Chapter 2

When I came downstairs Tuesday morning, Mom had papers spread out over the table and was rearranging them. I knew she had a big case that day. I also knew that she would have been prepared well in advance but followed a ritual she said gave her a bit more confidence. I made a couple of peanut butter sandwiches and threw them in a bag with an apple and a Coke.

“Morning, buddy. Good first day?”

“Pretty good. Case start today?”

“It does. Lisa seemed to know all about it. You stood up to some monster for Tina and then got home from Fallon’s pretty late. Tina was in two of your classes. Your sister got a ride home from Rose, by the way. Does that all sound about right?”

“Yes ma’am.” I had no idea what else she knew about my day but I knew well enough not to give a trial lawyer any free information.

“It’s okay if you spend a late night out with one of the girls but let’s try to keep that to the weekend, shall we? How about dinner at her place or ours one night and a midnight curfew on Friday and Saturday. Can you live with that?”

I thought about it for a moment and realized I wasn’t going to get a much better deal. “With negotiated exceptions?” I asked.

She smiled. “With negotiated exceptions. I think it’s reasonable to expect those negotiations take place at least a day in advance.”

That worked. “I can live with that.”

“Good. Now, tell me about your day. You have two minutes.”

I recounted most of it, including how Moose bailed me out. I told her I was surprised to see Tina in two of my classes and she smiled at that.

“I’m proud of you for standing up to the Williams kid. That was brave, and perhaps a bit foolhardy. But I’m proud of you. You don’t know anything about Tina’s goals and aspirations, do you?”

“I guess I don’t. Do you know what he got in trouble for?”

“He graduated from Newport Harbor last year but wouldn’t leave. He was warned, then reported trespassing. Police showed up and he was booked for trespassing, aggravated assault and resisting arrest. He hurt one of the policemen pretty badly.”

“What’s he want with Tina? I mean if he went to Harbor, how would he even know her? And she’s a sophomore.”

“It’s not Tina. It’s her sister. I think she has a restraining order on him and he’s probably trying to figure out where she is. He’s bad news, buddy. I understand you want to protect Tina but if that happens again, you need to have a better plan. I don’t want to see you on the evening news.”

I grabbed my lunch and kissed my mom on the cheek. “Randy says I was on the evening news last week.”

“Do tell.”

“Remember the big surf day? News Four was there. I guess they showed a wave with me on it for two seconds or something. A couple guys said they saw it.”

“A celebrity in the family. Let’s keep the news reports on that kind of happy note. Invite Fallon for dinner here one night.”

I nodded and left with Lisa. She grabbed her books on the way out the door. I told Lisa what Mom had said about Tige. No murder or bank robbery but still dangerous and she seemed satisfied to be right. We picked up Fallon and she had a violin case with her. I told her about Mom’s rules for our time together and she was okay with it. Not happy, but okay.

Fallon kept glancing at me with this great smile. I overheard my parents talking about someone that Dad described as having a just-been-fucked smile. I think Fallon had one of those. I parked in almost the same spot as the day before. Lisa reminded me she had a ride home and left Fallon and me to walk to her locker.

She got her morning books out and we leaned our heads together.

“I don’t know which was better, what you did for me or watching you do it,” she said.

“Pretty good either way. You are amazing, Fallon. Hot or cold. No lukewarm. I like the hot Fallon,” I said, smiled and kissed her. “You smell good, too,” I said and we parted ways.

US History was going to be a breeze. Reading with a few tests and one paper. American lit was going to be a decent class it seemed. Lots of reading with a couple of papers and not too many tests. I’d already read The Last of the Mohicans, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Old Man and the Sea which was pretty sweet. I had a choice between Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Moby Dick or The House of Mirth. She said she’d accept something else from a long list if we had a good reason. I was certain I could find one.

I left that class in a hurry to get to Trig, not because I couldn’t wait for math but because I wanted a seat next to Tina. She was waiting for me outside the classroom and we still had five minutes.

“I didn’t say thank you for yesterday,” she said. “That was pretty brave and really sweet.”

“Tweren’t nothin, ma’am,” I practically stammered.

She tucked her book under her arm and took my face in her hands and planted a serious kiss on me. My eyes most certainly bugged out and my heart raced. She released me and I was out of breath. I barely heard the kids walking past with their comments about it.

“Really. It was a big deal. What you said at the beach house about standing up for one of us was just talk. Yesterday was action. It’s not a small thing to me. Just wanted you to know.”

“Dang, Tina. Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

She smiled at me and said, “Your breathless, your heart is racing and you wish we were alone together and naked, right?”

“Pretty much.”

“Then I know. Do you have any idea how much fun I have doing that?”

“No.”

“A lot. And it feels pretty good that I have that effect on you. Feels nice. But I was out of line. This is just the beginning of Fallon’s month. So, that won’t happen again. Not until October. I just wanted you to know. That was a big deal.”

“Not until October?”

“That’s the deal, right?”

“What if Tige shows up again today?”

“You’re cute. Let’s grab seats before they’re gone,” she said and we went in.

We found seats next to each other near the front. I got nudged, punched, congratulated and kidded all the way to my seat. None of that mattered. Okay, it mattered a little. I felt like I was on top of the world. Mr. Lum definitely seemed like a teacher who was on our side. He knew that it was easy to get out of Trig and it was a difficult class so he wanted to give us the best shot at doing well. I really liked that in a teacher.

On the way to Chemistry, Tina said she thought Trig would be her toughest class. She thought she could deal with the concepts but the formula memorization and their relationships to each other was going to be tough. I wanted to ask about her goals and aspirations, as my mom had put it, but we were out of time.

I sat behind Tina again and settled in for Chemistry. Mr. Spang had a really dry sense of humor and a lot of kids missed his jokes but I followed them and laughed. Sometimes it seemed like he was telling them for me. He gave us an outline of the class and I saw that we would have ten two-day labs during just the first semester. Twenty days to work together with Tina. I liked that.

Class was over and we parted ways to go to lunch. She gave me a smile I was becoming very familiar with. Some would call it a sly smile but for me it was an I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile. It was a pleasant but slightly unsettling smile.

I found Fallon at the dome and was going to sit next to her, but Fallon directed me to the other side.

“I’ll let you know,” she said. “I’m right here.” I smiled at that. She didn’t want me keeping an eye on Tina, even if it was across the dome.

“Thank you. That works for me and I know you won’t let anything happen. How was your morning?”

“Easy. I should be doing what Tina is. I guess it’s not too late. Maybe I could graduate in January of my senior year.”

“Why the rush? It seems like if you hated school, you would have a hard time graduating early because it would be extra work and if you loved school, you’d want it to last.”

“I have things I want to do after school. I’m kind of anxious to get started.”

“Tell,” I said.

“I want to go to USC. My grades are just good enough to maybe get a scholarship in their music program at Thornton.”

“And USC is good? I thought Juilliard in New York was the best and that would be for you.”

“Juilliard is really good. But I need a scholarship. I might be able to get one with USC and they are really good too. No scholarships at Juilliard.”

“That makes sense.” Two kids Fallon knew sat at our table but I sort of ignored them. “Are your grades good enough? And what if you tried to graduate early? Could you do that and keep your grades up?”

“Yes, and maybe. I’m not as smart as Tina. No one is. But I had all A’s and a B last year. If I can get a good grade in geometry, I should be good. It’s my only hard class.”

“I aced geometry last year. I could help.”

“That would be nice. I think most musicians suck at math. Not Bach. He was a wizard at math. Maybe it’s just me.”

“If you think graduating early would give you an edge, you should do it. But is that what would help you get a scholarship?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how to find out.”

I thought about it a minute and couldn’t come up with a good answer. Dad always said that if he didn’t have a good plan, he’d ask himself who would and then try to think what they would do. I thought about what Dad would say. It was obvious.

“Let’s go ask,” I said.

“Ask who?”

“USC isn’t that far away. Maybe an hour. I’ll drive. We’ll go there and ask what you need to do to get a scholarship to their music school.”

“Do you think it’s as simple as that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Who would know? Someone in USC admissions or maybe the dean of the music department? Fallon, if you were a football player with the kind of talent you had, they’d be coming to you.”

“He’s right, Fallon. You should do it. Skip a day and go.” One of her friends finally chipped in and I liked his attitude.

“Michael, this is Jay. Jay, Michael. That’s pretty direct, but I like it. It is definitely something Tina would do. What do I do next?”

“Call. Call the admissions office and tell them you’re a sophomore and you want to talk to someone about it. Or, maybe the guidance counselor could help. You could probably even get an excused absence from them.”

“I think that’s a good place to start. They should have phone numbers and all that.”

“What do you play?” Jay asked me and it caught me off guard. It hadn’t occurred to him that I might not be a musician.

“Eight-track,” I said and watched his face twist in confusion.

“He’s a Philistine. Don’t pay any attention to him,” she said to Jay. I grinned. Jay still didn’t get it. Lunch was about over so we excused ourselves and walked to Fallon’s locker.

“Any hitchhikers today?” I asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“I want to talk to Sascha sometime soon.”

“Really? He’s in my next period. If you want to give him a ride, he’d be happy to have it. He’d get home a lot sooner than by bus.”

“I’d like that.”

“You want to ask him about karate, don’t you?” I nodded and she understood completely. If I could do something to help me be able to protect her best friend, she’d be all in.

Two hours later, she and Sascha came walking out to my truck together. They hopped in and we eased out into traffic.

“Tell me about the karate you do, Sascha.”

“You want to be able to fight Tige if you have to.”

“The thought had crossed my mind. Will this karate stuff help with that?”

“Definitely. I can show you.” I nodded. This was business.

All three of us went to Sascha’s house and he let us into his garage. He’d transformed half of it into his karate studio. We set our books out of the way and moved to the middle of the room.

“Hit me,” he said. I looked at him, doubtfully. I was a lot bigger than Sascha.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t want to get hurt. Punch me in the face. Give me a good one.”

I looked at Fallon, shook my head and punched him square in the face. Except I didn’t. I punched at his face and found myself staring at the ground with my right arm stretched out over my head. I had to use my left hand to keep from falling on my face.

“What the hell did you do?” I asked.

“I’ll show you,” he said and for the next half hour he showed me a move and had me repeat it. It was brilliant. I’d never seen anything like it but it definitely seemed like it would even the score with a bigger opponent. Like Tige, for instance. “Want to learn?”

“Definitely. Would you teach me? How long would it take?”

He looked at Fallon and she nodded. “Yes. It depends on how much you want to learn. I can teach you just the basics and that wouldn’t take long at all. If you want to earn a black belt it will take years. I test for brown next Saturday. I’ve been at it for four years. It will take me two more to earn a black belt, if I earn one.”

“I want to learn what I need to learn to kick Tige’s ass if I need to. Maybe more but that’s a starting point. Could you do it? Could you kick his ass?”

“He’s a pretty big guy. It depends. Karate’s not magic. He could get in a lucky punch and it would be over for me. But, yeah. I could probably kick his ass.”

“Yeah. It seemed like magic. What you did to me seemed like magic.”

“I told you to punch me and I was expecting it. If you’d kicked me instead, I might not have done magic on you.”

“Fair enough. What do I have to do?”

And that started me down a journey I’ve been on for years. It was a simple decision. Tige was bad. I wanted to be able to protect myself or Tina from him and Sascha had the key to that. At his direction, I took off my shoes and he taught me stances, blocks, punches, kicks and strikes. When I had a familiarity with those, he taught me some combination moves he called techniques. They were logical and I ate it up.

“You should get a gi or sweatpants to start so you can move more freely. We should have a schedule, maybe a couple of days a week and you can practice at home. You should get a notebook so you can write down the things. I teach you.”

“Sascha, let me talk to Fallon a bit first.”

“I want you to,” she said, without hesitation. “Do you think...”

“What, princess?” Sascha asked. Princess?

“Can girls do it too? Could I learn it, too?”

“Definitely. I have to get ready for dinner but you decide what you want. Maybe again Thursday. This helps me get ready for my test, too.”

He showed us how to bow, and we did and then left.

“What do you think, princess?” I asked.

“Stop. He has a crush on me. It’s cute.”

“But you don’t have one on him,” I said as a statement.

“No. He’s a little boy. He’s nice.”

“Okay, so, what do you think?”

“I think it would be fun. And maybe it would be useful, but I hope not.”

“You hope it wouldn’t be useful?”

“I hope you would never have to find out.”

We walked back to her house and then sat on the front steps talking. I felt like I could talk to her about anything. Like we had a mystical connection. I asked if she wanted to come to our house for dinner Friday. She agreed but said she needed to leave in time to get to Ocean Guitar Center. She was giving a piano demonstration at seven. The clock said it was time to leave and we stood together.

“I want you to learn karate. I just don’t want you to ever need it. I think Sascha will be a good teacher. He knows about Tige and he saw you at lunch yesterday. You’re important to me and I’m important to him.”

“Therefore, I’m important to him.”

“I think that’s about right,” she said and we kissed. We played with our lips and our tongues and simply enjoyed the closeness of it. I wrapped her in my arms and held her.

“I like to hold you close,” I said. “It feels good to wrap you up.”

“I feel safe when you do. Like I belong here. It’s nice.”

“It is nice. See you in the morning,” I said and gave her one more quick kiss. Leaving was hard.

I got home and Mom was putting dinner on the table. She looked up to see me come in, checked the clock and smiled. I’d made it home not only in time for dinner but in time to make her smile. It’s always good to please your parents. It’s nice to have reasonable parents. My Dad came down the stairs, sniffing the air like a hungry dog.

“What do we have, honey?” he asked putting his arms around my mom, kissing her neck and looking at the top of the stove.

“Chicken Cacciatore. There’s garlic bread in the oven. Almost done. Sit down and leave my neck alone. It’s almost done.”

“I like your neck.”

“Then leave it alone. You’re setting a bad example.”

He looked at me, I smiled, then he spanked my mom on the ass. “That is a bad example. Never smack your girlfriend on the ass. It’s bad form.”

“Erik! Now he’s really setting a bad example.”

“Your mom has a nice ass. Don’t you think,” Dad said, really trying to get on my mom’s case.

“Dad. How the hell am I supposed to answer that? If I say ‘yes’ it sounds like I’m a pervert and if I say ‘no’ it sounds like I’m blind or something.”

My Dad grinned at that, the perfect answer.

“You two are more trouble than you’re worth,” she said without turning, but we both knew she was grinning.

“You owe me,” I whispered to Dad, loud enough for Mom to hear.

“I suppose you think that I’m going to be swayed by that.” We both nodded but she didn’t see it.

“Where’s Lisa?” I asked as Mom started putting food on the table.

“Lu’s,” mom said. She’ll be home soon. We started serving ourselves.

“I’ve got a question,” I said.

“Girls?” Dad asked. I nodded. “Shoot. I’m an expert.” My mom gave him a killer look.

“I found out that Fallon is ridiculously talented.”

“She is, indeed,” Mom answered. “One of the most talented people I’ve ever met. At any age.” Dad nodded in agreement.

“LuAnn is really beautiful and I know there’s more there. I just don’t know what it is yet. But Tina is different.”

“How so?” Dad asked.

“She gets tracked. She sets her sights on something and zeroes in. I didn’t know that. I was pretty surprised when she won at Dutch Blitz last week. But now, she’s in two of my classes; Trig and Chemistry. She’s the only sophomore in either class. Plus, she’s taking physics and that’s a senior level class.”

“She does have goals.”

“Right. So, she’s really smart, and I didn’t know that. Plus, she’s really goal-oriented.”

“That’s Tina, you’re describing.”

“What if I’m one of her goals?” I asked. “I don’t want to sound conceited or anything. But what if I am?”

“Would that be a bad thing?” Mom asked.

“I’m not sure if I like being a goal.”

“I was a goal,” Mom said. “It turned out pretty good ... for him at any rate.”

“I don’t know if that’s it or if it just seems that way. But it’s not like she’s elbowing Lu and Fallon out of the way or anything. Like, last week, I offered to teach any of them to surf. LuAnn went for it and I started giving her lessons on the beach. Fallon was ready to jump in but Tina held her back. Like it was LuAnn’s turn and Fallon shouldn’t jump in.”

“She’s very competitive,” Mom said.

“I’ll say.”

“But she doesn’t cheat. She has a good sense of fairness and she has known and loved Fallon longer than anyone else. Lu and Lisa too. She may have you in her sights but she won’t jeopardize her friendship with the rest of the Musketeers.”

“I think she’s right, buddy. I think she’d give up on you in a heartbeat if she thought it would ruin their friendship,” Dad said.

“That’s not a knock on you, either,” Mom added. “Just that her friendship with the other girls is that important.”

“I have her in two classes, so I see her and Fallon every day. I haven’t seen LuAnn since school started.”

“Is that a problem?” Mom asked.

“No. It’s just that this whole thing is weird. It’s nice that I get to date them. Any of them. This is just weird.”

“Yeah. Life seems pretty rough, doesn’t it?” Dad said, shaking his head in mock pity.

“I get it, Michael. I really do. I’m a little surprised but glad this didn’t hit until now. Your sister keeps good company, and now, so do you.”

“Yeah. I feel like I want to be three guys at once.”

“It’s a nice problem to have. And I think you have a good attitude about it. They will each see that. I know they already have.”

My Dad finished and excused himself to prep for the next day, leaving Mom and me to clean up. I started clearing the table. I was sort of lost in my thoughts when my mom stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

“I know a little more than I’ve let on.”

“Oh, oh. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” I asked, not knowing where it was going.

“I know about smoochin’ and stuff. Don’t ask me how and I won’t have to lie but it wasn’t Lisa. I know what you promised them and I’m proud of you for that.”

She knew that I’d said I wouldn’t have intercourse with any of them. I didn’t know if she realized I meant until November, when I’d dated all three of them for a month.

“I don’t want to get any parts cut off in my sleep.”

“I’m sure you don’t. But I think that promise was for a deeper reason than that and I’m proud of you. They are all very attractive girls and don’t think I don’t know how difficult that promise might be to keep.”

“That was a pretty serious run-on sentence, Mom.”

“It communicated. They are each very attractive and they each obviously like you very much. I want you to think about something though. Girls give sex to get love.”

“And boys give love to get sex except they don’t. They pretend to give love to get sex. I know.”

“I guess you do.”

“Tina told me that and she warned me that Fallon might not understand it as well as she did.”

“Tina’s a pretty good person to have in your corner. Don’t think that because it seems like she favors Fallon that she won’t protect Lu, too.”

“I don’t want to get on her bad side.”

“No. That probably wouldn’t be a good thing.”

“You know, LuAnn kind of started this thing and I feel like I know her the least of the three.”

“You’ll have your chance to get to know her. She’s got a lot of talent too. It might not be where you expect it, though. In fact, I’m certain you’ll be surprised.”

“Would it be crazy to think that I might end up getting married to one of them? It seems crazy to me.”

“It’s not crazy at all. I’d be very happy for you if you did.” She thought about it for a moment. “You know, for entertainment value ... no. Never mind.”

“C’mon, Mom. You can’t start something like that and leave me hanging.”

She shook her head. If you married Tina, the reception could be wildly entertaining. I think I’ll cheer for LuAnn.”

“Great. Chester will always have his gun and shovel if I mess up.”

“Better not mess up, then.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, and, dishes done, went upstairs to contemplate my future.

Wednesday morning seemed more like Friday. So much had happened in the last two days. I was going to offer Lisa a ride but she was already gone. When I got to her house, Fallon was in my truck practically before I came to a stop in the driveway.

“Don’t start, yet,’ she said. “Give me a kiss.” I did and it was very pleasant.

“I could get used to that.” I backed out of the driveway and turned toward Fairview. “I have pools I need to do this week. If I wait until the weekend, I’ll have to work my butt off. I want to learn karate with Sascha tomorrow and you have a recital on Friday and I’m not going to miss that.”

“So, you want to do some today, after school?”

“I think I’d better. I know I could knock out six and maybe even eight if I hustle. That would let me finish Saturday by around noon and give me, give us, the rest of the day.”

“Okay. Can I help?”

“I appreciate the offer but it’s kind of a one man show.”

“Let me come with you and see.”

“It’s boring.”

“I have reading for World History. I’ll bring my book and read between stops. If I can figure out a way to help, I will.”

“I appreciate the offer but,” I looked over at her. “You’re serious. Why would you want to?”

“Why did you come to the band room on Monday?”

I pulled into the parking lot and found a spot. I turned and held Fallon’s face in my hands. “It just blows me away.” I kissed her. “I’d love to have you come with me to clean pools,” I said and we got out and walked toward her locker.

“I almost forgot. Tina wants to talk to us for a minute at lunch. We can’t forget.”

“Okay. Any idea what that’s about?”

“No. Maybe. No, I don’t think so. But she wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

“I believe that’s true. I’ll see you then. Dome?”

“Dome,” and she was gone.

Morning classes were more of the same. I had hoped to get some sort of hint from Tina about why she wanted to see both of us but she was going to wait. After chemistry, we walked together to the dome.

“I’m taking auto shop in seventh period. You’re taking physics. I feel like a piker.”

“Why? You’re figuring out how to save money on car repairs. Nothing wrong with that.”

“It didn’t seem that way before but now it does.”

We found Fallon with her friends from orchestra. Tina motioned to Fallon that this was private and she came to stand with us away from the tables.

“I owe you both an apology,” Tina said.

“For what?” Fallon asked and I had no idea either.

“It might seem stupid to you but it isn’t to me. Yesterday I wanted to tell Michael thanks for rescuing me from Tige.”

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Fallon said.

“I kissed him,” she said and looked truly sorry. I felt bad that she felt sorry. It had been a really nice kiss. Fallon looked mystified as well. “It was a really nice kiss. And it’s still August. I blew it.”

“Ah. Okay. Well, don’t let it happen again,” Fallon said and she was almost laughing.

“I’m not kidding Fallon. I mean it was a really nice kiss.”

“Okay. How nice?”

“Really, really nice,” she said.

“It was a pretty good kiss,” I added. “I felt thanked.”

“Oh. And you don’t want to do that until October.”

“No. I don’t. We had a deal and I blew it.”

“Okay. I forgive you. Nice, huh?”

“Really nice. Like, I’m not sure you could kiss him like that,” Tina said and I saw a twinkle in her eye.

“I bet I could. I’ve been practicing.” She turned to me and kissed me. It was a pretty nice kiss and we got some commentary from the orchestra section.

“I think my kiss was better than that. You should probably try again,” Tina said, a lot less remorseful than she had been.

Fallon turned to me and gave me an outstanding kiss. A serious, lip lock kiss that was among her very best efforts.

“Almost,” Tina said. “Almost as good as the thank you I gave him. But not quite,” she said.

Fallon gave it another try. This kiss was passionate, and juicy and had no business being given at lunch on a high school campus. It was the kind of kiss that made my cords tight. I needed to adjust them but she was still going. I looked over Fallon’s shoulder to see Tina grinning.

“Hey. Hey, you two. Knock it off.” One of the teachers was walking toward us but Fallon was locked in.

“It’s okay, Mr. Cassidy,” Tina said. “Open auditions for Romeo and Juliet are next week and I was coaching them.”

“Nothing doing. Not here. You two knock it off,” he said and he seemed steamed. We were still locked up. Fallon flicked my tongue with hers one more time and broke the kiss.

“Was that better?” she asked Tina. “I can do better.”

“Fallon? Fallon Deplanes? I never,” he said, recognizing who it was.

“You should, Mr. Cassidy. It’s really quite pleasant,” I said and he was about done with us.

“I don’t care what play is coming up. You can’t do that here. There are rules. Knock it off now or you’ll end up in up in Mr. McTaggart’s office and he can deal with you.”

He was serious but Tina wasn’t and Fallon was having too much fun to be serious. It was up to me.

“I think we have our lines down, Mr. Cassidy. We’ll finish our homework after school. Thank you so much for telling us the rules,” I said. He was deep red by this time.

“Good. That’s enough.”

“Mr. Cassidy, were you ever in a school play?” I asked.

“No. Fallon, I’m surprised. What would your mother say?”

“She would probably tell me to practice until I get it right.”

That was probably a bit too far and Mr. Cassidy was done with us. We nodded and waved and moved to the table and he finally left.

“Damn, Fallon. Damn,” said Jay who was clearly in awe.

“She’s pretty good,” I said and opened up my lunch bag.

“If you two are happy with my apology,” Tina said. I smiled and Fallon whispered something in her ear. Tina laughed and Fallon kept talking. Tina held Fallon and said something to her that was obviously encouraging and then left for the other side of the dome.