“Okay, I’ll see you then,” I said, and then hung up.
I called Tami to let her know I had done as asked.
“Hey, it’s David.”
“What’s up? You sound down,” Tami asked.
“I asked Jennie out, as instructed. Did you arrange transport?”
“Teddy is sending a car big enough for everyone. It’ll pick you up at school at lunchtime. You’ll have some time before the dance, so the girls are planning to give the guys a tour, and then everyone’ll go out to dinner.”
“Sounds good, I’ll talk to you later,” I said.
“Hold on, Buster, what’s wrong?”
Where to start? We spent the next twenty minutes talking about my concerns about my mom. It felt good to talk it out. Tami convinced me that we just needed to wait and see what was up.
Wednesday December 4
I GOT UP EARLY AND ran to Peggy’s house. I met her dad as he was going out and said ‘hi.’ Her mom was in the kitchen, pouring a cup of coffee.
“Morning, where’s Peggy?” I asked.
“She’s still in bed. I heard her turn off her alarm,” Mrs. Pratt said as she shrugged.
“Mind if I go wake her up?”
“No, she’s being lazy.”
“Okay, ignore any strange noises. It’s all part of the wake-up process.”
Mrs. Pratt rolled her eyes at me and waved me on. I snuck upstairs and found Peggy buried under her comforter. I kicked off my shoes, took my shirt off, and eased into bed with her. She was facing away from me until she rolled over and bumped into me. Her eyes snapped open and she was confused.
“Morning, Sunshine.”
“DAVID!”
I tickled her and she screeched and wiggled, trying to get away. Then she turned the tables on me and I was soon screaming. We heard a knock on the door and Mrs. Pratt stuck her head in.
“Is everything okay in here?”
“MOM!”
She raised her eyebrows.
“David, are you naked?”
I threw back the comforter, and she saw I had my shorts on.
“Not yet.”
“DAVID!”
“I swear, Mrs. Pratt, your daughter needs to learn to use her indoor voice.”
Peggy poked me in the ribs, causing me to jump back; I found myself on the floor. Both women thought that was funny.
“Get your butt out of bed and let’s go run.”
I bounded down the stairs and Mrs. Pratt joined me in the kitchen. She gave me a glass of OJ while we waited on Peggy.
We went outside and stretched. We started out at a slow jog. Peggy kept giving me sidelong looks as we ran through the neighborhood. I needed to reassure her that going out with Tracy didn’t mean I’d lost interest.
“I want you to know I’ve not forgotten about us. Just because it’s not now doesn’t mean that it’s never going to happen. I do have a crush on you. I want to spend time with you, and not just our runs in the mornings. I want to do more stuff like we did with Suzanne and Jim,” I said.
She didn’t say anything for almost a mile. Then she slowed down and stopped. I came back to her. When she was sure she had my full attention, she finally spoke.
“I won’t wait forever for you. I think we could have something special, but I’m worth your full attention. If you ignore me, I’ll move on. I don’t care what your mom and Tami say. I’m ready for you to be in my life.”
She had tears sneaking out. I felt my throat tighten up. I’d made my choice when I decided to get back together with Tracy, but I couldn’t hurt Peggy.
“I want you to know that I hear you. I’ll understand if you can’t wait. I would never want to stand between you and your happiness,” I said.
She put her arms out.
“Hug me.”
How could I refuse that request? I was so glad I decided to run with her this morning. We finished our run with me dropping her off at her house. As I headed home, I felt like I may have just lost her.
GREG TOOK ME TO SCHOOL. When we arrived, Luke and Mike were getting out of their car. I walked up to Luke.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
He gave me a dirty look.
“I would rather not,” he said, and he made to walk around me.
“Luke, just give me two minutes and then I’ll leave you alone.”
He glared at me.
“I’m sorry for yesterday. I was acting petty, making our friends choose between us. I considered you one of my best friends. I know we’ll never be friends again. What I don’t want is our feelings screwing up everyone around us. So if we’re at lunch, at a party, or anywhere our friends can invite us both, let’s not make a scene.”
He looked at his feet and just nodded.
“There’s something else I need to talk to you about: the dance at Wesleyan. Did you still want to go?”
“No, I really can’t see me doing that.”
“Fair enough. Is it okay if Mike goes?”
He gave me a glare. I held up my hands.
“Look, Mike and I are still friends. I would like to continue that friendship, but if you don’t want me around him, I’ll withdraw the invitation.”
“No, that’s not fair to my brother. Let him decide. If he wants to go, I won’t try to stop him,” Luke said.
He put his head down and I stepped out of the way so he could get to class.
AT LUNCH, LUKE CAME late and he sat down at the table with everyone. When I didn’t react, everyone seemed to relax. Gina was telling everyone about her massage.
“It’s heaven. Let me tell you, I’ve never felt so good in all my life.”
“So, Greg has some magic fingers?” Alan asked.
I raised my eyebrow. I’m not sure how Alan was going to take the news that I gave the massage, so I tried to deflect the question. Gina and I would need to tell him in private that I gave it. I didn’t want to make my friend uncomfortable in front of everyone.
“I agree with Gina. That type of massage is fantastic. I’ve had Greg practice on me and actually fell asleep, and I’m not just talking my brother up. I’ve had massages from the trainers, as part of therapy, and Greg is much better.”
“You can collect your bribe when we get home,” Greg said.
I glanced over at Gina and she winked at me. I just kept a neutral expression.
“Do you have some openings this weekend?” Tracy asked. “I’d like to treat some friends.”
“I’ll have Angie call you and set it up,” Greg beamed.
“Dang, and I’ll be gone this weekend,” I pouted.
Tracy swatted my arm.
Towards the end of lunch, I got Mike, Jim and Jeff together and told them about the Christmas Dance plans. I was relieved when Mike seemed excited. The guys were really looking forward to going. Personally, I was dreading seeing Tami with a date. I was also a little nervous about going with Jennie.
Before the lunch bell rang, I told Alan that I gave Gina her massage. I knew he trusted me, but didn’t want him hearing it from someone else. He just shook his head and gave me his quirky smile. I knew we were okay.
AFTER LUNCH, I STARTED swimming in PE. The substitute teacher explained that the final would be over two days. On the first day, we would swim a timed distance. Then the second day was a timed four laps using different strokes. He told us if we finished we got at least a C; we were to be graded on a curve based on time. I looked around the class and saw I’d gotten a lot of the swim team in my PE class. Getting an A was going to be tough.
My first tutoring season had a little hiccup. Ms. Jenkins, who was the head of the tutoring program, found out that Suzanne was going to continue to tutor me. She wanted Suzanne to tutor one of the basketball players last hour. We all ended up in Ms. Jenkins’ office.
Suzanne explained that she was tutoring me at that time, but could make time to help the basketball player. Ms. Jenkins agreed she could tutor me on my dime and they would let us use our original room. Suzanne agreed to tutor the basketball player at lunch and he would have my slot when I was gone, so all ended well.