Guardian Angel
12 Picking Sides
I WAS PRETTY TIRED when I got home from delivering papers Saturday morning. Because of my date, I didn’t get to bed before ten. When I got home at six-thirty, I figured I’d get a couple hours sleep before I got up to do collections.
That was almost what I got. At nine o’clock, Mom pounded on my door and said I had a phone call from a girl named Hannah. Man, I was out of my room and grabbing the phone before I realized I was still in just my underwear. Well, Betts always dragged the phone into her room, so I figured the cord would reach to mine. Mom just stared at me the whole way.
“Did I wake you up?” Hannah said cheerily.
“No. Well, yeah. I got up at four-thirty and went back to bed at seven. It’s time to get up so I can collect anyway. What’s up? I sure had a good time at the game last night.”
“Yeah. Me too. That’s kind of why I was calling. You know. You should always call your date the morning after.” She giggled. Oh man. What a great sound.
“I would have done that as soon as I got up,” I defended myself.
“I’m always up early. You can call at six-thirty.”
“Mmm. I think I’ll do that.”
“I was wondering if you… um… my boyfriend would like to ride bikes this morning. Together.”
“Cool. Well. I have to go out and collect on my paper route and then take the report to the office after lunch. You could ride with me if you want.”
“Really? I didn’t know you worked on Saturday morning. Is it hard?”
“No. It just takes time and you have to get up early every day. You could ride with me on my route while I collect.”
“That would be fun. Should I ride to your house?”
“I live about two miles from your church, but we could meet at that gas station at Zachary and Porcupine. That splits the difference.”
“I’ll leave right now.”
“No wait. I can’t start collecting until ten. I have to get breakfast and uh, you know, shave and stuff.”
“You shave?”
“Not really. But you know.”
“Oh yeah. You just got up. I’ll see you at the gas station at ten. ’Bye!”
Wow! Apparently, Hannah is a morning person.
I pulled my shorts on and dragged the phone back to the kitchen. The cord barely reached from the kitchen to my bedroom. I’d had to sit on the floor inside the door to talk. Mom was waiting for me. I turned to go to the bathroom without saying anything.
“Just a moment, young man. Why exactly do you have a girl calling you on the phone at nine o’clock on Saturday morning?” I groaned.
“Mom, please. Bathroom first and then inquisition?” She shooed me away. I tried to take as long as possible with my shower and brushing my teeth, but I was dressed and still had fifteen minutes before I had to leave for collections. I went to the kitchen to get a peanut butter and pickle sandwich for breakfast.
“All right, spill it mister. Who is Hannah.”
“She’s just a friend from school, Mom. She wanted to know if we could ride bikes this morning.”
“His girlfriend,” Betts said from the kitchen doorway. She was still in her pajamas and must have been waiting in ambush.
“Girlfriend?” Mom asked.
“They were on a date last night.”
“A date?” I bared my teeth at Betts who just smiled back at me, the smug bitch. “As in your first date? With a girl? Without being just a group of friends getting together?” I sighed.
“We didn’t actually decide it was a date until after we got there and I bought her a Coke.”
“But Brian,” Mom continued, “a first date is a very important milestone in a young man’s life. It’s something he should tell his parents so they can get all upset and lecture him. And take a picture or something.”
“Mo-om!”
“We should at least write it on the calendar. When did she become your girlfriend?”
“At halftime. We took a vote.”
“A vote?”
“It was two to zero in favor.”
That did it. Mom doubled over laughing. Betts was beginning to see it was a lost cause but I could tell she wasn’t giving up on getting me in trouble.
“He ditched me and got a ride home with his girlfriend.”
“That’s not fair, Betts. You met Rev. Gordon and okayed me riding home since they were bringing Jessica home, too.”
“Rev. Gordon? The new minister? I heard he had two daughters. Is Hannah the oldest or youngest?”
“Her older sister is Sarah and she’s a good friend of Jessica’s. That’s why they were coming here anyway.”
“Well that makes sense then. And what are you going to do with your girlfriend today?”
“Mom!” Betts was about to lose it.
“She’s meeting me up at the gas station at ten to ride with me while I do collections,” I said.
“Well, that’s okay. Just remember you need to be back here by noon so we can make it to the office before one-thirty to get your report in. Tell her she can stay for lunch and ride with us if she wants. I’ll check with her father to make sure it’s all right.”
“Mom! You can’t let him date a girl. He’s only thirteen,” Betts yelled.
“Almost fourteen,” I said. As if to emphasize the point my voice cracked and I said the last word in two different octaves. Great!
“You didn’t let me date till I was sixteen. No fair.”
“You are a girl and frankly are still not as responsible,” Mom said. “You can go, Brian. Now Betts, I want to hear about your evening last night. You didn’t come home until one o’clock. That’s an hour past curfew.” Betts was looking like a rabbit being chased into a hole by a pack of wolves. I grabbed my collection book and pouch and took off.
Hannah and I had a blast. We’d race our bikes from house to house—and she was really fast—and then she’d wait for me to make my collection and we’d race to the next one. When we got to the Dog and Suds drive-in, I bought her a root beer. We both burped big after we’d gulped it down and about died laughing. I don’t think I’d ever heard Brenda or Rose or any of the other girls burp. They always made a face and said “Gah-ross!” when one of the guys did, so we tried to hide it from them. I mean, you didn’t want the coolest girls in school calling you gross. The last half-mile to my house we just coasted on our bikes and talked about what we were going to do this fall.
Mom had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches waiting for us and said Rev. Gordon was okay with Hannah going into town with us to make my paper payment. We tossed Hannah’s bike in the back of the station wagon so we could drop her off at her house on the way home. When we walked up to the desk, Hannah kept tugging at my sleeve. “Look!” she insisted. I followed what she was pointing to and saw my picture hanging in the middle of the wall with the other carriers. Under it was a sign that said, “Carrier of the Month—August.” I snapped around to look at Cary. He was grinning and so was Mom. She already knew and hadn’t told me.
“Congratulations, Brian,” Cary said. “What is this, the fourth time you’ve won?”
“Yessir. I didn’t even know I was in the running this month. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Well, you’ve done a good job on your route. The prize this month is a weekend at Starbridge Dude Ranch. You can take it anytime this fall.”
“Cool!” I’d been to Starbridge last summer and with a group in the spring. It was fun. Mostly it was just doing a little riding and watching a rodeo. I learned to ride rescue barrels last time. Sometimes we got to play horseshoes and do sheep-roping. I was already trying to figure out when I could go. I turned to Hannah and she gave me a fist-bump.
We got her home and unloaded the bike while Mom talked to Rev. Gordon. Hannah was bragging that I’d won carrier of the month.
“You sound like a real leader, Brian,” Rev. Gordon said. “We could use you in our youth group.” I suddenly had visions of Cassie’s church and the way we had to sit on opposite sides of the room and memorize Bible verses. I glanced at Hannah and then at Mom. She knew that going to church with Cassie had been my least favorite part about that summer, even though I’d learned a lot of Bible verses, just because I was so competitive. I had to be the first to find a verse in my Bible and had to have the most verses memorized. It was silly, but I still memorized ten verses a week. I figured it was good practice. I just didn’t want to do the whole church thing again. I took a deep breath.
“Rev. Gordon, thank you for the invitation, but I would like to respectfully decline at this time. I hope that decision will not affect your willingness to let Hannah and me spend time together because we’re really good friends, but I don’t feel able to join a church group right now,” I said. I kind of cringed because I expected him to send me away.
“Well, not everyone is suited for church life,” he said. “We still have to make the invitation. You’re a respectful and honest young man. As long as you continue to respect my daughter, I’m not going to interfere in your friendship. I’m glad to see she has a good friend in you.” I thought Hannah was going to knock her dad over when she launched into him and hugged him.
“I’ll see you Monday, Brian,” she said, still not letting go of her father. I shook his hand and Mom and I left.
“That was very mature of you, Brian,” Mom said in the car.
“Thank you, Mom. But you know I had to go to church to even be friends with Cassie a couple of years ago. I really didn’t like it. I felt like I was being held hostage or something. I really, really like Hannah and I don’t want it spoiled by having to go to her church.”
“Well, you walked into a big responsibility as well.”
“What?”
“You presented yourself as mature enough to respect her and treat her nicely. If you fail to do that, her father will probably not be as happy about you spending time with her. And frankly, your dad and I would be disappointed, too. I know you are growing up and you might be having urges and desires that are new to you, but I expect you to follow through on your promise to Rev. Gordon. Think of it as your promise to Hannah, too. I don’t think she is as mature as you are.”
“I know what you mean, Mom. She’s a few months younger than I am and I’ll only be fourteen in October. I’ll try to remember that. And I’ll keep my promises. But I’d never do anything to any girl that she didn’t want to, Mom. Any time I even think about that, I remember what those guys tried to do to Jessica and…” I don’t know why thinking about that still upset me so much, but I almost wanted to throw up.
“That’s why we all trust you, Brian. Let’s go get an ice cream cone on the way home. This is probably the last weekend DQ will be open for the winter.”
Things were different at school on Monday. It started when I went out to get on the bus Monday morning and Jessica whispered, “Congratulations on your new girlfriend, Brian. I knew you’d find someone.” Geez! When did this word get around? I mean it had only been a weekend. Then I realized that Jessica was friends with Hannah ’s sister and if Hannah told her sister, then her sister would have told Jessica. And we all rode home together. And I told Betts, so I’m sure she told Doreen and Ella. And if Doreen knew then Doug knew. And if Doug knew…
At lunch, there was just one open seat when I got there. It was between Hannah and Carl. I think it was the first time in two years that I’d sat down to lunch and didn’t have a girl on each side. Hannah was completely oblivious to it, of course. How would she know? I looked a question at Brenda and she winked at me. Each one of the girls winked at me when I looked at her. Then Lionel…
“All right. Don’t you start it, too,” I said. I was a little angry, but I supposed it was my fault. “I didn’t think it needed any big announcements or anything since none of the rest of you seem to announce who you are going with, but you might as well all know that Friday night Hannah and I decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Now quit snickering and winking.” Hannah looked at me and grinned, just about as happy as she could be. Everybody said congratulations and the table relaxed. I wasn’t ready for it to end. Whitney and Rose were the easiest targets, so I zeroed in on them. “And if the rest of you girls decide that means you won’t sit next to me, then I’ll just move to a different table and you won’t have to worry about it. Okay?”
“We weren’t sure if it would be okay,” Whitney said softly. “You’ve never had a girlfriend before and we didn’t want to offend her.”
“Why would I be offended?” Hannah asked. “You’ve been friends longer than we have. If I had any of my friends here, I’d sure sit next to them.”
“Whew!” Brenda said. “That’s a relief. You see, Brian is our pet and we all like to cuddle him sometimes.”
“Yeah!” Liz said. I thought she was showing more enthusiasm than was appropriate. On the other hand, none of them had exactly volunteered to be my girlfriend. They sure had enough opportunity.
When I headed for chemistry in the high school wing, I saw that gang of punks that were at the game Friday. They might have been in the hall every day for all I know but this time I noticed them and they noticed me. They started my direction just as Lamar fell in beside me. It looked like they were going to keep coming until I looked up and saw Reggie on the other side. The punks suddenly turned toward their lockers and let us walk past.
“Just wanted to say thanks for introducing us to your sister and her friends Friday,” Lamar said.
“Yeah. That Ella is a real card,” Reggie joined in. “There was like no chemistry on the dance floor, but we had a good time.”
“Will your people have any trouble if I ask your sister out again?” Lamar asked. I stopped. I know he was asking about the race thing, but there was another issue.
“Yeah they will, Lamar,” I said. He looked at me and I could see he was getting angry. “She didn’t get home until an hour after curfew Friday night and she’s grounded this weekend. My ‘people’ are really strict about obeying the rules and they won’t welcome anybody who helps her break curfew.”
“She didn’t tell me she had a curfew! We weren’t even doing anything but hanging around and talking with everybody else.” Lamar was truly horrified.
“I know you like her, Lamar,” I said, “but sometimes she is such a dip. I’ll put in a good word and if you wait a week to ask her out, Mom and Dad will be okay with it. But I’m not speaking for Betts. Maybe she’ll want to and maybe she won’t. Just make sure that you don’t help her break any rules, okay?”
He nodded and broke off for his class. Reggie and I made it into our spots in chemistry just as the bell rang.
Reggie walked with me back to the Junior High wing of the school.
“I’m glad you came to the game Friday,” he said. “I just want you to let me know anytime you are going to one so we can make sure somebody keeps an eye out for you.”
“Reggie, what the…?”
“Don’t get mad. Kirby’s gang has been itching to do damage since last spring. You might think that taking out the Kowalskis was nothing, but it made you a target and they’re the gun. And they’re juniors, so if they manage to stay in school, they’ll be seniors when you’re a freshman. Lamar and me, we can’t be everywhere and none of us want to be babysitters. We don’t want you to think we are. But we’ve got to put an end to that crew and you are like a magnet for them. Let us know so we can be close enough to keep you from getting killed.”
I had to think about what he was saying. People had been looking out for me ever since I was in grade school. It wasn’t fair. I wasn’t big but I was grown up and I should be able to take care of myself. I wasn’t going to just ask good people like Reggie and Lamar to protect me. Or Carl and Doug and Lionel. If they’d targeted me, though, they’d target the people who were dear to me. They’d attack Jessica again or Betts or Hannah. I had to either put an end to it or get the people I cared about guarded. Or both.
“Reg, thanks. Really. Even if they kill me, I’m not going to expect you to show up and rescue me. The Kowalskis attacked Jessica. Kirby and his gang saw me with Hannah. They might even know Betts is my sister or any of the crew I hang with. Waiting around for them to attack me is just going to make them go after somebody else. Let’s try to figure out a way to take them out without you having to run to save my skinny ass.” Reggie stopped me and I started to pull away so I could get to my sixth period on time. His hand was firm on my shoulder.
“Nobody doubts that you are smart and capable. If they all cornered me, I’d probably go down. You wouldn’t stand a chance… unless you’re still carrying a bottle with you.”
“That stuff was banned. I’d get expelled if I had some with me.”
“Then figure out something else. If you won’t let us know where you are going, you’ve got to be able to defend yourself. Stay with friends when you can and always watch around you for danger. We’ll do our best to keep an eye on your friends. I’ve only known you a week, man. I’d like to see you around.”
The bell rang. He shrugged his shoulders and walked with me to class. I walked in and Reggie stuck his head in the door.
“Mr. Dorne, Mr. Johnson kept our chemistry class late. It wasn’t Brian’s fault he got here late. He didn’t realize that Brian had farther to get to class than the rest of us.”
“All right, Reg. Please let Mr. Johnson know I’d like Brian in my class on time from now on and that he’ll be leaving at the bell whether class is over or not.”
“Yessir.” Reggie left.
“Do you understand what I said, Brian?”
“Yessir.”
“Let’s go skating this weekend,” Hannah said as we sat down at lunch. We were with everyone else, but it was obvious that she was just talking to me.
“Uh… sure. We could go either Saturday after collections or Sunday afternoon if you’d like.”
“Sunday is bad because we always get invited to somebody’s house for Sunday dinner and never know when we’ll get back.”
“Fine, Saturday afternoon. Hey everybody, how about going to Skate King Saturday afternoon? Hannah and I are going. Anybody else want to go?”
“That sounds like fun,” Brenda said. “We’d be welcome?”
“Of course! We all had a great time when we went this summer.”
There was general agreement and we had an impromptu skating party set up. Hannah was surprised that her idea was met with enthusiasm by everyone and not just me.
“They all want to go?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“I just never thought anyone else would be interested. I’d never have been brave enough to ask everyone to go. I hardly know them.”
“Heck, you hardly know me and I’m your boyfriend,” I said.
“That’s so cool. I’ll ride collections with you Saturday morning again. Okay?”
“You really want to? I mean I have to do it because it’s my job, but it’s not exactly a pleasure ride.”
“Sure. I’ll buy root beer this time.”
“Oh. The drive-in closed for the Season Sunday. That’s okay. Maybe you can buy a Coke at the rink.”
“Okay.”
Hannah rode with me. We went skating. I wanted to skate with some of my other friends as well but even when I skated with Brenda, Hannah skated with me. Brenda didn’t try to pull my arm around her to skate the couples dance. Hannah was too busy doing skating tricks and talking to me to hold my hand while we skated except to crack the whip and the rink monitor put a stop to that. I wasn’t really sure how to deal with a girlfriend apparently. Hannah wanted to get together every weekend and do something. She had a list of stuff that included biking, playing tennis, skating, a hayride that her youth group was sponsoring, getting together to carve pumpkins for Halloween, trick or treating, football games, and on and on. For a long time, I didn’t notice that I wasn’t doing anything with anyone else. Even Carl and Doug were quieter on the bus home.
I was running a little late for chemistry and was practically running to class when Kirby stepped right in front of me and knocked me on my ass. Reggie and Lamar must have thought I was absent because they’d already disappeared.
“Watch where you’re going runt,” Kirby growled. He kicked my books across the hall. I scrambled back on the floor.
“You knocked me down,” I stated the obvious. I was mad.
“That’s right. You should watch where you’re going.” What? He jumped in front of me and pushed. I was about to let him have it. There were a couple students watching at the corner and a few more just down the hall, all too far away to help—even if they were willing. I opened my mouth and stopped myself before I gave him any reason to punch me out. I didn’t want to die here in a school hall. I took a deep breath and steadied myself.
“You are absolutely right, Kirby,” I said. “That was really clumsy of me. How could you ever be expected to see and watch for a little kid like me? I owe you an apology.” I turned to the closest kids in the hall before he could say anything else. “Hey you guys, I want everyone to hear me apologize to Kirby. Everybody come here. Kirby deserves a public apology from me and I’m going to give it.” Two or three people came toward us and somebody appeared in the classroom door beside me.
“I am just a stupid little runt who doesn’t watch where Kirby is going. I stupidly put myself right in front of where he was pushing. I apologize for getting in the way of Kirby’s hands. I’m just a junior high kid. I shouldn’t even be in this hall if it weren’t for getting advance placement. Heck, Kirby probably did the same thing when he was my age but was smart enough to stay out of other kids’ way. I’m really sorry, Kirby. I hope you’ll forgive me and know that I’ll always try to stay out of your way from now on.”
“You little cocksucker…”
“You forgive him for being in your way now that he apologized, don’t you, Kirby?” Ms. Hammer was standing in the classroom doorway.
“Yeah, Kirby. Show us you’re a big man and accept the little kid’s apology,” a girl nearby said.
“He didn’t mean to get in the way of your push, Kirby,” a guy said who was right behind me. A couple girls gathered my books up and handed them to me as the bell rang.
“Hurry and accept the apology, Kirby. You’re late for class and holding up a couple dozen others who are waiting,” Ms. Hammer continued. Man, she was tough-looking. I wasn’t sure I wanted to take a class from her in high school.
“Yeah, right,” Kirby said sneering at me. “Don’t let it happen again, twerp.” He and his gang scattered. I started for class but Ms. Hammer held her hand up to stop me.
“Wait.” She stuck her head in her classroom door and said, “Begin discussing the importance of the gravediggers in Act V. You can catch me up on your thoughts when I return in five minutes.” Then she turned to me and led me to my class. “Mr. Johnson,” she beckoned when we reached the chemistry room. He came over to the door. She gently shoved me and said, “Go to your seat. And don’t forget to take debate in high school.” She had a whispered conference with Mr. Johnson and then left. Mr. J came back in the classroom and started his lecture on atomic structure and the table of elements.
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