Chapter 1

“Mr. Pierce, would you care to join us?” Mrs. Middleton asked.

I blinked a couple of times to orient myself. I was in first-period Shakespeare with Melanie’s mom teaching. It was the first day of school and, even though Porter-Gaud wasn’t exactly a large school, there were a lot of kids in this class I didn’t know. I guess that happens when you skip a grade. I hadn’t actually skipped a grade, or maybe I had. I was in a classroom full of juniors and I was in my second year. I guessed it was about the same.

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry.”

“A bit distracted?” she asked and the classroom laughed. Apparently, they all knew I was very recently engaged to Kim McTighe.

“Yes ma’am. Just a bit.”

“I’m not surprised. We were introducing ourselves.”

“I’m Jack,” I said, hoping that was enough.

“That’s a start, Mr. Pierce. I’ve asked each student if they’ve ever read Shakespeare or seen one of his plays, and if so, what’s their favorite.”

Happy for an easy question, I answered, “I’ve read a couple and seen a couple, I guess. Much Ado About Nothing, or maybe Hamlet.”

“Well, that’s an interesting contrast. One of Shakespeare’s comedies and one of his tragedies. And which character did you most identify with? If you remember,” she said.

That was a more difficult question and I felt like I was center stage. I don’t like to be on center stage but I seemed to be spending plenty of time there. What was the line? Oh, yeah. “Silence is the perfectest herald of joy,” I said. Maybe I could be quiet after that.

“Ah, Claudio, of course. Thank you, Mr. Pierce, or should I call you Aquaman? And congratulations.”

More giggles, and thankfully she moved on to the next student. A lot of eyes were still on me. It seemed like I’d been on stage since the day after my first date with Kim, when we’d arrived for a basketball game in a limo. I looked around the room again, this time paying attention to who was in it. I knew less than half, although I recognized most, just from passing them in the hallway. Lisa, formerly known as Spot, and Melanie were both in the class. This should be good. Melanie was taking a class that her mom was teaching. What could go wrong? On the other hand, who better to give us an inside scoop on what to expect?

Most of the kids didn’t know any Shakespeare but I thought Melanie must. Her mom was teaching the class. How could she not know Shakespeare? When it got around to Lisa, she said she identified with Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew.

“You’re the shrew,” Mrs. Middleton said, surprised.

“Until the right man comes along to tame me,” Lisa answered, and that got the appropriate ooh and ah responses.

When it got to Melanie, everyone paid attention. “And what’s your favorite and who do you identify with?”

“You already know,” Mel said.

“But they don’t. Let’s hear it.”

“Okay, fine. The Merchant of Venice,” Mel said.

“So, you identify with Portia?”

“No. Hamlet.”

“Wrong play, sweetheart. Hamlet was crazy, you know?” Mrs. Middleton said, and Melanie looked back at her with her eyes crossed. “I knew this day was coming,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Who’s next?”

I learned the names of a couple more people and Mrs. Middleton gave us the course outline and what her expectations were. Shakespeare wrote thirty-eight plays. By the time the class was over, we would be familiar with each of them and perform two of them as a class. We’d also understand Shakespeare’s influence on others. There would be tests and we’d be expected to analyze a couple of plays and write papers. I was good with that.

When that class was over, I started to leave when Mrs. Middleton stopped me. “Mr. Pierce. A word, please.” Everyone else kept going.

“You and Kim have turned this school upside down,” she said, rising from her seat. Now that I knew she was Mel’s mom, the resemblance was unmistakable. She was really pretty.

“I know that one. That’s hyperbole,” I said, and she laughed.

“By the narrowest of margins. Congratulations.” She stood in front of me and held out her hands so I took them and stood. “Mel and Kim have been best buddies forever. Give me a hug before other students show up.” I did.

“Thanks, Mrs. Middleton. I’m pretty happy.”

“So is Kim. and Melanie is jealous. I’m afraid poor Bobby is ... well, uncomfortable.”

“Yes, ma’am. He’s a good friend and I know he is. They aren’t us, though, and I know Kim has told Melanie to be patient.”

“I think even if she didn’t say anything, he’d feel it a bit. Melanie says you’re planning to graduate in three. That has to be a heavy load.”

“No ma’am. I mean, yes ma’am. If I want to graduate in three, I have to load up a bit.”

“If you need any help, you just holler, okay? No special treatment, but I want you to know I’m available to help.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Middleton.” I started to leave, then stopped. “Mrs. Middleton,” I said and she looked back at me. “Melanie’s pretty special but I guess you know that.”

“She is, isn’t she? It’s always nice to hear it, though. Hamlet! She’s crazy, too.”

I just made it to US History in time. I was really curious about what kind of a teacher Coach Miller would be. Some teachers used a seating chart with assigned seats, others let you pick a seat but you were stuck there, and other teachers didn’t care. Coach Miller had a seating chart. Somehow, I knew he would. There was a chart with our names on it on a transparency, projected on a screen. He waited while we each found our seats. I should say he waited while most of us found our seats.

“Mr. Steyer, Miss Argyle, please swap seats. It’s not that complicated.” He waited while they swapped. When everyone was settled, he asked, “How many of you are here to learn US History?” We all raised our hands. “Can someone tell me what the most important question is when studying history?”

A couple of people guessed. He thanked them for their guesses. Then he told us the answer. “The most important question is why? Why did Theodore Roosevelt build the Panama Canal?”

People guessed and he thanked them for their answers, sometimes telling them it was a thoughtful answer or that their reasoning was sound. No one felt bad about their answers but we all knew he would give us the right answer.

“Has anyone heard of Alfred Thayer Mahan?” he asked. I was stumped. The name didn’t mean anything to me or to anyone else. “Mahan wrote a book entitled, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783, published in 1890. Mahan believed that whoever controlled the seas, controlled commerce and whoever controlled commerce controlled the world. Theodore Roosevelt, believed Mahan was a strategic genius. He negotiated the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, giving the U.S. control of the Canal Zone, and in 1904, we began digging the canal. It was completed ten years later, at great cost. Our navies had access to both the Pacific and Atlantic so we could control commerce.

“It’s not enough to know what we did and when. You need to understand why it was done. If you can answer that question, you have some insight into how a decision was made. You might learn some history in this class but my real goal is to teach you how to think. Let’s play with what we know for a minute. I’ve already told you that Roosevelt believed that Mahan was a genius. Would Roosevelt have engaged American troops in Vietnam? Anyone.”

That didn’t take a lot of thought. I waited but no one was going for it. Come on, people. This is easy, I thought. No hands. I stuck mine up.

“Mr. Pierce, would Theodore Roosevelt have engaged American troops in the Vietnam conflict?”

“I don’t believe he would have. He probably wouldn’t have gotten us into Korea, either.”

“Fair enough. Why not?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve never bought anything that was made in Vietnam and as far as I know, they don’t have much of a navy. Even if we would have won, it wouldn’t help us control the oceans or commerce.”

“Not bad, Pierce. Anyone want to comment on that?”

No one did. He tried a couple of other historical situations. I thought they were pretty straightforward but there were only a few guesses. I could hear a girl answer one and I recognized her voice but I couldn’t see her. There were two other kids between us. I struggled to figure out who owned that voice but I just couldn’t do it. Class finished and I stood to see that it was Lori Newsome. I was glad she was on the other side of the room from me. I didn’t need the distraction. She saw me and smiled and I returned it.

“Mr. Pierce,” Coach said, quietly.

“Sir?”

“Congratulations. Good summer?”

“Yes, sir. The best. We went to Puerto Rico for two weeks.”

“Very nice.”

“Our hotel was on Condado Beach. I swam five miles non-stop one day.” He smiled at that.

“A bit different in the ocean, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir. Can I ask you a question?” He nodded. “How do you know everyone’s name on the first day of class?”

“Ha. Yearbook. I’m terrible at remembering names so I make a point of learning them. I use the yearbook and try to identify kids I don’t know as they walk the halls. Mrs. Ellis, in admin, gives me copies of new kids’ photos. That’s my secret.”

“Nice. Everyone notices, in case you didn’t know. Can I ask you another?” He nodded again. “You don’t have to answer. Why aren’t you coaching at the college level?”

“Ha. Why are you engaged to Kim McTighe? You better get going. Precalc is at the other end of the hall,” he said. I thanked him and started for the other end.

He knew my next class was Precalculus. Of course, he did. Why am I engaged to Kim McTighe? How in the world did that relate to why he wasn’t coaching at the college level? I had Mrs. Haggerty for Precalc. I’d had her for Trig so I knew what to expect. I liked her. She told you her expectations and graded you based on how close you came. No guesswork.

I was the last person to arrive. There were three seats available. Two of them were in the front row and the third was next to Kim. Decisions, decisions. I sat next to Kim.

“Hey,” I said, cleverly.

“Hey, yourself. Good morning so far?” she asked.

“Lots of congratulations.”

“Me, too. You have this class figured out already, don’t you?” Kim asked.

“Pretty much. At least the first half.”

“Good, because it looks like rocket science to me. I might need a tutor.”

Mrs. Haggerty handed out a pretest so she could find out what she was starting with. There were forty questions on composite and inverse functions, trig, complex numbers, rational functions, conic sections, matrices, and vectors. I think I was at least in the ballpark on most of them. There was a question about multiplying a matrix by a scalar and I was lost on that. The rest of them made sense, even if I didn’t know the answer. Finished with as much as possible, I put my paper face down and waited.

The room was quiet, except for some head-scratching, and Mrs. Haggerty walked back to collect my test. She looked at it, then at Kim, watching her work. Mrs. Haggerty should definitely play poker, I thought. She had probably already graded mine in her head. There was about ten minutes left when she stopped everyone who wasn’t already done.

“Some of you are probably wondering why you ever decided to take this class and some of you appear, by your work, to have already taken this class. This will provide a solid foundation for calculus. You may find that it comes in handy if you choose to pursue a career in physics, engineering, medicine, pharmacology, or biology. Any future astronauts should make this class a priority. There may be times when you think I am trying to make your life miserable. I am not. Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz developed calculus before Voltaire wrote Candide or Bach composed The Goldberg Variations.

“I tell you that so you’ll know how long people have been cursing them both.” Everyone laughed. “However, without calculus, we would not have put a man on the moon, there would be no computers, buildings and bridges would be limited in size and cars would be less efficient.”

“A small price to pay,” someone said and everyone laughed, including Mrs. Haggerty.

Class finished and we packed our stuff to move on to the next class. We both knew what was coming when Mrs. Haggerty walked down our aisle. We were both about to stand, when she knelt between us, putting a hand on each of our desks.

“How many teachers have already spoken with you two, today?” she asked.

“Mr. Trent hasn’t,” I said, smiling.

“You haven’t had him yet, have you? Next period?”

“After lunch.”

“Do you share any other classes?”

“We both have Shakespeare and chemistry but at different times,” Kim said.

“Am I going to regret allowing you to continue to sit next to each other?” she asked.

“It’s probably best this way,” Kim said.

“Oh? And why is that?” she asked and we could tell she was having fun.

“If we goof off or disrupt the class, you’ll split us up and neither of us want that,” Kim said. What a great answer.

“That’s a safe assumption. I don’t want to do that. Enough people think of me as a villain as it is,” she said, standing. I really liked Mrs. Haggerty.

Figuring we were finished, we both stood. Mrs. Haggerty started to walk away, then stopped. “Let’s see,” she said and Kim beamed and held out her hand so Mrs. Haggerty could see her engagement ring. She held the tips of Kim’s fingers and took a good look. “It’s absolutely beautiful. Congratulations to both of you. I sincerely hope all your dreams come true.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Haggerty. Us, too,” I said, and Kim and I walked out.

“You like her, don’t you?” Kim asked.

“Yeah. She’s really good. She knows she teaches subjects that are tough for a lot of kids. She makes it understandable but she doesn’t cut any corners, you know?”

“I’m glad you like her. I guess I do too, but I’m probably going to need help with this class. Some of it looks like a foreign language.”

“I think I know someone who could help.” We were about to kiss and go different directions when we thought better of it. We probably shouldn’t get in trouble the first day of school.

I walked into Mrs. Nichols’ biology class, not really knowing what to expect. As a new teacher, no one knew what to expect. Most of my classes were junior-level classes but biology was a typical sophomore-level class and I knew almost everyone. The room was set up a little differently than other classrooms with three rows of seats from side to side rather than the usual front to back. When the bell sounded, she read off names and pointed us to seats, one at a time. I found myself in the middle seat of the middle row. I thought ominous music would be appropriate.

Books were already at our seats and she invited us to check them over for damage. She asked us to turn to the table of contents and take a good look. I’d already done that and read the first four or five chapters so I was pretty familiar with it.

“If you did well in seventh-grade life science, you already have a solid foundation for this class. If you didn’t, you may struggle to keep up,” she said. “We’ll dig deeper into almost every area. If you haven’t heard by now, you will be dissecting a cat.” We heard some groans. “You needn’t worry. The cats we’ll be dissecting are already dead.” I thought that was funny but no one laughed. “Most of them are, at any rate.” I couldn’t help it and laughed out loud. That was funny. “You might know that I’m new here. I lost my last job as a science teacher. I had my students dissect porcupines. The headmaster insist we dissect bald porcupines but I thought that was pointless.” I thought it was hilarious but I must have been the only one.

She explained what we’d be doing and our approach for the class in general, and for specific sections. She kept dropping puns into everything. They were great. I don’t think everyone thought so. She was obviously having fun and so was I. As she continued, I tried to figure out where she was from. She had a strong southern accent but it sure wasn’t from Charleston. It probably wasn’t from the Carolinas or Georgia, either.

Class ended and I went to the front to meet our new teacher. She put a couple of papers away, took a deep breath and looked up.

“I just wanted to say, ‘hey’ and welcome to the Lowcountry. I’m Jack Pierce,” I said and when she offered her hand, I shook it.

“Ah. The famous Aquaman.”

“No,” I said. I couldn’t believe that someone had thought it important to tell her that before she even started teaching.

“Is that not right?” she asked.

“It is. I just couldn’t believe someone bothered to tell you that.”

“Actually, I read about you in the Porter Grits. I read through the last year’s issues. Very nice to meet you. Do I call you Aquaman, or Mr. Aquaman? I’m not sure what the proper protocol is. Should I expect to be introduced to Aqualad?”

“Oh, my gosh. You know about the actual comic book character. It’s crazy enough that you would read the school newspaper. Please, please, please call me Jack.”

“I have a hunch if I did that, I’d be the only one. It’s a fine nickname.”

“Thank you. Can I ask where you’re from? Your accent is southern but not from around here.”

“Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Roll Tide.”

“Ah. The football team, right?”

“That’s right. It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Aquaman,” she said with a great smile.

“Thanks. I’m looking forward to the class and more puns.”

“You might be the only one, Mr. Aquaman,” she said and I left, laughing.

I stashed my morning books in my locker grabbed my lunch and walked to the cafeteria. When I got to the cafeteria, I started toward the squad’s normal table and found them in a huddle. I waited for it to break and when it did, Kim and most of the rest of the team went to a different table, leaving Allie and Lori behind. I looked at Kim to see what was going on and she motioned for me to take a seat.

“Allie is a sophomore and is staying in JV,” Kim said.

“Lori is a junior but she’s staying in JV, too,” Lisa added. “She knows we’re committed to doing better than last year’s varsity and is staying down with the JV team to ... what? What would you call it?”

“Motivate them,” Allie said. “Plus, it’s not easy to be a flyer for the first year and she’s going to coach whoever that is.”

“That all makes sense,” I said. “Did all of the varsity cheerleaders graduate?”

“No,” Kim said. “Marci Watkins and Jan Tigner are seniors. That’s sort of what the huddle was about. They’re both sitting behind me, two tables away.”

I looked over to see them sitting across from each other. “Do we go get them or do they think we’re going to go sit with them?” Lisa said.

“They’re older but there are more of you,” I said. “Just go ask them. Invite them over.” They all looked at me like I was a space alien. “I’ll sit somewhere else so it’s not weird. Just go get them. There’s Bobby,” I said, standing. A couple of them nodded and Kim reached across the table and squeezed my hand.

“Congratulations, Aquaman,” Lisa said, and everyone echoed it.

“Thanks. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

“Don’t you have a brother?” Lisa asked.

“He’s ten years older than me,” I protested. It was pretty funny.

“I don’t see that as a problem,” Lisa replied.

“He’s married,” Kim said.

“Just adds to the challenge,” Lisa said, they all laughed and I went to sit with Bobby.

Bobby was sitting with Lynn Pendleton. Lynn hated his first name and everyone called him Pendleton. No one knew what his middle name was, except him and his parents. As I sat, Gil Vechey and Allen Conrad, both from the swim team sat, as well.

“Hey,” I said and they all returned it.

“What’s going on?” Gil asked, nodding toward the squad.

“Team pow wow,” Bobby said.

“New dynamic with varsity and JV. I think they’re trying to figure out how to get everyone together.” I had my back to them and didn’t see.

“Kim and Lisa are both standing and talking. Kim just sat back down and it looks like Lisa is, yup, she is walking over to Jan and Marci.”

“Hey, Aquaman, are you really engaged?” Gil asked.

“I am really engaged.”

“You’re the only person I’ve ever known who was engaged,” he said.

“I could introduce you to Kim McTighe. She’s engaged, too.”

“No kidding?” he said seriously.

“Gil, he’s engaged to Kim,” Bobby said.

“Oh, yeah.”

We talked about our classes that morning and what we had in the afternoon. Gil was looking at the squad the whole time.

“My mornings have my hard classes,” I said, but they weren’t really hard. “Then it’s chemistry and keyboarding in the afternoon. Cake.”

“Ha. I hate chemistry,” Allen said.

“How would you know?” I asked.

“I’m taking it for the second time, that’s how.”

“Ouch. At least you know what to expect,” Bobby said.

“I want to see it,” Gil said.

“See what?” Pendleton asked.

“Kim’s ring.”

“Mel said it was really nice,” Bobby said. “Big and beautiful.” I wasn’t going to argue.

Gil got up to walk across the cafeteria and the rest of the guys followed him. I could either stay put or follow them over. I followed them. Marci and Jan had joined the squad and now the entire varsity cheerleading squad was together. When a bunch of guys showed up at their table, conversation stopped. Gil must have asked because Kim stuck her hand out, beaming. Right about then, I was really glad I had invested the summer to pay for a ring she could be proud of.