Hot Air Balloon, GRAND FINALE!!!

Submitted by Clare on Fri, 10/08/2010 - 20:14

Thank you everyone for reading this story! Here you go, chapters 20-22 and the Epilogue!! Remember, please, i never got a chance to really edit this, but here it is! As AP goes away next month, i am SO HONORED i got to be on here long enough to post my entire novel!!! Thank you so much, Ben! Its been a great adventure ;-)

Chapter Twenty Uncle Jeff smothered Cody in a fond hug when he got out of the car. Aunt Jodie glared in disapproval. “Jeffry,” She said with a superior tone. “Maggie has sent Cody to his room, and you are hindering his punishment,” “Oh, shut up!” Mrs. Ryan snapped, practically shoving her sister-in-law out of the way as she stormed into the house. “Cody is my kid and I will tell him what to do! Get in your room!” Cody wordlessly followed his mother into the house and headed up the stairs to his room. He knew he had hurt her pretty bad, running away and all. He’d never stopped to consider how it would make her feel…especially after his father left. She must have felt so…abandoned. Cody stopped on the stairs, and leaned over the railing. “Mom?” he called. “Your room, Cody. Now.” “I know…Mom, I’m sorry,” He heard his mother sigh. “We’ll talk about it later. Go.” Cody felt like the world’s worst friend and son. He knew his mother had every right to hate him for the rest of his life. Georgie had every right to hate him for eternity! Every time he thought of Georgie, all he could see was her face, bruised and scarred and bleeding. He ran as fast as he could to his room. He nearly had a heart attack when he walked through the door. Aunt Jodie and his mother had gone to town. Everything had vanished! It was clean! Frantically, Cody ripped open his backpack and tossed the contents of it everywhere. There. He sighed in relief. It was a start. The longer the room was clean, the more likely it was that it would be a permanent state. Cody flopped down onto his perfectly made bed, trying to mess it up. He sighed, his eyes drifting closed. He was exhausted. The phone rang. Cody could hear everything in the perfectly quiet house, and listened to his aunt walk to the phone and answer it. “Hello, Mrs. Walter’s speaking. Oh. Yes. Of course. No, not at the moment I don’t think. We just got home. Yes. Fine. Goodbye.” Cody frowned, wondering who it could have been. “Who was that?” He heard his mother ask. “It was Cody’s father,” Aunt Jodie replied with a sniff. Cody suddenly felt very cold. “He wants you to call him back later,” Aunt Jodie continued. “He’s irritated he couldn’t talk to you sooner,” Cody thought he heard his mom start to cry. “I can’t believe he even cares. I can’t believe this. Why are the two people I thought I could always count on always running out on me? First him, than Cody…” Cody rolled over and buried his face in his pillow, trying to shut out the sound of his poor mom crying. He was a terrible son. And a terrible friend. How much had he hurt Georgie and his mom? And who else had he hurt? What else had he totally ruined? The phone rang again, but Cody kept his head down in his pillow, forcing himself not to cry. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Cody grumbled. It was his mother. She looked around his already filthy room and sighed. “Um…Honey? That was Mr. O’Kay. He just wanted me to know…he doesn’t want you seeing Georgie anymore?” “Why don’t they just drive a stake through my heart?” Cody snarled from his pillow. “I hate myself already! Why doesn’t somebody just put me out of my misery!?” “Cody, come on,” Mrs. Ryan said, sighing. “This is understandable…I mean, what you did was stupid. They have a right to protect their daughter however they see fit,” “I was supposed to protect Georgie!” Cody shouted. “I know already! They’ll probably set up a law suit against me! I know! I practically kidnapped their daughter and nearly got her killed! I know!” Mrs. Ryan was glad her son knew the gravity of his actions, but felt he was taking it harder than necessary. “Listen, Cody…this doesn’t have to be a huge deal. I think with time Georgie’s parents will let up a little, but if not, you still have to respect their decision. I’m sorry, Cody. I know you and Georgie were really good friends,” “Were friends?” Cody mumbled. If nothing else, he’d felt certain Georgie could forgive him for the whole thing. He knew she had loved it almost as much as he had. No one else understood that. “And…Cody?” Mrs. Ryan said. “Your dad called…” “I know.” “Oh. Well…when I call him back…I think he’s going to need an explanation…as to why you ran away,” Cody was quiet for a while. Finally, he sighed. “Because…because I couldn’t face my stupid life anymore. I was sick of it…I’m still sick of it! Wishing Dad was still here…and that you didn’t worry so much or have to work so hard. And that we didn’t have to live here. I miss having our own place. I miss…I miss the time when you…trusted me. I didn’t know what else to do, so I ran away. And I took Georgie with me. I just felt lost where I was. I thought maybe I could find myself somewhere else. That’s it. That’s why I left.” Mrs. Ryan was quiet. “I…I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me?” “Because you wouldn’t get it. You still don’t. Can you just leave me alone now?” His mother left, and Cody lay on his bed, hating himself. He just wished he could go back in time and keep being a stupid kid…a stupid dumb kid, instead of a stupid clever kid. If he had kept being dumb, he would have kept blowing up flowerbeds and riding down into busy traffic in a wagon. Not running away, trashing an expensive hot air balloon, getting his best friend mugged and then hit by a truck. And now. Now he would never see Georgie again. He’d never felt so hated…or hated himself so much. It was true that Georgie had missed her family to the point of pain. But the instant she walked in the door, she stopped missing them. She was mobbed by siblings screaming at her, some looking happier to see her than others. Her sisters hugged her and then called her an idiot. Brian didn’t even bother to hug her before insulting her on multiple levels, saying he admired her stupidity. “Kids!” Mrs. O’Kay hollered over the six other voices. “Georgie’s tired. She’s been through a lot. She’s in enough trouble as it is. You can talk to her later.”
Gee, thanks Mom, Georgie thought. That’s really good of you to say. She was sent to her room, where she was soon joined by Rachel and Jessica. “You are so dead,” Rachel said. “Oh my gosh what were you thinking!?” Georgie collapsed in the middle of the floor and just lay there, trying to ignore her older sisters. “We were worried about you,” Jessica said sympathetically. “We thought Cody had…like…kidnapped you or something,” “Well, he didn’t,” Georgie said. “That’s gonna be a real ugly scar,” Rachel said, glancing down at her sister’s forehead. “Yep,” Georgie said. “I’m gonna be hideous and disfigured all my life,” Rachel looked amazed by how unconcerned Georgie was about this. “Oh my gosh…do you like…hate Cody now? I would so hate somebody who gave me a scar like that!” “No!” Georgie shouted. “It wasn’t Cody’s fault! Everybody thinks it’s his fault, even him! It’s not his fault! It was my fault! I’m gonna punch anybody who says it’s his fault!” “Whoa, way to take it too seriously. I just mean…it’s a really bad scar, Georgie, and---” “I don’t care!” Georgie screamed. She flung herself off the floor and raced out of the room, slamming the door so hard the wall shook. The anticipated ‘chewing out’ took place for Georgie. The resulting punishment was, but not restricted to, being grounded until further notice, extra chores, and of course, no Cody. “Have you seen Cody?” Mrs. Ryan asked. “Isn’t he still in bed?” Aunt Jodie asked. “No!” Mrs. Ryan cried. “He’s never up this early! Oh no…do you think he ran away again!?”
“That would be awful soon since he last ran away, don’t you think?” Uncle Jeff said. There was a doubtful pause. “Oh!” Mrs. Ryan cried. “We have to find him! I can’t lose him again!”
She was nearing hysteria, so her brother and sister-in-law quickly agreed they should search the house before panicking. “If he’s running away again, wouldn’t he be outside?” Aunt Jodie mused. “Yes!” Mrs. Ryan cried. She raced to the front door, flung it open…and the first thing she saw was Cody sitting on the front steps. He was still wearing the clothes he’d been in yesterday and he didn’t even seem to notice his mother as she walked out onto the porch. She saw he had a flashlight and a book sitting next to him, but that was it. Not running away gear. He had his chin resting in his hands, his back to the door. “Cody?” Mrs. Ryan said softly. He looked up. “Hey,” Mrs. Ryan was so happy to see he was still there that she just stood and stared at him for a little while. “Um…what are you doing out here?” Cody shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep, so I came out here to read,” “Oh. Well…Aunt Jodie’s making breakfast. Are you hungry?”
Cody shrugged again. “Sure…I’ll come inside in a minute,” “Alright, Honey,” Mrs. Ryan said, frowning a little. This was all very odd Cody behavior. Not sleeping. Reading. Not getting wildly excited at the mention of food. Chapter Twenty-One It wasn’t at all often that Georgie walked the five miles to Cody’s house. For most of their friendship, she couldn’t even make it all the way there. But after running away and walking what felt like hundreds of miles, it wasn’t a difficult trek at all. She hid behind trees and snuck to the side of the Walter’s house where Cody’s bedroom was, and picked a decorative rock out of the landscape bed against the side of the house.
She took a step back, prayed he was actually in there (and alone), and tossed a rock. She tossed it way too low and had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit by it on its way down. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She threw the second rock, and it hit the window with a gentle rap. She picked up another rock and it also hit the window. She stood poised with a third, just in case, and waited. The next thing she knew, Cody was staring down at her through the window, a shocked look on his face. He opened it and stuck his head out. “What are you doing here!?” he cried. “I need to talk to you,” Georgie said, smiling at him. Man it was good to see him again! “Stay there,” Cody said. “I’ll be down in a sec,” When Cody appeared around the side of the house, he held a Styrofoam cup in either hand. “The only excuse I had to come out here,” he said. “You know Aunt Jodie…a single drop of cocoa on her carpet…” “And you’d be dead,” Georgie finished, smiling again. They sat down on the decorative boulders and began sipping at the chocolaty goodness. Neither of them spoke until they were both finished, fingering empty Styrofoam cups. “So,” Cody said. “What was so important that you had to come all the way here?” Georgie sighed heavily. “Cody…everything has changed since we got back,” Cody nodded rather solemnly. “Yeah.” “And…I wanna run away again!” she blurted. Cody fell off his boulder. “What!?” he cried. “I mean it!” Georgie said. “It was way more fun being just the two of us on our own! Just think…no school, no chores, no problems! Just like last time!” Cody slowly climbed back onto the boulder. He suddenly looked very upset. “G-girl,” he began slowly. “We…we can’t,” “Why not?” Georgie demanded. “We can’t do that to our parents again,” Cody said. “My mom…I don’t know what that would do to her,” “You said yourself your mom…everyone…is overreacting. You can take care of yourself. Besides, if they wanted us to stay, don’t you think they’d treat us a little better?”
“Georgie, that’s not the point,” Cody said. “And it doesn’t matter. I’m not going.” Georgie stared at him, shocked. “Whaddya mean!?” “I mean that I’m saying no, Georgie,” Cody replied. “I’m not doing that again. It was stupid. It was dangerous. We both almost got killed!” “So what!?” Georgie cried. “You’re the one who always said that life in and of itself was dangerous! You’re the one who taught me that!” “That’s just it, Georgie,” Cody said. “I’m a terrible influence on you. I led you into the stupidest mess in the history of the universe, and I’m not gonna do it again, ok?” “No!” Georgie snapped. “It’s not ok! Whatever happened to adventures? Whatever happened to the Cody Ryan who lived for adventure? What happened to the Cody Ryan I know? My best friend? Huh!?” “The Cody Ryan you knew grew up, ok?” Cody snapped. “And he’s waiting for Georgie to grow up and stop being stupid!” Georgie looked like she’d been slapped. They’d fought a million times before…but she had never thought Cody would ever say something like that. “Look,” Cody said. “I’m sorry, but it’s true. It was a stupid kid prank. I can’t go letting you throw yourself into something dangerous again. I have changed, Georgie. Running away changed me. I can’t explain it, but I’m never going to get anywhere if I keep running backwards. I have to get past…you know…what’s been intimidating me, but—” “It’s all about you, isn’t it!?” Georgie snapped. “You know best, you’re the only one who matters, you this, you that—” “I did not say that!” Cody yelled. “You’re so…immature! You don’t take anything seriously! You treat everything like a game!” “That’s not true!” Georgie shouted, stomping her foot and balling her hands into fists. “You’re being stupid! There’s no reason you don’t wanna run away…you’re just doing what you promised you would never do! You’re not taking me seriously because I’m younger! You’re treating me like you’re better than I am!” “I am not!” Cody snapped. “You just don’t understand,” “No, you don’t understand!” Georgie screamed. “You’re a self-centered jerk and I can’t believe I was ever friends with you!” She threw her Styrofoam cup at him. “Thanks a lot, Cody. I really thought our friendship meant something to you, too.” She got to her feet. “Goodbye.” Cody rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It does matter to me, unlike one of us,” “Shut up!” Georgie snapped, her eyes getting red. Cody suddenly realized in a thunderclap of guilt how hurt Georgie was. “Wait…I…” “Just leave me alone you creep!” she shouted, and broke into a run away from the house. “I never wanna see you again! Ever!” “Well that’s just fine!” Cody yelled. “‘Cause according to our parents, we won’t anyway!” He threw his Styrofoam cup across the lawn and stormed back into the house. As she walked home, Georgie was uncertain just how she felt. She was certainly angry with Cody for refusing to run away with her and for treating her in a way she never believed he could treat her. But she was also bitterly, heartbrokenly disappointed and lost. Cody had changed…subtly, but surely. She had never, ever even considered that she and Cody would stop being best friends. And now…it seemed…they had. Georgie didn’t start crying until her anger wore off, which was in the middle of dinner that evening. She sat at the table, fork-full of barbecued chicken poised beneath her mouth, when the full force of it hit her. She let out a rather heartbroken wail and her fork clattered down onto her plate, turning all ten other heads at the table. They stared at her as she grew slowly more hysterical. “Um…what’s wrong with Georgie?” Katie asked. Georgie shoved herself away from the table and ran till she had scrambled up the ladder onto her bed, where she cried herself to sleep, sobbing over and over, “He doesn’t love me anymore! Why doesn’t he love me anymore!?” Chapter Twenty-Two “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” --Orson Welles The week before school was to start passed like dark storm cloud over Georgie and Cody; slowly and ominously. Books were unpacked and gathered and school supplies bought. New clothes were needed all around in Wisconsin; the cold weather set in extra early, chilling the warmth of summer away until it felt like a memory from a dream. The sky got dark before supper was even over yet, and the first frost killed all the flowers. The O’Kay family was getting really sick of Georgie. All she did was sit and mope, listening to depressing music. She looked almost emo sitting in the basement in her black hoodie and jeans that covered her feet they were so long. Her older sisters and mother tried to snap her out of it, but nothing worked. Finally, they gave up and told her if she wanted to waste her life in misery, so be it. Mrs. Ryan was too busy, tired, and upset to notice how miserable her son was. If Aunt Jody noticed, she was remarkably good a not caring. But Uncle Jeff noticed. He saw how Cody spent most of the day out on the front porch doing nothing, bundled up in a hoodie and boots, and hardly ate anything. They hadn’t had a pudding eating contest since Cody got home. He wanted to talk to him, but there was nothing to say. Neither Cody and Georgie ever knew it, but Uncle Jeff had seen Georgie storming off down the gravel road after their fight. Cody was miserable, and felt like it was all his fault. It was one thing being forbidden to see her; it was quite another feeling she never wanted to see him again. The day before school came like a knife of regret to the heart. Something had to give. Mrs. O’Kay had just laid the twins down for their nap, when the doorbell rang. Mrs. O’Kay was surprised. It was one in the afternoon, and she wasn’t expecting any visitors or packages. She went to the door, wondering who it could be. When she opened it, she was even more surprised. It was Cody Ryan. He stood with a rather meek expression on his face, his hands folded behind his back. “Well. Hello, Cody,” Mrs. O’Kay said, giving him a rather cold look. “Hello, Mrs. O’Kay,” Cody said. “I came just to give you this,” Pulling his hands out from behind his back, he handed her a small white envelope. It had nothing written on it, and the flap wasn’t sealed. Mrs. O’Kay frowned as she lifted up the flap and pulled out a small, type-written note. Dear Mr. and Mrs. O’Kay, I’m so sorry for everything. Please don’t punish Georgie for any of it---it was all my fault. I just wanted to escape my own problems and I dragged your daughter into it. I promise absolutely nothing bad happened while we were gone we didn’t already tell you about already. Please accept my apology. This isn’t about seeing Georgie again. I really truly care about your daughter, and if you think keeping her safe means keeping me away from her, I respect that decision. Again, I am truly sorry. Sincerely, Cody Ryan Cody looked like an abused dog, hanging his head and staring down at his shoes. “Hmph,” Mrs. O’Kay said. But her expression softened a touch. “Thank you for such a formal apology, Cody,” Cody was quiet, keeping his gaze down. “But…you have to realize, Cody…it’s just not easy to forgive something like this,” “I know,” Cody replied, still not looking up. “I…I really…like your daughter. I…I would never do anything to hurt her,” “But you did, Cody,” Mrs. O’Kay said, her voice catching a little. “And she could have been killed,” “I know,” Cody repeated, closing his eyes. “I know.” Mrs. O’Kay sighed. “I just don’t know how you could be so irresponsible,” Cody looked up than. He blinked, and broke into a crooked smile. “Well…” he laughed a little. Mrs. O’Kay frowned at him, unsure what was so amusing. Cody cleared his throat. “Well…goodbye, Mrs. O’Kay. Thank you for your time,” “I…your welcome, Cody,” Mrs. O’Kay replied. He was still smiling as he left. Mrs. O’Kay sighed and shook her head as she closed the door. When she turned around, she saw Georgie standing there, staring past her mother at the door. Mrs. O’Kay suddenly understood why Cody had been laughing. Georgie burst into tears. “Honey!” Mrs. O’Kay cried. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing,” Georgie sobbed. “I just didn’t realize how much I missed him!” She ran away from her mother and didn’t stop till she got to her bed, where she flopped down to cry. She lay there for a little while, sobbing sadly, wishing she could somehow tell Cody she didn’t hate him, and she was sorry. Life was so unfair. Suddenly, there was a knock on the window across from the bunk bed. Georgie froze, stopped crying, and sat up to listen. For a minute, she sat there listening to nothing but silence (or relative silence…she could still hear her siblings’ screamy giggles downstairs), and she wondered if it had been her imagination. It had been a very, very long time since she had heard that sound. She took a deep breath, ready to work herself into a nice, long, self-pitying sob…when she heard it again. Two quick, hard knocks on the window. Georgie scrambled off her bed and down the ladder so fast, she pulled her sheets off the mattress. She ran to the window, threw it opened, and screamed, “Cody!!” She threw her arms around him. “Sh! Sh! I’m happy to see you, too, G-girl!” Cody said, slipping through the window. Once his feet were on the carpet, he hugged Georgie as hard as he possibly could. “I got so upset when I saw you down there!” Georgie said, letting out a shaky sigh in relief that he was here, with her, where he was supposed to be. “You’re like the big brother I never had, and I love you, and I’m sorry I was a brat! I just need you to be my best friend again! I need you, Cody! I need you!” “Sh…I need you, too, Georgie,” Cody said, closing his eyes as he pressed his face down into her hair. “Now…” He pulled her away a little bit. “Down to business. Do you still want to run away?” Georgie’s eyebrows went up. “I know that was my idea first…but if you think about it, our last ‘running away’ ended up pretty…lousy,” Cody shook his head. “I’m not talking about running away like last time, I’m talking about running away like this time,” “And exactly how does one run away this time?” Georgie asked. “The way I ran away when we destroyed the parachute,” Cody replied. “We simply climb out the window and go eat some ice cream together,” Georgie smiled, and wiped the last few tears out of her eyes. “That would be epic,” She quickly pulled on a pair of sparkly black boots of Rachel’s. Cody climbed down first, and then helped her down. They raced out from behind the shrubs down the sidewalk as fast as they could, laughing excitedly. At Jim’s, Cody bought a Cherry Quad to split. They talked about everything as they ate. Everything. They didn’t stop once, unable to think of anything else to talk about, and finally, as Cody was licking his spoon and Georgie was finishing her last scoop of ice cream, she realized she had to bring it up. “Cody…is this it?” she asked. “The big, last goodbye? I mean…my dad and all…” “No way!” Cody replied. “I didn’t go all the way to Iowa and almost get killed a few dozen times just to come home and never see you again!” “So…what do you do?” Georgie asked halfheartedly. “I…I would even…” She winced. “I would even be willing to give up adventures if I could still be with you!” “Ah,” Cody said, smiling impishly. “And that is where I have something to tell you your mother told me…” “Hey, Mom?” Rachel said. “Where’s Georgie? She stole my new boots! They were sitting by my bed and she took them!” “She was feeling pretty down,” Mrs. O’Kay replied. “So I sent her to Jim’. I thought it might cheer her up,” Rachel stared at her mother. She stalked off grumbling, “You never sent me to Jim’s when I was feeling down to cheer me up…” Mrs. O’Kay smiled to herself. She knew very well that Cody had taken Georgie to Jim’s. Just like she told him to. Epilogue “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.”
--Thomas Jefferson So. Cody and I could never have hated each other forever, even with my step-dad hanging over our shoulders every waking moment. That was one of those side effects of my mother doing something and him loudly saying “Only if…” Life doesn’t pause, and it doesn’t rewind. So I started 7th grade at home and Cody started freshman year at Shelby High. Please know we were both still grounded for three months before any ‘hanging out’ got underway. We did stupid things, but never anything that could match running away. We figured we better wait a little while so the smoke could settle. We blew stuff up. We even got my dad to ride in a hot air balloon with us. It wasn’t perfect. But it was enough. When you love somebody, it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s like flying in a hot air balloon…it’s amazing, and yet, you still can’t wait to kiss the ground wherever you touch back down. And that’s what makes it an adventure. The End…for now.

Author's age when written

Genre

Fiction

Comments

Madeline

Tue, 10/19/2010 - 13:52

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...

That. Was. Phenomenal. (spelled incorrectly most likely...lol)

I'm so sad Hot Air Balloon ended, but it was perfect! :-)

Now I guess it's time to say bye to AP, huh?

Oh well....you did a great job with this whole story. I love it!

Thank you for posting this--it's something that could be published one day.

Keep up the great work!!!

-HomeschoolGirl

Clare

Tue, 10/19/2010 - 19:03

Permalink

Thank you! It was the most

Thank you! It was the most fun book EVER! I don't know if i'll write a sequel...i'll have to see. I need to edit it....stupid printer is STILL NOT FIXED :(

KatieSara

Tue, 10/19/2010 - 19:17

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As I wipe away a tear...

Perfect, perfect ending. You wrapped everything up so nicely and it really felt like they came full circle, what with the Cherry Quad and all. This whole post was so adorable and sweet and I teared up. :) This is a great, great story, Clare! I loved every minute of it and I hope to high heaven that it gets published someday. I'm glad you were able to post the whole thing before AP closed. Splendid job, my friend; and if I had to wear a Spongebob avvie because of this story, it was completely worth it.

Thanks for the adventure. :)

Katie:-)

"Are all humans like this? So much bigger on the inside?"
-Idris/TARDIS