was amused at her regret. “So you’re getting it all over with at once.”
“I have nothing more to worry about,” Kara conceded, “especially after falling.”
His eyes sparkled and she couldn’t help but smile back. “Oh well,” she added with a shrug, “it’s uphill from here.”
He asked who her homeroom teacher was and she told him. Scott had Mr. Johnson for advanced Bio. and Anatomy. He told her about decorating the skeleton for Halloween.
“How about a slice of pizza?” He asked, getting up.
Kara checked her back pocket. “I only have a dollar.”
“You can pay me later,” he said, already on his way to the food court.
She leaned over to put some weight on her ankle and looked around. Annie was at a table next to the booths, and gave her an ‘i-c-u’ hand sign. Kara quickly turned away, knowing she would get this all wrong. Scott returned with two slices and handed her one. Kara forgot how hungry she was.
“You have a practice 5K this Saturday, right?” He asked.
Kara was impressed…no one ever pays much attention to cross country until regionals.
“Yeah, a lot will sign up but few have any idea how far that is.”
Scott nodded. “Same thing with football. Two weeks of practice and that’s it for most guys.”
They both finished their pizza.
“Scott…I’ll be fine here if you…” Kara implied.
“I’m good,” he quickly answered. “Besides, you haven’t told me what you think about…when you’re running.”
“Lots of things,” she replied, a little surprised at the question. Annie would never ask that. “Like passing Algebra…and how hard my mother works.”
She didn’t know where that came from; it just popped out. His face lit up at the answer. “He’s making fun of me,” she thought. Kara wanted out before she messed up even more.
“My friend Annie is waiting; I should go.”
“Sure you’re ok?” Scott asked, giving her time to stand.
Kara leaned as she stood, slowly putting weight on her ankle. Her ponytail fell in front of a shoulder until she straighten up. She saw him notice it and silently thanked Annie for the idea.
“My ankle’s fine, thanks,” she said, referring to the help and pizza. She almost added ‘for everything’, but that was too dramatic.
“See you around,” he said, and was gone.
She wove through the crowd to find Annie, who was surprisingly anxious to leave. She hardly waited for them to get out the door. “Real smart, Kara…falling in front of THE Scott Davis! I didn’t know you had it in you. OMG, how hot is he? He’s not only a quarterback, but every girl at Lakewood is after him. From now on I’m not going to leave you alone for a minute!”
“It was an accident. I’m a runner; you don’t think I’d chance an injury, do you?” Annie pretended not to hear and waved ‘bye’ as she turned down her street.
Kara walked quickly the rest of the way home to test her ankle. She keep re-living her time with Scott. Why not? She would never see him again. Mom was in the kitchen making a sandwich when she got home.
“Hi Mom; you got my note about The Onion?”
“That’s a lot for one day…Lakewood and then The Onion. Let me guess; Annie put you up to it. Which reminds me, she’s already called. Something about ‘she’ll kill you if you didn’t give him your number’.”
Annie’s making way too much out of a slice of pizza.”
Kara reached for her backpack on the table. “Do me a favor, Mom. If she calls, tell her I’m in the shower. I’ll email her later.” She noticed a box sitting next to her backpack. “What’s this?”
“A note’s good, but what if I don’t come right home after work, or you and Annie go somewhere else? Next time I want a phone call, so I know where you are. If you don’t keep your grades up, it’s gone.”
A cell phone! She gave Mom a hug. “Thanks; this is great! I won’t tell Annie. Everything’s an emergency to her.”
Kara took the phone and ‘Directions for Use’ upstairs. She turned the shower on in her bathroom while she read them, just in case. She quickly figured out how to call and text, putting some numbers in the directory. Then Kara turned her old desk top on. She so expected the ‘urgent’ email.
email: ‘What’s wrong with U? U don’t wait for someone like Scott to ask for your number. Look, I know what I’m talking about. CALL ME!!!’- An
email: ‘Do U have an idea how embarrassing it was to fall? Scott tried to make me feel better, that’s all.’ K
Kara wasn’t about to tell Annie exactly how she felt. The way his eyes sparkled when he talked, and smiled at some of the things she said. And there was something else. Whenever Kara pictured Scott sitting across from her at The Onion, it wasn’t such a long day after all.
AGREEMENT
The next morning Kara got off the bus and headed for homeroom. “Annie was right…about high school,” she thought. “Everything changes, even the first day.” She stopped to give her backpack a boost.
“Looks like you need more help,” Scott said, catching up to her.
“Ha ha very funny but no,” she said jokingly, unable to hide a slight blush. “My ankle’s ok. Thanks again for yesterday.”
She raise her head and looked at him. “Oh yeah…I owe you…”
“Forget it,” he interrupted, his eyes sparkling back like she remembered. “I bet your Mom’s working hard.”
Kara only saw sincerity in his eyes. “I don’t know what made me say that…nervous, I guess. She’s a nurse at the hospital.”
He lingered when she stopped at her locker. She felt like saying ‘it’s enough you were nice yesterday…’
“I don’t have practice this Sunday,” he blurted out.
“I do most of my homework on Sunday’s…especially math. That way it’s fresh on my mind for Monday.”
He shifted his weight and looked away.
“How are you at Algebra?” She heard herself say.
“I got a B+ for the year,” he quickly said. “We can meet at The Onion, if you want.”
“Why don’t you…come over?”
“Great, how’s two?”
“Sure,”
