Ninth Grade Blues

by Bruce Ingram

  So I'm at the dinner table with my parents and go into my little rehearsed speech and Dad mumbles something and Mom gives me an indifferent nod of her head meaning yes, and then I really, really begin to feel guilty because deep down, I'm deceiving them, but not really because it's not a date-date thing. so a little before 6:00, they drive up and I rush out the door and down the steps like I'm going to get into a car with a bunch of girls and off we go to the mall.

  As soon as we get there, we pair off immediately which I sort of expected would be the case and Ian and Mary take off somewhere and Paul and I are left to walk around and visit the stores. The first thing I think of is that I've got to buy something for Dad so that I can show it to Mom who then will know that I really was at the mall. so I go buy Dad a tie, he must have a zillion of them, so what is one more, and get it gift wrapped.

  So that's out of the way, and then Paul and I start walking around and visiting stores and video game places, and he talks and talks about the football season and how upset he was about the way it ended and how he's lifting weights now and trying to bulk up some more (my gosh, how big does he want to be, he said he weighs 250). And I've got to admit that I was so bored with everything he talked about and everything we did. I don't have any interest in those macho video games that lots of guys play with them killing terrorists and zombies and the occasional vampire. It's just so immature and pointless. We must have wasted 30 minutes watching him play some game.

  Paul texts Ian for us to meet up at an ice cream shop, and we go there and both guys have these huge chocolate milkshakes, and May and I just order single scoop cones. And the guys talk football some more and ask us what we thought about such and such a game and then it's 8:00 and time to head for home. so my non-date night out was pretty boring, but my dad got a gift wrapped tie out of it. And I really, really hope that none of Mom and Dad's friends saw me.

  Chapter Thirty-One: Marcus

  Finally, things are starting to go my way again. Tuesday night, we had a big game against Riverview, and I started out riding the pines like I usually do. We were down by eight at home with three minutes left in the first quarter when Coach Henson finally sent me in. Quentin, our point guard, called for a clear out for me so that I could isolate one-on-one against their shooting guard, and I took him to the hoop big time—two points! Talk about Mr. Microwave Offense, it took me all of five seconds to score once I hit the hardwood.

  The next time down, Quentin feeds me again, and I started bulling my way to the basket, then stop on a dime, break the other shooting guard's ankles with a crossover, soar into the air and sink a silky smooth 12 footer. I'm feeling it already and yell over to Quintin to get me the ball the next time down, which he is smart enough to do. He feeds me just below the three-point line, I step back above it, then drill a three-pointer. The crowd just goes nuts, and I look into the stands real quick to see if Camila is there.

  There's like 12 seconds left in the quarter when their point guard crosses midcourt when Coach Henson gives Quentin and me the signal to jump and switch. Their point gets all flustered, which, man, you can understand because the on-ball pressure is just unbelievable, and he should have called time but doesn't. The next thing that happens is that I strip him, push the ball ahead and go in for a thundering, bring-the-rim down, posterizing slam dunk right before the quarter buzzer sounds. Man, I scored nine points in three minutes, and instead of being down, we're up one.

  Coach Henson has enough sense to stay with his hot hand—me—when the second quarter begins. Right off the bat, Riverview doubles me the first time I get the ball, but I feed Quentin a behind-the-back pass, and he jacks up a three— nothing but net thanks to a pretty assist from me. The very next time down, I mean the very next time down, Quentin picks the pocket of their point guard, we get out on a 2-on-1 fast break, and I slam another one home. That's 14 straight points for the old home team. We've gone from eight down to six up, and we never look back the rest of the night.

  I play the whole second quarter, take the court with the starters at the beginning of the second half, and only go out for a two-minute blow at the end of the third quarter. I end up scoring 28 points, the most anybody on our team has scored this year and my personal best ever. You know, I had never really thought about playing both pro football and basketball before Tuesday night. It would be incredibly difficult, especially if my football team went to the Super Bowl. But I could play football until the Super Bowl was over, then join my NBA team for the stretch run and playoffs. It's possible, but I have to admit that it would be a long shot. I'm probably better off just to concentrate on the NFL.

  Things have been going really well with Camilla, too. I can tell that she's impressed with the way I do things and take the lead and everything when we go out. She hardly says anything; she's already figured out that it's best to leave everything up to me. Most girls, deep down I really believe, want the man to be almost totally in charge. I texted her Tuesday night after my big time performance, but she didn't respond. I guess she'd already gone to bed for the night. I told her all about it the next morning in first period English when we were waiting for Ms. Hawk to start.

  I've been thinking about what to get Camila for Christmas; our one month anniversary of dating will be on Friday, the last day before the break. I asked Joshua what I should get her, and he said, man, you two have only been dating for, like, four weeks, it's not time to be spending Mom and Dad's money on something like a Christmas gift for a girl you're just starting to get to know. What does he know, his advice hasn't been so great so far about anything. I swear.

  Finally, I decide to buy her a sweater, which is the nice safe choice, I figure. I found one that would really look great on her, and one that she could wear when she needs to snuggle up to me. Or one that would look good on her on those cold winter days when snow closes school, and we head for the mall in the afternoon for a movie or strolling through the place.

  Yep, I am on a serious roll.

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Mia

  Camila really wanted to talk Wednesday during lunch when she and Hannah and I finally had time to catch up with what has been going on. Camila said that Marcus texted her Tuesday night to tell her about the great game he had had, and she said that she just wanted to go to bed and not spend the next 45 minutes texting back and forth about how great a basketball player he is.

  Hannah said Marcus truly did play great Tuesday night, and maybe she should have given him some encouragement, but Camila said that one thing Marcus did not lack for was self-esteem—that he had more of it than a person should have for that matter. Then Camila said she dreaded, yes she said dreaded the thought of Marcus probably wanting to spend a lot of time together during Christmas break, and what she really wanted to do was break up with him before Christmas because she just knew that he was going to get her an expensive Christmas gift even though they had not been dating even a month yet. And her family couldn't afford a gift for him, besides they hadn't been dating long enough to be giving gifts to each other.

  Then Camila said something that was a little upsetting. she said her dad really liked Marcus and that he kept telling her what a nice house Marcus had and how she could do a lot worse. Then I finally said something, asking her how her mama felt about him and Camila said the other day her mama took her aside and said that she had the strong feeling that her daughter didn't really care for this boy. And Camila told her mama that she didn't feel special or excited when she went out with Marcus, and the things that she most thought about were how bored she was and how boring Marcus was, and if dating was like this her whole life, she could just as well become a nun.

  Hannah and I laughed at the thought of Camila becoming a nun, but then I got serious and told her that if she really didn't see the relationship going anywhere, then I would support her if she decided to break up with Marcus. But Hannah chimed in, and said that she should try to work things out with Marcus because he was going to be a professional athlete one day and they make great money
...which is just a ridiculous reason to date somebody, even if a guy is a great athlete. I said I disagreed with Hannah, which made her a little peeved at me (I could tell by her body language) and said that Camila should follow her heart and listen to her mama.

  I don't know how the whole Camila and Marcus thing is going to work out, but at least I finally had the courage to tell her that she should break up with him if that is what she though best.

  Friday morning in English when we were wrapping up our work for the first semester, when Ms. Hawk gave us an overview of what we were going to be doing second semester. She said the first thing we were going to study was Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. Then she said to go to her homepage and look under Shakespeare PowerPoints and told us that our assignment over Christmas was going to be to research one of the topics she had listed. When we drew for topics, mine was Shakespearean food, Camila's was early 1600s fashion styles, and Hannah's was on the Black Death. All of the topics seemed really interesting. I can hardly wait to get started on mine.

  Then Ms. Hawk went to the list of characters for the play and gave little quick character sketches for each one. And she said for us to start thinking about who would make a great Romeo and Juliet and Marcus raised his hand and said he and Camila would be "awesome" for those parts. What Marcus said really, really embarrassed Camila. I felt like she just wanted to disappear away into the wall or something, she seemed so bothered by Marcus' remarks.

  During Luke's and my Friday lunch date (I've started calling it that to Luke and he just grins when I say it, which means he's okay with it), I asked him if he would like to go to the public library over the break and do research together on our Shakespeare topics (his is on the King James Bible being put together), and he said that would be great. That he could jog there from his house or ride his bike, and I said that my house was about four miles away, and I could walk or ride my bike there.

  I am super, super excited that Luke wants to spend time with me over Christmas—I mean how awesome is that! Maybe that is how best to get to know a guy, talking first as friends then becoming better friends, and then seeing if there is a spark there that is worth following through on. I know I already feel something for Luke, and I really believe he is starting to feel something for me. I sure as the world know that Camila going out with Marcus when they barely knew each other isn't the way to start something lasting.

  I wonder if I should ask Luke if Ms. Hawk asks for volunteers to play Romeo and Juliet after the break, would he mind if I volunteered the two of us? I wouldn't dare volunteer us if I knew he would be embarrassed by it. Maybe I'll ask him the day we are at the library—maybe not, though.

  SECOND

  SEMESTER

  Chapter Thirty-Three: Luke

  I was actually glad to come back to school on Monday after Christmas break—well, I was glad to come back to first period and Ms. Hawk's class. I wasn't looking forward to math class or renewing acquaintances with old Mrs. Burkhead or health class, or a whole heck of a lot of things. Over the break, I rode my bike three times to the library to meet Mia, and I have to confess I was excited to see her every time. I had missed talking to her. The first time we met there, I got to the library about 15 minutes earlier than we had planned I was so excited. I had missed our lunchtime talks and hanging out in the library.

  I was waiting outside for her to get there, and when she got off her bike, I was so excited that I walked over and patted her on the back. I had never touched a girl with, with...I don't know what the right word is...with affection? As soon as I touched her, I got nervous that she wouldn't like that, but she grinned at me and leaned in a little and squeezed my hand, and I thought about holding her hand when we walked into the building, but I didn't. A girl, a beautiful sweet girl who is so smart...she squeezed my hand and was glad to see me...me of all people! Can you believe that.

  Am I starting to have feelings for her? I don't know, maybe I am. But I do know for sure that I really enjoy being with her, and she must feel the same. We had so much to talk about. In our book club, we've read Walden, 1984, and Brave New World all the way through. Right before break, we decided to start White Fang because Mia thought I would like it. So we spent part of our visits talking about that book. Then we would go online and read and discuss current events for a while. Last, we would work on our PowerPoints together and practice presenting whatever part we had finished that day.

  Mia has opened up this whole other world of literature to me. I still prefer reading about sports in magazines and online, but I have to admit that there are some pretty good books out there. I mean who knew. And because she has confidence in me, I have more confidence in myself to raise my hand in English and history classes especially. I'm so very, very grateful, to her about that and for her tutoring me in math. I had a high D average for the semester, and that's really good for me.

  After we had met for the third time at the library, Mia asked if I was hungry, that she had made two chicken sandwiches, one for her and one for me. And I said I had already eaten, but I would like one of her sandwiches, and she said she never saw me eat in school, and what did I eat for lunch. I said apricot energy bars, that Mom bought them for me for a school snack but that was all I ate at school because I was secretly putting all the money Mom gave me for school lunches in my bank account. I also put in my account all the money I earned from mowing people's lawns.

  Mia asked what I was saving for, and I told her that one day I wanted to have money enough to buy some land out in the country where I could fish and hunt and live. That I knew it would take years and years but if I started saving now, that at least it would be a start. I told her that I had told my granddaddy about my dream, and he said it had been his dream too and he had never done it, and we talk about that land a lot. And he encourages me to go for it.

  Mia said it was an awesome dream, and it would be so romantic to live out in the country and have a place to put down roots. And she talked about her dreams of going to college and doing something meaningful with her life and helping others, and maybe one day being able to help out her parents when they were old. She is so awesome and sweet.

  Then Mia asked if it would be all right if she volunteered for us to be Romeo and Juliet when second semester started in Ms. Hawk's class. At first when she said that, I got nervous at the thought of having to do all that reading in Shakespeare-style English, and I think she could tell that I was nervous, and she said with one of those smiles of hers that she was confident that we would make a good team, and I would do great. I smiled back and said okay, and she squeezed my hand again.

  I tell you when she smiles at me...and those times when she has squeezed my hand...I think I can do things...that I am somebody.

  Chapter Thirty-Four: Elly

  I lied to my parents over Christmas break, and now I'm probably going to have to tell a few more lies to get myself out of this mess. Paul texted me the day after Christmas and asked if I would like to double date with Ian and Mary. We would go out to dinner at Olive Garden and then go see a movie at the mall. I can tell myself that the shopping trip with them to the mall was not really a date, and it really wasn't, but it obviously wasn't a shopping trip with a bunch of girls like I hinted that it was to my parents. So I really didn't lie there.

  So I texted back that I wasn't allowed to date yet, but if I could convince my parents to drop me off at the mall and that one of Mary's parents was going to drop me off at home afterwards, then I thought the whole thing would work out. Paul said for me to give my plan "a shot" and would wait to hear back from me.

  I'm not one of those "bad" girls that is constantly lying to her parents and teachers, but the more I think about Mary and Paige being able to date, it makes me angry that my parents are so strict and conservative. On the other hand, I've been just sick with worry and guilt that my parents could find out about my lying and how they would be disappointed in me, because Mom said she would drop me off at the mall, and it would be all right for one of Mary's parent
s to pick me up later.

  The weird thing is that I don't really like Paul all that much. He's not bad looking and he dresses really well, but he's not much of a talker—at least about things that I'm interested in. My first real date with a guy was, there's no other way to say it, really, really boring and blah. The dinner was good, and it was nice for a guy to pay for it, but all Mary and I did was nod our heads a lot, then listen to Paul and Ian talking about this year's football season, next year's football season, and who was going to win the Super Bowl. They had a lot of arguments about that one, Paul saying the Patriots and Ian saying the Packers. I mean, really, who in their right mind cares. Finally, Paul asked me who I thought was going to win, and I don't even know the names of the teams that are in what he called the playoffs. But because he said the Patriots were going to win, I said something like oh, yes, "it looks like the Patriots to me." And those were my big, profound comments during dinner.

  After we had eaten the main course, both guys wanted dessert and they insisted that Mary and I both order too. Paul ordered Chocolate Mousse Cake, so that was what I ordered, and I was really full and didn't even want any. Paul talked about having to gain 20 pounds for the next football season, and I thought if I kept on going out with him, I would weigh 220 pounds one day, and he would weight 320 and wouldn't we be the pair.