The Line (21 page)

Gina and Mandy looked at each other seriously. Mandy patted Lucy’s hand, “Don’t worry, Luce, we’ll come up with something that will get the two of you back together.”

Gina commented, “Mandy said you and Sam were super cute last night at dinner. We’ll do whatever it takes to get him to listen to reason.”

“Thanks, and for the record, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be in this situation if I had just asked for your help from the beginning,” Lucy admitted.

Mandy said diplomatically, “That’s okay, Luce. You’re here now, and that’s what matters.”

Putting on her bravest face, Lucy replied, “Since I sensed we couldn’t do this on an empty stomach, I picked up Starbucks and bagels. To the kitchen!”

As they munched on bagels and fruit, the girls plotted, rejected, and finally devised a plan that was foolproof (at least on paper). With her confidence on the rise, Lucy spent the rest of the weekend trying to keep her mind off of Sam. Her friends had stressed the importance of being apologetic, but not clingy or desperate and to give the South snare drummer some space. It was a difficult balancing act and took actual concentration for Lucy not to drive over to Sam’s house and bang on his door and beg for forgiveness. Instead, she studied for the SAT’s, took Pam for a walk, and played soccer with her brother in the yard.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: I’m sorry

Sam,

I looked back through my in-box and was completely ashamed to see this is the second apology e-mail I’m sending you in as many months. Like the messages I’ve been leaving you, I hope you understand it’s definitely not Nevada I want to be with – it’s you. I don’t care that you go to another school or are the captain of my opposing drumline. I don’t care about your past with Jerm – all I care about is you.

I know I was wrong by not waiting with you and listening to hear your side of the story. I’m sure you have a good explanation. I am not going to offer excuses, but I am really new to the relationship thing.

Please meet me at your Homecoming? I’ll be looking for you.

Lucy

Expectedly, Lucy did not receive a response from Sam, and moped into fifth period on the Monday following Homecoming. As the bass drummer stepped inside the band room, events came suddenly rushing back to her – the black arm bands from Friday night’s game, the fight at the restaurant, Jerm’s eye patch…. The junior had purposely avoided lunch, choosing to eat hers alone in the percussion room, not wanting to face inevitable questions from her section. The bell rang, ending the lunch period, and Lucy prepared herself. She gathered her drum and stand, and was surprised Jerm locked his one good eye on her. Given the mood of the Line, she guessed her hadn’t told them the real story behind his eye patch. Thus far, the truth was known only to Sam, Jerm, Gina, Mandy, and Lucy. The junior knew it would be easy for Jerm to blame Sam and give the Forrest Hills drummers even more reason to hate South Washington.

With such easy and obvious fodder for insult, the guys were having a great time making fun of their one-eyed captain. Once everyone was lined up for warm-ups, Jerm walked out and stood in the middle of the group. He announced, “Alright guys, first of all, thanks for your ‘support’ on Friday night. For those of you who arranged the whole thing, I appreciate your loyalty.” He avoided looking at Lucy and continued, “Second of all, yes, I have an eye patch. I will have to wear it through at least the first Indoor competition. No, it doesn’t affect my drumming. So, any questions?”

The guys sensed something major was missing from the story. Doug commented, “We missed you and your new ‘best friend’ on Saturday night.”

“The thing with my eyes happened before the dance. I was in the ER,” Jerm said authoritatively, but didn't mention where ‘his new best friend’ had been.

Lucy felt a lot of eyes on her, and was hoping desperately no one would ask the obvious questions: ‘Lucy, weren’t you with Jerm and Mandy before the dance?’ ‘Where was your date?’ ‘Why were you late?’ ‘What were you doing dancing with Nevada?’

Lucy knew she and Mandy had made a big entrance in the Hummer limo, but it was made even more mysterious by the fact that both girls had arrived without their dates. Jerm’s being in the ER explained Mandy, but for everyone else, Lucy’s missing date was a mystery she did not feel like revealing. Fortunately, Jerm stopped any further questions by turning their attention to the indoor show. The female bass drummer looked straight ahead at her drum and did her best to concentrate. As class ended, she glanced back on her way to her next class and locked eyes, er, eye with Jerm and nervously approached him, “Hey.”

“What’s up?”

Lucy stumbled, but managed to convey her heartfelt thanks, “I wanted to say thank you for not telling everyone exactly what happened on Saturday night.”

“I would’ve done it for anyone on the Line – that’s what being a captain is all about.”

The pair walked down the upperclassmen hall and even though Lucy sensed Jerm would rather be rid of her, she asked, “Did he say anything more? Did you see him?”

“After you left?”

“Yeah.” Students brushed by them, talking and joking.

An impatient Lucy prompted her captain, “So?”

“So I think you need to clear things up between yourselves. I don’t want to get involved – and I don’t think it’s my place to.”

“I don’t either…but I’m having trouble getting his attention.” Lucy moved off towards her own classroom and said, “Thanks for everything so far, Jerm, but if you do hear from him… Just let him know I’m thinking about him.”

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY: HOMECOMING (PART II)

Lucy went home and tried her best to study for her upcoming Biology exam, but didn’t get very far. Her eyes kept glancing over at her laptop, which she was desperate to turn on. With her cell phone remaining more or less silent, the great possibility of her in-box and buddy list was calling her. Slamming her textbook shut, Lucy was online in a matter of seconds, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who was signed on. With fingers flying across the keyboard, she typed.

bassgirl17:
Thank goodness you’re here!

Cartwright213:
How’s it going?

bassgirl17:
It’s definitely been better, that’s for sure.

Cartwright213:
What happened? Isn’t Homecoming difficult to mess up? I mean you go to dinner, dance, end of story.

bassgirl17:
I did all that.

Cartwright213:
Then what’s the problem?

bassgirl17:
A lot of that was done with someone other than my date.

Cartwright213:
(digesting that information)

bassgirl17:
To make matters worse, Sam saw Nevada kissing me and now he won’t talk to me and before you say anything, I DID NOT MEAN TO KISS NEVADA!! He just kind of planted one on me.

Cartwright213:
What were you doing alone with Nevada anyway? Doesn’t that violate some sort of ex-boyfriend standard code thing?

bassgirl17:
I’m sure it does. My ethics kind of went out the window on Saturday – I blame the dress.

Cartwright213:
Really? And you had no part in things? You couldn’t just go home?

bassgirl17:
Fine, you don’t need to rub it in that I feel terrible about what happened. It’s entirely my fault for getting in the car with him.

Cartwright213:
Well, don’t beat yourself up too much about this scenario. Honestly, the more I hear about this Nevada kid, the less I like him.

Lucy chewed her lip. His response was definitely not the reaction she was expecting.

bassgirl17:
Care to enlighten me as to why? If anything, let’s go back to this being my fault – I was sending all kinds of mixed messages.

Cartwright213:
That may be true, but Nevada knew you had chosen Sam, right?

bassgirl17:
He did.

Cartwright213:
And since you’ve playing hard to get, now he suddenly likes you even more?

The statement caused her to ponder Nevada’s actions. She thought he had been trying to cheer her up, but was there something else motivating him? Although Homecoming was evidence of how easy it would be to get back together with him, Lucy didn’t want that – she needed to set things right with Sam. Finally, she typed her response.

bassgirl17:
I don’t know about that.

Cartwright213:
I would just watch yourself. As difficult as it might be, if you like Sam like you say you do and have true feelings for him, you need to put some distance between yourself and Nevada.

bassgirl17:
Okay, I get it – I’ll watch myself and what I say and how I act and won’t do anything that could be misinterpreted as getting back together. In the meantime, what do I do about Sam?

Cartwright213:
He’ll come around. I’m sure of it – just try and be patient.

For the rest of the week, following her anonymous friend’s advice, Lucy avoided Nevada like the plague, which more difficult to do than she originally imagined. He seemed to take her “I can’t do this” comment as some sort of weird challenge and the junior had to get creative in her attempts to avoid him. Although she tried her best, he didn’t want to accept that she wanted her space.

On top of not hearing back from Sam, and seeing Nevada everywhere she went, the Line had stepped up their rehearsal schedule for the upcoming indoor competitions. With the first competition the following weekend, there wasn’t much time left to make sure the show was perfect. Although the intensity of the practices did a lot to take her mind off of Sam, by Friday night, Lucy still hadn’t heard anything from her supposed boyfriend or whether or not he was going to attend South Washington’s Homecoming.

Late on Saturday afternoon after practice, Lucy moped around, willing the phone to ring, when she heard it trilling in her bedroom. Scrambling to pick it up, she recognized Mandy’s number and asked in a disappointed tone, “Hey, what’s up?”

“Don’t sound too excited to hear from me.”

“Sorry, I thought you might be Sam.”

“He’ll be there tonight, Lucy, just you wait.”

Pacing around her room, she asked, “You sure you want to go through with this? I mean, we don’t have to – we could just go out to eat and…”

“Let’s consider my options: Jerm is grounded to infinity, Gina is busy with Jonathan, and you are in need of a date for Homecoming. Plus, you are already promised.”

“You’re right. One way or another, I need to get some closure and if he’s not going to come to me, than I need to go to him.”

“So, see you in an hour?”

“Perfect.”

With Mandy’s overflowing wardrobe, both girls were wearing different dresses from the week before. Mandy had opted for a red silk Asian style dress with dangerous slits on both sides. Lucy looked stunning in a flowing brown dress that complimented her tan skin. Although she worried slightly about some of the S.W. drummers recognizing her, Lucy was fairly certain they wouldn’t be able to place the glamorized version of herself. Looking at her reflection, she felt suddenly nervous and said, “I can’t believe we’re going to go through with this.”

Sensing her friend’s hesitation, Mandy explained, “No backing out now. Anyway, here’s what I’m thinking – we’re just going to go in and see if Sam is there. If he is, we’re going to make sure you get a few moments alone with him. If he’s there with another girl, I will personally kick his ass. If he’s not there at all, we will party like rock stars and come home. How does that sound?”

“The part about him being there with another girl makes me nervous. Also, how exactly are we going to get in?”

“Lucy darling, I’m sure they will sell tickets at the door and you’ve been around Sam long enough to give us some convincing names of teachers and stuff. Besides, if Sam isn’t there, who else do we know that goes to South?”

“The entire drumline?” Lucy asked skeptically.

“Besides them! Anyway, the last time they saw you, you were Lucy next door. They definitely aren’t expecting to see you like this.”

“I don’t know…”