by Dell, T. J.
“It’s going to be fine.” Tommy whispered. “My dad took me when I had my birthday. I’ve been 3 times since. They are a top notch company. Totally safe.”
“Then why did I have to sign a WAIVER?”
“I told you she wouldn’t do it.” Tommy whispered at Beth.
“She’s doing it.” Beth’s whisper was doing that annoying singing thing Beth favored so much.
“If I’m doing this then can you two shut up so I know how not to die!” Alyssa’s whisper turned the entire crowd toward her. It was a possibility that Alyssa wasn’t whispering anymore.
Salt and pepper guy cleared his throat. “Okay guys! It’s a full docket today, and we’re burning daylight!
Crazy number one was being strapped to crazy instructor number one. All new jumpers had to go down double with an instructor. Alyssa didn’t see how adding weight to the rope thing was supposed to make her feel safer. She considered making a run for it—Beth caught her after half a step.
“It’s my birthday! Shouldn’t I get to pick how we celebrate? Whatever happened to cake and ice cream?”
“You’re gonna love it. The adrenaline is a total rush!” Tommy looked so excited. He was definitely deranged. “I’m gonna go ahead of you. Just watch me.”
“You need to do this Alyssa! Trust me.” Beth turned her back around.
“How could scaring the crap out of myself possibly be very beneficial?” Her whisper had become a whine. Crazy number three was bouncing away at the end of that rope.
“Well, you have a tendency to avoid scary things. I figure if you can jump off a bridge—calling Brent will be cake.”
“Beth! Can you just leave that alone! I’m not celebrating my birthday by throwing myself off a bridge!”
“Happy birthday.”
They both turned to find one of the crazy instructors. He was probably a couple years older than them, but not old enough to have been doing this very long. “You’re my instructor?” Alyssa was getting more doubtful by the minute.
“You don’t look pleased.” He smiled at her and handed over the harness she needed to wear. “That’s too bad. I’m Chris.” He pointed to where his name was stenciled onto his shirt.
“Alyssa.” She shook his hand. “No offense, but could I maybe wait for someone… umm … more experienced?”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t dropped anybody yet.” He checked the buckles on her harness to be sure they were tight enough. “And someone like you—I’ll be holding on real tight.” He grinned up at her. Alyssa ignored his attempts to put her at ease.
It was Tommy’s turn and Beth ran to the railing to watch. Alyssa preferred not to, so she closed her eyes.
“You don’t want to watch with your friend?” The instructor asked.
“At the moment I’m not sure either of them are my friends.” Alyssa groused. This brought a confused look from Chris. “I am kind of here under duress.” She continued. “It’s their birthday gift to me.”
“Ahh.” He nodded. “And you don’t want to do it? “
“Not really.” Alyssa decided she could be honest with Beth out earshot. “Actually, I do want to. I’m just really really scared.”
“If it helps—I don’t mind if you scream on the way down. Most girls do.”
“I do not scream.” Alyssa’s competitive pride came out to play.
“My turn!” Beth was excited! She was absolutely deranged. “You aren’t going to chicken out on me if I go first are you?” She was giving Alyssa a suspicious look even as her instructor connected their harnesses.
“No. I’m right behind you. Go on—go check on your man.” Alyssa tried to sound light and convincing. But she wasn’t really certain that when her turn came she’d be able to do it.
“So that’s how it is? I was wondering how to ask. Figured one of you had to be attached to him.” Chris was talking as he walked her over to the staging area so salt and pepper guy could check them over.
“Beth and Tommy? Yup they’re pretty much attached at the hip, sorry.” Alyssa was trying not to hear Beth’s screams over the side of the bridge. Salt and pepper guy was counting backwards.
“I didn’t say I was disappointed in which one.” He winked at her as he wrapped his arms tightly around her torso. Before she even realized they’d been moved and hooked up to the rope, she heard the word “go!” And go they did—right over the edge.
It was amazing! Rush did not even begin to describe it. It felt like flying. Her only complaint was that it was too short. She hadn’t even screamed.
“That was incredible!” Alyssa was rushing over to where Beth and Tommy were waiting for her.
“And you didn’t even scream.” Chris piped up from behind her. She hadn’t realized he was still following her after they disentangled themselves.
“I told you! Oh, man! Amazing.” She was kind of speechless. So her words seemed detached and unintelligent. She didn’t care.
Chris was chuckling at her, and holding something out in his hand. “I’d love to take you jumping again. Take my card. We’ll get you into the next tour.”
“Thanks. Don’t these things fill up quick?”
“I’ll squeeze you in.” He pressed the card into her palm. “Happy birthday again, Alyssa. Nice to meet you both. Have a safe drive.” Chris winked one more time at her and jogged away.
“I bet they book a lot of sales that way.” Alyssa was saying. “Get you addicted, and then hand out business cards.”
“Yeah, that’s what he’s after. Sales.” Tommy was shaking his head and laughing. “Poor guy. And girls think we’re clueless.”
Alyssa thought about that in the car on the ride home. Chris had definitely been flirting with her. At the time she assumed it was his way of putting her at ease, but maybe it had been genuine. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t in any more of a dating place now than she had been at the Billy Joel concert.
“When can we go again?” She asked her friends. And they both laughed. What a great way to celebrate her birthday.
Tommy took them to dinner on the drive home, and he even took the liberty of ordering cake and ice cream for dessert. Wisely, he didn’t expect the waitresses to sing to her, but he did hum a few bars of happy birthday while they were eating. Beth really was so lucky. Not that Alyssa was jealous, but she did have a new found appreciation for good guys. And she was happy her friend had found one.
In school the next Monday Alyssa was having a hard time concentrating. It was a lucky thing for her that she’d been working ahead in most of her classes lately and her grades could afford for her to take an airhead day. In calculus the teacher had to call on her three times before Alyssa answered. She’d been wondering why Brent hadn’t said anything about his trips to Stoneybrook. Certainly there had been plenty of opportunities during the time out. Not that she’d been very keen to discuss Pop at that time.
In her English class she was grateful to be watching a movie she couldn’t focus on, because it gave her ample time to reflect on the fact that Brent knew instinctively not to push her into talking about Pop. At the time she may not have realized it, but half a day talking about Montreal?—that was clearly a diversionary tactic.
Not that all this soul searching reflection was particularly helpful. Mostly it was just confusing herself more. Her weekend had been fine. The Ladybugs won again, and her parents had a small belated party for her on Saturday evening. On Sunday she went to the mall. The one downside to bungee jumping had been that she couldn’t find her phone afterwards. Probably it was at the bottom of the Moshannon right now. The upside to losing her phone? Her parents offered to buy her the newest model smart phone as a birthday gift. Of course it had to be ordered and she wouldn’t be able to pick it up until next week, but she didn’t get that many phone calls these days anyhow. Now it was Monday—here she was without the hecticness of the weekend to distract her, and without that hecticness she had no means with which to drive thoughts of Brent from her mind.
“What’s w
ith the return of Zombie Alyssa?” Beth whispered behind her chemistry book.
“I’m not a zombie! I’m just thoughtful today, that’s all.”
“Still haven’t called Brent huh? I told you, you need to stop avoiding things just because they are scary! Look at last weekend. You almost missed out on that jump.”
Why did Beth suddenly seem to think she was Yoda? “There isn’t much point Beth. He stopped calling me you know. He told me he wasn’t in love with me, and then we had this break. And now… I don’t know, but he didn’t even call me on my birthday. That has to mean something right?”
“I don’t know about any of that Alyssa. But the guy’s crazy about you. You should have seen him that day he went after Pete. Boys don’t get that kind of scary about someone they have lukewarm feelings about.” Class was over, and they were headed into the hall now. Thankfully the din of shuffling teenagers covered Alyssa’s reaction.
“What! When did he go after Pete?”
“Duh, Alyssa. After the party. We talked about this remember? I told you how he was scum and deserved what he got? Didn’t you see how bad it was even after you were sick for two days?”
“I thought you meant Tommy kicking him in the ribs. You think Brent did that to him?”
Beth pulled Alyssa into the ladies room. “Okay. You really didn’t know?”
Alyssa was in shock. All she could do was shake her head from left to right.
“On Sunday when you wouldn’t talk to him he called me. So I told him what happened. Or what I was pretty sure happened from the looks of things. I was at Tommy’s house at the time. Brent showed up about five minutes after he hung up the phone.”
“He came over to tell you he punched Pete?”
“No. He came to get Tommy. Tommy answered the door and they just stared at each other like they were having some kind of man-telepathy conversation. And then Tommy nodded, and said let’s go. And off they went. Without one word to me. You should have seen it. It would have been sexy if it was on TV or something, but in real life it was kind of scary.”
“So Tommy and Brent, like beat Pete up?”
Beth nodded.
“Wow. No wonder he’s given up hassling me. And here I thought it was my tough guy talk.” The bell rang. Now they were both going to be late.
Chapter Nineteen
Alyssa didn’t get another chance to see Beth for the rest of that day. And she really wanted to finish their conversation. Too much self reflection was driving her in a mental circle. What was the point of having a girlfriend if she couldn’t indulge in some girl-talk? Cheer practice was right after school that day, so Alyssa found a spot to work on her calculus homework while she waited for practice to end.
“Want some company?” Alyssa looked up to find Tommy setting his back pack next to hers.
“Sure, umm…. Are you waiting for Beth?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Oh. I was just hoping we would get a chance to finish a conversation we were having earlier.”
Tommy nodded. “Not the kind of thing you can talk about in front of lil ole me—huh?”
“Nope, no offense though.”
Tommy was opening his own calculus book. “None taken, I have a strict policy against delving into the mysteries of a woman’s mind.”
He was so easy to get along with. A lot like Brent in that way. Alyssa knew how lucky she was to have Beth and Tommy’s friendship—especially now that she’d lost Brent’s. “Tommy?”
He looked up from his homework.
“I just wanted to thank you. Beth told me about… well about the whole thing with Pete. So, thanks for… defending me I guess. I should have thanked you before. For getting me home safe and all. I was just too embarrassed about the whole thing.”
He looked uncomfortable. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. But she didn’t want him to think she was taking him for granted. She learned from her mistakes.
“I didn’t do anything to Pete, Alyssa. I would have! He is such an asshole. But that day—it was all Brent.”
“Oh. Beth said you were there.”
“I was there all right. But we didn’t gang up on him. He probably deserved it, but we didn’t. That isn’t why Brent needed me.”
Alyssa had the distinct impression that she was missing something obvious. Clearly Tommy could tell that she wasn’t catching on.
“I wasn’t there to help him; I was there to stop him. You should have seen him. I’m pretty sure he could have ended up killing Pete if he went alone.” Tommy went back to his homework.
Apparently this should have been clear to her. Boys were so dumb! This was why she needed to talk to Beth. Beth would help her understand, because that sounded an awful lot like someone who cared about her. This was strange, considering Brent had barely spoken to her since that weekend. Of course she could have called him back…
“How’d you get that?” He seemed to be studying her practically finished work sheet.
Alyssa showed Tommy how she’d gotten to her answer and helped him correct what he’d already done. “Geez—where have you been all semester?” Tommy joked when they’d finished their homework. “I haven’t finished a math assignment this quickly all year. I didn’t know you were so smart.”
“I’m not.” She replied a little embarrassed. “It’s just math, everything else Brent—or somebody usually has to help me with. I’m not good at much.”
Tommy seemed to be considering this. “I don’t know—you’re good at this.” He waved his worksheet at her. “And you were very good at explaining it. Plus you’re great with those softball kids. I bet you’d make a good teacher or something.” He went back to packing up his back pack.
Alyssa just stared at him. A teacher. Huh. There was an idea. Automatically she wondered what Brent would think. They’d been friends for 17 years—it was a hard habit to break. Probably he would be all for it. After all, he had said that she was smart. Of course that was before the weirdness, back when they were still friends.
“Practice must be out.” Tommy was standing up. Alyssa looked over and saw Jenn Pastings skipping out of the gym’s double doors and into a hug with a boy she hadn’t noticed waiting there before. He was wearing a familiar maroon blazer.
“Who’s that guy?” She asked Tommy.
“I forget his name. Jenn only ever refers to him as her Hillfield man.”
Alyssa was quite sure she was going to hyperventilate. “That’s Jenn’s Hillfield boyfriend!”
“Yeah, why? Do you know him?” Tommy was completely ignorant of how insanely important this was.
“No, I don’t know him. I know Brent. I thought Brent was her stupid Hillfield man.”
Tommy was looking at her like she was speaking Chinese. “Brent and Jenn? That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.” He looked away again.
“Were they ever dating?”
“Didn’t we just discuss on my policy against getting involved in girly talk?” Probably he was able to tell from Alyssa’s face that she wasn’t willing to let this go. With the air of a martyr he continued. “As far as I know Brent would never go near her. He’s not the kind of guy to take out one girl when he’s hung up on another. Although I doubt he’d be interested in any case, seeing as how she’s such a bitch. And that’s all the girly talk my masculinity can take. You are just going to have to wait for Beth.” He sighed. “For real though? You should call him.” And he picked up his bag and walked away.
Alyssa didn’t wait for Beth. She still needed to have that girl talk, but not now. Of course Brent wasn’t seeing Jenn! How could she have been so stupid? Maybe instead of going home she would go see Brent. It would be way uncomfortable, sure, but what was the alternative? Alyssa was just plain tired of avoiding him.
It took her 20 minutes to work up the courage to knock on his door. Ms. Carter answered. “Alyssa! How nice to see you.” Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. Maybe Brent hadn’t informed her of the recent state of affairs.
“You too
, Ms. Carter. Is Brent here? I kinda need to talk to him.”
She looked a little confused. “No, dear. He’s staying late at school again. There’s a lot left to do.” Apparently there was something going on at school that Alyssa was supposed to know about. If they were still friends she probably would have.
“Of course. I’ll catch him some other time.” Very dejectedly Alyssa walked back over to her own house. It was getting late. She should probably start dinner.
As if the universe wanted to add insult to injury, Alyssa paused at her dining room table where right on top of the mail pile she found a big fat manila envelope addressed to her. Return address: Penn State. Filling out her application with Brent felt like a million moments ago. She should be rushing next door right now so they could open them together.
Alyssa revisited her plan of hyperventilation. Fat envelope was good right? Could they have possibly gotten a hold of her Shakespeare paper? Nerves overwhelmed her. That was a surprise. Alyssa had been quite sure she didn’t care if she got in, and just as sure that she would turn them down if she did by some miracle get in. What sorts of classes did a teaching degree require?
Alyssa slipped one fingernail beneath the envelope’s flap. Just a small tug of her hand and she would know. But she wasn’t sure anymore which outcome to hope for. Brent was obviously getting in. Nobody did scholastics like Brent. Alyssa definitely couldn’t be on the same campus with him every day. Or in the same classes? No. She wasn’t going to be able to handle that. It was too late to apply to anywhere else. Maybe she could put in a semester at the community college and transfer somewhere in the spring? All this planning would be contingent on what she found inside the envelope. Alyssa put it down. She would open it later.
On Friday Beth and Tommy were passionately discussing Gettysburg University vs. Elizabethtown. They’d both been accepted to both schools.
“Have you heard from Penn State yet?” Beth made an effort to include Alyssa.
