Chapter 75: A Name From the Past

Sunday, January 8, 1984

School was finally (almost) upon us, which meant Study Group was back for the final semester. I think everyone felt it this time: the feeling that this was our last first meeting of a semester, and that every meeting from now on would be a step closer to our very last meeting of all.

I hoped that we’d stay close, or at least not lose touch. Hopefully, we would get together at reunions, but not just then. I wanted to know what happened next, and — if history was a guide — I wouldn’t, not for all of them. I might or might not ever know if Connie became Dr. Connie or got married to Jimmy.

If Emily and the Wonder Twins made it past high school, would I know if they stayed together? Probably, because I would hopefully stay close to Cammie and Mel and Mel would tell me. That assumed, of course, that Mel and Cammie made it. Who knew?

The same was true of Gene and Sue. Ironically or not, I might know what was happening with Curtis more than I knew what was happening with Gene.

Andy and Cal I’d likely follow fairly easily, whether or not we stayed close. They were going to be playing on Saturdays, and it would be no surprise if they played on Sundays, too.

As for those who were no longer here, the odds were that I’d stay in touch with Mike at least a bit, but only because I meant to stay friends with Anderson and Rita. Sarah was, most likely, a lost cause. We’d see each other at reunions and say ‘Remember when?’

And, we probably would remember.

I knew that I was putting myself into a bittersweet mood, and I really didn’t care. I’d been preparing for this since the first meeting of Study Group, at least in some ways, and it was harder than I expected. On my first go-round, I’d only kept two friends from my high school days, and I really hadn’t tried to keep more. One was Dave Mayrink, and I’d kept him for complicated reasons. The other was Dave Winton, and I’d kept him only because we became serious friends in college, not high school.

Everyone else? Pretty much gone and not really missed. Without that context, I hadn’t even understood what I was setting myself up to lose.

I’d do it all again (though, please, Universe, I don’t want to!), but it was going to be a semester full of moments I wasn’t sure that I was ready for.

I called Laura briefly after Study Group. She wasn’t surprised that Angie had told Paige, and was thrilled to hear that it’d gone well.

Not much had changed on her end. Straight A’s for the fall, and she hadn’t heard back about any of her college applications yet.

We promised to talk soon. Her school wasn’t going to any tournament that we were going to, so the next time we could see each other in person would likely be ToC. Nationals, too, but if we were touring the US, it’s possible that we’d visit Illinois before Nationals. Probably not, but maybe.

I also called Jane at home. We spoke even more briefly. She was, of course, slightly apprehensive about Paige knowing, but was also happy to hear that it’d gone well.

Monday, January 9, 1984

When we arrived at school, there were an unusual number of kids standing in groups around the parking lot. Yes, it was the first day of the spring semester, and people undoubtedly wanted to catch up, but this was unusual.

We got out of the car and headed over to one of the bigger groups, only to find Jess talking with some of her cheerleaders and a few of the socialites — ones that I knew were on Trish’s ‘side,’ or at least in her orbit. Very strange.

Jess turned her head a bit and spotted us. “Steve, Angie, Jasmine, Paige! Hi!”

“Hi,” I said, and the others did, too.

We headed over.

Jess hugged me right away, then she hugged the others. By this point, Paige seemed used to being on hugging terms with Jess. Mostly, anyway.

“What’s up? Angie said, looking around.

Jess actually blushed a tiny bit. “Um ... so ... it’s Bev Vandiver. Her father was arrested on Saturday, and she’s transferring to a different school. It’s brand new, and everyone’s talking about it.”

I very quickly put two and two together and came up with what sounded like a big problem. The most likely reason I could see for an abrupt transfer would be that the reason for the arrest would make her the target of unkind rumors, and that tended to mean something ... well ... very bad. Adding another two told me this was probably what Jess was worried about in December.

The first part of Jess’s sentence hit me second. Bev Vandiver? I didn’t know her, and yet ... there was something ... something wrong ... lurking in my mind. She was one of the quiet ones, I thought. Not quite nerds, because I knew the real nerds, or had, but quiet. Definitely mousy. Pretty? I thought pretty. Whoever she was or wasn’t, though, the name resonated.

The look on Angie’s face told me that I wasn’t alone, and the look in Jess’s eyes told me she hadn’t missed either of our reactions. There would, undoubtedly, be questions.

We gave Jess another hug, and she gave me a ‘we’ll talk’ look. It wasn’t just suspicious, though. There was something else. Something ... defensive? That definitely upped the odds that this was related to Jess’s actions, and that, in turn, increased the odds that something really bad had been going on.

We stepped away, following Angie. I thought we were going around the crowd, but it turned out we were going all of the way to the benches near the wing that Debate and Government called home.

Jas and Paige looked as confused as I probably did.

When we got there, Angie said, “Sit.”

We did.

Angie paced a bit.

“Bev Vandiver. I haven’t heard that name since ... about two weeks from now, I think. Fuck! I feel horrible for not remembering!”

“What?” Paige said, getting up and hugging her.

“Bev ... Bev was ... you all kinda know who she was, right?”

Jas nodded. “Really quiet girl. Shy, standoffish, all that. Not a pushover, though. She’d snap at anyone who messed with her. I feel like she was pretty but didn’t show it.”

“I had her in a few classes,” Paige said. “But not recently. And...?”

“And ... and she died about two weeks from now,” Angie said.

Paige blinked. “That’s not good.”

“She died at home, while her parents were overseas on a trip. They ... um ... she...”

Angie stopped talking. Her eyes were tearing up pretty heavily.

“What’s wrong?” Paige said. “We’re here.”

“She... timed it ... so no one r ... raised any alarms until her parents were flying back anyway.”

“Sis?” I said, but I already had remembered what she was going to say.

“She ... she was in the bathtub when her parents got home. The rumors all said there was a lot of blood. She’d plugged the drain,” Angie said, crying.

Paige said, about as quietly as one can say it, “Holy fuck!”

Jas said, “What she said. I mean, my God! That’s horrible!”

Angie said, sniffling, “Everyone thought it was ... you know ... she was depressed, under pressure, you know. Teenager shit. Of course it was, right? Fuck the world, fuck her parents, fuck everyone who put all this pressure on her? We’re tough, she wasn’t, blah blah blah. I thought that. I mean, until today.”

“But you think it wasn’t?” Jas said.

“They arrested her dad, and she’s transferring. In January of her senior year. What does that say?”

“That whatever he was ... doing...” Paige said, suddenly turning red.

“Candice,” Jas said, nodding. “I mean, it wasn’t her dad, but...”

“It’s the obvious answer,” I said, nodding.

“Three years!” Angie said, crying again. “If I’d fucking thought of her for the last three fucking years...!”

“Did you know her?” I said, giving Angie a hug, along with Paige and Jas.

“No,” Angie sniffled. “No. I didn’t. I really didn’t. Not at all. I just heard the story.”

“I ... I heard the story, too. Now that you’ve said it, I remember.” I said. “Except...”

Everyone gave me a look.

“Except, she went to Westchester. It was their story. Everything else was the same. Just ... Westchester.”

We all exchanged looks.

Angie nodded. My comment seemed to have settled her a bit. She said, “Whatever happened ... in your world, something happened that made her opt for Westchester. Or her parents sent her there. Or ... whomever.”

“At least she’s alive,” Paige said.

“Hopefully she stays that way,” Jas said.

“Jess knows you know something,” Paige said.

“Yeah,” Angie said, while I simultaneously said, “I know.”

“Fuck,” Jas said.

“I’ll deal with it. Jess is going to ask me first,” I said.

“Yeah,” Angie said.

The second big piece of news for the day (and much happier news) was on the morning announcements. Principal Riggs announced that, in conjunction with the Student Council, Memorial would be piloting a new dress code for Spring Branch ISD high schools. If it went well, other high schools would follow in the fall. Left unsaid was that, if it didn’t go well, we’d have no one but ourselves to blame.

That’s about what I’d expected, and it was good to have the matter done with. We could pat ourselves on the back at the next Student Council meeting, and most likely anyone coming back next year was a shoo-in for election.

Ms. Epstein handed out a pamphlet covering the new dress code. That caused a bit of buzz as everyone whispered comments, until Ms. Epstein shushed everyone and got the class going.

Even leaving Bev Vandiver out of it (and, for most people, it was a rumor with a five or ten-minute half-life), school got off to a strange start. Most of the kids had attended at least some of the ‘Hurricane classes,’ and those were completely different. Some people had to get reacquainted with the idea of how school was supposed to function.

I belatedly realized that Mike and Trish seemed fine, and there were no rumors of repercussions from the New Year’s Eve party, as there almost certainly would be if anything had happened. For most of the socialites, throwing such a monster party that the parents had come down like a ton of bricks would be a badge of honor, not something to be ashamed of. Susan must have been wrong about Mike’s clean-up skills. That, or Anderson or Rita (or both) were biding their time.

The Spirit group had tables out to pick up or purchase ‘State Champion’ merchandise at lunch. By the afternoon, quite a few people were wearing shirts or caps. I imagined they’d be a common sight for the rest of the year.

We mostly had the rust shaken off by Tom Myerson’s government class, which was good, because he was full speed ahead. He laid out our major spring paper assignments, and those alone would keep us busy for a while.

There was some buzz about the dress code all day, and a lot of people thanking or congratulating me.

Jess was completely herself for Drama, except for the ten seconds when she whispered ‘Benches’ to me.

I nodded slightly, and that was that. We had a date.

Steffie talked a bunch about ‘Bye Bye Birdie’, but didn’t give us our roles. Those might be handed out as soon as tomorrow, though.

Debate pretty much just dragged. It would have been hard for it to do otherwise, considering the upcoming conversation. I’m sure that Jess knew there was something about us, but this had upped the urgency.

Cammie, of course, noticed that I was preoccupied, but chalked it up to nerves about this weekend’s tournament. I was nervous about that, in truth, but not nearly as nervous as I was about Jess.

I headed straight to the benches after class. As usual, there was a brief flurry of people walking near them at first, but that ended quickly.

Jess turned up only a few minutes later. I rose to hug her, and then we both sat.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hell of a day.”

“I imagine.”

“How’d you know her? You and Angie?”

“I didn’t, really. Nor did Angie. Angie recognized the name, and her recognizing it made me recognize the name, but I can’t quite put a face to the name, just that she was quiet. And, pretty, I think.”

Jess sighed. “Really pretty, and really smart. And ... yes ... quiet.”

Her voice sounded far away. By now, I felt certain Bev was the subject of our December conversation.

“I hope she’ll do well wherever she goes,” I said.

“Me, too,” Jess said, then sighed again. “Very much.”

“This is what you almost told me about?”

“It is. I really fucked things up, didn’t I?”

I looked at her. “Did you?”

“Bev’s all sorts of fucked up. I doubt she’ll ever forgive me. Her dad’s in jail, and he ... prison won’t be kind to him. Her mom’s suddenly got to work, and she doesn’t really have any job experience.”