Leah was an incredibly intelligent overachiever, which unfortunately made her a social pariah. It’s one of the things that made our friendship work. She valued someone her own age who would listen to her incessant scholastic chatter and I needed someone who could keep themselves occupied while I stayed inside my own head. Ours was a completely symbiotic relationship, but over time, I’d really come to like Leah. Occasionally she’d shock me with some witty comment or funny observation that gave me a rare insight into the treasure that she really is.
A name I recognized brought me back to the moment. “Do what?”
Leah was never surprised when I asked her to repeat something. I think she had a rough idea of how often I zoned out. “What part didn’t you get?” I knew she was asking just to be difficult.
“Did you mean Stephen Fitchco?” I knew I’d heard her say Stephen.
“Yes.” She wasn’t going to make this easy.
“And?”
“That’s why Ryan wanted to know.”
“Wanted to know what?”
“Carson! Weren’t you listening at all?”
“Apparently not. I’ve got a lot on my mind. Just tell me again.”
And in true Leah style, with only a sigh to convey her frustration, she repeated her entire story. “Ryan Phillips came to my locker between fourth and fifth period and asked me what was going on between you and Stephen Fitchco. I told him I didn’t know then he told me what had happened in the cafeteria. When I asked him why he wanted to know, he said Bobby Warren was interested in you and wanted him to find out if you and Stephen had a thing.”
As I suspected, everyone in school knew about what I’d done. My feet, which already felt heavy because I was so tired, suddenly felt leaden, dread weighing them down. “And what did you tell him?”
“I told him I didn’t think so.” Leah stopped and looked at me questioningly. “You don’t, do you?”
“No!”
“So then what was all that about in the cafeteria?”
I told Leah about my near miss with Stephen’s car and how he’d approached me under the guise of seeing if I was alright then dropped me some cheesy pick up lines. Her eyes were as big as saucers by the time I concluded my story. To Leah, it was as juicy as any Gossip Girl episode, poor thing. Sadly, it had been a pretty significant occurrence in my own life as well. It was a depressing testament to how lacking our social lives really were.
“Alright, now remind me again why this is all such a big deal?” As if it weren’t obvious.
“Because Ryan ended up asking me out, silly.”
Oh. I guess it wasn’t that obvious.
All her bubbling excitement had little to do with me and my life; Leah was making headway of her own.
Leah had been nurturing a serious crush on Ryan Phillips since I’d known her, but Ryan had never given her the time of day. Though Ryan wasn’t a jock, he was widely accepted among them, mainly because Bobby Warren was his cousin. And Bobby was a jock, a copper-haired hottie who played wide receiver, dominated the wrestling mat and dated the co-captain of the cheerleading squad. Yeah, it’s one of those kinds of schools.
“What?” I couldn’t hide my surprise or my delight. “Shut up!”
Leah was smiling widely, nearly aglow with the new development. “I’m serious.”
“What did you say?”
“Duh. I said ‘yes’.”
“So give me details. When? Where?”
“He invited me to a lake party this weekend.”
A lake party? My dream kind of lake party? The ones she’d never shown the slightest interest in because they didn’t involve advanced mathematics?
The initial sting of envy quickly subsided, replaced by genuine pleasure for my friend. I had to smile; I’d never seen Leah this happy over a Mathletes championship before. She’d obviously realized that a shiny, gold trophy doesn’t have warm, sexy lips. But Ryan does.
Welcome to my world, I thought.
“That’s awesome, Leah,” I said sincerely. I was glad one of us would get to live something similar to a full life.
For the first time in our relationship, Leah and I were having a lively conversation that had captured both our attention. On the way home, I learned several things: the party is Friday night and she has nothing to wear; she trusts my fashion savvy enough to help her shop; she secretly looks forward to her first real kiss every bit as much as I do; she sweats down her back when she gets nervous; and she has an entire personality, one she keeps well hidden, that I’ve never seen before.
We were laughing like giddy school girls by the time we reached her mailbox. On the way home, it occurred to me that we should’ve been having these types of conversations all this time. I guess we were more abnormal than I’d originally thought.
My good mood hung in there through homework and supper preparation. It began to sag a little during the quietly uncomfortable meal I shared with Dad, but it perked back up within minutes of my feet hitting the pavement for my run.
When I got back, my mood was further preserved by a call from Leah, asking if I’d go with her and her mom to the mall tomorrow night to look for a new outfit. With only a moment’s hesitation, I said yes. Dad was sitting at the kitchen bar during the entire conversation, but he didn’t say a word.
“That was Leah,” I offered. He nodded, but said nothing. “She wants me to go shopping with her tomorrow night.” Still, he remained silent. “I told her I’d go.” He nodded again.
With a shrug, I turned to walk back to my room when Dad finally spoke. “Thanks for letting me know, butterfly.” The soft, pitiful way he said butterfly pinched at my heart. But I steeled myself, ignoring it. I wasn’t ready to forgive him yet.
“No problem,” I said casually and continued on to my room.
********
That night and the following morning were exact replicas of the previous one—sleep riddled with the same dream until, after the third go round, I refused to go back to sleep, choosing instead to work some more on my science fair project. I thought for a second about scrapping the whole thing. I was only doing it for Dad anyway. But then, when I considered how much time and energy I’d put into it plus how much it meant to Dad, I discarded the notion and carefully put it back on the shelf over my desk, to be completed later.
Leah’s mood was as contagious as it had been the previous day and her excitement was even greater, which meant I was feeling better in no time. Our walk seemed to fly by and I was actually smiling by the time the school double doors came into view.