Ascension (The Ascension Series) (3 page)

“Richer than Charles’s dad?” Clark asked.

“You heard right,” Donny said arrogantly.

“I read that Charles’s dad is worth half a billion. I think it was in Forbes. Something like that.”

“Sounds about right,” Donny nodded.

Chloe Li, a beautiful young Chinese girl with fair skin and a single pink highlight in her otherwise jet black hair, skipped over to Donny the Geek. Wearing a pink dress emblazoned with flames, she waved and said hi to Clark and Andrew and they waved back. Chloe Li bent over so close to Donny that he could smell her perfume without trying. Her lavender scent was enough to make his entire body tingle. Clark wanted to make him snap out of whatever trance he was in but Clark couldn’t do it without drawing attention to the drool pouring from Donny’s mouth. So, despite being close enough to kiss, Chloe had to call Donny’s name several times before he zoned back into reality.

“Yeah, sorry,” Donny said, shaking his head
and wiping his mouth.

“I just wanted to remind you that the Franklin Pierce math team is having tryouts this semester,” Chloe Li told Donny. “I know you were on the team last year but the new rules state that everyone must re-apply. As captain of the team, I’m the only exception.”

“Yeah, I definitely will,” Donny assured her. “Especially if you’re still captain.”

“Great, you’re always a terrific teammate, Donny,” Chloe smiled. She straightened her posture, evened out her shirt, and returned to her computer station on the other side of the room.

“Dude, you can’t just black out like that when a girl gets close,” Clark told Donny.

“I know! That
never happens with any other girl. Just her. It only happens with Chloe,” Donny confessed.

“Wow,” Clark exclaimed.

“I know. In fact, I’m usually not even afraid to talk to girls. I’ve asked tons of girls outs,” Donny said.

“Really?” Clark asked.

“Yeah,” Donny told him, “They’ve all said ‘no’ but I’ve still asked them all.”

“You’v
e asked Chloe out?” Clark’s tone grew suspicious.

“No, I can’t! She’s the one girl I can’t ask out. I’m too scared.”

“Dude, no! You’ve gotta try. I think she likes you,” Clark told him.

“No! What if she says no? I just can’t do it,” Donny bemoaned.

“What’s that famous Gretzky quote?─ ‘You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.’”

“I know, I know,” Donny scoffed.

“Dude, my girlfriend, Sarah, is a cheerleader. And she’s this close to being head cheerleader. And she’s like the hottest and most athletic girl at this school. And I’m dating her because I asked her out, totally on a whim, five months ago.”

Donny sighed. “But I…”

“Dude,” Clark interrupted. “If you can learn, in great detail, the nebular theory of cloud formation, you can learn how to ask out the one girl you're really into.”

“Thanks, Clark,” Donny smiled genuinely, “
I guess you really are Superman.”

Two and a half hours later, Clark was sitting in the lunchroom of Franklin Pierce High. All but one of the lunchroom walls c
ontained a mural of their Panther mascot. The one wall that did not, instead, contained rows of colossal windows that lit the entire lunchroom. Clark was sitting at a small table across from his girlfriend, Sarah. She was using her feet to playfully kick him underneath the table. This drew an even larger smile to Clark’s face as he ate whatever food was on his lunch tray. Had he been tested at that very moment to identify the main course of his meal, he would have failed. Tenderly staring into Sarah’s eyes was his only desire. Ode to be young.

They made small talk; how their day was going, who they met on their first day back to school, and what they’d be doing when they got home.

“I spoke to Donny earlier today,” Clark told his girlfriend. “You know, he’s really into Chloe.”

“Chloe Li?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah,” Clark said, “I told him you gotta really go after what you want. That’s how I did it.”

This time it was Sarah’s grin that grew. “What did you want?”

“You,” he said longingly. “Just you. And speaking of you, are you going to come over to my place after school?”

“Sorry,” she said disappointingly. “I can’t. I have
cheerleader fittings after school and then I promised my mom I’d help out at her fitness center.”

“Doing what?” Clark asked.

“Yoga.”

“You know Yoga, and you haven’t taught me?”

Sarah laughed. “I’ll make sure that’s the next thing we do together.”

Suddenly, they were interrupted by Daniel LaRent, a large
dark haired senior with a muscular build. He slapped Clark on the back and waved to Sarah.

“Hey Clark, what’s up Sarah?” Daniel LaRent said.

“Big Dan, nice to see you,” Clark waved.

“I just heard you’re the junior who’s hosting the first party of the
year. Tell me it’s true,” Big Dan said.

“Yeah, it’s true,” Clark assured him. “But I still don’t ha
ve the exact location, so don’t ask. I’ll be able to tell you tomorrow.”

“Awesome, dude,” Big Dan
told him. “Can’t wait! Have you told Andrew Lockman yet? Y’know, dude with the rosary.”

“Yeah, I know. And yeah, I told him. He’s in,” Clark said.

“It’s not a party without Andrew,” Big Dan jeered as he shot a finger pistol and walked away.

When Big Dan was gone
, Sarah returned her gaze to her boyfriend and informed Clark that her parents wanted him to come over for dinner on Tuesday evening.

“Sounds great,” Clark said.

Although Clark agreed quite readily to meet Sarah’s parents, he was beginning to question their motivations by his next class block. He was in P.E. and although it was the first day of class which generally meant no real work, their coach, Mr. Smith, was a hard hitter who told all of the students to scurry into the locker-room and find themselves a shirt and pair of gym shorts. In the boy’s locker-room, they discovered boxes of new gym outfits and combinations for their assigned lockers. Clark was joined by Charles and John before class started and, along with everyone else, began to undress and find a gym outfit that felt comfortable.

“Too small, too small, too small,” Charles said as he threw a group of blue gym shorts over to John. “Johnny, my man, these should fit you.”

John took his Wile E. Coyote shirt off. His long blonde hair was ruffled even further when he pulled the shirt over his head. And without a shirt, his pale body appeared even scrawnier.

“Yeah, a small should fit me,” John said.

“Damn, you look even skinnier than before, man,” Charles told him. “You gotta eat more.”

“Uh huh,” John nodded.

“I’m gonna take you out for burgers and fries. You look like you could use an extra-large milkshake too.”

“Today
?” John asked.

“No, I actually got a date with a 20 year old hottie tonight. She works at the coffeehouse,” Charles bragged.

“Sounds nice,” John said drolly.

“But me and you will be on for later this week. You can come with
me while I’m pickin’ up the booze for Clark’s party.”

“Don’t bring anything but the best,” Clark interrupted.

“You know it, man, you know it,” Charles assured him.

Charles took off his flashy watch and placed it in his assigned locker. From his backpack, he pulled out a second pair of sneakers.

“I don’t wonna scuffle up my high tops so I brought the low tops along,” he told John and Clark.

They each placed on the appropriately sized gym shorts and matching shirts and made their way into the gymnasium. One section of the bleachers was pulled out adjacent to one of the basketball goals and C
oach Smith made every student perform warm up laps before allowing them to choose between indoor badminton and outdoor volleyball.

“Don’t think you’re going to get a nice cozy choice every time you step into this gymnasium,” Coach Smith said, “This is just a taste of first day freedom. Now go on and play ball.”

Clark, Charles, and John all chose to stay indoors and play badminton at a small net. It was John on one side playing against Clark and Charles on the other. They played pretty nonchalant and spent most of the time chatting whenever Coach Smith wasn’t watching.

“So what’s this stuff about you going to meet yo
ur girl’s parents,” Charles asked after Clark mentioned it.

“I t
hink they’ve noticed that Sarah and I are spending more time together.”

“So what’s their plan?” Charles asked, “To interrogate you at the precinct?”

“No,” Clark said, “I met them once before and they were alright. It was just briefly though.”

Charles threw the birdie ball into the air and chucked it with his racquet. It slowly glided over the net and John hit it back. Clark’s racquet connected with the birdie but when John attempted to hit it a second time, he missed.

“So what’s her parents like?” Charles asked Clark.

“Sarah’s dad works at a bank and her mom runs some fitness center.”

“Sounds good,” Charles said. “Just don’t ever date a girl whose dad is a cop or a brick layer. They’ll try an’ shoot you or lay you out with a cement block once they find out you’re banging their daughter.”

“You know this from experience?” John asked, his arms pressed against the badminton net.

“Absolutely,” Charles said. “But Clark, it sounds like her parents will be easy to deal with. Just a rule of thumb, if they ask you anything about sex, you say ‘what’s that?’”

Clark and John both laughed.

This was the sort of laid-back and chilled day that Clark enjoyed. The remainder of his day in school was more of the same; introductions to new teachers and chatting with friends. He saw Sarah once again shortly after the final school bell rang. Students were rushing off campus and staggering down the halls when Sarah wrapped her arms around Clark’s neck. She kissed him for a prolonged moment against his locker before running off to cheerleader fittings.

Several hours later, Clark was at home around dawn.
He was in the kitchen with his mother. A lasagna casserole was prepared for dinner. It was fresh out of the oven when she laid it on the dinner table. Clark swept into the dining room and plopped into a seat.

“I’m starving,” he
said.

“You know the rules. No eating until your father gets here,” his mother
told him.

“Well where’s he at? Dad’s us
ually here by now. He’s an hour late.”

“Yes, he’s running late. I was getting ready to call him when I noticed his phone in the bedroom. He always forgets to put minutes on that
damn thing no matter how much I remind him.”

“You know he’s old school, mom.”

“That, and he’s damn well cheap.”

“Well at l
east you should eat,” Clark told her. “I’m sure our new family member is hungry.”

Clark’s mother placed a
hand over her protruding stomach as if she were communicating with her unborn child.

“Only two more months,” she said
as a car revved outside. “I think that’s your dad now.”

Clark heard the sound of his dad’s truck pulling into the driveway of their house.
Seconds later his father opened the front door and walked into the house. His jeans and boots were covered in dirt.

“Frank,” Clark’s
mom said to his father, “Why are you so messy? You’re a machine operator, not a lumberjack.”

“Sorry, Angela,” he said. “I went out over the tracks to pick up some lumber right after work. There’s some really good stuff out there. I got it in my truck.”

“Alright, alright,” she said to him. “Well go change those jeans and get back here so we can eat.”

“Dad?” Clark asked him, “Did you say you were out over the tracks?”

“Yeah,” his dad said, “Not far from the, er, barn. A mile or so away from the old Cincinnati train station. There’s good lumber out there.”

“Over the tracks? That’s perfect!” Clark exclaimed.

“What’s perfect?”

Clark
was tight lipped. “It’s where I can do some photography,” he lied.

“Photography?” his dad asked, “Who are you? Peter Parker?”

Clark laughed but his father looked at him sternly.

“I’m sure you can find a better place,” his dad said. “I mean, this is a beautiful city. If you want to photograph something go down to Fountain Square
. It’s nice and hip down there. There’s nothing over the tracks but a raggedy old unused barn and a dilapidated train station that hasn’t been in use for God knows how many years.”

“Actually, the old train station only shut down a year
and a half ago,” Clark’s mom corrected his dad.

“Oh yeah,” his dad said, “You’re right. My mind’s a little worn out. But that’s not the point. You don’t need to go to that old area for anything other than good lumber.”