Senior Year, '94. Megan B. March
fucked up over that, too, that’s for sure. We talked about that a lot on Sunday. He was analyzing why he had such bad luck with girlfriends cheating on him.”
I winced at Gabe’s comment and was feeling two things at once: relief and guilt. Relief that I hadn’t told Jensen about Nate because it would have surely pushed him over the edge, and guilt that I still needed to come clean about that with him. It felt like a ticking time bomb that I needed to hurl as far away from me as possible before it blew up in my face.
“Mia?” Gabe called me back to the conversation.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“You’re not saying anything. I was just telling you to just give him time. I think he’s coming back here for spring break and I’m sure he’ll be in a better mood then. When is that? A couple of weeks away?”
“Yeah, it is. I’m hoping you’re right because I don’t think I can take another uncomfortable visit with him.” I laughed awkwardly to try to lighten the mood, only it didn’t feel lightened.
“Listen, I gotta go,” Gabe said. “Hang in there. It’ll be alright.”
“Thanks, Gabe. Talk to you later.”
Gabe hung up quickly and I put my phone back in its cradle. Looking at the calendar hanging on the wall, I flipped through it until I reached what I was looking for. Spring break for me was the first week of April. If Jensen’s classes ended in mid-May, his spring break would probably be earlier in March. I picked the phone up to call him and ask. It rang four times and Erik answered in his usual chipper voice.
“Hi, Erik, it’s Mia. Jensen there?”
“He went to the library to study. I guess I was too damn loud for him.” Erik laughed. “Sorry, a little sex humor.”
I laughed awkwardly with him, but inside I was cringing. I didn’t need to hear about Erik’s sex life or have the visual of Jensen trying to study while Erik was entertaining someone in his bed just a few feet away.
“Maybe you can help me with something,” I said. “When is your spring break?”
“Oh, um,” Erik paused. I imagined he was looking at a calendar stuck on the wall as I heard some paper flipping in the background. “Yeah, here it is. It’s the second week of April. Are you coming out?”
“I don’t know. Jensen said something about coming back to visit during spring break. I get the first week of April and now you tell me he gets the second. Hmmm … I wonder how that will work out?” Not knowing what else to talk about with Erik, the line became silent and I knew I was going to have to end our so-called conversation. “Just tell him I called, alright?”
“Sure thing. Later, girl.”
Knowing that Jensen’s spring break was far enough off to give him more than enough time to chill out, I felt better. Now all I had to do was figure out how the hell I was going to tell him about the baby and what happened that night with Nate.
6. Alicia, Sidelined
Since joining the drill team the year before, Alicia had traveled quite often with them as they put on shows that usually sold out. The first show of this year was at the end of February, and Alicia secured me a spot by getting me a free ticket claiming that I wouldn’t have gone otherwise. Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way than to drag Krissa along with me. However, having bought her own ticket weeks ago, she didn’t really see it as being “dragged.”
“I can’t believe you’ve never gone to a drill team show before,” Krissa said. “I love watching the stuff they do and talked Ryan into taking me to all of the in-town shows last year. Man,” she said as we sat in the bleachers and watched them warm up, “I wish I was more flexible.” Secretly, she’d always wanted to try out, but a fear of failure had kept her from doing it.
“It’s not really my thing, I guess.” I popped a piece of gum into my mouth. Uniforms and going to practice morning and afternoons weren’t my style. “Hey, there’s Jibby!” I yelled, jumping up and flagging him down. He was with Kate, his cousin, and when he saw me he broke away from her and came jogging over. “What are you doing here?” I asked as he came up the bleachers.
“Hey, ladies. Kate’s the one who wanted to come. I thought I’d join her and check them out.” He made a sound in his throat and I knew he didn’t mean their skills. Girls clad in tight, sparkly clothes were everywhere, a guy’s dream.
“Alicia’s in drill. But you already knew that, didn’t you?” I eyed him suspiciously and he shrugged.
“I’m sure she’s really good at it.” Jibby would never have admitted to knowing if Alicia was there or not, but I knew better. “Can I sit down? I think Kate is going to sit over there with her other friends.”
Looking over to where Jibby nodded, I could see that, sure enough, Kate was sitting down with a gaggle of girls, already comfortable and looking like she’d been there for a while.
“Where’s Chad?”
“Work. Lucky dog,” Jibby muttered. “So, Krissa, you still dating that guy long-distance? What’s his name? Ryan?”
Krissa turned a light shade of red before curtly answering, “No, we broke up.” It was still a sore topic.
Looking at Jibby as covertly as I could, I mouthed that I’d tell him about Krissa and Ryan later and focused my attention as the announcer’s voice boomed out overhead, welcoming everyone to the day’s performance. Suddenly the school’s drill team appeared from behind a doorway and made their way to the middle of the gym floor. The crowd erupted into loud cheers, and by the looks Jibby and I were giving one another we both knew that for the next hour we wouldn’t be having any kind of conversation. Krissa ignored us both and was transfixed on the performers.
As time went on and the drill team performed to a few techno songs, Alicia, whom was in the center row of girls, caught my eye. Her smile was bigger than I’d ever seen her smile before, and after a minute or so I was sold on the idea that the massive amount of lipstick she was wearing had everything to do with it. In fact, even from where we sat I could tell all the girls around her were wearing gobs of make-up. Nevertheless, Alicia looked happy. Jibby looked so, too. He seemed engrossed in all the moves of the drill team, but then I saw where his eyes were directed and wondered if it was really Alicia he was into. They seemed to follow her everywhere and he wore a funny little smile on his face. I grinned as I speculated what excuse he would have used about being there had his cousin Kate not wanted to go to the performance that day.
Toward the end of their last set, the gym lights turned off and the crowd went wild when members of the drill team switched on regular flashlights and began another routine. Rays of white light flooded the darkness and Krissa excitedly grabbed my arm as the light rays began making patterns reflected around the gym. Halfway through, though, someone either dropped a flashlight or missed a catch, I couldn’t tell which, and the performance came to an abrupt halt followed by a few loud yells and a bit of commotion. In seconds, the lights were turned back on and I looked to where the drill team had been performing. A crowd began to form around someone, and when I stood up and strained to see more, I gasped when the crowd split for a second and I recognized a red-lipped Alicia sprawled out on the floor, hugging her right ankle. Tears were streaming down her face, smearing her make-up something awful. Jumping up from beside me, Jibby pushed his way down the bleachers, through the crowd, and right up to Alicia. Kneeling down he looked intently at Alicia’s ankle and asked her questions concerning her ankle and the pain she was in. Never being one to take action when someone else was hurt, I knew I’d just be in the way if I went down there. Krissa held onto my arm tightly and we both watched as more school personnel gathered around Alicia.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Krissa asked. “Maybe we should try to get down there.”
“I don’t know if we can with this mob.” I looked around as dozens of people still crowded the bleachers trying to get down to the main floor.