“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
They laughed. This was the corniest game of truth or dare ever.
“I honestly have no idea. I don't really have any special talents or anything. Everyone seems to have skills or interests and I just, I don’t really. So, I don’t know.” She shrugged, feeling kind of like a loser, but she really didn’t know how anyone who was in their last year of school could have it all figured out. She wasn’t sure she wanted to have it all figured out.
“You make those cute hair ties,” Lacey said. “And you definitely have an eye for fashion.”
“Oh, the scrunchies? Sure,” Peggy laughed, putting her hand to the pink scrunchie holding her half ponytail in place.
“You have to ask Ben now.” Lacey waved her hands around.
“Ben,” Peggy began, “how come when you’re like a jock and everything and super good at sports and stuff… Well, how come you hang out with us?”
Ben’s face became serious and Peggy was kind of sorry she’d asked. But she’d been wanting to ask him this for ages.
“It's like this,” Ben began reaching for the bottle. He took a swig before he continued. “We just get each other.”
Tricia nodded, and Sammy looked thoughtfully into the fire.
“And we've all been through something major,” added Lacey.
“Oh,” said Peggy, wishing she'd asked something else. Something cheesy.
“My dad,” said Ben, taking another drink before passing the bottle to Sammy.
“My mom,” said Sammy, taking a drink and then passing the bottle to Tricia.
“My sister,” said Tricia before taking a drink.
“I've never been through anything major,” Peggy mused as she rubbed her arms to get warmer, it was getting cold.
Lacey looked at her in disbelief.
“What?” asked Peggy.
“You’re here,” Lacey gave her a look.
Sammy took off his sweatshirt and passed it to Peggy. The others cheered and laughed, and Sammy rolled his eyes and told them to shut up. Peggy was sure she saw him blush a little, but maybe it was just the fire. Peggy put the sweatshirt on and felt instantly warm and held, as if he was hugging her.
“What are you going to do after school Ben?” Peggy asked when everyone had stopped making fun of them.
“Hey!” said Lacey, “that's two questions!”
“I dunno,” Ben said, staring into the fire. “I just wanna play ball, but I'm seriously messing up. There was a college scout from LA who was interested but I’m not sure they still will be. I’m not sure how I’d get through college anyway.”
“You can always come work for me at the garage,” Sammy said.
“Oh sure, and stay in Santolsa for the rest of my days? No way Sammy, I'm getting out. You’ve always said you wanted to get out too.”
“Maybe. I dunno,” shrugged Sammy. “We might expand. I kind of like the idea of a shop in Santolsa and one in LA where I can work on really hot cars, just go back and forth between the two.”
“Sounds really cool,” said Peggy, smiling at him across the flames and creating their whole lives together. They’d live in a super cute yellow and white house near the beach. She'd work at a shop selling scrunchies, he'd work on cars and they'd have two kids. A boy and a girl. The boy would be Samuel Ruthven III, and the girl would be Holly. They'd be the cutest family since sliced bread, and all of showbiz for the next thirty years would know their names and come calling whenever they needed some work done on their cars or a scrunchie.
The few sips of alcohol had given her a buzz for just long enough for her to allow herself to think about their future. Because the reality was that Sammy maybe only had four weeks left to live.
“We should get going,” said Sammy as he began putting out the fire. “Before the nuns realize we're gone.”
“And drunk,” said Tricia.
And Lacey handed out sticks of gum.
Thirty-Seven
The Grand Canyon
Peggy stood looking out across the Canyon. Her fear of heights keeping her clammy hands in her jeans pockets and her feet as far from the edge as possible. She’d decided to play her fate changing game. Instead of wearing a plain sweater she was wearing a check shirt. She wanted to wear Sammy’s sweatshirt, but she wasn’t sure if it would be weird, so she left it under her pillow in the tent instead.
“Come closer! Look down here!” cooed Lacey as she bounded around, her white sneakers turning orange from the dust.
“I’m OK here,” Peggy called out as she contemplated the canyon from a safe distance.
“Words can’t describe it,” said Sammy, standing next to her. Peggy nodded.
“Have you seen it before?” she asked as Ben and Lacey fooled around way too close to the edge, making her very nervous. Peggy had to look away.
“A couple times, once from down inside, it was… crazy,” he laughed gently as if remembering some crazy night at the bottom of the canyon with friends and girls and drinks. “You?”
“Once, with my folks.”
“It’s a long way from Canada,” he said. “Or wherever it is you're from,” he added with an edge.
“I’m not very good with heights,” she said wanting to avoid the topic of where she was from.
She had been here once before when she was a kid. Her dad who was completely ignorant of her fear of heights had made her step out onto the SkyWalk, a glass bottom structure leaning out into the canyon, which in the future was just near to where they were standing now. Magz had screamed as her dad dragged her to the edge telling her not to be so ridiculous, and her mom had to pick her up kicking and screaming and take her back to the car. She'd been hysterically sobbing, and everyone had stared at her.
Peggy took a tiny step back as she remembered standing off the edge, looking down into the abyss, feeling like she was going to fall. Like she was going to die.
“I’m not that good with snakes,” he admitted.
“I bet that makes camping in the desert interesting.”
“You have no idea.”
Suddenly Sammy was being hurtled towards the edge of the canyon and Peggy screamed. This wasn’t how it was meant to happen, they still had weeks together.
Laughter erupted, and Sammy turned around to punch his assailant on the arm.
“You jerk,” Sammy said, laughing.
“Sorry,” Nick said, looking at Peggy who was a blithering mess, crouched down and covered in dust. He put his hand out to help her up.
“You total jerk Nick,” she said, brushing herself off, hands shaking.
“Where the hell have you been anyway?” Sammy asked, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” Nick grinned.
Peggy didn't want to be standing near anyone who would pretend to throw someone off the edge of the Grand Canyon and so she excused herself and walked away to be alone, away from the boys and away from Lacey and Ben who were still gallivanting around, and she found a nice safe looking rock to sit on.
“Don’t get pissed,” the breeze picked up Nick's voice and sent it straight over.
“OK,” Sammy replied.
“Rochelle,” he said.
“Rochelle?” Sammy asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
“Rochelle,” Nick said proudly.
“You have my blessing man.”
“Really?” Nick asked.
“Rochelle and me, we had some fun.” Peggy’s stomach lurched as she thought about what fun they’d had. “But we never… I never totally got her. She never totally got me.” Peggy wondered if Sammy thought she got him. She knew he got her. She hoped he knew she got him.
“Oh, I got her. I got her last night,” Nick bragged.
“I don’t need the details,” Sammy said.
“What’s up with you and geek-girl?” Nick asked.
“Geek-girl?” Sammy asked. Geek-girl? Peggy frowned. Is that what they called her?
/> “She’s not your usual type Sammy, come on, look at her.” They looked over at her and she pretended to be suddenly interested in what Lacey and Ben were doing.
“Stop it you guys!” she called out playfully as Lacey and Ben ran over towards her.
“This is so boring,” Tricia said, walking over with a can of Pepsi.
“Where’d you get the Pepsi?” Lacey asked.
“I bought it off some family.”
“Are you kidding me?” Ben asked.
“No.” Tricia cracked open the can and drank.
“I’d kill someone for a Pepsi,” Lacey said, looking over the edge. Tricia stepped back.
“Where have you guys been?” Tricia asked as Rochelle and Leigh made their way over, dressed in short dresses and heels and looking like models turned up for a photo shoot, not kids on a school trip.
Peggy looked down at her jeans, t-shirt and check shirt combo and felt very unglamorous.
“We got a hotel,” Leigh said, sighing as she noticed the orange dirt on her white heels.
“I only wish we’d done that,” moaned Lacey.
“You should have come with us Lace,” Rochelle said, stepping over a rock with her long-tanned legs.
“Maybe I’ll come with you guys tonight,” Lacey said, getting all excited. Peggy gave her a look. Lacey had done nothing but bitch about Leigh and Rochelle since Peggy had met her and now, she was talking about going and staying in a hotel with them, leaving her and Tricia alone in the tent. Peggy did not want to be alone with Tricia in the tent. They were starting to get along OK, but not that OK.
“We’re staying at the tents tonight,” Leigh said. “It was just a one-night thing. We pretended to have car trouble, but the nuns are onto us.”
“My life sucks,” said Lacey, flicking some dust off her white top and looking like she was about to cry again.
* * *
“It’s come to our attention,” said Sister Constance as they were assembled for cheese sandwiches over lunch, “that some of you think it’s acceptable not to sleep in your own tents. Let me tell you that this trip is about survival skills as much as it is about seeing the wonder of the Grand Canyon.”
“No, it’s not,” said Lacey. “They never said anything about survival skills until just then. It's just because the school budget is so totally tight.”
“You need survival skills to stay in that camp site,” Tricia said loudly.
Sister Constance ignored her. “Tonight, we will be doing checks to see if you are in your tents and if you’re not, there will be repercussions.”
Ben's hand shot up. “Sister Constance, you can’t check the boy's tents!” he said.
Everyone laughed.
“Mr. Harcourt will check the boy’s tents,” said the nun.
Mr. Harcourt nodded. He was pretty hot for a teacher. Kind of like a young Tom Selleck. He must’ve been in his mid-twenties. Peggy struggled to imagine him hooking up with Awkward Amy who was watching him attentively through her thick rimmed glasses. Peggy giggled.
“You have a few more hours to explore the canyon then we’ll drive back to camp,” the nun instructed.
* * *
Peggy was almost asleep when she felt something on top of her. She thrashed about thinking she was being attacked by a bear or a ghost or something worse.
“Peg!” whispered Lacey. “Shhhhhh!”
“Get off me!” Peggy squealed
“Shush! You need to get up and be quiet!”
“Is it morning?” Peggy asked groggily.
“Sister Constance just did her check.”
“OK, so let me sleep.”
“Come on,” said Tricia, “we don’t have much time.”
“What's happening?” Peggy groaned as a flashlight hit her in the face.
“Get dressed,” Tricia demanded.
“She can get dressed in the car, let’s just get her packed.” Lacey said, shoving Peggy’s things into her bag.
“Seriously… what the?” Peggy asked.
The flashlight shone in her face again. “Sorry!” whispered Ben.
“Put that thing out,” Sammy ordered.
“What’s going on?” Peggy nearly shouted.
“We’re going to Vegas,” Lacey whispered, shining the torch towards her own face and grinning like it was Christmas before putting it out and finishing the rescue mission in the dark.
* * *
Lacey’s car headlights lit the way, casting shadows across the desert like magic, lighting up glimpses of mountains and trees and other objects that Peggy struggled to make out. It all blurred into one beautiful moment.
She was squished in the back between Tricia and Sammy, while Ben sat up front. She was still dressed in her polka dot pajamas, she wasn’t wearing any make-up and her breath was probably gross too. This was not how she wanted Sammy to see her.
“Are the groupies coming too?” Peggy asked sleepily, trying to stop herself from resting her head on Sammy’s shoulder and drifting off.
“They went ahead with Nick, didn’t wait for checks,” Tricia said. “They are going to be so busted.”
“You know they’ll get out of it somehow,” Lacey sighed.
“What time will we get there?” Peggy asked.
“Should be there by four,” Lacey said.
“Three thirty if you step on it Lace,” said Sammy.
“Step on it Lace!” shouted Tricia, bouncing up and down in the seat like a kid. “I want to get to Vegas!”
“Please don’t speed Lacey,” Peggy pleaded. “What are we going to even do in Vegas at four in the morning?” she asked, feeling her eyelids getting heavy.
“Party!” said Ben turning up the static and trying to find a radio station.
“Where's your car Sammy?” Peggy asked.
“Horace is going to drive it back,” Sammy said.
“Horace?” asked Tricia over the static. “But you don’t let anyone drive your car.”
“He’s going to cover for us in exchange for driving my car back. I trust him.”
“If you trust him, I trust him,” said Lacey. “I wonder what ever happened with him and June-Belle.”
Tricia let out a weird strangled sound.
“You won’t find any radio out here,” Sammy said but Ben kept trying.
“It’s just static,” Peggy said, sleepily resting her head on Sammy’s shoulder and she began to feel herself drift off.
* * *
The bright pulsing lights of Vegas woke her, and she thought she was still in a dream. It was electric, and although she was still half asleep, she was so excited she could burst. Here she was in the eighties, in Las Vegas. It was the coolest thing ever. She looked over at Sammy, maybe it was the second coolest.
“So, what now?” asked Lacey.
“We go hit the casinos,” Ben said.
“The strip or old town?” asked Lacey who obviously knew her way around.
“Old town,” said Sammy.
“Strip,” said Ben at the same time.
“We need a room,” said Sammy. “I know a place.”
“A room for what?” asked Ben.
“For crashing out later moron,” said Tricia.
Peggy felt like she was in a movie. The truth was, in 1983 a small town like Santolsa hadn’t really changed that much, but now that she was in Vegas, everything was different. Everything felt real somehow. She was no longer just a time traveler who fell out of a book room into the past. This was now her present, her life, her future. As the lights blazed around them and her friends argued around her, she nearly burst out crying because it was all too amazing.
* * *
The hotel room was cheap, red and gold and smelt like a bar. Peggy loved it.
“Let’s go out, come on! It’s getting late, or early,” said Lacey. “I’m not waiting another second for you guys. Meet me in the casino downstairs.”
“I just need to wash my face and put on some real clothes and make-up,” Peggy said, heading into t
he dingy little bathroom as Lacey walked out without doing anything. Girls like Lacey didn't have to worry about make-up.
Peggy looked at her reflection. She looked rough. Her hair was a mess, and her face looked lifeless. Urgh. She changed into her jeans and a tank top, she didn't bring any clothes for Vegas. She slapped on a bit of make-up, fluffed up her hair and shrugged. It would have to do.
When she finally came out everyone was gone. Except Sammy.
“Should we go?” she asked him, feeling tired and puffy but not wanting to miss a thing.
He shrugged.
She gave him a tired look. “But we’re in Vegas baby!” she said dropping down onto the bed.
“I don’t care about Vegas,” he said.
“So why did you plan this whole thing about sneaking out to Vegas?”
“I just,” he said as he sat down on the bed next to her and pulled her in close, “wanted,” he said, as he pushed her hair out of her face.
“Wanted…?” she asked, resting her hands lightly on his arms. The arms she'd watched in the car that first day he took her for a drive. The way his muscles flexed when he changed gears had driven her wild. And now here they were, these same arms, under her hands, in a hotel in Las Vegas. Life was a funny thing.
“To be alone with you,” he said, and he kissed her hard and fast, like he’d been thinking about it all day. He kissed her like she’d never been kissed in her life, she was putty in his hands, weak at the knees and all the other clichés you can think of. It was a perfect moment. It was 1983, and it was Vegas and it was Sammy Ruthven.
“Well, you got what you wanted,” she said breathless as he pulled away. But it was only to pick her up in his arms and throw her down onto the bed.
“We can go out if you really want to,” he said, leaning gently over her.
She shook her head. Exploring Las Vegas was the last thing she wanted if the other option was exploring Sammy Ruthven.
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” he said softly.
“I want to, but I don’t want to be just another girl for you,” she said nervously, running her hand through the back of his dirty blonde hair. “Just another one of Sammy Ruthven’s conquests.”
Class of 1983: A Young Adult Time Travel Romance Page 24