Saving Face (a young adult romance) (11 page)

            “Not happening guys!”  Alyssa was being lightly
restrained by her friends.  The three of them were standing on the middle of a
railroad bridge over the Moshannon River.  A tall man with a salt and pepper
hippie beard was explaining bungee jumping safety rules to them and the ten
other crazy people standing up there with them.  Several members of the
Adventure
Happens
staff were checking (for what Alyssa prayed was at least the tenth
time) the bungee jumping equipment.  It did not look safe. 

            “It’s going to be fine.”  Tommy whispered.  “My
dad took me when I had my birthday.  I’ve been 3 times since.  They are a top
notch company.  Totally safe.”

            “Then why did I have to sign a
WAIVER
?”

            “I told you she wouldn’t do it.”  Tommy
whispered at Beth.

            “She’s doing it.”  Beth’s whisper was doing that
annoying singing thing Beth favored so much.

            “If I’m doing this then can you two shut up so
I know how
not to die
!”  Alyssa’s whisper turned the entire crowd
toward her.  It was a possibility that Alyssa wasn’t whispering anymore.

            Salt and pepper guy cleared his throat.  “Okay
guys!  It’s a full docket today, and we’re burning daylight!

 Crazy number one was being
strapped to crazy instructor number one.  All new jumpers had to go down double
with an instructor.  Alyssa didn’t see how adding weight to the rope thing was
supposed to make her feel safer.  She considered making a run for it—Beth
caught her after half a step.

“It’s
my
birthday! 
Shouldn’t I get to pick how we celebrate?  Whatever happened to cake and ice
cream?”

“You’re gonna love it.  The
adrenaline is a total rush!”  Tommy looked so excited.  He was definitely
deranged.  “I’m gonna go ahead of you.  Just watch me.”

“You need to do this Alyssa!  Trust
me.”  Beth turned her back around.

“How could scaring the crap out of myself
possibly be very beneficial?”  Her whisper had become a whine.  Crazy number
three was bouncing away at the end of that rope. 

“Well, you have a tendency to avoid
scary things.  I figure if you can jump off a bridge—calling Brent will be
cake.” 

“Beth!  Can you just leave that
alone!  I’m not celebrating my birthday by throwing myself off a bridge!”

“Happy birthday.” 

They both turned to find one of the
crazy instructors.  He was probably a couple years older than them, but not old
enough to have been doing this very long.  “You’re my instructor?”  Alyssa was
getting more doubtful by the minute.

“You don’t look pleased.”  He
smiled at her and handed over the harness she needed to wear.  “That’s too
bad.  I’m Chris.”  He pointed to where his name was stenciled onto his shirt. 

            “Alyssa.”  She shook his hand.  “No offense, but
could I maybe wait for someone… umm … more experienced?”

            “Don’t worry.  I haven’t dropped anybody yet.” 
He checked the buckles on her harness to be sure they were tight enough.  “And
someone like you—I’ll be holding on real tight.”  He grinned up at her.  Alyssa
ignored his attempts to put her at ease.

            It was Tommy’s turn and Beth ran to the railing
to watch.  Alyssa preferred not to, so she closed her eyes.

            “You don’t want to watch with your friend?”  The
instructor asked.

            “At the moment I’m not sure either of them are
my friends.”  Alyssa groused.  This brought a confused look from Chris.  “I am
kind of here under duress.”  She continued.  “It’s their birthday gift to me.”

            “Ahh.”  He nodded.  “And you don’t want to do
it? “

            “Not really.”  Alyssa decided she could be
honest with Beth out earshot.  “Actually, I do want to.  I’m just really really
scared.”

            “If it helps—I don’t mind if you scream on the
way down.  Most girls do.”

            “I do not
scream
.”  Alyssa’s competitive
pride came out to play. 

            “My turn!”  Beth was excited!  She was absolutely
deranged.  “You aren’t going to chicken out on me if I go first are you?”  She
was giving Alyssa a suspicious look even as her instructor connected their
harnesses.

            “No.  I’m right behind you.  Go on—go check on
your man.”  Alyssa tried to sound light and convincing.  But she wasn’t really certain
that when her turn came she’d be able to do it.

            “So that’s how it is?  I was wondering how to
ask.  Figured one of you had to be attached to him.”  Chris was talking as he
walked her over to the staging area so salt and pepper guy could check them
over. 

            “Beth and Tommy?  Yup they’re pretty much
attached at the hip, sorry.”  Alyssa was trying not to hear Beth’s screams over
the side of the bridge.  Salt and pepper guy was counting backwards.

            “I didn’t say I was disappointed in which one.” 
He winked at her as he wrapped his arms tightly around her torso.  Before she
even realized they’d been moved and hooked up to the rope, she heard the word
“go!”  And
go
they did—right over the edge.

It was amazing! 
Rush
did
not even begin to describe it.  It felt like flying.  Her only complaint was
that it was too short.  She hadn’t even screamed.

            “That was incredible!”  Alyssa was rushing over
to where Beth and Tommy were waiting for her.

            “And you didn’t even scream.”  Chris piped up
from behind her.  She hadn’t realized he was still following her after they
disentangled themselves.

            “I told you!  Oh, man!  Amazing.”  She was kind
of speechless. So her words seemed detached and unintelligent.  She didn’t
care.

            Chris was chuckling at her, and holding
something out in his hand.  “I’d love to take you jumping again.  Take my
card.  We’ll get you into the next tour.”

            “Thanks.  Don’t these things fill up quick?”

            “I’ll squeeze you in.”  He pressed the card into
her palm.  “Happy birthday again, Alyssa.  Nice to meet you both.  Have a safe
drive.”  Chris winked one more time at her and jogged away.

            “I bet they book a lot of sales that way.” 
Alyssa was saying.  “Get you addicted, and then hand out business cards.”

            “Yeah, that’s what he’s after.  Sales.”  Tommy
was shaking his head and laughing.  “Poor guy.  And girls think
we’re
clueless.”

            Alyssa thought about that in the car on the ride
home.  Chris had definitely been flirting with her.  At the time she assumed it
was his way of putting her at ease, but maybe it had been genuine.  Not that it
mattered.  She wasn’t in any more of a dating place now than she had been at
the Billy Joel concert. 

“When can we go again?”  She asked
her friends.  And they both laughed.  What a great way to celebrate her
birthday. 

Tommy took them to dinner on the
drive home, and he even took the liberty of ordering cake and ice cream for
dessert.  Wisely, he didn’t expect the waitresses to sing to her, but he did
hum a few bars of happy birthday while they were eating.  Beth really was so
lucky.  Not that Alyssa was jealous, but she did have a new found appreciation
for
good guys
.  And she was happy her friend had found one.

In school the next Monday Alyssa
was having a hard time concentrating.  It was a lucky thing for her that she’d
been working ahead in most of her classes lately and her grades could afford
for her to take an
airhead
day.  In calculus the teacher had to call on
her three times before Alyssa answered.  She’d been wondering why Brent hadn’t
said anything about his trips to Stoneybrook.  Certainly there had been plenty
of opportunities during the
time out
.  Not that she’d been very keen to
discuss Pop at that time. 

In her English class she was
grateful to be watching a movie she couldn’t focus on, because it gave her
ample time to reflect on the fact that Brent knew instinctively not to push her
into talking about Pop.  At the time she may not have realized it, but half a
day talking about Montreal?—that was clearly a diversionary tactic.

Not that all this soul searching
reflection was particularly helpful.  Mostly it was just confusing herself
more.  Her weekend had been fine.  The Ladybugs won again, and her parents had
a small belated party for her on Saturday evening.  On Sunday she went to the
mall.  The one downside to bungee jumping had been that she couldn’t find her
phone afterwards.  Probably it was at the bottom of the Moshannon right now. 
The upside to losing her phone?  Her parents offered to buy her the newest
model smart phone as a birthday gift.  Of course it had to be ordered and she
wouldn’t be able to pick it up until next week, but she didn’t get that many
phone calls these days anyhow.  Now it was Monday—here she was without the
hecticness of the weekend to distract her, and without that hecticness she had no
means with which to drive thoughts of Brent from her mind.

“What’s with the return of Zombie
Alyssa?”  Beth whispered behind her chemistry book.

“I’m not a zombie!  I’m just
thoughtful today, that’s all.”

“Still haven’t called Brent huh?  I
told you, you need to stop avoiding things just because they are scary!  Look
at last weekend.  You almost missed out on that jump.”

Why did Beth suddenly seem to think
she was Yoda?  “There isn’t much point Beth.  He stopped calling me you know.  He
told me he wasn’t in love with me, and then we had this
break
.  And now… 
I don’t know, but he didn’t even call me on my birthday.  That has to mean
something right?”

“I don’t know about any of that
Alyssa.  But the guy’s crazy about you.  You should have seen him that day he
went after Pete.  Boys don’t get that kind of scary about someone they have
lukewarm feelings about.”  Class was over, and they were headed into the hall
now.  Thankfully the din of shuffling teenagers covered Alyssa’s reaction.

“What!  When did he go after Pete?”

“Duh, Alyssa.  After the party.  We
talked about this remember?  I told you how he was scum and deserved what he
got?  Didn’t you see how bad it was even after you were
sick
for two
days?”

“I thought you meant Tommy kicking
him in the ribs.  You think Brent did that to him?”

Beth pulled Alyssa into the ladies
room.  “Okay.  You really didn’t know?”

Alyssa was in shock.  All she could
do was shake her head from left to right.

“On Sunday when you wouldn’t talk
to him he called me.  So I told him what happened.  Or what I was pretty sure
happened from the looks of things.  I was at Tommy’s house at the time.  Brent
showed up about five minutes after he hung up the phone.” 

“He came over to tell you he
punched Pete?”

“No.  He came to get Tommy.  Tommy
answered the door and they just stared at each other like they were having some
kind of man-telepathy conversation.  And then Tommy nodded, and said
let’s
go.
  And off they went.  Without one word to me.  You should have seen it. 
It would have been sexy if it was on TV or something, but in real life it was
kind of scary.”

“So Tommy and Brent, like beat Pete
up?”

Beth nodded.

“Wow.  No wonder he’s given up hassling
me.  And here I thought it was my tough guy talk.”  The bell rang.  Now they
were both going to be late.

            Alyssa didn’t get another chance to see Beth for
the rest of that day.  And she really wanted to finish their conversation.  Too
much self reflection was driving her in a mental circle.  What was the point of
having a girlfriend if she couldn’t indulge in some girl-talk?  Cheer practice
was right after school that day, so Alyssa found a spot to work on her calculus
homework while she waited for practice to end.

            “Want some company?”  Alyssa looked up to find
Tommy setting his back pack next to hers.

            “Sure, umm…. Are you waiting for Beth?”

            “Yeah, why?” 

            “Oh.  I was just hoping we would get a chance to
finish a conversation we were having earlier.”

            Tommy nodded.  “Not the kind of thing you can
talk about in front of
lil ole me
—huh?”

            “Nope, no offense though.”

            Tommy was opening his own calculus book.  “None
taken, I have a strict policy against delving into the mysteries of a woman’s
mind.” 

            He was so easy to get along with.  A lot like
Brent in that way.  Alyssa knew how lucky she was to have Beth and Tommy’s
friendship—especially now that she’d lost Brent’s.  “Tommy?”

            He looked up from his homework.

            “I just wanted to thank you.  Beth told me
about… well about the whole thing with Pete.  So, thanks for… defending me I
guess.  I should have thanked you before.  For getting me home safe and all.  I
was just too embarrassed about the whole thing.”

            He looked uncomfortable.  Maybe she shouldn’t
have said anything.  But she didn’t want him to think she was taking him for
granted.  She learned from her mistakes.

            “I didn’t do anything to Pete, Alyssa.  I would
have!  He is such an asshole.  But that day—it was all Brent.”

            “Oh.  Beth said you were there.”

            “I was there all right.  But we didn’t gang up
on him.  He probably deserved it, but we didn’t.  That isn’t why Brent needed
me.”

            Alyssa had the distinct impression that she was
missing something obvious.  Clearly Tommy could tell that she wasn’t catching
on.

            “I wasn’t there to help him; I was there to stop
him.  You should have seen him.  I’m pretty sure he could have ended up killing
Pete if he went alone.”  Tommy went back to his homework.

            Apparently this should have been clear to her. 
Boys were so dumb!  This was why she needed to talk to Beth.  Beth would help
her understand, because that sounded an awful lot like someone who cared about
her.  This was strange, considering Brent had barely spoken to her since that
weekend.  Of course she could have called him back…

“How’d you get that?”   He seemed
to be studying her practically finished work sheet. 

            Alyssa showed Tommy how she’d gotten to her
answer and helped him correct what he’d already done.  “Geez—where have you
been all semester?”  Tommy joked when they’d finished their homework.  “I
haven’t finished a math assignment this quickly all year.  I didn’t know you
were so smart.”

            “I’m not.”  She replied a little embarrassed. 
“It’s just math, everything else Brent—or somebody usually has to help me with. 
I’m not good at much.”

            Tommy seemed to be considering this.  “I don’t
know—you’re good at this.”  He waved his worksheet at her.  “And you were very
good at explaining it.  Plus you’re great with those softball kids.  I bet
you’d make a good teacher or something.”  He went back to packing up his back
pack.

            Alyssa just stared at him.  A teacher.  Huh. 
There was an idea.  Automatically she wondered what Brent would think.  They’d
been friends for 17 years—it was a hard habit to break.  Probably he would be
all for it.  After all, he had said that she was smart.  Of course that was
before the weirdness, back when they were still friends. 

            “Practice must be out.”  Tommy was standing up. 
Alyssa looked over and saw Jenn Pastings skipping out of the gym’s double doors
and into a hug with a boy she hadn’t noticed waiting there before.  He was
wearing a familiar maroon blazer.

            “Who’s that guy?”  She asked Tommy.

            “I forget his name.  Jenn only ever refers to him
as her
Hillfield man.
”

            Alyssa was quite sure she was going to
hyperventilate.  “That’s Jenn’s Hillfield boyfriend!”

            “Yeah, why?  Do you know him?”  Tommy was
completely ignorant of how insanely important this was.

            “No, I don’t know him.  I know Brent.  I thought
Brent was her stupid Hillfield man.”

            Tommy was looking at her like she was speaking
Chinese.  “Brent and Jenn?  That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.”  He looked
away again.

            “Were they ever dating?”

            “Didn’t we just discuss on my policy against
getting involved in girly talk?”  Probably he was able to tell from Alyssa’s
face that she wasn’t willing to let this go.  With the air of a martyr he
continued.  “As far as I know Brent would never go near her.  He’s not the kind
of guy to take out one girl when he’s hung up on another.  Although I doubt
he’d be interested in any case, seeing as how she’s such a bitch.  And that’s
all the girly talk my masculinity can take.  You are just going to have to wait
for Beth.”  He sighed.  “For real though?  You should call him.”  And he picked
up his bag and walked away.

            Alyssa didn’t wait for Beth.  She still needed
to have that girl talk, but not now.  Of course Brent wasn’t seeing Jenn!  How
could she have been so stupid?  Maybe instead of going home she would go see
Brent.  It would be way uncomfortable, sure, but what was the alternative? 
Alyssa was just plain tired of avoiding him.

It took her 20 minutes to work up
the courage to knock on his door.  Ms. Carter answered.  “Alyssa!  How nice to
see you.”  Her face lit up like a Christmas tree.  Maybe Brent hadn’t informed
her of the recent state of affairs.

            “You too, Ms. Carter.  Is Brent here?  I kinda
need to talk to him.”

            She looked a little confused.  “No, dear.  He’s
staying late at school again.  There’s a lot left to do.”  Apparently there was
something going on at school that Alyssa was supposed to know about.  If they
were still friends she probably would have.

            “Of course.  I’ll catch him some other time.” 
Very dejectedly Alyssa walked back over to her own house.  It was getting
late.  She should probably start dinner.

            As if the universe wanted to add insult to
injury, Alyssa paused at her dining room table where right on top of the mail
pile she found a big fat manila envelope addressed to her.  Return address:
Penn State.  Filling out her application with Brent felt like a million moments
ago.  She should be rushing next door right now so they could open them
together. 

            Alyssa revisited her plan of hyperventilation. 
Fat envelope was good right?  Could they have possibly gotten a hold of her
Shakespeare paper?  Nerves overwhelmed her.  That was a surprise.  Alyssa had
been quite sure she didn’t care if she got in, and just as sure that she would
turn them down if she did by some miracle get in.  What sorts of classes did a
teaching degree require?

            Alyssa slipped one fingernail beneath the
envelope’s flap.  Just a small tug of her hand and she would know.  But she
wasn’t sure anymore which outcome to hope for.  Brent was obviously getting
in.  Nobody did scholastics like Brent.  Alyssa definitely couldn’t be on the
same campus with him every day.  Or in the same classes?  No.  She wasn’t going
to be able to handle that.  It was too late to apply to anywhere else.  Maybe
she could put in a semester at the community college and transfer somewhere in
the spring?  All this planning would be contingent on what she found inside the
envelope.  Alyssa put it down.  She would open it later.

            On Friday Beth and Tommy were passionately
discussing Gettysburg University vs. Elizabethtown.  They’d both been accepted
to both schools.

            “Have you heard from Penn State yet?”  Beth made
an effort to include Alyssa.

            “Umm, no not really.”  The envelope was still
laughing at her from the top of her dresser.  However she had dug out all the
old literature she and Brent had sent away for last summer.  Penn State had a
very good teaching program.  So why didn’t she just tell Beth the envelope was
here, and waiting to be opened?  Because, Beth didn’t need any more ammunition
for her scaredy-cat theory.

            Beth misinterpreted Alyssa’s dull tone.  “We’re
sorry.  Let’s talk about something else.  What should we do this weekend?”

            “There’s a movie out I want to see.”  Tommy
piped up too quickly.

            “Oh no.  Not that street racing movie!  I told
you I didn’t want to see that.”  Beth replied immediately.  “There is an art
show at the community center.  I wanted go to that.”

            Tommy looked as if he might be ill if he were
forced to attend the art show.  “Alyssa will go with you, won’t you Alyssa? 
And I can get some of the guys together for movie.”

            “Sure, I’ll go to the art show.”  Alyssa was
glad to have something to do.

            “So what kind of art are we talking about?” 
Alyssa was asking as she and Beth waited in line outside the community center.

            “The ad just said l
ocal talent and various
mediums
.”  Beth answered.  “But I thought it looked pretty cool.  Is that
statue a real person?” 

She was pointing to a pedestal
where a girl in a long metallic toga style dress was posed.  She was covered
from head to toe in a metallic paint that matched her dress perfectly.  If
Alyssa didn’t know the community center didn’t have statues she would have
thought the girl was one.  How was standing still an art?  Beth however seemed
impressed.

Inside the different rooms of the
community center had been transformed into galleries.  A lot of the exhibits
had silent auction papers attached.  Some even had sold stickers.  Alyssa was
impressed and sometimes surprised when she saw the sold stickers.  The galleries
all seemed to be arranged by type of art.  Some held paintings and drawings
other’s had sculptures. One windowed hallway was displaying a pretty collection
of crystal sculptures that threw rainbows onto the opposite wall.

The first gallery they entered had
what Alyssa could only assume was
modern art. 
What would someone want
with sculptures of oversized eating utensils?  Even Beth was surprised at that
one.  Another display was a TV that seemed to be rigged to a motion sensor.  As
soon as they approached it flickered on and displayed a video a girl climbing
in and out of different sized packing boxes.  Actually they watched that
several times.  She didn’t get, but it was strangely addictive.

The next room was more enjoyable. 
The walls were filled with more easily recognized drawings and paintings. 
Alyssa even jotted down her name and a bid for a particularly pretty
snowscape.  It was doubtful that she’d win, but the scene sort of reminded her
of the landscape photos Brent was so fond of.  Maybe if she won, and if she got
up the nerve to talk to him again, and if he had any interest in being her
friend… well maybe he might like this as a graduation gift or something.

For the most part the galleries
were comfortably filled and people were free to mill around from display to
display as they pleased.  The photography room was crowded.  Not that Alyssa
blamed anyone.  She was partial to photography herself.  Beth and Alyssa
squeezed past the crowd to check out the pieces hanging on the far wall.  Most
of the crowd seemed to be concentrating on one exhibit.

“is that her?”

“there she is.”

“look over there.”

The crowd all seemed to be
muttering at once.  Beth and Alyssa turned, around to see what was going on,
only to find several heads turned in their direction.

“Excuse me miss?  Are you the girl
from the
heart
photos?”  An older woman was talking to her.

Alyssa moved past her without
answering.  Later on she would feel badly for having ignored her, but now she
had to see.  Even as she made her way through the crowd though, she knew.  By
the time the first panel of the exhibit was visible to her she wasn’t surprised
to see her own face staring down from the large black and white print.

To the left of the exhibit Alyssa
could now see a small poster board on a stand. 
Brent Carter:  Local
featured artist.
  It said beneath a photo of her best friend.  Ex-best
friend.  It went on to explain Brent was a senior in high school and that one
of his teachers had submitted this collection on his behalf.  Blah blah blah. 

Looking to her right, Alyssa
noticed the photos were all hung on large felt covered panels of an accordion
style stand; each one angled slightly like the open pages of a book.  Above the
set up was large banner reading
A
Heart in Motion
in an elegant
script font.  The first photo showed her emptying bottles and trash into the
garbage cans at the pond.  She wasn’t looking at the camera—instead her intent
expression was focused on her task.

The next was from the home coming
parade.  Alyssa’s face was shown in profile as she applied glitter to the
little girl in a cheer leader costume.  This one was vibrant with color.  The
little girl’s happiness was as clear as day.  How did he do that?  It seemed
that every emotion jumped off the wall at her.  Somehow Brent was able to
capture moments rather than images.