Girls, Gifted

by E K Ballard

  “That didn’t take long!” said Jack and John to each other.

  “Nice goal, Jamie!”

  “I think her knee is just fine.”

  “Who is that on the ground?” asked Angela.

  “That’s the girl who kicked Jamie last game,” said John.

  “Oh, look, she’s bleeding!” said Angela. The crowd got quiet as they saw someone was hurt on the field.

  The trainer pulled Alexia up. She held a white towel to her chin that was turning red. She was helped off the field and the crowd applauded politely. Another player ran onto the field and took her place.

  * * *

  Kristin saw she had a picture of Alexia as she got kicked in the chin with Jamie’s foot. Jamie had an expression of concentration on her face as she was just starting to pitch forward in a stumble as her cleat caught Alexia’s chin.

  Middleton kicked off and they played as if they were rattled. Their passes were intercepted, they were beaten to loose balls, and they were a step behind the play. They didn’t possess the ball on the Stowe defensive half of the field for more than ten seconds in the first half.

  Jamie scored off a nice crossing play and assisted on a third goal before halftime. Stowe was well in control of the game and they were in good spirits when they walked off the field at the half.

  Kristin stood by the team and looked like she was busy taking notes. Jamie walked up to her and said, “I told you not to worry about her.”

  Kristin said, “Please tell me that was an accident.”

  “It was,” said Jamie. “She plays recklessly. It was going to catch up with her sometime. She’ll be okay. She’s warming up on the sidelines. She’s coming back in.”

  Jamie went and stood with the team and listened to Coach Abbott.

  * * *

  Alexia did come back in to the game for the second half with a bandage on her chin. Jamie took note that she was back.

  Middleton kicked off and Jamie ran down towards the Middleton defense with Alexia running next to her. Another player joined her, so Jamie had double coverage on her. Jamie went and stood by the sidelines, even with the last defender back for Middleton. The two players covering her waited for her to do something, but Jamie just stood by the sidelines. The game continued and Jamie bided her time. She saw her opportunity and broke at a full sprint towards the center of the field, calling for the ball. Tessa threaded the needle with a through pass to Jamie that left her in a breakaway with only the goalie to beat.

  The Middleton players chased after Jamie, but she put distance between them with every step. The goalie came out to challenge Jamie and she pushed the ball firmly past the goalie for her third goal of the game. Jamie had a big grin on her face as she celebrated with her teammates. Kristin got a shot of that.

  With ten minutes left in the game, Stowe had an offensive corner kick. Jamie lined up outside the penalty area. She had Alexia and two other players standing by her, marking her. When Tessa waved her hand for her teammates to make their runs, Jamie weaved her way through the players who were just trying to get in her way. Alexia managed to stay goal side of Jamie, but when the kick came in to the goal box high and long, Jamie thought she could get it. She planted her legs, swung her arms back for extra momentum, and sprung up above Alexia and their goalie. The ball sailed over everyone else in the box and onto Jamie’s forehead, where she headed the ball past the goalie and into the back of the net for another goal.

  Stowe won the game 5-0 to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  After the game, Rob and Lucas made their way down to the sideline where Kristin was standing. She hugged them both and showed them some of the pictures. Angela, Jack, and John came down to see Jamie and saw Kristin, so they headed over to say hello.

  “Hi, Kristin,” said Angela, giving her a little hug. “What a great game, huh?”

  “It sure was!” Kristin said. “Look at the pictures I got!” Kristin handed the camera to Angela so she could see for herself.

  Kristin, Rob, and Lucas said hello to John and Angela. She looked at Jack and knew that was probably the brother who Jamie spoke of often. “Are you Jack?” she asked.

  “I am,” replied Jack.

  “I’m Kristin.”

  “Are you the Kristin who is actually getting my little sister to study?” Jack asked.

  Kristin smiled. “She’s doing really well.”

  Jamie walked over and got hugged immediately by Jack. John and Angela were next and Jamie looked at Kristin with a smile in her eyes.

  John introduced Rob and Lucas to Jack.

  “Actually, I knew your mother, Irene,” Rob said to Jack. “You have her face. I’m so sorry to hear what happened to her. My brother and I just loved her growing up.”

  The conversation elsewhere came to a halt.

  “How did you know my mom?” Jack asked.

  “She used to babysit for me and my brother, Mike. We thought of her like a sister. I’m so sorry.”

  “Thanks,” Jack said. “Yeah, I still miss her.”

  “That’s too bad. It was quite a shock when Jamie told me that.”

  Jack nodded, lost in thought. “Wait, did you say your brother’s name was…Mike?”

  “Yes. Mike Olson.”

  “Did he once walk off when she was watching him at the beach and fall asleep in a hammock on someone’s front porch?”

  “Yes!” Rob said. “The whole beach was looking for him. The police came, then the Marine Patrol came and everyone was thinking he had drowned until someone found him.”

  “She must have told me and Jason that story a million times,” Jack said, laughing. “I always said she’d never let us out of her sight when we went near water because of this kid, Michael.”

  “Everyone was in a panic, and there he was, fast asleep, rocking away. Thank God they found him quickly.”

  “She used to talk about you two a lot,” Jack said.

  “Most people aren’t lucky enough to find one great woman to marry, let alone, two, but I sure hit the jackpot,” John said quietly. He put his arm around Angela and pulled her in to his side.

  “Well, as sorry I am that the boys lost their mother, I’ve been blessed to be a part of this family and help raise them and, of course, Jamie.” Angela said, leaning into John. “One of these days, I’ll tell you how much Jack liked getting a stepmother and a baby sister in his life!”

  “Aw, come on,” said Jack. “I had just lost my mother!”

  “I know. It was terrible. But it all worked out,” said Angela. “And you were a great big brother to your sister. She followed you around like a puppy.”

  “Let me know when she’s finally housebroken,” Jack said, and Jamie punched his arm.

  “Who is hungry?” asked John.

  “I am. Are we going out to get something to eat at the diner?” asked Jack.

  “Sure,” said John. “Would you all like to join us?” he asked Rob and Lucas.

  “I don’t think we should,” said Rob.

  “Come on, Dad!” Lucas said.

  Rob saw how badly Lucas wanted to go. “We’d love to join you,” he said.

  They all walked out to the parking lot. Lucas asked, “Jamie, can I ride with you guys?” Kristin looked slightly annoyed, but Jamie looked at him and smiled.

  “If it’s okay with your dad,” she answered.

  “That’s fine,” said Rob, amused.

  “Dad,” said Kristin.

  “Come on, it’s cute that he has a little crush on Jamie,” he said to her.

  “No, it’s not,” Kristin said.

  They all drove to the diner and got a table for eight. They were greeted with calls of congratulations from other patrons and Jamie had a big smile on her face.

  “Well, Jamie, that was some game you played,” said Rob. “Four goals and an assist! That’s a big day.”

  “Thanks,” said Jamie. “The defense won it for us. We were just clicking today.”

&nb
sp; Jamie was seated directly across from Kristin and Jack sat at the end of the table. He watched Jamie looking at Kristin and Kristin at Jamie.

  “I know we’re all here because we are celebrating the win, but I wanted to celebrate something else today,” John said. Everyone stopped talking and looked down to the end of the table at him. He pulled out an envelope and made a production of pulling it out.

  “The first quarter is almost over and we printed out your progress report grades, Jamie.”

  Jack whistled. “Let’s see it, dad,” he said.

  Jamie knew her dad wouldn’t do anything to embarrass her, so she must have gotten at least all B’s. She watched as he pulled the piece of paper out of the envelope.

  “Who wants to guess Jamie’s GPA?” he asked the table.

  “Dad,” Jamie protested. “Stop.”

  “Two eight?” guessed Jack.

  Angela smiled at Jamie and said, “I already saw it.”

  Kristin watched John having fun with this. Rob and Lucas were entertained by the production.

  “Drum roll,” said John. Jack drummed his fingers on the table.

  “Jamie Chase, you have a three point four GPA!” said John.

  “Hey, that’s great!” said Jack.

  Kristin looked over at her with a huge grin on her face. “Well, done, Jamie. Well done,” she said.

  John cleared his throat and said, “Now there are some people at the table who might not think getting three Bs is a good thing.”

  Angela looked at Kristin and laughed. “I don’t get Bs,” said Angela, mimicking what Kristin said two months ago.

  “What’s this about?” asked Rob.

  “One day, Kristin came over to the house and Jamie hadn’t done the work for their project, and Kristin was really mad at Jamie,” said Angela.

  “I remember that,” said John, “because I was really mad at Jamie for the same reason.”

  “Anyway, Kristin is chewing Jamie out, and telling her she’s going to end up flipping burgers for a living, and—“

  “Kristin! You didn’t say that, did you?” Rob asked, aghast.

  “I did,” Kristin admitted.

  “Then Jamie says something about she can get a C, and with Kristin’s automatic A, they’ll get a B, so what’s the big deal?”

  “Oh, I’m sure that went over well,” said Rob, looking at his daughter.

  “Like a fart in church,” said Angela, and everyone laughed. “Kristin then says in this haughty voice, I don’t get Bs!”

  “She doesn’t,” said Rob. They looked at him. “She doesn’t get any Bs. Never has.”

  “Yes, she did, Dad. Once. Remember?” said Lucas.

  “Shut up, Lucas,” warned Kristin.

  “No, I’d like to hear this. Speak up, Lucas. Has Kristin ever gotten a grade less than an A?” asked Jamie.

  “No,” said Rob. “She has been an all A student every term.”

  “Yes, she did, Dad. Remember when she got a B in PE?” Lucas said.

  John, Jack, Angela, and Jamie burst out laughing. They couldn’t stop.

  “Lucas, I am going to kill you!” said Kristin.

  Jamie stopped laughing long enough to ask Kristin incredulously. “You got a B in PE?” she asked.

  “That’s right; you did get a B in PE one quarter in 8th grade. You were so upset and the coach wouldn’t budge,” Rob said, smiling at the memory.

  “How do you get a B in PE?” asked Jamie.

  “Ugh,” said Kristin, glaring at Lucas. “Thank you for reminding me of that evil, evil woman. I still got an A for the year.”

  “She said Kristin kept faking being sick so she could sit out and do her homework,” recalled Rob. “She was traumatized.”

  When they all stopped teasing Kristin, John continued with a serious tone to his voice. “I’d like to thank you, Kristin, for being such a big part of Jamie getting her grades up. Her mother and I worried about her not doing well this year and I’ll tell you something, Jamie. I spoke to a dozen coaches today at your game who were there to recruit and when they asked me how you were doing in your classes, I showed them your report card. You have five Division I coaches who told me you need to get your application in and they can get admissions to overlook your previous grades. They hope you’ll retake the SAT and do a little better, but it’s looking good.”

  The table grew quiet as the enormity of what John said sunk in.

  “Congratulations, kid,” said Jack.

  “Now, you have to keep your grades above a 3.0 to keep those offers on the table, so I want you to stay on her, Kristin,” said John. “I’d actually like to pay you to tutor her.”

  “Oh, no, I couldn’t take any money from you,” said Kristin.

  “Well, we are going to do something for you,” said John. “You have really turned Jamie around in her school work and we can’t thank you enough.”

  “I only help her get organized,” said Kristin. “She is the one doing the work.”

  “So it looks like you are safe to play basketball this year,” said John to Jamie.

  “Great,” said Jamie without much enthusiasm. She really wanted to spend time with Kristin.

  “What about you, Kristin? What are your plans for college?” asked Jack.

  “I’m a junior, so I won’t be applying or anything until next year, but I’d like to go to either Yale or Harvard. It just depends on what sort of financial aid package I can get.”

  “What do you want to study?”

  “Premed,” Kristin answered. “I’ll probably just take a lot of science classes and see where I can get into med school.”

  “That’s pretty ambitious,” said Jack, impressed.

  When the waitress came to ask about coffee and dessert, John told her to bring him the check for the table. Rob started to argue, but Angela interrupted him and said, “Don’t even try. We won’t stand for it. We owe Kristin so much.”

  Kristin said, “We still have some work to do. Dad, I was wondering if it would be all right if I stayed over with Jamie again tonight.” She held her breath. “Jamie still needs to finish her Economics paper and we need to turn in some papers for Lit electronically.”

  Rob thought about it. “Your mother was adamant that you come home tonight. She wants us all to go to church together tomorrow morning,” said Rob. Kristin groaned

  “The Church of Hate?” said Kristin.

  “Yes, that one,” said Rob.

  “I could bring her home tomorrow morning whenever you need to be there,” offered Jamie. “I really need to get that done.”

  “Come on, Dad, please?” begged Kristin. She really wanted to spend some more time with Jamie.

  “No, sorry, your mother is making a nice dinner and specifically said she wanted to have you home for dinner. You can get some work done the rest of the afternoon, but I want you home by 5:30 at the latest.”

  “But we’ll be doing family stuff all day tomorrow! This is my last chance this weekend to get my work done!”

  “Oh, all right. I’m already in the doghouse with your mother. But I want you home by nine tonight. Your mother is going to kill me, you know.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  “I’ll have her back by nine,” Jamie promised. Nine was better than 5:30.

  “It was great meeting you,” Jack said to Rob, shaking his hand.

  “Likewise,” said Rob.

  * * *

  Jamie took a quick shower while Kristin took care of the dogs. When she came out to the living room, she saw Kristin had her books out and was doing homework.

  “Can’t we take a break from books and do this?” asked Jamie as she started kissing Kristin. They lay down on the sofa with their bodies entwined. Kristin warmed herself with Jamie’s body heat and they eventually lay with Kristin’s head on Jamie’s chest, holding hands.

  “I could lie like this forever,” said Kristin sleepily. She fell asleep listening to Jamie’s heart beat through her shirt.

  Jamie stroked Kristin�
��s hair while she slept. Eventually Jamie drifted off to sleep, too. They both jerked awake when the dogs started barking at something outside.

  Kristin sat up. “Come on, you have to get your paper done, and you should work on your college applications.”

  They worked until eight. With Kristin’s help, Jamie had completed her online application to two colleges and had all her homework done. They lay back down together.

  “So, you’ve never, like, been with anyone?” Kristin asked.

  “You mean had sex?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No. Why?”

  “Well, I know you said last night we should take it slow, but, how slow?”

  Jamie craned her neck to look at Kristin. “Why? Do you think we should, you know?”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and now that I know that I want to be with you and you want to be with me, I don’t know, I just don’t want to take it too slowly.”

  “Kristin, I love you so much, I want to do everything with you. I just want us to be ready.” Jamie kissed Kristin’s ear. “We have all the time in the world.”

  “Okay,” agreed Kristin.

  They packed up Kristin’s bags and Jamie drove Kristin back to her house. When they pulled in, Jamie got out to help Kristin take her bags in.

  “You might not want to come in. My mom,” Kristin said.

  “Your mom is going to have to get used to me being around,” Jamie replied firmly. Jamie grabbed the heaviest bag and walked to the door with Kristin.

  Rob and Lucas were sitting at the kitchen table, playing chess. Rebecca heard the door close and came marching into the kitchen, where she gave Jamie a condescending look.

  “Glad you could make it home,” she said to Kristin.