Just Try It

Chapter 34 - part A - A Good Start

Wednesday, February 15th 5:45am

Swisher Apartments

Moe knocked quietly on Sondra's door and hoped that she had been planning on practicing this morning. The movie had gone a little late for getting up early to exercise. He wasn't complaining. It wasn't every night that he was able to have Sondra tucked up against his side for hours on end. Even if other parts of the night sucked, that had been a good way to end Valentine's Day.

Moe was getting ready to give up and just go for a run by himself when Sondra slipped out of the door quietly. Moe looked closely. He still spotted the bruise, but it was lighter than the day before. Most people wouldn't even notice it if there was poor lighting or if it was covered by a light coat of makeup.

She was yawning and half asleep again, but she was dressed and ready to go. Before they started off she handed him her MP3 player, and started to jog to the park.

Moe frowned, and protested, "I already played the story twice already."

Sondra just shook her head and yawned before answering, "That was the last one. This is new."

Moe watched Sondra start toward the park, while he pulled on the headphones slowly and pushed play. The musical tones of Sondra's voice began telling him a new story.  After the movie, she must have stayed up to get this ready for him. No wonder she was exhausted. He hadn't even thought about it. He ground his teeth and listened while he jogged after Sondra.

Within a few blocks, Sondra looked more awake, and Moe had become so entranced with the story that he forgot to feel guilty.

This story was about an African America teenager that gained respect by fighting in World War I, and came back a hero. He fell in love with a girl whose family had immigrated from Germany when she was a child, so she still knew how to speak German. He learned German from her, and when he fought in World War II he was able to translate for his allies. When he was injured, he was sent home to recover. On his return, he found out that the girl had been detained with her family, and many others that spoke German. The rest of the story had to do with how the hero worked hard to gain their release against a country that was prejudiced against Germans.

When they got to the tennis courts Moe reluctantly hit pause and said, "Best story yet. Did you want to work on the power for your serves again, or do you want to watch Jamie and Korbin, and see if I can explain how they are getting the spin?"

Sondra considered and said, "I should probably get one thing down at a time. We can work on the spin another day, right?"

"Sounds like a good plan," Moe agreed with a nod.

It sounded like Sondra wasn't anxious to end their morning practices, and Moe couldn't help being relieved. He had been worried that she would back out as soon as she was doing the shots a little better. After all, he knew she didn't like the early morning practices. Moe did a few practice serves, before asking Sondra to do some serves while he watched.

Sondra nodded, and began serving. It was going much better than yesterday, and Moe soon stopped her.

He said, "You have the main idea, and just need practice. I'm going to hit the balls back over to your side, but we are just serving today. Don't try to return the shots today."

Sondra nodded, and smiled as she saw that he pushed play again as he got ready to serve.

After a good practice, they had just enough time to get ready. Sondra was just finishing her putting on a light coat of makeup when she heard a knock. On opening the door, Sondra found Moe, Danica, and Henry all waiting to walk to school with her, and Moe had his project.

When the arrived at school, they split in different directions. Danica and Henry joined friends as they waited for the bell, Moe dropped off his second project in Mr. Hannish's room, and Sondra headed for the office.

At the office door, Sondra took a deep breath before opening it and going in. She pasted on a bright smile before she stopped at Ms. Johnson's desk awkwardly.

Ms. Johnson smiled reassuringly as she handed a couple of envelopes over and said, "I got these done last night." She then whispered, "Are you alright dear? I saw you on the video monitors yesterday."

Sondra nodded and said, "I'm fine, and I'm ready to take this next step."

Ms. Johnson peered at the bruise lightly shadowing Sondra's cheek, and said, "We just don't want it happening again."

Sondra gave Ms. Johnson's hand a pat of reassurance before heading to class.

When she got there, Sondra was happy to see that Moe had saved her a seat. School just seemed brighter and more interesting when he was around. She knew that he was probably just feeling protective, but she couldn't help hoping that it meant something more.

Her hopes increased through the morning when he stuck by her side, even when she had to make extra stops during passing times to get letters from the nurse and other teachers. By the time lunch rolled around, she was constantly smiling.