Chapter 9

I came awake on the first day of school well before the alarm went off. Oddly enough, I brimmed with energy. My body instead of feeling sore like it had the last few weeks, now felt itchy inside. It demanded movement, so for the first time in my life, I put on my sneakers and went for a run. I got winded early but slogged out what I figured was a mile. I passed the milkman who gave me a shocked look. After I was done, I felt so good that I made a promise to start everyday with some exercise.

I checked on Sandra to see if she needed anything, (she was sleeping like a log), showered and got dressed in my new school clothes. After I made breakfast and packed my lunch, I was out the door on my bike, ready to tackle high school.

As soon as I got my bike chained on the bike rack, I ran into Beany and Tank, two guys from my baseball team.

Beany Benedetti was tall and skinny with bright red hair and blue eyes. He played first base. Tank Anderson was the opposite short and squat. He was our catcher. He was also planning to play football this year. Where Beany was loud and rambunctious Tank was quiet and shy.

They were watching wide-eyed at crowd of kids streaming into school.

“Hey, Tank,” I said, “I thought I told you to pick a better class of guy to hang around with.”

“I can’t get rid of him. He keeps following me.”

“Hardi-har-har, very funny you jerks. This place is way more crowded that I thought it would be. Jesus, look at all these kids.

“Welcome to high school,” I said, “and we’re the lowest of the low.”

The other two nodded morosely.

Hey,” Tank said. “Let’s check our schedules let’s see if we got any classes together.”

We compared schedules. Good news was we had a home room together and history together. We all had first lunch too. Central High had so many kids they had two lunch times.

The hallways were crowded. The seniors were strutting around like they owned the place. We miserable freshman were careful to stay out of their way. It was strange being anonymous again after being top dog at junior high.

The morning passed uneventfully. I kept my head down and was unnoticed.

Until American History.

A cute green-eyed blond girl with a ponytail and cats-eye glasses took the desk in front of me. She looked vaguely familiar.

She turned to face me. “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, he walks into mine”

I looked closer. “Holy cow, it’s Loudmouth Girl! I recognize you now, three weeks ago, you sat behind third base and did nothing but give me a hard time.”

“First off, my brother was on the other team, so I was rooting for him. Second, you made it sooo easy to give you grief. You were lousy that day. You missed a grounder that a small blind child could have fielded and you struck out three times.”

“Geez, Humphrey Bogart. Thanks for reminding me. You got a real knack for meeting new people and making friends don’t you.”

“I try,” she said with an impish grin. “Is that girl over there your girlfriend?”

I looked and saw Julie Snyder’s green eyes shooting me a death glare from across the room.

“Nope, she’s an old friend who used her feminine wiles to talk me into a date with her best friend that ended in disaster. Caused me to swear off girls for all time. I have no idea why she’s mad at me.”

“No surprise there, boys are as dumb as rocks. I’m Marylou Olson.”

“Nice to meet you, Bogart Girl. I’m Steve Connor. I don’t remember seeing you before.”

“Just moved here from Chicago.”

“Wow big city girl, I’m surprise you’re even talking to me. Didn’t your daddy warn you not to be talking to us country bumpkins.”

“He told me be kind to morons. So that’s what I’m doing.”

“That hurts.”

“MR CONNER,” Miss Erikson, history teacher from yesterday was standing at the front of the room glaring at me.

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“Would you care to share your conversation with the rest of the class?’

I stood up. “Certainly, Ma’am. Bogart Girl here has agreed to the wedding. But now she is now trying to get away with low-balling me on the about of amount of the dowry her father and I agreed too. She seemed like such a nice girl too.”

I listened along with the rest of the class as my mouth motored away completely out of any control. Had been ever since Bogart Girl had sat down. Where that hell had all this smooth conversation that come from.

Mary Lou’s, AKA Bogart Girl, face blushed red as a beet. The room was dead silent. Beany and Tank looked at me round eyed with such comical surprise, that it was all I could do to keep from laughing.

A giggle sounded from behind me. then came a roar of laughter.

“QUIET PLEASE.”

Miss Erikson had a stern look on her face, but I noticed the twinkle in her eyes.

“Mr. Conner, would you like to the be the first to visit the vice-principle this year. I hear he swings a mean paddle.”

“Uh no ma’am. I don’t think I’d like that at all.”