The Cheer Leader (21 page)

“Jo, I just wanted to explain, that's all.” Pat Reeves makes her stop turning. He holds her arms so tight that she can't feel him holding them. “I'm your friend whether you want me to be or not.”

“I know all that! Don't you think I know all that? Do I look like a fool? An idiot?” She asks and Pat shakes his head. “You're the one that looks like a fool, beggarman fool, to sit there and tell me all of that like I was after you or something! You're cocky, that's what you are—to think that you need to let me down easy, to think that I needed to be told all of that. We're just friends that's all.” She shakes his hands off of her arms. “Isn't that what I always told you when you used to come around?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says and sits back down on the edge of the beach towel clad girl's bed. “I just wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding.”

“Well, there isn't,” she says and that's a lie. Why had he even asked her to this tacky party? Why hadn't he told her about Trudy on the phone? If he was so wild about Trudy the cow, why would he bother to take someone like Jo Spencer out on a date? He wouldn't have even told her about Trudy except that he got nervous that Froggy would tell on him. That was it. Pat Reeves is a chicken.

“Come on, then,” he says and takes her arm again like
she can't walk by herself. “Let's join the party and have some fun.” Oh, yeah, she is having a ball! “You'd really like Trudy,” he says loud enough for Froggy to hear. “Maybe we can all double date one night or something.”

“That's a possibility,” she says. “It will be difficult for me to decide which of my boyfriends we should go with.”

“I'll bet!” Pat says and laughs. “Here, do you need another beer?”

“I don't need anything,” she says. “But I'll take one.” He laughs again and so does the sockless boy but Froggy doesn't; she stares. Jo Spencer takes her beer and drinks a big swallow fast and even this quick action doesn't make Froggy stop looking.

“I hate Trudy couldn't make the party,” Froggy says.

“Yeah, me too,” Jo Spencer says. “Of course, I wouldn't be here if Trudy was now would I, and I wouldn't have had the pleasure of meeting you!”

“Jo! I haven't seen you since graduation.” Ray Peters comes in and hugs her. She had never allowed him to hug her person before, what makes him think that he can take such a liberty just because he goes to Duke and is all prepped out in bright green pants. “This is my girlfriend, Anna. Anna, this is Jo Spencer. We went to high school together. As a matter of fact . . .” Ray Peters pauses to laugh a very worldly laugh. “Jo was my very first girlfriend.”

“Nice to meet you,” amiable Anna fille-ami of Ray Peters says. “I've seen your picture in Ray's old yearbook.”

“It was just last year,” Jo Spencer says and looks to see if Froggy is still staring; Froggy is.

“It was, wasn't it?” Anna asks. “Ray doesn't look at all like he did in his senior picture.”

“Oh, I think he looks exactly the same,” Jo Spencer says. “Ray will always be Ray.”

“Maybe it's because I didn't know him then,” Anna says. She is so sweet, so petite. “You were the May Queen and chief cheerleader, weren't you?”

“Jo was everything,” Ray Peters says.

“I still am,” Jo says. “The only change is my hair, see how long it is.”

“I noticed that,” Ray says. “It looks real good that way.”

“Well, the funny thing about it being this long is that this is how Red always wanted it to get and now it's all long and Red is not around.” She looks at Anna. “Red was my old boyfriend in high school.”

“I was real surprised when I heard that Y'all had broken up,” Ray says. “I thought you were really in love.”

“Shoot! I've never been in love!” she says and laughs. “You think I could love him after what happened to Beatrice?” Ray looks funny; maybe he doesn't know what really happened to Beatrice.

“That was really sad,” he says.

“What? What?” Anna asks like a little dumb ass.

“This friend of ours, well kind of a friend . . .” Ray Peters wants to drag it into a marathon story.

“Slit her wrists and bled to death,” Jo Spencer says and takes a big swallow of beer. That ends that. All's well that
ends well. To think that Ray thought that she was in love with Red! What is love anyway? Linda says, “Love is a rose but you better not pick it.” Who the hell wants to pick it?

“No, she didn't die.” Ray stares at Jo so Jo stares at his bright green pants. Those pants make her laugh and laugh, make her want to call Ray Peters, Mr. Greenjeans, make her want to call Anna fille-ami, Bunny Rabbit, make her want to call Froggy, Mrs. Moose, no, Ms. Moose; Froggy without a doubt would have it no other way than Ms. Moose. “It was close though. They thought at first that she might die.” Now Ray is telling all of this to Bunny Rabbit. “If her boyfriend hadn't come in and found her, she might would have died.” Let the ping-pong balls fall!

“It was like she's dead,” Jo Spencer says and stares at Froggy, Ms. Moose. “People were nice to her when they thought she was dead.”

Bunny Rabbit stares at Jo Spencer, a blank stare and then turns her attention to Ray. “How sad.” She shakes her stupid head like she knows something. “Is she okay, now?”

“Yeah,” Ray says and looks back at Jo. “I hear she's doing fine, heard she's going off to school next year, somewhere in Maine. Is that what you heard?”

“You don't always hear what you believe,” she says and looks at Ray. He doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know the main reason that she would go to Maine. Maine, pain, rain, sane. Jo Spencer did not believe that so she can't hear it. “Maine has long sleeve weather,”
she says and again, Ray is dumbfounded. Anna Rabbit fille-ami is dumblosted. Froggy, Ms. Moose, is Miss Piggy in disguise.

Froggy is on the phone. She says, “Oh no, we sure will miss you, Hon.” Obviously Froggy is in theatrics and does a poor job at it. “That was Nancy,” Froggy says and keeps looking at Jo Spencer. “She can't make it. She and Buffy were all ready to come over and her battery is dead.” Ha! Nancy Carson's battery has never been dead. Sounds like a lie; Buffy is probably hot and heavy to see Red.

“Thank God for that,” Jo Spencer says and smiles a sweet smile. She has effects! She can make a whole room go silent. Ray Peters finally laughs; he thinks that she is cute; he wants to re-create some past moments, points to ponder, wants to forget Beatrice.

“Do you remember when we went together, Jo?” He laughs, worldly indeed! “And we sat at that ballgame and held hands under your poncho?” Anna thinks this is amusing to hear of her Ray at an earlier day.

“I will never forget it,” Jo says. “You picked your nose!”

“What? Come on be serious!” Ray says but it is obvious by the bright red of his face that she is quite serious. Else why would he turn so red? Red and green. Honesty is the best policy. Why should you lie? The truth will set you free. Anna is not amused.

“Think I'll just have another little beer,” Jo Spencer says and goes to the keg.

“That's what you need,” Pat says. What's wrong with him anyway? He is treating her like a child and he doesn't
have that right. Why he's got a girlfriend named Trudy; that doesn't give him any rights, no cause. Froggy is still staring and Ray is trying to change the subject. “Jo always was a big teaser,” he says to Anna. “By the way, Jo, whatever happened to Ralph Craig?”

“How would I know?” she asks and takes a big swallow. “I am not my brother's keeper. Besides, I never go to the zoo.” Ray and Anna think this is funny because it is about someone else. Froggy laughs and stares and she doesn't even know Ralph Craig. She has no cause.

“Let's go sit down,” Pat says so she follows him back into the room and they sit back down by the stereo. “Jo, are you sure everything's okay? You know I'm a good listener.” Fill your ears and then fill your pockets. Who does he think he is anyway? Froggy is easing up, slowly, staring, her ears and eyes wide open.

“What's your major, Jo?” Froggy asks.

“I don't have one,” Jo Spencer says and lights a cigarette. No one else in the room is smoking and she wants to infect them. “I'm just a freshman.”

“You mean you don't have any idea?” Froggy sits on the floor where she belongs and carefully pulls her skirt under her legs. She ought to hide those legs; they are not thin and shapely like Jo Spencer's.

“No idea!” Jo yells because the music has gotten louder. “What's yours?” she asks because it is obvious that Froggy wants to tell.

“I'm in business,” she says. “So is Ray and he's a freshman. Guess some people know before others.”

“Guess so. Do you go to school here at Duke?”

“Oh no,” Froggy says. “I go to Meredith. That's how I know Buffy and Nancy. You see, Margaret does, and I'm just visiting her for the weekend.” Margaret is the girl in the beach towel.

“I didn't think you did,” Jo Spencer says and laughs a great big laugh. “I just knew that you must not go to Duke.”

“Why?” Froggy asks and her eyes glare up like she's pissed about something. “Why would you think that?”

“It's just obvious, that's all,” she says. “Of course, sometimes I'm wrong. I mean I never would have thought that Ray would've gotten in.”

“That's not a very nice thing to say,” Froggy says and looks at Pat like he's going to say something. He knows better.

“The truth hurts, sometimes.” Froggy doesn't have time to reply because Ray and Anna come up and sit on the floor beside her. They are all forming a circle. Any minute now, they will probably grasp hands and begin singing “Kumbaya,” or “Pass It On.” She despises both of those songs. She must sing something else so that they won't do this. If she could just remember the music to
Dick Van Dyke,
she would hum that. But, she still can't remember. Sing something else: “Love is a nose but you better not pick it,” she sings and watches Ray turn red again. He is so damn mad! Mad, madder, maddest but he must laugh it off and keep his cool. Why do people do that anyway? Is this what a business major can do? She wants to ponder this but there isn't time; first the circle begins talking about someone that she doesn't know. Do
they want to exclude her from the conversation? Well and good because “Pass It On” will never pass through her lips. Then Margaret comes up to say that there are refreshments over on the table.

“I am refreshed, thank you,” Jo Spencer says. “I had a can of chunky chicken soup today.”

“I think maybe you ought to eat something,” Pat says.

“That's sweet, Patty,” she says and Froggy's eyes bulge out of their sockets on “Patty.” “But I can't eat except at five-thirty.”

“I believe you'd feel better,” he says in a concerned fashion. “If that's all you've had, it's no wonder that the beer is affecting you.” Affecting? She has effects that affect! “What do you want?” Patty gets up, persistent, resistant rascal.

“I want Doris Day to marry Ted Knight!” Oh, that is so funny! She laughs and laughs and nobody else does because they don't get it. That makes it even funnier! Doris Day Knight! If she wrote it down, the
K
would screw things up but just saying it is very funny indeed!

“Jo, what do you want to eat? A sandwich?” Pat is standing, his hands in his pockets. Froggy stands beside him. Love is a nose. Froggy whispers in Pat's ear. “It's not polite to tell secrets,” Jo Spencer says. She feels so good that she must take off her shoes and prop her feet up on Ray Peters' bright green leg. “You've lost a lot of weight, Ray. You used to be borderline obese.”

“I was kind of chubby,” Ray says. He is pleased and disturbed by this comment. Pleased that she has noticed that he is trim, disturbed that she remembers how he
used to be. Shouldn't you remember how people used to be? Maybe he was disturbed by the single word
obese,
for he changed it to
chubby,
which is what any good mother would say about her fat child. A mother would choose “chubby” because she loves that fat dumpling child but she doesn't love Ray Peters so “obese” is perfectly in order.

“You really were chubby,” she says. “And what's more, you had great big teeth, remember? How did you ever reduce their size?”

“I wore braces, remember?”

“Yes, yes, come to think of it, I do!” she screams. Pat Reeves hands her a sandwich and she flips it open to see what's in there. It is bologna and cheese. She puts it back together and puts it on top of the stereo. “Why did you think it was so funny that time that you had to kiss Beatrice?”

“What time?” he asks innocently as though he doesn't remember!

“At Lisa Helms' party in the sixth grade. You remember, Spin the Bottle!” It makes her sad to remember this but she can't stop remembering. “That bottle landed on Beatrice and you laughed! Everybody laughed!”

“I don't remember that,” he says. “I remember that we all used to laugh at whoever it landed on. That was a silly game wasn't it?”

“You didn't think it was silly then,” she says. “And the way that you laughed at Beatrice was a different kind of laugh. You made fun of her.”

“Everyone made fun of her,” he says and he is uncomfortable
because he shifts his legs around. Jo Spencer must find a new place for her feet. She props them on Froggy who is back on the floor. Froggy doesn't like this but she cannot think of anything to do about it. She must be businesslike and act like Jo Spencer's feet are not there, especially the foot with the hose that is run.

“You know that's what made Beatrice slit her wrists, making fun. Did you laugh when she did that?”

“That's an awful thing to say,” Froggy says and pushes her feet away. Where on earth is she going to put them now?