Authors: Nicole Lee
“
For starters, how you managed to make the most miserable pass I’ve ever seen in my life and avoid getting yelled at by your coach.”
“
This team wouldn’t exist if I weren’t here,” he said, pointing to the number seven on his jersey. “I mean, not to give myself too much credit, but if without me? Psht. They’d be nothing more than sports fan boys wearing shoulder pads and getting their guts spilled. The bad pass you saw was a rarity and nothing more.”
“
All right. If you’re so important, how come you’re up here rather than down there waiting for your name to be called?”
“
Me being up here is a testament to my clout. Since they know I’m working my game with a lovely lady, they can’t afford to try and get me back into the practice session. Besides, I’ve done my share of work today. My legs feel like they’re on fire. Want to massage them?”
“
You don’t talk to girls much, do you?”
“
Sure I do. Cheerleaders, at least.”
“
They’re not real girls. See, not everyone finds gratuitous come ons to be attractive.”
“
I should’ve figured. You’re one of those chicks who will be an English major after you graduate. I can tell you’re smart. You know what I’ll be? A pro football player.”
“
There’s always that. I’m sure the NFL is looking for someone who can throw a football the same way someone with cerebral palsy juggles.”
“
How’s this for a pick up line,” he said, ignoring her insult. “You’re cute.”
“
It’s a better start. Gorgeous would have worked, but I’ll settle for that.”
“
I’ve seen you around,” he said. “I like the way you walk. You carry yourself like you don’t care what others think.”
“
Why. Thanks. I guess.”
“
Can I ask you out?”
Rose felt herself flush.
She rarely accepted date invitations. She was not picky per se, at least not in the traditional sense. She did not have the type of man she preferred down to an art form. She found the sorts of sporty cliques he belonged to atrocious.
Yet Grady Bell was different - he existed for her as an ambiguous dichotomy, a cross between what was in fact ‘her type,’ yet just different enough. He was not the sort to tolerate her thoughts on subjects she was interested in, whether it be alchemy or ecology, magic or logic (not like the two weren’t intertwined). His palate for academia was most likely not very strong.
What she was less confident of being able to handle was the macho mentality that many pupils had been a witness of concerning his actions. She was lucky enough to not have heard rumors of him being a bully, but when confronted, it was well known that he had a vile temper - one that could easily work for or against him.
The Bell family had a legacy well-preserved in the minds of the town’s residents. One of his ancestors opened up a restaurant - an establishment which would become one of the most lucrative dining halls within the area code. In the 1960’s, Bell’s eatery catapulted the bloodline from living modestly above the minimum wage line into a lavish, envious lifestyle. Rose was attracted to Grady for this reason - not because of his finances, but rather because of the fact that his family tree had a recognized and respected past, something she did not have the luxury of herself.
“
So,” Grady said, scratching his chin and looking about nervously.
“
So what?”
“
Will you go out with me?”
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No,” she said.
“
No girl’s ever said that to me. Why are you turning me down, Rose Whelan?”
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Because you don’t want to deal with someone like me.”
His eyes turned upwards to the blue sky, before they settled on her again. “Please explain.”
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I’m a bundle of nerves,” she said, reading her book again as if he was not there.
“
Okay. Is that all?”
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Perhaps not,” Rose said.
“
Just give me a chance. Dinner and a movie, what do you say?”
Rose felt herself blushing once more. She set the book completely down now, and stared directly at him with a level gaze.
“
You don’t know me,” she said.
“
That’s sort of the point of a date. So I can learn something about you.”
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I educated you on everything you need to know.”
“
I forgot everything you just said. I need you tell me it again over a couple of burgers and cokes.”
“
Yes,” she said.
He smiled, nodded his head in a gesture of appreciation, and then stood up.
“
I’ll see you later,” he said, waving with one hand while briskly jogging back down to the field.
She got on her two feet and then leaned against the tree while raising her eyes to get a better view of him as he made his way through the oblique hill. The wind picked up and blew her hair back as she stared at her date with her hands in her pockets, thinking about how her life could very well change soon.
7
Rose woke up the next morning after dreaming of the quarterback. His face was in all of her reveries as of late. She did not think Grady was a bad guy at all, but something about his polar opposite qualities attracted her to him. Girls like her, ones who wore black and preferred to avoid sunlight, were not supposed to date star athletes. She could not believe that her infatuation had shifted across her personal borders and extended into the world of football, for she contained a lot of hate to anyone involved in extracurricular activities on principle.
Annoyed at the blaring of her alarm clock, she got out of bed and turned it off.
That was when it dawned on her that, for the first time all week, she had woken up in her own bed.
Driving to school, she almost ran a red light because Grady was still on her mind.
Deep in thought about him and walking into school that morning, James and Melinda were sitting in the hallway in front of their lockers, talking to each other and sharing a golden colored liter of apple soda. They looked up.
Rose was preparing to sit down right next to them before she felt a kind of presence. The cheerleader Gina Radcliff was standing behind her, wearing a flannel skirt and peach colored sweater that looked as if it had been cleaned and given a scrubbing with a lint roller by Michelangelo. She was classy by any other standard except personality, except that before she could get a word in, Gina sneezed.
“
Can I help you?” Rose asked.
“
Yes, there’s something I have to tell you. Ha-choo.” She unleashed another phlegm reaction, only this one caused her to double over. Rose would have been freaked out by the germ aspect, but at this point, she was too busy feeling happy about her nemesis’s fits to care.
“
Someone told me that you were talking to Grady,” Gina said.
“
Grady who?”
“
Don’t play dumb with me. Grady Bell, the hottest football player at this school.”
“
Oh, him. Yes, yeah. I was.”
“
Listen, me and him aren’t together, but we will be. I don’t want you ruining that. You might be able to ruin your parents relationship, but I don’t want you ruining mine.”
“
What relationship?” Rose said, feeling herself redden with rage. “You said yourself you don’t have one.”
“
Did you not hear me, weirdo? I said I will. So lay off. If I catch you hanging out with him again, I’ll spread rumors that you and your little girlfriend over there are lesbo’s. Do you want that?”
“
No one will believe it,” Rose said.
“
They will after I say it. Everyone knows I couldn’t imagine lying. Mark my words, if I hear anything about you having a flirting contest with Grady, I’ll have everyone on campus calling you a dude. Believe me.”
With that, Gina turned around and walked away, getting in one last sneeze.
“
She’s such a horrible person,” Melinda said. “Did you see the green spots on her pullover when she walked away?”
“
You’re seeing Grady Bell?” James asked, wearing a look of utter hurt.
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Who does she think she is?” Melinda asked.
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I don’t know,” Rose said, folding her arms. “I’ll get her back.”
“
You’re seeing Grady Bell?” James asked again, incredulous.
“
Technically no,” Rose answered. “Yet we will. Unlike Gina, however, I’m not using self-rationalization and inner psychotic hyperbole to justify my delusions of grandeur. I will meet with him. I just haven’t yet. Er, at least not for any lengthy amount of time. I already have, but it was once. It needs to happen a second time.”
James backed away for a second, staring at the ground in contemplating. He leaned against the row of lockers and folded his arms.
“
You do know what you’re messing with, right?” Melinda gave her a look of concern. “It’s Grady Bell, the son of one of our town’s most successful businessmen. Girls like you and me almost never date people like him.”
“
What do you mean?”
“
Not saying we don’t have the looks. It‘s who we are socially.”
The bell rang. The swarm in the hall began scattering.
“
I’ll see you two later,” Rose said, waving while making her way to class.
“
You’re seeing Grady Bell?” James asked again, pain evident in his voice.
Sitting through the next class period, health, was similar to having a migraine for two hours. When it was over she made her way outside into the drab grey corridors. Much to her astonishment, Grady was standing next to his locker. After he saw her, he turned to one of his friends and said something. His pal moved away. She had to admit that Bell looked good out of his typical uniform, wearing nothing but a white shirt and blue jeans. He held a binder and a copy of Henry Miller’s Tropic of Capricorn in his hands.
“
You’re doing some heavy reading, huh?” Rose asked. “Studying required books for College?”
“
Not really. I have as much interest in excelling in the academic world as a eunuch does in the dating one. Speaking of which, about our date. How does tonight sound? When and where?”
“
Somewhere that’s good for you.”
“
How about Orchid‘s?”
“
Sounds great,” she said, knowing that it was one of the pricier bistro‘s, a cuisine located on the shore front down town. Yet she was flattered he would make that offer.
“
If you don’t mind me asking, where do you live? I can pick you up at four.”
“
Deal.” She took his hand and retrieved a sharpie from her backpack, writing her address down on his palm.
With that, they smiled at each other and went their separate ways, each going off to their next class.
That day in art class rain had begun to fall outside. She had followed weather reports to make sure that a sudden and terrible downpour would not ruin her date. She took a break from her scribbling and stared out the window.
A black cat was sitting on the sill outside. It was the same one she shooed away a few nights ago. Its fur was darker than shadows, and its gaze was as deep as the Atlantic ocean, a pair of amorphous ponds staring back at her like an abyss promising itself to the one about to fall into it a millennia of despair.
An owl was in the tree that the cat climbed up in, and for a second it ruffles its wings before peering at Rose. It had a circular face and a fish hook shaped dim yellow nose.
The teacher near the front, Ms. Mynowski, accidentally broke her make up mirror after dropping it.
Rose was well read enough to recognize how these were all signs of bad luck.
As all of this happened, she stared outside to notice that the black cat was no longer standing on the sill of the school’s second story, but was now next to a man standing in the middle of the road many yards away in the distance. This person was the cloaked stranger, the one she saw outside of the Realm of Out of Print. Though he was hooded, she swore he was peering through her. He turned around and vanished behind a row of parked cars, their metal glistening under the rainfall.
“
Rose,” Ms. Mynowski said from behind her desk. “Are you concentrating?”
“
Yes,” she lied, picking up her pencil and trying to appear focused.
The restaurant was the size of two theaters. It overlooked the grandiose azure lake as the sun set in the distance, casting purple vapors over the water and through the mountain ranges. Rose had already found a booth in the back, alone. Her date was late.
Rose had filled her Dad in on another lie about where she was, saying she would be at Melinda’s to study for an upcoming exam. Sometimes she had the sense of being at fault for lying to him about things, and even keeping the majority of what she knew about Grady under wraps from her friends, but it was too soon to tell anyone the full story.
Grady soon stepped into the dining establishment well-dressed and groomed, looking flushed in the face. “I’m sorry,” he said, taking her hand in his. “The coach worked us ten times harder today.”
A half an hour after accepting his apology, they ordered. Dinner was good, comprising of a basic Caesar salad for her and a flank steak simmered in tomato sauce for him. The meal lasted a half an hour, and he refused her to see the check when it arrived, so something told Rose that it was expensive.