Abby had to go to the hospital that day. The doctors checked her out and gave her some medication for the pain. She would have to come back for a checkup, but she felt fine and the worst was over. When she got home Mrs. Perce sent her up to bed to rest. The next morning Abby was feeling a lot better. Every once in a while her head would hurt a bit, but she was feeling much better than she had been before. When she got to school Sophie was there. They had a back-and-forth conversation about the accident that had happened the day before. Sophie asked if Abby was ok and she said yes. Sophie also said that after the accident she hadn’t seen Jack. Abby was disappointed, of course she had already made up her mind to forgive him but he didn’t know that yet.

So after an annoyingly cheerful study on diagramming, Abby was relieved when recess came. She was pretty good at diagramming so the lesson came easy for her. Now if only she could find Jack — that would make her day even better. Abby and Sophie looked for Jack all over the playground but didn’t find him. At last they gave up and headed over towards the jungle gym. When they got there, Abby started hanging upside down. Sophie was a bit concerned about Abby’s carefree spirit after the accident but Abby reassured her that she was fine and went back to hanging upside down. Suddenly Abby saw Jack in a corner. He was standing there holding a small paper envelope looking for someone. When he saw Abby he quickly walked over, his face pale.

“Um, ah, look Abby I’m really sorry for pushing you,” he said “I was just so mad at Emma. I’ve been feeling terrible ever since then.” Jack took a deep breath then added, “I hope you can forgive me. I got you a gift to show my sincerity.” Jack handed Abby the envelope. Abby carefully lifted the paper, hoping she would not damage the gift inside. When she opened it, there, lying on the paper, was a hand painted bookmark. Abby gasped. The bookmark was painted beautifully. It had two peacocks on each side with flowers delicately painted around them.

“How — where did you get this.” Abby said in utter amazement wondering where Jack would get such a beautiful bookmark. Jack smiled.

“My mom used to like to paint and decorate things. It wasn’t something she did often though. One of the things she used to paint were bookmarks. She had a whole collection of them and I thought you might like one.” Abby gave Jack a big hug. “Come on, I’ll put it in my locker to keep it safe. And don’t worry. I just had a headache.” As Abby carefully put the bookmark in her locker she said. “I wish I could have met your mom she sounds so interesting” Jack nodded and his face clouded

“Me too” then his face brightened and he said, “I least I’ve got you to look at every time I miss her.” The group laughed.

When they returned to the playground Abby saw Emma talking to some girls.

“This your chance Jack” she said pulling Jack’s arm

“Chance for what” Jack said suspiciously.

“To apologize to Emma” Abby said, nodding her head towards Emma. Jack looked horrified. The only thing worse than having an enemy was apologizing to one.

“Why do I need to apologize to her?” Jack said looking at his feet.

“For yelling and trying to hit her” Abby said softly, but firmly. Jack looked up he opened his mouth. Then shut it. Then opened his mouth again.

Finally he said “I’ll apologize to her soon.” This wasn’t enough for Abby.

“In my experience there are many types of soon. There’s the baking cookies kind of soon, on the road traveling kind of soon, and the kind of soon your parents tell you when you ask them to get you a pet alligator even though you know what the answer is.” Abby stopped to fold her arms and look at Jack straight in the eye “Which soon are you talking about?”

Jack shifted a little bit “Baking cookies soon?” he said in a very unconvincing voice.

Abby looked at Sophie who just shrugged and kept watching Emma and the girls.

“Something doesn’t seem right.” Abby said softly.

“I can assure it isn’t” Jack said folding his arms across his chest “apologizing to someone as twisted as her will always end up wrong.”

“We don’t know for sure that Emma is twisted.” Abby said

“Do I have to refresh your memory?” Jack said pacing back and forth. “That girl humiliated us making everybody think that we’re in love.”

“We don’t know for sure if everybody believed it” Abby said

“Abby,” Jack said still pacing “I like you a lot but you haven’t been going to this school that long. News travels fast. Rumors start. Emma is the most popular girl in school, so of course they’re going to believe it! Sophie are you listening?” Jack said heatedly.

“Do you realize that Emma and whoever she is talking to keep glancing at us.” Sophie said hardly noticing the conversation. Abby turned to Emma who quickly flashed her a grin. Abby suddenly shuddered at the look of Emma’s grin. It wasn’t a friendly one that was for sure. Abby quickly turned away and looked at Jack with pleading eyes. Jack gave a big sigh and slowly walked over to Emma who was chewing gum. Abby followed close behind. Jack came close to Emma but she totally ignored him and turned to Abby with the same smile but still didn’t say anything

“Ahem,” Jack said trying to get Emma’s attention “Emma I wanted to say to you.” he looked over at Abby who was nodding him on. “I’m sorry for yelling and trying to hit you.” Jack held out his hand to shake. Emma looked at the hand in a strange sort of way. Finally instead of shaking Jack’s outstretched hand she took one of her fingers and pushed the hand down then turned her attention to a girl who was talking with some other kids. Abby looked at Jack. He looked angry, confused, but most of all hurt. Quickly he turned away, shoved his hand into his pockets and kicked a rock that was on the ground.

When they were out of Emma’s earshot he said, “What did I tell you! What!” he said his voice cracking just a little bit “I apologized to her and what do I get. Nothing.” Abby saw that Jack was really upset so she gave him the best thing she could — a hug.

“Thanks Abby” he said when she released him from the hug. Suddenly Sophie came running up to them. Abby and Jack hadn’t noticed but Sophie had gone over to a group of girls who were listening to another girl who had been talking to Emma. When Sophie stopped running her eyes were wide.

“Jack,” she said breathing hard “I want you to take a deep breath because you’ll never guess what I heard.

PS: sorry i haven’t been posting i have been occupied with other things lately any way hoped you enjoyed