Chapter Eight

Nate

Okay, Monday morning was a little weird. I was standing outside English Lit waiting for Jimmy and Elle, trying to wrap my mind around what had happened on our date. How much of it was pretend? How much of it was real?

After all, she’d only agreed to go out with me to keep Jimmy believing the story. But then there had been that kiss. That was real. A girl couldn’t fake that, not a girl like Elle.

I was reliving the moment when I caught sight of them out of the corner of my eye. Elle was dressed in a flowery summer dress with her long tanned legs ending in open-toed sandals. A good look for her. A very good look. There was something about a girl in a flowing dress that just turned my insides over.

“You’re late,” I said with a raised eyebrow.

Jimmy shot his sister a disparaging look. “That’s because someone spent half the morning trying to figure out what to wear. I swear, she changed her mind a dozen …”

“Shut up,” she said as she punched him in the shoulder.

“We missed the bus,” he continued as he rubbed his shoulder. “Nana had to give us a ride.”

Elle looked up at me with a hesitant glance. As if I was going to tease her or something.

“Well, it looks to me like she made the right choice,” I said and was rewarded with a quick smile.

“I’ll see you guys at lunch,” she said over her shoulder as she turned away to get to her own class. Her dress swirled and my heart jumped. Yes, a beautiful girl in a summer dress was something to be appreciated.

“You coming?” Jimmy asked as he stepped into the room. Completely oblivious to the thoughts running through my head.

I watched Elle disappear into the crowd and reluctantly turned to join him.

The rest of the morning was pretty normal. A couple of hours later, I was leaning up against my locker, waiting for Jimmy so we could go to lunch. Really I was looking forward to figuring out Elle and what Saturday night had really meant.

My mind was sort of wandering when I saw Jimmy duck into the boy's bathroom. No problem, I might be in a hurry, but he didn’t know that. I folded my arms across my chest and waited as I watched the world walk by.

I might have missed them but they were so obvious it was ridiculous. Frick and Frack, I called them. Two of Joe McCain’s boys. Frick was the skinny one, Frack, the husky, dumb as a rock one. Again, nothing unusual until they started looking around like they were casing a bank job. I swear, they couldn’t have been more obvious if they set out a road sign.

I knew for sure when they went inside and three freshmen rushed out. One of them was still zipping up as if he couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Every one of my alarms set off.

Pushing off the locker, I forced my way through the hallway crowd and into the bathroom.

Frack had Jimmy up against the wall. One hand holding him in place while his other was cocked back like he was going to pound him into the ground. Frick stood to the side, yelling at Jimmy, “Listen, little twerp, you don’t belong here, you …” God, I hate bullies. Something inside of me popped.

I didn’t think, I just acted by punching the bigger Frack in the kidney from behind. The guy released Jimmy and dropped to his knees with a hollow, humph sound.

Okay, I admit it. Not an honorable punch. But then he was holding a boy half his size and threatening to clobber him.

I’ve got to give his compadre, Frick, credit, he reacted faster than I expected. A full right cross that caught me square on the chin. Caught me enough so that I saw more than a few stars. But then he made his fatal error. He didn’t follow up the punch, he might have been able to get me if he had. Instead, he stepped back, a look of shock on his face when I didn’t go down. Like maybe he was rethinking his entire plan and wondering if he’d just made the biggest mistake of his life.

“You okay?” I asked Jimmy.

“Yes,” he said as he nodded.

His face was whiter than a bag of all-purpose flour and his eyes were as big as baseballs. But it looked like they hadn’t really gotten started on him. Nothing hurt but his pride. I had to smile though, the kid was bouncing back fast.

“Good,” I said, as I reached out and punched Frick square in the nose with a tight jab. Unlike him, I knew how to punch. Frick dropped to the ground like a lifeless doll. Ending up next to his useless friend.

“Come on,” I said to Jimmy. “It’s meatloaf Monday and I want to get some before they run out.”

Jimmy gave me a strange look then glanced down at the two boys moaning on the bathroom floor where they belonged.

“But, what if they tell?” he asked. It was obvious he was worried about anything that might mess up his chances of getting into Stanford.

I laughed and shook my head. “No way, they’re not that dumb. Besides, you didn’t do anything.

He seemed to relax a little

“And Jimmy,” I added as I held the door open for him. “Let’s not tell Elle about this. She wouldn’t understand.”

He continued to stare at me for a long moment then smiled. “No, she wouldn’t,” he said.

We had grabbed our lunch, and yes, I got a double order of meatloaf and were walking across the cafeteria when I told Jimmy to go on. I’d catch up with him later.

He frowned, but then nodded his head and walked towards our table. I watched him for a second, then made a beeline for Joe McCain and his cronies. The idiot was surrounded by a dozen worshippers. Girl’s that hung on his every word, guys sitting there with him, hoping to scoop up some of those girls from under his nose.

Placing my tray down next to his, I leaned forward and said, “Next time, send more men.”

Joe looked back up at me and I could tell right away that he was shocked. The fear dancing behind his eyes was a dead giveaway.

“Get lost, Clark,” he said, but the tremble in the back of his throat betrayed him.

“Listen jerk,” I said through gritted teeth. “Just so we both know. If anything happens to the kid. Anytime, anywhere, I’m coming after you. I don’t care if it’s on your orders or not. I’m holding you responsible.”

The gaggle of sheep around him got very quiet, I don’t think they were used to someone talking to their God that way. One of the boys, Hanks I think his name was, started to get up out of his chair. I shot him a quick look that let him know he was about to ruin his whole day. At least he had the brains to sit back down.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Joe said defensively.

“I realize you’re not very smart. That’s why I’m cutting you some slack. But this is your official warning. Leave the kid alone!”

Before he could respond, I turned away and headed for our table. He had his warning. Everything that happened after this point was on him.

Elle shot me a curious look as I slid in next to Jimmy, across from Jeanna.

“What happened to you?” she asked. “And why were you talking to Joe McCain.”

“What? Joe and I, we were discussing the weather, why?”

“Yeah, right,” she said with a shake of her head. “And the scrape on your chin?” she asked with a curious frown.

“That, oh, I walked into a door.”

Jimmy snickered next to me as he desperately tried to hide a laugh. Elle stared at him for a minute then said, “I don’t believe you.”

I looked at her for a moment then said, “Listen, Elle, just because we went on a date doesn’t mean you get to know everything about me.”

Elle’s eyes grew very big, very fast, as a look of shock washed across her face.

“You went on a date?” Jeanna exclaimed. “And you didn’t tell me.”

“Um… well … it wasn’t that big a deal,” she said as she desperately tried to come up with an explanation.

“Thanks,” I said. “That wasn’t what you said after we kissed.”

“You guy’s kissed …” Jeanna said, her mouth open like a landed fish.

“Twice,” I added as I took a bite of food. I shot Elle a quick grin to let her know how much I was enjoying her discomfort.

Jeanna grabbed her friend’s arm and pulled her around to stare at her in disbelief.

“Give,” she demanded.

“Hey, not here,” Jimmy said. “I’m her brother, there are some things I do not want to hear.”

“I don’t care,” Jeanna said. “I’m her best friend and she doesn’t tell me she goes on a date.

“We went to dinner, then played putt-putt golf,” Elle said, obviously hoping that by giving a few details she could satisfy Jeanna’s demand for information.

“And, I might add.” Elle said with a broad smile, “I beat Nate at golf.”

I could tell she was trying to get back at me by attacking my manhood.

“Yes, she did,” I admitted. “Something about those tight jeans she was wearing. Just threw me off my game.”

Her face went milk white then immediately back to full-on cardinal red. Sometimes it was fun being me.

“Hey,” Jimmy interjected. “Not in front of the little brother, remember.”

Elle swallowed hard, then told Jeanna, “I’ll tell you later.”

Jeanna scowled and said, “You’re darn right you will.”

I smiled to myself. Another crisis averted, Elle was no longer thinking about the scrape on my chin or why I was talking to Joe McCain.

Or at least I thought so.

“That still doesn’t explain why you were talking to Joe McCain,” Elle said with a deep frown. The girl was like a terrier with a rat. Relentless.

Jimmy suddenly said, “So, do you think Susan Milner, would go out with me?”

Elle almost choked on her salad. Jeanna dropped her fork and looked at Jimmy as if he’d just announced he running for President.

All I could do was shake my head. The kid was quick. I had to give him that.

“What?” Elle asked very slowly.

“Are you crazy,” Jeanna spouted out. “She’s like the prettiest girl in school.”

“I know,” Jimmy said with a lost stare.

“She’s also dating a guy in college,” Elle added.

“And, she’s like a bazillion years older than you,” Jeanna added.

I shot Elle a quick glance. I could tell she was thinking back to our conversation about thirteen-year-old boys.

“And I might add,” Jeanna continued. “She’s Susan Milner. Why would she ever go out with you? She could have her pick of almost any guy. Correction, not almost, every guy.”

“Not every guy,” I mumbled to myself.

Jimmy just shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t know she was dating a guy. It wouldn’t be right to ask her out, I guess. Not if she already has a boyfriend.

I tried not to laugh. “No, probably not,”

“Jimmy,” Elle asked with a maternal stare, “you will not ask Susan Milner out.”

I quickly reached out to touch Elle’s arm and shake my head. Big mistake I said silently.

Jimmy frowned and said, “we’ll see.”

Elle sat back as she tried to understand what was going on. I could tell this was going to become a big issue and I hated seeing the guy get shot down.

“I was talking to her sister, Sara, in our art class. She said that Susan really likes smart guys,” Jimmy added. Refusing to let the matter drop.

“Ha,” Jeanna said as she rolled her eyes. “Of course she did, no girl is going to say she likes dumb guys. But that doesn’t matter.”

“You know,” I said, trying to draw him away from the cliff. “Well, the smarter play would be to ask out the little sister,” I said quickly. “She’s closer to your age, and in a few years, she’s going to be as hot as her big sister. Get in on the ground floor.”

“I hear she’s pretty cool, not stuck up,” Jeanna said. That was the thing about Jeanna, she knew everyone and their status.

“Hey, this isn’t the stock market,” Elle exclaimed. “This is a young girl, we’re talking about.”

“I’m just saying,” I began, shooting Elle a look that begged her to go along. “That because Susan already has a boyfriend, maybe Jimmy should focus on Sara.”

“Jimmy’s only thirteen,” Elle said. “He’s too young to date. This is ridiculous.”

Jimmy put his fork down and stared at his sister. “Listen Elle, next year, at this time, I will be at Stanford. …”

“If Mom lets you,” Elle said defensively.

“She will, unless you ruin it for me,” he snapped back as he gave her a look that let her know how serious it could be if she screwed him over.

“Well, that’s next year. This year, no way are you asking Susan Milner out on a date.”

“Okay, then maybe I’ll focus on Sara,” he said with a smile.

Elle just sat there with her mouth open.

“Who are you?” she asked, unable to believe what she was hearing.

Jimmy smiled and shrugged his shoulders then shot me a quick look.

The boy was a genius. His sister had completely forgotten about my discussion with Joe McCain and the scrape on my chin. Like I said, a genius.