“Tell her to mind her own business. She’s just being nosy.”
“I think she thinks you have a thing for me.”
“That’s no secret,” I teased her.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do. What do you want me to do about it?” I asked.
“Nothing, I just wanted to know what you’d said.”
“I just told her you were going, and to keep you in the loop as to what was going on. She’s just trying to figure out what makes you special to me. Take it as a compliment,” I suggested.
We chatted until I needed to get up and go run. I was feeling good about inviting her.
AT LUNCH, I WAS STUDYING for my Biology test. The cheerleaders had been respecting my time and leaving me alone. I was surprised when Yuri sat down with me. The last time I’d seen him he had just punched Mitch and was disappearing into the crowd before school.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“It seems I have a problem of my own making,” he started, then stopped and gave me a pained look. “Sorry, I had this whole speech thought out in my head, and now I’m not sure what to say.”
“How about you tell me what your problem is?” I suggested.
“None of the girls here at Lincoln High will date me.”
“How am I supposed to help you with that?” I asked, more than a little amused.
“You could get me a date with Piper?” he suggested.
“If I treated Piper like you did, even I couldn’t get a date with her. I think you might want to find someone else.”
“But she’d listen to you.”
“Maybe I could, but why would I convince her to go out with you?”
He bit his lower lip and looked me in the eye.
“I’m not really the jerk I was acting like. I’m new here, and I was hanging around some guys who acted like they liked me. They think they’re tough, so I was trying to act big for them,” he told me, then hung his head. “And thank you for not kicking the shit out of me.”
“If I’d known I was going to get suspended, I’d have given you a couple of whacks to make it worthwhile,” I said.
He looked up quickly and saw I was smiling at him. He shook his head.
“Somehow I doubt you would have hurt me. I was no threat to you, and I don’t think you’re that violent of a guy. If you were, you’d have kicked the shit out of Mitch.”
“Thank you for that, by the way. He deserved what he got. If you hadn’t, I was going to have to.”
“If you have anyone else you needed whacked, I’m your man,” he offered.
“That’s not helping convince me you should be allowed to date Piper or anyone else for that matter.”
“I’m just saying,” he said with a lopsided grin.
“I might have uses for a hit man. I’ll keep you in mind when I need to keep my hands clean,” I teased him.
“My mom would shoot me if she heard us. She says Americans think all Russians are part of the mafia.”
“You should get some tattoos and sell it. Of course, you might attract the wrong people and get your butt kicked. If you’re going to be a tough guy, first you need to learn to fight.”
“I got a shot or two in. I could have taken you if I had to,” he boasted.
“You’re such a wuss. I bet I know a girl who could whip you,” I baited him.
“There’s no way a girl could even last a minute with me.”
“Tell you what, Tough Guy: meet me in the gym after school. Wear your gym clothes, and if you can handle this girl, I’ll get you a date with Piper. If not, you have to stay and work out with everyone until you can handle the girl.”
We shook on it.
BEFORE FOOTBALL PRACTICE, I told Jim and Wolf what I’d set up for Cassidy. Somehow, the whole football team and the coaches were in the gym when Yuri walked in. He looked around and started to look nervous. I walked up to him and introduced him to Cassidy.
“Yuri, this is Cassidy. She’s going to hand you your head, and then work you until you realize you’re not as tough as you think.”
“Hi. I don’t want to hurt a girl,” he said, trying to back out of it.
“Don’t worry about me. Let’s go to the mats,” Cassidy told him.
Coach Hope came over, and Yuri really got nervous.
“I just wanted to set the ground rules for this demonstration,” he said, and then turned to Cassidy. “You can subdue him, but you can’t break any bones or do any permanent damage.”
“Okay, Daddy,” she said in her best little girl voice.
“What about me?” Yuri asked.
“I would suggest you back out of this,” Coach Hope said.
How he kept a straight face, I have no idea. Cassidy waited for Yuri to make the first move. The poor dumbass was on the ground and squealing like a little girl before he knew what happened. She let him go, and he looked at me.
“Time to start working out,” I told him.
The guys all came up and patted him on the back. Getting your butt handed to you by Cassidy was kind of a rite of passage. We headed to practice and left him to try to survive the next hour.
Thursday November 20
I WILL GIVE YURI CREDIT: he showed up at lunch again. He saw I was studying, so he got his math book out. I had a momentary pang as I realized he was using me as a role model. He was clearly confused about something.
“Need help?” I asked.
He showed me what he was working on. I showed him a trick for figuring it out that Suzanne had taught me.
“You do know there are study groups you can join to help you learn this stuff,” I suggested.
“I thought that was just for the athletes.”
“No, it’s for everyone,” I said, and then looked at him funny. “Who said you weren’t an athlete?”
“I’ve never gone out for anything. I always kind of thought all jocks were stupid Neanderthals.”
I got out my phone.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m sending Cassidy a text.”
“Dude, please. That was so embarrassing. You’re a jerk, you know.”
“Yep, but did you meet some new people?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “The wrestling team told me I should go out so I could defend myself from girls.”
“That was low. They’re crazy, you should stay away from them,” I suggested.
“Actually, they’re pretty funny. None of them were willing to test their theory and challenge Cassidy.”
I soon found out Yuri was worse than sitting with the girls. He was a little chatterbox. It finally dawned on me the poor kid didn’t have any friends, besides our resident bad boys. I was probably the first person who talked to him more than just saying ‘hi’ in the hall. I looked around the cafeteria and noticed there were a few other people who seemed to be eating by themselves.
Not that I needed another project, but it was sad to see.
PEGGY FOUND ME BEFORE football practice.
“We need to talk,” she said, making me cringe.
She laughed at me because she knew how that sentence struck fear in me.
“It’s nothing bad,” she assured me. “I just found out we’re going on vacation early. I’m leaving Friday after school and won’t be back until the Sunday after Thanksgiving.”
Peggy had told me they might be going on vacation. She just didn’t know when or where. She had guessed they would go over Christmas break. It was based on when her dad could get off work.
“Did they tell you where you’re going?”
“Mom just said to pack my swimsuit. I’m hoping somewhere with a beach.”
“Go and have a good time. Be sure to cover up, I’d hate for you to burn,” I suggested.
“You just don’t want other boys seeing too much flesh.”
“You’re so smart. I knew there was a reason I was dating you.”
She gave me a hip-check, and I pulled her in for a kiss. It looked like after her parents went through their rough patch that things were going better.