Taking Chances (3 page)

“Help me pass these out,” he instructed. She stood up shyly, and began to distribute the old, worn textbooks.

My second class of the day was Calculus. I took a lot of notes, expecting to have trouble paying attention. I’d never found math classes particularly interesting. P.E. came along, and we played basketball, which was never my best sport. Spencer was in my class, and he tried to include me in the game by passing the ball to me occasionally, but when I missed the pass, it embarrassed me even more. Two girls chuckled when I messed up, but Spencer just smiled and said, “Nice try.”

At the end of class, we all went into the locker rooms to change and then came back out and stood in the hallway until the bell rang. When Spencer came out of the guy’s locker room, he came and stood next to me.

“You did good today,” he commented. I looked down at my feet and said, “I’m terrible at basketball.”

Spencer laughed softly. “Not everyone is good at everything, “ he said. “You’ll get better. I’ll help you out.”

I looked up at him and he was smiling.

When lunch came around, I stood in line behind a group of freshman girls, including Lillian, who were chatting about the cute guys they’d seen in their classes. It was nice to see that Lillian had made some friends. When it was my turn to pick up my lunch, I realized that there wasn’t a choice of what you ate. It was just the one tray of food. They were serving hot dogs and French fries with ice cream that day, and everyone had the exact same thing. That was another thing I wasn’t used to. At my old school, everything was a la carte.

When I looked awkwardly for a place to sit in the small lunchroom, I saw Spencer waving at me from the back table. He smiled, and motioned for me to sit with him and his group of friends. I sighed and slowly walked over nervously. His friends seemed engaged in their own conversations, and I didn’t really want to intrude. When I sat down next to Spencer, I realized that the blond-haired boy I’d seen with him in the parking lot was sitting there, too.

“Hey Sydney.” Spencer said with a smile as I sat down. “Hey guys,” he turned towards his friends and they all looked at him. “This is Sydney Baker. She just moved here from Chicago.”

“Hey Sydney.” The boy from the parking lot said.

“Sydney, this is Dean Wickstrom,” Spencer said.

“Hi, Dean,” I said.

“This is my twin brother, Michael.” Dean gestured to a boy who looked exactly like him. I knew by his nice smile that Michael would be much nicer than my stepdad, Michael.

“And that’s Michael’s girlfriend, Annie Fredricks.” She was a pretty girl with honey blond hair and blue eyes.

“And, this is Jeremy Hall, and his girlfriend, Jacqueline Tyler.” Jeremy was a tall, muscular boy with short, curly, brown hair. Jacqueline was just as pretty, if not more beautiful than Annie with long, light brown hair and hazel eyes. Both girls had small figures, but Annie’s was not much smaller than mine.

“Hi,” Jacqueline said to me. They all went back to talking and Spencer turned to me.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “They use this time to gossip, and they don’t like to waste time.”

I smiled. “That’s okay.”

“So, how is your first day so far?”

I shrugged. “It’s okay.”

“Tomorrow will be better, I bet,” he said. “But it must be hard being in a new place and barely knowing anyone.”

I nodded, agreeing with that fact. If I didn’t know Spencer, I’d be completely lost.

“Well, you’ve got us now,” he said with a smile. I smiled back at the thought that our friendship would continue. He seemed like a great friend.

The conversation continued to flow easily as we ate lunch.

“Hey Spence,” Dean asked Spencer. “Do you think you’ll do better at the poetry slam this year?”

“I hope so. I’m going to start writing early this year. Last year really sucked because I didn’t have much time to write anything.”

“Poetry slam? Like when you all read poetry?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Dean said. “During the middle of the year, around January, all of the kids in Creative Writing compete in a poetry competition. Sometimes, a professor from NIU will come and if you do really well, he or she will invite you to the state contest.” NIU was the university in DeKalb, a city about thirty minutes from Shabbona.

“Cool. That sounds fun. I didn’t know you wrote, Spencer.”

“I do,” Spencer said. “It’s fun, and it gets me away from everything. You’ll be able to participate in the slam if you are in Creative Writing.”

“I actually have that class tomorrow,” I told him as I pulled out my schedule from my pocket and looked at it.

“Really? What hour?”

“Um…second,” I replied. He asked to see my schedule and I handed it to him. He glanced over it and smiled. “Yep, second hour. Well, I’ll see you in class then,” he said.

“Cool,” I said happily. I looked forward to having another class with Spencer. Maybe I wouldn’t embarrass myself like in P.E. Apart from being super sweet, Spencer was also a very good looking boy. It was hard for me not to think about
not
trying to impress him.

“I think Spence will need to start writing now,” the boy named Jeremy chuckled. “Otherwise he’s never going to beat his girlfriend.”

The rest of them laughed, but I sighed and looked down at my tray. I didn’t know that Spencer had someone already. I felt bad for being even slightly interested in him. Well, it wasn’t like I’d ever have a chance with him anyway…he seemed too perfect to be with someone like me with such a messed up life.

“You have a girlfriend? That’s cool,” I said, trying to act like it didn’t bother me. “Does she go to this school, too?” They all laughed, and Spencer hit Jeremy’s arm.

“Aren’t
you
his girlfriend?” Annie asked me. My eyes widened the tiniest bit in surprise.
Girlfriend? Is that who they think I am?

“First of all, she’s not my girlfriend.” Spencer snuck a quick look at me.

“She looks like it.” Dean cut him off. “I’ve never really seen you talk to new kids.”

That’s what people think? I’ve only been here for a day and I’m already being talked about…?

“Well, she’s not,” Spencer said. Though this statement was true, it crushed me a little to hear him say it so quickly.
Does that mean I don’t appeal to him at all?
I wondered.

“I know her because she’s Maggie George’s granddaughter,” he continued. “And she lives on her family farm that my uncle farms his corn at.”

“Oh, okay,” Dean said. Then, they all started laughing for no apparent reason. It was fun hanging around Spencer’s friends. They were
always
laughing. That was something I hadn’t done in a while.

Fourth hour, I had a History class, which I enjoyed more than any other class that day, but I was happy to get home after school. It seemed like a long day, though I wish I could have talked to Spencer more. He was really sweet, and he seemed like he thought we could be friends. Although, his comment about not being his girlfriend bugged me a little. But why should it? It was true. I sighed, and looked back down at the Calculus notes I was studying.

There was a knock on my bedroom door, and Lillian came inside.

“Hey, Sydney,” she said.

“Oh, hi Lil. How was your first day?”

“It was so much fun! I met these really cool girls who were in a lot of my classes and…”

I let her go on about her day without saying much. About ten minutes later, the doorbell rang, and she went to answer it. I followed her when Rebecca yelled, “Aunt Megan!”

I smiled and almost ran down the stairs. Aunt Megan saw me and took me into her arms happily.

“Hi sweetie,” she said. “Where’s your Mom?”

“I’m not sure. Probably out with Michael.”

“Are Violet and Clayton here?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, they didn’t want to come. They’re still living together in Chicago in that apartment they decided to rent after we were evicted. They didn’t want to stay with us.”

“That’s a shame,” she sighed. “It would have been nice to have you all here together. Grandma would have been so excited.” A small tear rolled down her cheek.

I hugged her tightly, giving her support. “It’ll be okay,” I soothed.

She nodded. “I know. I just miss her.”

I nodded. “Me too.”

“Hey girls,” she greeted Lillian and Rebecca. “I haven’t seen you girls since Clayton’s birthday. How have you been?”

“Good,” Lillian replied quietly, brushing her curls from her face. Lillian was shyer around Aunt Megan than Rebecca, who automatically began telling Aunt Megan about her day at school and all of the new friends she had met.

Aunt Megan stayed until dinnertime, waiting for Maddie…but she never came.

“She’s probably out shopping or something. Well, I’ll come back tomorrow during the day and see if she’s here. I have to get home.” She kissed us goodbye and left the house.

“Bye Aunt Megan,” Rebecca called.

As usual, I was in charge of dinner, so I made pizza for Lillian, Rebecca and myself, and then went back up to my room. Lillian followed me, but didn’t speak until we were in my room.

“Sydney?”

“Yeah?” I asked as I sat on my bed.

“Does Aunt Megan know about Mom being an alcoholic like my dad?” she asked quietly.

I sighed. “I don’t think so, but I might be wrong. She knows Michael is, but I don’t think she knows about Maddie. It’s been too long since they’ve actually seen each other. They used to talk on the phone all the time, but I don’t know what’s going on now.”

She bowed her head. “Do you think that things will get any better?”

I was silent for a moment, trying to think.

“I’m old enough to know what’s going on, Sydney,” Lillian said. “Rebecca knows a little but not much. She doesn’t know about the things my dad does to you. She just thinks he’s yelling at you. Do you think it will ever stop? Clayton and Violet left, are you going to leave too?”

“No.” I said firmly. As I looked into her fear-filled eyes, I knew that I couldn’t leave her, or Rebecca. I needed to continue to stay strong and try to fight my way through my last years with Michael until I turned eighteen and could leave. I knew I’d do whatever it took to get us away from him.

“I won’t leave you and Rebecca alone.” I told her. “I hope things will get better soon, and then I won’t have a reason to leave. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but I won’t let them hurt you or Becca. I promise. If things don’t change, I’ll move out when I turn eighteen, but no matter what, I’m taking you two with me.”

She didn’t smile, she just looked at me.

“Go to sleep, Lil,” I said. “You have school in the morning.”

She got up without a word and walked out the door. I sighed, and knew that my plan would be harder than it seemed. I knew Michael would do anything to keep me with him. If I left, he’d think I was telling someone about him, and then he’d get arrested. I would have to stay strong for that last year or so until I could carefully get away. I knew that trying to get away from him would be the hardest thing I’d ever do, but I knew it had to be done. I turned off my light and fell asleep soon after.

Chapter 3

CELINE DION AND MICHAEL BUBLÉ

The next day, I showed up at school early and got all of the notebooks for my B-day classes out of my locker. I looked up when I heard a familiar voice and saw Spencer walking towards me. I shifted my eyes down to my feet, hoping to hide the excitement burning my cheeks.

“Hey Sydney,” Spencer said.

“Hi,” I said, still looking down and trying to quiet the beating of my heart. Even though I had tried to tell myself not to get my hopes up, I still felt the need to try and impress Spencer.

“How are you?” he asked.

I could see him look away out of the corner of my eye, so I stood up on my toes and reached into the top of my locker for my pencil bag.

“I’m okay. You?”

I glanced over at him and saw him taking textbooks out of his backpack. He wasn’t looking at me, but at some pictures in the side of his locker.

“Fine,” he replied. “We lost our soccer game last night though,”

“You play soccer?” I asked, impressed.

“Yeah. I play on the school team.”

“That’s cool.” I said trying to conjure up some soccer expertise I didn’t have.

“Yeah, my friend Jeremy plays on the team with me. It’s fun. I’ve been playing for a few years.”

“I used to play soccer when I was younger.” I told him. “It was only for a little while though.”

“That’s cool. Was your first day alright?” Spencer asked me as he shut his locker and leaned back against it. He glanced over at me, and our eyes finally met.

“Yes. Thanks.” I looked at my schedule, trying to figure out where I needed to go that day.

“What’s your first class?” he asked. “I’ll show you around if you want.”

I beamed at his offer and said, “Okay, I have English with Mrs. King.”

“That’s my first class, too. Here.” He took my hand in his like he did when we were younger. “Follow me.”

While we walked, people stared, but I didn’t really care. I was holding hands with the most amazing boy in the world. Even though I think he was just doing it as a kind gesture, I thought into it more than I should. I had just begun to actually talk to Spencer again, but I felt like I had known him my whole life, and holding hands with him didn’t seem weird at all. A live wire shot through my body at his touch, but it wasn’t bad, it felt warm and filled me with comfort.

When we reached the English room, he led me over to one of the desks where I sat down next to him. The class went by faster than I wanted it to, mostly because I had always loved English class, but also because I had Creative Writing the next hour. I knew that Spencer was a writer, too, and I hoped we wouldn’t have to read anything aloud. I was nervous that Spencer would be ten times better at it than me.

The English teacher went over the class syllabus, and then we just talked for the rest of the class period. The first few days weren’t really used for learning, but more for introductions. Spencer started talking to some other people in the class, and I sat and read for the rest of the hour. The teacher assigned an autobiography paper, but that was about it.