I was sprawled on my bed that afternoon when the phone rang. I reached blindly to my nightstand for my phone. I found it. "Hello?"
"Jan? How was the exam?"
"Hi, Sarah. I'll let you know when I've recovered."
"Oh, come on, it can't have been that bad."
"Care to make a small wager on that?"
"How much money do you have now?"
"In cash or in theory?"
"Never mind. Um... oh, the reason I called. You know Mac's?"
"The coffee shop cafe type place on seventeenth?"
"Yeah. You doing anything?"
"Are you gonna pay me for gas?"
"I'll buy you something."
"Good enough, I think I forgot to eat today."
"Pick me up now?"
"Got a hot date?"
"I just thought I'd gawk at an incredibly groovy and cute drummer who happens to be playing tonight."
"You and how many other people?"
"Care to join me?"
"Naw, I think I'd only be depressed. You gonna call me when you're ready to go home?"
"Maybe. I might find another ride. Depends on who's there, of course. You sure you don't want to stay?"
"I'm beat from today. I'll be over there in a couple minutes, though."
"Kay, bye." I set the phone onto the receiver and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Okay, wake up now, I told myself. I grabbed my purse and keys and went to get Sarah.
"You know," she said as I pulled into a parking space at Mac's, "You actually play guitar alot better than some of the people I've seen making money doing it."
"Ah, but remember my parents. There's no way they'd pay for my college if they really thought I was getting weird. Strange clothes, they can tolerate, just as long as my behavior doesn't change too much."
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "I've known you since first grade," she said. "Don't try to pretend that you haven't changed a whole lot in the last few years."
"It's part of growing up. Luckily, mom and dad know that, too. Come on," I said to her sideways glance as I locked the car. "You know I live on a thin line between acceptable and non acceptable. I'm eighteen. That's as it should be. And my dad likes rock and roll."
"Don't remind me, it's too weird to even contemplate."
"Yeah, I know!" We stepped inside Mac's, an establishment which really fits no category. It's sort of a coffee shop, but with rock instead of beatniks. You can get a beer if you're twenty-one, but it's not a bar. For the most part, it was just the local hangout for teenager and the place where local groups tried their infant acts in front of an audience. And for at least three years I had been wishing I could be one of those acts.
"Look!" Sarah sighed. "There he is!" I followed her gaze and saw a tall, dark-haired young man who looked to be in his early twenties. His hair was quite long compared to most of the guys I knew, and his heavy eyebrows gave him a brooding, dark appearance.
"You can't do any better than that?" I teased. "Who is he, anyway?"
"Do you remember Phillip Rosedale?"
I searched my memory. "That senior who almost got kicked out for organizing the rally when we were in junior high?"
"That's him," she said.
"Funny, between Leary, some teachers, and the local paper, I got the impression that he was a drugged-out satanic loser, if that much."
"And you believed them?"
"No, I just didn't expect him to stick around town after that. It'd be hell to try and get a job with that kind of references."
"From what I hear, he's doing alright. He plays mostly with this band, but gets a few extra bucks with some others. As far as I can tell, he's about the only one around who's seriously shooting for a recording contract."
"Which brings up my question again. Why is he still here?"
"Those people in the band are his friends. I guess he just wants to be with them. Or have them with him, whatever. Rumor has it that a talent scout offered him a contract, but not the others. He turned it down."
"Sorry, but that was stupid."
"But noble. Sacrificing for his friends."
"I guess." Phillip said goodbye to the people he was talking to and went to the stage. "Guess they're going to start soon."
"Yeah. Do you want to hang around for a bit and have dinner? Oh, hi Alex!" She called to a point behind me.
"Hello, ladies. Can I get you something?"
"Well, I think we were about to attempt to eat," Sarah said. "Where's Jesse? Should we wait for him?"
"He won't get off work til at least eight," Alex answered. "But food sounds good. I haven't eaten for... wow, it's been almost two hours!"
"Our human trash compactor," I said. "You guys eat, I'm going to head home. My brain still hurts from that test today. Incidentally, Al, what did you think of it?"
"I think that man has too much time on his hands to think up questions like that."
"At least I know I wasn't imagining things. Sarah, call me if you need a ride, okay?"
"Sure. See ya."
I waved and walked out. Not that I didn't like it there. In fact, I usually hung around for at least a couple hours. But I did actually want to sleep. With Alex there, Sarah probably wouldn't be calling for a ride. Of course, Jesse would probably show up in a couple hours, in which case he'd be driving her home.
We had been neighbors when we were very young, but Jesse was the only one who still lived in the old neighborhood. Even as little kids, though, it was Jesse n' Sarah and Alex n' Jan. Funny that we had never actually dated each other. But we were so close, it would be like dating your own sibling. Whatever would we do in college?
And which college would I be in? I thought later as I flipped through the day's mail. I had my choice of UC Irvine, Berkeley, New York University, or Tulane. I wasn't wild about the thought of going to Louisiana, but my parents swore up and down that Tulane had an excellent pre-law and law program. Of course, that was offset by the wonderful pre-med and med programs at UC Irvine. And New York, they said, was an experience in and of itself, and it would be really good for me. Berkeley was in there at my insistence.
Lawyer? Doctor? Me?? Right, and Sony Bono was a congressman. I simply could not see myself in either or those roles. Of course, I was really having trouble seeing myself as anything but a teenager anyway. Well, of the two I supposed I'd rather be a lawyer. I didn't handle sickness well. And surgeon? No. Absolutely not.
There was also a postcard from my parents in the mail. They would be back next Wednesday, they said. I was glad that they finally trusted me enough to leave me home alone for nine days. The first time they had left, it was for two nights, and during that time, mom had called me four times. Twice to make sure I went to bed early enough, twice to make sure I was awake. I told her that the next time they went away, if she tried that I'd unplug the phone. She had gotten mad at that, but dad had just laughed and told me to go ahead. That way my friends couldn't call, either.
So we had agreed that I would leave the phone plugged in, and I or they would only call in case of absolute necessity — and reminders of foods in the four food groups did not constitute absolute necessity. I told mom that I was touched that she cared for me so much and reminded her that we only heard from her father three or four times a year. She wasn't happy with that logic or the new rule, but she accepted it. And since then, she had discovered that I could be trusted.
"Hi, Alex. Thanks for taking a couple minutes." The four of us stood around my locker.
"Sure. What's up?"
"This." I opened my locker, removed the solitary book, and put it in my bag. "My locker is now empty, and you are all witnesses. Can I talk you into going to the office with me to relinquish my locker for good?"
"Christ!" Jesse exclaimed. Has this deal with Leary gone that far?"
"I know my locker's been searched several times, and I don't want them to take anything. Furthermore, I don't want a convenient place for something to be planted and 'found'."
"Good point." They came with me to the office, where I got a harsh glare from Leary as he walked through, but he said nothing. The secretary seemed a little surprised that a senior didn't want a locker, but she did as I asked. A few minutes later, I no longer had a locker.
"Have you told your parents about Leary?"
"Yeah, I told my dad a couple weeks ago."
"What did he say?"
"He said to keep track of everything he said and did to me, to write it down and have witnesses whenever possible, and to avoid potentially compromising situations. The general atmosphere with the people who decide who graduates or not isn't particularly fond of people who think differently."
"Ain't that the truth."
"Yeah. He said that unless he actually threatens me or does something that I can prove, there's not much that can be done."
"That's just wrong."
"You want to tell that to Leary?"
"Sure." We all looked at Alex. "When I've got my diploma safely in my hand," he amended.
"I think that goes for all of us," Sarah said. "He'd have got me for truancy earlier today if Mrs. Wilson hadn't poked her head out the door and told him that she did, in fact, give me permission to go across the hall to the drinking fountain. I swear, I'm gonna get a pass for every little thing from now on."
"I know it!" Jesse said. "My seat is right by the door, so I could hear that whole conversation. God, who put the bug up that man's ass?"
"You know," Alex said, "I bet he never had a date in high school."
"Or college."
"Graduate school."
"And beyond."
"Why can't they send *him* to Vietnam?"
"Germ warfare is illegal." I looked at my watch. "Hey, lunch is almost over, I'd better be off or Leary's gonna have a fit about me being on campus. I'll see ya later!"
When I got home, I started cleaning. I hadn't had parties, but my mom was absolutely phobic of dirt, grime, and dust — real or imagined. They said they wouldn't be home til Wednesday, but they hadn't said what time, and I had an English test on Wednesday. I wanted to use it to study. I had been out all weekend, so Monday afternoon was used for housework.
Luckily, I'm not a very dirty person. It took me about two hours to vacuum, dust, sweep the patio, clean the bathrooms, wash a few dishes, and clean my room. Just as I was finishing, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi, honey! How are you?"
"Hi, mom, I'm fine, how are you guys?"
"We're doing great, and I just wanted to let you know that it's looking like we'll be staying until Friday. Is that alright for you?"
"Sure, mom, that's fine with me. I assume, then, that you're having fun?"
"Don't let the company bigwigs hear you say that! This is a business, trip, it's not supposed to be fun! Your father's at a meeting right now, in fact. Oh, he wanted me to ask you if you've had any problems with that principal."
"Same old, same old," I replied. "I finished cleaning out my locker today, and I went to the office and relinquished it."
"Good," she sighed. "I was a little worried about that. Well, is there anything else you need to tell me?"
"I can't think of anything. Have fun and I'll see you on Friday?"
"That works for me! Bye!"