The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition (24 page)

Monday morning at first seemed to be nothing. It was just another average Monday morning with a few minor differences: David had offered, and permission was granted by Delilah, to take her to school. Grace was picked up two streets later and was enjoying the back seat of the much coveted convertible.  She was amused by watching as her old friend and nearly new friend exchanged barbs back and forth.

Despite her put together appearance and David's bed-head-but-not-actually-bed-head look the two were not morning people. They could hide it, certainly, but their bickering was plenty of amusement for Grace.  It was different from when Kyle and Jennifer argued. 

At first it was the radio station.

“Come on, David, this station sucks,” Delilah complained, digging in her purse for a quarter. 

“It’s my car.  My car and my station.  When you have a car you can pick the station.”  David won that argument.

Then it was over having coffee in David's car.

“If I have to listen to your music then I need my caffeine in order to not kill you.  Stop at the Shell station.”

“No, you’ll spill the coffee all over my car.”

“If I spill my drink it’s because you can’t drive and made me drop my cup.  They do have lids.”  Delilah paused, “Unless you let me change the radio station instead; I won’t be so cranky then.”

He pulled into the gas station only after she had agreed not to spill a single drop. Not that she would spill a drop of her favorite morning drink: hot chocolate.

Then they started to argue over the fact that it wasn’t actually coffee that she was drinking but hot chocolate and why did she have to buy it from the gas station when she could buy insulated cups and make it in the mornings at home.

“It isn’t the same thing,” Delilah insisted.

David stubbornly stood by his, “It is hot chocolate no matter how you drink it,” comment.

It took her a few moments to counter him, “But the powered stuff ends up costing more in the long run.”

“Then you shouldn’t put two packets in one mug,” he sighed.

Grace grinned from the backseat. 

Delilah pointed out, “If I don’t do that then it’s all watered down and gross.”

“And the stuff at the gas station isn’t watered down?” David reluctantly asked.

Stubbornly, Delilah insisted, “That’s different.”

Yes, Grace was having a wonderful morning watching the pair bickering.

The pair was still arguing after David had parted the car and they had all entered the school; over what nobody knew this time because Grace had stopped listening when things started to get stupid.  She then shared with the other girls what it was like riding in that magnificent car with the bickering pair.

She smiled shyly at Kyle.  It was impossible to miss that while he kept looking in Jennifer’s direction that he was too blind to even recognize his own feelings; he would constantly start to look at somebody else that was walking down the hallway.

Grace wanted to scream, 'Look over here!' It sucked being the girl that nobody noticed. She understood, somehow, that Kyle only liked Jennifer because she was competition and because he couldn’t get underneath her prickly shell. She knew, in that same way that David did, that those two would never work out.

Grace also knew that her crush was completely pointless.  If Jennifer and Kyle ever did get together then all of her potential claims would have to be given up.

              Every now and then Jennifer observed that Delilah would look at Grace, Kyle, and herself, shake her head, and then look at David.  She looked as if she wanted to say something to him but didn’t know if she could share whatever comment she was holding inside.  Jennifer started to think about this.  She wondered just what it was Delilah and David had discussed until she saw Grace shyly look up from her hamburger and glance at Kyle with the saddest expression on her face.

              Regret.  Disappointment.  Confusion.  Maybe a little anxiety.  It was all clearly written on Grace’s unguarded face if anybody ever took the time to look over and pay attention to the sweetest girl in the world.  Jennifer mused that Grace never had to speak up; her younger siblings did her bidding without Grace ever having to raise her voice.  She remembered how quickly Grace’s siblings had reacted that one time Grace had yelled at the brother who had wrecked her car.  At home she never had to speak up to get what she wanted or what needed to be done taken care of; at school, where sometimes you had to speak loudly, was another thing. 

              Closing her eyes, Jennifer finally started connecting the dots and didn’t know how she felt about what her conclusions were drawing.  She understood those conclusions, just not what she was feeling.

              For the past two weeks Grace had been sitting near Kyle.  She knew that they had a class together, but she had assumed that Grace had a crush on David and that with David so infatuated with Delilah any connection between the two of them would be impossible.  She realized that she was way off base; Grace had a thing for Kyle!  How did she not notice that?

              She started to wonder just how badly her instincts were when it came to the people skills and being able to read people that she had always thought were on point.  Maybe she did spend too much time around her clueless older brothers. 

              “That should make the article better,” Penny spoke, breaking into Jennifer’s thoughts, as the editor started pushing the corrected article back to Kyle. 

              Checking her watch, Jennifer made a decision.  “Guys, will you go sit somewhere else for a moment.  I have to talk to the girls.” 

              David looked like he wanted to argue and Kyle like he was uncertain about what to do.  Delilah spoke up, “Please.” David nodded and got up, and tugged Kyle into following.  “Thank you,” she said to Jennifer.  “I didn’t know how to bring this up.” 

              “Delilah, no!” Grace whispered, clearly thinking they were going to talk about something else.

              “Penny,” Delilah said, causing the distracted editor to look up from where she was still working on Kyle’s article. 

              “You need to cut Kyle a break,” Jennifer finished for the bookworm.               

              Delilah finished the exchange while wondering when Jennifer had gotten on the same page as she’d been for a few days.  “And he is already overworked and stressed out.  Some days he is almost literally a zombie with the amount of work Mr. Wallace gives in math and with football practice.  Now you are working him throughout lunch over the week’s articles.  Cut him a break.”

              Penny glanced over to where Kyle was sitting, looking tired.  “Oh!”  Looking at his mostly edited article in front of her, she started finishing the work without another word at anybody. 

              Jennifer then turned to Grace and dropped the bomb that caused Grace to look distressed.  “You have a thing for Kyle.”

              Penny looked up at the change in conversation and looked back over towards where the guys had moved. 

              “What do you think that they are talking about?” Kyle asked David from where they had moved.

              David looked at Kyle as if he was an idiot and for a moment Kyle wondered if David was right.  Even Wesley, sitting at the table behind them, started shaking his head.

              “For being at the top of the class you certainly are an idiot.”  David verbally stated as he shook his head, not for the first time wondering just how frazzled, unobservant, and tired Kyle was to miss so many seemingly obvious things.  “Us.  They are talking about us.  First, they told Penny to give you a break.” 

              Kyle looked over in Penny’s direction.  “And how do you know this?” 

              “Penny was looking over here at you,” David dryly answered as if he was stating the obvious.  A moment later she got up and moved to where they were sitting and began apologizing for taking so much of his time.

              Then, after her apologies were over and Penny returned to where the other girls were sitting, Kyle looked over at where Grace, Jennifer, and Delilah remained chatting.  “And now?”

              “Probably either you being an idiot or if I’m still an ass.  If there is time it’ll be both.”  David looked over at the girls. 

              “How am I an idiot?”  He didn’t care if Wesley was listening in from the other table.  Which the other guy did hear if the short burst of laughter he made was any indication. 

              “Simple,” Wesley grinned once the neighboring tables went back to their own business while he moved to join David and Kyle.  “Jennifer and Grace both like you.”

              Kyle jerked.  “What?”

              Wesley rolled his eyes as if he could not believe that this was the person that was part of the three-way tie in the competition for class valedictorian.

              “It wouldn’t last with Jennifer either,” he added, “and because of the unspoken girl code Grace can’t date you if you date Jennifer.  She’s loyal.”  The bell rang, interrupting him.  “Don’t choose the wrong girl.”

              After school Kyle shed his practice uniform and changed into some basketball shorts and a tee-shirt.  He grabbed a hoodie in case the weather decided it wanted to turn cool while he was shooting baskets at the park.  He needed to think and his parents’ driveway didn’t provide enough distance from some of the pressure.

              When he arrived at the park he didn’t notice the lone figure on the swings.  For a while he attempted basket after basket as he considered Wesley’s advice. 

              Grace.  She was always so quiet that he rarely noticed her.  Maybe he should talk to her tomorrow before he decided between the two girls.  It wouldn’t hurt to have all of the information before making any decisions.  Even if the decision was to forget about both of the girls; with Mr. Wallace’s course load and football practice not dating was still a possibility.

              As for that lone figure on the swings, Grace did see Kyle show up as she was thinking about Jennifer’s advice.  Thankful that he didn’t notice she was there while she continued to swing back and forth, back and forth.  Watching him shoot baskets was enough to get her to make up her mind.  James Madison High School wouldn’t know what hit them. 

They were carefully marking things off of their seemingly gigantic to-do list before tackling the most difficult task. 

             
Apartment for when her father kicked her out – check.

              List of necessary supplies needed – check.

              Hannah’s clothes and essentials packed and ready to go – check.

              Tell Brady’s parents – check.  (They’d taken it better than any of them suspected.)

              Tell Kelly – check. 

              Tell Hannah’s parents – Not checked off.

              “Wait,” Hannah paused, grabbing Brady’s arm to keep him inside his truck.  “My father is one of those judgmental Christians.  It is his way which is a strict interpretation of the Bible regardless of Matthew 7:1 ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged’ and John 8:7 ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’  He will judge and most likely kick me out of the house.  In his eyes our brief foray with fornication will be equal to murder and theft.”  Hannah started to shake when she heard the words that she would most likely hear coming from her father’s mouth.

              “So, he isn’t like Pastor Samuel?”

              “He thinks Pastor Samuel is a weak-minded fool for preaching tolerance and forgiveness.  Fire and brimstone sermons are more to my father’s preference.”

              “Now it makes sense why you never left me in a room alone with him.”

              “My father would hate you just because you gave up the university scholarship to be closer to me.  My place is silent and in the kitchen.  My mother would have had more children if they hadn’t had to perform an emergency hysterectomy after I was born.  It’s another thing my father blames me for.”

“Do explain what happened.”

              Even though her father was glaring at Brady, Hannah answered him.  “We got carried away and the condom broke.”

              “And that makes it better?”  He still refused to look at his daughter.

              “No, sir.  I wanted to get on the pill because of my cramps, but we thought you would refuse to allow me to get on the pill even for medical reasons.”

              “So now your lack of morals and teenage pregnancy is my fault?”

              Shaking her head unsteadily, Hannah whispered, “No, sir.”

              He sat there staring at the teenagers for five minutes before declaring his decision.  “You will give the child up for adoption.”

              Hannah blanched, “I can’t do that.”

              “While you are under my roof you will live by my rules.  Adoption or move out.”

              “We were already planning on getting married, sir,” Brady spoke up.  “We were just going to wait.”

              Releasing a cruel laugh, “Fine,” he growled.  “That means there is less for me to have to deal with.”

              Dismissing everybody in the room, Mr. Stanfield went back to flipping through the channels.  Every time he heard his daughter sobbing he just turned the volume up higher.