans. My black wavy hair kept getting my eyes. My tan skin soon had water dripping off, and I looked like I was sparkling. My lungs were soon burning, and my legs felt like they were about to fall off.

Luckily, after ten minutes of running, there was the only store on the rez was up ahead, and I could stop and finally buy that umbrella that I needed. My brothers kept stealing all the others, and never bothered to return them.

Of course, they forgot that I might need one. They must’ve thought one could magically appear before me.

I shook my hair out, and opened the store door. My sneakers squeaked against the floor, alerting my presence to the people in the store. I blushed lightly, and went over to the umbrella/raincoat/galoshes/chips section. I choose a cheap, three dollar umbrella and went over to the cashier’s desk. They had an old fashioned-type cash register. It had always fascinated me as a little kid. Now, it was like some old forgotten relic that I found in the attic.

“Oh, Kim! You poor girl! Did your brothers forget you again? And they took your umbrella? Mhm. Exactly like I thought. And you shouldn’t be out in the rain like this! My, you’ll get a cold – or worse! The flu! I heard that was going around these days! Oh, do you need a ride home, Kimble? I would be glad to…” That was Mrs. Hopi, the store’s manager/owner. She knew me from my frequent trips to get umbrellas, socks, and…womanly products. She was like my second mother.