I couldn't get back over to Shelley's to work on the project until the following Tuesday. She had to go out of town for the weekend and I had plenty to do to keep busy. Over the summer I had increased my training sessions at the dojo to three a week, but once school started, I was back down to two. I still needed to work out and run in the morning. Unfortunately, now that I was growing, my reactions and timing were totally screwed up. Exercises and katas and workout routines that should have been quick and easy were now the work of a drunken spastic. Mr. Miyagi said that this was normal in students of my age, and as I stabilized at a new height and weight, I would quickly get back to normal. I had already moved up one belt color, or kyu, to yellow, and was now working towards orange. Curiously, in official Japanese based aikido, everyone is white, until the graduate from kyu status to dan status, where everyone is black belt. The multicolored belt system is an American innovation.
I also got Dad to trade in our family's Royal manual for a used IBM Selectric, and amazingly got him to cough up half the difference in price. Typing homework became much faster. Hamilton didn't like that I could use a typewriter, but he had pushed his luck too far lately and he was afraid of fucking with it, on fear of Dad's anger.
Tuesday afternoon I rode on the bus over to Shelley's house, and she held my hand on the bus, which generated more than a few stares from some of the other kids. We walked hand in hand up to her house. Once inside, I held up our hands and said, "Thanks, I think."
She gave me an exasperated look and took back her hand. "Carl, I don't know what it is you think of me, but I'm not as shallow or as stupid as you seem to think I am."
I gave her a bleak look. "Yeah, I mean, no, you're not." I shook my head at the import of what I was saying as she gave me a disgusted look. "That didn't come out right."
"Carl, what is your problem with me?"
I sat down on the living room couch and rubbed my face. "I don't know, Shelley. Maybe the problem is with me, not you."
She sat down next to me. "Huh?"
"I don't know Shelley, maybe I'm just being a jerk. I mean, a year ago, or even just last spring, you wouldn't have given me the time of day. Then this year, out of the blue, you ask to partner with me and we're suddenly boyfriend-girlfriend. What happens the day after the Science Fair is over? I get kicked to the curb again?"
"That's a pretty ugly picture of me, Carl, you know?" She did not look happy.
"I know." I looked at her and shrugged. "Or am I just the most cynical and pessimistic bastard you've ever met?"
She smiled at that. "Maybe it's a little of both.", she replied. I eyed her curiously. "Listen, before this year, you weren't anything to write home about. Don't get me wrong, Carl, but I at least would like a guy to be as big as I am!"
I laughed at that. "God knows that's the truth."
"And this year,", she continued, "Well, maybe I did start out just looking for your help on the project, but I also got to know you. You're nowhere near as scary as I thought you would be."
I had to stare at her. "Scary?! What in the world are you talking about?" The very concept that anybody could be impressed by me was ludicrous on its face. Scary?
"Well, Jeez, Carl, everybody knows you. Come on, you're only the smartest guy in the entire school. You kicked the shit out of three guys twice your size last year. You got arrested and then sweet talked your way out of it, and then you got the three guys arrested and thrown out of school! Everybody sees you out running and working out every morning, and everyone knows you're, like, a black belt in karate or something. You take classes at Towson High and know professors at Towson State - I mean, half the school wants to know why you aren't going to college!"
I stared at her in disbelief. "Are you shitting me?" I just shook my head.
"No, I'm not!"
"Jesus!" I looked over at her and smiled. "Listen, I ain't nobody special. I'm just trying to get by, like everyone else. I'm the same asshole I've always been. All that stuff is just stuff. I don't go looking for trouble."
"Oh, yeah? So, let me ask you, seriously, how come you're still at Towsontown then, and not in high school or college? You're the smartest guy I've ever heard of, like our very own Einstein or something."
I had a good laugh at that. I may well have been the smartest guy in the school, but I know the difference between that and Einstein. "Here's the question for you. Maybe I could get into college. Maybe I am that smart. Why would I want to?"
"Huh? Why wouldn't you?", she asked, her forehead wrinkling. "So you can get out of school, silly." For the average student, graduation meant escape.
I just shook my head. "Think about that for a second. I'm 14 years old. All the kids over at Towson State are 18 or 19 or whatever. If you think I stand out now, how about then? How many college girls are going to be interested in me? Think any of them are going to hold my hand like you did? How do I get to school? I can't drive. I can't wait to see Mommy and Daddy taking me to school over there."
Her eyes opened at that. "I never thought about that."
"I just want what everybody else wants. I'm so normal I'm boring, even to myself."
Shelley rolled her eyes at that. "You aren't boring! I mean, what about all the karate and working out and all?"
"Lots of guys work out. What's the difference between me and the guys who stay after school for sports?"
"But that's just it; you're not going out for sports! You do it on your own."
"Who'd pick me for sports? I'd still be the smallest guy on the team, and besides, I'm not a black belt in karate. That's just silly."
She pointed a finger at me. "I know you go up to the Miyagi place. I saw Lance two weeks ago and we were talking."
"That's aikido, which is different, and I'm not a black belt."
"Listen, say what you want, but you're different, special-like. I'm just glad you let me be your partner and not one of the other girls."
My eyes widened at that. "What other girls?"
She rolled her eyes again. "Oh my God! Give me a break! There were a bunch of them - and no, I'm not giving you their names! - and I just asked you first. Besides, now that you've outgrown the midget stage, you're kind of cute."
I just stared for another minute or so. "I think each and every one of you have lost your fucking minds!"
Shelley laughed loudly at that and stood up. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. "Come on, we need to work on this project!"
She dragged me down to the basement and it was obvious that somebody had been working. I won't say it was spotless, but it was a whole lot cleaner. The room had been swept and dusted, and while the couch was still dilapidated, it was clean, and an old Afghan had been draped over it. "Wow, somebody has been working."
Shelley laughed. "Daddy made me do it. He said it was pretty disgusting when he saw what we had been working in. I got Mom to help." On the table along with the pump was a shopping bag with a half dozen cartons of Camel nonfilters.
I pulled a carton out of the bag and opened it up, and then pulled out a pack. "Let's give it a shot. Got any matches?"
She looked startled. "This is it? We're starting?"