by John Byrne
Asher nodded, although the words sounded vaguely like a threat.
Chapter 3
Immediately, Asher headed to the girls’ dorm. Faith wasn’t in her room. In the common area, he stopped a passing junior. “Hey, you seen Faith?”
She curled her lip. “Sister Faith Wilkes? Maybe she’s praying over tonight’s dinner?” She rolled her eyes.
Asher knew what she was talking about. When Faith first started at Colebrook, she unfortunately tried to start some sort of group prayer in the cafeteria. Asher hadn’t known her, beyond knowing that half the guys on the rowing team had wanted to bang her up till that point, but even then, he’d felt bad for her when the kids started making fun of her for it. Now, he was furious.
“Why can’t you let that go? That happened ages ago. And, anyway, she was just doing what was normal for her.”
“Right. Normal for her.”
Asher scowled but before he could snap back, caught sight of a bright blonde ponytail bobbing down the hallway. He dashed after her.
“Faith!”
The blonde dissolved into a tangle of kids heading for the door.
“Faith!”
Asher charged after her. He burst through the door and ran down the steps, pushing past kids as he went. But Faith wasn’t there. Instead, a short blonde girl who was definitely not Faith grinned like an idiot when he grabbed her arm and spun her around.
“Er, sorry, thought you were someone else,” Asher said. The girl frowned.
Damn it, where was she? He could try the gym; once a day she went there to maintain that perfect body. Asher flushed at the thought. Or he could try the Abstinence Club meeting room but he couldn’t really see her spending a Saturday afternoon there. Then, struck by inspiration, Asher turned toward the river. Sometimes he’d caught Faith standing on the banks of the river, watching him during early morning practice.
As he made his way toward the river, the snow turned to a bone-chilling sleet. Asher threw the hood of his jacket up to ward off the chill. But soon he saw a sight to chill him even more. Faith was huddled underneath a tree by the river bank, looking lost. Her bright blonde hair hung in damp strings about her face and as Asher approached her, he could see tears welling in the corners of her eyes.
He was right next to her, his hand outstretched to touch her, when she turned around.
All the coaching Markham had given him flew out of his head. He just stood there like a moron, staring at Faith while she gasped. “Go away.”
“What? Faith. Please. Don’t be like that.”
Faith sniffed. “You heard me. Go on. Get away from me.”
“No, wait. Faith…” Asher’s voice trailed off. Faith wouldn’t look at him. She kept her gaze fixed firmly on the river.
“Don’t worry, this isn’t your problem anymore,” she said in a small, bitter voice. “I promise you, no one will ever know. You can go on with your life and pretend I never existed. There’s nothing to stop you now from getting to the Olympics. “
“Wait, Faith, that’s not what –”
“You mean you’ll help me raise this baby?”
The words, spoken so bluntly, stopped Asher short. And in the second he hesitated, desperate tears flooded her eyes. They ran down her flushed cheeks to mix with the stinging sleet.
Asher reacted from instinct. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, gathering her close. She stiffened before laying her head against his shoulder. In that moment Asher saw his own feelings laid out before him. He had never loved Vivianne. She had been too cool, too aloof, too independent. He wanted Faith—he wanted to take care of her. Protect her. She felt so good in his arms. So right.
He nuzzled her neck. She didn’t pull back, so he brought his hands around to her stomach. They settled firmly around her waist and he pushed her back against the tree, holding her there while he lowered his face to hers.
It was a desperate kiss. Their lips were numb with cold but their tongues entwined, heating a fire within him. Faith slid her hands up to grab at his hair, pulling him closer. He deepened the kiss. His hands left her waist to tug at her sweater. He was sliding his hands up, over her soft skin, when she suddenly pushed him away.
“No. “
Breathless and dazed, he hovered over her, unsure whether to believe her or not.
“No,” she insisted, breaking out of his embrace. “I want more than this.” Her voice broke and Asher realized with horror that she was crying even harder. “But I don’t deserve it. I’ve let my family down. I’m not good enough for them. I couldn’t even do the one thing they’d asked of me and keep the club my brother and sister started alive. Instead, I made a mockery of it. The Abstinence Club. God, look at me. I’ve humiliated them. I’ll always be a constant embarrassment to them.”
“No. You’re perfect. And anyone who says otherwise is a total joke.” Asher had never seen any girl look so gorgeous.
He reached for her but she pulled away.
“No,” she said, so firmly he didn’t dare object. “If you ever cared for me—at all. Give me time. I need some space.”
Never in his entire life had Asher wanted to be with a girl so much. He couldn’t stand the thought of letting her walk away. But her plea was so desperate. So sincere. This wasn’t a game to get him to chase her. This was real. So he stood there, snow collecting on his hair and eyelashes, watching the girl of his dreams walk away.
****
Monday morning after crew, while the guys were throwing on their jeans and jackets, Asher ambushed them. He’d thought carefully over the past two days about how to win Faith back and he had a plan.
He waved a packet of papers in front of their faces. “Hey guys, I need you to do me a favor and sign these.”
It said a lot about how the team felt for Asher that half the guys immediately grabbed a piece of paper and rummaged through their backpacks for pens. They would have signed it without even looking at it, which is kinda what Asher had been hoping for. But a new kid, a tall, skinny boy named Ryan held the sheet up and read it.
He let out a long, hard laugh.
And kept laughing.
He laughed till he doubled completely over and fell onto the floor of the boathouse. “It’s a joke, right?” he choked out.
All around him, the guys Asher had counted on to blindly sign Faith’s Abstinence Pledges, slowly put their pens down and began to read over the papers they held in their hands. Asher nearly groaned out loud. Sure enough, one guy after another gave Asher a look like he’d sprouted an extra pair of balls.
One guy broke the humiliating silence by cruelly doing an impression of a southern girl—Asher had no doubts who that southern girl was—as he read over the Abstinence Pledge: “I solemnly swear to honor God’s 7th Commandment. I shall not commit adultery but remain pure until I am married.”
“Adultery? Seriously? Isn’t that having an affair when you’re married or whatever?”
Even Asher, who had come to the realization he would do anything to get Faith back, had to cringe at her wording. It was tacky—no doubt about it. Still, Asher sucked up a deep breath and addressed the kid who’d read it out loud. “Thanks for that. Now sign it, please.”
“You’re bullshitting us, right?” he countered.
“Nope,” Asher said.
Again, dead silence. Asher cringed internally, knowing what was coming. But he forced his expression to remain calm, stoic. And then the torrent began.
“Man, does this have something to do with your breakup with Vivianne? Like, we’re not supposed to get any in solidarity?”
“Come on, Asher!”
“Asher, for real? Have you joined a church since we last saw you?”
And, finally, someone called out:
“I get it! You’re trying to hook up with the hot preacher chick, aren’t you? You’re using us to suck up to her.”
This came so close to the truth, although in a warped way, that Asher’s control snapped.
“I already did! OK?
She’s pregnant!” blurted Asher.
The heckling stopped. The boys’ mouths fell open in horror. Asher said, “It was an accident. I never meant for this to happen. But Faith is amazing and I screwed up. I need to get her back”
Someone snickered. Asher glared. Then another kid said, “Well, her body is amazing.”
“It’s not just her body. She’s smart and funny and I fucked it all up when she told me about the pregnancy thing. Guys, seriously. I need to get her back.”
“Is she going to keep it?” Ryan, the kid who’d started this whole mess by laughing at the pledge, asked. His eyes were wide and serious.
Asher nodded.
“And you’re going to man up?” He asked. “That’s more than I can say about the asshole who screwed with my sister. Okay. I’ll sign.”
Asher looked around at his teammates. His friends. “She’s really upset now. She won’t talk to me. She won’t even look at me. She feels like she let her family down. Look, I know you guys think this is stupid, but Faith’s brother founded the Abstinence Club. And now she thinks it’s just one more failure for her family since she—” his voice trailed off.
“Didn’t practice what she preached?” Ryan volunteered.
One of the other guys said, “Shut up, man! Just let him talk.”
“Thanks,” Asher said quietly. “This is the one thing I can do for Faith right now. It means a lot to her and I need to get her back. I don’t know what we’re going to do—about the whole pregnancy thing. But whatever she decides, I want to be part of it. Please, help me out, okay? Sign the damn pledge and come to tonight’s meeting.”
One guy signed the pledge, then another, until the entire team had.
In silence, they handed Asher their pledges. “Thanks, guys, I totally appreciate this. I’ll see you at tonight’s meeting, right?”
A collective groan filled the boathouse.
“Come on,” Asher urged.
“All right,” one kid said. “But you owe us.”
“You’re right. I do. I won’t forget this.” Asher paused to reflect on all the people he’d owe when all of this was over: Markham, the team…Vivianne. Then he realized having Faith back was more than worth it.
The day dragged on and on. Asher spent every painful moment of it in nervous anticipation. Instead of paying attention to his teachers, he used each class to try to imagine Faith’s reaction when she saw the drastically enlarged Abstinence Club meeting. In his more optimistic moments, he pictured her nearly swooning from ecstasy as he handed over his team’s abstinence pledges. Better yet, he pictured her flying into his arms and kissing him passionately, and maybe something even more would happen. Oh, the irony that it would all his fantasies would be fulfilled in the abstinence club room.
Finally, at five till seven, he stood up. One by one, he caught the eyes of his teammates and jerked his head toward the exit. Grimacing and looking pained, they nonetheless struggled to their feet and marched resolutely toward the door.
When they got to the meeting room, Faith wasn’t there.
No problem, she could be running late, Asher thought. Although Faith wasn’t the type to run late.
With his eye on his watch, Asher pulled out the packet of pledges from his backpack. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed.
The ache in Asher’s stomach intensified. His friends began to whisper to each other. Asher tried his best to tune them out but there was no missing the murmurs, “She stood him up.”
“She did not!” Asher said. “She’ll be here. Just give me a few more minutes, okay?”
They did, but when those minutes came and went, his teammates slowly trickled out the door. Ryan was the first to leave, followed shortly by a kid named Michael, who slapped his back and mumbled, “Sorry,” before he shuffled out the door.
At 8:00, Asher finally gave up too. He heaved a heavy sigh as he slowly lumbered to his feet. Before he left the room, he flipped the light switch off and swore into the darkness.
Chapter 4
After a sleepless night and the worst practice Asher ever had on the water, he spent another long, painfully slow day wishing his classes would end. Only he had nothing to look forward to that night.
His teammates continued to watch him. In his math class, Michael said, “Shouldn’t you talk to someone?”
“Who?”
“I dunno, the counselor or someone. The headmaster, maybe? You gotta get some help for this.”
Asher shrugged. “Who cares about it anyway?”
Michael eyed him with concern but turned away without saying another word.
In English class, Asher had fallen into a deep, apathetic stupor when the intercom buzzed.
“Please send Asher Van Der Bos to the headmaster’s office.”
That woke Asher up. He jolted upright at his desk, wondering what in the hell the headmaster wanted with him.
But, at the same time, he was pretty sure he already knew. The question was, which one of his friends has ratted him out.
“Well, Asher? What are you waiting for? Hurry up,” the teacher asked.
But Asher didn’t want to hurry. He took his time, slowly gathering his notebooks and stuffing them into his backpack.
The teacher came over to stand by his desk and breathe down his neck. “Is this the speed that helped us win state?” He knew she was joking, and usually he’d laugh and have some quip to say back, but that day, nothing was funny.
The headmaster’s office was only a five minute walk away. Asher managed to stretch it out to 10 minutes. But eventually, he reached the mahogany double doors that lead to the administration. He settled in the seat opposite the receptionist’s desk. What would she say? Would she tell his mom he’d gotten a girl pregnant? He hoped she at least wouldn’t tell his step-dad, Skip. Asher could already picture the loser sauntering over to him, wearing a polo shirt and loafers. Skip would no doubt clap Asher on the back and congratulate him for being a manly man.
“Come in,” the headmaster said calmly.
Asher walked in, preparing to apologize from here till eternity. But the words never left his mouth because Faith was sitting there, too, and she was staring at him like he was the spawn of Satan. Asher waited nervously at the door until the headmaster, a tall, round woman as old as Asher’s grandparents, said, “Asher, please have a seat.”
Asher slid into the stiff wooden armchair next to Faith, afraid to look at her, afraid not to. As a compromise, he kept his gaze fixed on her shoes.
The headmaster launched into her questioning without preamble. “Do you know why you’re both here?”
“Yes,” Asher mumbled.
“No,” Faith said.
Asher’s head snapped up. Faith was joking, right? Because she never lied.
Her eyebrows raised, the headmaster looked at them both. “I hope you are both aware of the seriousness of this visit.”
Asher nodded. Faith shook her head.
“I heard a rumor this morning concerning you both. Are you sure you are not aware of this rumor, Ms. Wilkes?”
“I’m sure,” Faith said while Asher looked on incredulously.
