Saving Face (a young adult romance) (5 page)

            How many bobbing buckets would she need?  Alyssa
was setting up her table with individual bobbing buckets.  Because of the
germs.  The rest of her booth looked really good.  A black table cloth and
orange buckets for the bobbing went perfectly with the Halloween theme.  And
the wall behind her was covered with construction paper black cats,
jack-o-lanterns, and ghosts.  All the kids would also be receiving prizes in
addition to their apples, so she had a big punch bowl filled with small plastic
toys.  The hospital had cleared out a big common room for them.  All the other walls
were also hung with Halloween decorations, and everywhere you looked there were
games, activities, and arts and craft tables. 

All the high school students were
encouraged to wear costumes.  Most of the girls were happy to dress up—a black
tee shirt, a fuzzy eared headband, and a little creative use of her eyeliner transformed
Alyssa into a cute kitty cat.  Beth made a pretty angel.  Her long blond hair
looked extra shiny under the sparkly halo.  Most of the boys wore their sports
uniforms. So they ended up with a lot of football players, basketball players,
and even a couple baseball players.  Everything had come together really well
and any minute the doors would be opened to the kids and their families.  Alyssa
should have been having fun except, well she wasn’t.

            “Alyssa!  We need you.”   Tommy and Beth came
rushing over to her. 

            “What’s the matter?” 

            “The clown isn’t coming.”

            “Oh.  Well I do have the number for the
agency.”  Alyssa reached for the day planner she’d been using to keep track of
all the carnival information.  As the most organized member of the Varsity Club
she’d been elected event committee chairman.  They’d spent a pretty chunk of
change on the face painting clown.

            “No.   There isn’t time.  Couldn’t you do it? 
We provided the special hypo allergenic face painting kit—now all we need is
someone with a little talent.”  Tommy was holding out the face paint.  “Brent
says you’re good.”

            “She’s never lost a game of Pictionary.”  Brent
walked up to them.  She hadn’t even known he was planning on coming.

            “Brent!”  He was standing there easily—as if
they hadn’t been fighting the last time they saw each other.  He looked good
too.  Somewhere he’d found a Green Lantern tee shirt.  His mom must have told
him to wear a costume.  The tee shirt was probably a left over from his comic
book days, and it was a little tight now around his upper body.

            “Come on!”  Beth grabbed her arm and dragged her
over the face painting booth.  “Your cat face is perfect.  And we can get
anyone to do the bobbing thing.”  Brent trailed behind them.

            “I can take photos of the kids after you do
their faces.  One of the nurses said she would make sure all the families got
copies if we leave the memory card with her overnight.”  Tommy and Beth were
gone and Brent and Alyssa were left standing there awkwardly staring at each
other.

            “Oh no!”  Alyssa broke the silence when she
groaned and dropped into a chair.  “You’re right.  Things are getting weird!” 
She was completely serious, but for some reason Brent found her break down
hilarious. 

His laughter was contagious so she
started laughing too.  When they were both breathing normally again the
weirdness was gone.  She looked at him appraisingly.  “You look good, but you
know—the green lantern wore a mask.”  Alyssa pulled out a paint brush and shoved
him into the other chair in front of her booth.  When she was finished with him
he had a green eye mask to go with his tee-shirt.  This was just in time
because the room was now filling up with kids ready for a good time.

For the next three hours everyone
did have a good time.  All the kids and even some of the parents visited the
face painting booth.  Brent’s superhero mask was so popular that half the
little boys demanded similar designs; a lot of the girls ended up as cats too. 
Alyssa was really enjoying herself.  It should have been difficult to see how
sick some of the children were, but all of them were smiling and laughing.  It
was actually more difficult, she decided, to feel bad for them.  Instead she
found herself admiring a girl pulling an IV stand decorated with pink sparkly
stickers behind her.  When a little boy asked her to paint a creepy spider web
across his bald head Alyssa smiled and did just that.  These kids didn’t need
her pity.

After packing up her booth and
helping to mop up the mess around the bobbing for apples table Alyssa went
looking for Brent.  They’d spent most of the afternoon side by side, but she
hadn’t found a private moment with him to say thank you.  He was lounging in a
corner at one of the now empty craft tables with a couple of boys about 12 or
13 years old.

“No way, does Batman beat
Superman!  Superman can fly, has super strength, and he has laser vision!  All
Batman’s got is a lame utility belt.  No way!”  One of the boys was arguing
emphatically.

“Don’t underestimate the utility
belt, dude.”  Brent replied smiling.  “Have you seen the stuff he pulls out of
that thing?”  Alyssa stood back for awhile listening to them.  Brent looked
more relaxed then she’d seen him in a long while.

“Once a loser, huh Carter?”  Pete
sneered when he walked up.  Seeing the look on the older football player’s face,
the younger boys dropped their grins.

Alyssa grabbed the chair next to
Brent and sat down.  “Hey Brent.  You never told me—which Green Lantern are
you?”

Brent offered her a wide smile.  “Hard
to say—Hal Jordan was more of a badass, but I always liked Kyle Rayner.  He
makes me laugh.”

“Yeah, Rayner’s a good choice.  I kinda
dig John Stewart, but Rayner suits you better.”  Alyssa nodded.

Both boys and Pete dropped their
jaws.  “You know about the Green Lanterns?”   One of the boys stammered out. 

“Is there more than one?”  Beth
pulled up a chair to join the conversation.  “I really wanted to see that
movie.  Ryan Reynolds is one of my favorite actors.”

 “Sure—the movie sucked though.” 
Alyssa replied

“I know!”  Both boys exclaimed at
once.  After a discreet nod from Brent one of the boys launched into an explanation
of the Green Lantern Corp and the Guardians of the Universe.  Beth listened
carefully and Pete was left, forgotten, standing next to them.  He wandered off
eventually, scowling as he went. 

Alyssa dredged her memories to
impress the boys with her comic book trivia.  Beth joined in, sighting some of
the cartoons she remembered.  Beth thought that maybe Batman could beat
Superman because didn’t he have Robin and Batgirl to back him up?  Alyssa sided
with the boys out of sheer good-natured contrariness.  Finally Beth and Alyssa
stood up to leave.  There was still work to do after all.

“Is she like your girlfriend?  The
cat?”  Alyssa heard one of the boys ask and she slowed her steps to hear the
rest.

“It’s kind of complicated.”  Brent
offered quietly.

“She’s awesome—and so hot.” 

“Dude!”  His friend slugged him in
the shoulder and they both blushed.

“It’s cool.  She is.”  Brent
sounded like he might be smiling.

That was all Alyssa could hear
before someone handed her a box of decorations to carry out to her car.  She couldn’t
help wondering which statement Brent had been agreeing with.

The next day was Friday—the day of
the homecoming game.  There would also be a parade featuring floats from all
the school’s clubs.  Alyssa was dressed in her full cheerleading regalia for
school.  Her only concession to the weather was the leggings she wore beneath her
short skirt.

“You gonna wear that all day?  Like
to classes?”  Brent was carrying two plates from the stove to her kitchen table
when she came downstairs.  They looked like omelets.  Her mouth watered.

“It’s a tradition on game day.” 
Alyssa replied.  “What are you doing here?”

“Making breakfast.  We need to
talk.”

“Oh.”  Alyssa had purposely slipped
away from the hospital the night before, without talking privately with him. 
She’d decided not to ruin their perfect afternoon.

“I mailed your application.”

That was so not what she was
expecting him to say.  “What?!  How?”

“Your mom let me in yesterday
afternoon, and I found it still in the envelope in your desk upstairs.  So I
mailed it on my way to the hospital.”  Brent shrugged and then shoveled several
bites into his mouth.

Alyssa was speechless, so she ate
too.

“I thought I’d drive you to school
today.  We can talk in the car.”  Brent finally spoke again after they’d rinsed
their, now empty, plates.  Taking her backpack from her, he headed out the door
not waiting for an answer.

“When you get your acceptance
letter—you can always turn it down if you decide you don’t want to go.”  Brent
started when they were on the road.  “This way you have options.”

“
If
I get in.”  She
corrected him.

“Okay,
if
you get in.” 
Brent chuckled at her.  “If you decide to stay here—I’ll still be you friend
Lyssa.  I feel ridiculous even saying that since it is a given, but…  Well the
other night you seemed like you needed to hear it.”  He waited for a response. 
Nothing came.  “Things don’t have to get weird—just so you know.”  This time
Alyssa at least smiled.  “What time is the parade thing?”

“5:15. I wasn’t sure you were still
planning on coming.”

Brent rolled his eyes at her.  “I
said I would.  Prince Charming will report for duty at 5:15 on the dot—as
promised.”

“Thanks.”  Alyssa moved to step out
of the car.

Brent stopped her with a hand on
her arm.  “Have a good day, Chere.”  He grinned at her when she laughed out
loud before heading towards the school doors.

Every year a lot of people turned
out for the parade.  It was a small town, and even the high school’s homecoming
game counted as big time entertainment.  All the school organizations and clubs
built floats.  The cheerleaders had a very simple flat bed float decorated in
blue and gold.  Alyssa would be leading cheers from the center of the float. 
She didn’t have time to find, or even look for, Brent before they lined up. 
The parade route circled two blocks, and ended up back in front of the school. 
It wasn’t until after the parade floats were parked and the crowd was headed
toward the football stadium that she found him.  Actually he found her.

Alyssa and Beth were chatting with
a couple of little girls dressed like cheerleaders.  They were so adorable
Alyssa and Beth couldn’t resist lending them their blue and gold pompoms and teaching
them a few simple cheers. 

“You’ll be cheering in a parade
like this in no time at all.”  Alyssa was saying as she pulled out a little
tube of glitter make up to make stars on each of their faces.  Behind her she
heard the familiar snapping of a camera shutter.  Brent.  “Enjoy the game guys!” 
Alyssa waved as the little girls danced off behind their parents

Brent walked over to them quickly. 
“Hey, great job ladies!”  He said as he swung an arm around Alyssa and the three
of them headed over to the stadium together.

Most of the evening was a blur. 
Brent didn’t take a stance at the railing behind the cheerleaders as he had the
week before, but she saw him waving and clapping when they performed at half
time.  The squad got a break during the third quarter of the game.  Brent was
waiting for her with a cup of hot chocolate when she came off the field.

“Bring one for me?”  Jennifer
squeezed past Alyssa when she saw him.

“Sorry Jenny—I’m a
one-hot-cocoa-man.”  Brent’s long arm had no trouble reaching around her to
pull Alyssa out of the crowd.  “Your parents are here.  They brought your Pop
too.”  Brent leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“They never come to this stuff!” 
Alyssa panicked.  Things would get real weird real quick if her mom and dad saw
Brent’s boyfriend routine.

“I know.  I think Pop called
them—he wanted to come.”

“What are we going to do?  Maybe we
could hide?  We only have to avoid them for fifteen minutes.”  She looked over
at Brent when he didn’t answer.  He was staring straight ahead and mumbling
something so low she could only see his lips moving.  “What are you saying?”

“I was counting to ten.”  Brent
sighed his now familiar sigh.  “You really want to avoid Pop?  For fifteen
football
minutes?”

“I don’t
want
to, but do you
want to explain all the handholding?”  She held up their intertwined fingers
for emphasis.

“Let’s get some food.  We can’t
hold hands while we eat.”  Brent still wasn’t looking at her, but at least he’d
stopped sighing.  And the food thing was brilliant.  For a guy who wasn’t
overly fond of subterfuge he sure thought fast on his feet.

Carrying a tray laden with nachos
and popcorn, they joined her family in the bleachers.  “Good game tonight.” 
Pop said after he’d hugged her hello.  “That Edser kid’s pretty good.”  Brent
choked on a popcorn kernel.  A few minutes fluttered by.  They talked about the
game, and Alyssa’s mom complimented the squad’s half time show.

“Got room for one more?”  Beth
asked from the aisle, and Alyssa made her family scoot down along the bench
seat.  “Nice to meet you.”  Beth said after introductions had been made.  They
all sat together snacking and enjoying the game until it was time for Beth and
Alyssa to rejoin the squad.  As far as Alyssa could tell no one suspected
anything.  Her parents and Pop were still in the dark about her fake
relationship, and Beth didn’t seem to think anything was off either.  By the
end of the night Alyssa was exhausted.