by B D Grant
He doesn’t open his eyes when he replies, “I’m not hungry.”
“More for us,” Evan says adding another handful of chips to his plate. I don’t know how he isn’t. I’m starving. Two burgers and a bag of chips later my hunger is quenched. On my way to the trashcan, I grab Abby’s plate to throw away and Anne’s, who still appears to be upset.
I toss the plates in the trash when Glensy runs up. I look up, thinking he’s about to tackle me. When I see his expression I jump out of the way just in time. He barfs as soon as he leans over the can. I hold my breath and try not to listen to him as he releases what sounds like nothing but water into the can. I grab some napkins for him from the food table. “Thanks,” he says hoarsely wiping his face. He spits a few more times before standing up. He takes the closest chair and pulls it closer to the trashcan and sits down.
Ms. Shannon rushes over, “Are you alright?”
“My head is killing me,” he says rubbing his temples again.
She looks up at me. “Kelly, I’m going to need you to take him to the nurse’s office. Do you know where it is?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good, y’all can take one of the golf carts out front.” She helps him out while I get my shoes and shirt on.
“Don’t worry,” Glensy says, half smiling when we get in the golf cart. He waves a plastic bag in the air. “She gave me an extra bag in case I blow chunks again.”
“If you do that again we might be sharing that bag.”
I drive as fast as I can with the plan of dropping him off when we get there. We stop at the back of the welcome center where Glensy opens the hidden door I couldn’t find the last time I was here. He’s barely opening his eyes because the sun is hurting him so I’m forced to be his guide. We get into the hallway and he doubles over grabbing his head. “Here,” I say tossing the opened trash bag at him.
“It’s not that,” he says in a pained voice, handing it back. “My migraine gets worse when I stand straight up.” I look down the hall. We aren’t far from the nurses office.
“Can you make it just a little bit farther?”
“Yeah, I can walk like this,” he says carefully walking down the hall slouched over like he’s the hunchback of Notre Dame, holding his head. I put him in one of the chairs by the door and knock. No answer.
Down the hall a door opens. It’s the door I saw shoe prints leading to when I first got here. “He did really good locating the old man, but when we got there he was already gone.” The guy says to the welcome center secretary, who walks out the room with him. They turn going the other direction down the hall.
“Why are you so happy if he didn’t get the man?”
“It turns out the old man had connected with another group that were being covered by two Cache. We had no idea any of them were there but he lead us to them. I had my doubts but he turned out to be more of a help than we were expecting.”
Glensy grumbles in the chair, lowering his head to his knees. The door to the nurse’s office opens just as I’m about to call out to the pair down the hall for help.
The person that walks out is Jake. “Not having too good of a day, eh?” He says upon nearly running into me. He looks tired with dark circles around his eyes. He has a hot pink bandage around the crease of his elbow. “It’s the only color she has left,” he tells me, looking down at the bandage.
Nurse Pauline walks out. “Oh, my, what happened?” She asks grabbing Glensy lightly by the elbow, directing him inside her office. “Straight to the cafeteria, Jake.”
“Gotcha,” Jake says. He walks away as I recap Glensy’s episode. She brings him in another room with an examination table that you see at doctor’s offices, complete with the disposable paper on top. It crunches noisily when Glensy lays back on it.
“Does anything else hurt?” she asks.
“No, it’s just like before, but worse,” he tells her.
She takes his temperature. Then, puts the back of her hand to his forehead. “You’re burning up.” She goes to a cabinet and takes out a bag that she squeezes. She shakes it and tells him to place it under his neck.
She’s got everything under control so I make for the door. “I’m gonna to leave you to it.”
“Oh, no, you don’t.” She says disappearing out the room. I stick my head out the door. She’s at her desk looking through some charts she has stacked on it. She pulls one out with my name running down the side of it and walks back in the room. “I was going to call you in tomorrow but you’re here now.” She looks at Glensy lying with his eyes closed rubbing his temples, with the ice pack under his neck. She looks back at me and motions to the door. “Let’s goes next door. This’ll only take a minute.” She walks me to the door telling Glensy, “I’ll be right back. You stay put.”
The next room I enter is almost identical to her office with tall cabinets, and a station for taking blood. She digs through a cabinet and takes a syringe and vial out. She goes to the other cabinet and looks irritated, slamming the door shut. She walks over to the smaller desk and gets on the phone. “It’s Pauline, I’m out of saline solution.” She rubs her forehead. “Well if I didn’t need it right now then I wouldn’t be calling you. Okay, and bring some Phenergan too.” She hangs up and goes back to the vial and syringe she took out. “Your blood tests came back and I need to give you some minor immunization shots. I need your left arm.” I oblige, giving her my arm. “There will be a bit of a sting but you can handle it.”
“Don’t let her do it,” Glensy calls out from his room. “That’s how my crap started.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” she calls back.
She whispers so he can’t hear her. “He’s got a bit of an allergy. Unfortunately for him it’s a chemical they add to injections to increase shelf life.” She sticks me and it’s over almost as soon as it starts. The injection itself was the only thing I felt. She disposes of everything and writes in my chart.
“That was easy,” I say looking at the band aid she put over the injection site.
“Glad you thought so. It’s the first of a series. You’ll need another in one week so be expecting to hear from me.” She puts her pen back in her pocket and closes my chart. “But other than that you are free to go. Now I get to fix up your friend.” She walks me out and goes in to Glensy’s room.
On my way out a man passes me with an IV bag of what looks like water and some small vials. Nurse Pauline greets him at the door. I turn to watch him hand her the bag and vials.
“It isn’t already mixed?” She asks.
“No, you said you were only out of saline, not the whole kit and caboodle.”
I continue down the hall having no desire to watch two adults get in a fight.
She lets out a deep breath, “Oh, I’ll just do it. It wouldn’t have hurt you to bring more than one bag either.” She snaps before closing the door on him.
I hear him walking in the same direction I am, grumbling, “A ‘thank you’ wouldn’t have hurt.” I take the door leading to the back exit. He continues muttering to himself down the hall.
7
T. Ability training
I walk into the hall once third hour ends. I prop myself statuesquely against the dark blue lockers running the length of the hall at the same spot I now meet one of my new b.f.f.s. everyday after third period lets out. Kenzie meets me and we let the majority of students filter out of the hall before we take our time walking to the courtyard. Tiffany will be in the courtyard, under the pavilion that connects buildings one and four. Kenzie and I will get to her before Brittany, who has to walk from cheerleading practice by the track, at the back of campus.
Brittany is joining us under the pavilion when Uncle Will’s secretary struts out of building one into the courtyard. One of the girls P.E. coaches is with her. They walk past me, Tiffany, Kenzie and Brittany, going into building four. “Did you see how much makeup she had on?” Tiff asks, referring to our coach who’s not only in shape but really pretty.
“Yea
h,” I answer before the others.
Kenzie brushes her bangs out of her eyes saying, “You know, she’s already been through Coach Bons and Myers.”
They all look at me now. I know what they expect. Our coach had one strike against her for being pretty in these girls’ minds and when she dated the two cutest male coaches we have that was strike two. “I don’t know what they see in her,” I say, wondering how nasty they’re wanting to be.
Since I blew up on Ashley we haven’t spoken. I fill my time by hanging out with Tiffany and her two shadows. They’re the girls that Ben was talking to when Cassidy got on to him. They’re your run of the mill preppy clique. Being the principal’s niece was a major factor with them welcoming me into their self centered little world.
They’re very different from Ashley. I don’t laugh as much with them as I did with Ashley. Well, I fake laugh a lot but that seems to be what they all do. They spend most of their time talking, normally about other girls. If you’re a female in their vicinity then you’re fair game. Sometimes they turn their sights on female teachers. A pattern emerges with my new friends. They will talk trash about you mercilessly if they view you as competition on any level. I haven’t determined if they are conscious of this or not. If they do know they would never admit it.
“At my last cheerleading practice she was throwing herself at Coach Stevens,” Brittany tells us.
“Have you ever sat on the bleachers during cheerleading practice?” Tiff asks me. “Nah ah.”
She smiles mischievously at Brittany. “You should. Brittany busted her butt last practice.” Kenzie starts laughing.
Brittany glares at them. “I’d like to see you try a full back tuck basket, jealous.”
Kenzie laughs, “Oh, whatever.”
Ben and Tony speed through the courtyard from building two making a turn toward building four. The girls pause, watching Ben. He sees us and winks. They each think they are the one that he likes the best. I brought it up once and I think the argument that ensued was close to getting physical.
“There’s a track meet tonight and varsity has to cheer,” Brittany says turning her head from Ben to me. Ben and Tony disappear inside building four. “You should come.”
“We’re all going to be there. We wouldn’t miss it,” Tiff assures Brittany. This is what Tiffany excels at in this squad; talking for everyone.
Walking out to the track meet, I quickly see why Tiff said we wouldn’t miss it. Tiff and Kenzie have cornered Ben at the stairs to the bleachers. Bryant is standing farther away not looking as happy as Ben.
I walk up to Bryant and quietly say, “Cassidy’s on her way.”
He stiffens. “Seriously?” He asks, looking around me.
I smile big. “No.”
“That’s not funny,” he tells me relaxing his shoulders.
“Yes it was,” I chuckle.
“He’s determined to get himself in hot water.”
“You’re both asking for it,” I tell him.
His eyebrows scrunch together looking perplexed. “How? I’m not talking to…” He looks at me, his brow smoothes. “Crap.”
I laugh as he steps away from me. “Stop talking to me,” he says lightly.
“If anyone walks up you can say you had broken up a couple making out and they took off. The reason you’re talking to me is to get their names.”
“And what about him?” He asks. We both look at Ben who has Tiff and Kenzie giggling nonstop.
I shrug, “Tell the truth. He has egomaniacal tendencies that he struggles with due to a lack of leadership in his job. It has led to an uncontrollable need to seek attention, especially female attention, to reinforce his strong ego.”
Bryant looks at me out the corner of his eyes. “You’re a nerd, aren’t you?”
“I read a lot.”
He nods, “That’s a yes.”
“Maybe a little bit,” I admit.
Tiff and Kenzie giggle. This time Tiff lightly brushes Ben’s arm with her hand. “That’s it. He’s going to get our hunting pass taken,” Bryant says.
I watch as he goes straight to Ben. I can’t believe they allow hunting and Uncle Will didn’t think to tell me. Talk about a perfect way to get my mind off things.
Bryant grabs Ben’s arm. Ben quickly jerks it out of Bryant’s grasp. Bryant directs Ben away from Tiff and Kenzie, who aren’t pleased.
“What’s his problem?” Tiff asks when I join them.
“I don’t know,” I lie.
“Do you have a crush?” Kenzie asks me suspiciously.
“On who?”
“Dave, duh,” Kenzie says.
Tiff rolls her eyes. “That’s not his name.”
“It’s Bryant and no, I don’t,” I tell them.
“Oh, come on. How cute would that be if I was dating Ben and you were dating his best friend?”
“Keep dreaming,” Tiff tells her. “The first words out of his mouth were asking where Brittany was.”
Kenzie feverishly shakes her head saying, “That was him being nice. Don’t think I didn’t notice you being all touchy feely.”
“Whatever,” Tiff says with a toss of her hand signaling she’s over the discussion.
A whistle is blown from the track. I start up the stairs to the bleachers. “The meet is about to begin. We should find a good spot,” I tell them.
The track team is good; like scouts should be here good. At the end of the meet Tiff, Kenzie, and I treat Brittany as if she took part in the meet, cheering her name as loud as we can. It’s as good as winning first place for these girls.
On our way off the side of the track, Coach Stevens stops me. “Are you Taylor Jameson?”
“Yes sir.”
“Can I have a word?” He asks looking at my friends.
“Catch you later,” Tiff says. I look after them walking for the dorms. Kenzie looks over her shoulder at me. I can already hear her asking me if I have the hots for Coach Stevens.
“I was told you ran track at your old school,” he says when I turn back.
“Yes sir. I did.”
“I was also told you set some records. I could always use a good athlete to add to my roster.”
I mentally review the meet I just witnessed. The strength, speed, and agility were on a higher level than what I was accustomed to at my old school. Could I keep up? Probably. Would I be able to excel? Not likely. As much as I hate to admit it I don’t want to be a senior that can barely keep up with the sophomores.
“To be honest Coach Stevens, I really enjoyed my time on the track team but I don’t think I hold a candle to anyone here so I’ll pass. Thanks for the offer though.”
“I have a saying I tell my students: Wasted potential is a crime committed by the victim to the victim. Don’t be a victim, Miss. Jameson.”
I stare at him trying to think of a response.
“Anyway,” he says, “my offer still stands. Nice to meet you Miss. Jameson.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
He jogs to the sidelines to help the others picking things up from the meet. I walk to the dorms trying to decide if I should feel guilty for declining his offer. I wonder if my uncle was the one that told him about me being on the track team. If it was him he did a good job bragging about me for a coach to not ask for a tryout before offering a spot on a predominantly Dynamar track team.
“Did he get on to you for talking to Dave earlier?” Kenzie asks when I meet them in her room. I’ve been in their presence less then five minutes and I am already getting aggravated.
“His name is Bryant.”
“Whatever. You know who I meant,” she says with a flip of her wrist.
“He was asking if I would want to be on the track team.”
Tiff makes a face. “Eww, why?”
“Oh my God. Was he hitting on you?” Brittany asks wide-eyed.
I stare at each of their pretty little faces. This isn’t going to be the last I’ll hear of this even if it takes an hour to get them to change the
subject. From now on anytime Coach Stevens is around or is brought up in any manner, one of them will give me a hard time. It won’t be out of good fun but because he wanted me on the track team and not them.
“Alright, that’s it. I can’t take it.” I can’t handle one more minute with them. I’ve reached my limit of stupid for the week. “Not everyone spends their time flirting with the opposite sex. Why are you like this?” I ask them.
They are temporarily speechless so I don’t stop. “You talk about people all day long and it does no good what so ever. In fact, it’s toxic. The only things that will come out of being like this are wrinkles and no true friends.”
“Uh, we have plenty of friends,” Tiffany tells me sharply.
“Who? These two? That’s a joke. They talk about you as much as you talk about them behind their backs.”
I head for the door. “I’m leaving before I say something I’ll regret.”
I leave Kenzie’s room, walk down the hall, out the building, and am walking between buildings three and four before I realize where my feet are taking me. I have thirty minutes before rooms are checked. I want to talk to my mom so urgently that I hope maybe Uncle Will’s working late.
Most of the offices in building one are shut with no lights on inside. Uncle Will’s office is no different. I check the doorknob to be sure. Locked. I walk into the hall as two teachers down the other side of the hall enter one of the larger science labs.
Shortly after the door to the lab shuts it opens again. Cassidy walks out. She isn’t too surprised to see me. “Are you looking for me?” She slides her small personal planner into the front pocket of the laptop bag she’s holding.
“I want to call my mom.”
“Oh, I was hoping you wanted to talk.”
She looks at her watch then at the lab as another teacher emerges, looks at us, then heads down the hall in the opposite direction. “It’s not going to happen tonight. Tomorrow, during your lunch hour, come to my office.”