Chapter 10

Later that afternoon, half way across town, Patty was in her element.

She began her school day with math and biology, which she took in order to meet college entrance requirements. But she always took as much art and music as she could, and now she was learning how to make pottery. The arts were her passion, what got her juices flowing. She was never as happy as when she was creating something with pen or paint, playing the piano, working on her skills for arranging orchestral music, or acting in drama class.

She also found that her arts classes were made up predominantly of girls, whereas the math and science classes were full of boys. Since starting high school, she found she felt she could relax her guard and enjoy herself in her art classes, unlike her others.

Since she was in advanced classes in all her subjects, the boys in her morning sciences classes were mostly older than her — in some cases seniors three years older than she was. Patty had never thought of herself as an exceptionally pretty girl... but she was beginning to think she might be!

She'd never experienced the kind of attention from boys that she was now garnering from the upperclassmen at her new school. There were a couple boys in particular that always seemed to be by the front door when she came into the building, and coincidentally were always walking the same way as she was to get to class.

She'd managed to work into conversation several times that she had a boyfriend, and they had acted disappointed to hear that at first. But when they learned that her boyfriend was younger and in fact still in middle school, they acted like she had no boyfriend at all!

She found the attention extremely flattering, if not exhilarating, as she'd never been pursued before. With Bobby, she'd been the one to move things along, and she had to admit it was pretty cool to be chased. This had been going on even before Bobby had moved away, and she felt somewhat guilty for not telling him about it. But she hadn't wanted him to worry or perhaps (shudder) break things off with her when he moved.

But in this class, she could relax and focus on the project, which today was to make a basic pot out of clay.

The initial shape was formed by first rolling the clay into long thin ropes. Then the ropes could be either wound or stacked in rising circles to slowly form the pot's sides and basic shape. It was then placed on a spinning wheel where the students would apply water and pressure from their hands to gently rub out the lines between the stacks of clay rope to form smooth sides. It was then coated with a glaze and fired in a kiln to complete the hardened pot.

They worked in teams of two, and Patty's partner in this class was Collette Simpson. Collette was the older sister of David Simpson, the catcher on Bobby's old baseball team. Collette was a sophomore while Patty was a freshman at the four year high school.

They had gotten to know each other a little bit while attending Loyal Reality's games together the past few years. When they were asked to choose partners for the class, Patty was pleased that Collette sought her out.

Collette was taller than Patty and more muscular, as she was a multi-sport athlete. Currently it was volleyball season, and Collette had several times asked Patty to come watch a game, but so far it hadn't worked out. They chatted as they worked to break off pieces from the greenish bricks the raw clay came in, and then slowly roll it into ropes on the plastic covered work table they sat at, side by side.

"So how were the wolves today?" asked Collette teasingly. Patty had earlier told her about the boys that were vying for her attention.

"Still at it," she replied with a grin. Collette knew that Patty had conflicting emotions about it, and Patty appreciated the fact that Collette didn't make her feel guilty about how the attention was good for her ego.

"Well, if you ever feel an itch you just have to scratch, isn't it nice to know you wouldn't have to go far to find a rubbing post?"

Patty cracked up. "A rubbing post huh? Is that what you call it?"

"Well, I just made it up. But it kind of fits, doesn't it?"

"Yeah I guess it does. No, you know I'm not out looking for a new rubbing post. I've already got one of those."

"Yeah, but I think you're thinking about maybe doing more than rubbing. You're thinking about poking. And so far your post only wants to rub!"

Patty's mouth popped open in shock at her friend's brazen comment. "Collette! I am not out looking for someone to, to, to..."

"Poke," supplied Collette with a giggle. "I said poke. As in ride, climb aboard, jump in the saddle, hump, screw, do the nasty, the horizontal mambo, make the beast with two backs, copula..."

"God would you stop," hissed Patty in an urgent giggling whisper. "No I'm not thinking of doing any of those things with anybody but Bobby!"