Chapter 6: Freshman- Coop Group

I was stepping into my pants when Angie entered the room. She cupped her hand over her mouth, like she was embarrassed at seeing my shorts. I expected to hear an apology from her for not knocking before walking into our room but she had something else on her mind.

"What's with sleepyhead?" she whispered, pointing at Charlie.

"We didn't get to sleep until late. I kept him up, talking," I explained, not bothering to whisper. Charlie was used to sleeping in a room with seven noisy cadets. What he was not accustomed to was being awakened by a girl. I wanted to see his expression when he woke up with Angie watching him.

"Can you wake him?" Angie asked, no longer whispering either.

"Make some noise. He'll wake up," I said as I walked toward the bathroom.

She followed me, all the way to the door and peered into the bathroom. Kent was there, standing in front of one of the sinks, shaving, wearing shorts. He looked at me and then at Angie, who was standing at the door, looking tentative.

"Will he get mad if I make noise?" she asked.

"Angie, I've got to take a leak. I don't care if you watch. I'm just warning you. Charlie never gets mad when he gets awakened. Go jump on him. He'll like that," I said as I stepped up to the urinal and unzipped my pants.

Kent and I grinned at each other when we heard the bed creek from Angie's additional weight. This was followed by Charlie grouchily exclaiming, Angie apologizing and blaming me for telling her he would like being awakened that way.

I told Kent about Charlie moving into my room and he told me that Skip still wasn't back.

"How did you get mixed up with Tracy?" he asked.

"We were the only ones in the dorm when I got back last Tuesday. It looks like you're the one mixed up with her now. By the way, thanks for keeping her at bay yesterday."

"I could see that she was making you jittery by talking about your girlfriends."

"She really didn't know what she was talking about but I think she knew she was ruining my chances with Shirley. I hope you can control her. I'm not going to hang around and take any more of her crap."

Kent urged me not to leave the group. "I'll try to keep her quiet about your girlfriends," he said.

Even with Kent's offer to try to control Tracy, I found myself on edge at breakfast. They were sitting at one end of the table and I was seated near the middle. I tried not looking their way but I was very much aware of Tracy's malevolent presence and couldn't help but wonder when she was going to strike. It was unnerving. If it hadn't been for Shirley sitting across the table from me, I would have left the group.

The 'group' was the main topic of conversation at the table that morning. It was pointed out that remaining together was going to be difficult once classes resumed meeting. We were from different classes with different schedules. The second cafeteria would reopen on Monday and it was nearer the upper classmen's dormitories.

Three suggestions were proposed, that a name for the group would be appropriate, that we needed to appoint a leader, and that given our various schedules, breakfast was the only meal where attendance would be mandatory.

Everyone agreed to meet for breakfast and to sit together at other meals when possible. Naming the group caused our first disagreement. There was such uproar that it was suggested we move on and elect a leader. This too, proved to be a delicate subject. Freddy, short for Fredericka, the girl with the guitar, openly campaigned for the position. In addition to being a senior, she said her qualifications included an outgoing personality and a knack for persuading others to work for the betterment of the group.

"I nominate Shirley as leader," I said and found everyone's attention directed at me, especially Shirley's. Tracy was the only one to speak up.

"That's because you want her..." she said before Kent quieted her with a stern look.

"What makes you think Shirley would be a good leader," Freddy challenged me.

"Look at her eyes. She takes everything in. I'll bet she knows what we're all thinking," I said.

"I'll bet she knows what you're thinking," Tracy commented.

"Why did you do that?" Shirley assaulted me as soon as we were alone. We were walking toward her dorm and she wasn't happy with me at all. The vote had been ten to six with Freddy coming out the victor.

"It's like I said, you know what's going on. You would have been the better leader."

"I didn't want to be the leader. I think you knew that."

"Okay, I guess I wanted you to stay with the group. If you were the leader you would have to stay."

She stopped walking and turned to me. "You're not... you're not suggesting there is something that is going to happen between us?" she asked, sounding incredulous.

"Please don't wrinkle your brow that way. Yes, I'm suggesting there's going to be something between us."

"The only reason I remain with the group is that I see it as an interesting study but if you persist with your pursuit I'll drop out."

"I don't want you to drop out and please stop wrinkling your forehead. What kind of study?"

I saw the line in her forehead fade and disappear. We started to walk again. "I'm intrigued with the inter-exchanges within the group. With one or two exceptions, we're basically from the same background, good students too poor to afford this school on our own. We're, with one or two exceptions, ambitious and trying to break out of the caste system that binds us. I see three, possibly four liaisons forming. I see a study that may result in a paper for one of my classes, but I'm warning you," she said, stopping again to look at me. "if you continue to annoy me, I'll pull out and forget the paper. Is that clear?"

"You're doing it again," I said and was rewarded with a very slight grin. The single line in her forehead disappeared and she started walking again.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"I'm eighteen," I answered quickly, responding to the only personal thing that had been said between us.

"Tracy said that you like older women. I'm not that much older than you so why don't you concentrate on your older girlfriends?"

"How old are you? When's your birthday?"

"Next month. I'll be twenty."

"You'll be twenty in February? Maybe we can do something to celebrate your birthday."

"I don't think so. Goodbye Sammy," she said. We were at the entrance to her dorm.

"Okay, we'll celebrate my birthday. I'm going to be nineteen in March."

She was on the other side of the door and did the sexiest thing imaginable. She impishly stuck her tongue out at me before disappearing down the hall. I was overjoyed. A beautiful girl had stuck her tongue out at me. That proves something, doesn't it?

I let Marcy tell me about her date with Press, listening closely when I heard her say there had to be more on dates than fucking. She told him she wasn't going to be his sex toy. It took several questions to get her to admit that the discussion hadn't gone well. Press's reaction was not ideal but at least they hadn't broken up.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked. She laughed and said she was going to be fine.

"Let's have it. Tell me everything," she said.

I gave her a complete rundown on the day before, walking around Pontiac with Shirley, talking about the town's economy and finding out absolutely nothing about the girl. Next, I told her about the incident with Tracy, her seeing my letter to Karen, overhearing my conversation with Wanda, mistaking my reason for moving her out of Kent's way and how she had embarrassed me in front of the group.

"Tell me about dressing Wanda," Marcy said.

"Okay, but then I'll have to go back to Charlie and him finding my file."

"Which is more interesting?"

"Dressing Wanda will be more interesting to you but I want to get your take on the other, too," I said.

I described her dirty blond roommate that opened the door, Wanda's bedroom and what she was wearing. "We finally settled on a long gown with long sleeves and the back missing. Wanda didn't flinch when Laura answered the door wearing jeans, a sweat shirt and sneakers."

"What color were her fingernails."

"Bright orange."

"Are you going to do her?"

"I don't know. She wants us to separate Duane and Laura to prove or disprove they are sleeping together."

"Tell me about Charlie," Marcy said, dismissing Wanda's ambition to find out if the twins were sleeping in the same bed.

"It came to me that every girl I've been with breaks up with me or gives me reason to dump her. I made a list and tried to explain the reasons why I can't have a lasting relationship. I got to thinking about older guys I know and respect, like Ned and Mr. Oldham. They don't screw around. I've decided to turn over a new leaf and stop trying to screw every girl I meet."

"Oh, my, Sammy, I don't like the new you at all. What will we talk about on Saturday mornings?" There was a tone in her voice that told me she was teasing.

"Charlie found the file and read it."

"Oh, my!"

"He was very apologetic. I asked him if Angie had seen it, and when I learned she hadn't, I told him it was okay. I don't have any secrets from Charlie, well, there's one that I can't talk about. We talked about my new resolve to treat women differently but he didn't offer any advice. It was late and we were both getting sleepy. He predicted that I would find another Becky and that made me sad. It made me realize that I don't want to meet someone like her. I want the real thing."

"Sammy?"

"Yes?"

"Promise me you won't do anything rash, like swearing off women entirely. You simply have to do Wanda first."

"You're putting me on. There's not another human being in the whole world that could make me laugh the way you do."

'I'm serious. I'm already looking forward to hearing about it from beginning to end."

"Okay, since you put it that way, I'll go through with it just for you. I've been thinking about Wanda. She seems to like it when I tell her what to do. When we were out on the road and didn't know if we were going to make it up the next two hills, I had to talk tough to get her to do what I wanted. I think she liked the way I ordered her to do what I wanted.

"She ran the edge of her domino down my cheek. At first I thought she was putting on a show for Duane and Laura but I've decided she wanted to do something to arouse me. I'm going to try some more stuff with her."

"Like what?" Marcy asked, sounding really curious.

"Like telling her she can't paint her fingernails with creepy colors any more and I may tell her to stop wearing black all the time, stuff like that."

"Humm, sounds interesting. After Wanda, I want you to try your new resolve of treating women with more respect."

"I'm not going to hurt her. I've never hit a woman. I'm just not going to let her take advantage of me," I said, making my voice sound angrier than I intended. Didn't she get it? Treating women with more respect was only part of my new resolve. Not getting involved with women who took advantage of me was the other part.

"You don't have to bark at me. I know how gentle you are, remember?"

"Gentle is my middle name," I said, as we ended the call.

At lunchtime the cafeteria was over half filled with students who had returned to school and we had to coerce two guys to give up a table so we could move three tables together.

Freddy was definitely in charge. She sat at the head of the table and outlined her plans for us. One of the things she had in mind was for us to become better acquainted. Freddy proposed that she would call upon one member each morning to tell the group about themselves. She also asked for name suggestions for the group. Several members spoke up, wanting to call us everything from names of animals to their favorite food. None of the suggestions appealed to me.

"Coop Group," I said, and everyone looked my way.

"That's stupid," Tracy was quick to point out.

"No it's not," Shirley said. "Don't you get it? We were pinned up here while everyone else was at home enjoying the holiday. I think Coop Group is a fitting name."

I thanked her later for arguing on my behalf but she said she didn't do it for me. "You're choice of names best describes us," she said.

"What day in February is your birthday?" I asked. We were half way to her dorm, walking briskly against the wind. She glanced at me and I noticed the absence of a wrinkle in her forehead.

"I warned you to stop forcing yourself on me. I'm not going to celebrate my birthday with you."

"Why did you stick your tongue out at me if you're not interested?"

"That was my way of telling you I'm not attracted to you. You're a rich kid who is accustomed to getting everything he wants. I'm not rich. That's how poor girls express themselves where I come from."

"I didn't take it that way at all. I liked it."

"Then I won't do it again," she said with a finality that told me to back off. We didn't talk until we reached the door to her dorm.

"I'll be twenty on the twentieth," she said just before the door closed behind her.

After the second cafeteria opened, breakfast was the only time I saw Shirley. She would breeze in, look for a seat and read a book while taking small bites of her cereal. She didn't ignore me but she never sat next to me either, except for one day when she arrived late and there were no other seats.

"I saved that chair for you," I said.

"Thank you, ' she answered, opening her book.

"Your birthday is on a Tuesday. Would you prefer that we sing happy birthday to you that morning or that just the two of us have dinner together at Stella's Restaurant on Friday night?"