Duality

Chapter 9- A Scholarly Walk

"No- dude, Kermit could kick Elmo's butt any time."

"Well, Miss Piggy for sure," I insisted. "But the frog? No way. Elmo's a ginger. A monster ginger. Voiced by a guy with a bouncer stature. He could take Kermit, no doubt. Besides, have you ever seen Elmo when he's mad?"

"A fluffy monster! Who lives in Crayon-Zone!" Blythe argued.

"Crayon-Zone?"

"Yeah. You remember that show Chalk-Zone? Same thing, only, you know, with crayons." She shrugged.

"It's called Elmo's World."       

She punched my arm. "It's called you know too much about children's puppet shows."

We were walking down the hallway to the band room where Blythe had left her music for her trombone. "I have a little cousin!" I defended. "She's very-"

 We rounded the corner and stopped abruptly. Shannon Meyer, one of Delilah's cronie's, stood cowering in front of Mr. Chambers, who was scolding her viciously. They didn't notice us.

"This is the third D in a row you've gotten on a major test in my class!" he yelled. "Not to mention that you still haven't paid your thirty dollar lab and field trip fee that was due at the beginning of the quarter! Miss Meyer, if you don't step it up and turn in your fee by the end of tomorrow, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to fail you and remove you from the course."

Shannon's eyes grew wide, panic-stricken. "But Mr. Chambers! No, no, no, I'm sorry! That can't happen! I won't have enough credits to qualify for the Josten's Scholarship if I don't complete your class! My- my parents... We're... We're a little tight on money, and they haven't exactly been getting along very well lately, and-"

Blythe and I glanced at each other.

"I'm sorry, Shannon," Mr. Chambers said somberly. "But that's just the way the policy works." He walked in the opposite direction, leaving the usually prim and proper cheerleader on the verge of tears, hyperventilating, practically falling apart. I looked at Blythe and we quietly jogged to meet her.

I put my hand on Shannon Meyer's shoulder. She had always been one of the nicer of Delilah's friends. Never looked at me with loathing for choosing her friend instead of her, or tried to trap me in a question about Delilah that had no right answer. She just made eye contact and smiled. Told me I was good for her best friend, that maybe I would rub off on her.

Her tears had just started to pour over, and the corners of her mouth were pulled down. Shannon looked up, embarrassed.

"Sorry, guys," she whispered. "Things are just... really- really hard right now..." She took four large, quick breaths. "If- if I don't get that scholarship, I- I can't afford to go to any college but a community-" another large inhale, "-college. And I know I can- can do better! But my parents, they've been fighting, and they're- they're just so-"

Blythe quickly turned around and yelled, "Mr. Chambers!"

She sprinted down the hall to catch up to him, far enough to be out of ear shot. We watched as she threw her backpack on the ground and dug out her wallet. She pulled a few bills and handed them to the professor, earnestly telling him something. He looked at the cash and bobbed his head, causing Blythe to break out in a huge grin.

She grabbed her bag and ran back down the hall to us. "Don't worry, Shannon," Blythe said, holding her gaze. "You're going to do great. And hey, listen; I know what unit you're doing now pretty well. I can help you out whenever you want; you just say the word, okay? Chambers' tests will be a breeze next time around, I promise."

Shannon smiled a watery smile and threw her arms around Blythe, shoulders shaking with laughter this time, the hyperventilating not completely through yet. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Blythe. I owe you.  I really, really do." 

"Don't worry," Blythe said, smiling at me. "Just... be happy."

~~~