Daily Field Journal of Annie Johnston Friday, July 2Position: Corner table at Jump.Cover: In need of caffeine to aid in plowing through summer reading list.Observations:8:35 p.m.: Subject Jake Graydon stares out the window from behind counter. Uniform: black T-shirt, khaki cargo shorts, brown Jump apron. He pulls out his phone, checks it, puts it back.8:40 p.m.: Subject Shannen Moore walks in. Uniform: patched denim cutoffs, deep red tank top, flip-flops, aviators. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees Subject Jake behind the counter. (Query: Is it possible that Shannen didn’t know her BFF was working here?)Shannen: Oh. Hey. You work here?(Assessment: Guess so.)Jake: Um, yeah.Shannen: Oh.Subject Shannen places her bag down on the counter.Shannen: Let me get a latte.Subject Jake grabs a cup. Drops it. Dives for it. Grabs it. Fumble recovered. Subject Shannen narrows her eyes.Shannen: Actually . . . make that a vanilla soy latte. With whipped cream. And cinnamon.Subject Jake doesn’t move.Shannen: Also a bialy. Everything. With low fat cream cheese. Unless you don’t have everything, and then I just want plain, but with the cranberry cream cheese. But don’t put too much on. And I don’t see any chocolate chip muffins. Can you check in back and see if they have any? But I’ll take that vanilla soy latte first.Subject Jake looks at her over his shoulder. (Assessment: He’s imagining a gruesome death scenario.)Shannen: Please.(Assessment: Someone is no longer someone’s BFF.)

“What is the definition of the word . . . ‘obsequious’?”I stared out the bay window in my room. It looked out over the kidney-shaped pool in our backyard. The ancient woman next to me cleared her throat, then made this choking sound. She spit up something into her mouth, and swallowed it. I was about to vomit.“Mr. Graydon? Obsequious.”The pink flash card fluttered in her spotted, gnarly fingers. I looked at the word. How did she print in such perfect block letters when every inch of her body was constantly shaking? She had all this excess skin under her chin and it hung so low it covered the collar of her flowered shirt.“Um . . . annoying?” I guessed.She sighed, and a mouthful of onion breath hovered over my room like a toxic cloud.“It means dutiful . . . servile.” She placed the flash card down on the pile of words I’d gotten wrong. It was a lot bigger than the ones I’d gotten right. But now I’d remember “obsequious.” Because it was what I was being right now.In my lap, my phone vibrated. Even though it was loud, she didn’t notice. I glanced at the screen. It was a text from Hammond.Where r u dude? Get ur ass down here already.I texted back.Can’t. Stuck w Shale’s SAT tutor.Thought u were talking 2 ur mom.I did. No dice.The old lady lifted another card. I took a deep breath and held it. Then texted again.Have u seen ally?There was no response.“What is the definition of . . .”—cough, phlegm rattle—“mendicant?”I brightened slightly. I knew this one. “Begging . . . or a beggar.”She smiled. Her front two teeth were brown. “Good!”The card went on my correct stack. My phone vibrated.Not really. She’s avoiding us.I let out a frustrated sigh. I don’t know what I’d been hoping for. That she was sitting around moping? Asking about me? Why would she be doing that when she’d basically told me she couldn’t give a shit about me right before she left? I still couldn’t figure out what I’d done so wrong that day. If she’d given me five more seconds, I would have explained everything. I would’ve told her why I kept the whole thing about her dad a secret. And maybe she would have forgiven me. She would’ve had to. Because I didn’t really do anything wrong. It was all Shannen.My teeth gnashed like they did every time I thought about Shannen lately. We’d been having the perfect night until she’d gone and effed it all up. Me and Ally were this close to being together like a real couple. I’d never even wanted that with anyone before, and the second I did? Gone.The door to my room opened behind us and I quickly shoved my phone under my leg. The old lady tutor might have been hard of hearing, but my mom wasn’t missing a thing lately with the mood she’d been in. The other day she’d called me out because I’d left my damn Xbox on pause overnight. Like we had any problems paying the electric bills. It was like she was looking for ways to get on my case.“How’s it going in here?” she asked.I didn’t acknowledge her, but tutor lady smiled as she turned haltingly in her seat. I could hear her bones creaking as she moved.“Fine, fine. He’s coming along,” she said.What? Seriously? Maybe she could only remember that I’d gotten the last one right. I sat up a little straighter.“Good! I’m glad to hear it,” my mother said. From the corner of my eye, I saw her smooth my bedspread. Guess Marta, our cleaning lady, hadn’t done a good enough job that morning. “See, Jake? I knew you could do it if you just focused.”Right. Whatever you say. But I wasn’t about to contradict her. I knew an opportunity when I saw it. And this was an opportunity to make a deal. To maybe get a chance to see Ally. I turned in my chair, hooking my arm over the back. My phone dug into my thigh as it slid toward the edge of the seat.“Hey, Mom, I was thinking . . . since I’m doing so well . . . maybe I could go down the shore tonight? Just for the rest of the weekend,” I added quickly.She stood up straight and let her hands fall heavy at her side. “Jake, no.”“But Mom—”“You have to work this weekend,” my mother said. She picked up my sandals and tossed them into my closet.I cursed the day I’d left my schedule on the kitchen counter. My mother had made a copy on the printer in the office and tacked it to the damn refrigerator.“I can get someone to cover my shifts,” I said. “Please. Mom! I’m missing everything.”“This is not about getting someone to cover for you,” my mother said, closing the closet door with a bang. “You have responsibilities now, Jake. You need to learn to honor them.”My fingers clenched into fists. Suddenly my room felt insanely small. Like there was no air. Like the ceiling was slowly lowering above my head. Everyone I knew was down the shore—sleeping late, playing volleyball on the beach, eating Bay Village pizza every day, and wakeboarding while the sun went down. But me? I was trapped in my tiny cell, breathing in noxious onion fumes and learning words no sane twenty-first-century person ever used in actual conversation.“This sucks,” I said, slumping back in my chair. As I moved, my phone hit the floor. And vibrated loudly. I lunged for it, but my mother was too fast. She plucked it off the carpet and checked the screen. Her face went ashen.“Your mom blows,” she read.My heart curled up and died. “He didn’t mean—”My mother’s mouth was a very thin line. She turned the phone off and dropped it in the pocket of her white shorts. “You can have that back when we’re done here. Meantime, I think I’ll call Hammond’s mom.”My face was on fire. “Mom, come on. Don’t.”“I think she should know the kind of language her son is using, don’t you?” she said.I swear old lady tutor laughed. Or maybe she was just choking again.“As for you, Jake, maybe we were unclear on what ‘grounded for the summer’ means,” my mother continued. “The sooner you accept that this is your life for the next two months, the better off you’ll be.”I bit my tongue to keep from pointing out that she’d let me go to the movies with Chloe. Maybe she was unclear about what “grounded for the summer” meant. I mean, she was the first one to blur the lines. I was just trying to make them blurrier. But if I said anything, she might go the other way. She might not let me go to the movies again, and then I’d really be screwed. So I just kept my mouth shut and slumped a little lower.“I ordered sushi for dinner,” my mother said. “When you’re done here, you can go pick it up.““Fine,” I said through my teeth.“Keep up the good work, Mrs. Tate!” my mother said as she walked out of the room.When she closed the door behind her, I swear I heard the sound of prison bars clanging.