Chapter 71: Giving Cindy A Second Chance

Room Leader Laredo noticed the change between Spence and me before anyone else, thank goodness. He took me for a walk on Sunday night so we could have a private talk.

"You've already made a lifelong enemy of Lester. You're going to be a leader; you can't go on this way. I don't care what you have to do to make amends with Spencer Freeman, just do it," Orlando Laredo said to me.

What could I say? I knew that he was right. The room was too small for any of us to hold a personal grudge against more than one other member of the room. "I would just as soon make amends with Lester," I said.

"Lester isn't going to be here next year, Freeman is. You're going to need his support because you're going to have to depend on him," Orlando said.

"Like you depend on Lester?"

"Don't be a wiseass," Orlando said as he shook his head in mock disgust.

It wasn't until our study session was over and I was in bed that what Orlando told me sunk in. If I understood him correctly I would be the room leader and I would need Spence to help keep order in the room. That could only mean one thing; I was being promoted to Lieutenant ahead of Spence. Orlando was right; I would need his support.

The next day two seniors were promoted to Major and our room leader was one of those promoted. I began to think Orlando Laredo was privy to inside information and he could be right about me being promoted. The following day I was promoted to Lieutenant along with four others from the junior class and I decided it was time to renew my friendship with Sergeant Spencer Freeman.

"Spence, let's take a walk," I said to him. It was fifteen minutes before lights out and I had no idea what I was going to say. Since it happened I wasn't sure I knew how I felt about him fucking Cindy. I wasn't sure how I felt about her fucking him either. I could feel our roommate's eyes on me as we left the room.

We had just left the room when he surprised me. "Congratulations on your promotion. You've earned it," he said.

"Thanks Spence," I said. We shook hands, me wondering if he was being sincere. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. It looks like I'm going to be room leader next year and I'm going to be relying on you to keep these monkeys in line."

We were on the stairway leading to the third floor. For some reason that was the direction I always headed for my late night walks. He turned to me. "I thought it was about the other thing."

"That too," I admitted. Now he had me at a fork in the road. Just when I was set to rally his support he introduced the subject of him fucking my girlfriend. I wasn't ready to talk about that. It wasn't something I wanted to think about yet.

"It was my fault, entirely my fault. Cindy said you would be mad."

"Spence, can we... can we talk about next year and what your roll is going to be? I've got some ideas that I would like to discuss with you. I'm seeing you as an important cog in the wheel but you've got to agree to the way I want things to work."

"Hey, you're the boss. Tell me how you want things to work and I'll do anything you want."

"Thanks Spence. That's what I thought you would say," I lied. Actually, I expected him to be my biggest problem, like Lester was to Orlando. I wasn't sure if I could trust what he was telling me.

"Since we've settled that can we talk about you fucking Gloria?"

I was stunned. Frankly, I hadn't given any thought to how he would feel about me fucking his girlfriend. It suddenly occurred to me that I had been selfish, thinking only of my own feelings. It had been Gloria's idea. I was blameless, wasn't I?

"Have you spoken to her about it?" I asked, thinking what a dumb question that was. When would he have had the opportunity to speak with Gloria? The girls had come to my party but we were all together the whole time.

"No," he answered, letting me off easy without pointing out how stupid my question had been.

"I haven't talked to Cindy either," I offered, hoping he would take the hint that I would prefer for us to speak with our girlfriends before discussing it further.

"What do you plan on saying to her?"

Good, I thought. He's willing to drop it for now. "I don't know. I'm kind of mixed up about how I feel," I said.

"I hope you'll give her a chance to explain. She's afraid you'll be mad and dump her."

"I hope you'll hear Gloria out too," I said, refraining from saying anything about Gloria being afraid he would dump her. I didn't know how she felt. She hadn't expressed any remorse. In fact, she said she liked fucking me.

It was well after lights out when we returned to the room. I was in bed and near sleep when it hit me. Did Cindy tell Spence she liked fucking him? Her voice rang in my ears, 'Spence, I like fucking you. It was the best, ever.'

Spring football was under way and everyone was looking forward to playing the few games on the schedule. On Wednesday I was told to report to the administrative offices along with the other four newly promoted lieutenants instead of going to football practice.

Also in attendance were the ranking members of the senior class, three captains and two majors. Clifford Barns newly promoted major from Company A led the meeting. He had been the center on the varsity team and was the only senior present that had played that year. Adam Corning and I were the only juniors present who were destined to make the varsity our senior year. Ironically, Adam would take Clifford's position at center.

Colonel Travis looked on from his seat near the back of the room.

Major Clifford Barns was a well-spoken cadet who balanced playing football with excelling at academics. As I heard him speak I aspired to emulate him.

"Welcome Gentlemen," he began, looking at the five new lieutenants. "You've been chosen to take our place on Colonel Travis' advisory staff. You will be the senior officers next school year. Today we are going to introduce you to your new responsibilities. Do you have something to say before we proceed, Sir?" he asked the Colonel.

Colonel Travis was never one to miss a chance to speak to a group of any size. He first blew smoke up our asses, telling us how we had been chosen to lead our classmates to excellence. This was followed with examples of past mistakes made by previous members of our select little group. When he finished I was left with the feeling that I was sure to fail. At no time did the Colonel admit that any of the past mistakes might have been his. After all, he had handpicked the student leaders and was the one who put us in a position to fail, wasn't he?

Before the meeting adjourned we were given leader's handbooks, which we were told to guard with our lives. "At no time are these books to fall in the hands of subordinates," Clifford Barns told us.

"I always thought you had a cheat sheet," I said to Orlando Laredo.

"Address me as Sir when you speak to me, Lieutenant"

"Yes, Sir, Major Laredo," I said in response. "How did your brother do this quarter?" I asked, intentionally forgetting to call him sir.

"He's at number six, still behind your boys."

"Thank you. Sir."

He bristled; realizing he had just told me Josh and Eddie were in the top five in the freshman class. I would have to wait to find out which one was four and which one was five.

Orlando walked up to the room with me and watched while I hid the handbook at the bottom of my footlocker. We went to the cafeteria and sat with the Colonel and the other members of his student advisory staff.

"Do you think Lester will be able to maintain order at our table?" Orlando asked.

"Spence will take control. I spoke with him," I said.

"Good man. I'm glad you squared things with him," he said.

Spring football was great fun. It was good to get out on the field and take some hits. But I discovered that I couldn't get as excited about it as I had been during the fall season. For one thing, I was sure to play. In the past I had to prove my ability to get playing time. Also, I had new responsibilities to think about. I found myself seriously considering the example I was setting. For the first time in my life I had more to look out for than strictly my own welfare. I was in control but I was also lonely. Who else could I turn to? I now outranked my friends. I began to consort with Adam Corning and him with me.

Ned slapped me on the back when he saw the absence of stripes on my sleeves and the bars on my shoulders. "That's what I've been telling you all along. I'm glad you hung in there. Are you glad you hung in there?"

I didn't remember him telling me anything of the sort but I didn't argue with him. He was giddy and I didn't want to spool his delight.

"Be prepared for a shock when you get home," he said.

"What happened?" I asked, concerned that he was going to give me bad news.

"The decorators are there. You may have to sleep in the room next door."

"Oh, is that all?"

"No, that's not all. Suzanne is moving in. She insisted that I have the painters and paperhangers do over the second floor."

"Oh shit!" I said before it hit me. "Are they getting married?"

"No, not that I know of. She just decided to move in. She's taking over the room that adjoins John's room."

"Does that mean they're not sleeping together?"

"I said the rooms adjoin. That means there's a door connecting them," he said.

Mr. Oldham showed more emotion than I thought he was capable of when he found out I had made Lieutenant. And Suzanne was ecstatic but I wasn't sure if she understood the magnitude of the new responsibilities the promotion demanded.

The paperhanger fell off the ladder when I entered my room, not because I startled her. It was the way I screamed.

"SUZANNE!" I waited two seconds and screamed again, "SUZANNE!"

She appeared at the top of the stairs, a sheepish grin on her face.

"What the fuck is this?"

"Sammy, it's not what you think. You'll grow to like them," Suzanne said, taking me by the hand.

The paperhanger was not very tall. She watched us from the second step on her ladder, posed to jump off if I screamed again.

"I'm sorry," I apologized to her.

She smiled and went back to smoothing the top edge of the wallpaper near the ceiling. "You're aunt is right; you'll grow to like them," she said.

"I think they're cute, don't you, Cindy?" Suzanne asked, making me turn to see Cindy enter the room. She didn't know what to say, afraid to agree or disagree with Suzanne. She looked at me for a sign.

I didn't like seeing Cindy groping for the right answer. Nor did I like seeing Suzanne defending her decision to have my room decorated with toy soldiers suitable for an eight-year-old boy. I hugged her and told her it was okay. There I was in a room with three women, one of them installing child's wallpaper, one of them trying to take the place of my mother and one wanting to atone for her actions.

Suzanne was hugging me back. She may have kissed me on the cheek before I released her. "Thank you for not being angry with me Sammy. It looked completely different in the book. Promise me you'll try to live with it. If you can't stand it we'll have it changed."

"Stop. Please stop! I said its okay, didn't I?"

I dumped my bag in the room Spence had used the week before and we left the wallpaper lady alone so she could finish the room.

There was a message for me from Curtis Jones. I returned the call and we agreed to meet at the park the next morning. Cindy rolled her eyes when she heard me say I would bring a football.

Suzanne was unusually talkative at dinner, even for her and Cindy was unusually quiet. We talked about my promotion, my new responsibilities and the spring football schedule. Dessert was being served when Cindy reminded us that she had been accepted to a college one thousand miles from home.

"Won't you be homesick? Won't you miss your family and Sammy? How often will be able to come home?" Suzanne asked in rapid succession.

Cindy looked at me and timidly said it was a good college and she would have to make the best of being so far from home, avoiding saying if she would miss her family or me.

"Let's go see a movie," I said to Cindy and looked at Mr. Oldham out of habit, smiling when I realized it was unnecessary for me to get his permission to take the car out.

"Do you really want to see a movie?" Cindy asked. She wasn't objecting to going, just clarifying what I meant.

"You know what I mean. We'll sit in the ice cream shop and..." I stopped short of saying that we would talk although that was my objective, to talk.

We got into a violent argument before we even placed our order for ice cream. After a week of putting what happened out of my mind the vision of Cindy holding her breasts with one hand and Spence driving his cock into her rushed into my mind. Our sentences, 'how could you?' were terse tight-lipped assertions at first but when they elevated to bazaar accusations, 'you wanted it to happen, ' we were creating a commotion in the shop and had to leave.