Chapter 2

The next day was Friday, and most of the morning I went listlessly from class to class. I sat by myself, as I usually did at lunch, paying no attention to anything, lost in my own thoughts. Then, for some reason, I had no idea of why or where it came from, I felt better. It was, I thought, a little like what I thought a drug high must be like. My spirits lifted, and by the end of lunch, I felt better than I’d felt for weeks.

I had English Lit after lunch, and I listened carefully; it was like the world was a whole new, bright, better place. I couldn’t explain it, but it was nice; very nice. I pictured Laurie in my mind, and while there was a definite pang, there was also mild regret and calm acceptance. Could you grow up during a lunch period where you couldn’t even bring yourself to eat your cheese sandwich?

The next period was PE, and as we were dressing out, one of the more obnoxious of my classmates was verbally hazing one of the freshman girls. Normally, I would have found a reason to go someplace else, instead I said firmly, “Put a cork in it, Carla.” Then, I turned my back and walked away, leaving mystified silence behind.

Volleyball; I ended up on one of the better teams for a change. And Carla was on the other side of the net, looking daggers at me. What had Laurie said, ‘find a friend my own age?’ I looked at Carla’s forty-inch bosom that Carla unendingly reminded everyone how large they were, and mentally shuddered. The ball came my way on their second serve, and I popped it up and the tall girl on my right slammed it past all of the defenders.

“Nice set,” the girl told me as we shifted positions.

I felt even better than I had earlier. Never, in my entire life, had anyone ever complimented me on my athletic abilities! A girl from our team served and Carla hit it back my way, close, but not too close. No one else could reach it I saw and I lunged for the ball; managing to dig it out at the expense of scrapes on my elbows and bruised knees. I saw the girl who stood next to me jump and spike it. She had been looking straight ahead of her and every sinew said she was going to spike it straight ahead. The ball shot laterally along the net, and no one came near it. She held out a hand and helped me up, then gave me a high five.

I turned and faced Carla who was now almost apoplectic. The serve was hit up and Carla tried to duplicate the other girl’s spike. It would have been impressive ... if she had hit the ball. It sailed over Carla’s shoulder and bounced on the ground. For the next ten minutes we proceeded to trounce them; they could hardly score a point.

Towards the end of the period, Carla was nearly jumping up and down with frustration, which was not helping her side to score points. The ball sailed over the net near my tall neighbor, and she could barely hit it up to keep it in play. At five-six, I had only spiked volley balls in my dreams. Now I went up as high as my legs would carry me, and I hit the ball as hard as I could. It was only on the way down that I realized that I had been above the ball when I hit it ... above the net. Two, three-foot jumps! As I landed, I saw Carla standing still, her hands clenched, her face beet red.

“Watch those spikes, Reynolds!” Coach yelled. I looked at Coach Murray, and yes, she had a smile on her face; everyone on both sides of the net was standing with idiotic grins on their faces. Coach went on, “Lopez ... you’re supposed to be playing defense ... not just stand there. Next time, move out of the way if you can’t hit it yourself so someone else can.”

The tall girl next to me grinned at me, and for the life of me, I had no idea what. The whistle blew, and we started trooping towards the showers. The tall girl fell in next to me. “Katie and Karen, the Killer Kombo,” she said loudly. I laughed. I knew her only faintly, Katherine Diamond, in my class, but pretty much of a jock. She was on the girls’ basketball team and the volleyball team. Varsity.

“You didn’t see, did you?” she said.