Return to Love (2 page)

Kate blushed changing the subject quickly. “Come on. Let’s go to my room!” She grabbed Joanie's arm and dragged her into the small back room.

Kate’s room was a mess. As usual, clothes were thrown about, and Joanie swept a load off of the bed and onto the floor as she sat down. Kate sat down next to her.

“Nothing! Well almost nothing. Last Thursday after classes I headed to my room to change before I went over to the stables. Well Martha, you know my roommate, and her friends were outside the dorm in a huddle. I should have known that something was up; they straightened up when I came by. They were actually nice to me for once.”

“Anyhow, I came back from the stables and got ready for dinner. Everything was OK until lights out. Martha said she was going to the bathroom and never came back. Curious, I looked out the window and saw some girls sneaking off towards the woods. I thought about following them, to see what they were up to, but I didn’t. I heard them whispering about me before, so I knew they were up to something awful as usual. So I decided to cover my butt. Martha was taken off of the swim team last semester because of her grades. So I took her scarf with her initials on it and snuck over to the school’s kitchen. I grabbed some of those jumbo cans of tomato sauce and dumped them into the pool. It was fantastic! They had to cancel the biggest match of the year!”

Kate kicked her feet and squealed, “I can’t believe you did that! What happened?”

“The next morning I was ordered down to Miss Victoria Grove's office, she’s the head mistress. It’s funny that she enjoys being called a ‘mistress’ seeing what the name implies and all. Her family founded the school billions of years ago and I think she’s been there the whole time. Anyhow, it seems the other girls claimed I had stolen her car and snuck off to meet a boy. Apparently the car had run off the road into a ditch. I thought about denying the charges of course but all the girls stuck together. I can’t even drive yet for Pete’s sake. She gave me two options. I could work in the kitchen to repay the damages, or they would expel me.”

“Some choice!”

“Yeah, so you know which one I picked. I didn’t even deny it. I figured, why bother? She called my dad while I was in her office. He was so mad he wouldn’t even talk to me. Joanie shrugged, “So I went to my room to start packing. I heard an enormous commotion outside and saw everyone heading for the gym. I think someone decided to get in some early laps and found the pool. I was ordered back down to the office where Miss Grove had the nerve to accuse me of damaging it. I told her that I couldn’t possibly have done it, since she had witnesses that said I was joy riding in her car. It was perfect! She was so angry, but she couldn’t do anything to me ’cause I was already expelled.”

“Note to self, stay on Joanie’s good side. So what happened to Martha?” Kate asked, pretending to write an imaginary note in the air.

“To make a long story short Martha got kitchen duty for the next two months, I got sent home on the next bus to Cincinnati and my dad got the bill to repair the car.”

“So everything turned out perfect.”

“Ha! At least for me. So what did I miss while I was gone?” Joanie asked as she reached over to the bookshelf which made up Kate’s headboard grabbing last year’s yearbook.

“Not much, there’s never any excitement around here.” Kate said flopping down next to Joanie to inform her on the current who’s who. They spent the next hour laughing and reminiscing.

“I can’t believe how everybody has changed; look at April Miller!” Joanie said pointing to her longtime foe.

“Yep.” Kate sighed. “She’s the most popular girl in school – with the boys at least.” She added sarcastically. “Course I would be too if I slept with all of them.”

“Kate!” Joanie said laughing. “You’re outrageous! Oh my gosh look at the time! My Mom’s gonna kill me!”

Kate smiled thinking of Joanie's mom. She wished her parents were as cool as Joanie’s. “Go ahead, I’ll meet you in the morning, and we’ll walk to school together.”

Joanie groaned. She wasn’t looking forward to returning to school. “No we’ll drive to school together. Mom made Brad promise he’ll take me tomorrow.”

“If his car runs.” Kate added accentuating the word if. The two girls burst into laughter. Brad’s car was older than he was; he had to tinker with it daily just to keep it running. Joanie headed out as Kate promised to meet her at her home in the morning.

***

Joanie walked into the heavenly scent of her mother’s homemade tomato sauce bubbling on the stove. It blended perfectly with the sweet aroma from the apple pie and Joanie’s stomach rumbled. She watched as her mother stirred in the ziti noodles to finish the dish. With her thoughts fixated on the food, she had walked right past the figure on the couch without noticing him.

Brad hesitated; he wasn’t quite sure what to say. Usually he wouldn’t shut up, but it had been a long time since he’d seen Joanie and he was worried she might have changed. Especially, after living with the rich and lame. He took a deep breath and called to her.

“Hey stranger!” Brad said from behind. Brad was three years older than Joanie. He had dropped out of school to work, and help with the bills. Of course, due to his casual work ethic he was unemployed more often than not.

Joanie spun around in surprise. Her breath was almost knocked out of her as he grabbed her up in a bear hug and spun her around. Joanie, who was extremely happy she hadn’t eaten yet, punched him playfully on the arm when he finally set her back down on her unsteady feet.

Joanie stuck her tongue out at him while her mother wasn’t looking, and he grinned widely. He was relieved. ‘Nope hasn’t changed a bit.’

Joanie sat next to her mother and across from Brad at their worn wooden table. She used her finger to trace the initials carved into it. BC. She smiled to herself, remembering how angry her mother had gotten at him. From then on Brad was known as: “The Caveman” based on a combination of his initials, and his rudimentary skills with weapons.

“I not only invented the wheel, but now I have wheels.” Brad said reading his sisters mind.

“Perfect! You can teach me how to drive.” Joanie said laughing as Brad choked on his food.

Brad purposely ignored them as he opened the driver’s side door and climbed into his beloved primer spotted jalopy. It had once been a light green color. Now it sort of resembled a chameleon on acid. The girls opened the door on the opposite side. They slide into the front bench seat with Kate in the middle. It was starting to be a fantastic day Joanie thought as they pulled out on to the street. The car was working at least.

Joanie was nervously gazing out the window again. The butterflies in her stomach were doing cartwheels. Though no one could tell by looking at her. That’s one thing Joanie learned early on is how to hide her feelings. Keep ’em to yourself so no one can use them against you. She had to be tough to survive or at least pretend to be.

“Smell ya later!” Brad yelled out the window and with a loud backfire he was off. The girls coughed from the fumes and hurried toward the building.

Joanie looked around the campus. Boys were chasing each other in the parking lot, pulling up girl’s skirts and just making a nuisance of themselves. Most of the girls were standing, or sitting in groups around trees, or on benches, some were reading. Joanie thought to herself “It might not be so bad after all.”

She had never been to the high school before; when she left she was in middle school. She was amazed by the size of the two story building. Even the sign was enormous. She looked up at the marble sign pronouncing Central High School home of the Eagles. Or at least that’s what it was supposed to say. Someone had taken black paint and crossed out Eagles and wrote in P-I-G-O-N-S. It looked as if it had been done recently since the paint was still dripping. The sound of the shrill bell sent them and everybody else scurrying through the door. The mob separated the two friends as Joanie spied the office. She heard Kate yell over the din, “I’ll see you at lunch!”

Joanie pushed her way through the crowd and took refuge in the office. She looked at the bleak students either standing in line at the counter or sitting along the wall on a hard wooden bench. Sighing she lifted her head up and got into line. There were staff members milling about in the office, but only one actually behind the counter working.

She was an older woman with gray hair that was pulled back into a tight bun which pulled all of her wrinkles towards the back of her head. Joanie looked down at her watch and noticed the time. Five minutes had passed, and she hadn’t even taken one step. She tried to hear what the others kids were doing there as she waited. The time passed slowly which was OK with her. She was dreading walking into class and everyone gawking at ‘the new girl’.

“Yes?” The lady behind the counter asked.

Joanie looked up surprised she had not realized that the line had finally moved. She bravely walked up to the counter and told the clerk that she needed to register. The lady grunted loudly as if she was annoyed and went to retrieve the forms. Joanie looked at the dark wood grain nameplate on the counter. Miss Gloria Dune. Joanie suddenly smiled she remembered Brad talking about Miss Dune the prune from his frequent trips to the office. He was right she did look like a prune. She couldn’t believe she was still alive, much less still working. She must be ancient.

“Here you are. Fill them out and bring them back up.” She nodded with her head toward an empty desk in the corner. Joanie was staring amazed at the volume of papers and absent mindedly went over to the desk and sat down to start the tedious task. She reached over and took her pencil out of her bag and started to write. Snap! The tip broke. She just sat annoyed staring at the offensive piece of graphite. She silently willed the lead to reattach itself; so she wouldn’t have to get up to borrow one from the prune.

“I’ve got one.” A low, deep voice said beside her.

She looked over gratefully at the boy sitting next to her. She was startled that she didn’t notice him before. His head was ducked down as he searched in his pocket for a pencil.

“Aha!” He cried producing the treasure he was seeking. “Here you can have mine; I'm not going to be needing it for awhile.” She was surprised when he looked up at her that she knew him.

“Chad, Chad Phillips!” Joanie said excitedly. They had been close friends when they were younger. Joanie had always been kind of a tomboy. She had spent endless, summer nights at Chad’s house, just shooting hoops. He had an older brother named Eric, who used to pull her ponytail and call her ‘Pocahontas’ because of her long dark hair. She smiled at the memory.

Chad smiled arrogantly; he was amazed that this lovely creature beside him knew his name. “Hey babe what’s up?” He added in a deeper voice.

Miss Dune called his name. He looked ticked at being interrupted but got up none the less. Miss Dune quickly ushered him into the principal’s office and returned behind the counter.