Biker Class (23 page)

"Oh, really?" she asked, trying not to show her relief.
"What were you looking at?"

"Um... I was thinking about the University of California,"
he responded. "Or Cal State."

"What would you major in?"

"I don't know. I was kind of thinking I'd just wing it. Ya know,
take classes and see what grabs my interest." Melanie nodded in
understanding, not really expecting a thought out plan anyway. "Plus, lots
of hot college chicks." He winked and clicked his tongue, and Melanie
looked away with a snort and rolling her eyes. "Relax. Kidding," he
told her.
Well, half way
, he thought to himself. "Do you know where
you want to go?"

"Well," Melanie contemplated, lying down on her back and
folding her hands over her stomach. Her eyes became dreamy in the reflection of
the
stars,
"I've always had my heart set on going
to the University of Wisconsin. I grew up there. I've always been a huge
Badgers fan." She sighed sadly. "It seemed like a good choice then,
since it would make me happy and it wouldn't be too far from home. But...
now... I don't know how much of a good idea that is anymore."

"You can still go," he told her, looking down at her still
figure, making sure to keep his eyes on her face and not... other places.
"It's not weird for people to go to college away from home."

"I know. But, Jake, out-of-state tuition has gone up
a lot
,
and my mom is here."

"Well, I get the tuition thing, but so what? You'll still get to
see her."

"Yeah... but it's not so much for me. It's more for her. If
anything goes wrong... if she needs me for anything... I want to be able to be
a car ride away."

He shook his head at her selflessness. Even when it came to
life-changing decisions like
her college
, she still thought of others
first. How she did it, he'd never know.

"How do you do that?" he blurted out.

Melanie's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"How do you do that?" he repeated. His head turned back
towards the sky. "Always think about everyone else before yourself. Most
people have to literally
think
about it before they act like that."

Melanie blushed. "I learned it from my mom, I guess. Every time
I'd ever see her anywhere... whether it was when I was little or now, she'd
always be smiling and helping others. I remember when I was five, my mom and I
went to the grocery store, and I was
so excited
because it was the new
Fresh
Market
and I loved going to the store and looking at all of the different
foods. And I
really
liked the cereal because I'd always have to make
sure Mom got the right kind—the kind with the toy in it." Jake
grinned to himself. Leave it to Melanie to get thrills from the idea of going
to
the store
. "We were going down the seafood section, and I
remember seeing a little old lady in an electric cart that couldn't reach
something on the top shelf, and my mom went out of her way and walked halfway
across the room to go help her. I remember thinking '
Wow. I wanna be just
like that when I get older.
' And ever since then... well..." she
shrugged, trailing off.

"Wow," Jake said. "So your mom is pretty much your role
model."

"Yeah," she sighed. "That's one reason why I want to
stay. So if she needs me, I'll be there for her, just like she was for me, ya
know?"

Jake looked back down at her, watching her watch the stars. It made
him miss his last few years without his mom, but he pushed the thought out of
his head. He wasn't some helpless little boy who needed his mommy! He was a man
now. He didn't need anybody. Yet, here this girl was, helping him of her own
accord, without anything to gain.

"Why'd you want to do this whole tutoring thing, anyway?" he
wondered aloud. He wouldn't be able to handle it, that he was sure. He didn't
have the smarts, focus, or patience, especially if he had to tutor someone like
himself. But he probably already knew the answer to this question.

"Because I wanted to help people," she grinned obviously.
"And it wouldn't look bad on a college application." She shrugged,
embarrassed, at her last statement, but it was true. College was very important
to her.

"So... since you wanna be so close to your mom... would you
consider going to a college in California?" he asked, smiling.

She sighed. "I'm sure I could learn to love it."

"What's not to love?" he questioned. "Great weather,
Hollywood, beaches. You'd love it here."

"I know," she shrugged, "but my heart will always be
with UW."

"But you're
gonna
come here?" he
asked, looking back down at her. Melanie realized, but he didn't, how
persistent he was with the questioning.

"I don't know!" she laughed, her giggle echoing in the
silence. "Maybe. I'll just look at my options!"

He nodded, ignoring the smallest of sinking he felt at the idea of her
moving over halfway across the country... most likely for good. A comfortable
quiet passed between them.

Silence.

More silence.

A soft tune.

Jake looked over to her, and her eyes were closed. She was humming
ever so softly. It was a familiar tune. With a burst of what could only be
happiness, he felt an ecstatic feeling spread from his toes to the tip of his
head as he recognized it.

It was the song.

The song they experimented with. The song they sat at the piano
together and played. It was the soft tune that lazily had woven around the
upstairs room. The music they made together. When his fingers had overlapped
hers, and an even more beautiful sound had resulted from it. Her eyes opened,
and when their stares met, they both glanced away quickly.

"Sorry," she muttered, giggling uncomfortably.

"Don't be."

"I went all Seventies on you bitches!" Rage grinned, showing
his yellow teeth. He bounded up to them through the sand, chuckling to himself.
In his hands
were a pan
full of warm brownies. He sat
them on a chair in front of Rod, Lawson, and Jake, proudly, like a mother
presenting Thanksgiving dinner.

Lawson looked back and forth between the ginger and the pan, brows
furrowed. Finally, after seeming to debate himself on what to say, "What
up with the
after-school snacks
, Nancy?"

Rage rolled his eyes and pointed at the lead biker with his good hand.
He repeated Lawson's new fruity nickname for him incredulously, mumbling.
"They aren't
just
brownies, asshole! They're...
special
brownies." As he had paused for dramatic effect, he glanced around the
circle, smirking.

Lawson was still staring at Rage as if he had just announced that he
was gay. Silence.

"They've got marijuana in them!" Jake suddenly shouted,
rolling his blue eyes at the obviousness of it that Rod and Lawson obviously
weren't comprehending
. Understanding dawned on their faces
and they were ravaging the drug-filled snacks as if there hadn't been a
confrontation at all. Rage huffed.

"
You're welcome
," he hissed. "I hope you guys
know that it took me some extra cash to get the, uh,
main ingredient
."

Rod and Lawson mumbled unintelligible words through the chocolate
stuffed into their mouths. After about half of the pan was gone, the three
looked up to the blonde who was just watching, a cold beer in his hand. The sun
glinted off of his hair and glass bottle. They noticed he was not acting loopy
in the least, and his fingers and mouth were void of any chocolate crumbs.

"Take some, Jake," Lawson said, curious as to why the boy
hadn't touched the blissful brownies.

"Yeah, here ya go, man,"
Rod
said
through a mouthful, taking four and shoving them towards the eighteen year-old
roughly. Jake shook his head and shrugged, pushing them back to the black man.
He took a nonchalant swig of his beer.

"Why not?" Rage wanted to know, the hothead getting angry.
"I spent big bucks to get some, plus I spent an hour in the kitchen tryin'
to figure out how to make sissy brownies! Eat some!"

"I don't
want
any," he told them, a little irked.

"That's just the thing, man,
I don't freakin' care
. EAT
them."

"Well, if he doesn't want any, Rage, he doesn't want any,"
Lawson spoke up, shrugging. "More for us." He smiled a little too
largely.

"Well," Rage barked relentlessly, "he is gonna take
some! I didn't bust my ass for nothing!"

"Just take some
fo
' later so he'll shut
da hell up," Rod groaned. To appease the fiery redhead, Jake took one and
wrapped it in a piece of foil that had previously been covering the top of the
pan.

"Really? That's it? You're just takin' one?"

"Fine!" Jake spat, getting three more to make a total number
of four brownies. He wrapped them all in foil and put them in his jacket
pocket. "Happy now?"

"Yep," Rage said simply, plopping down in a plastic chair
and stuffing another in his mouth.

An hour later, as the sun was beginning to lower in the sky, Jake
checked the clock on his cell phone. He needed to leave if he wanted to get to Melanie's
on time. And he wasn't wasting a moment, if he could help it. Why? Because... Melanie
didn't serve marijuana on a plate! Without a word, Jake stood up and left his
half-there-half-out-of-it friends to do the weird things they always do when
high.

Jake hopped on his bike and kicked it to life, speeding away towards
the place he had grown to know so well. He was surprised as he sped through
town that none of the stoplights he ran resulted in any harm to anyone
whatsoever. No one even had to stop for him. Just then, he realized how anxious
he was to get the Hart household. Why, he didn't know.

He finally pulled into the circular driveway, cutting the motorcycle
off quickly and spotting a smiling Melanie through the window of her bedroom.
She waved to him and he did a small wave back, grinning. The door opened to a
smiling face. Jake couldn't help but smile back. Smiles were starting to feel
less foreign to his face than they would have, say, a month ago.

"Hey, Jake!" she greeted brightly.

"Hey, Hart," he winked. He followed her into the living
room, sitting down on the plush couch, actually looking
a little
forward
to studying. The more time he spent with his friends, the more idiotic they
seemed. Just as they took a seat and Melanie began to open her book, Ms. Hart
peeked her head in the doorway.

"Hi, Jake," she smiled. He returned it, nodding. Melanie's
mother even seemed to notice that his manners had improved in the last week.
She was glad her daughter could have a positive influence on him. He seemed
good deep down. "So, you two, I'm gonna run to the store really quick to
get a few things for dinner." She winked to Melanie. "Don't miss me
too much, sweetie." Melanie rolled her eyes and blushed in embarrassment. Jake's
smile
widened. Ms. Hart turned and headed towards the
front door, shouting down the foyer, "Behave yourselves!" Melanie's
cheeks became even
more hot
, almost to the point of
pain.

"Moms," Melanie rolled her eyes, "pffft. What are you
gonna do?"

Jake just shrugged but didn't reply. Even if she
was
around spilling embarrassing things about him, he would love if his mom was
even around at all. He never really realized what he had until it was gone, and
he certainly hoped that Melanie never had to go through that displacement and
pain. But once he thought about it... had she? Where was the dad in the
picture?

Melanie flipped a couple of pages and skimmed it for a second or two.
She sat up straighter and began to talk. To his surprise, Jake actually
tried
to listen.

"Okay, Jake," she smiled, "I am going to go over a
couple of vocabulary words for English. You've been looking over them, haven't you?"

"Once or twice." And he wasn't lying.

"What is the basic definition of 'aberration'?" she asked.

"Uh... departing from... the, um... usual course?" he
pitched.

"Yeah! That's right!" Melanie gasped, unable to hide her
surprise. This is the first time he'd answered
anything
correctly. Even
at times when she would tell him the answer then ask him the question over
again, he would usually
still
get it wrong! "'The act of departing
from the right, normal, or usual coarse'. That was right on the nose, Jake!"

He tried to hide it, but a proud smile was pulling at the corners of
his lips.

"All right," she began, actually excited now for his record
to go up to two right answers in a row, "what is the definition of
'maelstrom'?"

He was silent for a second, wracking his brain. "Uh... a large,
violent... whirlpool?"

"Yes!" she laughed, clapping her hands together with a
face-eating smile. Jake's spirits lifted. "That was exactly right! 'A
large, violent whirlpool'! Can you use it in a sentence?"

"The...
maelstrom
was very strong and sucked the boat into
itself."

"Yeah, great job, Jake!" she squealed, embracing him before
even realizing what she was doing.

He froze and she released him quickly, muttering apologies with her
cheeks burning hot. He chuckled, saying something that took her by complete
surprise.

"You are very
comely
," he winked. "I hope this
won't be a
dalliance
. You are sometimes
demure
, but that's all
right. You are
dulcet
and
effervescent
. You are
emollient
to
my outlook. You have much
felicity
.
Halcyon
is what you are.
Sometimes you can be an
ingénue
, but that's okay, too. Melanie, you have
a
lagniappe
for spreading joy. You look
lissome
and
lithe
,
and your laugh is
mellifluous.
You are
redolent.
I'm hoping this
is full of enough
eloquence
for you."

Melanie sat there, unable to distinguish what in the world was going
on. The mere surprise of him using words like that took her off guard, so she
didn't even have time to try and remember what all of those words meant. After
a long moment of silence and Melanie staring at him in disbelief, she finally
stuttered out,

"Huh?"

He shook his head, laughing to himself. "You need to study a
little more, I think, Miss Hart."

Melanie's eyes narrowed, and she blushed furiously. "Could you
repeat every word you just said
slowly
so I can write them down and look
them up later?" He flashed a heart-beating smile to her.

"Nope. You need to study," he smirked. Suddenly, out of
nowhere, he felt an unexpected pain in his bladder. "Uh, where's the
bathroom?"

Melanie's brows creased in surprise at the sudden change of subject.
"Um, down the hall to the left."

Jake discarded his jacket on the couch and walked quickly to the
bathroom, leaving Melanie sitting there to try and think through what just
happened. It
sounded
like everything he'd just said had been
complimentary, but she couldn't be sure. What the heck? She didn't even know
half of those words! Melanie was in so much of a daze that she couldn't even
remember what he'd said.

Growl
.

A familiar sound filled her ears and she felt an uncomfortable
vibration in her tummy. She groaned. Why couldn't her mother go faster at the
store? Melanie was usually eating by now, if not the dinner simmering on the
stove. She glanced around the room, trying to get her mind off of her noisy stomach.
Melanie's eye was caught by something shining in Jake's jacket pocket.

Tin foil. Hmm.

She reached in and pulled it out, curious as to what it was. Melanie
was sure Jake wouldn't mind if she just looked. She opened it up, and it was
like it was fate. In it were four large chocolate brownies, stacked. Her mouth
watered as she inhaled the scent, and something else was there, too. But the
chocolateyness overpowered it. Melanie glanced at the door and listened, and
heard and saw nothing. Psh
..
.
she
was sure he wouldn't mind if she just had one. He had four big ones here, after
all!

She took a small bite, and a sensation like no other soared over her
taste buds. She shoved the entire thing into her mouth, chewing the yummy snack
and swallowing it quickly. Melanie sighed, desperately wanting another. Her
stomach growled even louder, agreeing with her.

They're big,
Melanie thought, shrugging to herself.
And
he'll have two left. That's plenty, right? And I fed him a couple of weeks ago
with the cheese crackers. He owes me!

She took another and chewed and swallowed even faster than the first.
She made herself promise to have no more, and she closed the foil and placed it
on the coffee table. A couple of minutes later, Jake swaggered back into the
living room, sighing and taking a seat where he had previously been. Melanie
giggled, and she didn't know why. He looked to her, brows raised.

"What?" he asked.

Melanie shrugged herself, really unsure as to why a random laugh had
escaped her. "Nothing," she replied honestly. She did it again,
louder this time.

"What is it?" he demanded, smiling.

"I really don't know," she laughed. "By the way, Jake,
what did some of those words mean that you told me? One was... demure, wasn't
it? That's a funny word if you think about it, ha ha!
De
mure. De
mure
.
Demure. Demure. You know, it rhymes with allure, ha ha!"

"Uh..." Jake looked at her incredulously, smiling at the way
she was making no sense whatsoever. Melanie wasn't really paying attention,
though. She felt like flying, dancing, jumping, laughing, kissing, skipping,
nonstop talking, driving a boat, driving a race car, going shopping: she felt
like doing
everything
! She laughed again and glanced over at him. Her
smile disappeared and she stared at his face, making no effort at all to hide
what she was doing. It almost was a little odd. His eyes shifted from
side-to-side uncomfortably under her watch. For the billionth time, he asked, a
little irked,

"What is it?"

She didn't answer at first, but stared straight into his eyes. Her sudden
straightforwardness shook him, but not exactly in a negative way. An almost
misty smile spread across her face as she spoke. "You have very nice eyes.
Has anyone ever told you that?"

Jake didn't answer.

He recognized that smile. He'd seen it only too many times on the face
of his friends underneath the dock every other night. It was the way they
looked as he'd risen from his chair today.

"M-Melanie?" he asked weakly, eyes as wide as dinner plates.
She was still staring at him, unshaken.