Growing Up Neighbors

by Frances Hoelsema

  “You don’t have to be so shocked about it. It’s not like I’m unlikable or something,” Deborah remarked. She was a little upset and hurt over Nicholas’ reaction.

  “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, Debbie. Of course guys are going to like you because you’re cute and have a great personality.”

  He thinks I’m cute?

  Deborah blushed a little as she thought about what he just said. She hoped he wouldn't notice.

  “All I meant,” Nicholas continued, “Was that you are still young and just started high school. I’d hate for you to make any mistakes or to go out with someone for the wrong reasons like just to look cool or something.”

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about that. I did say no. I just don’t know how to feel about the situation,” Deborah admitted. “I mean, I think I’d be scared to date someone right now.”

  For some reason Nicholas felt good inside that Deborah turned the guy down.

  “Have you dated before?” she asked, turning the tables a little.

  “Um, not really. Well, last year I went to the movies with some girl, but it didn’t go anywhere.”

  “You did? How did I not know about that?” Now it was Deborah's turn to be shocked.

  “Well, you don’t know everything that I do with my time, Debbie.”

  He turned to her and gave one of his winks as he smiled.

  “I know that. I just thought I might have known about your little date,” she said as she made quotation marks in the air when she said date.

  She's so cute when she's flustered.

  Nicholas chuckled a little and then added, “Plus I don’t have time for a girlfriend anyway. You and Alex keep me busy enough,” he teased.

  “Ha ha,” she said sarcastically as she threw him a playful punch.

  "Ow!" Nicholas teased some more.

  Things between the two cooled down a little and there was once again silence in the car for quite some time. Deborah didn’t have much left to say on that topic as she thought over what Nicholas said.

  Does he really think I'm cute?

  She didn't know how she should feel about that and was glad Alex wasn't here.

  Nicholas eventually interrupted her thoughts when he asked what else was on her mind.

  “You did say you had some things – plural – on your mind.”

  “Oh, I did?”

  “Don’t fool around with me, Debbie. What’s up?”

  Deborah sighed.

  “It’s just band. I’m having a hard time with the whole dance routine we have to do for homecoming in a couple of weeks.”

  “You are? It didn’t seem that way in band today.”

  “Well, I am. I don’t know. It just seems like band is harder now and I really don’t like that I have to do a routine. I’d rather just sit in my chair and put on a concert than move around while playing.”

  Nicholas chuckled a little bit as he thought about her in both scenarios.

  “Look, how about I help you then? I can come over this weekend and we can practice,” he offered.

  “Really? You’d do that?”

  “Sure! Why not?”

  “Okay, I guess. I just hope I get it soon so I don’t look bad at the homecoming game.”

  “I doubt anyone is really going to notice you since there’s a bunch of us on the field,” Nicholas said to make her feel better.

  “I hope not.”

  Just then they pulled into Deborah’s driveway. Right before she got out, she said, “Thanks for the talk.”

  “No problem. Next time don’t make me work so hard to get it out of you,” he smiled.

  “Okay. I’ll try not to.”

  She opened her car door and Nicholas added, “Oh, and tell Alex I hope he feels better.”

  “I will. See you later.”

  “Yep.”

  She closed the door and Nicholas watched her walk into the house. He had the habit of not leaving until he made sure whoever was riding with him could get inside where they needed to be. As he made his short trip to his house, he remembered what he said earlier.

  Did I seriously tell her she was cute?

  ---------------

  The weekend came and Nicholas showed up at Deborah’s door ready to help with her band moves as promised.

  “Where should we practice?” she asked.

  “I’m thinking outside. There’s way more space.”

  “Yeah, but it’s cold.”

  “It’s not that cold. Come on, don’t be a baby,” he teased. “Just put a coat on.”

  “All right. If you insist. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  Deborah grabbed her coat and flute and went outside to where Nicholas was waiting with his trumpet in hand in the back yard.

  “Now I’m not going to be able to help one hundred percent seeing as I’m a trumpet and you’re a flute, but I can help you with the main stuff.”

  “Got it,” Deborah said.

  Nicholas pointed to the piece of ground that Deborah should start on and verbally indicated where she should move to. He stood beside her and went in the same motions so that she could visualize it as well. There were a couple of times where Deborah screwed up and ended up stepping on Nicholas’ foot, which he tried not to get too upset about. To correct her, he’d just put his hands on her shoulders or waist and sway her in the right direction.

  Each time he touched her, Deborah would blush. She was starting to feel like that was all she would do around Nicholas these days.

  The two of them ended up practicing for over an hour. At first it was to get the dance moves down and then eventually they added the music. Nicholas noticed that when they added the music, that’s when Deborah would mess up more. He found it kind of cute that she couldn’t do these two things at once.

  “I think I’m just going to call it quits for today,” Deborah grumbled from frustration.

  “Why’s that?”

  “I just keep screwing up.”

  “Okay. But I’m going to help you get through this. I’ll just come back again another time so we can practice some more,” he insisted.

  “Fine,” Deborah mumbled. “How about we practice the days you drive us to and back from school?”

  “Sounds good. Let’s at least try one more time.”

  “All right,” Deborah pouted.

  This time Nicholas let Deborah play and move by herself so he could keep an eye on what she did right or wrong. Every now and then he’d surprise her by taking his hands and putting them on her and guiding her to the right place. When she was done, they both put their instruments away and headed to the house.

  Deborah invited Nicholas in, but he declined, stating that he had plans with Robert. So Deborah thanked Nicholas, they both said their goodbyes and then Deborah went in the house to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Her mom was in the kitchen and decided to say something that just about made Deborah spit her water out.

  “I was watching the both of you out there. You guys look so cute together.”

  “Ew! Gross, mom! He was just being a good friend by helping me with my band moves,” Deborah explained.

  “Mm-hmm,” her mom teased as she raised an eyebrow and gave a small smile.

  “Whatever.”

  Deborah put her glass in the sink and headed to her room. She lay on her bed and started visualizing each step she was supposed to take while pretending to play her flute. She didn’t have time to think about her mom’s comment. All she had time to worry about was getting the moves down before homecoming came.

  ---------------

  Nicholas again did as promised and helped Deborah practice quite a bit before the homecoming game, but that didn’t stop that particular Friday night from approaching. When the day arrived, both Deborah and Nicholas wondered where time had gone.

  Standing inside a room connected to the football stadium, waiting for halftime to start marching, Nicholas quickly found Deborah and asked, “So are you nervous?”

  “Uh, yeah. I’m
afraid I’ll mess up.”

  “You’ll be fine. All that practicing will pay off. Just wait and see. I’ve got to go get back in line. I’ll see you afterwards, okay?”

  “Yep.”

  Nicholas gave her a quick pat on the back and got back into line. Just then the band teacher told everyone it was time to go.

  Well, here we go. There’s no turning back now, Deborah thought as she took a deep breath, hoping to calm herself down.

  For the whole five or six minutes that she was on the field, Deborah concentrated harder than she ever had before. She focused on where to place her feet just as Nicholas had showed her again and again when they practiced. Then before she knew it, the song was over and the band was heading back into the same room they started in.

  This was so not worth worrying about, Deborah thought.

  Deborah quickly went to find Nicholas to tell him that she thought she did a great job and didn’t think she messed up at all. Once she found him, she gave him a tap on the shoulders to get him to turn around from some girl that he was chatting with.

  “I did it, Nick!” she blurted out the moment he saw her.

  “Hey, that’s great! I told you that you’d be just fine,” he said as he gave her a quick, friendly hug.

  “I know. Thanks for all the help these last couple of weeks.”

  “No problem. Look, I can’t chat long. Some friends and I are going to hang out. See you later, okay?”

  “Oh, okay. Sure.”

  She watched Nicholas walk away with a few others from band, most of whom were girls. She couldn’t help but feel a little jealous that he was going to hang out with them and not with her and Alex. Speaking of which, her family was waiting for her somewhere in the stadium. As she searched for them, her feelings of accomplishment quickly triumphed over her jealousy.

  I can’t believe I actually did it!

  When everyone caught up with one another, they congratulated Deborah on a job well done. They all then decided to go home instead of staying to watch the rest of the football game in the freezing temperatures.

  “Hey, where did Nick end up going?” Alex asked as they started heading down the road.

  “Oh, he went to hang out with some friends from band I think,” Deborah replied.

  “Oh, okay.”

  The rest of the ride home the family talked about the football game and who they thought would win.

  Deborah didn’t really say much. She was still living off the high of playing the flute while getting all her dance moves right for a change.

  6

  When Nicholas had finished flipping through almost every CD found in the store, he sighed yet again. This was the second store him and Alex had gone to and still he couldn't find what he was looking for.

  “No luck?” Alex guessed.

  “No. Shoot. I was really thinking that we would have found it by now. When Debbie said that this CD was hard to find, I sure didn’t think it would be this hard.”

  “Well, don’t worry just yet. There’s still one more music store in this mall. Let’s go and check there.”

  “All right. Let’s go.”

  Nicholas and Alex left the store and made their trip over to the last music store found in the Riverside Mall. Nicholas was really hoping that he would have found the CD that Deborah wanted somewhere inside the two-story, extra long mall that just so happened to be the largest shopping center anywhere near their hometown. Travelling the forty minutes to get there made both the boys look long and hard just so that their trip would be well worth it.

  The two of them went into the third and final music store and started searching. Row after row of CDs had ended up failing them, the CD they were looking for nowhere in sight.

  “Man, I can’t believe that it’s not here either,” Nicholas complained.

  “Maybe you should just get her something else then, Nick.”

  “No. I really wanted to get this for her. We’re both into music and I know she really wanted this so I figured it’d be a great gift from me.”

  In just a few days Deborah was going to turn sweet sixteen. The boys were asked to chaperone Debbie's party since Ms. Harrington wouldn’t be there the whole time. Alex didn’t feel the need to buy Deborah a gift seeing as he never did when it was his sisters’ birthdays. Plus he felt that she’d get plenty enough from everyone else and didn’t need one more thing from him.

  However, as a guest/chaperone to a birthday party, Nicholas felt that it would be right to get a gift. He wouldn’t like it if people came to his party without a present so he wouldn’t do the same to one of his closest friends. His only regret about this whole thing was waiting until the last minute to get Deborah something because now he ran the risk of not finding what he wanted on time.

  When Alex and Nicholas had finished looking through the last of the CDs, a sales clerk walked by and asked if they needed help finding something.

  “Actually, yeah, I think we do,” Nicholas began. “I’m looking for a CD for a friend of mine and I haven’t been able to find it anywhere.”

  “Okay. What are you looking for?” the short, slightly pudgy, brown-haired lady asked.

  Nicholas told her what he was searching for as they walked towards the front so she could research on her computer. When they got there, she did a quick search that revealed that the store didn’t have a copy, something Nicholas already figured. However, she saw that a sister store roughly thirty minutes from them had one copy left.

  “Really? Can you have them save that for us?” Nicholas asked with excitement. “We can leave now and be there shortly.”

  “You’re seriously going to drive another thirty minutes away for this CD?” Alex wondered, secretly hoping he was just kidding.

  “Yeah, why not? That’s not that far.”

  The sales clerk made the phone call and the other store set the CD aside for the boys to come and pick it up.

  “You’re all set,” the lady said with a smile.

  “Thanks a lot!” Nicholas exclaimed.

  The two boys left right away and got back to Nicholas’ car. While they made the drive they discussed the birthday party a little bit. Nicholas didn’t really know what to expect and didn’t want to go into it blind. Alex gave him the details on the start time, what would be there to eat and do for entertainment and what was expected from the both of them.

  “Sounds fun. Do you know who’s all invited?”

  Alex listed off the guests, those that he knew of anyway. Most of them were Deborah’s female friends and some of the guests were her friends’ boyfriends.

  Nicholas knew that there were going to be other boys at the party, but was shocked to hear what Alex said next.

  “Oh, and Debbie’s boyfriend will be there too, I believe.”

  “What? Since when did Debbie get a boyfriend?” Nicholas had quickly turned to ask Alex about it with a look of disbelief on his face.

  “I think they’ve been dating maybe a couple of months. I’m not really sure.”

  “Wow. I didn’t even know that. What’s his name?”

  Nicholas was a little shocked that he didn't know this about Deborah.

  Why didn't Debbie tell me?

  “Gavin Koppels or something like that. He’s in the same grade as she is so I don’t really know if you’d know him or not. I didn’t before they started dating.”

  “The name does sound familiar,” Nicholas said as he tried to figure out where he heard about that guy before. After a few minutes he finally figured out that he knew Gavin through a friend of his. He never actually met him, but heard a lot about him, and the things that he heard were not good.

  “Oh, that's right! A friend of mine told me about him. You know, that guy is not good. All I’ve heard are a lot of bad things.”

  “Oh, yeah? Well, hopefully it’s all false,” Alex replied almost nonchalantly.

  “I don’t know, Alex. I tend to trust the things my friends say.”

  “Well, yeah, but it's not like we c
an really do anything about it though.”

  Nicholas decided not to say anything further on the subject at the moment as he was starting to get frustrated with Alex. It appeared he didn't care about who his sister dated. While on the other hand, Nicholas did care. He wanted to protect Deborah.

  As Nicholas thought about Deborah and Gavin together for the rest of the ride, he grew more and more uneasy with the idea of them dating. He felt she deserved someone much, much better; someone with a reputation not as bad as Gavin’s anyway.

  The two boys finally arrived to their destination. Alex remained in the car while Nicholas went inside to quickly get the CD. Thanks to the sales staff for holding it for them, Nicholas was able to be in and out of the store within five minutes. Before they knew it, they were on their way home again.

  With an hour of driving behind them, Nicholas finally dropped Alex off. The whole ride home was also in silence for the most part, which Alex knew was because of the whole Deborah and Gavin dating bit.

  When he got out of the car he bent over and said, “Hey, don’t worry about this Gavin guy. We’ll be at the party to make sure everything goes okay. Okay?”

  Nicholas looked at Alex and sighed.

  “You're right, man. Okay. I’ll try.”

  "Good. See you later then?"

  "Yeah," Nicholas answered with a half smile.

  Alex went inside and Nicholas made his quick drive back home. Once he got inside, he took the phone up to his bedroom so that he could call his friend and get more information on Gavin.

  ---------------

  Right before Deborah's party started, she was busy putting on the finishing touches of her whole ensemble. She decided to wear black leggings with her new royal blue flats her mom bought her. For her top she chose a royal blue and black dress sweater because it not only matched perfectly with the rest of the outfit, but it had the perfect neckline: something that showed a little skin, but not the whole package. The necklace her dad got her would go perfect with that neckline so she put that on as well. Then to accentuate her waist, she had a black shiny belt. The whole outfit made Deborah feel sophisticated and beautiful, but comfortable for a night of fun.