Chapter 124: Getting Into Some Roles

Tuesday, May 10, 1983

School Board election day was finally upon us. I wouldn’t know the outcome until tomorrow morning, though. School Board was too small for Mr. Brandt to have some big ‘victory party’ somewhere and, if he had, I wouldn’t have been there. Invisible and in the shadows was where I wanted and needed to be.

He could’ve called me if he found out that night, but I’d asked him not to. I was short on sleep already.

We continued editing papers and getting things in order for finals in Study Group. Thank God most of our finals weren’t next week, though. I needed most of the week to recover from the musical.

Of course, Steffie would never put the musical the weekend right before finals started. That might leave her a lot of unfilled roles. Having a few days was good enough, at least.

The Wonder Twins brought a cake for Emily. Her birthday had been Saturday, but they’d decided to wait until Sunday, and then decided to wait again because they’d thought Angie, Jas, Paige, Sheila, and I would be gone for rehearsals. It was nice of them, even if we could have done it sooner.

As with Sue’s, my guess for Emily’s wish was that it involved the twins. I hoped it came true. They’d already far exceeded anyone’s expectations. I hoped they could keep right on doing so.

Wednesday, May 11, 1983

The Chronicle had the election results. It took me a little while to find the Spring Branch ISD School Board section, but when I did I found that Mr. Brandt had won, garnering sixty-three percent of the vote. Not a close election, then, and about what I’d expected.

To the vast majority of the students at Memorial, it would make very little difference. Probably fewer than twenty or thirty kids could name even one member of the School Board.

However, to those few of us who cared, it was a big swing. One thorn in my (and probably Principal Riggs’s, and pretty much anyone who wasn’t a conservative Christian) side was gone, and in his place was (hopefully!) someone we could work with more easily.

At this point last year I could have named only one member of the school board, and that was just from having a good memory for political signs. The idea that they would be directly relevant to my life on a personal level hadn’t hit me yet and wouldn’t for another two weeks after last year’s election. Of course, I hadn’t even met Mr. Brandt then.

Who knew what another year might bring?

I suspected Mr. Brandt might have called, so I used one of the school’s phone booths (still a thing in 1983!) to call our machine at lunch. There was an enthusiastic message from Mr. Brandt waiting. I called him back at his store.

“Brandt’s books.”

“Hello, Mr. Brandt, and congratulations!”

“Steve! It’s great to hear from you. Aren’t you in school?”

“Lunch break.”

“Ah, of course. I’m still pinching myself.”

“I was confident, but it’s better to see it actually happen.”

“Much better! I’ve been getting calls. I’m supposed to meet with the others informally over the next week. Just one at a time. Apparently, if even three of us get together, it might run afoul of open meetings rules. It’s fine if there’s no business, but they want to get my take on things, and that’s business, of course.”

“That makes sense. I’m glad Student Council doesn’t have those rules.”

“It’s annoying, but I understand it, and I’d be really upset if they were making important decisions in secret.”

“Exactly. It makes sense for public offices, as annoying as it might be.”

“Going to have a chance to come by the store?”

“Probably not before Monday. Maybe? We’re performing ‘The Sound of Music’ this weekend, which means rehearsals this week.”

“That’s right! I have a ticket for Saturday’s show. I almost picked Sunday.”

“Good choice. I’ll be in a minor role Sunday. That’s the day the understudies will get their chance to shine.”

“That’s a nice system.”

“Ms. Smith has been doing that for years. I think it helps her assess how things will be next year. We’ll have many people back, but every high school teacher is always trying to rebuild their group every year.”

“Of course. Well ... break a leg! I’ll see you Saturday night if not before.”

“Thanks, and again, congratulations!”

“You’re very welcome!”

After school, Jas and I headed off to my car for our date. She’d nudged me a few times about what my plans were, but I was resolute about not answering.

As I got us on the road, Jas squeezed my leg. “Still not telling?” she said.

“Did you really want me to?” I said.

“Nah. This is more fun!”

“I’d say we need some more of that, but rehearsals truly have been fun. Tiring, but fun.”

“I know, right? We’re so much better this year!”

“Look at how much acting practice the core group has. Some pretty solid seniors graduated, but...”

“The freshmen are better, too! I’m embarrassed at how I was compared to them! I guess we’re helping them, though.”

“That’s the difference, or at least I think it is. I wasn’t in Drama when you were a freshman, so...”

“Thank God! I was not ready for you! And you weren’t ready for me, either!”

I chuckled. “Probably not. I certainly wouldn’t change anything. Who knows what else might change?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “Or who we’d be if Angie had suggested someone else for your blind date.”

“I’m very glad she didn’t.”

“Me, too!” she said, sighing and squeezing my leg again. “I love you, Steve Marshall. I feel like I’m almost past feeling like it’s weird thinking long-term thoughts, but ... still a little weird.”

“Maybe it’s weird, maybe not,” I said, nodding, “But I feel that same way. I’m really looking forward to this summer, and to senior year...”

“Oh, yes!” she said.

“But I’m also looking forward to being in the same place at the same time and ... well. We can take ourselves seriously now, and so can our friends. Most people, though, see ‘college couples’ as being different from ‘high school couples.’ They’re probably right, too. It’ll be nice to move into that other category.”

The amusing part of that, of course, was that I’d never been part of a ‘college couple’ before. But, then, I’d missed out on the ‘high school couple’ thing my first go-round, too. Amusingly, the couple I was closest to in college was a former ‘high school couple.’

“So nice.”

She looked around. “Wait! Are you taking us...”

“I was thinking about it.”

“I ... are you sure?”

“‘Get back on the horse that threw you’ is the saying, I think. Besides, the food’s good.”

I’d gotten us to near Rice University and Bangkok Thai. Jas gave my thigh another squeeze as I parked.

“This had better not end up decorating some random guy’s lawn,” she said, chuckling.

“Or my clothes,” I said.

“That, too!”

We headed in, were quickly seated, then ordered. I didn’t even joke around about ordering alcohol. We’d do that in a year, most likely. Not now. I’d be damn careful of my limits when it did become a thing.

We chatted about papers, finals, the musical, Northwestern, Lizzie and Janet, and other not overly heavy topics over some very good Thai food. I got the feeling she didn’t want to rush back onto the road. At the risk of repeating ourselves, we instead browsed the used book store and used record store as we had the previous time, this time each buying a couple of things.

I picked up a copy of David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ on cassette. It hadn’t even been out for a month! Who took it to the used record store that fast? Maybe one of those people who only liked certain periods of Bowie’s career and were disappointed that this wasn’t more of the same. If they only knew what the man would get up to later in life...

Jas found a copy of ‘Evita’ and bought it. I’d seen it my previous go-round, but it’d been so long ago that the show might as well be new to me. Well, except for ‘Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina,’ but I could have plausibly heard that, at least.

We got back into the car after a while. It was still quite light out, unlike last time, since it was three months later in the year, plus Daylight Savings Time was now in place. Overall, that was probably a good thing, even if it undermined the idea of repeating that day.

I got us headed home.

“So ... this time we’d probably see anyone,” she said.

“That, and I’ve driven hundreds of miles since then.”

“Not the same! Okay, fine, it is, really. I mean, lightning doesn’t strike twice, right?”

“Hopefully not.” Unless it’s a gray car, anyway...

I intentionally took the same route. Jas got slightly tense as we stopped at the stop sign. Once I went through the intersection, she relaxed.

“I guess it was silly to be nervous,” she said, sighing.

“Nah. I was, too,” I said. “But we’ll drive here again, sometimes, and it’s good to know it’s just another intersection, just another stop sign, just another road.”

She nodded and squeezed my thigh.

A couple of minutes later, she said, “I’m glad we did this.”

“Me, too.”

“I’m also going to knock your socks off when we get home.”

“I ... have no problem with that.”

She giggled. “Suddenly, I’m very horny.”

“Suddenly, I am, too.”

“I love you!”