Learning to Fly (4 page)

“Hello, my name is Jake; it’s my job to look out for this guy.”  He puts Alex in a head lock and I laugh out loud. 

“Hi Jake, I’m Sophie.”  I reach out to shake his huge hand.  I would describe Jake as stocky; he is bigger than the others are.  I guess it makes sense, so he can do his job as full back.

  “Hey guys, have you met Sophie?” Jake points me out to Mike and Monte, the M&M twins. 

“They play left and right guard, respectively,” Alex informs me.

“Is she the blue eyed football babe?”  Mike asks and gets an elbow jab to the ribs from Alex.  We make small talk while we go through the line and make our way to a small round table in the middle of the room.  I am ready to burst Alex thinks I’m a babe.

  “So, I have to ask, who moves to a new town their senior year?” Monte asks and swipes a chip off my plate. 

“My mom’s job,” is the only half-truth I can come up with in response. 

“More importantly, are you seeing anyone right now?” Mike looks at me, winks, and earns another “if looks could kill” stare from Alex.Sitting and laughing with everyone has me feeling really good about my first day in a new school.  Here I am, sitting at a table with the most popular guy in school —the quarterback, and he has his eyes on me. 

My good feeling quickly evaporates at the high-pitched “Baby, I missed you this summer.”  A female voice belonging to a beautiful brunette who looks like a beauty pageant queen makes its way to our table.  Everyone except Alex snaps his neck to look in her direction.  “Did you miss me?”  She asks in an annoying baby voice and leans over Alex’s shoulder, letting her hair fall across his face.

“What do you want Stacey?” He asks in annoyance, flicking her hair off him and sliding closer to me.  She pulls herself up and whips her hair back.  I watch as she looks from him to me.
She moves around the table taking an empty seat on the other side of Mike. 

“What’s the plan for after the pep rally next week?”  Monte asks, and I listen as everyone talks about who is riding with whom and plans for the after party at Jake’s. 

“You’re going to come, aren’t you?”  Alex has a hopeful look in his eyes. 

“Eh, big crowds are not really my thing,” I shrug. 

“Well, I plan on being there, Alex, maybe we’ll meet up at Jason’s later.” Stacey says, and snags a chip off Alex’s plate.

“I may be new here, but I’m pretty sure his name is Jake, not Jason.”  It must have struck everyone as funny because we all start to laugh; well, everyone but Stacey.  She turns and focuses her attention on me, trying to stare me down. 

“So, who’s your plain friend, Alex?”  I can tell from the tone and constipated look on her face she doesn’t approve of me sitting next to Alex.  He shifts again in his seat, making it obvious that she is making him feel uncomfortable.  I jump in to save him.

“His friend has a name; it’s Sophie; can you remember that?”
It feels good to put her in her place.

“I’ll have to let you guys know. Sophie and I have a huge project that’s due, soon.”  I take a cue from Alex and get up to leave with him. “Thanks for that back there.” He nods in the direction of the table. 

“No problem, I take it you weren’t as happy to see Stacey as she was to see you.” 

“We went on one date, and after that, she acted like she owned me.  That’s not my type at all.”  I nod my head in understanding, and I wonder what his type is. I walk away from him and decide to stop at my locker to get rid of the books weighing down my backpack. 

“You still thinking about the pep rally, right?” Alex asks with raised eyebrows.  I’ve always felt awkward in social situations.  I continue to fiddle with the combination on my locker and don’t respond.  Alex props himself against the locker next to mine and snakes an arm around my waist.  A cool shiver slides down my spine and thump, thump, thump goes my heart.  I am afraid that everyone in the hall can hear it. 

“You are coming to the pep rally, with me, Wednesday after school, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”  Alex whispers low in my ear and causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand.  I rub my hands up and down my arms trying to make the goose bumps disappear.

“Alright, I’ll go.”  I look up at Alex; he’s smiling,

  “I promise, you will have a great time, and if you aren’t, we’ll leave early.”

“Is that even legal?  Aren’t you like the star?” I look at him, confused.

“Yeah, it’s cool.  Being the quarterback and a senior has its advantage.”  He’s giving me that smile again, and the scent of his cologne is all around me. God, does he smell good.I can’t wait to get home and sniff my shirt.  He stares at me with those beautiful hazel eyes then he leans in close to me tucking a wild blonde strand back in its place, I can feel it, Alex is going to be my first kiss. 

The rest of the day takes forever because I wanted to see Alex one more time.  I have a date, well, sort of a date, with him next week.  I wonder if the night of the pep rally will be our first kiss. I am zoning out in Humanities when the last bell finally rings.  I head for my locker, trying to play it cool.  God, I wish Heidi was here, she would know what to do.  I see him heading towards me out of the corner of my eye, and start nervously spinning the dial on my lock. 

“You need a hand?” Alex pushes me out of the way and grabs the lock in his left hand, fingers on the dial ready to spin.  I stare at his fingers and wish he would put his arm around me like he did earlier.
“I’m not Houdini; I can’t open this without the combination.”

I roll my eyes at him. “06-21-08,” I lean my head on the side of the locker and wait for him to finish.
He pulls the lock off and holds it in his palm.

“I just realized I don’t have your phone number.” He pulls his phone out and looks up at me.

“555-1822.” I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and it makes me jump.  I pull the phone out of my pocket and save his number to my contact list.

“There, now all is right with the world.”  He is just staring at me now and I force myself to look at his eyes and nowhere else.  He puts the lock back on my locker and gives me a smile so big you can see his dimples from the moon.

“Where are you parked?” I barely register what he says to me because I’m lost in him.  “You parked out front?” he asks, pointing to the main entrance.

“No, I walked; my house isn’t far from here.” I say.

“We can’t have you walking every day.  You do realize you’re a senior, right?” He says, and laughs.  I suddenly feel embarrassed by the fact that not only do I not possess a car, but I don’t have a driver’s license, either.

“Lucky for us, I do have a car and it’s right this way.”  He takes my bag and slides a strap over his shoulder.
When he reaches down and takes my hand in his, I can feel the small little sparks radiating from my fingertips.  I can’t believe this is happening to me.At his car, he opens the door for me and I am excited and nervous as I slide into the front seat.

“Tell me about where you’re from.” His interest in me seems genuine or maybe, I just want it to be. 

“I’m from a small town a few hours from here.”

“You seem pretty adjusted, for moving to a new town over the summer.”

“I’ve moved a lot.  After a while you get used to it.” I say, being braver than I am. 

Before I realize it, I’ve talked the entire ride home; I tell him all about my old school, best friend Heidi, and my dream of going to Brown.
“My house is down this road, the third one on the right.” I say, watching his hands as they grip the steering wheel moving us closer and closer to my house. He puts his turn signal on and turns slowly into the long driveway.  He looks over and I’m caught; he knows I’ve been staring at him.  He smiles, licks his lips, and I bite mine.

“You have to stop doing that if you want me to kiss you; do you want me to kiss you?”  Kiss me?  Do I want him to kiss me?  Uh Hells yeah!  I definitely want him to kiss me.  What if I suck at this?  I have no clue what to do and the ramblings in my head aren’t helping.  I pull myself together and nod affirmatively.

Alex removes his seatbelt and slides toward me; my eyes widen when he shortens the distance between us to disconnect mine.  “Close your eyes, Sophie.” His words are quiet, making my heart thump again.

I release my bottom lip and he presses his lips to mine. He kisses me gently at first and then, when I kiss him back, he becomes more forceful, pulling my lip into his mouth. I reach up with my left hand and slide my fingers into his wavy hair.  I lift my lids to peek at him. He strokes the side of my face and then stares into my eyes.

“Kissing you feels as good as I thought it would; like I’m flying.” He says and trails his fingers down to my ear tracing the outline of it.

“It is amazing.”  I say and I want him to grab me and kiss me again. Instead of waiting to see what happens next, I take the cowards’ way out, “Thanks for the lift, Alex, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I say to him as I open the passenger door.

“I’ll text you later,” he says.

I get out of the car and make my way down the sidewalk in front of the house. I open the front door and my feet feel so light, like they are walking on air.  All the romance stories and movies never truly prepared me for how I would feel the moment it actually happened to me: the day that you fall in love at first sight. 

Chapter Five

“What are you smiling about?” Angie asks, as she prepares a salad at the kitchen table.

“I just had a good first day.”  I pick one of the plump red cherry tomatoes off the top of the salad and put it in my mouth just to stop myself from smiling.

“Go get cleaned up, dinner will be ready in an hour.” I head back to my room replaying the events of today.  Today was a day of firsts; first day of senior year, first boy to hold my hand, and first kiss. I want to share this with someone, if only to make it real, otherwise, it will seem like a very vivid dream.

“Heidi, hey, you have a minute to talk?” I can hear chatter in the background.

“Hold on a sec.” she says.  “Ok, I can talk now,” she’s breathing heavy in the phone.

“Are you alright?”  I ask.

“Yes, we were playing the Wii.”

“I need to ask you for some advice about guys. I think I might like someone,” I tell her tentatively.

“This doesn’t sound like you at all. First off, has he given you any signal that he might be interested in you, too?”

“Well... he helped me find my classes today and we ate lunch together.”

“He sounds nice, but Soph, you know they have designated people that welcome new people to school and show them around.”

“He wasn’t assigned, he volunteered for the job.”

“I’d still play it cool for a bit and see if he approaches you tomorrow before you make a move.”

“There is one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“He kissed me.”

“Tell me everything!”  She says excitedly

“It was the most amazing kiss ever. I melted in the passenger seat and there was nothing left of me but a puddle.” I say, and I can picture her excitement as she squeals into the phone.

“So, what’s he like; a big science buff like you or is he into history?” 

“Well, for starters, he’s the quarterback of the football team.” 

“Wait, you said he’s the quarterback?”

“Yep,” I smile, thinking about watching how his body moved this morning throwing the football.

“Hold on a minute.”  I hear a door open and shut and her moving around and I wonder what she is up to.

“Alright, I got it!” She shouts in the phone.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m doing my job as a best friend and checking the guy out. I am putting you on speaker since I need my fingers.”  I can hear the sound of her fingers rapidly moving across the keyboard and then everything is quiet.

“Dear lord, Alexander is FINE.”  I can hear the gasp through the phone.

“What are you looking at?” 

“Facebook. I told you, having an account is vital, so we could stay in touch,” she scolds.

“I created one, I just don’t use it.”  I log into the account and type in Alex’s name. 

“Hey wait, how did you know who he was if I didn’t tell you his name?” I scroll through the pictures on his page.  I look at my name and see that Heidi likes my profile picture.  How can she like something I don’t have?  I click on messages underneath the photo of us at the Phillies game and see her message. 

Hacked by the best.  #Bff4evr

“You really need to crawl out from under your rock and learn about social networking. Now tell me everything about him: start from the beginning and don’t leave out any details.” I do as instructed, starting from the moment I saw him in the lot.  “Please tell me you’re joking,” Heidi says, when I share the discussion from AP Chem and laughs so hard, she snorts into the phone.  “So tell me does he have big hands?” 

Knowing what she is referring to, I decide to be diplomatic with my answer. “His hands are perfect and so are his lips.” I trace my finger over my lips, remembering the sensations of my first kiss ever.

“Now, what’s this deal with your mom and the landlord?” She asks.

“He’s kind of my step-dad now.  They got hitched yesterday at the courthouse.”

“Wait. Angie, the serial dater, is now married?” 

“Yep!”

“This is awesome news for you; maybe he will turn her into a normal mom.”

“Maybe, but I don’t need a mom anymore, plus, why get excited about something that may not last through the winter?  I just hope she can keep it together until graduation in the spring.  I can’t take another move before college.” I admit and hear Heidi sigh quietly in background.

“I hope it works out for everyone’s sake.  Divorce sucks!” She says and starts to sob. 

“What’s going on?” I start to worry

“My folks have been fighting a lot and are planning to split after I graduate,” she finally gets out.

“Sometimes people just fight. Are you sure they’re going to get divorced?”

“Yep, it’s for reals.  Dad moved all of his stuff to the spare bedroom and they won’t even sit at the table together to eat dinner.  The worst part is they are putting me in the middle.  Mom will say: you tell your father, or Dad will say: you let your mother know.”

“I’m so sorry you’re going through that; I wish you had told me sooner.”

“I didn’t want to talk about it because, if I did, that made it real.  You know what I mean?”

“I do, indeed.”  I say into the phone and wish I could be there for her in person, as she has been for me so many times for me.

“Knock, Knock” Angie says and walks into my room before I tell her to come in.

“We’re waiting on you before we eat dinner,” she says impatiently.

“I’m talking to Heidi.  I’ll heat it up later.” She just stands there staring at me.

“Dinner is ready now, and we shouldn’t have to wait for you; you’re being rude,” she says, loud enough for Heidi to hear.

“Hey, you go ahead and eat dinner; I’m going to be turning in soon anyway.” I can hear the sadness in her voice.

“I didn’t mean to get Angie on your case.  I’m so pumped that you have a boyfriend.  I expect daily updates,” she says and we hang up.  I just can’t believe that Heidi’s folks are going to split up.  For three years, her folks were the people I idolized and if they can’t make it, I see little hope for Angie and Larry.

“So how was your first day, Sophie?” Larry asks as he passes me the salad bowl.

“It was okay.”  I reply and pass the bowl to Angie.  “Just okay, an hour ago you came through the door all smiles.” I look at Angie, who is watching me suspiciously.

“The only thing I can think of to make a girl go from great to ok, is a boy.” Angie says teasing. I keep my head down and slide the spaghetti around on my plate.  Can she tell that I kissed a boy or is she just fishing for information?  Deciding on the latter, I elect to change the subject.

“Heidi’s parents are getting divorced.  That’s why I was late for dinner.” I announce and an awkward silence ensues.

I try to scoop up the last bit of sauce, interrupting the silence when my fork scratches the plate.  “Glad to see you liked your dinner.” Angie says and uncovers a round container in the middle of the table.  “We didn’t want to have cake without you,” she says. She has uncovered a beautiful looking white cake, decorated with blue flowers around the outside and three joined hearts. The first heart has Larry’s name inside, Angie’s in the next, and my name is in the last one. 

“It’s beautiful, but why do I have a heart with my name?” I didn’t marry Larry, Angie did.

“Sophie, yesterday was the happiest day of my life; I’ve always wanted to have a wife and family and, today, you’re mother has blessed me with both.”  She reaches out and touches his hand.  “I know this is sudden, but I was wondering how you would feel about being my daughter?” Larry asks quietly.

“If you married my mom, I kind of already am.” I reply, not sure what he is asking.

“What he means, honey, is he wants to legally adopt you.  That means your last name wouldn’t be Marshall anymore, it would be Pennington, like ours.”  I see tears in her eyes again, but these are happy tears. 

“Yeah, that would be ok.” It really seems like things are going to be different.  If I have his name, I belong to him, too. It looks like we will be a family, after all.

“Wait,” I say, before they cut the cake.  “Let me take a picture of it before you guys cut it up.”  I pull out my phone and snap two pictures: one of the cake and one with the two of them behind it.

“You’re right; that is the traditional way of doing things.” Larry takes her hand, helps her cut a small slice of cake, and cuts it in half.  “You ready?” He asks and both of them feed the other a piece of cake.  I snap a picture with my phone; it was truly a moment worth capturing.  “I think it’s Sophie’s turn next.”  Larry says and looks at me. 

“No, I’m good.  Plus, I don’t think that’s a real tradition,” I say.

“Who says we have to be a traditional family; there’s no reason we can’t make up a few traditions of our own,” he offers.

“I agree,” my mom says, and cuts another slice of cake.  Each of my parents takes a piece of cake in hand and walks over to me.

“Ok, on three,” Larry says.  I count one, two, three, and open my mouth.  On three, both of them smash their pieces of cake all over my face.  I have cake in my hair and up my nose and very little of the delicious frosting in my mouth. 

“I cannot believe you just did that.  That was a waste of perfectly good frosting.” I protest and use a napkin to clean myself up.  My mom places a huge piece of cake on my plate and gives me the frosting from hers.  “This is so good,” I say, with my mouth full.My phone buzzes and I look down expecting to see something from Heidi.  I am pleasantly surprised when I see Alex’s name. 

“Excuse me; I’m going to take this to my room.  Thanks again for the cake,” I say, quickly grabbing my plate and phone.  I’m so nervous my palms are sweating.  I put the plate down and take a deep breath before I read the text.

A:  Sophie, I can’t stop thinking about you.  Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.

I reread the text, over and over. I really do have an awesome guy who likes me; it is the most incredible feeling in the world. It has been a long time since I had the kind of night where I couldn’t sleep because I was too excited for the next day.  Reading his text, one more time, before I close my eyes, I knew tonight was going to be one of those nights.

~~*~~*~~

I wake up ready to start the day. I also feel anxious about seeing Alex at school.  I spend longer than usual getting ready today and can’t make up my mind about what to wear.  I finally run out to the kitchen and find a plate with food waiting for me. 

Thankful for the consideration, I grab the two pieces of toast, eggs, and sausage to construct a sandwich.  I also grab a bottle of water out of the fridge and stuff it into my bag. I walk briskly, trying to get to school as quickly as possible. 

I am disappointed that I don’t see Alex in the lot before the bell rings.  I make my way to homeroom and decide to read a few more chapters of the love story.

“Hey.” Alex’s voice is low; I put down my book at look at him.

“Hey,” I instantly smile at the sight of those hazel eyes.

“So do you want to walk to Chem class together?”

“Sure.”  I waited for Alex to say something to me, to bring up last night, or the kiss. I wondered if I had done something wrong.

I take the opportunity to reach out to Heidi for some advice.  I text her how things are and she calls me.

“You’ve just met him a day ago.  Geez, give it time and see how it goes.  You don’t have to plan everything out step by step.  Love you.”

“I love you too, bye.”

“Who was that?” Alex asks peering over my shoulder at the display. 

“Heidi makes quick calls when she can.” I see Alex looks relieved.  I don’t know what he would be concerned about; I don’t have a boyfriend.

“What’s up?”

“I want to take you home today but I can’t”

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind.”

“We should totally plan to hang out tomorrow after school, though.”

“Yeah, we should.” I nod in agreement,

“Hey, Alex we gotta go, man.”  Jake says, tapping Alex on the arm.  Alex holds up a finger letting him know he’s going be another minute.

“I have to leave for practice.  I wanted to give you something before I go.” Alex reaches into his pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper.  I take it from him and start to unfold it.  “Wait,” Alex places his hands on mine preventing me from reading the note.  “Wait till after I leave to read it.”  With that, he jumps up from the table and heads out of the cafeteria with his teammates.

I don’t usually do this, but you inspired me, Sophie.

Let me fly you to a world, high above the skies,

To swim in deep blue oceans that in her beauty lies

A place where love and flowers bloom in all their majesty

The treasures of my heart are yours; say yes, come fly with me.

I just got the most incredible poem from Alex.  I hold the paper to my chest as if to tattoo his words across my heart.  I take a pic and send it to Heidi.