Sometimes, she reads my mind.
◊◊◊ Friday February 10
I’d gotten some help with my ‘walk’ into school this morning. I’d bribed Marshal and Curtis, who’d been in my photography class last semester, to video my entrance for Chubby Feldman. Some of the theater and dance kids were assisting me as well.
I had Paul pull up in front of the school and wait. Cassidy had caught a ride with me. These days, she came over each morning, and Dad was teaching her to cook.
My personal belief was that she just didn’t want to eat cold cereal at her house. I figured it only a matter of time before Coach Hope would be joining us for breakfast, too. He already ate dinner at our place about three times a week as it was.
“Why aren’t we getting out?” Cassidy asked.
I tried to suppress my grin.
“I have a new walk to try out. Just wait for it,” I told her mysteriously.
That was when I heard the drumbeat start. I made my exit from the car, spread my feet, dropped my head, and began to let my hips twitch to the beat.
‘Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.’
The electric guitar began the opening for the old rock song
I’d talked to everyone and was surprised when one of the guys suggested this song. When he mentioned it, someone had pulled it up on the Internet and played it. I’d been looking for something with a driving beat that I could walk to.
My head came up, and I looked around. I pointed at a girl and gave her the come-hither sign with the crook of my finger. She was with a group of girls, and she looked around as if to say, ‘Who, me?’ I nodded to the beat as she hurried over.
I lifted my other arm and repeated the process. Cassidy remained behind me, snickering at my antics.
Word must have gotten out. Almost everyone from the school was either at the entryway waiting to see my entrance or in classrooms looking out the windows at my helpers and me. They’d cleared the center area to give me space to do my thing.
We’d timed it so the second girl would be at my side when they began to sing the lyrics.
The girls each grabbed an arm, and we strutted in time to the music to the center of the area that had been cleared for us. Marshal and Curtis had set up two cameras on tripods, one facing us head-on and the other to the side. Marshal also had a handheld. Between the three angles, we figured we would edit it into a good scene.
Once we were all in place, people from the crowd joined us, and we began a choreographed dance. We only had a few moves planned because we didn’t have much time to prepare. We’d worked in a few of the iconic James Bond poses so I could do my whole Ian Bond shtick. When our routine ended, I suggested we just freestyle until the end of the song.
I spotted Destiny Crown with her arms crossed, looking like a sourpuss. I danced up to her and gave her my best smile.
“Come on, dance with me. You know you want to,” I prodded.
She rolled her eyes but soon joined me. Apparently, the rest of the student body took that as a signal to join in. When the song ended, everyone clapped, surprising me. Even Destiny had a smile on her face.
“You really are a ‘stupid boy,’” Destiny told me. “I might have to transfer if you turn this place into the set of
That made me cringe. When I was a kid, Disney had put out a musical about high school kids who would break out in dance or song. Tami had made me go with her to the theater to watch it as payback for making her sit through some terrible monster movie.
I didn’t complain because the monster film really was awful. I think sometimes Tami just wanted to remind me she was a girl, even though she usually liked action movies.
Anyway, to get back on track, Disney had made several more of the movies. Many had been released straight to TV because, let’s be honest, who would pay to go see that? I only hoped that when our video was done, it would be better than that.
The bell rang, so I had to hurry to get to class.
◊◊◊
After Joey had almost made me throw up from going too hard today, she caught my attention before I left to shower.
“You got a minute?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, and she led me into her little office in the training room. I knew something must be up when she closed the door.
“About the other night …” she began.
“When you came over for dinner?”
“Yes,” she said, and then took a deep breath. “You seemed to act like it was more than it was. I want to make sure you understand that we can’t be more than friends.”
“Because you’re working at the school,” I said.
“Well, that, and you’re too young,” she said.
I must have made a face because she hurried on.
“David, it has nothing to do with you. Normally, you would be the type of guy I would go for, but we are in two different places in our lives.”
“So, it’s you and not me,” I said as I shook my head.
“Exactly.”
I chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
