by H. T. Night
“Lots of players play with pins.”
“Have you told Rob yet?” she asked. Rob was her brother, the Chargers fourth wide receiver. Rob had introduced me to Cindy during college.
“Yes.”
“What does he think?”
“He thinks it’s a good idea.”
We stopped walking and leaned over the heavy wooden rail. The air was suffused with brine and salt. Waves crashed beneath us, whitecaps glowing in the moonlight. A lifeguard Jeep was parked next to us, a quarter into the ocean on the pier. All that extra weight on the pier made me nervous.
“Why now?” she asked finally.
“My window is rapidly closing,” I said.
“Not to mention you’ve always wondered if you could do it.”
“Not to mention.”
“And you’re frustrated out of your gourd that a fucking leg injury has prevented you from finding this out.”
“Such language from an anthropologist.”
She sighed and hugged me around my waist. She was exactly a foot shorter than me, which made hugging easy, and kissing difficult.
“So what do you think?” I asked.
“I think you’re frustrated and angry and that you need to do this.”
“Not to mention I might just make a hell of a fullback.”
“Is he the one who throws the ball?”
We had gone over this precisely one hundred and two times.
“No, but close.”
She snuggled closer, burying her sharp chin deep into my side. It tickled. If I wasn’t so tough I would have laughed.
“Just don’t get yourself hurt.”
“I don’t plan to, but these things have a way of taking you by surprise.”
“So are you really that good?” she asked, looking up at me.
“I’m going to find out.”
She looked away. “If you make the team, things will change.”
I hugged her tighter. “I know.”
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WINNING SARAH’S HEART
Boy meets Girl Chronicles #1
by
H.T. NIGHT
(read on for a sample)
Chapter One
It was the last day of summer and I was going into the sixth grade. I woke up feeling pretty impatient, as I always did on the day the school posted the classroom lists. Each year, the day before Wenchester Elementary School began, the school posted a list for each classroom so that the students could see which class they would be in during the year.
For some reason this had always been a huge event in my life. I anticipated it the way little children anticipate Christmas morning.
This year would be a tad different. I had finally made it. I was at the top. I was a sixth grader!
At Wenchester, there were two sixth-grade classrooms. The teachers were Mr. O’Neil and Mrs. Phyllis. Mr. O’Neil was tall, slender, and non-threatening in his appearance. He had a reputation of being real strict. Mrs. Phyllis, on the other hand, was simply young and beautiful. She had blonde hair and blue eyes that hid behind red glasses that made her look like a secretary. So, given the two choices for having a teacher, I thought it was fair to say I would rather be in Mrs. Phyllis’s class.
“Wake up!” screeched a female voice outside my room.
“You actually thought I might be asleep?” I yelled back.
“Mom wants us to walk to the store and get lunch.” With that, she threw open the door. It was my sister, Carrie. Everyone said we looked alike. We would both argue to our deathbeds that we didn’t. She was a year younger than I was. The sad part about it was we were in the same grade. I was held back a year by my mother. She said it was for emotional reasons. If you ask me, I thought my mother wished she had given birth to twins. She figured that even though we didn’t come out at the same time, she would make us go to school at the same time.
I used to live in Arizona with my mother and father. My parents divorced when I was three years old. My dad moved to Texas with his girlfriend a year later. I would only speak to him about four times a year. I saw him once at Christmas time when I was seven years old. We didn’t have much of a father-son relationship. I was supposed to love him because he was my dad. It was hard to love someone you never saw, especially when that someone chose not to see you.
My mother, sister and I live in Southern California. The three of us moved here after my mom and dad divorced. I figure I’ll probably leave California someday when I’m older, but, for now, it’s an okay place to live, I guess.
“Blayne called, he said he’ll meet you at the basketball courts at two o’clock,” Carrie said with a smile. My sister has a crush on Blayne since we were little kids.
“Did he mention if Timmy would be there?” I asked.
“What am I, your personal answering service?”
“You are when Blayne calls.”
“I don’t like Blayne,” she protested. “You always say I like Blayne. I might have thought he was cute when I was little, but I don’t like him anymore.”
“Whatever,” I said, pushing her out of my room.
It was hard not to be overly excited knowing that the classroom lists were going to be posted. I wanted to have five people in my classroom. I wanted Blayne Ward and Timmy Lawson because they were my two best friends. I also hoped to have Tanya Taylor and Ali Moore because they were the two prettiest girls in the sixth grade.
Then, there was the new girl. She moved here at the end of the year. She wasn’t in my class.
Her name was Sarah Davis. She was the type of girl who seemed very mysterious. She didn’t say much. She would just keep to herself at recess. I always paid attention to her though. We walked home in the same direction from school.
On the last day of school, I decided to do something that was very unlike me. That day I decided to pass my house and go to the market and get a candy bar. I was curious to see where Sarah lived. I walked behind her for about a mile. She happened to walk into Pete’s market. It was the only place to go, aside from the Laundromat.
I walked in after her and grabbed a bag of chips and a soda. I noticed Tommy Madkins was in there with a couple of his friends playing video games. Tommy was by far the biggest bully to ever go to Wenchester Elementary School. He started to get a reputation when he was in fourth grade. It was fair to say we had a lot of jerks in the sixth grade.
I walked up to the counter and Sarah was in front of me. All she had in her hand was a loaf of bread. She was much shorter than me and had sandy brown hair. Her eyes stood out the most. She had these big green eyes.
I stood behind her, admiring her, when I heard, “Greer!” I hated when someone called me by my last name. I turned around to see Tommy and his clan of jerks laughing. “Is that your girlfriend?” Tommy asked, laughing even harder. This made Sarah turn around and look at us.
“No,” I said, “I don’t even know her.” I felt stupid. It was the truth though. I had never even spoken a word to her.
She looked at me and gave me the most innocent smile.
I smiled back. However, whenever someone caught me off guard with a smile, I would try to smile back but it usually looked odd, like I was posing for a toothpaste commercial or something. She paid and went out the door.
Then I heard, “Let’s go!” It came from Tommy’s direction. He and his buddies ran out the door. They ran behind the market and picked up a plastic bag full of water balloons.
I knew this wasn’t going to be good. And what happened next was something I could have never imagined.
I ran outside. Tommy and his friends were chasing Sarah. It was crazy. They had the water balloons and were hurling them at her.
Sarah started to run down the street with Tommy’s clan close behind. I dropped my bag of chips and soda, and ran as hard as I ever had in my life. I was always a fast runner. I caught up to them pretty quick. I grabbed the bag of water balloons out of Tommy’s friend’s hand and threw it in the street. A
semi truck driving by, hit the bag and all the water balloons exploded.
Tommy was still ahead of me with the last water balloon. He was gaining on Sarah. I was amazed how fast she could run.
I caught up to Tommy. At first I didn’t know what to do. This was the toughest guy in the school, but I didn’t care. I jumped on top of him and tackled him hard to the ground. We were both wearing shorts. I knew the cement hurt him as much as it hurt me. Before I knew it, I found myself in the middle of a fight. We were both throwing punches. It lasted for about a minute. Then all of sudden, a man grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me off Tommy. That man was Tommy’s father. He yelled at Tommy and told me to go home.
I had never been in a fight before. From the looks of it, I didn’t think Tommy had either. We both got in some good hits, but neither one of us were bleeding.
I looked over and Sarah was still standing there. She saw the whole fight. She smiled and took a couple steps towards me. My heart dropped. She looked right into my eyes. It was like she said thank you without saying a word. She then turned around and ran down the street. I just stared at her until I couldn’t see her anymore. At that moment I didn’t even realize the significance of what had happened. All I knew was I had done something I had never done before and that I was in love with a girl I never said a single word to.
I didn’t tell anyone what happened. There would have been too much explaining to do. Nonetheless, it was quite an experience.
I heard that Tommy moved over the summer, but I never heard anything about Sarah. I couldn’t help wondering about her.
“Are you ready to go?” Carrie yelled from the living room.
“I’m coming,” I answered.
Carrie and I walked to the store. My mom left us two dollars each. It was enough to get a soda, candy bar, and a bag of chips.
We then headed off toward Wenchester Elementary School. Carrie never got as excited as I did when it came to the classroom lists. It was partly that she didn’t like school as much as I did.
From a distance, I could see Blayne and Timmy at the basketball courts.
“I’m going to go wait over by the bulletin boards,” Carrie said. Then she took off running.
I looked at my watch. It was ten minutes to two. I jogged up to the courts where Timmy and Blayne were standing.
“What’s going on guys?” I asked.
“Just standing around waiting,” Timmy answered.
“You know what guys? I think it’s about that time,” Blayne said.
I really hoped I would get Blayne and Timmy in my class. Every year since kindergarten I had had one or the other in my class. I never had them both at the same time.
With all this wishing I had been doing, one thing I knew for sure was that I wouldn’t want my sister in my class. We had never been in the same class. I guess the school didn’t want brothers and sisters to be in the same room together. They were probably afraid we would cheat on our homework or something.
“You guys ready to go?” Blayne asked as he made the ball into the basket.
“Let’s do it,” I said. As we walked toward the office, we were all silent. Although we were silent, we all knew what each other were thinking.
We reached the buildings and made a right at the cafeteria, which put us right in front of the office. There were a group of kids including my sister all huddled around the bulletin boards.
“They’re up,” I said.
“Yep,” Timmy replied.
Tanya and Ali were riding up on their bikes. They parked their bikes and walked over to the bulletin boards. They were two of the prettiest girls in school, and they knew it. They were best friends and were inseparable.
The three of us approached the bulletin boards and were silent.
Timmy uncharacteristically said, “I really hope all of us are in the same class.” Blayne and I smiled.
The three of us had this unwritten agreement that one would look and not say anything until all three had seen it.
Timmy was first. He looked at the board for about thirty seconds, and then grinned and backed away so Blayne could look. He also looked for about thirty seconds and had a real surprised look on his face.
I could tell it wasn’t good. I knew Blayne’s expressions. That wasn’t a good one. He backed away so I could see. I walked up to the bulletin board and just closed my eyes.
Before I could open them, I heard my sister yell. “We can’t be in the same class!”
I quickly opened my eyes. When I did, I saw Mrs. Phyllis’ class first. I went to the boy side of the list and spotted my name, but there was no Blayne or Timmy. I quickly looked at the girl side. I saw Sarah Davis, but then I thought I saw something that had to be a misprint. I saw the name Carrie Greer, my sister. There was no Ali or Tanya. I looked over at Mr. O’Neil’s class and sure enough all four of them were in the same class.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was alone. I was alone with my sister. The person I saw every day. This was horrible. But wait, Sarah Davis was in my class. I couldn’t talk about it though because my friends didn’t know I liked her. Or did I like her? All I knew was that she was the only reason that I had to smile.
“Sorry,” Timmy said.
“I really wanted us to be together,” Blayne followed.
“You know, Blayne and I have never been in the same class,” Timmy continued.
“I’m happy for the both of you,” I gave them both an obvious fake smile. “Hey, let’s get out of here. Let’s go to the ice cream shop and get a shake and kick back in the tree.” The tree was our secret hangout. It was in the back of the school. We discovered it when we were in third grade. It was always a good place to go and think or to just get away and talk.
So there it was. The big event in my life was over. All that was left now was the first day of school. As we walked to the ice cream shop, I felt empty inside. I felt sort of isolated and alone. I felt almost as if I was the outcast of the group. These were my best friends. I had known them since we were little. They would treat me the same no matter what, for sure.
“Hey, Cody?” Blayne said.
“Yeah?” I replied.
“There is always recess.”
Chapter Two
I woke up feeling pretty good considering the class situation. It was the first day of school. Why shouldn’t I be excited?
I went to the closet and put on a brand new shirt and a pair of shorts. I had showered the night before. That was good enough for me.
My sister, on the other hand, took hours to get ready for school. I always woke up about twenty minutes before I wanted to leave. Not my sister, she woke up with the sun.
She was also never ready when I was ready to leave either.
My sister had really long blonde hair. Her hair was much blonder than mine was. My hair was blonde but Carrie’s was white. She said the reason why it took her so long to get ready was because her hair was so long and tangled easily. I thought girls just enjoyed getting ready more than boys did. With guys, it was just a hassle.
I walked into the bathroom. My sister was now putting on her lip-gloss. My mom allowed her to wear lip-gloss. I couldn’t believe it, but she was almost ready.
“What time did you get up, two a.m.?” I said, yawning.
“No, about an hour ago,” she answered.
“Yeah, right.” The bathroom looked like a tornado had hit it. So I figured it was at least a three-hour job. I wasn’t in the mood to prove my point so I left it alone.
“When did mom leave?” I asked.
“She left at her usual time.”
Her usual time was seven o’clock. My mom worked as a dental assistant at a dentist office. She made okay money. From what I heard she got a lot of money from my dad’s child support each month. So we were not poor or anything. We were not rich either. We were, as you would say, middle class.
“Did she leave us any breakfast?” I asked.
“The usual,” my sister said, giggling on the way to her room.
>
The usual was donuts and milk. My sister knew I didn’t like donuts because one time on a camping trip all of my food spoiled and I was forced to eat nothing but powdered donuts for three days. Ever since then, I had a strong dislike for powdered donuts, actually donuts of any type, shape, or form. I decided to just drink some milk and head off for school.
When I got to school, the excitement of the first day was in the air. Everyone was wearing new clothes. Kids were playing tetherball, jump rope and of course, school would not be complete unless Blayne was shooting baskets at the basketball courts, and sure enough he was.
I walked over to him. Blayne wasn’t as tall as me but he was pretty close. We were the two tallest in the sixth grade. Blayne was a lot skinnier though.
I’d known Blayne since I was about four years old. Girls seemed to like him more than me. Blayne had a face full of freckles that really didn’t stand out. They almost made his face look tan. I, on the other hand, was as pale as a ghost. My summer tan was wearing off and I was sort of at the pink state. Having blonde hair and blue eyes was definitely a plus for me.
Blayne, Timmy and I had all been best friends since the first grade. But Blayne had a secret only I knew. You see Blayne liked Tanya. But Timmy and Tanya were boyfriend and girlfriend last year. However, on the last day of school Tanya broke up with Timmy for no reason at all. Timmy wasn’t the type of guy who would just sit down and talk about how he felt. Blayne and I both knew it must have bothered him, but he just shrugged it off.
I thought the problem with Blayne and I was that we were too picky or maybe we were just shy. Every once in awhile we would hear about a girl liking us or thinking we were cute, but we never did anything about it. It was always the wrong girls who seemed to like us. I wanted to tell Blayne and Timmy about Sarah over the summer, but I never could get enough nerve to do it. It was easier to talk about the girls everyone knew were pretty. Sarah was special to me, unique in her own way. They probably wouldn’t understand.