by Linda Nelson
Darcy smirked.
“Cut it out. I’m not going out with him, and I’m not going to ask him to the dance. Beside I have a boyfriend, remember?”
“A boyfriend you have not seen in over a month.”
“It hasn’t been that long.”
“I think it has, maybe he’s not coming back.”
“Don’t be saying that. He’ll be back, just wait and see.”
“I’m sure – probably years from now when you are old and gray.” Darcy joked.
Karla did not find her comment funny. She frowned. “He’ll be back. You just wait and see.”
Chapter 6
Ashley couldn’t believe her eyes. Karla was doing what her friend Maggie had warned her about, she was stealing her man before she even got a chance to ask him out. She had to do something quick and put a stop to it before she got her hooks into him.
“Where are you going?”
“Maggie, I’ll talk to you later.”
Maggie stood open mouthed watching Ashley walk away, and wondered where Ashley was going. She watched her friend follow Neil toward the busses. Then she knew. But she never expected to see Ashley follow him all the way onto the bus and take a seat. That was totally unexpected.
She turned around to see who was walking up the hallway behind her, and that was when she spied Karla standing there all happy and content talking away to Darcy. The wheels in her head began to turn. How could she get a dig into that skank?
Karla liked movies.
“Darcy? Hey, I’m going to the movies tonight want to come?” Maggie said while she stepped in front of Darcy almost stepping on Karla’s foot.
“Can Karla come too?”
Maggie gave Darcy and Karla a look. “I don’t think so.”
“Then I don’t think I want to go.”
“Why, because you can’t take your Ho with you?”
Those were fighting words to Darcy. She started to pass off her books to Karla, but Karla put her hand out.
“Don’t, she’s not worth it.”
Maggie began to imitate Karla by lip syncing as she spoke.
This pissed Karla off too, but instead of taking a swing at her like she so wanted to do, all Karla did was turn her back on Maggie so she couldn’t see her face anymore.
Darcy followed suit and the two girls began walking away down the school steps and out onto the sidewalk, leaving Maggie behind them, ignoring any more jeers she shouted after them.
“Karla, one of these days that girl is going to push me just a bit too far, and she is going to get what is coming to her.”
“I know what you mean. But I don’t think physical contact will do anything. Remember the girl is a mental case. You told me so yourself.”
The two girls chuckled over Karla’s comment as they entered the apartment building together.
Ashley hurried to keep up with Neil. She was a walker just like Karla. She rarely rode a bus, except when she went over to Maggie’s house. Just as she was supposed to do today. She hoped Maggie would forgive her for her impromptu, by ditching her and taking after Neil.
It had to be the way Neil and Karla were standing there in the hallway talking. She wondered what they were talking about so intensely. Hopefully he hadn’t asked her out yet. If she did, then Ashley would be kicking herself in the butt for days to come over the fact that she should have listened to Maggie right from the start.
Ashley liked Karla, or had liked her up until Neil started school. Ever since that day when she saw how he followed her from one class to the next and listened to Maggie go on and on about Karla stealing Neil away from her, and how she would never stand a chance if she didn’t hurry up and ask him out before Karla did. It all eroded any friendly feelings Ashley had for Karla until she began to feel almost the same kind of hatred that Maggie felt for the girl.
Neil took a seat on the bus and Ashley waited for him to scoot over giving her room to sit beside him.
“Hi, can I sit with you?”
“You ride the bus?” Neil scooted over. He was puzzled. He had not seen Ashley on the bus, not even once since he started school over a week ago.
“Oh, yeah, I take the bus when I go over to my friend’s house.”
“Oh ‘Kay.” Neil decided to leave that one alone. He turned his attention to the window and began to stare out at the passing cars, sitting in silence for the next ten minutes.
Ashley finally got up her courage and broke the silence. “Are you going out with anyone?”
Neil turned red in the face. It was a stark contrast to his blonde hair. “Err… no, why?”
“Do you want to go out with me?”
Neil began to feel giddy inside. He didn’t quite know this girl and especially he didn’t know her name or at least he couldn’t remember it. “Um – I guess I could – but I don’t know you.”
Ashley giggled. It didn’t matter to her if he didn’t know her. Over time, they would get to know each other. “That’s all right, when we go out on a few dates then we will know each other. Here’s my phone number. Call me tonight and we can talk about where we can go on our first date. I’ll be home at 7. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
The bus stopped, and two other students stood at the same time Ashley stood, and the three of them got off the bus and began walking up the street. Only Ashley turned around and waved goodbye to the bus. Neil knew her display was meant for him.
I-zee-wow-wa- what was he going to do. Now he was going out with a girl he didn’t even know. Worst of all, he didn’t even know if he liked her. He fell back against the seat and let out a frustrated breath that blew his long bangs from in front of his eyes.
The next stop was his uncle’s garage. His Uncle Conner would know what to do. Neil was sure of it.
Conner was under a car lying on his back on a creeper. At the sound of the door closing, he rolled out from under the car. “Neil, you’re here. I have a few tasks for you to do.” He stood up and wiped his hands on a rag that was hanging from his back pocket.
“Today, you’re going to learn how to change the oil, the oil filter and the air filter.”
Neil set his bag down in a chair out of the way and prepared himself to get dirty.
“You didn’t bring that change of clothes with you, did you, like I said to?”
“Oh, no, I didn’t.”
“Crap, your mom will kill me if you get those duds dirty. Hang on – here wear this over your clothes.” Conner handed him a pair of old coveralls. They barely fit when Neil put them on, being somewhat tight around the stomach.
This only confirmed what the coach said to him earlier today. He needed to lose a few pounds.
Conner went on to show Neil how to remove the oil from the car along with the filters. While he did this, he asked him how his day went.
Today wasn’t anything like yesterday. He never did tell his uncle about the incident in the gym a few days before. Well he kind of did but he was brief about the matter. Now he had some pretty impressive news. It had to do with the fight at lunch today.
The only thing Neil could think of was to tell him everything.
“I was in a fight today at lunch time.”
“Did you win?” Uncle Conner smiled, oil smeared across one cheek and above an eye brow.
“Well kind of, sort of,” Neil paused.
“Which is it? Did you win or not? Oh I get it, you got a detention.”
“No, actually…I was asked to join the wrestling team instead.”
“Good Lord, does your mother know about this?”
“No, not yet, but I don’t think she will be too against it, really, I mean she knows that I have been learning to wrestle for some time now.”
“You didn’t tell her that I was the one teaching you, did you?”
“No, and she didn’t ask. She seemed all right with it.”
“Good – so then what happened?”
“The wrestling coach broke up our fight.”
“No, that’s not what
I mean. How did the fight start?” Conner asked while he fetched a couple of cold cans of soda from the small fridge on a shelf outside his office.
Neil’s face grew a shade of pink. “That kid I had trouble with the other day came after me again at lunch. He tossed my tray across the room and continued to try and humiliate me. After he shoved me more than once, I’m sorry to say, I lost it. I couldn’t help but put him in that head lock, and it was so easy to do.
After that, I put him down on the floor and locked his legs.
The coach broke it up.
I figured I was going to be suspended right from the get go, but you know how much I hate bullies, so I had no choice but to stand up for myself since it seems no one else was going to step in and stop this kid.”
“So you didn’t get suspended, I take it?”
“No, but the other kid did. The coach was standing there and watched the whole thing. He said he wasn’t worried about the other kid harming me. He could tell that I was able to handle myself. But he said he had to stop me since I was close to breaking both his legs.
Now, I’m on the wrestling team.
He wants me to lose a few pounds so I can be in the middle weight class where he needs me the most. So, I told him I would give it a try and see if I can lose about ten to twenty pounds by the end of the month when the first meet is scheduled.”
Conner chuckled. “Well, then you’ll have to stay away from your mom’s cooking.”
Neil grinned. “I know, she’ll make it hard, that’s for sure.”
“You know, you could just maybe step up your afternoon workouts. That may give you the added burn that you need.”
“That’s an idea, but I can’t stay late tonight. I’ll have to stop by in the morning to work out.” Neil wet his lips with the soda.
“You have plans?”
“I just promised to help this girl with her math.”
Conner raised an eyebrow. This was the first mention of a girl in quite some time. He was wondering when his nephew was going to be bit by the girl bug.
Neil lightly punched his uncle in the arm. “It’s not like that. I’m just helping her – you know – tutor – she has been quite helpful to me all week, by helping me find my way around school and all, and today I noticed she didn’t pass her mid-term in math. So I offered to help her. The teacher is letting her have a retest.”
His uncle wiggled his eyebrows at him. “Tutor – hmm. You know what happens when one tutors though?”
Neil playfully pushed his uncle in the chest. “I said it’s not like that.
But, I do have a problem with another girl.”
A big wide grin covered Conner’s face. “You see, I knew there was a girl involved somewhere.”
“Still, it’s not like you think,” Neil protested. “This girl followed me onto the bus today and asked me to go out with her.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“Like a dummy I said yes.”
“So I take it that you really don’t like this girl.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know a thing about her. Yes, she is kind of pretty, but I don’t even know if I like her.”
“She’s attractive right?”
“Yeah…”
“Well then that’s half the battle.”
“So, you don’t think any of this is wrong?”
“Hell no, you can always break up with her if you find you don’t like her.”
“True.” Neil knew his uncle was right.
Conner led Neil back to the car and finished up the oil change.
Chapter 7
Neil kept track of the time. He watched the clock ever since he returned home from his uncle’s garage. Not once did he say anything about his joining the wrestling team to his mom. She didn’t like the sport. He feared her disapproval with his decision to join the team. His dad wouldn’t mind, he was sure of it. It was only his mom that he had to worry about.
He decided it would be best not to tell her about it right away or how he even found his way on the team.
His mom watched him questioningly as he cut back on the amounts of servings he put on his plate. Neil saw the look she gave to him. He was afraid she would think that he didn’t like what they were eating for dinner. One should never do that to mom.
“What?” Neil asked his mom as he took a smaller portion of mashed potatoes than usual.
She shook her head. Neil imagined what was going through her head at that moment.
“I’m trying to lose a little bit of weight. I like these pants and I want them to continue to fit me. All right?”
His mom smiled gently. “It’s okay dear; we can always buy you a larger pair of those jeans.”
“It’s not the same, Mom. Plus I don’t want to grow up looking like a bowling ball.” There he said it. His weight gain over the previous year was beginning to bother him. He liked to eat, but there was a time when one needed to get a grip on things and take control of one’s life. That was what Neil was trying to do.
“Well just remember, it’s not your looks that make you a good person, it’s what is inside that really matters,” his mom replied.
“I know that Mom, but still, I want to be healthy too.”
Neil turned to his dad who was sitting quietly listening to the debate between mother and son. “Dad, I’m going to go out for a bit tonight. I have to go to a friend’s house and tutor them in math, and you don’t need to worry their parents will be there too.”
“I have just two questions for you. Are they a boy or a girl and how late do you plan on being out?” Neil’s dad asked him. He trusted his son for the most part, but he was always sure to ask pertinent questions so he would have some idea as to what was going on in his son’s life.
“A girl – no she is not a girlfriend – just a friend I made this week. She has been kind enough to help me find my way around school, so I felt that I could pay her back by helping her pass a test. And I think I will only be an hour or two. If I’m later than that, I promise to call.”
“Sounds fair enough to me – How about you?” Neil’s dad asked his wife.
“I don’t see why not, a girl – huh?” His mom grinned.
Neil picked up his empty plate. “She is just a friend.”
His mom continued to smile as she helped him clear the table. She knew that just friends can lead to more than friends in the end. But she wasn’t going to tell him that. He needed to see it for himself. That was how she and Neil’s dad had met back in high school more than twenty years ago, and she didn’t regret one moment of time she had been married to him. He had turned out to be her high school sweet heart and the man of her dreams.
Karla watched the clock. The hand never seemed to move. She worried about Neil. Was he actually going to show up and help her with her math? It would be just her luck that he had the wrong address and no phone number to call for directions. She was becoming such a worry wort.
She helped her dad clear the dishes from the table and wash them. It was their everyday task they went through every night. Except for one; Karla began cleaning up the living room too without being asked. Her dad didn’t say a word. He was quite happy with the fact that he didn’t have to ask her to do this for once. It appeared as if she had read his thoughts about having company tonight.
Seven o’clock rolled around as Karla slipped the vacuum cleaner back into its hole in the hall coat closet. She let the coats drape over its handle concealing it in the back out of sight.
The door sounded with two distinct raps.
Before Karla could explain to her dad that she was expecting someone, he was there answering the door. Neil stood in the door way next to a woman. Mr. Centon let the woman in first, and then wondered who the boy was. The woman never mentioned having any kids to him when he met her in the coffee shop the other day while he was on his lunch break.
Neil spoke up before Mr. Centon shut the door on him. “Hi, my name is Neil, I’m here to see Karla. We were going to have a tutoring
session tonight.”
Karla’s dad turned around to see his daughter hurrying to the door. “Neil, I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it.” Karla eyed the woman her dad had let in and decided she would start the introductions.
“Dad, this is Neil. The new kid at school I told you about the other day.”
Karla’s dad extended his hand out to shake hands. “Nice to meet you Neil.” Then he turned to Karla. “It would have been nice if you told me earlier that you were going to have company over tonight.”
Karla’s face turned a shade pink. “Oh and…” She gestured toward the woman.
“Karla, this is Carrie. We were going to go out for a while tonight. I didn’t think you would care but now I see our plans have to change.”
How could he even think about seeing another woman while her mom was in rehab at this time trying to get better was way beyond Karla’s comprehension. This woman shouldn’t even be here as far as Karla was concerned.
“You are upset that I didn’t tell you about Neil coming over? What about you? You could have told me about her.” Fire was in Karla’s eyes.
Talk about awkward moments. This was certainly one for both Karla and everyone else in the room.
“Mr. Centon, I will assure you that if you want to go out, Karla and I will act like responsible adults and behave properly. If you want, you can even call my dad and talk to him. He will be happy to vouch for me.” Neil readied himself to punch in his phone number into his cellphone in case Karla’s dad decided to take him up on his offer for a valuable reference.
Carrie tried to score points with Karla by saying, “They should be alright. I’m sure we won’t be gone for long.”
Karla had a lousy track record for the past couple of months. Her dad had little trust for her ever since she had returned from the road trip. He held out his hand. “I think I do want to talk to your dad.”
Neil’s eyes widened with surprise, but he relented right away and placed the call to his dad. He picked up almost right away. “Neil is everything alright?”
“Dad, Karla’s dad wants to talk to you.”