To Be Wild and Precious

The rest of the school day was pretty bland, to say the least. AP Calculus was brutal, especially since there were some Asians dominating the class – and Beth wasn’t being stereotypical since they really were Asian math nerds who were taking control of everything known to man, deriving things that Beth didn’t even know could be derived in the first place. It was just so painful. Beth didn’t understand anything at all.

Then AP US History was another thing. Beth stunk at history, but at least the teacher was really, really nice. He was really laid back and told them about history rather than lectured them about it.

Intro to Business was, in fact, one of those classes that you really didn’t have to do anything to pass. The teacher gave the class their textbooks and then he sat down and told everyone to read the first couple chapters. Everyone just went on the internet and checked their facebooks and updated their statuses. Beth actually did skim through the first couple of chapters and they were the easiest things she had ever read. At least she had one less course to worry about on her heavy class load.

After school, Beth went to locker to put away the last couple of text books that she’d collected from her teachers in the last few periods of the day. She was just mentally checking what she’d have to bring home, when she heard someone call her name, “Beth, Hey, Bethany!”

She looked up, quite surprised to hear someone knowing her name, much less calling it from down the hallway. Beth saw Avery running down towards her. “Beth, could you help me with the English homework?”

“What English homework?” Beth asked as she shut her locker door.

“You know,” she breathed heavily having just run down the hall. “The thing where we have to interpret that poem she handed us and answer those questions she gave out.”

“Yeah. Sure. You need help interpreting?” Shuffled around in her bag for something. Why ask me, though?”

“Because- well - you seem to know your stuff, Beth. And I’m not that good in English. I should just stick to history.” That made Beth’s ears perk up.

“I’ll tell you what. How about I help you out with English and you help me out with History. I think we both could share a bit of our strengths with each other because, to be honest, I can’t get History and could really use the help, too. So deal?”

Avery smiled. “Yeah, deal? Are you doing anything right now?”

Beth looked at the clock on the wall. “Um…well, I have to get ready for work in a bit but I have about an hour to kill until then, so no. I guess I’m all yours.”

She and Avery worked on the English worksheet for about half an hour while sitting outside on the grass. Beth had her back against a tree bark as Avery was lying on her stomach trying to interpret the last stanza of the poem. Beth closed her eyes and tried to picture where she’d be at this exact moment if Avery did not choose to consider her as a friend. The one image that kept rising to the forefront of her mind was poor, little Bethany curled in a ball beside a garbage counting the minutes until Gavin would come and rescue her.

Five minutes later, Avery was up off her stomach, having given up on the homework, and started talking about bowling, particularly going bowling on Saturday.

“Every year on the first weekend after school starts, Kerrington Eckles throws a huge bowling party. You should come, too.” Avery said.

“Kerrington Eckles. She sounds like a prissy bitch.”

“Um…well, she has her moments when she can be, yes, but she’s also pretty cool. Not like the stereotypical popular kids. See, she’s one of us.” Avery excitedly sat on the back of her legs and was motioning back and forth between Bethany and herself. “She’s pretty smart. She’s even taking, like two AP classes.”

“Really?” Beth asked. She must’ve seen her, she thought. Beth had so many AP’s there’s no way she couldn’t have. “Which ones?”

“Uh,” she thought. “AP Bio and AP Psych.”

“Damn. Bio?”

“Yup. I told you! She’s one of us! That’s why she never looks down on us when we go to her parties. So come with, Bethany. It’s going to be a blast. Trust me.”

Bethany didn’t know how to say no, but she really wanted to. She didn’t want to go in the least bit. Being at a party surrounded with no one that she knew, absolutely no one, that would be ever worse than the first one, she assumed.

She was right about to give the very diplomatic answer of “I’ll think about it,” when her cell phone began to vibrate. She looked at the screen and, sure enough, it was Gavin there to save the day. She told Avery that she had to take the call and then picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hey. I am about to pull into the parking lot. Please tell me that you are ready.” Gavin pleaded.

She smiled and stood up to see if she could spot his gray SUV from where she was standing. “I am ready. I’m outside actually if you so cared to know.”

“Hey, didn’t I tell you that I’d call you when I was outside?”

“You said you’d text me.” She corrected him.

“Did I now?” she heard him smiling through the phone. “Well, regardless, I said I’d let you know, didn’t I? So don’t go blaming it on me if you turn into a lobster. And don’t go asking me to rub aloe on your shoulders if it hurts. You should just suffer.” He said that last word in a different, deeper voice that made Beth laugh, which, in turn, made Gavin chuckle, as well.

Out of the corner of her eye, Beth saw Avery flashing her a super wide grin, as if Avery knew exactly what was going on between Beth and this mystery phone guy.

Beth shook her head at her, trying to tell her that what Avery had going through her mind wasn’t really true. But Avery ignored that gesture and just nodded her mouth open with excitement.

“Now that’s just cruel.” She had a hint of a smile still spread across her lips.

“I know. But what you did was just plain dumb. So it’s rightly deserved.”

She gasped. “Ouch, Gavin. That hurt.”

“Ah, well, my dear, the truth is a mean, mean fellow.”

“Is he now?”

“Yes, he is.” Gavin replied. “So that is why lying is more fun sometimes.”

“That’s terrible.”

“I know! It was just a joke! Ha Ha Ha Ha! Laugh with me, Beth. Ha Ha Ha!”

She couldn’t help herself but radiate with happiness. “Sure, Gavin. I’ll laugh when it’s a good joke.”

“Ouch. Now who’s being cruel? I think you should just walk to work today, Bethany. It’d teach you a good lesson about respecting your elders.”

“Of course, it would. So where exactly are you right now? You said you were pulling into the lot like two minutes ago. How long does it take you to get across a parking lot?”

“Calm down, Beth. I’m trying to find the perfect spot. I’ll be there in a second.” And then the call dropped.

Beth stared at her phone while Avery jumped up and grabbed Beth’s hands, “Oh my gosh! Who was that? You guys sounded so cute on the phone together.”

Bethany considered this one of those embarrassing girl qualities: fussing over guys. Yes, guys are great, and, yes, they are wonderful to fawn over, but Beth thought that it was best to do the fawning in the privacy of one’s own home. That way there’s less of a likelihood of embarrassing yourself in front of others, especially if it turns out that the guy doesn’t like you back.

So Beth just stood there as Avery was going all frantic over the possibility of Beth and this mystery phone guy getting together. Actually Avery thought that they pretty much were one step away from being together. She said that Bethany and this guy, Gavin, of course, seemed like they were just comfortable with each other, which is rare. Beth then rebutted saying that that’s because they were friends and nothing more. But Avery hit home when she asked, “But you want him to be more, don’t you?”

Beth couldn’t deny the fact that she wished that Gavin was her boyfriend, her other half, the marshmallows to her hot chocolate. But she knew it wouldn’t ever happen; Gavin was too nice and too cool and too intelligent to actually look at Beth and think, “Wow, this is the girl I was to call mine. No one else could have her because she is mine and mine alone.” He’s too everything for that. Just too everything for her.

She didn’t admit that to Avery, but she didn’t get the chance to because at that moment Gavin’s SUV pulled up by the curb near the front lawn. She was pretty surprised. She didn’t think that “a better spot” had meant one right in front of her.

Beth trudged down the slight hill of the lawn to the curb and approached the lowered passenger side window. She leaned in and asked, “How did you know where I was? Don’t tell me you bugged my phone.” She raised an eyebrow at him and smiled a bit.

He let an awkward laugh escape from his chest. “Um…actually. I just assumed that this was where you meant when you said you were outside. It’s where I came a lot. It’s nice, isn’t it?” he asked looking up at the scattered and scarce trees.

“Yeah, they are.” There was a moment of understanding between the two of them as the silence hung in the air. They both grasped the beauty in the moment and shared it. For that one moment, they were able to share that wonder. Beth broke the silence. “Oh, um, I have to tell my friend bye, and I’ll be right back. Promise.”

“Okay. I’ll wait right here.” He sat back in his seat. And Beth went back to where Avery was with her book bag.

Avery bent down and tried to look into the car. “I can’t tell if he’s hot or not.”

Beth held her by the shoulders. “Stop, Avery. I’ve got to go. Gavin and I are just friends. Stop trying to make it a bigger deal than it really is.”

“Oh, trust me, Beth. I’m not making it a big deal, it is a big deal.”