George trudged away. Mr. Costain stood beside Allie, his hands in his pockets.
“Mr. Costain,” she blurted out. “I didn’t throw that brick.”
He looked at her solemnly. “I believe you, Miss Weaver.”
Gratitude surged through her. But Mr. Costain continued.
“But even if you had thrown that brick, I would still want you at our school.”
“Why?” Allie asked, and added, “Don’t tell me: ‘because it’s good for me,’ right?”
“No,” Mr. Costain said, “Because it’s good for us.”
He looked at her a moment longer, then winked. “I’ll have to ask you to be patient with our Mrs. Simonelli. Please forgive her.”
“That’s okay,” Allie murmured. “George said she gets a little wacky sometimes.”
Mr. Costain coughed. “Well, all of us have our moments, Catholics in particular. Shall we go back inside?”
Allie turned up the volume on her MP3 player, fell on her bed, and stared at her bedroom wall. What a crazy day. This is so not fair, Truth guy. Now you got George doing your dirty work.
But she still wasn’t convinced. It seemed unfair to accuse Tyler when he wasn’t around to defend himself. Besides, she liked dating Tyler. He was big and strong, handsome and popular. He wasn’t perfect—big surprise. He acted like an idiot with his little boys club—another big surprise. But he didn’t do it in front of her, and she felt safe when she was with him.
He calls you hot, the Truth guy insisted. He calls you babe. He never calls you beautiful.
Allie’s cell phone rang. She pulled it out and sighed when she saw who it was. “Great timing,” she muttered, putting the cell phone to her ear.
“Hey babe! What’s up?”
“Nothin’ much.” Allie said. “what’s up with you?”
“I was just thinking: next Friday’s gonna be our five-month anniversary.”
“Oh, yeah! You remembered!” she said. So there, Truth Guy.
“Yeah. I was thinking—maybe we can go out to dinner or something. Whaddya think?”
“Sounds good,” Allie said. “That’s real sweet of you.”
“Hey, what can I say? Gotta take care of my babe, make sure she’s feeling all right.”
Determined to prove George wrong—or at the very least, to really get to know Tyler, Allie decided right then to have a serious conversation with him. “Hey Tyler, I’ve been thinking…”
“Yeah?”
“Um, where do you think our relationship is going?”
Tyler seemed bewildered. “I don’t know. We’re just having fun, I guess.”
“Do you have any plans for the future?”
“Plans? What are you talking about? Why do you have to get heavy all of the sudden? I just want to have a good time with you, that’s all.”
She tried to explain herself further, but had to give up.
“So what’s all this about?” Tyler said finally. “What’s bothering you?”
Allie swallowed, and tried bringing up something that had been a forbidden subject up to now: religion.
“I don’t know, just wondering… What do you think about all this Jesus stuff?”
Tyler had hesitated a minute. “Well…I never really thought about it, to be honest…”
“Really?” Allie had said, disappointed.
“Well, all I know is that every religious person I ever met has turned out to be a stinkin’ hypocrite.”
Allie thought about Celia, George, and Mr. Costain. “I don’t know if you’ve met enough religious people. They’re really not that bad.”
“Maybe.” She heard him yawn. “But look at what those priests did to those little kids! And those televangelists, always asking for money… Look, I really don’t want to talk about this, okay?”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to offend you.” He yawned again. “Sorry, babe, I’m worn out. Got to rest up for Sectionals next Saturday.”
“Oh,” Allie said grumpily.
So who do you think broke the window?” Brian asked George a few days later. They were walking up through the woods to wrestling practice. The season was coming to an end, which meant extra practices and more tension as the Sparrow Hills squad got ready to compete in bigger competitions.
“I don’t know,” George said, kicking a stone out of the way. He’d been trying to keep his nagging doubts about J.P. to himself.
“Everyone seems to think J.P. did it,” Brian said. “He doesn’t have a really good alibi. And he’s always coming up with these outrageous stunts.”
George thought about the stink bomb. “You might be right,” he said slowly. He liked J.P.—he’d known him since grade school—but the youngest Flynn had always been unpredictable. “But he said he was playing one of those video games his mom had banned.”
“But the game wasn’t on his laptop when Mr. Costain confisticate it,” Brian said. “I heard Mrs. Flynn talking to Mr. Costain about it.”
“I wish J.P. wouldn’t lie about stuff,” George said. “How can anyone trust him?” He sighed and changed the subject. “Hey, I won’t be able to go over those moves with you before practice. Coach wants to meet with the varsity squad for the half-hour before we start.”
“So you’re officially varsity now?” Brian said.
“I guess so,” George said, cracking a smile. “Maybe Coach heard some good things about the match with Tyler… He wants to prep us for the Sectionals.”
“How do the Sectionals work again?”
“They’re the first round of the playoffs,” George said, wondering how a smart guy like Brian could be so ignorant of basic sports stuff like this. “You win Sectionals, you go to the Division Championships. You win the Divisions, you go to States.”
“And if you win in States?”
“You get a nice big trophy and your name in the paper,” George said, kicking a rock off the path. “Why? You getting ambitious?”
Brian laughed easily. “No. I’m still looking forward to wrestling someone for real.”
George frowned. He had been anxious about how Brian would do in the Sectionals. because none of the teams they’d competed with had had anyone in Brian’s weight class and all his wins had been by default. That would change in the Sectionals, and Brian would be going up against the elite of his class. “I wish you could have had more experience,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Brian said. “I’ll be fine.”
“But, Brian…”
“No, seriously, don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” Brian said. After a pause, he added, “I’m stronger than I look, you know.”
“Well…” George hesitated. “All the same, maybe you and me can practice a bit more together. How about on Saturday, we show up a bit early, before the rest of the squad, and we’ll go over some moves?”
Brian laughed. “What, you want to practice the day that the Sectionals are held? At the last minute? What good will it do?”
“It does a lot of good to practice right before,” George insisted. “Be there at 9 a.m. I’ll ask the coach to open the gym early for us.”
“Okay, okay,” Brian said, shrugging. “If it’ll make you feel better.”
veritatissplendor: Hey George!
gpwrestler27: whatsup
veritatissplendor: i just had a great idea!!
veritatissplendor: lets all go to the sectionals
veritatissplendor: to watch you and brian wrestle!
veritatissplendor: like a class trip!
veritatissplendor: Now i have my license
veritatissplendor: i could drive us all.
gpwrestler27: thatd be awesome seal
gpwrestler27: btw I don’t need a ride
gpwrestler27: I need to go in early to practice w brian
gpwrestler27: momll drive me
veritatissplendor: No prob bob.
veritatissplendor: is your mom coming?
gpwrestler27: no she has to work
verit
atissplendor: too bad.
veritatissplendor: ill see if I can get the others JP2ers too come too
veritatissplendor: i just IMed Liz about it
gpwrestler2: don’t bother james
gpwrestler2: liz wont go
gpwrestler27: she only likes basketball
[Italianstallioness joined the room]
italianstallioness: hey selia this iz liz
italianstallioness: if u can drive me I will go sure
veritatissplendor: Liz, that is awesome! :)
gpwrestler27: wunders never sease.
Italianstallioness: keep ur smart comments to yrself
Italianstallioness: georgie boy ;->
Hey,” Allie said as she got into Tyler’s car that evening. She had decided to dress up for the occasion, with jewelry and a black stretch velvet top. Carefully she slid into the seat next to him, trying to not to crease the freshly-ironed blue skirt that matched her eyes.
“Hey,” Tyler said. “Wow, you’re looking nice.”
Well, at least he didn’t say hot, Allie thought hopefully.
“How are we going to get in?” she asked as Tyler pulled into the parking lot of La Chinchilla, one of the nicer restaurant downtown. “Isn’t there a bar?”
“I know somebody who works here,” Tyler said.
Cool, Allie thought. He really planned this out.
The hostess looked up as they came in and immediately said, “Hey, Tyler!”
“Hey, Megan,” Tyler said, flashing her a smile. “Can we get a table?”
“Sure!” Megan said warmly, adding quietly, “Just don’t order any beers.”
Tyler laughed. “No problem, honey,” he said.
“Good evening, sir, your ID?” Megan said in a louder voice. “Please follow me…” She led them to a booth tucked away in a private section of the restaurant.
“Honey?” Allie asked Tyler as they sat down. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing, babe,” Tyler said.
“How do you know her?” Allie persisted.
“Geez, somebody’s suspicious!” Tyler said. “She’s Brock’s older sister.”
“Oh,” Allie said, and felt bad for being so mistrustful, especially when he had gone out of his way to get her into a real restaurant.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, their waitress came over, a tall blonde. “Hi, I’m Carrie,” she said, putting some water on their table. “What’ll you be having tonight?”
“Hey,” Tyler said easily, taking a long look at Carrie in her tight shorts and low-cut white blouse. “I’ll have the steak-and-cheese quesadilla and a Coke. How about you, babe?”
“Um…” Allie was too busy watching Tyler, who was still looking at the waitress. “I guess…I’ll have the caesar salad. And an iced tea.”
“Okay!” Carrie pranced off. Tyler watched her go, before turning back to Allie. “Let’s talk,” he said.
“About what?” Allie growled.
“How’s the freak school going?”
“That was only funny the first fifty times you said it.”
Tyler’s eyebrows shot up. “Okay, okay,” he said. “How’s the Catholic school going?”
“It’s going fine,” she said shortly. She wasn’t interesting in talking about the goings-on at John Paul 2 to Tyler, who would either mock them or be bored by them.
“Well, things are going pretty crappy at Sparrow Hills,” Tyler grumbled. “Ever since the Halloween dance, everybody thinks they’re a comedian or something. I’ve totally lost respect.”
“What do you mean?” Allie said.
“I mean,” Tyler said, taking a gulp of water, “that none of the rookies got any respect for me, and I’m getting smart comments from all the people that…well, I’m getting a lot of smart comments.”
“Oh,” Allie said, feeling grimly satisfied. “I see.”
“And then Coach had to invite Peterson to our veterans meetings!” Tyler said. “Like, as if being a veteran doesn’t mean anything anymore!”
“Really?” Allie said. “Well, I mean, he has wrestled before…”
“You don’t understand! It’s a respect thing! I worked hard to get where I am, and now he just comes and gets everything handed to him, just because Coach is sweet on him! I don’t understand it!”
“Well, the important thing is the team, right?” Allie said, yawning. “I mean, maybe you’re just making a big deal about nothing. No offense.”
Tyler looked as if he’d been mortally insulted. “You don’t understand,” he grumbled, taking a sip of water. “The Sectionals are tomorrow, and I’m the team captain, and nobody’s respecting me…”
Carrie came back with their drinks, and Tyler’s expression changed. “Thanks,” he said, flashing her one of his patented flashy smiles. “Thanks a lot.”
She smiled back, and laughed a little. “No problem.”
Tyler once again indulged himself with a long look as she walked away.
He’s just being stupid, Allie told herself. After all, I’m his girlfriend.
Then Tyler reached over and took her hand. “So Allie, I was thinking…”
This sent her into instant confusion. For some reason, she and Tyler hadn’t held hands much—he was more of an arm-around-the-shoulder kind of guy—and she had always been bothered by that. Normally, if he had grabbed her hand like he was doing now, in public, she would have thought it was sweet and romantic. But, for some reason, she didn’t.
“What were you thinking of?” she said, trying to sound playful.
“…Maybe after we have dinner, we could spend some time alone. To celebrate.”
“Really?” Allie said, trying to convince herself that this was cute and harmless. “Doing what?”
He shrugged. “Nothing much.”
“I hope so,” Allie said lightly. “We shouldn’t mess around, you know. I’m a Catholic school girl.”
“I don’t know..” Tyler smirked. “I’ve heard some interesting stories about you Catholic school girls.”
Allie suddenly felt queasy. “That’s not funny,” she said, pulling her hand away.
“Aw, come on, Allie,” he said, taking her hand again and stroking it. “Lighten up. You’re always so uptight.”
He leaned over, and kissed her.
It happened so quickly that Allie had no time to react…and then it lasted a little longer. It lasted too long. She pushed herself away.
“What?” Tyler said softly; but there was an edge to the softness.
“Nothing,” she whispered back. “Sorry.”
He was a good kisser. A very good kisser. She needed time to think.
“Give me a few minutes,” she said. “Uh…I have to go to the ladies’ room.”
“Okay,” Tyler said, smiling.
“Be right back.” She got out of the booth with as much dignity as she could muster.
Once she was in the bathroom, she locked herself in one of the stalls and sat down to think. Two opposite and extraordinarily powerful emotions clashed inside her.
One was like a sweet, enveloping mist. It told her to go back to their table and let Tyler kiss her again. You’re lucky to have a guy like him. He does like you. Didn’t he just prove it? Relax. Enjoy yourself a little.
The other was like an alarm bell. He’s playing you! He is so playing you, and you’re letting him!
So what? You can play him too. It’s not a big deal. Come on, it’s not like you’ve never been kissed before.
Celia wouldn’t like it! It’s not right!
So what? You’re not like Celia. You never will be.
Allie sighed. She felt shaky and she didn’t like it. She wanted to be in control. She didn’t want to listen to either voice right now; at least not yet. She wanted to date Tyler, and be kissed by him…but she wanted Tyler to be like George, to be shy and tell her she was beautiful. She wanted to be Tyler’s girlfriend; but she didn’t want to be Tyler’s trophy girlfriend. She wanted to be cool, admired and bad like Ma
dison, but she wanted to be pure, sweet and good like Celia…
Truth Guy…? she thought fleetingly.
It took her a while, but she finally decided to go back and give Tyler another chance. He’s only a teenage boy with raging hormones, she thought. But she had to set some ground rules. Tyler had to stop flirting with other girls. That was a minimum, wasn’t it? And maybe she could find a way to bring up the porn thing. Maybe he’d listen to her if he really cared. He would definitely not get to kiss her or do anything else with her until they had an understanding.
She took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and walked out of the bathroom.
As she walked up to their booth, the first thing that she saw was Tyler talking to Carrie, who was giggling and writing something down on a piece of paper. The second thing she saw was Carrie giving the slip of paper to Tyler, who slipped it into his pocket with a grin.
Instantly, she was struck by several different emotions, all at the same time. Astonishment: He just got her number! Anguish: But he just kissed me! Rage: How could he do this?
But then all of these emotions were swept away by a something else: something so bright that it was blinding, so sweet that it was painful, and so real that it was irresistible: the truth. It’s over. I’m gonna dump him. I’ve already dumped him. She suddenly felt sharp, focused, and totally in control. It was a good feeling.
She walked up to the booth, which was now set with the food that Carrie had delivered.
“Hey,” Tyler said as she sat down. “It took you long enough. I was starting to wonder what happened—”
“Tyler,” Allie said, smiling sweetly. “We’re done.”
The look on Tyler’s face was perfect. “What?”
“We’re done,” Allie repeated calmly. “Get out of here, please. You are officially dumped.”
And that was that. There was a lot of noise, of course, before Tyler was convinced that she was serious. And then there was some more noise as he tried to figure out why. He kept asking if it was George. But she didn’t tell him. She figured he already knew. She just kept on asking him to leave.
Catholic, Reluctantly (The John Paul 2 High Series) Page 17