“Okay...”
Shelia/Shelly/something-or-other smiled conspiratorially. “He any good?”
“Who?” I asked.
“Well, duh,” she laughed. “Your boy Becks.”
Oh, I thought, soccer. Finally catching her drift, I said, “Oh yeah, he’s phenomenal.”
“I’ll just bet he is.” She winked. “Body and face like that, how could he not be, right?”
I didn’t see what Becks’s face had to do with him being good at sports; but I didn’t want to embarrass her either, so I just nodded. “It should get him into a good college.”
Her jaw dropped. “They give scholarships for that kind of thing?”
“Oh, yeah sure,” I said. “Tons of them.”
“Well,” she muttered, turning away, “learn something new every day. Bye, Spitz.”
“Bye.” Well, that was weird, I thought, putting in my combination quickly. The warning bell had sounded sometime while Shelia/Shelly was talking, and I didn’t want to be late. Opening my locker, I found a box of Goobers with a little note attached. It said: Sorry about last night. Hope you accept my peace offering, Hooker. And right below her name, there was a P.S. Heard something, really need to talk to you. The last part was scribbled, almost illegible, looking like it’d been hastily tacked onto the end.
Scooping up my books and the Goobers, I hurried into first and made it to my seat seconds before the final bell. Across the classroom Hooker tried to flag me down, but after a glare from Ms. Vega, she settled down. Her eyes were tense as she locked gazes with me from across the room.
I didn’t know why she was taking this so seriously. Goobers were my favorite, but she had to know that I’d forgive her. Chaz Neely was not about to end our friendship. There was no reason for her to look so anxious.
I smiled at her, making a big show of hugging the candy to my chest, but her expression didn’t change. The whole class she kept shooting me uneasy looks. And that was strange because Hooker never got anxious over anything.
She jumped out her seat when class was over and was next to me before I could shut my textbook.
“Tell me it’s not true,” she demanded. “Tell me this whole freaking school has gone bat-shit, taken too-many-happy-pills bananas because I’m about to have a heart attack over here.”
“What are you talking about?” I said.
Hooker looked at me like I was the one acting crazy. “I’m talking about—”
“Sally, can I see you for a second.”
It wasn’t really a question. Ms. Vega’s tone said she expected you to do what she asked, right then, to her complete satisfaction, no buts about it. My German teacher was an assertive, take-charge kind of woman and my favorite because of that. I was her best student; we’d become friends over the years.
Hooker looked pained, but she said, “We’ll talk later. Don’t avoid me,” then left.
I rolled my eyes. Avoid her? What was up with everyone today?
Ms. Vega was sitting at her desk, head down, brandishing her red pen like a sword till the essays before her were bloodied and bruised. I sincerely hoped mine wasn’t one of the fallen. Skimming the pile, I noticed my cover page sticking out near the bottom and heaved a huge sigh of relief.
“Yes, Ms. Vega?”
She took a final stab, crossing through a sentence three times, and looked up at me, eyes enlarged by coke bottle glasses, silver gray hair catching the light. “How are you, Sally?”
“Fine,” I said, “And you?”
She sat back in her chair, rolled the red pen between her fingers. “I have been hearing some things.”
With her unique accent, a mixture of Spanish, French and German roots—all three subjects she taught by the way—the “things” sounded more like “tings.”
“Like what?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t anything bad.
“You have yourself a new boyfriend.”
Taken aback, it took me a second to reply. “Oh really? Who told you that?”
“I hear things.” She shrugged, but her eyes were shrewd. “Many times I hear the new rumors, the gossip flying about. You are not usually the topic of such talk. Today was different.”
I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, people typically didn’t bad mouth me behind my back. This was a good thing. On the other, they might’ve been recently. Not so thrilled about that.
Standing, Ms. Vega came around her desk and put a hand on my shoulder.
“You are a good girl, Sally. Never late to class, always do your homework, assignments turned in on time.” She ushered me to the door as the first bell rang and class started filling up. “Just be sure this boy is worthy of you.”