Taking Chances

by Deanna Frances

  “Hey, Syd.” he said. I sat, silently, thinking about what Jacquie had said to me earlier. I think he’s totally in love with you.

  “Hi,” I replied.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.” I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t mad. I was relieved that he felt the same way about me that I felt about him. We were in love with each other. He’d never told me he loved me, but I believed Jacquie. I stared down at my hands that were resting on the table. Spencer took my hand in his. I looked up at him. He was smiling my favorite smile, and staring into my eyes. They were full of questions.

  “Hey, um…I was wondering, are we going to the dance on Saturday?” he asked.

  “Did you want to?”

  “Well, I think that it would be fun.” Spencer smiled. “Do you want to go with me?”

  “Who else would I go with?” I laughed.

  “Matt Johnson…” he muttered under his breath, looking down at the table. I don’t think I was meant to catch his short comment, but I replied to it anyway.

  “I love you,” I told him for the first time. “Matt is a friend. Please, realize that.” I smiled as he looked up at me.

  “I love you, too.” When he said this, I felt a new love inside of me, a true love. Both of us meant what we had just said. I didn’t really know how to describe the way that I felt. It was indescribable love. His kiss broke my concentration. His lips moved slowly and eagerly with mine. One of his hands cradled my face, while the other rested itself on my back, and pulling me closer to him. My hands went from resting on his chest, to wrapping around his neck, pulling him closer to me. I don’t think we could have been any closer than we were. It was definitely indescribable love.

  Chapter 9

  HOMECOMING

  Later that day, I realized that I still didn’t have a dress for the dance. I didn’t want to go shopping alone, so I tried to call Annie and Jacquie, but they were busy. I wanted my dress to be a surprise to Spencer, so I called Matt instead.

  “Hey Syd,” he said as I picked him up from his house in downtown DeKalb. It was definitely nice to have my car back.

  “Hi, Matt. Hey, I want to thank you again for getting me that job.”

  “It’s really no problem. So, what are we shopping for today?”

  “My dress for the Homecoming dance. I was going to bring one of my girl friends, but they were busy.”

  “That’s alright. I helped my little sister pick out a dress for her sixth grade dance. I’m sure I can help with a Homecoming dress.” He chuckled.

  I smiled. “Oh, so I wanted to talk to you about working tomorrow.”

  “What about it?” he asked.

  “Well, we have our Homecoming games tomorrow, and I was wondering if I could start another day so I wouldn’t have to miss them.”

  “Oh, um…well, it might be hard to replace you on short notice.”

  “Oh, it’s okay. I was just wondering. My friends just wanted me to be there since it’s my first year here and everything.”

  “Well, I mean…I could try and see what I can do,” Matt said.

  “That would be amazing, Matt.” I smiled. “I feel really bad that you got me this job, and that now I’m sort of blowing it off.”

  “No, you’re not. You just asked for a day off. Everyone does.” He put his arm around my seat.

  I smiled.

  * * *

  “How about this?” I stepped out of the dressing room in a short, light blue strapless dress and silver heels.

  “I like the last one better,” Matt commented.

  “Okay.” I walked back into the dressing room and put on the black and white dress and black heels.

  “This one?” I asked Matt.

  “Yeah. It’s simple, but nice. You look really good in it,” he said with a crooked grin.

  “Thanks,” I said, somewhat hesitant. I ended up buying the dress Matt liked, and we decided to go out and get something to eat before I dropped him off back home.

  “So who are you going to the dance with?” Matt asked as we ate at The J.

  “Spencer…he’s my boyfriend. You know that.” I noted.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right. You’re with Stevenson. I told you we used to be friends, didn’t I?” he wondered.

  “Why do you say ‘used to’?”

  “Some stupid fight freshman year tore us up, and then I moved, so I didn’t really have a chance to be friends with him again.”

  “What happened?” I knew it might be easier to get the story out of Matt than Spencer.

  “Some girl got in between us, that’s all. We both had a crush on her, it was stupid.”

  “What girl?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m not even sure she goes to school at IC anymore. She might, but I haven’t talked to her much since.”

  “Oh,” My face fell slightly, and I no longer wanted to pry.

  The next day was the day of the Homecoming volleyball game, and the Homecoming bonfire. Matt had called me about work, and said I could start one day later. I thanked him. He told me to have fun and to be at work at ten on Saturday.

  We didn’t have any of our classes that day at school. It was Spirit Day, so as soon as we got to school, we had a big pep rally in the gym where the cheerleaders did some of their cheers and the Poms team performed their dance routine. I had fun watching Annie and Jacquie dance with the Poms. They were really good.

  That night, I stayed after school with Jacquie and Jeremy to watch the Junior Varsity Volleyball game. Mike, Annie, and Spencer had gone home and planned to be back for the Varsity game at six. I had never gone to any big school games in Chicago, so it felt really nice to stand in the bleachers and cheer on our team. We watched the JV game, and then the Varsity game started. The gym was completely filled. People went really crazy with school spirit. Students wore our colors, red and black, and some even painted their bodies those colors. Everyone cheered and that made the game even more exciting.

  Indian Creek won both the JV and Varsity games, so everyone was happy when the bonfire began. The bonfire was pretty much a big make-out session for most people, but if you didn’t feel like making-out with your boyfriend in front of the entire school, you sat around the gigantic fire, and just sat next to your boyfriend. That’s what Jacquie, Annie, Emily and I did. Emily and Dean weren’t dating, but all of us had a feeling that they would be soon. I sat snuggled up to Spencer.

  “I can’t believe that Jessica would do that...” I heard Jacquie say. I hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation about some girl named Jessica who happened to be from my History class. I was just watching the orange flames of the fire in front of me. Though I was sitting right there, I was still a little cold. I shivered involuntarily and Spencer rubbed his hand up and down my arm, trying to warm me with the friction.

  “You’re cold. Here, take my sweatshirt.”

  Spencer backed up a little more and took off the red hooded sweatshirt he had on. It was his soccer sweatshirt with his last name and number on the back, and big black letters that said, Indian Creek Soccer on the front.

  “Are you sure? Won’t you be cold?” I wondered, looking at him in his jeans and a gray T-shirt.

  He shrugged. “Not really. Here I’ll help you. Sorry if it’s a little big.”

  He helped me put on the sweatshirt, and it wasn’t that big on me. It was a little long because Spencer was almost a foot taller than me, but not enough to make me fret about it.

  “Thank you,” I said, snuggling up against his chest again. His arms wrapped around me, and I felt warm at once.

  I left around eleven-thirty. I told Spencer I had work in the morning, and that I needed to get some sleep. He said that Jeremy had driven him there, and that Jeremy would probably spend the night at Mike and Dean’s house just outside the north side of town. So I drove Spencer home.

  Spencer’s family farm was just down the road from mine, so even though he was in the car with me, I barely needed directions. I kissed him
goodbye, and dropped him off. I offered him his sweatshirt back, but he said I could keep it for a while. He didn’t need it anytime soon. He said that the one I was wearing was from last year. I couldn’t really tell the difference. They both had the same name and jersey number on them. On the drive down the street back to my farm, I listened to Celine Dion, and sang along to “Taking Chances”. When I got home, Lillian and Rebecca were gone again, and there was a note from Aunt Megan.

  Syd,

  I’ve talked to your mom, and I’m taking Lillian and Rebecca shopping up at the mall in Rockford tomorrow, and they are going to spend tonight and Saturday night at my house. Have fun with Spencer at the dance!

  Aunt Megan

  I laughed. Aunt Megan liked Spencer, and she liked even more how much I loved him. I would have fun with Spencer at Homecoming. I couldn’t wait until the next night. Well, I couldn’t wait to work at Lakeview Books either, but Spencer was more special to me than books. I fell asleep soon later, and woke up the following morning.

  I took a shower and got dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and Spencer’s sweatshirt. I ate some cereal, then took my cell phone off of the charger, and got into my car. Annie called as soon as I got inside and asked if I could give her and Jacquie a ride up to DeKalb on my way to work, because they both needed to go shopping for shoes to go with their Homecoming dresses. I agreed, and also agreed to get ready with them at Jacquie’s house after work.

  In DeKalb, I dropped the girls off at Kohl’s, and they told me to have fun. I drove over to Lakeview Books and found Matt at the front desk.

  “Hi Sydney,” he said.

  “Hi Matt,” I replied.

  “Come around over here,” he told me. I went around the desk and behind the front counter where Matt was standing. He gave me a lanyard with my nametag, putting it on my neck as if it was a royal necklace, and I was the princess of his fantasy world. He showed me around the store, even though I didn’t need to be showed around. He gave me a key to get into the “Employees Only” room, and told me that since it was my first day, I would be sorting books with him and he would have some other employees work the counter.

  Work went by quickly as Matt and I stored books on the shelves. It was nice that I knew who I was working with. Before I left, Matt gave me my work schedule. “Have fun at the dance.”

  “Thanks.”

  He winked as I walked out the door to my car.

  I picked up Annie and Jacquie and we headed back to Shabbona where the second Homecoming game, soccer, was being held at the middle school’s field. The high school only had a practice field for soccer, but we did have softball and baseball diamonds where Spencer would play baseball in the spring. We were about thirty minutes late, but we sat down on the metal bleachers and blended in as if we’d been there the whole time.

  “Go Jeremy!” Jacquie called as he scored a goal. Annie smiled, and I watched the wooden bleachers where our team sat in their white, red and black uniforms. Spencer was being put into the game. I caught his eye for half a second, and he smiled my smile, obviously happy to see me there.

  “Come on!” Jacquie yelled in unison with many other angry fans as a penalty was called on Jeremy in the end of the fourth quarter about three minutes before the end, and was taken out for the remainder of the game. We were down by one point, and the other team tried as hard as possible, running almost as fast as lighting to pick up the score so that we had no chance of winning. The crowd cheered as an IC senior named Blake ran past the opposite team’s defenders and scored, tying the game 11 to 11. The whistle blew. The game was put into overtime. The ball was put in the center of the field, and the first team to score would win the game. The center forward kicked off and passed the ball to Blake. A boy from the other team stole the ball and ran towards our goal. He tried to shoot, but Spencer took it from him, and headed the other way. He and another boy named Adam passed the ball back and forth, weaving in between the other team’s defenders closing in on the goal. Our boys were much faster. They wove between the last few defenders and Adam yelled, “Shoot it!”

  Spencer kicked the ball as hard as he could though he was almost twenty yards from the goal. It was a long shot. Everyone in the stands stood in anticipation, and watched the soccer ball miss the goalie’s hand by a mere few centimeters, and fly into the goal. The crowd cheered in victory, and the other players on the benches stood up excitedly and ran over to Spencer, whose face was filled with disbelief and excitement as his teammates ran over and joined in a group hug.

  “Woo!” Jacquie yelled. “Go Spencer!”

  “I love you, Spence!” I screamed, laughing. Jacquie and Annie joined in my laughter. I usually wasn’t the one for cheering out loud, but this was an exception. Spencer had just won the game for us, and I could see the boys hugging him and patting him on the back. Even some messed with his hair in congratulations. They all ran back over to the coach and dumped the large, orange cooler of water onto his head like in football. The crowd laughed and the coach smiled, charging at the boys jokingly. Some of the parents went out onto the field and found their sons, and Jacquie took my hand and led me out to find Jeremy and Spencer. She found Jeremy and ran into his arms, hugging him tightly as he kissed her.

  Spencer was covered in crowds of people, and I smiled, waiting for them to disperse. He must have seen Jeremy and Jacquie together, because he called my name. He looked over the crowds of people, and smiled as he saw me. He pushed through his group carefully, taking congratulations from everyone that passed. He found me, and ran to me, picking me up and spinning me around. I yelled quietly at the surprise. I hadn’t expected that.

  “Congratulations, soccer star.” I giggled, kissing him, my fingers tangling into his hair.

  “Thank you. Thank you very much,” he impersonated in an Elvis Presley voice, setting me down, but still keeping his arm around my waist as he was greeted with many bright, smiling faces.

  “Great job, Spencer!” Adam and his mom came up and smiled. “We were all scared for a minute there,” his mom said.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Jeffries. I was nervous, too.” He smiled sheepishly. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Adam.”

  “So who’s this?” his mom asked, looking at me.

  “This is my girlfriend, Sydney Baker.” Spencer smiled.

  “I’m also his biggest fan.” I smiled shyly, giggling quietly.

  Mrs. Jeffries held out her hand and laughed. I shook it softly. “Hi Sydney, as you can probably guess, I’m Adam’s mom. Do you go to school here at IC?”

  “Yes, I just moved here a few months ago.”

  “Oh, where are you from?”

  “Chicago,” I replied. “But my grandparents are from here.”

  “Who are they? Maybe I know them.”

  “Maggie and Russell George.”

  “Oh, you’re Megan’s daughter?”

  “No, her older sister, Maddie is my mom. Megan doesn’t have any kids. She’s not married.”

  “Oh, yes, that’s right. Forgive me, I got the two mixed up. All of the M names,” She laughed. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Sydney. I can’t wait to see how well you play for the rest of the year Spencer, and I will see you in baseball, too.” She smiled, before she and Adam walked away.

  “She knew you,” Spencer said. “See, when you live in Shabbona, everyone knows everyone.” He chuckled. I smiled at him, watching the excitement from the game linger in his eyes.

  “Stevenson!” Spencer’s coach called from the bench where all of the boys were huddling up for the after-game pep talk.

  “I’ll see you in a little bit.” He kissed my cheek and ran towards his team.

  “I’ll bet you will be seeing him get a lot of compliments for the next week or two.” Jacquie said, coming up to me. “Everyone’s going to remember that goal for a while. Jeremy’s happier than ever. Though he’s pissed he got taken out.”

  “Will he be okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, he’ll be fine. Hopefully this pep talk wil
l cool him down. It’s going to be a good one.”

  “Hey,” Annie said, coming up to us. “Let’s go get ready for the dance.”

  “I just want to wait a minute until the guys are done. I want to talk to Jeremy again before I leave,” Jacquie said.

  “Alright.”

  I stood and waited with Jacquie, talking to Annie until the pep talk was over.

  “Hello,” Spencer came from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

  I turned and kissed him once softly.

  “I’ll see you at five, right?,” he whispered. All of us were planning to drive up to DeKalb with our dates and eat out together before the dance.

  “Yep, I have to go and let the living Barbie doll of the world dress me so that I’ll be beautiful enough to show my face in front of you tonight.”

  He chuckled. “You’re always beautiful, and I can’t wait to see what Barbie is going to do because there is no possible way for you to brighten my life any more than you already have. But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief thou her maid, art far more fair than she...” Spencer quoted my favorite scene of my favorite play, act two scene two of Romeo and Juliet.

  “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo, deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet,” I replied in harmony to his quote.

  He looked into my eyes deeply, and I could see the fair truth in their color. Spencer loved me. I could tell more than anything.

  “Hey, Sydney, let’s go!” Annie and Jacquie pulled me away from Spencer, and I sighed.

  “See you later, Juliet!” Spencer called, chuckling. I smiled.

  “Juliet?” Jacquie asked, confused. I shook my head.

  “Don’t ask,” I replied.

  We drove back to my house and picked up my dress. I was worried that my parents might be there, and I was right to worry. Jacquie and Annie waited out in the car, while I slowly walked past Michael, who was smoking on the deck. I got my dress out of my room, and then did not make eye contact with Michael as I walked back into the car.