Girls, Gifted

by E K Ballard

  “I know, I’ll do better this year. I thought the most important year was junior year anyway. I had pretty good grades last year.” Jamie wanted to tell her dad whatever he needed to hear so he would stop talking about her grades.

  “If you have a good year, meaning all A’s and B’s with no C’s, it would go a long way toward minimizing your poor grades from your first two years.”

  “I’ll do fine.”

  “You know Mrs. Dalby said she won’t tutor you again this year.”

  “Good,” Jamie said. “That lady was a nag, and if I never saw her again it’d be too soon.”

  “That poor woman earned sainthood last year, putting up with you,” John said.

  “Look, Dad, I’ll make sure I do my homework and study for tests and stuff.” Jamie just wanted the conversation to be over.

  “If you don’t have a 3.0 GPA this year we may have to get you another tutor.”

  “I don’t need a tutor! I told you I’d do better!”

  “Have you ever considered not playing basketball? Maybe take a break in the winter from the practices and tournaments.”

  “No! They are counting on me to play, and I need the varsity letter.”

  “Your mother and I want what is best for you, and we’re thinking that if you don’t have a B average for the first marking period, you might sit out basketball.”

  “That isn’t fair!” Jamie shouted. “You know I need to play to get the Twelve Letter Award!”

  “We know,” said Angela, “but we want to make sure you have enough time to do your school work.”

  “That means a 3.0 or higher grade point average,” John said.

  Jamie got up from the table.

  “I’m going to the beach.”

  Chapter Five

  Jamie called Lissy and Sam before she left the house and let them know she was leaving. She grabbed a beach bag and what she needed and took off before she could get into a further discussion with her parents about grades.

  When it came down to it, Jamie’s problems in school stemmed from her hatred of reading, which, as it turns out, was needed for almost every class. She liked playing on the school sports teams, and usually did just well enough to keep her eligibility.

  Reading was Jamie’s Achilles heel. Ever since she started kindergarten, Jamie had hated to read. She remembered the humiliation she felt when she was called on to read out loud in front of the whole class, and her classmates’ snickers as she stumbled through her passage.

  “Hey,” said Lissy as she climbed into Jamie’s Jeep. “How ya been?”

  They hugged. “Good, I guess. Hey Sam.”

  “Hey, Jamie, good to see you.”

  “So, why ‘you guess’? Something going on?” Lissy asked.

  “Yeah, I just got into it with my parents.”

  “About what?”

  “My grades, and getting a tutor, and blah, blah, blah, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. They said if I don’t have a 3.0 grade point average when basketball starts, they won’t let me play.”

  “What!” said Lissy. “But you’re going to get the Twelve Letter Award!”

  “Not if I don’t play basketball.”

  “You might have to start taking your books home with you,” said Sam. “Why a 3.0? All you need to play is a 2.0, right?”

  “He wants me to go play soccer at some D-1 college next year.”

  “You’re good enough.”

  “My grades aren’t. But really, all college would be is a chance to play soccer four more years.”

  They got one of the last parking spots at the beach.

  “Oh, ho, looks like we got the entire Stowe athletic department here today,” said Sam.

  They headed towards where a bunch of kids from school were hanging out by the volleyball court and the picnic area.

  “Hey Jamie,” her friend Andre said, “Maggie and Charli are beating everyone, you wanna take them on?”

  “Sophomores, right? Sure,” Jamie said. She took off her shoes and stretched out as she and Andre took the court.

  “This’ll be quick,” said Maggie.

  “Yeah, you talk a good game,” said Jamie. “Just serve.”

  Maggie served, and Jamie and Andre watched it hit the sand between them. “My bad,” said Andre.

  Jamie shook her head. “C’mon, man. They can’t win.”

  Maggie served again, and Andre managed to bump a ball to Jamie, who in turn tapped the ball over for a point. She went back to serve and hit the ball into the net. “Dammit!” she shouted.

  She hated to lose. Especially to these two cocky sophomores.

  It didn’t take long for it to become apparent that Maggie and Charli were not only pretty good at volleyball, but that Jamie and Andre weren’t.

  “That was embarrassing,” Jamie said after they lost.

  “Nice game, Jamie,” said Lissy, feigning sincerity.

  “Shut up,” said Jamie. “I didn’t know Andre was that bad.”

  “They’re pretty good,” said Sam. “I wouldn’t play them.”

  Two girls took the court to play Charli and Maggie. One was tall and athletic, while the other one was shorter and slightly stocky. Jamie stared at the hair on the shorter girl; it was reddish brown, shoulder length and curly. Jamie saw her pull her hair back and put on a hair tie, revealing a radiant face with a clear complexion.

  “Who’re these two?” asked Jamie.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never see them before,” Lissy answered.

  “Holy shit, she is beautiful,” Jamie said. She sat down heavily on a picnic table, her eyes fixated on the shorter girl with the incredible smile.

  “Which one?”

  “The short one with the amazing hair.”

  Lissy sat next to Jamie to watch the game.

  Jamie’s eyes were drawn to the shorter girl. Jamie took in her entire body, and settled again on her hair. The auburn curls fell loosely past her shoulders and down her back. An oversized t-shirt billowed over her upper body, but she wore a pair of jeans shorts that made her short legs look stubby.

  It didn’t matter. Jamie couldn’t take her eyes off her.

  The girl she was playing with had the presence of a professional athlete. She was thin and quick, and had her long blonde hair pulled back with a visor covering her eyes. She stood in the back of the court. When Maggie served, she moved into perfect position and passed the ball to the girl with the auburn hair. Jamie watched as she put her hands over her head and flicked the ball in a high arc. The taller girl ran up, jumped, and smashed the ball between Charli and Maggie.

  “It looks like they met their match,” said Sam.

  The pretty girl went back to the service line and announced the score. She served the ball over the net, and Maggie got to the ball easily. When Charli set it for her, Maggie had her hit blocked by the tall girl. Jamie saw the pretty girl’s smile light up her face, and Jamie could have sworn a ray of sunshine came down and shone on her for a fleeting moment.

  “She is like a goddess,” Jamie said.

  Lissy squinted her eyes to take in Kristin. “She’s pretty cute. What’s with the t-shirt though?”

  “You think that’s her girlfriend?” Jamie asked, nodding her head towards her partner.

  “Eh, maybe.” Sam focused on the girls looking for clues that they were a couple.

  The game ended, and the taller girl put her arm around the pretty girl and pulled her close to say something. Both girls were laughing and happy with their win, and their intimate moment wasn’t missed.

  “Oh,” said Sam.

  Jamie’s heart fell. “I should’ve known.”

  “I still don’t know,” said Lissy. “Look, they’re making teams. Go play, see what you find out.”

  “Nah,” said Jamie after some consideration. “I just want to watch.”

  They sat on a picnic table and watched her play. She was actually a pretty good volleyball player even without her friend’s help. Jamie watched as she moved gracefully aro
und the court, calling for plays, and laughing when the ball hit off someone’s head for a point. When she put her sunglasses on top of her head to wipe the sweat from her brow, Jamie thought it was the hottest thing she had ever seen a girl do.

  “I don’t think they’re a couple,” said Lissy. “See? They’re not even on the same team anymore.”

  The ball was hit over the net and Kristin made a one-handed diving save to pop the ball up in the air. Her team got the point as she picked herself up off the ground and brushed herself off.

  “My God, she’s perfect,” said Jamie.

  The game broke up, and the players came to the picnic area to stand in the shade.

  “It was nice meeting you guys,” said the girl who wore the visor. “We’re going to go swimming, so thanks for the games.”

  “Nice meeting you, Izzy. See you at school, Kristin.”

  The two new girls walked back to their spot on the beach, and the tall one reached over to rub the pretty one’s shoulders briefly. Jamie saw that Lissy saw it, too.

  “See?” Jamie said.

  “That doesn’t mean anything. You don’t know.” Lissy said.

  “Let’s ask them to go,” Jamie overheard Hank, a football player, say. “I’d tap that tall one. Shit, I’d tap the fat one, she’s got a nice rack.”

  Hank and Farley walked over to the girls and talked to them for a few minutes. When they came back a few minutes later, they were congratulating themselves in getting the pretty girl’s number.

  “It’s too bad Kristin is staying and Izzy is leaving,” commented Hank. “That Izzy is one tall drink of sweet hotness.” He said something that Jamie didn’t hear, and the kids around them laughed crudely.

  Jamie, Lissy, and Sam got closer to the conversation.

  “Well, they said they’d go to the river tonight, so we’ll take them out and wine them and dine them. We won’t sixty-nine them…sixty-eight only.” Hank grinned.

  “What’s a sixty-eight?” asked someone.

  “We’ll owe them one!” Farley said. Gales of laughter were heard from the guys on the football team.

  “He is such a pig,” said Lissy.

  “You guys up for going to the river tonight?” Jamie asked.

  Chapter Six

  Jamie felt uneasy as she drove towards the river.

  “I don’t know, maybe we shouldn’t go,” said Jamie. “I mean, if she’s there with Hank, then she won’t like me, and if she’s with that girl—what’s her name, Izzy?—then she won’t like me either. “

  “What if it’s neither? We have to go. Besides, what else are we going to do?” Lissy asked as she checked her makeup in the mirror.

  “It’s not like I’m going to talk to her or anything,” Jamie said.

  “Why not?”

  Jamie exhaled. “What am I going to say? Hi, I don’t know you, don’t know if you like girls, or if you do if that’s your girlfriend, but I think you’re really hot and will you go out with me?”

  “Hello. My name is Jamie. What’s your name? Welcome to Stowe. Where are you from? You know, talk to her.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  They parked near the road, next to a midsize SUV with a Florida license plate.

  “I bet that’s her car,” said Sam.

  Jamie felt her stomach muscles clench just thinking of seeing Kristin. Groups of kids were standing around a campfire. She scanned faces, trying to make it seem like she wasn’t looking for anyone in particular. Was that her, standing over on the far side of the group? Jamie saw Hank, and sure enough, Kristin was next to him.

  “Hey, Sam, the keg is over there,” called someone.

  “Let’s go see what they got.” Sam led the three of them to where Mason was pouring beer into red plastic cups from a keg.

  “Wat up, Mason?” asked Sam.

  “Hey, Sam, get yourself a cup.”

  Sam grabbed a cup in each hand. “You want a beer?” he asked Jamie.

  “No, I’m good. Tryouts tomorrow morning.”

  “Right, yeah.” Sam filled up one cup, handed it to Lissy, and filled up his. “Thanks, man,” he said to Mason.

  “Let’s go up to the fire,” said Lissy.

  They hoisted themselves up on a boulder and sat down where they could see the crowd.

  “There she is,” Lissy nudged Jamie.

  “I know. Shut up! Don’t make a big deal of it!”

  “You don’t want me to call her over?” Lissy teased.

  “No. Come on, just be cool, okay?” Jamie begged.

  “I will. You know I will.”

  “Uh oh, who do I see coming but the almighty Paige,” Sam said, pointing.

  Jamie sat up. Paige and her friends had arrived and were making a beeline to where Hank, Kristin, Izzy and a bunch of kids on the football team were standing.

  “Get your hands off my boyfriend,” mocked Sam in a falsetto voice.

  “Hi, I’m Paige and I fuck on the first date,” Lissy added.

  “I thought she broke up with him,” said Jamie.

  “She did. Guess she wants him back.”

  Paige did not look happy as she spoke with Hank, and turned to say something to Kristin, before she pulled Hank away to speak to him alone.

  “Oh, man,” Sam laughed. “She is still leading him around by his dick.”

  “She is such a bitch,” Jamie said. “I wonder what she just said to Kristin.”

  “Why don’t you go down and try and talk to her?” asked Lissy. “Come on, we’ll go with you.”

  “No, there’s too many people around. She’s with people.”

  “So?” Lissy saw Jamie was resolute. “All right, let’s get another beer.”

  They slid off the rock and went to the keg, where a girl who looked no older than twelve was laughing and having a hard time standing.

  “Hey,” said Lissy, as the girl almost crashed in to her. “Watch it.”

  “Hey Mason, what’s up with that girl?” asked Sam as he got refills.

  “I don’t know, I don’t know her. She has been downing shots with beer chasers.”

  “Yeah, you might not want to give her anymore.”

  The girl fell onto her knees, laughing.

  “I feel so dizzy!” She rolled over on her back. “This is so much fun!”

  “Hey, you all right?” Jamie called.

  “I am better than all right, I am drunk!” The girl tried to sit up, but fell down on her side.

  “You need some help?”

  “No, I’m fine.” The girl belched. “Actually, I don’t feel very good.”

  “Who are you here with?” Lissy asked.

  “Oh, I think I’m going to be sick.” The girl rolled over.

  A crowd of kids had come to get a beer and saw the girl on the ground.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Isn’t she that girl who is like, fucked up?”

  Laughter. “Yeah, no shit!”

  “No, the one who is like, fucked up from falling through the ice as a kid.”

  “Oh, yeah, maybe.”

  “Who’d she come with?”

  “I don’t know.”

  A circle formed around the girl on the ground.

  “Hey! What’s your name? How did you get here?” asked someone.

  The girl on the ground moaned.

  “Hey, does anyone know this girl over here? She’s pretty drunk. Someone needs to come take care of her,” Mason called toward the campfire.

  Thirty seconds later, Kristin and Izzy burst into the circle.

  “Patty, what’s wrong?”

  Jamie heard the concern in Kristin’s voice.

  “Oh my God, that girl is trashed,” someone said.

  “She pissed herself!” said someone else.

  “Fucking gross!”

  Jamie heard someone, maybe Paige, call the girl a fucking retard.

  “You guys are such assholes,” said Lissy, dressing down the crowd. “Paige, who are you calling a retard? You were driving in,
like, ninth grade, dumbass. How do you fail kindergarten?”

  “Colors are hard,” someone said somberly, and everyone laughed at Paige.

  Jamie stood in the midst of the group, watching Kristin and Izzy try to get Patty off the ground. Sam put his beer down and looked at Jamie, who nodded. They walked out in the darkness to where the drunk girl couldn’t stand.

  “Here, let us help you,” said Sam, as he and Jamie got on either side of the girl on the ground. They lifted her up, and Jamie could smell the alcohol on her breath.

  “Thank you,” said Kristin, who sounded upset and flustered.

  “Where do you want us to take her?” Sam asked.

  “To the car. Please.”

  Kristin walked ahead of them, barely visible in the dark.

  “Here, she’s pretty light, just let me get her,” said Jamie, who scooped the girl up in her arms and carried her toward the parking lot. Izzy walked with them.

  “Right here,” said Izzy, pointing to the SUV next to Jamie’s Jeep. “Thank you so much.”

  Kristin opened the door, and Jamie put the girl in the backseat. She lay down on the seat and said something inaudible.

  “I hope she’s okay,” said Lissy to Kristin.

  “Thank you all for your help,” said Kristin, who sounded like she was crying.

  Jamie pushed the girl’s legs in all the way and shut the door. Kristin and Izzy got in the car and sped away.

  “Wow,” said Jamie.

  “That was pretty intense,” said Lissy.

  “And I didn’t even get to meet her,” said Jamie.

  “Let’s get out of here. I can’t wait to graduate and be away from these ass wipes!” said Lissy.

  “I wish I had her number,” said Jamie. “I could call and see if they’re okay or something.”

  “Please, you don’t even have a cell phone, so how’re you going to call her? Seriously, when are you going to get a phone? It’s like, 2008. Everyone has a phone.”

  “Because I don’t want a phone. I don’t want to be at anyone’s beck and call whenever.”

  “Well, you won’t ever be at her beck and call if she can’t call you,” Lissy retorted.

  “Maybe I will,” Jamie said.