Sanctity (16 page)

When the bell rang signaling the end of
homeroom Danielle called to me anxious to get on our way to our
first class.  There were 3 minutes between periods; a warning
bell went off at the two minute mark and a second bell a minute
later.  If you heard the second bell and you were not in your
class and in your seat, you were late.  We heard the first
bell and Danielle picked up the pace.  She was in a good mood
that day as she pointed and waved to her friends and to some of the
teachers that we ran by.  She seemed to know just about
everyone and it was quite obvious that she was very well
liked.  Every other boy or girl, whichever the case may have
been seemed to have a “Hey, Dani,” or “what’s up?” for her as we
passed by.

Danielle and I had nearly
all our classes together.  We went to Literature first. 
The class was currently studying the Renaissance and I was really
quite interested in it.  I had always favored all things
medieval and the romantic idea of kings and queens and court. 
Our teacher, Mr. Harris was nice though he could be a little weird
at times.  He always seemed to make it a point to greet
everyone by name – and it was never just 
Good Morning
 
Lily
 or 
Good Morning
Danielle
 but
instead 
Good Morning Ms.
Donovan
 or 
Good Morning Ms. MacDowell
.  He
had a lot of odd little quirks like that.  He could never be
very hard on anyone either and was very forgiving.  If you
were late or you were doing something you shouldn’t be, more often
than not he would toss you a frown of disapproval and overlook
it.

I sat next to a quiet boy
named Charlie.  He was good friends with Zach who Danielle was
carrying a desperate crush for at the time.  Though I had
known Charlie since freshman year, I had only spoken with him once
or twice.  Since Dani liked Zach I felt as though I needed to
make a little extra effort to be nice to Charlie.  I tried to
offer him a friendly greeting before class got started but Mr.
Harris was looking at us with a 
tsk,
tsk
 expression so I quickly dropped
the effort and refrained from any other attempts at
repartee. 

The class began with Mr. Harris running down
his checklist of the things we would be studying that week. 
He was making his way across the room putting copies of the weekly
syllabus on the first desk of each row.  As each student took
their copy they would turn and hand the remaining stack to the
person behind them. 

“Nice break?”   The girl in front
of me whispered as she handed me a copy.  Her name was Missy
and she sat with us whenever she bothered to take lunch.  She
was very studious and usually spent her lunch period in the library
catching up on homework or projects or whatever else she could get
her hands on.

“Yeah, you?”

She smiled, nodded and turned
back. 

The day was pretty standard, Danielle and I
had Chemistry together then she went to Spanish and I went to
French.  After our language classes Dani found me and we
headed to the Art Room.  Jake’s girlfriend Brooke
unfortunately shared this class with me.  I never understood
why she had such a remarkable disdain for me but when I walked down
the hall she always seemed to make it a point to turn and
snicker.  She made it a point, too, I thought, to talk to her
friends about me whenever we were forced together but I couldn't
begin to imagine what she could possibly be saying and I never
bothered to find out. We had hardly spoken two words since we
started high school and we moved in completely different circles so
whatever had caused her animosity was completely beyond me.

There was no assigned seating for the class
and that day I sat at one of the workstations just behind and to
the right of her.  Danielle plopped down beside me and sighed,
“Lord, am I hungry.”

“Me too,” I muttered.

Our position gave me a good opportunity to
study Brooke without being obvious about it.  If she wasn’t
assuming such a narcissistic air all the time she would probably
have seemed very pretty, maybe even beautiful.  She had
pin-straight blond hair that fell nearly to her waist and a
distinct, elegant face with arched brows, blue eyes and high
cheekbones.   She also wore a lot of makeup that I
thought would do her more justice off than on and tended to smile a
lot, too but in my opinion it never really reached her eyes. 
To me this made Danielle infinitely more attractive than Brooke,
even though they were such opposites on the beauty
spectrum. 

Mrs. Sheldon, the art teacher seemed
distracted that day and gave us some busy work that everyone
quietly got to.  Our instructions were to simply make a print
of our names but instead of using ordinary letters you needed to
choose an object to symbolize each; like a mountain for an A or a
baseball for an O, that sort of thing.  She told us to use a
mixed-media format and left us to it.  There was an unwritten
rule that it was alright to talk in class as long as everyone kept
their voices down so most days there was a constant though somewhat
muffled dialogue going on between all of the workstations and their
inhabitants.

Danielle and I fetched a few supplies
together and got to work on our projects while talking about our
vacations and how we spent our time.

Eventually she changed the subject and asked
“So are you going to ask anyone to take you to the Spring
Formal?”

“Uh, no, I’m not even sure I’ll go.”

“Not go!!”  Danielle’s voice took a
blasphemous tone.

I laughed a little out
loud.  Brooke tossed us a 
what’s
so funny
 look.  I don’t know
what prompted me to do it but I gave Danielle a little nudge and
covered my mouth as though the funny thing we were talking about
was Brooke.  She rolled her eyes and turned her focus back to
her project.  Danielle and I got back to ours.  I was not
feeling very inspired and hadn’t gotten very much done.

Just a few minutes before the class was
about to end Brooke got up as though she were going to get
something from the storage cabinet on the other side of the
room.  On her way back she pretended to stumble and somehow
the paint she was carrying managed to take a nose dive right onto
my project.  She must have loosened the cap, because as it hit
the workstation the paint splattered all over my paper and began to
trickle onto the floor.  Luck kept it from hitting Dani’s
paper or either of our clothes but I was beside myself with anger
knowing that the act was deliberate.

I masked it well and twisted around to face
Brooke, “Oh no Brooke, are you alright?  I hope you didn’t get
hurt tripping over yourself like that,” I made sure my voice was
loud enough for everyone to hear and said it with the utmost
sincerity.

She was furious imagining that what I had
said had made her look like a ditzy klutz to the rest of the
class.  Mrs. Sheldon came over to check on Brooke and the
carnage her paint had done.  There was so much of it on my
paper that you could not tell how much work I had or had not
completed. 

“Sorry about your paper Lily.  How
about I give you an A- for the effort you must have put into
it.”

The bell rang marking the end of the
period.  Everyone hurried to turn their projects in and leave,
everyone except Brooke that was.  She and Mrs. Sheldon were
busily mopping up the mess Brooke had made.  I felt a hint of
regret and a twinge of guilt so I asked if I could help.

“No, no,” Mrs. Sheldon said, “too many cooks
in the kitchen.  It will be easier with just the two of
us.”

Brooke had
an 
I’ll get you for
this
 look in her eye.  So much
for my guilt; I sent Brooke a 
bring
it on
 grin and marched out of the
room.

 “So what’s up with you and Brooke?”
Danielle asked innocently enough.

“Beats me.”

We meandered on toward our Trigonometry
class.  Though most days I glanced at the clock a dozen or
more times wishing lunch would hurry up and come, I actually
enjoyed the Trig class.  Mrs. Vesa always reminded me of
Margaret with her no-nonsense, systematic approach but to
teaching.  She went through each day’s problem solving process
step by step explaining each one in a simple and easy to follow
method.  Once the lesson was over she assigned our homework
and left us to ourselves for the last few minutes of class.

When the bell finally rang there was an
audible sigh from the class and I imagined everyone was looking
forward to their lunches as much as I was.  Danielle dropped
me at my locker and said she would be right back.  I stashed
my books and grabbed my bag.  I would have liked nothing more
than to follow the herd to the cafeteria but checked my patience
and waited for Dani.

The lunch room was jam-packed by the time we
got there but Danielle and I had a regular table and she made a
beeline straight for it.  The other students slid along the
bench and shuffled either their bags or trays and made room for
both of us.

“Hey everyone,” Danielle sat down satisfied
with her greeting and began unwrapping her sandwich.

I said a
hasty 
Hello
 as well and followed Danielle’s lead and got started on
my lunch.  I took the lids off the containers with my
veggies and greens and quickly assembled my salad.  I was
about to put the dressing on when Brooke walked by.  She
jerked her head back just as she was about to pass and sneezed all
over my lunch.

I was still livid from the incident in the
art room and hungry as I was my anger went beyond recall.  I
stood up and grabbed her arm, drawing her back to face me but
touching her gave me a jolting mental image of someone else, very
much like Brooke but decidedly older.  Then I felt like I
suddenly had a complete understanding of who Brooke really
was.  I realized that she was acting out of her own fears and
insecurities, along with her petty jealousies of everyone else and
her utmost desire to fit in.  I didn’t know who the woman in
my mind was but somehow she triggered the impressions I was getting
of Brooke.

“Let me go freak!”  She shouted.

I was shaken by the phenomenon and just
stood there for a moment holding Brooke’s arm until she yanked
herself free.  She couldn’t seem to pull her gaze from mine
and I could see the fear swimming in her eyes as she shrunk from
me.  “Enjoy your lunch,” it was all I could think to
say.  There was a physical release of the tension between us
and she stumbled backwards.  Visibly shaken she two timed it
to the table where Jake was sitting and put her head on his
shoulder. 

Charlie gave a low whistle, “Interesting,
very interesting,” he nodded his head in contemplation of what he
had just witnessed.  Everyone at the table started talking at
once.  I didn’t catch any of the various conversations taking
place but I did perk up when Danielle offered me half her
sandwich.  As though her gesture were a cue, each of our
friends that were sitting nearby took a little something from their
lunches and placed it before me like an offering. 

It quickly brought me back to reality and I
thanked everyone for being so generous.  I enjoyed my
smorgasbord lunch as best I could but I was dazed by what had just
taken place and only managed a few bites here and there.

I never told Margaret about the incidents
with Brooke at school.  When she picked me up at carpool she
asked me how my classes went.  I gave her as colorful a
description of the day as I could muster.  Margaret was a good
listener and always seems genuinely interested in everything I had
to say.  She asked if I had any homework and before long we
were pulling into the driveway.

As soon as I walked through the door I got
bowled over by Kaley.  I bent down and her kisses washed
away all my hard feelings from the school day. 

“She has been mourning your absence.  I
swear she must have searched every nook and cranny of the house
hoping that she would find you somewhere.”

“Aww, poor Kaley.  I’m sorry I have to
go away like this so much.  Would you like to go for a
walk?”

She ran to the kitchen table which was where
I usually left her leash and beckoned with her wagging tail and
happy eyes.

“OK, but just a short one, I have homework
you know.”

I took her to the greenway and back and
tossed her one of her biscuits once we were inside.  Margaret
was fixing me a snack in the kitchen. 

“I missed you too,” she grinned and handed
me a plate with slices of apples and a ramekin of peanut
butter. 

She poured me a glass of milk as I took the
plate to the kitchen table.  It was one of my favorite
snacks.  Margaret never understood my sentiments but I always
told her how comforting it was whenever I had it.  I decided
to get started on my homework while I enjoyed my little
treat.  I finished the apples well before my assignments but
it didn’t take as long as I expected.  For someone who had
never considered herself a scholar, I did fairly well in all my
classes.  That day’s homework seemed pretty easy.

When I was done I put my papers in the
appropriate books and put the books back in my bag.  I left it
by the front door so it would be ready to go in the morning. 
Margaret was looking over a sales flyer in the family room and
asked me how the work went.

“Fair enough, I think.  Everything was
pretty easy and straightforward.”

“That’s good.  What are your plans now,
then?”

“I’m just going to e-mail Danielle. 
We’re trying to make plans for getting together over the
weekend.”