Pick-me-up (18 page)

Brianna finally pushed her way out of the
car.  Before she shut the door, she leaned in.  “You’re
just jealous ‘cause I can get more guys than you.”  Brianna
slammed the door and turned around to flip her off.  Katelyn
ignored her and turned the corner to go to the high school down the
block.  

Katelyn ran as best she could into the
school.  Her hips didn’t agree with running and she was
slightly self conscious about the rise and fall of her plumper
parts.  She skipped her locker and came up to her first class
as the tardy bell rang.

“Shit,” she muttered, but slid in through the
door to try a stealth entry.  No go.  Mr. Montgomery
didn’t even turn around.

“Katelyn, assignment in the basket or go get
a tardy.”

Katelyn smiled.  She flipped open her
bag and pulled out her notebook.  She turned to the page with
last night’s problems, ripped it out, and dropped it in the basket.
 They wouldn’t be all correct, she knew, but she just had to
pass.  Montgomery taught the easy algebra class and he had a
deal for his first period students.  She wasn’t the only one
who had a problem with being late.  As long as the homework
came in, he wouldn’t count a tardy within the first few minutes.
 

Math went by.  Next, modular technology
never seemed to be long enough for her to get bored being on the
computer. Then, there was science, the doomed class.  Luckily,
she was seated next to Kristi McGuire, a girl she worked with at
Scoop’s in the summer.

“I always thought you tried to get in
trouble, ya know, like you were some kind of rebel,” Kristi McGuire
said to her on break one afternoon before the dinner rush.
 “But, I think you’re kind of misunderstood.”

Kristi wasn’t exactly a friend.  She was
one of those girls who didn’t swear, went to church with her
parents, and probably never had a beer, let alone went to a party.
 But, Kristi was nice to Katelyn and she took great notes.
 Any time Kristi wrote something down, Katelyn would make her
own notes.  After the first few weeks, Katelyn found she
didn’t need to wait for Kristi to write notes before she wrote her
own.  She didn’t understand it all, but the open-note tests
didn’t come back with an F on them any more.  

“Hey, Katelyn,” Kristi said as she sat down
at the table next to her.

“Hey,” Katelyn replied.  

“Wow, you look tired.  You okay?”
 Kristi was the type to actual notice other people’s well
being.

Katelyn tried to perk up, “I’m okay, just
tired.”  She wondered how Kristi would react if she told her
she’d been driving her paroled father to his drug therapy all
morning.  Katelyn decided against confiding in her.  In
fact, she was surprised Kristi hadn’t said anything about her dad.
 Everyone else knew about him.

Katelyn noticed Kristi’s hair was different,
shorter, more cropped.  She didn’t know how long it had been
like that, but decided to still comment.  “I like your hair
cut.”

“Thanks,” Kristi said and for the slightest
moment she thought she saw Kristi look to her hair before she
looked away.  The black dye job had faded and Katelyn hadn’t
had a cut in months.  Money was tight again now that she
wasn’t working and her dad’s income was gone.  Her mom usually
hated to have Katelyn get her hair cut.  “Your hair is so
pretty long,” she’d claim.  But maybe since she hated the dye
job, her mom might pay for a cheap Great Clips cut.  

The science teacher was apparently done with
the conversation he was having with another teacher in the hallway
and walked in sipping his customary cup of coffee.  

“You all look so comfortable, but up out of
your seats.  New unit, new partners.”

A collective groan went up except for one
sarcastic “YES!” screamed by none other than Tommy Turner, who had
front row seat assignment.  He got up with a jump and almost
skipped to the back of the room.  He high-fived another
wrestler like he had just made a takedown.

Katelyn looked at Kristi with a sad look.
 

Kristi shrugged and they joined the rest of
the students in awkward silence waiting for their new seating
assignment.  All had their own thoughts—either hopes or
worries.  Katelyn’s was more of a panic.  She didn’t want
to lose Kristi.  She didn’t have much time to worry about her
next partner since her name came up first.  

“Katelyn Wells,” the teacher said as he
pointed to the corner front row seat.  She made her way toward
her new table as he called the next seat.  “Tommy Turner.”
 A few laughs came at the placement, some directed at his
misfortune at being back in the front row, and some likely at him
being paired with her.  

“Aw, man,” Tommy protested and slumped back
to the front row.  Katelyn moved over as far as she could so
he wouldn’t be near her.  Tommy sat down with a plop and
didn’t acknowledge her.  Instead, he turned and watched
everyone else get seated.  

After the teacher went back to the front of
the room and wrote more notes, Katelyn turned to look at Tommy.
 He looked her way for a moment and snorted before he sprawled
his elbow between them and laid his head on his arm.  

Katelyn looked back to see Kristi paired with
another church girl.  They were already chatting away, showing
each other the contents of their pencil bags.  

Katelyn sighed and sank into her seat.
 She took out her own paper and started on notes, but her mind
quickly lost interest.  Her mind went to thoughts of Tim like
it often did.

Katelyn wondered if all the things her dad
had said that morning about meth and addiction was how Tim felt.
 Maybe, Katelyn convinced herself, maybe Tim just needs
someone to believe in him, too.

Science was finally over and Katelyn made her
way to lunch.  Just outside the cafeteria, Gorman stood guard
and grabbed a few students who had Study Café duty.  At least
Katelyn hadn’t suffered that humiliation yet this school year.
 As she passed Murray, he directed his monkey grin toward her.
 

“Miss Wells,” he greeted.

“Mr. Gorman,” she mocked his tone and passed
him.  Katelyn made her way to the back table where she usually
sat and was grateful to see JT and his gang already there.  JT
was a friend of her cousin who lived in a nearby town.  JT was
practically a cousin himself.  

Katelyn sat a few seats away.  “Hey,”
she said and opened up her notebook to her math homework.

“Hey, Katelyn,” JT greeted her and then went
back to talking about his kills in an online game with the other
boys at the table.  JT and his friends didn’t usually include
her in their conversations unless they needed an outside opinion.
 But they didn’t mind her sitting with them.  Emily had
the same lunch this semester, but she sat with Maci and other girls
who Katelyn couldn’t stand.   Plus, sitting with the boys
turned out to help her grades.  Katelyn had started off
occupying herself by pretending to do homework.  That way, she
didn’t have to meet the eyes of other people who might have noticed
her sitting alone.  Sometimes her math homework was done by
the end of lunch.  

Today Katelyn was too tired to focus on the
algebra assignment.  She was hungry, but didn’t have any money
for lunch.  She doubted her mom put any into her lunch
account.  She’d eat when she went home.  She just had to
make it through English.  She looked in her bag for a piece of
gum, but couldn’t find one.  

Katelyn checked her phone in the front
pocket.  No messages.  Katelyn ran through her past
messages.  There wasn’t many to sort through in the past month
besides stuff from her mom, Jenny, and a few from kids at school.
 She found Tim’s messages from after the Des Moines disaster,
after she broke up with him.  The messages bounced between
“Luv u” and “I’m so sorry” to hurtful lines: “I never loved u” and
“betraying bitch,”

“Leave me alone” she had responded and, when
Tim sent “U r worthless”, she couldn’t resist.  “That makes 2
of us” she bit back.  She thought about getting a new phone or
showing her mom the messages, but she didn’t want interference.
 Katelyn didn’t want to give her mom a reason to get
overprotective or keep her in lock down.  

Katelyn did call Tim after she received one
text where he threatened to kill himself.  He didn’t actually
say he’d kill himself, just that life wasn’t worth living without
her.   The conversation was pretty much the same as the
texts.  He said how sorry he was and he didn’t mean to leave
her alone that night.  It was just the drugs that made him act
that way.  He had never shot ice before, just snorted or
smoked it.  He’d never do it again.  “You’re the only
girl I ever loved,” he pleaded.  “You’re the only one who
understands me.”  

Without intending to, Katelyn sighed loudly,
and JT and his friends stopped for a moment to look at her.
 Katelyn blushed and tucked her phone back into her bag.
 

Her moments now felt empty.  Katelyn
couldn’t get through a day without thinking about Tim.  While
making dinner, she’d remember their food fight while making
spaghetti—noodles all over each other, the walls, the floor.
 Or, in her room, a song would play that he used to sing to
her while he strummed her leg like a guitar.  Watching any
movie with a romantic scene was out of the question.  They
only made her remember how she felt when Tim kissed her.  

It’s just the drug.  Without it, he is
Tim.  I still love him.  Katelyn’s thoughts were briefly
interrupted as JT’s voice rose above the others in argument.

“Man, you just have to give it a second
chance,” JT said.  “It totally blows Grand Theft off the
radar.  You don’t know what you’re missing.”  He ended
his plea for his new game and got up to clear his lunch tray.
 

Katelyn went back to studying her phone.
 She knew too clearly what she was missing.  She hit new
message and auto complete finished filling in Tim’s number.
 “How r u?”  She hovered over the send button.
 Second chances sometimes work out.  Katelyn took the
chance.  “Message sent” flashed and also disappeared.
 

Katelyn chewed on her thumb.  Her knee
began to tap.  She looked around at the students in the
cafeteria.  They were all busy talking to each other.
 The food was gone, mouths were empty, and people yelled to
get heard over the rest of the talking.  The lunch supervisors
had started blocking the halls to prevent kids from breaking out
before the bell.

Katelyn’s pocket vibrated under her hand.
 She lifted the phone out and held her breath.

“Better now.  I miss u.”

“Me too.  R u clean?”

Within seconds she saw what she knew he’d
reply.  “Yep.”

Chapter 18:
Seconds

“Wesley said to get my paycheck from you,” Katelyn said to her new
boss’s back as she sat over a schedule in the cramped back office.
 The woman turned and eyed Katelyn, but then completed her
writing.  After a moment, her boss selected a key off the ring
bundle hooked to the belt loop of her black polyester pants.
 She unlocked and opened a drawer to her right and took out a
stack of envelopes.  When she found Katelyn’s she slipped it
from the pile and locked the remaining envelopes back in the
drawer.

Her boss turned to study Katelyn.  “So,
the first paycheck, right?”

Katelyn nodded.  

“You seem to be catching on fine.  Do
you have any questions?”

“No.”  Katelyn shifted her weight to the
other foot.  “Well, maybe one.”

“What’s that?” the night manager asked in a
kinder tone.   

“How long, I mean, when can I move to the
counter or maybe, ya know, cook or something?”

The manager smiled.  “Everybody does
their time as host or hostess.”

The contradiction between the job title and
duties made Katelyn shake her head.  She wasn’t greeting
customers.  She was their cleaning lady.  She had to wipe
tables, take out a gazillion bags of the most disgusting smelling
garbage in the world, and mop, re-mop, and mop the floor again.
 

Katelyn stayed quiet and looked at her
feet.

“We’ll try you on line prep next Saturday,”
the manager finally said.  “I’ve got you scheduled four nights
this week.  I’ll put you in the kitchen if you can commit to
the breakfast/lunch shift this Saturday and Sunday.”

Katelyn mentally ran through her schedule.
 School was out for winter break beginning Monday.
 Christmas was Tuesday.  Tim was talking about going to a
band in Ames, but she couldn’t remember if it was Friday or
Saturday.  Either way, she’d have to get up at 5 if she was
taking the 6 a.m. shift.  She was tempted to say she couldn’t
work one of the days, but she needed the money.  The paycheck
waved in the manager’s hand.  

“Okay.”

“Alright,” the manager made the note on the
schedule.  “Tuesday night I’ll have Aaron train you on the
back counter.”

Katelyn’s jaw dropped.  “On
Christmas?”

“We’re open.  It won’t be busy, though.
 Mostly highway customers.”  The manager softened a bit,
“It’s only a four hour shift.”

Katelyn missed the summer job at the ice
cream store.  They opened at lunch and closed by 9 p.m.
 While there weren’t many holidays in summer, the owners were
family people and closed the store.  

“Oh, we’re giving a $2.00 per hour holiday
bonus, too.”  The manager seemed to think this was enough to
compensate for working on Christmas.  Eight dollars extra for
the shift.  Katelyn did the math, barely a third of a tank of
gas.

Katelyn shifted again.  “Can I have my
check?  I gotta go.”  

The manager started to hand her the check but
pulled it back.  

“One thing, Katelyn.  Your boyfriend out
there,” she motioned to the restaurant floor with her head, “he
needs to wait elsewhere from now on.  He’s bothering the
customers.”

Katelyn dropped her eyes again.  “Okay.
 I’ll tell him.”  She took the envelope then and clocked
out on her way out the kitchen door.  She had the apron and
visor off before she made it to the lobby.