Chapter 12

I cut him off and said, “The cost, sir? Does it cost more than the life of a seven year old girl—and her mother? What about the costs of all those before them? Exactly how many people have to be hurt or killed here before ‘cost’ is not an issue?

I’m sorry: I don’t mean to sound like I’m questioning you. Like I said, I don’t know politics. But if you look closer at my proposal, you will see that there is an option for adding a toll booth. With the volume of traffic that goes through there, I’m sure that even a small toll would not only pay for the construction, but would be a source of income for the city.”

He replied, “Yes, I see that. You can’t just simply put up a toll anywhere you feel like it because there’s a bad intersection.”

I said, “I agree, sir. But this isn’t just a bad intersection. It’s an interstate transitioning into local roads and it is the State’s most dangerous. Just look at the report of serious to fatal accidents here compared to all other similar accidents for the rest of the State.

For the last five years in a row, there were twice as many here as there were in the next dangerous intersection. I believe if we build even half of what I’m proposing, this intersection will come off the list by next year! And I’m sure the voters will notice that.”

He seemed to recognize that last line for exactly what it was but let it go. He assured me that he would push the issue forward until some resolution was reached. I wondered for a moment if he was just pacifying me, but then he asked if he could have copies of everything I had presented sent to his office. I told him the copy he had was his to keep and he ended the meeting by thanking ME for MY time.

Leaving the meeting in high spirits, I looked at the time and it was almost time to leave to watch Cherry’s practice. I was beside myself with anticipation; I had not been with her since the Friday before! I went home, changed, and headed for Middletown.

There were still some students leaving the parking lot when I arrived at Cherry’s school. It was about 20 minutes after I parked that she and the other girls gathered in what I assumed was their usual practice spot. Cherry ran up to me and jumped into my arms to give me a big hug. Olivia did not approve.

She called Cherry back to the group and whispered something to her under her breath. Cherry just rolled her eyes behind Olivia’s back and waved to me with a wide grin before getting in line to start practice.

Watching her was just as amazing as ever! It was difficult to believe how much spirit poured out of her. The other girls seemed to be trying to just keep up with her energy, and they had a lot, too.

Olivia on the other hand, clearly had something on her mind and I was sure I knew what it was. She barely smiled at all and periodically shot me dagger eyes.

Around 45 minutes into the practice, Cherry excused herself to run inside and I assumed she needed a ‘bathroom break’. She motioned to me, using her fingers and thumbs to make a heart over her chest and then pointed at me. She mouthed the words ‘be right back; stay here’ and ran inside.

Before Cherry was out of sight, Olivia had the others doing strength building exercises and she gave me a look that seemed to come from Satan himself. It was obvious to me that I would not be seeing her application for membership to my fan club any time soon. Again, I thought I knew why, but I would soon find out that I was not entirely correct about that assumption.

Soon enough, Cherry was back and the girls continued their practice. Olivia seemed to keep them all longer than any of them wanted to stay and it felt like it was purely to keep Cherry away from me. Eventually she had to let the group go and the practice ended. Olivia turned to walk back to the gym and never looked in our direction.

I said, “Wow: Olivia is pretty pissed at me.”

Cherry said, “No, not really. Why do you think that?”

I asked, “Are you kidding me? Did you see the way she’s been looking at me?! If she had actual daggers for eyes, I’d be a bloody murder victim right now! That girl hates me...”

She said, “She doesn’t ‘hate’ you. She’s not happy about me not knowing for a moment if I was pregnant, but she doesn’t ‘hate you’ because of it.”

I asked, “Then what would you call it? What’s her problem with me?”

Cherry explained, “Oh, she’s just jealous. But she’ll get over it; don’t worry.”

I said, “She has nothing to be jealous about: she’s a very pretty girl; captain of the cheer-leading squad—I’ll bet she could date just about any guy she wanted at this school.”

She gave a half-laugh and said, “Yeah! That’s not going to happen!”

I was surprised by Cherry’s reaction and said, “Why not? She’s pretty; in nice shape; seems like a loyal friend ... is something wrong with her?”

Cherry said, “No; there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with her—she’s just not likely to ever have a boyfriend, that’s all.”

I asked, “Why would you say that?”

Cherry shook her head and sighed before saying, “Because she’s ... well ... let me put it this way: you know how a person acts when they are jealous of someone else?

I said simply, “Sure.”

Trying to bring it together, she asked, “Who gets the dirty looks?”

I answered, “The person they are jealous of.” She said, “Right...”

I asked, “Then why am I getting the dirty looks?!”

“Oh my god, REALLY?” Cherry asked. “Because she’s jealous of you! I can’t believe you made me say it...”

Showing how dense I can be and still not getting it, I said, “That doesn’t even make sense: ‘jealous of me’—if she was jealous of me, that would mean that she wanted to be with ... Hold on a second! Are you telling me that she’s a—”

Cherry cut me off before I could say the word, “YES! That’s what I’m telling you!”

Stunned, I said, “Oh my god! So Olivia is—”

“YES”

Pointing to Cherry and continuing I said, “And she wants to be with—”

I remarked, “What a poor, confused girl. I mean: she knows you’re not a lesbian, right?”

She said, “Yeah, she knows ... We’re best friends, remember?”

I asked, “So how did she get to where she is? I mean, she knows you are straight, but somehow she has fixated on you? How does that happen?”

Cherry seemed to groan internally and asked, “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

I said, “Yeah, tell me how this happened? I’m really curious.”

She said, “Ok, but first you have to promise not to judge me because it’s sorta my fault.”

I said, “Your fault? How could it be your fault?”

Cherry just stared at me...

Understanding what she was waiting for I said, “OK: I promise not to judge you! That goes without saying from now on, ok?”

She said, “Alright. To explain how this happened, I have to start from the very beginning. Olivia and I have known each other for pretty much our entire lives. We have been best friends since grade school and because we are neighbors, we played together all of the time. We were always having sleepovers together and we told each other everything. It’s what best friends do. You know?

And from the time we were really little, when we were having a sleep over, we did everything together; we even took bubble baths together. It was just kid’s stuff; you know how kids are. So, as the years passed, we outgrew bubble baths and it eventually became showers. Again: nothing was ‘going on’; it was just two friends taking a shower and we thought nothing of it at all. Other than helping to scrub each other’s backs, we didn’t even touch each other.”

“So this one time Olivia was sleeping over and we were talking about boys. I used to tease her about liking the wimpiest boys in school ... but anyway, there was this boy that I liked and I decided one day that I wanted to let him kiss me and I told Olivia. But I was scared to do it because I didn’t want to be a terrible kisser—I’d never kissed anyone before. I was afraid he would tell his friends that I was an awful kisser and I’d be an outcast. I guess it never dawned on me that he would be bad too or that neither of us would know the difference...

Anyway, Olivia said she didn’t want to be bad at kissing either and someone had the bright idea of practicing on a mirror. I tried it first and after she tried it we both agreed that it didn’t work too well. SOOOOO ... Olivia suggested that we practice—together. She said that after everything we had done together over the years, the things we could tell each other and no one else, we could try this and it would be our secret. We could learn how to kiss and be really good at it for our first time.”