Seriously, he’s absolutely the most frustrating person in the world to try to wheedle information out of. I don’t know anyone who’s ever gotten him to say something against his will…blackmail doesn’t work either because no one has anything on him. So, if someone wanted a little help with something but didn’t want anyone to know what they were up to…?”
“They’d go to Pete,” I filled in.
“Right. But regardless, we can’t ask him for help without knowing for sure if he’s already involved or not because if he is, he’ll go straight to Tristan. And another thing, Tristan has a lot of friends and he does a lot for those friends, and although it’d be unlikely, it wouldn’t be inconceivable for him to maybe call in a favor here and there. Which means directly asking Pete or Mike to sit with you at the game is pretty much out and we can’t trust anyone else except Melissa.”
“Well, that’s okay with me…I think I’d rather not have a ton of people getting involved in this anyway and hopefully, I’ll have good news about how to get around sitting alone at the game,” I said with some pride in my voice. I’m kind of liking this whole subterfuge thing. It’s invigorating.
“Oh yeah?” Kate asked, pulling into her parking space in the back lot.
“Yeah. I haven’t talked to him yet, but I left a message for my cousin, Derek, to text or call me about a favor I wanna ask him for. He’s a senior at Valhalla and pretty cute, too. What do you think?”
“Ooh. That’ll totally throw Tristan off! Especially being that he’s already jealous…good idea Camie!”
“That’s what I thought, too, but I can’t take credit for it…it was my twelve year old sister’s idea.” I mean come on. I have to give credit where credit is due.
“You’re kidding?” She asked, halting our progress onto campus to stare at my face in surprise.
“Nope. You’d like her a lot. She’s an evil genius,” I told her, becoming exceptionally proud of my little sister.
“I guess so. Wow. Well, hopefully that whole thing will pan out. Lemme know when you hear back…okay, so we’re gonna have to run to make first period on time…I’ll see you later. If we’re lucky, they will provide more fodder today that we can use in our playbook.” Kate took off with a wave. I love how she called Tristan and Jeff “they”—for some reason that cracks me up.
Sadly, nothing else noteworthy happened that day. Or the next, or the next…
6.
Everyone Has A Skeleton Or Two
Over those first few days, Kate was doing her best to introduce me to her peers and I was doing my best to remember their names and faces, while also trying to ignore the feeling that I don’t belong. Back when I said I filled the requisite teenagers status, I didn’t realize that just because I’m a teen like they are, it doesn’t automatically make me a teen like them. By just watching some of the interactions and listening to some of the conversations going on around me, it was becoming obvious that I’m on the pathetically shallow end of the life experience pool, and even then, I kept feeling like I was in need of a floatation device.
I kept my insecurities about all that to myself, though, and tried to just focus on the fact that, granted, it’s still only my first week and it’ll of course take some time, but, I’ll eventually be swimming with the big kids. Please understand me, I’m not about to jump in head first by drinking, doing drugs, and having sex or whatnot just so I can have something more in common with a lot of these kids other than saying we go to the same school. My insecurity or self-doubt isn’t coming from a feeling of peer pressure to be someone I’m not, it’s more that I haven’t had any experiences to be able to know who I even am. However, I’ll admit that I’m afraid of looking ignorant in any way, because in my mind, looking ignorant usually means you are.
Without being obvious about it, I’d been
“They’d go to Pete,” I filled in.
“Right. But regardless, we can’t ask him for help without knowing for sure if he’s already involved or not because if he is, he’ll go straight to Tristan. And another thing, Tristan has a lot of friends and he does a lot for those friends, and although it’d be unlikely, it wouldn’t be inconceivable for him to maybe call in a favor here and there. Which means directly asking Pete or Mike to sit with you at the game is pretty much out and we can’t trust anyone else except Melissa.”
“Well, that’s okay with me…I think I’d rather not have a ton of people getting involved in this anyway and hopefully, I’ll have good news about how to get around sitting alone at the game,” I said with some pride in my voice. I’m kind of liking this whole subterfuge thing. It’s invigorating.
“Oh yeah?” Kate asked, pulling into her parking space in the back lot.
“Yeah. I haven’t talked to him yet, but I left a message for my cousin, Derek, to text or call me about a favor I wanna ask him for. He’s a senior at Valhalla and pretty cute, too. What do you think?”
“Ooh. That’ll totally throw Tristan off! Especially being that he’s already jealous…good idea Camie!”
“That’s what I thought, too, but I can’t take credit for it…it was my twelve year old sister’s idea.” I mean come on. I have to give credit where credit is due.
“You’re kidding?” She asked, halting our progress onto campus to stare at my face in surprise.
“Nope. You’d like her a lot. She’s an evil genius,” I told her, becoming exceptionally proud of my little sister.
“I guess so. Wow. Well, hopefully that whole thing will pan out. Lemme know when you hear back…okay, so we’re gonna have to run to make first period on time…I’ll see you later. If we’re lucky, they will provide more fodder today that we can use in our playbook.” Kate took off with a wave. I love how she called Tristan and Jeff “they”—for some reason that cracks me up.
Sadly, nothing else noteworthy happened that day. Or the next, or the next…
6.
Everyone Has A Skeleton Or Two
Over those first few days, Kate was doing her best to introduce me to her peers and I was doing my best to remember their names and faces, while also trying to ignore the feeling that I don’t belong. Back when I said I filled the requisite teenagers status, I didn’t realize that just because I’m a teen like they are, it doesn’t automatically make me a teen like them. By just watching some of the interactions and listening to some of the conversations going on around me, it was becoming obvious that I’m on the pathetically shallow end of the life experience pool, and even then, I kept feeling like I was in need of a floatation device.
I kept my insecurities about all that to myself, though, and tried to just focus on the fact that, granted, it’s still only my first week and it’ll of course take some time, but, I’ll eventually be swimming with the big kids. Please understand me, I’m not about to jump in head first by drinking, doing drugs, and having sex or whatnot just so I can have something more in common with a lot of these kids other than saying we go to the same school. My insecurity or self-doubt isn’t coming from a feeling of peer pressure to be someone I’m not, it’s more that I haven’t had any experiences to be able to know who I even am. However, I’ll admit that I’m afraid of looking ignorant in any way, because in my mind, looking ignorant usually means you are.
Without being obvious about it, I’d been
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