Chapter 19

The rest of the cross country season went fairly well for us as a team. We’d managed to beat each of our opponents in our head-to-head team meets, had won the Davis County Clipper outright, and had placed well in several of the larger team meets. The only problem for me was the fact that I was still looking to be on the outside looking in for varsity. Close enough I’d ran varsity for a couple of the big races, but had also run junior varsity for a few as well. When it came to the regional finals I was slated in as the #8 runner, making me the best runner left out of running varsity. I couldn’t really feel too bad about it overall. I knew I’d worked hard and don everything I could to get and be where I had been. I’d simply been beat by better runners, several of whom were seniors and would be graduating. A quick calculation told me that if my performance stood up for next year I’d be going from #8 this year to #4 or 5 for next year and solidly on the varsity side of the fence.

While I wish I could say my dating life went fantastic, unfortunately it didn’t. Leading into the Christmas break it had been mostly a collection of first dates. The nice thing though was that I’d found out my shyness had largely disappeared. If I wanted to ask someone out I was able to, and to do so with confidence. The other part I was finding out that I was good about was reading the vibes of the girls I did go out with. I was finding out that while they were willing and even eager to go on the date with me, if I paid attention to body language and general demeanor I could find out whether it was going to be worth even trying for a second date.

Classes as a whole were going well, my grades were staying solid between a B+ and A- average which helped keep my parents off my back and made it easier for me to have time to do other things that I enjoyed as well. One of the things I’d always enjoyed had been the hunts and shooting we’d be able to do. In the fall it was the deer hunt, going out into the woods wearing our hunter orange. I’d done well both last year and this year and had gotten my buck. The thing that was really nice about our hunting trips though was that we went out with the whole family and even some friends of the family we would hunt with. My dad, grand, both my uncles and I would go out. With my two uncles we also had the advantage of the two gun nuts in the family with us and getting to shoot whatever gun(s) they were most interested in at the time, aside from their hunting weapons. It wasn’t uncommon to take a break for the day (or if we filled up) and end up doing some target shooting with completely different weapons.