by E K Ballard
“Just take your time,” said Jamie, handing her a water. “Enjoy the sights.”
Kristin trudged along for what seemed like an eternity over fallen trees and up rocks. At one point she thought she was going to fall when the loose gravel slipped out from underneath her feet. Jamie never seemed to miss a step.
Jamie stopped frequently so Kristin could catch her breath. Jamie offered Kristin the water bottle every time they stopped and Kristin took long swallows.
“How much farther?” asked Kristin after what seemed like they had been walking for an hour.
“Oh, we’re about halfway there,” replied Jamie.
“Are you serious?” Kristin sat down on a rock. “Let’s go back. I don’t have it in me to finish.” Jamie sat down next to her and shook her head.
“Nope. Not going back. You made me read, so now I am going to make you get to the top.” Jamie smiled mischievously at Kristin, who glared.
“You tricked me, didn’t you? You said it was easy just to get me started.”
“Oh, come on, it isn’t that bad. Wait until we get to the top and you see the view, it’ll all be worth it.”
Kristin got up and started walking again.
They reached a point where Kristin had to climb up a huge, moss-covered rock. She tried to get purchase with the toes of her shoe but it kept slipping out.
“Here,” Jamie said, offering Kristin her hand.
Kristin reached up and took Jamie’s hand and felt Jamie pull her up with ease. Kristin hadn’t expected to come up that hard and stumbled into Jamie, who caught and steadied her. Kristin felt a rush of adrenaline go through her as she held onto Jamie’s hand and felt Jamie’s arm around her. She held the moment for as long as she could, then pulled her hand away and continued walking.
The ground leveled out, and they passed a group of Boy Scouts on their way down.
“Almost there, ladies!” said the Scoutmaster cheerfully, and indeed they were. They reached an opening where there was a small shed, a picnic table, and a fire tower which stood two stories above the ground. Jamie put the pack down and they stood by the picnic table and took in the views.
“Wow,” was all Kristin could say. Everywhere she looked, there were lakes where tiny boats left small white trails of wake behind them.
“Come on,” said Jamie. She led Kristin to the stairs of the fire tower, and they climbed up the sturdy metal stairs to the top, where a fire ranger was getting ready to go home for the day.
“Howdy,” he said. “First time up here?”
“Yes, for me,” said Kristin, taking out her phone to get pictures.
“Well, take a minute to sign the guest book if you’d like. I’m heading out shortly, but take your time. It’s a little late in the day, so make sure you give yourselves enough daylight to get down. Probably be the last ones up here today.” He looked at them standing next to each other. “Want me to take a picture of you?” he asked.
Kristin nodded and handed her phone to him. Jamie put her arm around Kristin and pulled her in closely. The ranger squinted at the phone, pressed the button, and took a picture. He handed the phone back to Kristin, put on his jacket, and left.
“It’s breathtaking,” said Kristin.
“Glad you didn’t turn around?” teased Jamie.
Kristin didn’t answer. She was trying to figure out what the various landmarks were.
Jamie stood behind Kristin and enjoyed the closeness of their bodies. “Look, that is the lake we drove past on the way up here, by the summer camp, Lake Kanasatka, and that is Lake Winnipesaukee, the big lake as the locals call it, and that is Squam Lake. Behind us,” Jamie turned and put her hands on Kristin’s shoulders to point her in the right direction, “is Mount Washington and the entire Presidential Range. You can tell which one is Mount Washington because of the snowcap.” Kristin looked closer, and sure enough, there was snow at the top of one of the distant mountains.
“Over there, can you see the red rooftop?” Kristin nodded, ever aware of Jamie’s hands on her shoulders, and the proximity of their bodies in the tight quarters. “That’s Castle in the Clouds, this big mansion built around the 1920’s. I’ll take you there sometime.”
They stood in the tower, looking out at the panoramic view until a gust of wind rocked the tower and Kristin jumped in panic.
Jamie laughed. “It’s okay, that’s normal. That’s why there are wires attached to the tower and the rocks.”
Kristin still wanted to get down, so they went back down to where Jamie left the hiking pack. She set the pack on the picnic table, put a blanket on the table, and motioned for Kristin to sit down. Kristin sat, chilled a little now that her body had cooled from the hike.
Jamie pulled a sweatshirt out of the pack and handed it over to Kristin, who looked quizzically at Jamie.
“You’re always cold. I thought you might need it,” she explained. Kristin pulled it on over her head.
It was getting colder.
The sun shone brightly in the sky, but was getting lower. The blanket Jamie had put on the table wasn’t very big, and Kristin found that when Jamie sat on it, the left side of her body was touching Jamie. She felt the warmth from Jamie’s body as they sat next to each other.
“So, Kristin, tell me something,” Jamie said.
“Sure.”
“Why, when you started out being kind of mean to me, did you decide to help me with my homework and stuff? Other than the voice of your old principal in your head, that is.”
Kristin laughed a little.
“Well, to be honest, you’re the only person who has been nice to me since we got here. You and your friends.”
“But you didn’t know it was me who carried Patty to the car when you started helping me study,” Jamie pointed out.
“You’re right, I didn’t. Maybe some of it was because it’s the right thing to do. If someone needs help and you’re in a position to do it, then it’s pretty selfish to not help. And I have been a little selfish since we got here.”
“I don’t think you’re selfish.”
“I’ve just been a jerk to everyone. My dad especially. I know he tries to make up for the fact that we had to move by letting me do stuff that my mom doesn’t want me to, and then they fight.”
A breeze blew cool air on them.
“It’s not easy being a new kid in 11th grade, I bet.”
“It sucks. I loved my old school.”
Jamie laughed. “Only you would love a school.”
“It was more than a school. It was like a family. Almost all of my friends had been there since second grade, and we did all these really fun things. We had a Variety Show, and the high school classes would have a Dodgeball tournament and play class versus class, and all the elementary and middle school classes would come and watch us nail each other with balls.”
“That sounds like fun,” Jamie said.
“It was,” Kristin said. “The teachers would sometimes have a team and they’d play, too.”
“You played a game where you could deliberately hit your teachers with a ball, in like, the face?”
“Well, if you got hit in the face you didn’t have to go out, but yes.”
“Wow,” said Jamie. “So you still miss it a lot?”
Kristin started to answer, then stopped herself.
“Yes and no. At my old school, everyone was smart and got good grades, so to be the best you really had to work hard. Here I can turn in something that would have gotten a C in Sarasota and it’s like I’ve cured cancer or something.”
“Us regular kids can’t compete with your big brain.”
Kristin laughed. “It’s just different. We didn’t really care about sports because everyone was trying to get into MIT or pass AP exams. It’s kind of nice to see kids do something besides study.”
“You didn’t seem to think so when I first met you.”
“I know. I was so miserable when we moved here. You know, I used to be thin and popular, class president, and e
ditor of the yearbook. I put on a ton of weight after I had to quit the dance team.”
“What happened? Why did you quit?”
“Traveling dance teams are expensive. You see, my dad was in real estate, and when the housing market crashed in Florida, all these investment properties they had went bad, and they had to declare bankruptcy. We lost everything.”
“Were you guys wealthy?”
“I guess. We had a nice house, two cars, a housekeeper who cooked dinner for us, and a boat that we kept docked at the yacht club. My mom did volunteer work, and we’d go on nice vacations together.”
“Money isn’t everything.”
“I know. In Sarasota, we went to this really cool church, and they’d remind us that Jesus was a poor immigrant, and the whole eye of the needle thing. I guess it’s easy to agree with scripture when you have money.”
Jamie reached for the second blanket and wrapped it around Kristin’s shoulders first, then pulled it around behind her. The blanket pulled her in closer to Jamie.
“How’s that?”
“Good, thanks.”
Kristin wondered if Jamie was going to loosen the blanket so they weren’t touching, but she didn’t.
“Anyway, when I saw you struggling, it reminded me of when times were good, and a bunch of us from my school would go to this Title I school in Sarasota and tutor these kids who had nothing. I mean, nothing. Some were homeless, or they were being raised by grandparents, and they were so happy to see us when we came to their school. And it reminded me of who I used to be.”
Kristin felt warm and comfortable, yet very alive next to Jamie.
“That’s why I need to get good grades, because the only way I am going to go to college is through a scholarship. So when I get stressed out over grades, that’s why.”
“Sorry I bring your Lit grade down,” said Jamie.
“That’s okay.” They both laughed. “So, your dad, he’s a mechanic, right?” Kristin asked.
“Yeah. He owns Stowe Auto Repair, and before him, his dad had the garage. He goes in every day, but he mainly lets the guys run the shop. He is kind of semi-retired, and my mom, she used to be a nurse, but she quit when she had me. Now she does the books for the shop part time.”
“So, how did—,” Kristin stopped herself, embarrassed to be asking such a forward question.
“How did a mechanic end up doing so well for himself?” Jamie finished.
“Well, yeah. Kind of.”
Jamie looked out over the treetops. “I’m half-sister to my brothers. Jack and Jason are my dad’s kids from his first marriage. Their mom was killed by a drunk driver.”
“Oh, wow, that’s awful,” said Kristin. “I’m so sorry.”
“Well, if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be here.”
“True.”
“And your dad said she used to be his babysitter. Small world, huh?”
“Really?”
“Really. Anyway, my dad got a big settlement from the insurance company and he invested it and I guess it’s done well. Plus he inherited the shop, which has always been busy.”
“Did he give you the Jeep?”
“Kind of. He made a deal with some guy for my Jeep. It needed an engine and transmission, and my dad traded him some work on another car the guy had for the Jeep and I did the work with my dad to get the Jeep fixed, so he gave it to me.”
“You put a new engine and transmission in the Jeep?” Kristin asked.
“Well, actually, we rebuilt the engine and put a new transmission in, but, yeah.”
“That’s pretty impressive.”
“I guess,” Jamie said.
“So, Jason plays football in Amherst. What does Jack do?”
“He works up at Weymouth College in the business office. He’s the practical one. I think my dad was hoping someday he’d take over the garage. Jason is the athlete who gets all the girls.”
“And you?” Kristin prodded.
“Jack says I’m the glue that holds us all together. I’m athletic like Jason, but I’m closer to Jack. He gets me the most.”
They sat in companionable silence next to each other.
“Come on, we should go. We need to be down before it gets dark,” Jamie said.
They got up and started down the trail. It took a lot less time to get down the trail than it took to get up. Jamie walked right in front of Kristin and helped her down a few steep areas by holding her hand. Kristin didn’t quite know what to make of all their physical contact, especially with someone like Jamie, a rumored lesbian.
She decided she liked it.
It was almost dusk when they reached the Jeep and Kristin saw they would just have enough time to meet her dad. They put the top up and drove back to the house. Kristin had her hand on the center console next to Jamie’s and found herself wishing Jamie would hold it like she did when they were on the trail, but Jamie used her hand to shift gears.
When they got to Jamie’s house, they were tired and went inside to get Kristin’s things together.
* * *
Lucas and Rob pulled into Jamie’s driveway, and Lucas hopped out, eager to see Jamie.
“Hi, Jamie,” he said when he saw her.
“He doesn’t even say hello to me anymore,” said Kristin to her father.
Jamie introduced Rob and Lucas to her family and they went inside. Lucas went through the boxes of Jason and Jack Chase’s old clothes. Rob was quiet as he watched Lucas sort through all the boxes and pull out what he wanted. Some of the clothes still had tags on them. Lucas and Rob thanked John and Angela profusely.
Jamie and John helped load the three boxes of clothes that Lucas wanted into their car and they said their goodbyes and went home, where Lucas put his newfound wardrobe away.
Kristin downloaded the picture of her and Jamie and stared at it. It was a great picture, with Jamie’s blue eyes peering out from a face that had her unkempt black hair blowing everywhere and the red in Kristin’s long hair highlighted in the sun. Kristin didn’t think she looked that short standing next to Jamie and realized Jamie had crouched down a little so her face was next to Kristin’s. They both had smiles on their faces.
She thought she had never had a better day celebrating the birth of a genocidal pedophile.
Chapter Twenty
On Tuesday, Kristin looked forward to seeing Jamie in class and was disappointed that it was raining outside. She really enjoyed her after-lunch walks with Jamie.
“I guess we can’t take our walk today,” Kristin said as they went to lunch.
“No, but how’d you like to go to the weight room? They’ve got bikes, treadmills, nautilus equipment…all sorts of stuff. It’s pretty nice. A lot of the kids from the teams use it during lunch.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not really into gyms.” Kristin didn’t want to be around the other kids and have them see her body. “Besides, I don’t have workout clothes.”
“Come on, it’s not going to be a bunch of guys grunting and looking at themselves in the mirror. It’s really nice. I have some clothes you can wear.”
“I don’t know, Jamie. I don’t know how to use any of that stuff.”
“You can ride a bike, can’t you?” Jamie stopped in the middle of the hallway and smiled down at Kristin. “Come on, you don’t have to be gifted to ride a stationary bike.”
Kristin stuck her tongue out at Jamie. “Shut up.”
“Let’s just go check it out. You don’t have to do anything today.”
Jamie took Kristin in through the girls’ locker room and Kristin saw what Jamie meant about it being nice. Rows of spin bikes lined the back wall, and various other pieces of cardio equipment were against the back wall. Music played while boys lifted weights and took turns spotting for each other. A coach sat at a desk, reading a newspaper.
“Hey Coach Marshall,” said Jamie.
“Oh, hi, Jamie. Haven’t seen you in a while. How’s Jason?”
“Great.”
“How’s yo
ur season going? Still undefeated?”
“Yup. Hope we’ll win it all this year.”
While Jamie spoke with the coach, Kristin looked around the room. Mirrors on the walls made it seem bigger than it was, but the room was huge. She didn’t recognize any of the guys working out and, after a cursory glance, they ignored her. She saw that she and Jamie were the only girls there.
“Coach, this is my friend, Kristin. Do you mind if we come down here after lunch every now and then?”
“No problem, Jamie. You’re always welcome.”
Kristin saw a scale against the wall and decided she wanted to know how much she weighed. She hadn’t weighed herself since the doctor’s visit when they got to Stowe. She hadn’t been eating as much, and she had been walking at lunch and to and from school. Maybe she had lost some weight.
What if she gained weight? She didn’t want Jamie to see how heavy she was. She took off her shoes and quickly stepped on. She closed her eyes and hoped that she hadn’t gone up to the 160s. She opened her eyes and saw the number 141 appear on the display. She quickly stepped off, relieved that she had lost weight.
“Well?” Jamie asked.
Kristin shook her head. “Not telling.”
“Well, at least see how tall you are.” Jamie pointed to the measuring tape on the wall, and Kristin took her shoes off again and leaned her back against the wall.
“Just under 5’5” it looks like,” Jamie said.
“Really?” asked Kristin. She had grown almost two inches and lost eight pounds since August.
“Really. How tall am I?” Jamie switched places with Kristin.
“Um, it looks like you are 6’2”. Wow. You’re a giant.”
“Yup, a physical giant and a mental midget. Are you going to tell me how much you weigh?” asked Jamie.
“No!” said Kristin. “I’m fat, okay? I don’t need a scale to tell me that.”
“You are not fat!’ said Jamie forcefully.