Alyse Bauer hadn't talked to me since two months into the start of sophomore year. Now it was April of 1998 when she finally approached me. She wore a modest blue tank-top with a matching knee-length skirt. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that reached just below her neckline. She wore a smile that was—welcoming. We were in a few classes senior year—Calculus, Psychology, and English Lit, so I supposed this meeting was about the play, The Crucible, that we were reading in English. I held back the comment that I was going to make comparing Alyse to Abigail Williams, and tried to talk civilly with her, always wary for a hint of flirting in her voice.
“Hey, Colin!” she greets me, waving her hand at me. She can't sound anymore flirtatious, but I am curious as to the nature of her visit.
“Hello, Alyse.” The words are uttered with no inflection or emotion whatsoever. I make it obvious that I am not exactly interested in flirting with her.
“How have you been? It's been like...”
“Sophomore year,” I interrupt.
“Yeah! Sophomore year! Golly, that was a long time ago!”
“Sure was.”
“So, how've you been?”
I cannot avoid a conversation now. She stares at me with piercing, blue eyes, that are devilishly curious. I shift the books on my hip. “I've been fine. Frisbee has been great, and school is fine as well.” I hate talking about myself; it seems so awkward. So, I switch the conversation to talking about Alyse. She can talk about herself all day. “I hear you're going to be the valedictorian this year?” I ask.
Alyse blushes, and twirls side-to-side like an embarrassed middle school girl, hiding her face by looking at the ground. “That's what I hear. I mean, I do deserve it. I work so hard in school!”
Inside my head, I roll my eyes. “How many AP classes are you taking this year?” I ask her, taunting her to show off.
Alyse rolls her eyes. “Oh, just a few. I'm taking AP chemistry, biology, geography, English—of course you knew that already—Spanish, calculus—hehe, you knew that too!—and psychology. Man, I didn't know we were in so many classes together!” Whatever Alyse was trying to accomplish was not being accomplished. The more she talked, the more unattractive she was. “How come we never talk?”
Did she really want me to answer that?
“Never mind, you don't have to answer that!” she giggles, “But, hey, I've got to ask you a question.”
I shift my books again, glancing at the clock, and moving away from Alyse and towards my next class. She notices.
“Oh, never mind. It can wait! Goodbye, Colin! Talk to you later!”
I don't take the time to say goodbye, and I certainly don't reply to her invitation to talk another time!
Throughout the next few weeks, Alyse and I don't talk. Instead, Alyse gives me flirtatious glances and dreamy looks throughout class. Even when I don't see her, my friends tell me she still makes them behind my back. One day at lunch, I feel that things have gone to far and need to have a discussion with my friends about it.
“Guys, Alyse has been acting really, and I mean really strange around me. It's kinda freaking me out. I stare at every single one of them: Christian, his girlfriend Chrissa, Chad, Elliott, the newest member of Goodland's Ultimate team, Cody, and his girlfriend Tiffany. I finally turn to Jenna, who is sitting on my left. “What do I do?” I ask.
“Well,” Cody pipes up, “it's not like you're gonna start dating her! I mean, you're happy with Jenna, right?”
Jenna smiles. “He better be.”
YOU ARE READING
Kansas Summer
SpiritualEveryone wants a perfect love story, although we find that it's impossible at times. Colin King and Jenna Jackson believe they have written the best one of all. However, their faith in their relationship is sheltered by the small Kansas town they...
