by M. L. Rice
Chapter Two
The grating screech of her alarm pulled Bryce out of her deep sleep and, without looking, she fumbled to find the snooze button. When the unwelcome noise finally ceased, Bryce let out a groan and slowly sat up. She had been getting up at six a.m. almost every morning for a year to go for an hour-long jog before class, and it was starting to wear on her. It was worth it, though. She was in peak physical shape and it only took a glance at the Coast Guard flag on the wall, her swimming trophies, and her sculpted muscles in the mirror every morning to know she was doing the right thing.
She got dressed, trudged down the stairs, and found her father sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and drinking coffee.
“Morning, hon.”
“Morning, Dad.”
“Going running?”
“Yep.”
“Something new and different,” he said in his usual dry, but friendly manner.
“Funny. Going to work?”
“Yep.”
“Exciting. What are you building today?”
“A Baptist church down on Seventy-seventh.”
“Another church, huh? Saltus doesn’t have enough already?”
Bryce’s father gave her a warning look over his newspaper.
“You know what I mean, Dad.”
Her father put the paper down on the table. “No, I don’t know what you mean. You haven’t gone to church with your mother and me in months. I’ve been defending you to her, but if she hears you say something like that she’ll get really upset. You’d better think about your priorities. God, family, country, remember?”
Bryce’s stomach turned, but she nodded. “Yes, sir.” He continued to look at her with disapproval, so she smiled halfheartedly and pointed at the back door of the kitchen. “Running time. Be back in a bit.”
Once she was outside she leaned up against the B.D. Montgomery Contracting Services label on the side of her dad’s silver Chevrolet truck and blew out a decidedly un-Christian curse under her breath. She had found that her faith in what her parents considered religion had been noticeably waning since she had started high school three years ago. It wasn’t that she had trouble believing in something bigger than herself or that she wasn’t spiritual, she just had a hard time trying to stomach the self-righteous dogma and bigotry that was rife in the church community in which she had been brought up. Her congregation preached unending love and happiness one day, and the next they were spouting hate politics from the pulpit.
So she had stopped going to church.
It hadn’t been easy to convince her mother, but she was a young woman and could make her own decisions. It helped that the job at the pool was on weekends and she had the morning shift both days for lessons. She couldn’t wait until she was finally able to get out of the house and go to college, where she could study subjects she was actually interested in, experience new things, and form her own opinions rather than having them forced upon her. There was something out there for her to believe in, she was sure of it. But the close-minded evangelicalism of the Bible Belt sure as hell wasn’t it.
*
When she arrived back home after her run, breathing heavily, she walked around with her arms over her head for a few minutes to cool down and worked up the courage to reenter the house. She knew her mom would be awake by now, and even though she only had thirty minutes to get ready for school, her mom would try to talk to her the whole time about the youth group at church, and how much fun they had, and why she should go to their evening meetings. No thanks.
Taking one last deep breath she opened up the back door and sprinted through the kitchen and up the stairs to her bathroom. Luckily her mother was still in her own bedroom, so Bryce immediately jumped in the shower and was able to avoid her mother’s barrage of annoying, but well-meaning advice.
After her shower she heard a knock on her bedroom door as she pulled a black Saltus High T-shirt over her head.
“It’s open!”
Her father opened the door slowly, afraid of invading his teenage daughter’s space. “Can I come in, hon?”
“Yeah, Dad. What’s up?”
“I just found this inside my Field and Stream magazine that I got in the mail yesterday. Looks like it’s for you.”
Bryce blinked and stared stupidly at the large envelope in her father’s hand.
“What is it?”
He just held the letter out to her, and she could see the edge of his mouth twitch beneath his full russet beard.
Bryce took it from him and her heart jumped into her throat as she saw the familiar Coast Guard Academy seal at the top left corner. She glanced up from the letter to look at her dad just as her mother joined him in the doorway.
“Well? Get on with it!” her mom cried with excitement.
With a shaking hand Bryce tore open the envelope, but hesitated before pulling out the papers tucked inside. This was it. She had studied incessantly and immersed herself in physical training, pinning all of her hopes on getting accepted into the academy.
What if it didn’t happen?
What if she had to go to Saltus State University?
She didn’t want to sound ungrateful, and SSU was definitely a fine institution of higher learning, but the problem was that it was still in Saltus. She needed to leave her hometown behind and become her own person. She felt constricted here. She wanted the whole world and the open water and, despite the fact that being an officer in the military was definitely regimented, she wanted her freedom.
“Bryce Lee Montgomery. Seriously.” Her mother’s voice shook her out of her reverie.
Taking a deep breath, she eased the papers from the envelope and let her eyes focus on the words in front of her.
After a pause where she could swear that her heart had stopped for a moment she looked up at her parents and grinned, “Your daughter will be a cadet in New London, Connecticut, starting on June twenty-fifth!”
Bryce jumped as both of her parents let out a cheer and rushed over to wrap her in a congratulatory hug. Her chest swelled with pride as Mom and Dad crushed her between them, and her eyes fell on the Coast Guard flag on her wall. She couldn’t believe it. She’d gotten exactly what she’d dreamed of and worked so hard for. The only question now was, could she handle it?
*
“Bryce! Congratulations! We just heard from Angela!” Jennifer and Arati rushed at her when she entered the women’s locker room for an extra swim team practice before lunch.
“Thanks, guys. I’m stoked.” Bryce beamed.
Arati pouted a little and said, “I’m so bummed that you’ll be going to the East Coast, though. With Jenn going to the University of Texas and me to CalTech, we’ll all be on complete opposite corners of the universe.”
Jennifer, always the calm voice of logic, countered, “Don’t exaggerate and don’t pretend that we don’t video chat every night anyway even though we live just a few blocks from each other.”
Bryce laughed and pulled her two best friends into a hug. “I’m going to miss you guys so much. We still have another month and a half of school left, though, so let’s not think about it right now. Let’s talk about happy things. Jenn, has Brian asked you to the prom yet?”
She shook her head. “No, I’ve been dropping stupidly obvious hints, but he’s a boy, and you know how thick boys can be.”
“What about you, Arati? Any luck on the date front?”
She sighed heavily. “Not yet. I’m just assuming I’ll be going alone. And I really really wanted to get laid after the dance. It’s just not a prom without it! Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve gotten any action at all?”
Bryce squeezed her friend’s shoulder. “I’m going to ignore all of that because it totally icks me out, but you definitely won’t be going alone. You can go with me.”
Arati looked at her incredulously. “Surely the gorgeous star athlete Bryce Lee Montgomery will get a date. You’ll probably even get elected prom queen or something.”
“As a matter of fact, I do have a date, but—” she cut off her friend before she could protest, “I want us all to go together. Go out to dinner, get a limo, party afterward, all of the cheesy stuff we’re supposed to do.”
Jennifer chimed in as she placed her glasses in her locker and pushed her long auburn hair into her swim cap, “My parents said I can have a small party at my place. They’re going to be at a medical conference in San Antonio that weekend. They trust me to behave, I guess. I totally expect you both to be there.”
“Count us in!” Bryce replied, waving Arati’s hand for her.
“Don’t change the subject, you guys,” Arati said, pulling her arm away and glaring at Bryce. “Who asked you to the prom? And why didn’t you tell us?”
“Well, I didn’t tell you because he just asked me in Calculus two periods ago and I haven’t actually said yes yet. But it was Michael Friedman.”
The eyes of her two friends widened and they said as one, “Michael Friedman on the diving team?”
Bryce’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah. Michael Friedman on the diving team. Why?”
Jennifer shrugged. “He’s just…super hot.”
Jennifer then looked at Arati next to her, who added, “Yeah. Like, movie star hot. I mean, the way he fills out that Speedo—”
“How do you even know him?” Jennifer asked quickly before her friend could elaborate. “We don’t practice at the same time as the divers.”
“I don’t, really. His cousin, Leah, is a good friend of Angela’s, and I hang out with them sometimes. Leah is like, terminally shy, but completely nice, so I assume Michael is cool too. I’m just glad someone asked me, to tell you the truth.”
Jennifer shook her head in disbelief. “Bryce, you could’ve had your pick of anyone in the school. People worship you.”
Arati sighed. “You’re so lucky.”
Bryce laughed. “Not super lucky. I don’t even really know him, after all. I talk to him in English and Calculus sometimes, but just about our assignments, swim and dive meets, or about how cold the damn locker rooms are. Nothing heavy.” She shrugged. “He seems nice enough, though. I’m going to tell him I’ll go with him tomorrow morning. No one else has asked me anyway.”
“They think you’re out of their league,” Jennifer said wisely.
“Come on, guys, you talk about me like I’m a celebrity or something. Don’t be stupid.”
Jennifer shrugged. “You’re not stuck up like the other popular girls. You’re nice to everyone. People appreciate that. And it doesn’t hurt that you’re insanely hot too.”
Blushing, Bryce playfully shoved her friend. “Stop it, you’ll give me a big head.” Inwardly she was very pleased. She had always thought she looked like the nice girl next door, but the way her friends were talking you would think she was a supermodel. “Anyway, enough about me. As far as Michael goes, he has to at least agree to going as a group.”
At that moment the swim coach’s whistle sounded and the girls left the locker room to swim lap after lap in their practice session.
*
Bryce kicked at a dandelion in the grass as she leaned against the brick wall outside of the school the next morning. Other students filed past, bleary-eyed and dragging their feet, dreading the start of a new school day and counting down the few remaining weeks until summer break. Bryce, of course, had already been up for two hours, a two-mile run completed and full high-protein breakfast consumed, so she was bursting with energy.
“Michael!” she called as she saw him get out of his black SUV. A smile lit up his face and he waved to her as she approached. He was just over six feet tall, and at five-eight, Bryce only came up to his chin. When she reached where he stood, her head tilted back to smile upward. His teeth were brilliant white and his dark, wind-swept hair shone in the morning sun. Bryce had to admit that he really was a very pretty boy.
She didn’t often notice members of the opposite sex. Not like other girls anyway, and definitely not like Arati, but Michael was built like a Greek god, and out of the corner of her eye she saw other girls in the parking lot glancing longingly over at the two of them standing together.
“Yes,” Bryce said simply.
“Yes, what?” he asked as he smirked, being purposefully obtuse.
Bryce kicked his shoe. “Yes, I’ll go to the prom with you.” Michael’s smile widened and he took a breath to respond, but Bryce continued, “But I want to go with my friends too. Limo…party…the works. Is that okay?”
“No problem. Jeff and Steven want to hang out too. I think Steven wants to ask your friend Arati anyway. Is she going with anyone yet?”
Bryce beamed. “Nope. She’ll be really happy if he asks her. He will be too. Trust me.”
“Cool. We should all get together soon to plan everything. We’ll have a blast.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Anyway, we’d better get going. Kafka awaits.”
Bryce was surprised when he took her hand in his and she hesitated when he started walking. Michael looked back questioningly, but he smiled kindly so Bryce squeezed his hand and followed him to their first class.
*
“Who is Gregor Samsa?”
The classroom remained silent.
“Okay. What is Gregor Samsa?”
Still silence.
“Mr. Friedman. Answer the question, please.” Bryce saw that the English teacher, Mrs. Swift, was getting annoyed. This was advanced placement senior English, but it appeared no one was taking their classes seriously anymore. Senioritis was a nasty virus that spread quickly through the halls of the school as the students saw the brightening light at the end of the interminable grade school tunnel.
Michael was sitting directly behind Bryce. She turned in her chair to look at him as he sat up straighter. He cleared his throat and answered simply, “He’s a bug.”
“A bug. That’s it?” Mrs. Swift asked, obviously unimpressed.
“Yeah, he wakes up as a bug.”
There was a long pause before she continued. “Gregor Samsa is a son, a brother, an obsessive worker, the sole means of support for his family, and most importantly, he is a man that is made to feel invisible, unappreciated, taken for granted, and by the end, shameful. And yes, he wakes up one morning to find that he has been turned into a bug, as you so eloquently put it. Now, can anyone tell me why he turns into a bug?”
Bryce raised her hand and said, “Mrs. Swift, I think it could just be a metaphor for how he feels once he realizes his family sees him as nothing more than a breadwinner, and the rest of the story focuses on how his parents will never accept him for what he is. He’s too different from what they had always known him to be. They’re ashamed of him, even after all he did for them.”
“That’s a good start, Miss Montgomery. Thank you.” Mrs. Swift smiled at her. “Who else can tell me more about why a hard-shelled insect may have been used as a metaphor for Gregor’s condition? Remember that there is no wrong answer. Literary analysis depends greatly on the reader’s imagination and experiences.” Another awkward long pause ensued. “Did anyone actually read this book?”
As the teacher was talking, Michael leaned forward and teasingly whispered in Bryce’s ear, “Kiss-ass.”
She smiled and raised her hand again.
*
Bryce was alone in the main school hallway after her end-of-day swim practice when she heard footsteps running behind her. She turned around to see Daniela sprinting in her direction. “Bryce! Wait!” Daniela tried to stop her forward momentum on the slippery floor in time, but instead slammed into her. Bryce laughed as she braced Daniela’s petite form until she was able to regain her balance.
Daniela’s eyes bulged in embarrassment at her lack of grace, but she said breathlessly, “Ticket.”
“What?”
“I have a ticket for you to see me…to see the school musical.”
“Oh yeah. Ten bucks, right?” Bryce reached into her pocket and pulled out a messy wad of cash.
“No, th
is one is free. For you, anyway. Everyone involved in the show gets four free tickets and I have an extra, so I’m giving it to you.” She smiled hopefully.
“You don’t have to do that!”
“I want to. You…you’ve always been really cool to me and you spent extra time with me during my swim lessons, so I just wanted to say thank you. Even if it is in this lame way.”
“Dude. It’s not lame. I really appreciate it. C’mere.” Bryce pulled her into a hug. “I’m really proud of you.”
It was strangely comforting hugging her friend, but she felt Daniela stiffen at the contact so she held her only briefly. “You okay?”
Daniela squeaked, “Yeah! Of course! Just nervous about the show.”
Bryce snorted. “Oh please. Angela said it’s really rare for a sophomore to get one of the lead roles in any high school musical. You must be special. You have a real talent for this acting and singing stuff from what I hear. I’ll see for myself this weekend.”
Daniela looked at her toes with a smile on her face as a distinct red flush colored the tanned olive skin of her cheeks. “Bryce…”
Bryce waited for her to continue, but she could tell Dani was struggling for words. “Yeah?”
Sighing, Daniela finally said, “Nothing. Just thanks for always supporting me. It means a lot.”
“Just be sure to thank me when you win your first Tony.”
This made them both laugh. Bryce put her arm around her friend and said, “Come on. I’m going home for a well-deserved night off to celebrate getting into the academy. I’m talking a movie with pizza and ice cream. I haven’t had something that fattening in about three months. Wanna join me?”
Daniela inexplicably turned a darker shade of red and nodded vehemently.
*
“So. The acting thing. You seem to really like it,” Bryce said as she bit into her heavenly slice of cheese pizza.