Chapter 76

We had a quarter of an hour before Jill had to be at school, but there was no way I'd be on time. I compared Jill getting back in communication with her father and me missing part of History and it was no contest.

I was learning. A few weeks ago I would have screwed things up by joking with Jill about making me late. I just told her we needed to get going.

She held on to my arm as we drove. A little tighter than normal but not anything like it was last night. I was happy she'd settled down.

I pulled up to the drop-off area and put the car in park. Jill pulled me to her and kissed me. I was one of those kisses that make your hands think of exploring.

"Thank you for putting up with me. And for being there. I'll make it up to you tonight."

"You're welcome."

She kissed me again. Not as intimate as the last one but a lot more than a peck. She slid over and out the door.

"I love you." A quick wave and she was on her way.

I adjusted my pants, shifted into gear and headed for school.

I pulled into the parking lot 15 minutes later. I'd guessed right, by the time I got there I'd miss about half of History. I walked in and Mr. Hansen looked over his glasses at me, then continued with his lecture.

I must have been on autopilot or something. I'd had my attention on getting to class and seeing how Mr. Hansen was going to react and didn't notice anything else. I went to ask the student next to me what page to turn to when I realized that the person next to me was Sara. I must have looked surprised. She made a face, crossing her eyes, and stuck her tongue out at me. She smiled and covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

"Mr. Hill, would you mind joining us?"

"Uh, No Sir."

"Thank you." He went back to his lecture. I noticed a hint of a smile on his face.

He continued talking about the explorers and how they made their voyages from Europe into the unknown. Too many people today concentrate on the evil that some men did to others after the new world was discovered. Nobody looks at the courage it took to take off with no idea if your ship was going to fall off the edge of the world or if you would ever see your family again. There wasn't much opportunity for anything like that today. We'd all heard that space travel was the next frontier. Somehow going to the moon or even Mars for a few hours or even days didn't seem the same as trying to find the new world. And there was no way any government was going to sponsor any real space exploration. The only way it would get done was if it made the difference between surviving and not surviving as a race, or some private corporation with a few zillion bucks decided they could make a profit out of it. Not a profit somewhere down the road, but one right now. Just like the sponsors of the explorations we were studying, hoping to get rich on spices and silk. I wonder if they were pissed off when Columbus returned empty handed?

After class I was all set to talk to Sara.

"Mr. Hill. Could I see you a moment, please?"

"Can you wait for me?"

"If you don't take too long."

I went up to the front of the classroom.

"Yes, Mr. Hansen?"

"Sit down, Jack."

I sat on the edge of the chair, hoping this wouldn't keep me from getting with Sara.

"Why were you late today?"

"I had a personal thing I needed to handle, Sir."

"Is it handled?"

"Not yet, Sir."

"Are you going to be all right?"

"I think so, Sir."

"OK. I'm not going to do anything about today. I expect you to be on time from now on."

"Thank you, Sir."

"I know Miss Wilcox has been out for a few weeks but I expect you to pay attention from now on, too."

"Yes, Sir."

"That's all. You can go."

I went out and Sara was talking to a couple of her friends. I walked up and put my arm around her. She reached around my waist and squeezed back. The girls she was talking to first looked at us, then each other, said goodbye and took off.

Sara squeezed again. "You know they're going to talk about us all over the school, don't you."