by H. T. Night
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 b
oard 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.
“Toss me the ball,” I said, motioning to Blayne. Blayne tossed me the basketball.
“Can you believe it’s finally here? We are in the sixth grade. We’re finally on top,” Blayne said with a little too much excitement for my taste. “Hey, by any chance did you notice whose class Eric was in?”
“No, I wasn’t looking for him,” I said. Eric Mullins was this big jerk that I couldn’t stand. Yet for some reason, girls always seemed to like him. So did Blayne. I never knew why, but he and Blayne got along fine. I always thought he was a creep with a bad attitude.
One positive thing you could say about him was that he was quite an athlete. He was real good at football and baseball. I think he enjoyed football more, but he was an incredible pitcher. He and I had our share of games in which we pitched against each other. He was cocky, because he knew he was good. It gave him some strange pleasure to bother people. Due to the fact that I loved baseball, I never got along with him.
“So do you think your class is pretty lame?” Blayne asked, knowing perfectly well that I was totally disappointed. Sometimes Blayne just said things just to say them.
“It isn’t as good as yours,” I said. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
Timmy walked up. He was dressed really nice. He always wore nice clothes, which was kind of weird, because his family was pretty poor. Timmy was about a head shorter than Blayne and I. Timmy had dark hair and brown eyes. Girls were always saying how cute he looked. It was kind of nauseating, but I could handle it. Ever since I had known him I’d heard that. What was cool about Timmy was he didn’t have a big head about it.
“Are you guys ready for the best school year of your life?” Timmy asked with enthusiasm. “Hey, toss me the ball.” He was way too excited for my taste.
“Are you sure you want to play?” I asked. “I wouldn’t want you to get your clothes dirty.” I tossed the ball to him anyway.
“Who cares,” Timmy said and laughed. Yet we all knew Timmy would have a fit if his clothes got dirty.
Then the bell rang.
I instantly began to feel sick to my stomach as I thought of Sarah. Was she going to be there? Did she move over the summer? Did she have a horrible accident and was in a wheelchair? I needed to know.
“I guess we’ll see you at lunch, Cody,” Timmy said. “Let’s go, Blayne.” They both r
an off to their room and I walked toward mine. My room number was 26. It was in the last building at the end of the school. I decided I had better hurry also.
As I approached my classroom, I saw that everyone was in line. My sister and the usual crowd were there, but no one outstanding. Just the same kids year after year. Then someone yelled my name. It was a familiar voice. A voice I did not seem to care for. I turned around to see Eric Mullins. There he was, tossing a football. Apparently, he was in Mrs. Phyllis’ class also.
“What’s up, Eric?” I asked, trying to be as polite as I could.
“Hey, Mr. O’Neil is having after school flag football this year,” he said in his usual cocky voice.
“Cool,” I said. I liked football. I was not obsessed with it like Eric, but I liked it.
“He already told me that I’m going to be captain of one of the teams.”
“That’s great.”
“You should talk to him about it. He’ll probably make you a captain, too.”
“Do you think?” I said, surprised.
“You know because you’re so freakishly tall.”
Eric lined up in front of me. His little statement bothered me. I was a good football player. I could run circles around him and he knew it. He might have had a great throwing arm, but I could outrun him any day.
What was I doing letting Eric interfere with my destiny? I turned back away from him and looked for Sarah. She was nowhere in sight. I looked up and down the girl’s line about ten times. There was no sign of her. Had she moved after all?
Then Mrs. Phyllis walked up, and we filed into our lines quickly. We knew the procedure by now, boys on one side and girls on the other. After all, we were sixth graders.
Mrs. Phyllis stood by the door. She was prettier and shorter than I remembered. From the back, someone might mistake her as one of the girls in the class. From the front, she was all “woman”.