Falling (Bits and Pieces, Book 1) (6 page)

“But I didn’t exactly say ‘yes’ either.” This would at least give me an out.

He shook his head and laughed. “Okay, you got me there. But, really, I would like to hear you sing. I wish I could.”

Mr. Ludlow came by to check up on us. “Did you guys finish the questions?”

“Yes, sir.” Patrick handed him our responses.

Mr. Ludlow skimmed the answers and nodded. “Very good. Insightful.” He moved on to check up on another group before heading to the front of the classroom. Mr. Ludlow announced what the homework was for tonight. I wrote down the assignment in my notebook.

“So, when is the audition?” He didn’t get distracted easily. I swear, he remembered everything.

“Less than two weeks. But, I need to take advantage of every opportunity to practice.”

“I totally understand. I get how important practice is.” He nodded.

“So, you were right about 17c on the math homework last night.” I finally found a subject to switch to.

“Yeah? Good. It wasn’t just me.” He ran his hand through his hair.

“No. Thanks for letting me know, though. I hate when I think everything will be easy and then I hit a brick wall.”

“It’s like your brain isn’t ready for it. Huh?” He laughed. “Yeah, that sometimes happens to me too.” He put his stuff away and the bell rang. It was time for lunch.

“Bye.” I slowly got up from my seat. I held my notebook in my arms. There was no need to put it away, since I was going to use it once I got outside for lunch.

“See you later. Don’t spend all of lunch doing homework.” He said as he threw his backpack over his shoulder. He walked to the door and called back, “Don’t forget. Tip off is at 3:00!”

“Are you going to remind me every period?” I asked him.

“Just making sure you remember!” He turned and walked out the door. Bobby and Jason were waiting for him outside.

I left the classroom and went to my usual place against a far side tree in the quad. I sat down and leaned against the tree. About 30 yards away, I saw Patrick and his friends at one of the lunch tables.

It was yearbook picture perfect. Food, friends and laughter. I could tell there were three couples in the group. Patrick, Bobby and Jason had either an arm around or holding hands with their respective girlfriends. There were two other guys in their group, who, didn’t seem to mind the others were coupled. They were just as much part of the circle of friends.

I opened up my notebook and worked on physics. The more I got done at lunch, the less I’d have to do tonight and the more I could practice before my parents got home from their dinner. By the time the bell rang ending lunch, I only had one problem left to do. I was pleased with my progress.

I hurried to math class. Ms. Adams asked if there any homework problems we wanted to go over. Students shouted out different problem numbers. Seventeen came up the most often, along with 15 and 16. It seemed most of the class had a hard time starting the problem. Patrick looked over at me and chuckled. Ms. Adams always called upon students to write their answers on the board and share their solution.

“Patrick. What did you get for number 17?” She extended out the marker to him as an invitation to the board. He got up from desk and headed to the board. “You can bring your homework with you.”

“It’s okay.” He got to the board empty-ended and took the dry-erase marker from her. He wrote his solution on the board and took a step back. He reviewed his answer before handing the marker back to her.

She looked over his solution. “Okay. Thank you, Patrick. You can sit down. Who can explain his answer?” Ms. Adams liked having one person write the answer and another one explain it.

The room went quiet as no one wanted to draw attention to themselves. I looked around and saw confusion in my classmates’ faces. It was obvious she wasn’t going to call on the people who had requested the problem to begin with. She scanned the room, her gaze finally falling on someone. “Liz, can you explain what Patrick did?”

Thankfully, I didn’t have to go the board. I nodded and explained his written work.

* * *

When class ended, I packed up my stuff and rushed to the door. Patrick was still at his seat when I heard him, “Liz!”

I turned back and paused. “Yeah?”

“Don’t forget! Just a friendly reminder. 3:00pm!” He laughed.

“I know. I know.” I rolled my eyes. I guess he had to make sure that he reminded every class we had together.

“You better be there. You said you would.”

“I will.” I quickly nodded and hurried to my last class. I hated to think what he would say if I didn’t show up.

* * *

When the bell rang to end the school day, I had to fight the urge to hop in my car and go home. I had promised to go to the game today. I hated it when people broke their word and so I tried very hard not to do it. The game wasn’t going to start for about forty-five minutes, but I didn’t know where else to go, but to the gym. I hoped the doors were unlocked, so I could just go inside and wait.

When I got to the gym, the doors were propped open. I could hear the squeaking of the sneakers on the floor. Did the game already start? I thought Patrick told me 3:00 pm, repeatedly. It’s wasn’t 3:00 yet.

I walked inside and glanced around. The teams were warming up. Patrick’s team was at the basket closest to me, the opposing team was at the far end. The stands were fairly empty, it was still early. I could see groups of friends scattered in different spots. I didn’t know where to sit. I was sure there was a ‘home’ and ‘visitor’ side, but, having never been to a game, I didn’t know which side was which. I stood there, indecisive. I didn’t want to sit with the wrong side. I wanted to just turn around and leave. I almost did.

“Hey, Liz.” Patrick waved at me as he ran to get a loose ball that whizzed by me. “You made it!”

“Yeah. We had a deal.” I was very uncomfortable. I didn’t know what to do with myself, but I knew I was in the way where I stood.

He grabbed the ball and jogged back. “Sit on the west side. That’s the home side.”

“Okay.” But I didn’t move. “Um… I’m directionally challenged. Which is west?”

He smiled and tossed the ball to Bobby. “That side.” He pointed across the gym.

“Thanks.” I half-smiled and was thankful he didn’t laugh. I felt silly for not knowing, but it would have been worse to pick the wrong side and really look dumb. I walked across to the other side and slowly walked up the bleachers, being careful not to lose my balance and trip. I tightly held onto the railing as I took each step. I went to the top center row of the bleachers and sat down. It was a good view of the entire gym. I took out my notebook to finish the physics homework and work on math before the game started.

I knew it was getting closer to game time because the noise level and warmth in the gym rose dramatically. Down in the first row, I saw Bobby and Jason’s girlfriends along with his two other guy friends. I guess they didn’t play basketball.

Usually, I’d only watched professional basketball. Although, this year I had watched the NCAA tournament on television. I had seen the tournament starting at the ‘Sweet 16’. I don’t know why I never went to a high school game, as much as I liked basketball.

The game itself was fun to watch. Patrick was right. Their team was pretty good, but there was room for improvement. Who was I to judge? I’ve never played myself and the season had barely begun. I guess, technically it hadn’t. The other team, Parkside, didn’t seem as cohesive or in shape. I guess this is what their coaches wanted, a pre-game to make them realize what shape they were in and where they needed to be.

Before, when I watched games on television, I would cheer, yell and groan depending on how my team did. If it was the playoffs, I was louder. I was much more subdued today, but I did have to fight the growing urge to cheer. I hadn’t felt like that in a long time.

At the end of the game, I watched the post-game rituals. The two teams and coaches congratulated each other on a good game. I saw many of the players, including Patrick, Jason and Bobby go up to their friends after they were dismissed by the coach. I picked up my backpack. Walking down the bleachers was dizzying if I looked all the way down. I concentrated carefully at each step, staring at my feet, as I walked down, so I didn’t trip and fall. I got to the bottom and started toward the door.

Patrick ran up to me. “Hey, Liz. So, what did you think?”

“Good game. Thanks for inviting me.” I meant it.

“You’re welcome. Thanks for coming.”

“I, uh… finished my half of the physics work.” I didn’t know what else to talk about.

“You didn’t do it during the game did you?” He seemed a little confused.

“No, no. I finished it before it started.”

He looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

“I swear. I only watched the game and didn’t work on anything else. It’s too hard to multi-task when basketball is on.” That was the truth. I could do other stuff when I watched television, but not basketball.

He laughed, “I know what you mean. You blink and you can miss something. Hey! Let me introduce you to the crew.”

He didn’t give me a chance to protest. We walked over to his friends. “Liz, this is Emily, Cassie, Kraig and Tony. You already met Jason and Bobby.”

Jason had a hearty laugh and slapped Patrick’s back, “Didn’t I guarantee you that I wouldn’t suck?”

“You did deliver.” Patrick responded. The entire crew laughed. The girls shook their heads and rolled their eyes. I stood there, an outsider, as they continued joking around and talked.

“Liz, have you seen that movie?” Tony asked.

“Huh?” It took me a second to realize that they were including me in their conversation. I couldn’t remember the last time I talked in a group. “Um, no… I haven’t.”

“I heard it was the funniest movie
ever
!” Patrick boomed.

Kraig insisted, “We need to see it, guys.”

“Yeah, we do!” Emily agreed. She looked at me eagerly, “You should come with us.”

It took me by surprise. “We’ll see…” I was thankful when she smiled and the conversation moved on. But, I think she took my response as a ‘yes’.

I paid a little more attention to their conversation, so I wouldn’t be caught off-guard again. I was able to get to know who they were a little better.

Emily was Bobby’s girlfriend. She was petite and had lightly tanned skin. She had short straight black hair that was just a few inches short of her shoulders. She was bubbly and perky, without being annoying about it.

Cassie was slightly taller than Emily, with long wavy brown hair. She and Jason were a couple. She was a little quieter and shyer than Emily. They appeared to be best friends.

Tony was a runner. He ran cross country and track. He was shorter than the rest of the guys, but very slender. He had a runner’s body. His deep tan showed how much time he spent outside running.

Kraig wasn’t an athlete. He would play pick-up games with the guys, but that was about it. I realized that we had been in the same math class last year.

“I need to get going.” I took out my cell phone to check the time. I probably had at least two hours before my parents got home.

“Okay. Well, let us grab our stuff and we can all walk out together.” Patrick slapped Jason and Bobby’s backs. The three of them ran to the locker room.

I must have looked very uncomfortable standing there, while the rest of them talked, because Emily tried to ease my nerves. “They’ll be fast. They don’t usually keep us waiting for long.”