Beyond Reach (17 page)

“Not exactly. He just warned me to be careful and to remember to be a regular teenage girl and have fun. So tell me the truth: Do you think I'm at risk here? Am I unbalanced?”

She seems to consider this. “Well, I think it could happen… I mean, the crud you work with is pretty serious. And sometimes I've seen you get a little down when you can't resolve something. But you have great resiliency, Sam. You seem to do really well at bouncing back. In fact, I've been trying to learn from you lately.”

“You mean in regard to recovering from Alex?”

“Recovering from Alex.” She kind of laughs. “Sounds like the title of a movie. And it probably seems silly since we weren't really a couple. But I've had a crush on him for so long, and I'd hoped…”

“I know…”I hope we're not going to digress here.

“Anyway, if you haven't noticed, I've been trying to keep a sunny disposition lately. But it's not easy. Still, it's a lot better when I keep myself busy and focused on other things. You were right about that. I guess I need to be more balanced too.”

“Well, I give you permission to let me know if I ever seem out of balance.”

“It's a deal,” she tells me. “You better do the same thing forme.”

When I get home, I go straight to my computer to e-mail Garrett with today's chemistry junk. I so need his help if I'm going to make it through this class. If not, I better drop it in time to pick up another credit, even if it's just a pottery class.

I hit Send and wait for him to reply. Like I think he's just sitting there waiting for my message. But after about ten minutes I realize that's probably not the case. Even a science geek might have a life. Hopefully he's feeling better by now.

“Did you and Olivia get everything for the dance?” Mom asks as she pokes her head in my room. I called her earlier to explain why I'd be home late tonight.

“I guess so.” Then I tell her about Olivia's heart-shaped archway plan and the millions of balloons required to create it.

“Sounds like fun.” Mom smiles. “Are you going to the dance with Conrad?”

“Well, he hasn't exactly asked me yet. He's so busy with basketball…but I assume he will.”

“I remember a Valentine's dance when I was your age,” she says wistfully. “All I wanted was for Brad Miller to ask me. I dreamed about it, planned it, strategized, and eventually I got my best friend, Bonnie, to drop lots of hints. I even had a dress all ready for the big night. It was hot pink satin and white lace with these big shoulder pads.” She laughs. “I'm sure it would look just hideous nowadays.”

“So did Brad ask you to the dance?”

She folds her arms across her chest and shakes her head. “I really thought he was going to. Right up until a couple of days beforehand. But he asked Bonnie instead—apparently she did more hinting for herself than she did for me.”

“Seriously? Did she really go with him?”

Mom nods. “She sure did.”

“Was she still your best friend after that?”

Mom chuckles. “Not for a few days.”

“So did you even get to go to the dance?”

“Actually, I did.”

“Who asked you?”

She looks slightly embarrassed. The truth is I asked him.”

“Who?”

“Your dad.” She tosses me a smirky smile.

“No way!”

Mom starts laughing. “It's true. I was the first one to break the ice between us. He was a senior, I was a junior, and he was awfully shy, but I thought he seemed nice. I had geometry with him. And I thought,
What the heck? Why not?”

“So did you guys start dating regularly after that?”

“It was sort of off and on. It wasn't until he went away to college the next fall that he really started thinking about me. We started writing letters, and by Christmas we were going steady.”

“That's so sweet,” I tell her. “I never even knew that before.”

Mom grins. “See, I had a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“By the way, are we still going shopping on Saturday?” I ask, almost afraid that she might've forgotten our plans.

She nods. “I told them I wasn't coming in on Saturdays anymore—not unless there's an emergency.”

“Good for you.”

“Well, I won't keep you. I know you're busy.” Just as she says this, I notice an e-mail from Garrett has popped onto my screen.

I start to tell her that it's okay and I'm not busy, but she's already heading for her room. So I open Garrett's post, relieved that he's written back.

Not terribly encouraging, but at least he'll be in school. I decide to write back, something that I hope will be uplifting to him. His brief message makes me think he's still feeling bummed about something.

Okay, I hope I didn't push things too far. I don't want to scare him, or cause him to read more into it than I meant to say. But i do want him to know that I'm sincere and that I want to be his friend. I wait a few minutes and am not too surprised when he doesn't write back. So I decide to zero in on my homework.

Finally, it's late and although I still have a half-finished writing project, I feel certain I can get it done in the morning. But before going to bed, I pull out the slip of paper that
Pastor Ken gave to me. It says, 1 Corinthians 2:9-16. It's a fairly long section, so I decide to read it in bed. I hope I don't fall asleep before I finish it.

Wow, that is good, Really, really excellent. And so awesomely fitted to my life that even though it's late and I'm tired, I read it all over again. Then I put a marker in my Bible and decide I will read it a few more times and copy it into my journal. It's a lot to take in, but it seems to make sense. And it's encouraging. “Spiritually alive.” That sounds so right. And that's how I feel: The more I tune in to God, the more
spiritually alive
I become. I wish everyone could feel this alive.

T
oday's the big day,” Olivia says in an unenthusiastic voice, She's driving us to school, and something seems to be bugging her.

“Huh?”

“My audition. Remember?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“You're still coming, aren't you?”

“Of course.”

“I was actually considering chickening out.”

“Why?”

“Oh, I don't know…”

“Just second thoughts?”

“Yeah. If you think about it, it's pretty wild.”

“I felt like that too at first, but I liked your initial reasoning about this whole thing, Olivia, the way you wanted to reach out to these guys. I think that's cool. And I plan to be praying for you and for them while you're auditioning.”

“So you really think I should go through with it?”

“Yeah. Put it in God's hands. If He has a reason for you to hang with these guys, He'll work it out. Otherwise, let's just pray that they reject you.”

She laughs. “I guess that will help me to feel better if they do.”

“What are they called anyway?”

“Stewed Oysters.”

“Right.” I wonder if there's something metaphorical about that or if they just liked the sound of it. Band names are always so bizarre.

I stay on the lookout for Conrad today. I realize how little we've talked this week and feel slightly concerned. -Also, I'm hoping that I can gently hint that he should invite me to next week's dance. But the only time I see him in the morning is just before third period, and he seems preoccupied. He just waves and says he'll catch me later. And then he's not anywhere to be found during lunch. As I'm going to chemistry, I finally spot Alex and ask him if everything's okay with Conrad.

“He's just stressing over tonight's game.”

“With McKinley High?”

“Yeah, they were last year's state champs, and Coach Keller has really been on the team's case this week.” Alex laughs. “Like Brighton has a chance at state. Yeah, right.”

“So that's all?”

Alex shrugs. That's all I know.” Now he glances around, like he's making sure no one is listening. “I feel kinda bad about Olivia, you know. Is she okay and everything?”

I smile. “She's doing great. Did you know she's trying out for Cameron Vincent's band?”

He frowns. “Are you kidding?”

Totally serious.”

Olivia in that band—what're they called anyway? Oyster Stew?”

“Stewed Oysters. “

“Whatever.” He lowers his voice now. “But everyone knows they're a bunch of dopers.”

I force a smile. “Jesus loves dopers too. Not that I know they are. To be honest, I was a little worried at first. But Olivia knows what she's doing.”

He rolls his eyes. “Sounds pretty weird to me.”

Just then I see Garrett, although he looks rather un-Garrett-like, wearing a pair of wire-rimmed sunglasses. “See ya later,” I call as I dash off to catch up with him. It's funny that Alex seems so concerned about Olivia getting involved with this band. Go figure.

“Hey, Garrett,” I say as I join him. “How's it going?”

“Okay,” he mumbles.

“What's up with the shades? Trying to keep a low profile so the paparazzi won't mob you?”

“Funny.”

“Sorry.” I glance at him. “Are you feeling better?”

“I guess.”

Then we're in chemistry, and Garrett is all business. He's logging things into his laptop and getting stuff ready for our experiment, and I'm like his dumb assistant, following orders and cracking jokes that he doesn't even smile at. All the while he keeps his sunglasses on. Weird.