The Year of the Great Seventh

by Orts, Teresa

  Tyson and Emma rushed to Chase’s side. Tyson squatted next to him and seemed to be talking to him. Then Tyson grabbed his hand and helped him get up. He seemed to be fine. They advanced toward me—this time on their feet. Chase limped slightly.

  The show was over, and the rest of the skaters invaded the ramps as though nothing happened. The visibility wasn’t great as the sun was already going down, but the skateboarders seemed eager to continue skating until the park closed.

  That trip to the skate park proved to me that staying at home feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to change anything. My friends’ plan of forcing me to go out had worked. I was feeling a bit better, even though I still had a long way to go. I was ready for the challenge.

  That night, I went straight to my bedroom and worked on my Spanish assignment until almost midnight. I was going to get that scholarship, whatever it took. If Nate managed to move on with his life, I had to do so, too. If not for me, for my future. I didn’t want to regret all my life having put a guy before my dreams.

  CHAPTER VIII

  EARLY IN THE MORNING a couple of weeks later, Emma, Tyson, and I were rushing through the yard to get to class, as the bell had just gone off. Like most mornings, Nate was still playing basketball with his friends. They kept on playing, ignoring the bell. They didn’t care about being late to class.

  For the first time in a very long time, I didn’t let myself feel down. I was beginning to accept that sooner or later, Nate would be gone. He was trying to enjoy his life with his condition, and I should be doing the same.

  We strode along the concrete path to the main building. Students were gathering at the steps to the building entrance; everyone hurried to get to their classrooms on time.

  “Out of my way!” someone demanded. Before I could turn, I felt someone pushing me off to the side, catapulting the iPod I was carrying over the handrail of the stone steps to land on the lawn.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Emma shouted, bewildered.

  “Oh, sorry,” Ethan said sarcastically. I was quite sure he could have passed without pushing me.

  He squeezed past the people on the stairs to get my iPod, but I knew this was Ethan and his actions were never well-intentioned.

  I turned in alarm to glance at Nate. He was in the middle of the basketball court, bouncing the ball and openly staring at Ethan. That didn’t really mean anything because every person in the yard was staring at him, too.

  Crossing my fingers, I hoped Nate would understand it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t care about my iPod and I surely didn’t want any more drama.

  Ethan glanced at me from the lawn below the steps, and with an evil smile, he smashed my iPod with his foot. “Sorry, I accidentally stepped on it!”

  His friends laughed from the top of the steps. Everyone in the yard stared in disbelief.

  “Why did he do that?” Tyson growled, infuriated.

  Ignoring his question, I glanced back at the basketball court. The ball was rolling to the side of the court. Nate was nowhere to be seen.

  I quickly scanned the people coming toward the building. Where was he? My throat was contracting. I kept thinking, Please, Nate, don’t do it! Please don’t. Please don’t.

  “What’s wrong with that guy?” Tyson mumbled in disdain.

  “Please, leave Ethan alone. I don’t care,” I said out loud without turning to look at Tyson. My eyes kept surveying the lawn, looking for Nate.

  Suddenly a wave of relief washed over me when I saw him dashing to the parking lot and getting into his car.

  Ethan climbed back up the steps, followed by his friends, and they went into the building.

  “Are you okay, Sophie? What an idiot!” Emma said, disgusted.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” I said, putting my backpack into place.

  I was observing Nate from the corner of my eye. He was inside his car with his eyes closed.

  “He doesn’t seem to have gotten over what happened at the party, does he?” Tyson stated.

  “Let’s just forget about it, please! That was my old iPod anyway,” I explained, trying to change the subject. Tyson made some space in the crowd and opened the door for us. Then a squeal of tires and a car speeding out from the parking lot made me turn at once. That was Nate. His car was gone.

  We went into the building and before we parted ways, Tyson said, “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe you should go the principal’s office. He can’t just get away with it.”

  “I don’t care. Really. At least everyone saw what an idiot he is. I think this clears up what happened at his party.” I shrugged, showing my indifference.

  What they didn’t know was that my emotions were stirring out of control inside me. I was really worried about Nate. I hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

  Emma and I climbed the stairs to the first floor, and Tyson headed to the gym.

  This situation triggered a small spark of hope inside of me. Maybe Nate was having a difficult time staying away from me, too. This same situation a few weeks ago might have finished with Nate’s fist on Ethan’s face. Maybe he wasn’t following his grandfather’s course after all. Maybe he only needed to get his temper under control.

  By midmorning Emma had mysteriously instructed everyone to meet in the parking lot between classes. When we got there, Chase and Tyson were already waiting.

  “What’s going on?” Tyson demanded.

  “I can’t tell you,” Emma giggled, staring at her cell phone.

  I was glad to see that Nate’s car was back in the parking lot. Probably he’d gone for a drive to unleash his fury and was now back in class.

  “Actually, you can check it out yourself!” Emma shouted, with a grin from ear to ear.

  A black limousine was coming into the parking lot. We stared at it, stunned. Who could that be? The windows were tinted and we couldn’t see inside.

  Then, all of a sudden, Megan popped out through the sunroof, waving at us. We ran to meet her. The limousine came to a halt, Megan got out, and we engaged in a euphoric group hug.

  “What are you doing here?” I said, overjoyed.

  “The movie promotion just started. I’m doing Jay Leno tonight!” She smiled.

  Megan looked beautiful. She’d trimmed her blond hair—probably a script requirement, but I really liked it. It made her look more sophisticated.

  “When will you be back at school?” Emma asked, unable to hide how much she missed her.

  “In just over two weeks,” Megan said with enthusiasm. “I don’t have much time. I’m running late. But I came to give you something.” Megan grabbed an envelope from the back pocket of her jeans. She pulled from the inside what looked like premiere tickets. She handed one to Emma, Tyson, and Chase. They began jumping up and down and hugging each other. They were completely unaware that I hadn’t been given one.

  Megan pulled me to one side while the others screamed in joy.

  “Mmmm. So I’ve heard you’ve been feeling the blues lately because of some guy,” Megan said. She didn’t mince words.

  God! Emma couldn’t keep her mouth shut, could she? It made me wonder. If Megan knew about it and had been thousands of miles away the last few weeks, how many more people had Emma told?

  I gave her a resigned look and finally admitted it. “Sort of…” I frowned, wondering where this conversation was heading. I could guess what Megan was waiting for.

  “I can’t tell you who it is, but believe me, you would be rather disappointed,” I explained, bringing my gaze down to the ground. I couldn’t look her in the eye. I knew what she thought about Nate after the party incident.

  “I have a wild guess who it could be,” Megan said, smiling. She crossed her arms on top of her chest, hinting that I hadn’t fooled her.

  How could she know? Was she some sort of mind reader? Now that I thought of the facts, it wasn’t that difficult to piece the clues together if you paid attention to the details. But why wouldn’t she mention it to me before?

&
nbsp; Megan pulled a different envelope from her pocket and, without opening it, handed it to me. “There’re two tickets in there. Don’t open it here,” she said, looking at the others.

  “Bring him, if you’d like.” She meant it.

  “But it’s over. We—”

  She interrupted without letting me finish the sentence. “If he makes you happy, that’s what matters. But tell him he better behave at this party.”

  My mouth dropped. She’d known all along. How? Why hadn’t she brought it up before? Did that mean she approved of him? This whole situation was too strange.

  An army of cars invaded the parking lot. Paparazzi were snapping ridiculously large cameras at Megan. They were hanging out the car windows and shouting her name.

  The expression on Megan’s face suddenly changed. She didn’t seem too pleased at the paparazzi’s arrival. “I have to go, but you need to know something.”

  She moved close to me and whispered into my ear. “Alex Giordani and I have become quite close while shooting the movie.”

  Megan winked at me, and before I could react, she hurried inside the limousine, blowing a kiss at us. “See you on Friday night! Don’t be late!”

  Her limousine drove off, and the rest of the cars followed behind. We stood on the side, observing the circus following Megan, each of us holding tight to our tickets and probably daydreaming about the most important night of our lives. It was amazingly cool to have a movie star friend, and even more so that person was Megan.

  The rest of the day literally flew by. Now I had even more things to distract me from the lectures. The question flooding my mind was whether I should ask Nate to the premiere. My other worry was whether there was any chance at all he would accept.

  I knew he’d asked me to stay away from him for a reason, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t keep playing this “I’m a grown up” game and pretend I wanted to do what was “best.” I was sixteen and I couldn’t think of a better time to make reckless decisions. The thing I wanted most in the world was to be with Nate and I was willing to take the risk. After all, he’d only ever been nice to me. Why should I think that was going to change?

  There was almost no chance he would accept my offer, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to feel sorry for myself anymore. If Nate and I weren’t going to be together, at least I wanted to know I’d done everything possible.

  Adding to my anxiety was the dress issue. I needed to find one to wear to the premiere. I wanted a proper red carpet dress, but where was I going to get the money to buy it?

  It wasn’t a secret that my weekly allowance was almost nonexistent. That was another of Mom’s dirty tricks to push me to take on acting jobs. But it didn’t really work. I liked to rule my own life even if that meant living without a penny.

  This time was a bit more complicated. I couldn’t turn up at the premiere looking like a beggar. Emma and Megan earned money from their acting jobs, especially Megan. She was really modest about revealing how much she made, but through Mom, I knew she was a well-paid actress in the independent movie range. For Operation Calypso, it was a whole new level.

  Megan and Emma were going to get impressive dresses, and even if I didn’t aim for their standard, I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.

  Panic took hold of me when I saw Emma checking the Armani online store on her cell phone. She was checking a black gown for the staggering price of eight thousand dollars. It had sparkling sequins and an open back. She was going to look stunning. I needed to put some money together to get a nice outfit.

  The year before, when I turned fifteen, Aunt Jane gave me two thousand dollars, which I put straight into my college savings account. After the end of my freshman and sophomore years, Dad had given me five hundred dollars for getting all A’s. And at the end of my summer internship at the Getty, even though it was unpaid, I was given a thousand dollars to cover part of the meal and transportation expenses. That was a total of four thousand dollars that I had saved for college. I couldn’t spend that on a dress. That was just wrong.

  Mr. Silverman was writing undecipherable mathematical formulas on the blackboard, and I forced myself to pick up my pen and start copying them in my notebook. I gazed at Emma again to find her texting back and forth with Chase. It made me wonder why she bothered coming to school at all. She had a successful acting career waiting for her, and anyway, she spent most classes surfing the net on her cell phone. But who was I to talk? I spent most classes lost in my reverie.

  I couldn’t ignore it for one more minute. I had to ask Nate whether he wanted to be my plus one at the premiere.

  I grabbed my cell phone and without hesitating, I typed, Would you like to come with me to the Operation Calypso premiere? I really tried to block you out of my life, but I can’t. It’s about time to break free… And I left the phone on my table in vibration mode.

  I spent the last class waiting anxiously for Nate’s answer, but it seemed he wasn’t as ready to break free as I expected. My disappointment grew and washed over me as the time passed. Maybe he didn’t want to play silly games. To be honest, I wasn’t shocked about him ignoring my text. Why would he change his mind now?

  *

  On my way out that evening, as I was going to catch the bus, I saw Nate inside his black sports car. He seemed to be waiting for someone. He’d never seemed as handsome as now. He was a bit tanner than usual, probably from the hours he spent playing basketball under the sun.

  He was always dressed to impress, though it appeared almost accidental. He was wearing an unbuttoned white shirt and a grey T-shirt underneath; the back of the collar was turned up. The final touch was a charcoal trilby hat that gave him the air of Dr. Jekyll.

  The seriousness in his face made me tremble. Maybe I upset him with my text. I was being absolutely selfish. I just wanted to be with him regardless of what was best for both of us.

  I was staring at him while walking to the bus, but Nate didn’t look my way once. Then, out of the blue, he pointed out to the parking lot gate. Doubting he referred to me, I pointed at myself, and he nodded. He was indeed talking to me.

  Nate backed out of his parking spot and joined the line of cars going through the gates.

  I walked out, turning several times to check that no one could see me. Nate was on the side of the road with the engine running, waiting for me. The door clacked open and I got inside.

  “Would you like a ride home?” Nate half-smiled.

  “All right.” I shrugged.

  The moment I shut the car’s door, Nate quickly drove away. He seemed eager to avoid anyone from school.

  Nate’s car smelled like brand new cars do. The interior was made of white leather. High-tech screens glowed in the dashboard. The inside of his car reminded me of the cockpit of a plane. I didn’t want to move in case I touched something. All the high-tech equipment seemed so fragile.

  Nate was driving quite fast. He braked at the lights a little too late. I was beginning to think maybe he was as nervous as I was.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Nate said, observing me from the corner of his eye.

  “I think so,” I replied, relieved to know he was at least considering the option.

  “This may have some consequences. Ethan and his friends won’t leave you alone if he sees us together. Also, there’s Stacey, Natasha…”

  “Okay, okay, I get it. You don’t need to name them all.” I held my backpack tight to my chest, imagining all the ways in which Ethan could make my life miserable.

  He was right. Maybe I hadn’t considered all the aspects that could change in my life by taking Nate to the premiere. I turned to face him, and it only took one glimpse of his beautiful face to make it clear what my final decision was. “I don’t care anymore what anyone says. I want to live my life my own way.”

  Nate moved the steering wheel from side to side with one hand as though he was playing a video game. It was obvious there was something else on his mind.

  “Did he hurt
you? He pushed you, didn’t he?” He finally spilled the beans. His fingers clenched the steering wheel tightly.

  “He hardly touched me,” I said, so quietly I barely heard my own words.

  “I swear, I thought I was going to kill him. You don’t know how close I was.” He sounded enraged, as though he was picturing in his mind what could’ve happened.

  “How did you do it?” I whispered.

  He spoke as if trying to explain it to himself. “I don’t really know.”

  The roaring of the engine reverberated inside the car.

  Nate’s face was flat and expressionless. “When someone provokes me, there’s nothing I can do. I can’t just walk away. This morning I just pictured in my mind how horrible it must’ve been for you to see what I did to Ethan last time. I just got into the car and tried to calm down.”

  The freeway was packed with cars, as it was the afternoon rush hour. Nate kept changing lanes to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

  We lapsed into silence. It was more than silence; it was a symphony of Nate’s car speeding and braking. He was apparently taking the fury of Ethan’s injustice out on the engine. He seemed to be waiting for me to speak, but I couldn’t do it. I was afraid of the answer to my next question.

  “So will you come with me to the premiere, then?”

  “What about your friends? Won’t they be upset with you if they find out you’ve been hanging out with the bad guy all along?” Nate said, revealing how he felt about himself.

  The speedometer was a bright green number displayed on a digital screen. The numbers on the screen flickered at a high speed as if they were going to draw the winning number of a lottery game. The light reflected in Nate’s eyes.

  “I don’t know how, but Megan already knows. She gave me the ticket for you. About the others? I think they’ll get over it,” I said, not making a big deal out of it.