Chapter Seven
That Night – Sophomore Year
I
waited for him at the first Social mixer of the year, punch and appetizers in hand;
I’m not sure what I was expecting... Confessions of a Teenage
Hermit
We’d heard about Ben’s arrival but neither
Jenny nor I had sighted him. The boys were housed in a different area of the
school.
That evening, in the cool of Jen’s room, we
ate snacks pilfered from the kitchen: corn chips, dip and carrot sticks. We had
a view of the courtyard and the adjacent parklands and we saw Ben and his
brother kicking a football around in the grounds below.
Ben was wearing a red school sweater.
“Wow, he’s hot,” Jenny said. Then she turned to me and smiled, adding,
“chillax, I’m talking about his brother. Harley’s the one in the blue sweater,
right?”
I peered through the window.
“Right.”
“We should wave.”
I looked at her, aghast.
“Kidding, just kidding. I know. It pays to
be unobtainable.”
We arrived at the Welcome New Students mixer at six in the evening. My sister Liz
greeted the new students animatedly as I hovered in the background.
I whispered to Jenny, “Where are they?”
“They had to meet the principal, settle in
and then go to the game this afternoon. The whole football team are just
arriving now from the other side of town.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Blame
Serena,” Elizabeth replied, “she’s the one who messed up the dates. It has been
noted.”
I looked around the brightly lit entrance
hall. The décor and furnishings were richly colored and impressive. Elizabeth
was keen to keep Serena in her place, socially.
Let’s face it, Serena’s chance of becoming Head Social when it was her turn to be a Senior, was flimsy, at best.
She’d have to rely on the good opinion of my sister and me to make that happen
and we all went to elementary school together. There, Serena had been part of
her own little group, generationally known as the Princesses and she’d played countless tricks and placed the blame
squarely on me. Serena could hardly expect me to endorse her reign.
Liz surveyed the room, sans Ben, Harley or
any other vaguely interesting guys.
“I’m doing all of this for you, Jane.”
“Huh?” I asked as I scooped some punch into a glass.
“Miles away, Jane. First, I’m going to be
voted Head Social next year. Then, when I leave, I’m aiming to nominate you, my
middle sister, to take my place.”
“That’s great,” I said blankly.
“Don’t look so enthusiastic, Jane. Team
Leader will look good on your college applications. I know you’re not
interested but Melissa is, and if you don’t step up, the Elliots have no chance
of running the school by the time Serena becomes a Senior.”
“Oh,” I replied. I knew she wouldn’t have
nominated me because she thought I was the best person for the job. I couldn’t
wait for the stupid mixer to end, no show Ben and another pointless rant from
Liz. At least Jenny seemed to be enjoying herself greeting the newbies at the snack
table.
An hour later, the lights were dimmed and
Ben and his brother arrived with Tom Winchester and some other boys from the
football team. As retro music played Ben walked straight over to me.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I smiled. He looked really cute in
his school football sweater with the letter H printed on the front.
There was a lightness in my stomach that I
couldn’t deny as we started talking alongside the non-alcoholic punch bar.
“Wow,” he smiled tasting the punch, “this
is pretty tame.”
“You mean lame.”
“Kind of.”
“Well, the teachers already sampled the
punch so we couldn’t spice it up.” I gestured to the teachers at the door. He smiled
as I added regretfully, “We had to keep it clean in case they return.”
Ben glanced across the room towards the
girl standing with his brother.
“Who’s that?”
“My friend - my best friend - Jenny
Covington.”
By now Jenny and Harley were in deep
conversation.
“They seem to like each other,” Ben noted,
then he smiled again and said, “I’m going over to get some food. It’s great to
see you again Jane.”
“Likewise,” I replied.
“They look good together,” Elizabeth
whispered in my other ear after Ben left. “See, your friend Jenny isn’t
backward in coming forward.”
“Shh,
I said as I poured out some punch, “could your voice be any louder?”
“Sorry, just saying. If you don’t jump in
first someone else will get him.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“Well, Tom Winchester of course.”
I glanced towards the far corner of the
room. Tom Winchester, property developer’s son, rich senior extraordinaire and
ace player to be, in my opinion, was
surrounded by girls.
“He’s all yours,” was all I said.
“Thanks, but I only date college boys.
Some of us have standards.”
I was glad she hadn’t noticed me staring at
Ben from the counter top all night while he talked sport with his team mates.
There was something she was right about,
though.
After that night Jenny and Harley were
inseparable. Although my relationship with Ben was a slow burn, they never left
each other’s sides, unless they had to, from that moment on.
