Art for Art's Sake: Meredith's Story (9 page)

“That’s fine,” Mrs. Levine said.

With a sigh, Dani went to her cubby and yanked out her yellow and green book bag. She hiked it over her right shoulder. The book bag matched her Whickett letterman’s jacket.

Mrs. Levine looked at Meredith and asked, “So did you ask her yet?” Her teacher looked from Meredith to Dani and back again.

The look of mortification on Meredith’s face must have been obvious because Mrs. Levine hastened to cover her error. “Oops, sorry. Never mind. You two had better get on to class. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” Flustered, she looked at Meredith and added, “Well, actually, I’ll see you back here in about forty-five minutes.” She picked up Meredith’s still life and scampered to her private workroom.

Dani looked at her with questions in her eyes. “What did you want to ask me?” She turned toward the classroom door.

Meredith followed, “Oh, nothing. Nothing.”

“Are you sure? You can ask me anything.”

“I...no. It’s nothing.” Meredith didn’t feel like getting rejected because she’d just had a good art class and didn’t want to have the mood spoiled.

Meredith was pleased that she had two periods of art for an entire semester, but, unfortunately, she had to schlep to Mr. Dalton’s history class in between. Dani led the way out the door and into the bustling hallway, but Meredith lagged behind in order to give Dani time and space to get away. She wanted Dani to know that she wasn’t obliged to walk all the way to Mr. Dalton’s second floor classroom with her. Dani didn’t have to presume they were friends just because they were in the same art class and doing a history project together. She silently wished for those less-than-one-hundred days of school to speed along so she could get out and start her life over.

“Hey, slow poke,” Dani called back to her. “Are you coming?”

Meredith looked up from behind her hair curtain. She sighed and quickened her pace to catch up to the mighty Dani Lassiter.

“I thought you were taking the scenic route or something. Hey, I have to stop at my locker. Can you wait?”

“Uh, sure.” They reached their row of lockers just as a group of junior basketball players came roaring down the hall. One of the guys veered from his path and Meredith braced herself. She was only sorry that Dani had to witness it. The tall, beefy basketball player lowered his shoulder and sent Meredith crashing into the lockers. Luckily her book bag took most of the force. She heard the guys congratulate their friend on his “direct hit.” Meredith willed herself not to cry. Less than one hundred days.

“Hey,” Dani called after them. They didn’t turn around and were soon out of earshot. “Jerks!” She turned to face Meredith. “Oh, my God, Meredith. Are you okay? That idiot did that on purpose. Why didn’t you do something? Why did you just take that?”

The million-dollar question. Meredith didn’t know what to say. The silence between them was deafening.

“Meredith, we have to report them.”

Meredith knew a look of fear took over her face. “No.” Her voice came out a little too high-pitched, so she cleared her throat and tried again. “No, Dani. That’ll just make it worse.”

“Worse? How? They can’t do that to you.” Dani sounded shocked that this sort of thing happened in her school, but this was Meredith’s every day, her normal existence at wonderful Whickett High.

Meredith steeled her chin and said, “Yes, they can, Dani. And they do. We’re going to be late.” Meredith pushed past her and headed toward their history class.

The late bell marked Meredith’s entrance into Mr. Dalton’s classroom.

“You just made it, Miss Bedford,” Mr. Dalton said from behind his desk.

Meredith smiled sheepishly and made her way, head down, to her usual seat in the back of the room. Dani burst through the door seconds later.

“Nice of you to join us, Miss Lassiter. We’re not keeping you from anything, are we?”

“Sorry, Mr. D. Won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.”

Dani nodded and slid into her usual seat. She dropped her book bag on the floor. Ben patted Dani on the shoulder a couple of times as if to say, “Way to be late, loser.”

Meredith took her history spiral notebook out of her book bag and opened it to a fresh page. A new semester, a new page. She wished she could do that with her own life. A new semester, a new life. Ah, but that new semester would have to wait until Syracuse in September. Too many days away to count. She rested her head on a closed fist and looked out the second-floor window on another gray January day.

Mr. Dalton handed back their semester exams. Meredith was pleased. She had gotten a B+. She wasn’t one of those students who needed to get an A in every class. She was happy if she had tried her best and passed the class. Well, unless it was an art class. In her art classes, she had to get at least an A or she wasn’t happy with herself. She couldn’t see what grade Dani made, but Ben had gotten a C-. A generous C-from Mr. Dalton, no doubt.

Mr. Dalton paced in the front of the classroom as he went over their exam. He collected the exams back because they had to go into permanent storage or something. Meredith figured the permanent storage was the landfill on the Northway. What was the point of hanging onto them? What was done was done. Like the guy who smacked her into the lockers right before class. It was done and over with, and there was no sense worrying about it. If she turned him in, then he’d get back at her somehow. She decided to count the days and try to remain invisible.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mr. Dalton rapped his knuckles on his desk. “May I have your attention, please?”

The students cut short whatever conversations they had started during the short handing-back-in-of-the-exams time. Meredith, of course, spoke to no one during that short time, and no one spoke to her. Instead, under the cover of her hair, she listened to Dani and Sarah, the co-captains of the lacrosse team, talk about the lacrosse workouts starting later that day in the weight room. Sarah complained about having to do the workouts. She whined that they shouldn’t have to start working out now because actual practices with lacrosse sticks weren’t even starting until early March, over a month away. Meredith wondered how someone with an attitude like Sarah’s was elected captain of a team. It must have been a popularity contest. Meredith instantly felt bad about her quick judgment because that would imply that Dani had been elected on popularity alone. Meredith knew differently. Dani was popular, all right, but with good reason. She was a natural leader. Meredith was sure that Dani had earned her captainship.

Meredith looked up when Mr. Dalton passed out the handouts for the second semester project. Without turning around, the boy in front of her held the paper high over his head and let it fall back toward Meredith’s desk. Instead of looking foolish trying to catch it, Meredith waited until the paper floated gently to the floor by the heater under the window. She heard some stifled snickering, but ignored it and got up to retrieve her handout.

“Okay, people, settle down.” Mr. Dalton reached for a dry erase marker and wrote, “The History of Whickett” on the white board. “As promised, we’re going to explore your home town. We’re going to find out how Whickett got to be Whickett. If you refer to your handout you’ll see that I want you to find a person, landmark, or event that is or was significant to the history of the village. You can look for something that Whickett is well-known for. Has anything of historical significance happened here? Are any famous people from Whickett? Perhaps your own family has been part of Whickett’s long history. Tell us about that. Interview some of the seniors at Hudson Pines. Maybe some of those folks can give you a better idea what Whickett was like back in the day.” Mr. Dalton paced in front of the class as he read from the handout.

Meredith noted that her classmates were fairly attentive during the project description. Probably because the project was worth one-quarter of their second semester grade.

Mr. Dalton paced on. “Find an old building in town or on the outskirts. Anywhere. Go to the village offices and find out anything you can.”

Dani turned and nodded to Meredith at the mention of an old building. Meredith nodded back.

When her teacher mentioned a PowerPoint presentation, Dani turned around again and smiled at her. Dani had suggested they do a PowerPoint. She wasn’t sure why, but Dani’s attention made her uneasy. Usually when she got attention at school, it wasn’t good. She shifted in her seat, looked down, and pretended to focus on the handout. She didn’t want to catch any more of Dani’s acknowledgements if she could help it.

Mr. Dalton stopped pacing and sat on the edge of his desk. He smoothed down the ends of his dark mustache and looked at his students. “I’ve taken the liberty of contacting the folks at the Hudson Pines Senior Center and they’re quite pleased to be included in our project. They’re expecting a bunch of Whickett High seniors this Saturday at around three o’clock. They told me you could stay as long as you like. So just show up and tell them who you are, and they’ll hook you up with someone to talk to.”

Meredith looked up in time to catch Dani mouth, “You want to go?” Meredith nodded and looked down when Ben, Sarah, and Jeff turned her way.

Ben leaned over to Dani and whispered, “Make sure you de-flea your truck after.”

Sarah and Jeff laughed openly. Dani sank lower in her seat. She did not acknowledge Ben’s attempt at humor.

Sarah whispered, “C’mon, Dani. He was just kidding.” Dani didn’t acknowledge Sarah, either.

“So,” Mr. Dalton concluded, “in two weeks your project proposals are due. Those are to be typed by the way.” He waited for the groans to die down. “Two weeks after that, I’ll need a detailed outline. That should take us through February. During the month of March, I’ll meet with each group to make sure you’re staying on track. All of this is on the handout, but I just wanted to say it out loud. The final project, including the five to ten page write-up, five or more photographs, the PowerPoint presentation, and your list of resources will be due on April 18.” He scanned the room. “Any questions? We have about five minutes.”

A few students asked for clarifications, but Meredith felt that the project was fair and understandable. She and Dani had picked a good subject. Getting pictures wouldn’t be a problem, they already had some, but finding out who owned the scary Victorian house might be an issue. A shiver ran up her spine when she remembered the loud bang they’d heard at the house the Friday before. Maybe the house wasn’t abandoned, after all.

Mr. Dalton closed his lesson plan book and said, “Okay then. We have about one minute until the bell. Go ahead and pack up.”

The students sprang into motion. A cacophony of student conversations erupted in Mr. Dalton’s usually quiet classroom as students stashed notebooks and pens in their book bags. Meredith carefully put her history spiral away and pulled her AP Art sketchbook to the front. She would probably need it during the next period.

Meredith closed the zipper of her bag and heard Ben ask Dani, “So how’s the project going? Catch anything yet?” He roared at his joke. Sarah high-fived him and laughed just as loud, if not louder.

Meredith sighed in anger. What had she ever done to Ben or Sarah? Why did they constantly make fun of her? But just as she looked out the second-floor window wishing everyone would leave her alone, Dani bolted out of her desk and towered over Ben in his seat.

Dani hissed, “Would you just shut up? What’s wrong with you? Both of you.” Her fiery gaze included Sarah.

The entire class grew quiet—hospital quiet—and all movement ceased. Meredith was mortified that Dani reprimanded her friends so publicly. She closed her eyes and prayed for the ability to teleport. The bell rang and most of the students got up to leave, but Meredith sat in her seat as if glued to it. She wanted to wait until every single one of the other students left before she did. That way she wouldn’t have to face more ridicule. She would be late for AP Art, but that couldn’t be helped.

As the other students in the class quietly and carefully picked their way out of the room, Dani and Ben continued to glare at each other. Dani took a deep breath and stepped away. She sat back down in her seat, even though the class period was over. Ben sprang up and smacked Dani’s desk with his opened palm as he went by. The violence of the sound startled Meredith. Mr. Dalton stood at the front of the room behind his desk with his mouth hanging open.

Dani turned toward Meredith with sympathy in her eyes and said, “I’m sorry about him, Meredith.”

Meredith stood up quickly and tried to rush past Dani, but Dani scrambled to her feet and caught Meredith by the arm at the classroom door. “Meredith, c’mon.” She blinked back angry tears.

Without sympathy, Meredith said, “Look, Dani, we’re working on this project together. Can we just leave it at that? You don’t have to defend me. You’re...you’re not my protector.” She wrestled her arm free and ran out of the classroom.

Chapter Six

Hudson Pines

THE CAB OF Dani’s truck smelled like Armor All again and Meredith wondered if Dani cleaned the truck every day or something. The Hudson Pines Senior Center expected the Whickett High School students around three o’clock and it looked like they would be right on time. An uncomfortable, but now familiar, silence engulfed the two girls as they drove. The silence had started five days before on that Monday of their blow up in Mr. Dalton’s class.

They acted as if nothing was wrong in front of Mikey, but besides this small semblance of friendship for Mikey’s sake, they had barely spoken to each other during the entire week. For whatever reason, Dani still sat next to Meredith during their art class, but Meredith had coldly suggested that Dani ask Mrs. Levine for help.

Meredith was sure that creating distance between them was in Dani’s best interest. Dani surely understood this, because Dani had gotten a small dose of how it felt to be Meredith when her supposed friends Ben and Sarah turned on her. If Meredith kept her distance then Dani wouldn’t get the kind of teasing Meredith got on a regular basis. Yes, it was better to simply do the history project together and then be out of each other’s lives for good. Meredith couldn’t help feel a bit of loss, though, because Dani was the first person that had made even the slightest overture at friendship.