by June Sproat
This is exactly what I was thinking about before Jodi came in my room. Steve, I mean. I was wondering why he didn’t pull his hand away. I also wondered if he was going to the party.
Stacy pushed open my bedroom door and stuck her head in, “Dinner’s ready.”
“Thanks,” I said and we headed downstairs.
“So, what do you girls have planned for tonight?” Mom asked as we picked at the leftover lasagna dinner she made. Dad had to work late so it was just the girls.
“You know,” I said picking at my food. “The usual, hang out at the mall, maybe go to a movie, or maybe hang at the school and watch the basketball game. We haven’t really decided yet.”
“Since when are you into sports?” Stacey blurted out.
I shot her a death stare, but I don’t think she noticed.
“Well, it’s still a little cold outside. I could drive you somewhere if you want. Stacy needs to get some books at the library, so I’ll be out anyway.” Mom offered.
Jodi immediately started to choke. I think it was because she was trying so hard not to laugh at me. I mean, did I really want my mom to drop me off at a “jock” party…um…I think not.
Mom looked up, “Oh Jodi, are you okay, hun?” “Oh Mom, she’s fine,” I whacked Jodi on the back a couple of times.
“Jodi, drink a little water,” my mom handed Jodi her glass.
“Thanks, Mrs. Sterns, I think it just went down the wrong way,” Jodi finally managed to say.
“You sure you’re okay?” my mom asked
“Really Mom, you’re embarrassing her. She’s fine.” I said.
“Can we leave now, please?” Stacy asked. She stood next to the table bouncing up and down, like a little kid who had to go to the bathroom.
“Oh all right,” my mom said. “Would you girls clean up for me?”
“No problem,” I was already stacking the dishes. The sooner we were done, the sooner we could leave.
****
The basketball game had already started by the time we got there, so we stood next to the bleachers and looked around. Steve was playing, and since he was a starter, he was in most of the time.
Now, I know very little about basketball, but I do know that the objective of the game is to make baskets, which Steve was doing really well. I think he made almost every point the team had put on the board since we arrived. I couldn’t help but watch him, and honestly, I felt like I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
The first quarter ended and Steve was sitting out. Now, maybe if I cared about basketball I would be a lot more excited to be there, but since I didn’t, I wasn’t. Since Steve was sitting out, I had to find something else to amuse me.
“Let’s sit down,” I nudged Jodi.
We found some space at the end of the bleachers and squeezed in.
It was really crowded. I’m sure a lot of kids wanted to show up to support the team, because this could be their last game. I’m also sure a bunch showed up just to hang out, like us.
The game started again, and with Steve sitting out, surprise, I lost interest. I killed time by looking around to see who showed up. All of a sudden the muscles across my shoulders started to tense, my hands started to sweat, and I got this strange feeling someone was watching me.
“Is it warm in here?” I asked Jodi. “Maybe a little.”
A loud buzzer went off and I jumped. End of the half.
The teams went to their locker rooms and out came the cheerleaders. I tried to stretch up to see Steve and was bumped from behind. I turned to tell the person behind me to watch their pointy knees when something else caught my eye and I froze.
I didn’t want to believe what I just saw, well not so much what I saw, but who I saw. I turned back toward the court. I totally felt like I had just been kicked in the chest and was gasping for air. I looked toward the door again. For a brief second, he made eye contact, and I knew it was him. I grabbed Jodi’s arm, “look,” I said, and pointed back toward the exit.
“What?” She asked.
When we looked back he was gone.
“Um, never mind; I thought I saw something,” I said.
I was sure I had.
I could have sworn I just saw Roger Dawson. But how could I have seen him? He was in jail, right? I had to be wrong, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that it was him.
“Um, I’ll be right back,” I said to Jodi, and walked away before she had a chance to come with me. I was probably wrong. I prayed I was wrong. Since I didn’t want to make a fool of myself, even in front of Jodi, I went alone.
I walked out of the gym just in time to see someone turn into the hallway. I couldn’t tell if it was Roger or not, but I ran, okay walked really fast, after him anyway. I stopped at the corner of the hallway and peeked around. What the heck was I doing sneaking around the school like some thief? I swallowed hoping no one saw me, because I was sure I looked pretty dumb sneaking around the school. I followed him into the next hallway leading around to the cafeteria and the main part of the school. What did he want to go there for? I mean, trust me, the school food is so not worth sneaking in for!
Then I saw him, or at least I thought it was him. I mean it looked like the guy I saw in the gym, but I still had to get closer to see if it was Roger.
The guy was standing at the doors leading to the main part of the school where the classrooms and lockers were. The doors were locked. He peered through the little glass windows in the door and pounded one fist against it. I snuck into the cafeteria trying to get a closer look at him. There weren’t any lights on in the caf, so the only light was what came in from the hallway through the glass doors. Since I didn’t have any super cool night vision glasses, I couldn’t see very well and ran into a chair.
Okay, scratch being a spy from my future goals!
He turned around and looked in my direction. I dropped to the floor. I didn’t think he saw me, but I saw him. It was definitely Roger. I hugged the floor.
What in the heck was he doing here? And what would he do if he found me? I tried to force myself deeper into the floor with no luck.
Roger turned and walked up to the cafeteria door. I could only see the bottom of the door from my position. I saw it open and tried not to breathe. Then I saw his feet, or rather his shoes. He stepped in and I shut my eyes. The sound of my heart pounding against the floor was so loud I wondered if he could hear it too. I heard the click of his shoes as he took a few more steps and then stopped. I squeezed my eyes tighter and then finally he turned around and left. I heard the outside door open and then slam shut.
I rolled over onto my back and exhaled. Without even thinking, I jumped up and followed him. I never should have gotten off the floor, I mean, what was I going do if I caught up with him? The man had been in prison for God’s sake!
I ran to the doors and peered outside. He was gone. I saw nothing but a dark empty street. Either I’ve been watching way too many cop shows or I’ve become a complete nut job. Of course, both were completely possible. I brushed the dust from the floor off my shirt and headed back to the gym.
“What happened to you?” Jodi asked when I got back.
“Um, I had to use the bathroom.” I didn’t want to tell her I saw Roger because I knew what she would do. She would definitely freak. Plus I wasn’t even sure what to do about it, and if I was wrong, I could make things worse. Maybe it wasn’t even him, but his evil twin…okay, it was him, but still.
I tried to push Roger out of my mind and concentrated on the game, or what was left of it, which wasn’t much. Barely five minutes after I came back into the gym, our team won. The game was over and we were headed to the party. Now the real fun was going to start, or so I hoped.
Chapter Eight
“I wish to give Jacob back all the crap he fed us this past year. Dude, you are so overrated.” — Susie, Betty and Joyce.
As soon as we walked in the door of Jackie’s house, we were greeted with, “Hi you two.” It was sing-song. I didn’t even have to
turn around. The voice gave it all away.
“Hi Jackie,” I said.
She was just as bubbly as she was in school. That, I am sure, is not normal. No one can be that happy all the time; it’s just not…natural.
I looked around. It seemed like the whole pack was there, including Steve. He was leaning against a wall talking to some other guys. He looked over at us and gave me one of those hellos where you just cock your head back and sort of stick out your chin. I returned the gesture.
“Let’s get something to drink,” I pushed Jodi toward what I thought might be the kitchen.
Jodi moved, but she seemed kind of hesitant.
“What’s wrong?” I asked Jodi. This was very uncharacteristic of her, being quiet I mean. She always had something to say, and usually said it very loud and clear.
“I don’t know, why are you being so sociable?” She asked pointing out that that was uncharacteristic of me.
I shrugged my shoulders and went into the kitchen. There were a few guys manning the keg and a huge punch bowl with God only knows what inside.
Someone handed me a cup of the punch. There was a whole slice of orange on top. Okay sure, so I wasn’t the partying type, but a whole slice of orange?
I was peeking under the orange slice when I heard, “I’m surprised to see you here, Wheels,” come from behind me.
I turned and looked right into Steve’s…well, chest, because that’s how short I am. He leaned back against the counter. Now I looked into his eyes. Much better.
“Well, who doesn’t like a party?”
“This isn’t your usual crowd, is it?” he raised one of his eyebrows.
I have always wanted to be able to do that, but whenever I try, to raise one eyebrow I mean, I just end up making a goofy face.
“Well, it’s never too late to try something new, meet new people, right?” I looked at Jodi, hoping she wasn’t giving me that ‘I told you so’ look. She wasn’t.
“Well, sometimes things get a little crazy.” He took the cup from my hands, “I wouldn’t drink that if I were you.”
I noticed Jodi put her cup down, too.
“Well, I don’t really like the taste of alcohol, anyway. I guess we’ll just mingle.” I turned and pushed Jodi out of the kitchen. As we left, I saw Steve shake his head and smile.
I wasn’t sure exactly who he thought he was. I mean, what was so funny anyway?
I shoved Jodi out of the kitchen into what was apparently the den. There was a basketball game on the big screen TV to our right. Across from the TV was a couch with three huge guys watching the game. I looked at Jodi and raised my eyebrows questionably, another game? I mean really, how much basketball can you watch?
Behind the den was another room which made like the rooms kind of L shaped with the couch near the bottom of the L separating the two rooms.
Jodi nudged me and motioned toward the other room. There was a couple on the couch in a pretty heavy make out session. We just looked at each other and then turned in unison back to the game on TV.
Not that I have a problem with people making out. It’s just not the place I want to be while sitting and chatting with Jodi, if you get my drift.
I stared at the game for a while, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see Steve. He was watching me. Even while he watched the game or talked with someone else, he looked over at me. Why was he doing that?
While we were watching the game, standing in our spot a little bit behind the couch, I noticed other kids were coming and going from somewhere around the corner. I figured there was another room past the dimly lit make-out area behind us. I was just about to ask Jodi if she wanted to check it out, I mean she looked pretty bored just standing there, but I never got the chance.
“YEAH!” roared from three huge guys sitting on the couch. Apparently their team scored or something. Which I, being very new to the sport, thought was a good thing. So, when an empty beer bottle flew past my head and hit one of the guys, I was more than a little surprised.
I’m quite sure the bottle wasn’t tossed because the team had won or scored or whatever, because it came from the other room where I don’t think they could even see the TV. I mean, yeah, it was a huge TV, but they were sitting kind of away from it.
Jodi and I moved back against the wall and looked into the other room. That’s when I realized the bottle was probably thrown by Becky, who I now know was the girl on the couch. She was totally screaming at some guy, who I didn’t know, because he had his back to us. I’m thinking the guy was the intended target. I couldn’t really make out what they were yelling, but I figured Becky had somehow pissed this guy off. Something that probably had to do with, and this is just a wild guess, the fact that she had just been on the couch making out with another guy. Again, that’s just a guess. However, my theory didn’t seem to matter much to the guy on the couch who was hit by the bottle. It didn’t seem like he cared at all who was supposed to get hit with the bottle, just that he was hit.
They, the couch guys, headed over toward Becky. Now, I am not a big Becky fan, but she had been somewhat nice to me in cooking. Even though my brain was screaming at me to leave it alone and butt out, I couldn’t. I stepped in front of the burley beasts, and stuck my hand out against what truly felt like a brick wall.
“Stop.”
The blonde gladiator looked down at me. He had stopped. I did it! I stopped him…stopped them!
But only momentarily, because suddenly I was being picked up at the waist!
OH MY GOD! He’d picked me up like a rag doll and moved me out of their path!
Okay, it worked once; I would just have to keep trying. I took a step in their direction but was jolted back. Steve grabbed my arm and pulled me. Jodi moved with me.
Everybody else started to swarm into the room while we were trying to get out. I felt like we were salmon swimming upstream. I heard something about a fight, but Steve just continued to pull us until we were outside.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” I jerked my arm away from Steve.
“Well, unless you wanted to be in the middle of that, which I don’t think you do, I thought I’d get you out of there.” He raised one eyebrow again.
Now, when some people do that eyebrow thing, they look angry, but when Steve does it, he looks kind of hot. Still angry, of course, but also very hot! I shook my head, I had to forget about that because I was angry and I didn’t want to be distracted. I mean, who did he think he was?
So I asked him, “Just exactly who do you think you are?” This, of course, would be a perfect time for me to do the eyebrow thing, if I could do it.
“Come on, Kate, he was just trying to…” Jodi started to say, but I didn’t let her finish.
“I know what he was trying to do, Jodi,” I directed my comments to her, but never took my eyes off Steve. “He thinks we are a couple of those helpless cheerleaders in there. You know, we weren’t the ones who needed help. It seemed to me Becky was more in need of your misplaced heroics.” The eyebrow thing would really be a good right about now.
“Becky’ll be fine. But you guys…”
“We guys what? Can’t take care of ourselves?” I interrupted.
“You know,” Steve threw his hands up, “forget it. You’re right, my mistake, I’ll make sure it never happens again!”
“Fine!” I said.
“Fine!” he said and turned away. Jodi stared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Um, Kate, he was helping us. Why are you being such a, such a…jerk?” she asked.
Oh great, perfect time for the old, opinionated Jodi to come back!
“Well, I-I-I…I don’t know, it’s just he, I mean the way he…oh I don’t know!” I said, and I really didn’t. He was only trying to keep us out of trouble, but still, who did he think he was. I mean, did I ask him to watch out for me? No. Did I ask him for anything? No! So why was he being so protective, and why did it bother me?
“Kate?” Steve called.
“Yes,” I said in an icy tone that didn’t even sound like me.
“Do you guys need a ride?” he asked.
“No, thank you.” I said and pulled Jodi to walk away.
“Oh, I get it. I’m good enough to tutor you, but not good enough to help the princess, is that it?” Steve replied.
Princess! Who was he calling a princess? I turned to tell him what I thought of that, but I was too late. He was already in his truck and peeled out.
“What,” Jodi whispered loudly, “are you doing?”
“I just don’t want anything from him, that’s all.” I just couldn’t tell her why I didn’t want to get a ride from him, or why I was being such a big jerk about it, because, well because, I didn’t even know why.
****
“I don’t think it was really that great,” Jodi said. She was stretched out on the floor, her head propped up against the bed.
“What wasn’t that great?”
“The party, I mean, what was the big deal?”
“Jodi, it’s not the party; it’s the fact we were there. Monday when everyone is talking about it, and someone asks who was there, we’ll be included in the list.”
“If anyone remembers we were there.” Jodi said.
I had to agree with her. Steve dragged us out of there so fast nobody probably will even remember us. Maybe that was why I was so angry at him.
“I think you like him,” Jodi said.
“What?”
“Steve. That’s why you’re so angry with him,” Jodi said like she was reading my mind. Which is just a little creepy if you ask me.
“No, I do not,” I tried to sound convincing. “You so do,” Jodi said.
Oh yeah, this was the Jodi I have come to know and love!
