My Share of Sand (A Calabasas Fable)...Slightly Revised Edition

19-Get Down, Make Love...revised

Monday, September 25

Darius had noted it as unusual that Abby Dugdale sat in an entirely different desk in World History this morning, but didn't ponder exactly what it might mean at first.

You haven't met Abby yet. She's not important to the story. She's a perfectly fine young lady, but her only relevance to the story is that she's usually sitting in the desk across the aisle on the left side of Darius. Instead, this morning, she was over in the front. In fact—wait a second, isn't that Holden's desk? Hmm, maybe she's just catching her breath.

But in a matter of a couple of extra minutes, Templynn took her seat, then shortly after that Holden walked in and sat down where Abby had been all quarter.

Darius looked at him, but he said nothing. Then Colinda arrived, and paused for a second as she noticed the difference and pondered things.

About thirty seconds before the bell rang, Holden began speaking. No "Hey Darius" or anything like that to warm up, just "I asked Abby if she wanted to trade seats with me and Ms. Stranahan said yeah, because of how awkward things are with me and Templynn."

"That makes sense," nodded Darius, unsure of why he was Holden was confiding in him.

"Can we talk some more after class, Darius?"

Darius nodded yes.

After class, the two boys congregated in the hall. Templynn walked past Holden without saying anything or even looking at him. Not moving her head even a millimeter. As soon as she was out of sight, Holden began his pitch to Darius: "Would you be my wingman?"

"Wingman?" asked a puzzled Darius, who genuinely had never heard that slang term before.

"Yeah, Templynn likes you. I mean, you were at her party."

"I was invited," Darius reminded him.

"Right. So she trusts you. And if she sees us hanging out, or you put in a good word for me, that lays the groundwork for us getting back together."

"What's in it for me?" Darius sensibly asked.

"A couple thousand dollars upfront. More as we go along," Holden promised.

"And what do I say when my mom and my grandma notice that I suddenly have a bunch of money?"

"I can buy you clothes then. Or, do you play golf?"

Darius was starting to get frustrated. "They'll notice no matter what."

"Look," Holden pleaded. "We both wanna keep her out of the hands of Jaxon Self, right?"

"True. But I'd be happy if we could just finish our assignment."

"Next Saturday?" Holden asked.

"Nope, that's our first quizbowl tournament."

###

"O, how the mighty have fallen," gloated Colinda, alongside a mocking laugh.

Darius wore a more serious look on his face. "In a way I feel bad for him. A guy like him grows up with everything, and he doesn't know how to respond when he fails because he never knew it was possible to fail." He shrugged as he snapped his seatbelt.

Genefer's birthday is December 13. She likes to point out that she has the same birthday as Taylor Swift and Amy Lee from Evanescence; "Yin and Yang; Light Feminine and Dark Feminine Energy together." But, on a more practical level, it puts her past the cutoff date between grades, making her a 16-year-old sophomore, and a driver's license holder.