The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition

by Alicia J. Chumney

Everybody knew about Kelly’s hero worship towards her brother. It had nearly gotten her expelled the year before when Kelly went after his ex-girlfriend, Savannah. It had cost Honors students their grades thanks to Kelly’s blindly following Aimee’s crazy and destructive plans.

  “Do I look okay?” she asked Brady for the hundredth time since he picked her up.

  “You look perfect,” he smiled, reaching over to take one of her fidgeting hands. “Breathe. It’ll be fine. Remember, my parents love you.”

  “But this is different. This is us telling them that we are getting married because I’m pregnant.” If they weren’t in his pickup truck, Hannah would begin pacing back and forth. As it was, she started fidgeting again despite Brady’s reassurance. Her hem would start to unravel unless she stopped picking at the stitches.

  “They love you,” Brady reassured her. “They aren’t going to see it as you trapping me. They know us. They know how we met. They know that we still spend every Wednesday at Bible Study. They aren’t going to judge us. They aren’t going to think anything about this situation.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because my mom was the first person to offer support when her niece found out she was pregnant in high school. Sadly our situation isn’t that uncommon.”

  Hannah started staring out the windshield. “How are you taking this so calmly?”

  “Because I love you and don’t want to spend the rest of my life without you.”

  “How can you know this?”

  “Do you know how many people I dated before Savannah introduced us? I doubt I could even tell you the number. With them I have not felt a tenth of what I feel when I’m with you.” He glanced over at her. “We might be young, but sometimes high school sweethearts do in fact make it. We’ll just have to be careful about making our lives not just about this little peanut but about ourselves as well.”

  “Wise words,” Hannah whispered, rolling the word ‘peanut’ around in her head as a term of endearment for their baby.

  “Honestly, I heard my aunt say something like that to my cousin when she lost her baby.”

  “Did it work? Was she right?”

  Brady smiled, “Yes, Amelia and her boyfriend are still together three years later despite their loss.”

  Mrs. Johnson knew that something was up when her son told her that he would be coming over for dinner on a random Friday night when he was normally out with Hannah. Even more telling than the fact that Hannah would be joining them, he requested for Kelly to be present, and strongly suggested that it be a family-only dinner.

  She was suspecting one of two outcomes and a ring would be accompanying both of them.

  She wanted to reassure Brady and Hannah. Mrs. Johnson remembered how it felt to meet her husband in high school. How his parents were skeptical about how quickly their relationship had progressed even as her parents reassured their daughter that their own relationship was a High School Sweethearts relationship. It appeared to be a family tradition.

  Kelly would be thrilled. She had begged for a sister when she was younger, not understanding that the sibling would be too young to play with for several years.

  But, Mrs. Johnson decided as she collected her thoughts while pulling the lasagna from the oven, she was putting the cart in front of the horse. The young couple could be announcing something completely different. Her speculation was based purely on the rumors that Denise Kirkland was sprouting.

  Thank goodness Kelly had stopped hanging around Aimee as much.

  “Mom!” Kelly squeaked as she slid into the kitchen. “You won’t believe what Aimee is still spreading around the school!”

  So much about the previous rumor being about revenge.

  Clearing his throat, Brady caught everybody’s attention while grabbing for Hannah’s hand. She had nearly shredded her napkin into nothing and he could tell that her nerves could not last another second.

  “Well, everybody, I was going to wait until after dessert,” he smiled at his mother, “but now appears to be a good time as any.”

  “I knew it!” Kelly shouted, practically jumping up before slouching back into her seat at her mother’s glare.

  “Hannah and I are going to get married,” he announced, squeezing her hand under the table. “Next week.”

  Setting his fork down on the table, Mr. Johnson looked at his son and his future daughter-in-law, “I’m sure that wedding bells can wait until after Hannah and Kelly graduate. It’s not like you are putting the cart before the horse,” he chuckled. He missed the way that his wife, daughter, and son’s girlfriend squirmed in their seats. Instead his laughter echoed in the dining room before fading away. “Right?”

  “Actually…”

  “Well, Sir…”

  “Honey, I’m sure that…”

  “It’s not that big of a deal…”

  He looked at each person at the table in turn before settling his gaze on Hannah. “How far along are you?”

  Taking a sip of water to clear her throat, “I’m just a few weeks along. It’s not as if we planned it, but..,” she turned to look at Kelly, “birth control can in fact fail and all it takes is one time.”

  “Too true,” Mrs. Johnson piped in. “We conceived Brady on our honeymoon.”

  Groaning at her words, he was tempted to cover his ears, “Mom!” Brady turned to look at Hannah as if she was the safest place for him to rest his eyes.

  “What? It’s the truth.”

  Kelly, realizing what this meant, started bouncing up and down in her seat, “Does this mean I’m going to have a sister?”

  Nodding her head, Hannah slipped her hand into the pocket where she had hidden the small diamond Brady had picked out for her. Once it was on her finger, she held it up for Kelly to see.

  “Yes! I always wanted a sister! Brady’s great and all that, but he isn’t a girl.”

  “Me too,” Hannah smiled.

  “I’m glad I’m not a girl,” Brady protested.

  Mr. Johnson sat silently in his seat, pondering what this would mean for Brady and Hannah. He felt his wife’s hand on his shoulder as she joined him at the head of the table. They both knew what Hannah’s father was like, listening to him rant and rave some Sundays about how tame Pastor Samuel’s sermons were compared to the ones from his youth.

  “We’ve talked about this,” Brady turned to his father, interpreting Mr. Johnson’s silence for the worry that it was. “Hannah will be able to get scholarships based on her grades alone, and I still have my baseball scholarship despite deferring for a year. They actually agreed that it would be best for me to get some more experience at the community college level before joining their ranks.”

  “The school has apartments on campus that aren’t that expensive per semester,” Hannah added. “And we already have an apartment lined up. You already knew about Brady’s apartment though.” Her voice trailed off. She was still nervous of their reactions. “It isn’t that far from school.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Johnson exchanged some silent communication between themselves before turning back towards the young couple. “Okay, we will help you out however you need us too. We are not going to fully support you,” Mr. Johnson stated, “but we don’t want either of you stressing about money and the ends not meeting while you are both in school.” He turned to look at his son, “You will keep your job, you will keep your grades up, and you will both come to weekly Saturday or Sunday dinners for the four to five years that you are both in college. That is our terms.”

  Mrs. Johnson cleared her throat while looking at her husband, “And neither of you will lose your scholarships. You cannot be lazy and expect a free ride from either of us. We will cut you off. You are also paying for your marriage license. Are we clear?”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” the young couple stated, giving Brady’s parents each a hug in turn.

  Kelly, unable to keep silent for another moment, “Can we have dessert now? And will I be able to babysit?” A smile spread across her face as everybody els
e started laughing.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Monday morning at first seemed to be nothing. It was just another average Monday morning with a few minor differences: David had offered, and permission was granted by Delilah, to take her to school. Grace was picked up two streets later and was enjoying the back seat of the much coveted convertible. She was amused by watching as her old friend and nearly new friend exchanged barbs back and forth.

  Despite her put together appearance and David's bed-head-but-not-actually-bed-head look the two were not morning people. They could hide it, certainly, but their bickering was plenty of amusement for Grace. It was different from when Kyle and Jennifer argued.

  At first it was the radio station.

  “Come on, David, this station sucks,” Delilah complained, digging in her purse for a quarter.

  “It’s my car. My car and my station. When you have a car you can pick the station.” David won that argument.

  Then it was over having coffee in David's car.

  “If I have to listen to your music then I need my caffeine in order to not kill you. Stop at the Shell station.”

  “No, you’ll spill the coffee all over my car.”

  “If I spill my drink it’s because you can’t drive and made me drop my cup. They do have lids.” Delilah paused, “Unless you let me change the radio station instead; I won’t be so cranky then.”

  He pulled into the gas station only after she had agreed not to spill a single drop. Not that she would spill a drop of her favorite morning drink: hot chocolate.

  Then they started to argue over the fact that it wasn’t actually coffee that she was drinking but hot chocolate and why did she have to buy it from the gas station when she could buy insulated cups and make it in the mornings at home.

  “It isn’t the same thing,” Delilah insisted.

  David stubbornly stood by his, “It is hot chocolate no matter how you drink it,” comment.

  It took her a few moments to counter him, “But the powered stuff ends up costing more in the long run.”

  “Then you shouldn’t put two packets in one mug,” he sighed.

  Grace grinned from the backseat.

  Delilah pointed out, “If I don’t do that then it’s all watered down and gross.”

  “And the stuff at the gas station isn’t watered down?” David reluctantly asked.

  Stubbornly, Delilah insisted, “That’s different.”

  Yes, Grace was having a wonderful morning watching the pair bickering.

  The pair was still arguing after David had parted the car and they had all entered the school; over what nobody knew this time because Grace had stopped listening when things started to get stupid. She then shared with the other girls what it was like riding in that magnificent car with the bickering pair.

  She smiled shyly at Kyle. It was impossible to miss that while he kept looking in Jennifer’s direction that he was too blind to even recognize his own feelings; he would constantly start to look at somebody else that was walking down the hallway.

  Grace wanted to scream, 'Look over here!' It sucked being the girl that nobody noticed. She understood, somehow, that Kyle only liked Jennifer because she was competition and because he couldn’t get underneath her prickly shell. She knew, in that same way that David did, that those two would never work out.

  Grace also knew that her crush was completely pointless. If Jennifer and Kyle ever did get together then all of her potential claims would have to be given up.

  Every now and then Jennifer observed that Delilah would look at Grace, Kyle, and herself, shake her head, and then look at David. She looked as if she wanted to say something to him but didn’t know if she could share whatever comment she was holding inside. Jennifer started to think about this. She wondered just what it was Delilah and David had discussed until she saw Grace shyly look up from her hamburger and glance at Kyle with the saddest expression on her face.

  Regret. Disappointment. Confusion. Maybe a little anxiety. It was all clearly written on Grace’s unguarded face if anybody ever took the time to look over and pay attention to the sweetest girl in the world. Jennifer mused that Grace never had to speak up; her younger siblings did her bidding without Grace ever having to raise her voice. She remembered how quickly Grace’s siblings had reacted that one time Grace had yelled at the brother who had wrecked her car. At home she never had to speak up to get what she wanted or what needed to be done taken care of; at school, where sometimes you had to speak loudly, was another thing.

  Closing her eyes, Jennifer finally started connecting the dots and didn’t know how she felt about what her conclusions were drawing. She understood those conclusions, just not what she was feeling.

  For the past two weeks Grace had been sitting near Kyle. She knew that they had a class together, but she had assumed that Grace had a crush on David and that with David so infatuated with Delilah any connection between the two of them would be impossible. She realized that she was way off base; Grace had a thing for Kyle! How did she not notice that?

  She started to wonder just how badly her instincts were when it came to the people skills and being able to read people that she had always thought were on point. Maybe she did spend too much time around her clueless older brothers.

  “That should make the article better,” Penny spoke, breaking into Jennifer’s thoughts, as the editor started pushing the corrected article back to Kyle.

  Checking her watch, Jennifer made a decision. “Guys, will you go sit somewhere else for a moment. I have to talk to the girls.”

  David looked like he wanted to argue and Kyle like he was uncertain about what to do. Delilah spoke up, “Please.” David nodded and got up, and tugged Kyle into following. “Thank you,” she said to Jennifer. “I didn’t know how to bring this up.”

  “Delilah, no!” Grace whispered, clearly thinking they were going to talk about something else.

  “Penny,” Delilah said, causing the distracted editor to look up from where she was still working on Kyle’s article.

  “You need to cut Kyle a break,” Jennifer finished for the bookworm.

  Delilah finished the exchange while wondering when Jennifer had gotten on the same page as she’d been for a few days. “And he is already overworked and stressed out. Some days he is almost literally a zombie with the amount of work Mr. Wallace gives in math and with football practice. Now you are working him throughout lunch over the week’s articles. Cut him a break.”

  Penny glanced over to where Kyle was sitting, looking tired. “Oh!” Looking at his mostly edited article in front of her, she started finishing the work without another word at anybody.

  Jennifer then turned to Grace and dropped the bomb that caused Grace to look distressed. “You have a thing for Kyle.”

  Penny looked up at the change in conversation and looked back over towards where the guys had moved.

  “What do you think that they are talking about?” Kyle asked David from where they had moved.

  David looked at Kyle as if he was an idiot and for a moment Kyle wondered if David was right. Even Wesley, sitting at the table behind them, started shaking his head.

  “For being at the top of the class you certainly are an idiot.” David verbally stated as he shook his head, not for the first time wondering just how frazzled, unobservant, and tired Kyle was to miss so many seemingly obvious things. “Us. They are talking about us. First, they told Penny to give you a break.”

  Kyle looked over in Penny’s direction. “And how do you know this?”

  “Penny was looking over here at you,” David dryly answered as if he was stating the obvious. A moment later she got up and moved to where they were sitting and began apologizing for taking so much of his time.

  Then, after her apologies were over and Penny returned to where the other girls were sitting, Kyle looked over at where Grace, Jennifer, and Delilah remained chatting. “And now?”

  “Probably either you being an idiot or if I’m still an ass. If the
re is time it’ll be both.” David looked over at the girls.

  “How am I an idiot?” He didn’t care if Wesley was listening in from the other table. Which the other guy did hear if the short burst of laughter he made was any indication.

  “Simple,” Wesley grinned once the neighboring tables went back to their own business while he moved to join David and Kyle. “Jennifer and Grace both like you.”

  Kyle jerked. “What?”

  Wesley rolled his eyes as if he could not believe that this was the person that was part of the three-way tie in the competition for class valedictorian.

  “It wouldn’t last with Jennifer either,” he added, “and because of the unspoken girl code Grace can’t date you if you date Jennifer. She’s loyal.” The bell rang, interrupting him. “Don’t choose the wrong girl.”

  After school Kyle shed his practice uniform and changed into some basketball shorts and a tee-shirt. He grabbed a hoodie in case the weather decided it wanted to turn cool while he was shooting baskets at the park. He needed to think and his parents’ driveway didn’t provide enough distance from some of the pressure.

  When he arrived at the park he didn’t notice the lone figure on the swings. For a while he attempted basket after basket as he considered Wesley’s advice.

  Grace. She was always so quiet that he rarely noticed her. Maybe he should talk to her tomorrow before he decided between the two girls. It wouldn’t hurt to have all of the information before making any decisions. Even if the decision was to forget about both of the girls; with Mr. Wallace’s course load and football practice not dating was still a possibility.

  As for that lone figure on the swings, Grace did see Kyle show up as she was thinking about Jennifer’s advice. Thankful that he didn’t notice she was there while she continued to swing back and forth, back and forth. Watching him shoot baskets was enough to get her to make up her mind. James Madison High School wouldn’t know what hit them.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  They were carefully marking things off of their seemingly gigantic to-do list before tackling the most difficult task.