.
When I went to school the next day I felt more
confident and self-assured than I had ever felt at this school or any other. I couldn't explain why. Trent and I hadn't done much more than a pair of junior high students might do these days, but somehow I could sense a new maturity in me. I felt older, experienced, more invulnerable, especially to whatever Wendi and Penny could throw my way. It was as if I had gained some ancient wisdom or waken it in my sleeping brain and now realized that the Grinchy twins, as I liked to think of them, weren't worth a minute of worry when it came to how they would affect my life and happiness. It was better and far easier to pretend they were invisible.
I told that to Trent when he and I sat together in the cafeteria while, at the next table down. Wendi and Penny squirmed like two termites into the brains of all their devotees. He laughed and nodded,
"I do the same thing sometimes, pretend people I don't like or people who just annoy me aren't there. I look right through them, block out whatever they say. My friends think I'm daydreaming, but it's easier that way."
We talked so much that day, every opportunity we had. He had come to school on his crutch, of course, and all of his buddies and many other girls hovered about him as though he had been wounded in a gallant battle, showing great courage. The crutch was a medal, an honor. Same actually wanted to touch it as if it had a magical quality.
As quickly and as gracefully as he could, he escaped from them to come to me every chance he had. The result was that more and more of the students who wouldn't give me the time of the day before were now interested in me. I knew a few of the girls had crushes on Trent as heavy as the one Autumn had carried secretly in her heart. I knew they thought that if they found reasons to be with me, they would be with him, and competition for his attention grew more intense. Before long we were struggling for opportunities to be alone, even if it was for a few moments in the hallway or the minutes we had together in the cafeteria before they descended on us like honey bees drawing whatever succor they could from Trent's smile or friendly words.
First thing in the afternoon after lunch was our history exam. Mr. Caswell offered to give Trent a makeup test if he felt his injury had made it impossible for him to study well. I thought that was generous, but Wendi nudged me to say, "If he wasn't a school sports hero, he'd be left to sink or swim." To her surprise and even a little to mine. Trent refused the offer and said he was better prepared than ever. Of course, he looked my way and smiled, which turned every other girl's spotlight eyes to me for a moment of envy so thick and green it made the air around me hot and hard to breathe.
Moments later the class was quiet and the test had begun. There was nothing on it that Trent and I had not covered. One of the essay questions looked as if it had been created out of my very notes, in fact. I saw Trent smile with confidence, glance back at me, and then go at it. Afterward he made a paint of telling me how much studying with me had helped him. He said it loudly enough so that anyone who didn't know by now knew we had spent some of the previous evening together at his house.
Whatever new image I had developed simply because he was showing me attention in the halls and cafeteria of our school exploded into celebrity with this revelation. In an instant I was being thought of as Trent Ralston's new steady girlfriend. It was as if I had won the lottery.
When he asked to study English with me for our upcoming exam. I couldn't help but feel a little ball of excitement swirl up from the pit of my stomach to the center of my thumping heart.
"I'll even come to your house and take a chance that your father won't bite. The doctor said I can drive as long as I don't take any painkillers, and I want my mind clear when I'm with you I mean studying with you." he said.
I felt it was all right for me to invite him without first asking my parents. I knew Daddy had a major training exercise all day and into the early evening hours. When I got home and told Mommy, she asked me why I didn't invite him to dinner as well. The thought had not occurred to me. but I felt as though I had missed an opportunity and perhaps disappointed him.
You can still do it if you want," she said. "It's not that late in the day."
"Should I?"
"Sure," she said, making it sound like almost nothing when to me it was like running the twominute mile or something, a major accomplishment. I had never invited a boy I liked to dinner with my parents.
"Just don't make it sound like we're having something special. I'm doing chicken burgers with home flies and string beans. Maybe I'll get something special for dessert," she concluded. "You'd better tell him just in case he doesn't like chicken burgers. Tell him I'll make him a peanut butter sandwich if he won't eat my chicken burgers."
"Mommy!"
"Just kidding. Your father loves my chicken burgers. I add a lot of secret ingredients." She studied me a moment. I saw the amusement in her eyes, amusement at my nervous hesitation. "Let me know if you work up enough courage to call him and if he accepts. so I can put out another plate and prepare a little more," she said.
I berated myself for being so silly and bashful and went right to the phone. The first question from Trent was, "Is your father going to be there. too?"
"Stop worrying about him. Trent. He's just a naval officer. He's not an ogre. And anyway, he will be late tonight. He's on a training exercise."
"Oh. Sure, well, that's very nice of your mother. I'll be there," he said.
Despite myself. when I told her. I couldn't contain the underlying flow of excitement in my voice. If only she knew haw important I had felt all day and haw happy I was. I thought, but then I wondered how I would tell her about all that without sounding like a lovesick puppy.
"Okay. Since we have a guest for dinner. I'll put out silverware so we don't eat everything with our fingers," she joked.
"Mommy!"
She went off laughing, and I retreated to my room, suddenly feeling as if everything in my life had become more vivid, more vibrant, whether colors, sounds, or even the scent of my colognes and shampoo. For me there was an electricity in the air. It was more charged than it had been for any birthday or any previous special occasion. Was I being foolish? He was just a boy I had become more friendly with, I told myself. But when I looked at
my face in the mirror. I saw how futile it was to think I could lie to myself. The truth was there in my eyes, in the flush in my cheeks. whether I wanted it to be there or not.
A few minutes later the phone rang. My heart went on pause. Was it Trent now telling me something had come up and he couldn't come after all? Mommy spoke for a while, but her voice was muffled. Then she came to my room.
"That was your father. He wants us to go over to the airport to see the helicopters take off. It's an impressive sight, he says. I told him you had homework to do and I had to go get some things for dinner because we had a guest coming, but he sounded so disappointed. I told him you and I would stop by on my way to the supermarket. Okay?"
"Of course." I said, practically jumping out of my shoes, first because it wasn't Trent canceling and then because I knew it would be exciting to watch all those helicopters lift off with Daddy in command.