Rise (4 page)

chapter 5

Attie propped up the hanger that held the very small uniform. “I don’t know, Riley; it looks a little skimpy. A heck of a lot smaller than the uniforms we wore up north. Is skimpy a southern thing?”

“I thought skimpy was a universal thing,” I admitted.

“Not this skimpy. Are you sure it isn’t missing some fabric? I don’t even know if it’ll cover the parts it’s supposed to cover, let alone the parts I was hoping it would.”

“Maybe it’s just an optical illusion. Go in the bathroom and try it on.”

She disappeared for a few minutes, and I listened through the door as she talked to herself about the lack of fabric and how there was no way she would go in public looking like a Hooters girl. Her dramatic distress was cracking me up.

“Well?”

“Good grief, I look like a stripper … or an NFL cheerleader, which is just about as bad.”

“Get out here and let me be the judge of that.” The thought of my girlfriend momentarily looking like a stripper sounded extremely promising, and I couldn’t wait to see for myself.

“I’m not leaving this bathroom.”

“Oh, come on. Is it really that bad?”

“Yes!”

“Get out here and let me see.”

“I don’t know, Riley.”

“Get out here already!”

After several seconds, the door slowly opened; and when I saw her delicate body in the tiny uniform, I’m pretty sure my jaw slammed to the floor. “You’re right. You can’t walk out of this house wearing that.”

“I knew it.” Attie grabbed a hold of the bottom of the skirt and started tugging it toward her knees as she danced nervously around the hallway. It wasn’t helping. The skirt didn’t budge.

I dropped into the beanbag chair, and Baby immediately made herself at home on my lap as Boomer lay in a clump next to my feet. “Now, wearing it in the house is another thing altogether. You can wear it around here all you want. I won’t complain a bit.”

She kicked me in the shin. “Dial down the perv factor, will ya?”

“I’ll try, but you walk around in something like that and what am I supposed to say?”

“It really is that bad, isn’t it?”

“Well, babe, that depends on your definition of bad.”

“Bad as in if I bend over, everyone’s going to see my lady parts.”

“Turn around and give it a try.”

“Gross!” She crossed her legs at the knee and threw her arms across her bare stomach. “Riley Bennett, cut it out.”

“I’m just having some fun.”

“What the heck am I going to do?”

“I can’t be the judge of this. In all seriousness, it covers more than a bathing suit, so it’s not like you’re naked or anything. I just think it’s a little short for a uniform.”

“I feel naked.”

“You don’t look naked. You just look … uncomfortable. And totally amazing. I’m in heaven right now.”

“Riley!”

“Maybe we need another opinion.”

“Well, go down and get your mother and bring her up here. Let’s see what she thinks.”

Without getting out of the beanbag chair, I leaned back and yelled over the stair railing for my mother to get upstairs.

“I could have done that. I meant go down and get her.”

“Why? She heard me.”

Mom’s voice traveled up from the kitchen. “I’m busy making dinner. What do you want?”

“I knew she’d hear me.”

Attie tapped her foot on the floor in annoyance. “The entire neighborhood heard you.”

“Get up here and tell us if Attie looks like a Hooters girl and is showing off too many of her lady parts.” I started laughing and looked back at the stripper. “That’ll get her attention.”

The heels of Mom’s shoes clopped across the hardwood floors as she hurried to join us.

“Told you so.”

Mom was completely out of breath by the time she made it to the landing and spotted Attie. “Oh dear,” she gasped. “Riley, cover your eyes.”

Attie grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her waist. “I knew it! What in the world am I going to do?”

Mom slapped me on the head. “Cover your eyes.”

“Good Lord, I’ve seen her in a bikini. This isn’t any big deal. And it was a bikini you picked out, by the way.”

“I don’t care. Cover your eyes right now or you’re grounded.”

I slapped my hands over my eyes. “You act like I’m twelve.”

“No, I’m acting like you’re seventeen and your girlfriend’s standing in front of you a quarter of the way dressed—if that.”

“I thought she looked good.”

“I bet you did.”

A smack accompanied an explosion of pain on my temple as Mom’s hand again made contact with my head.

“Ow.”

“Tom, get up here!”

Although I couldn’t see anything, I could hear Mom walk closer to the half-naked cheerleader. “It’s okay, Attie. We’ll get Pops’s opinion. He’s the principal, and he’ll know if it’s too small.”

I heard Dad make his way up the stairs and step into the hallway. “Why are the boy’s eyes covered?”

“Well, Tom, it seems we have a little problem with Attie’s cheerleading uniform.”

“Little being the word of the day,” I added while rubbing my throbbing scalp with the hand that wasn’t covering my eyes.

“You’ll see,” Mom said. “Keep your eyes covered, Riley. Take the towel off, Attie.”

“Do I have to?” Attie and I asked simultaneously. I wanted to uncover my eyes, and she wanted to stay covered.

“Yes.”

I slightly spread my fingers so I could peek through and watched as she opened the towel. I still thought she looked amazing.

“Uh, no,” Dad said quickly. “You aren’t wearing that in public.”

Attie threw the towel closed before bursting into tears. “Well, what am I going to do?”

I closed my fingers so I wouldn’t get caught and listened as Dad walked toward her. It was obvious by the sound of his voice that he was trying not to laugh but finding it hard not to. “Maybe we can get all the girls together and see if you can swap with someone. If not, we’ll just have to order you a new one.”

“There’s no way it will be ready in time for the game on Friday,” Attie cried.

“Let me just say,” I said with my hand still covering my eyes, “as a player, I would find myself extremely motivated to do well if I had Attie dressed like that and cheering for me on the sideline. Either that or I’d wanna be benched so I could watch her cheer all night.”

My mother slapped me on the head again.

“You’re digging a grave for yourself, son,” Dad warned.

“I just thought you’d want input from one of the people she cheers for.”

“You thought wrong.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Mom insisted.

“Surely we can work something out. I’ll go call Coach Tyler right now and find out what we should do. In the meantime, Attiline, take that loincloth off and get some clothes on.”

“Yes, sir.”

I heard footsteps disperse in various directions.

“Can I uncover my eyes now?”

Nobody answered.

“Hello?” I peeked through my fingers and realized that the dogs and I had been left alone on the landing.

Unfortunately, the peep show was over, and next time I saw Attie she’d be fully clothed.

(Attie)

Pops paced the family room while Riley and I sat perched on the couch waiting for my uniform nightmare to be solved. “It seems we have a confusing situation on our hands. Coach Tyler said that there must have been a miscommunication when your measurements were taken because the order that was shipped perfectly matched the order that was placed. So either someone took the measurements wrong, or it was written incorrectly on the order form.”

“Was anyone else’s uniform wrong?” Riley asked.

“No, just Attiline’s. Who took the measurements?”

I thought back to the day that the team had their measurements taken. “Coach Tyler.”

“And did she write the measurements down as she took them?” he asked.

As if a light bulb went off in my head, I knew exactly what had happened. “No, Tiffany wrote down the measurements as Coach called them out.”

Riley jumped off the couch. “That girl has no limits. She did this on purpose.”

“What are you talking about?” Pops asked.

“She’s been jealous of Attie since the day she got here. Remember that night I came inside after the camping trip and you asked who I’d been talking to?”

“Yeah. You said it was Tiffany.”

“She came to confront me about Attie. She came on to me, and when I turned her down, she started calling Attie all kinds of names and stuff. She treats Attie like crap at school and practice.”

Pops looked over at me. “Is that true, Attiline? Is Tiffany causing you problems?”

“She’s trying to, but I’ve ignored most of it. When I noticed that she was taking the measurements, I got a weird feeling about it. I should have double checked the list.”

“If there’s one thing I hate about being the principal of a high school, it’s the way the girls treat each other. They can be downright vicious.”

Riley sat back down on the couch. “Tiffany is one of the worst, no doubt about it. I just never dreamt she’d do something like this.”

“Tomorrow I’ll call her into my office and see what she has to say about this. I’m sure she’ll deny the entire thing, and honestly, I have no way to prove that she did it on purpose.”

“So what do I do about my uniform? I can’t cheer on Friday night.”

“Coach said that you guys could wear the regular tops with your lightweight sweatpants.”

“It’s going to be one hundred degrees outside!”

“I guess it’ll teach someone a lesson then. I’ll go call Coach Tyler.” Pops made his way toward his bedroom and left Riley and I to stew on the couch.

Riley stood up and walked to the other side of the coffee table. “Girls amaze me. I just don’t get it. Why can’t they just have a disagreement and get over it? Punch each other if they have to. This kinda stuff is just nuts.” It was as if he’d taken Pops’s job of pacing the floor. As he spoke, he followed the same path his father had, only Riley also agitatedly ran his hands through his hair.

“Like Pops said, girls are vicious. Especially ones like Tiffany. I’m afraid to even guess what she’s gonna do next.”

He finally stopped pacing and turned to face me. “Are you all right?”

“I could be better.”

“What can I do to help? Do you want me to hit her?”

“Yes.”

He laughed and his anger dissipated.

“I want you to hit her extra hard. Hit her into next Sunday.”

“I’m all over it.” He threw a fist into the palm of his other hand and pounded it several times.

“Actually, I should sic Tammy on her. It would make her day to get to knock the soup out of that girl.”

“Naw, Tammy would enjoy it too much. At least I’d show some remorse … maybe.”

“Wouldn’t that be a sight?”

“I’d buy a ticket to that show,” he said.

I sank back into the couch. “Oh boy.”

“What?”

“How much do you wanna bet I’ll be getting a serious lecture from Jesus tonight? All about forgiving my enemies and praying for my enemies. Yada yada yada.”

Riley sat on the coffee table in front of me. “I don’t know if you should say ‘yada yada yada’ when you’re referring to words from the Lord. That kind of sarcasm could get you in a lot of trouble. And technically, isn’t he always right?”

“Unfortunately.”

Riley’s shoulders slumped. “I’m afraid I feel a life lesson coming on.”

“I hate it when that happens.”

My heart sank as our sad eyes locked on each other, and we sat in silence. But slowly, a smile crept onto Riley’s face. “Do you wanna go for a walk?”

My mood instantly brightened. “A walk outside?”

“Yeah, a walk outside.”

I jumped off the couch and started running for the door, but he caught me and pulled me out of the way so that he could make it out the door first.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, I jumped onto his back, wrapped my legs around his waist, and perched my chin on my arm, which was thrown over his shoulder.

“Where to?” he asked.

“Um … ” I pointed to our right. “That way.”

He bounded down the stairs and toward the end of the driveway, and within minutes my entire body was trembling as Riley broke out in laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

He shook his head.

“What?” I thunked him on the head with my finger. “What?”

“I just pictured you standing outside the bathroom in your cheerleading uniform.”

“You think I looked silly? You should have seen yourself sitting in that beanbag chair with your hand over your eyes. And don’t think I didn’t notice you peeked a few times.”

“I couldn’t help it. You looked amazing. Slutty, but amazing.”

I unwrapped my legs from his waist and jumped down.

“Whoa, where are you going? Come back. We’ve barely started our walk.”

“Do you ever wish I was different?”

The skin between his eyes crinkled in perplexity. “Different how?”

“You know, different-different.”

“Different, different?” He stopped walking and lightly grabbed my elbow. “What do you mean by different?”

“Easier. More wild. You know, sexy and adventurous.”

“You’re adventurous. You’re the catfish wrangler, remember?”

“I’m serious, Riley. You liked it when I was a little more sultry yesterday morning. Do you wish I were like that all the time? Easier?”

“There’s a difference between being easy and being sexy. You don’t have to be one to be the other.” He scratched his head. “Come to think of it, I don’t think you can be both.”

“What do you mean?”

“What makes you sexy is your self-confidence. The way you carry yourself. A girl who’s easy usually doesn’t have self-confidence; that’s why she acts the way she does. She thinks that if she acts that way, guys will like her, and that will give her self-confidence. A girl that has self-confidence doesn’t have to act or dress like a slut to get a guy’s attention.”

“But yesterday morning—”

He reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Yesterday morning you weren’t easy; you were impossible, and that’s hot.”

“Oh.” We started walking side by side. “But girls like Tiffany don’t seem to have any problem getting boyfriends.”

“Tiffany has a lot of dates, but she hasn’t really had many boyfriends. Not that I know of, anyway. Trust me; guys want girls like her for one reason and one reason only. Once they get to know her, there isn’t much there to be attracted to. Look at the way she’s treating you. No guy who knows about it is gonna find that attractive.”