Amped: A Kid Sensation Companion Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

addressed to me and stated:
    Happy Birthday, Electra.
    The handwriting was Jim’s – I’d received enough notes from him since we’d started dating to recognize it anywhere.
    Frowning, not caring about the impropriety of what I was doing, I picked up the box and turned, kicking the closet door shut with my leg just as Geneva came into the room. Almost ignoring her, I set the box on the edge of the desk and began removing the contents one by one.
    There were other gifts in the box, with various salutations on them. Some said “Merry Christmas,” others said “Happy Valentine’s Day,” and so on. Geneva walked over next to me and stood there silently as I went through everything.
    “What is all this?” I finally asked. “Did Jim actually get all this? Is he back?”
    “No,” Geneva said, in a voice full of melancholy. “He’s not back. These are things he bought before he left.”
    I shook my head, confused. “I don’t understand. My birthday is two months away. And Christmas? We exchanged Christmas gifts before we left. Why would he go get more? Why would he do this?”
    “Because,” Geneva said, fighting back tears, “he didn’t know when he’d be back.”
    “What?”
    “He didn’t know when he’d be back,” she repeated, “but he wanted you to know how much he cares for you. So he bought you gifts for all the upcoming occasions.”
    A tear ran down from her right eye, and as Geneva silently wiped it away, I realized the heartache she must be feeling. Her mother, an alien princess, had been summoned back to her homeworld when Geneva was just an infant and had never returned. Now her son had been forced to travel to that same distant planet, and she was faced with the prospect that he – like her mother – might never come back. And the fact that Jim had left future gifts for me made me suddenly realize how real (and possibly permanent) his absence truly was.
    Feeling tears welling in my eyes, I stepped to Geneva and gave her a strong, heartfelt hug, which she returned in spades.
    “It’s okay,” she said, patting my back. “I miss him, too.”
    She took a step back, holding me at arm’s length with her hands on my shoulders. Ashamed of how thoughtless I’d been a few moments earlier – solely focused on how Jim’s actions affected
me
– I cast my eyes downward, unable to meet her gaze.
    “Don’t worry,” she continued, lifting my chin and showering me with a smile. “This is Jim we’re talking about. He’ll be back.”
    “Yeah, but when?” I asked, glancing at the stack of gifts. If they were any indication, Jim himself realized that he could be gone for quite a long time.
    “If I know my son, he’ll be walking through that door any second.”
    We were both silent for a moment, each of us plainly wishing for her statement to come true.
    “Then again,” she went on as her prediction obviously failed to materialize, “that boy has a talent for being tardy.”

Chapter 5
    I stayed at Geneva’s house about another two hours after the incident with the gifts. I had noticed as we put everything back in the closet that her normally cheerful outlook had quickly reasserted itself, which, in my opinion, showed her strength of character. Personally, I’d have a tough time keeping a sunny disposition if my only child had been ordered to travel to a distant, alien world without any indication of when or if he’d return. (It was tough enough that it was just my boyfriend who had gone off.) That said, Geneva clearly had faith in her child and was secure in her belief that he’d come back to her.
    “Jim can take care of himself,” she’d said at one point. “And he’ll have my mother, who won’t let anything happen to him.”
    I’d almost raised an eyebrow at that, but kept my opinion to myself. After she dropped me off at home, however, I couldn’t stop thinking about Geneva’s utter certainty and conviction regarding her family – particularly in regards to a mother that she