Playing by Ear (Country Roads #1) - Chapter 4

Mom was stuck working late, as seemed to happen a lot, which meant my  normal night of feeding myself, reading, playing a little guitar, and  getting to bed. The only new thing in this schedule was homework. I  struggled somewhat with my math, still unsure of how to work all of the  problems. Most kids my age would have, at some point, retreated to the  internet to look up the answers. Unfortunately for me, while we had a  computer, albeit a very old one, we didn’t have the internet.

The  library was an option, but it was also on the opposite side of main  street, which was itself a mile or so away unless I cut cross country.  Since I didn’t know the area beyond our neighborhood very well, that  wasn’t an option either, not that it mattered. By the time I got home  from the Blue Ridge, it was late enough that the library would have been  closed by the time I walked there, no matter what path I took.

That  left me struggling through on my own, which was a problem. I did the  best I could and attempted to answer everything, but I was nearly  positive many of the answers were wrong.

Eventually, I just gave up and went to bed.

The  next morning, at least, went better. I set my alarm clock for a little  earlier and made it to Hanna’s before she got out of her house. She gave  me a smirk when she saw me leaning on her bumper, acknowledging my  effort to not hold her up again, but otherwise didn’t comment. We didn’t  really talk on the drive to school, but I did feel that she was  actively annoyed with me, which was a big step up from the day before. I  just prayed that the change in her response to me starting yesterday at  the Blue Ridge would hold. Her, Aaron, and Rhonda were basically the  only people my age I’d met since moving here, and I preferred to have at  least two out of the three not actively hate me.

The one upshot  of the early start was that it gave me more time to navigate the creek. I  opted for the same maneuver as the day before, an unbalanced stretch,  and then the use of crutches to keep me from tumbling over backward into  the water. As strategies go, this wasn’t the best option and would  certainly lead to me getting dunked one morning, but since I was only  going to be on these things for a month or two at the most, I decided to  just take my chances.

Mr. Bryant was just as much of a pain in  the ass as the day before. I tried to keep my head down, but he managed  to call me out several times, picking apart the smallest error in my  answers. Thankfully, we were still grouped up in English, meaning I was  paired with Rhonda again. We were all business, focused on getting the  work done, but it was still a nice reprieve after dealing with Mr.  Bryant.

At lunch, I found the place where I’d eaten at the day  before occupied by some kids by the time I got my food from the lunch  line. I wasn’t sure if they were just kids who hadn’t been here the day  before or if they had broken off temporarily from their normal group,  but it meant I didn’t have a place to eat today and possibly anymore if  they decided to take that spot for themselves. I looked around at the  small areas with someone eating solo and tried to work out who I could  bother and see if they’d let me sit with them when I was startled by a  voice behind me.

“Lost?”

I turned around and saw Hanna standing behind me.

“I’m trying to figure out where to sit.”

“You can come sit with us.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

She  turned around and started walking towards the far end of the cafeteria,  leaving me no option but to chase after her, which wasn’t particularly  fast considering the school books, crutches and lunch made it awkward to  move quickly.

“..s Charlie. He’s the guy I mentioned that helped my cousin get away from Aaron and his douche-nozzle friends the other day.”

“Looks like you got your ass kicked,” an Asian girl said, looking at me.

“Ohh, he did. They broke his foot and pounded on his face. Are you going to sit down or just stand there?”

She turned and directed her last sentence at me. I moved to sit in one of the open seats cattycorner from Hanna as she said, “I saw Aaron this morning in Spanish. How the hell did they not get arrested, or at least expelled?”

“The  cops said since I threw the first punch, I was lucky they didn’t press  charges on me, and the guidance counselor said since it happened off of  school property they couldn’t do anything.”

“Those assholes get away with everything,” Hanna said. “Anyways, that’s Jordan, Joseph, Laura, Peyton, Kyndal,  Fatima, Megan, and Andrew. Jordan, Laura, and Andrew are seniors. Megan  and Fatima are juniors. Peyton, Joseph, and Andrew are sophomores, like  you.”

I tried to take in the dizzying list of names. Fatima was the girl in the Hijab. Kyndal  was the girl who thought I looked like I got my ass kicked. The girl  named Megan reminded me of some of the girls who I had seen playing in  bars with my dad. Her hair was chin-length and brown, except for an inch  around the edge, which was dyed a dark purple.

“Welcome to the losers table,” Kyndal said.

“The losers table?” I asked.

“Charlie has never attended public school before. I don’t think he knows about the lunchroom social hierarchy.”

“I was watching all the groups separated out yesterday. Seems like everyone has their own clique.”

“Were you in a private school or something?” Peyton asked.

“Homeschooled.”

“You’re not one of those hardcore religious types, are you?” Joseph asked.

“No.  My dad was a musician, and we followed him around while he played gigs.  This summer is the first time we’ve actually lived anywhere longer than  a few weeks since I can remember.”

“You’re dad’s a musician?”

“Yeah. He used to be in bands, but he went solo when I was nine.”

“Is he any good?” Megan asked. “Would we have heard of him?”

“I  doubt it. He was in a few groups that got record contracts in the  eighties, but they never went anywhere. He mostly played in bars and  clubs.”

“I took Charlie up to the Blue Ridge yesterday to see  about getting a job. While we were there Willie had Charlie play  something to see how good he was, and holy crap it was spectacular.  Don’t let him fool you, he’s freaking amazing.”

“I’m only ok. I know the songs I knew, but I’m not a professional.”

“Do you want to be?” Megan asked.

“I  guess, maybe. I mean, yeah, I’d love to play for a living, but I think  it might kill my mom. She had enough of that with my dad. She wants me  to get a degree and some kind of boring office job.”

“I don’t  know, Hanna’s a judgmental bitch. If she says you’re good, then you must  be really good. Would suck to let that kind of thing go to waste so you  can be an accountant or something.”

“Bite me,” Hanna said to  Megan, although the smile on her face suggested they went at each other  like this often. “Megan works up at the Blue Ridge too.”

“Really? Do you like working there?”

“The work? Not really, but I like the people we work with.”

I was not sure what to say to that.

“How do you like Carr so far?” Joseph asked.

“It’s  ok, I guess, except for my history class. The teacher hated me the  second I walked through the door. We got assigned partners for a class  project and, even though there are groups that weren’t full, he said I  needed to do the entire project by myself since I missed the day  before.”

“Who’s the teacher?”

“Mr. Bryant.”

“He hates you because he’s one of the football coaches, and Aaron’s his golden boy,” Hanna said.

“Why? Nothing even happened to Aaron. Why would he have a hate out for me?”

“While  Coach Bryant hasn’t ever needed a reason to be an asshole, Aaron  probably spun a story that made you come off as the bad guy. Aaron’s as  big of a liar as he is a jerk.”

“Should I go to the office about him?”

“If  he does something extreme, maybe, but the administration usually tends  to side with teachers no matter how screwed up they are.”

“I’m basically screwed?”

“Pretty much. How were your other classes?”

“English wasn’t bad. I got partnered up with a girl named Rhonda and we hit it off.”

“Rhonda, what?” Jordan asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said and pointed over to where I noticed her eating yesterday. “That’s her over there.”

Hanna burst out laughing.

“What?”

“That’s my sister,” Jordan said.

Now  that she had pointed their relation out, I could see the resemblance.  She had the same facial features as Rhonda, including the chipmunk  cheeks, although hers were a little less pronounced.

“Ohh.”

“You think my sister’s cute, huh?”

“I... uhhh...”

“Don’t let her give you a hard time,” Hanna said. “They aren’t that close.”

“Damn, I was hoping you’d put in a good word for me,” I said.

I knew better than to let them think they had gotten to me.

“I  don’t think you want me to do that. Any recommendation from me would be  counterproductive. She was quite the social climber in junior high, and  she’s spent the last year trying to pick up on that here.”

“She seemed okay to me.”

“That’s because you got her by herself. She’s different when she gets around those wannabe heathers of hers.”

“Huh?”

“A stupid movie Joseph made us watch last weekend.”

“I tried to get you to watch the musical, you said no. Don’t blame me if the movie sucked.”

The  conversation finally moved off me as Jordan and Joseph went back and  forth. Their exchange might have been a bit brutal, but the insults were  clever, and they both seemed to be really enjoying the exchange.  Despite their choice of words, I could easily tell they were pretty good  friends. I took a bite of my sandwich and smiled.

My good mood  didn’t last long. I again struggled my way through chemistry. It wasn’t  like Algebra, which required skills that I’d missed during  homeschooling. Everyone in the class was learning the subject for the  first time which meant I wasn’t behind. It was, however, extremely  boring and I found myself fighting to keep from nodding off.

After that, my day eased up quite a bit. P.E. wasn’t even a class  really since I’d hurt my foot and was exempt from participating. I just  sat on the bleachers in the gym and watched everyone else. They were set  up to rotate through a different sport every few weeks and currently  they were on basketball. While I wasn’t athletic and had even played  pickup games of basketball or sandlot baseball over the years,  especially when we stayed at campgrounds, I wasn’t a sports enthusiast.  When other people stayed home watching their favorite team play, I was  with my dad listening to music in clubs. That being said, there was a  pretty wide range of ability in my P.E. class and it gave me some  mid-afternoon entertainment.

Changing out of my P.E. clothes took  longer than I’d planned, and I was running late for my health class,  which was on the other side of the school from the gym. I was distracted  enough that I didn’t notice Aaron until the last second.

I saw  him just as his hand was inches from my shoulder. Noticing him meant I  was able to keep from toppling over when he shoved me, getting my right  crutch braced to keep me from collapsing.

“Get out of the way faggot,” He said with a sneer.

A tall brunette was behind him, her head swiveling around as he stepped up to me.

“Aaron,” she said warningly, but he ignored her.

“If  you want to go again,” he said, getting inches from me, “just name the  time and place. Unless the only thing you know how to do is a sucker  punch.”

“I guess I could be like you, trying to beat up a  fifth-grader and taking his lunch money. That’s what a real man would  do, huh? Do you have something you need to compensate for?”

I  pushed myself back upright with my crutch and got back in his face.  Admittedly, this was stupid. I still had trouble holding a balance on my  injured foot and couldn’t fight for shit. I wasn’t, however, going to  let Aaron think he could get away with treating me like a punching bag. I  might get my ass kicked, but I’d make him work for it every time.

“Aaron,” the girl said again, her tone more urgent.

“You piece of,” he started to say, reaching out to grab my shirt when a voice called out behind him.

“Hey!”

I looked past Aaron to see an older teacher making his way to us from his classroom door.

“This isn’t over,” he warned, backing away from me.

He gave me one last glare before putting his arm around the brunette and walking down the hall.

“Get to class,” the teacher said to me.

While  I thought figuring out the guy on crutches wasn’t the one trying to  pick a fight was pretty obvious, teachers had to feel like they were  doing something even when nothing happened, so I just adjusted my  crutches and limped off.

It took me a little while to calm down  once I got to Health Class. I’d hoped, maybe foolishly, that this thing  with Aaron would blow over. I don’t have a problem standing up for  myself, but with a broken foot I wasn’t in the best position to defend  myself, especially if Aaron brought friends again.

I finally  started paying attention to the class about halfway through. Thankfully,  everything that the teacher talked about, at least once I started  paying attention, was really just common sense stuff. I found it  baffling this was a class they were teaching in high school. Currently,  the topic being covered was nutrition but in the most perfunctory way  imaginable.Last was Art, which I sucked at. I couldn’t draw to save my  life, but that didn’t seem to matter. All they really expected was for  students to make an attempt, not the quality of the work.

I walked out of school to find Hanna standing by her car again.

“Sorry,  I’m taking so long. Art is all the way across the school and with my  foot...” I let the rest of the sentence drop as I looked down at the  medical boot to make my point.

“It’s fine,” she said getting it.

“Thanks for letting me sit with your lunch group,” I said as we pulled out of the parking lot.

“Sure. They seemed to like you.”

“I liked them, too. I was a little surprised you invited me. You seemed kinda annoyed with me yesterday.”

She  waved a hand, pushing the thought away, “Don’t take my bitchiness  personal. I was annoyed that Mom volunteered me to drive you all over  the place. Once I managed to get over that I figured I’d stop giving you  a hard time. Just don’t blow it and become annoying, or the bitch will  come back.”

“I do appreciate all the rides, but I don’t want to  mess up your schedule. If you really wanted to get out of taking me, I  could figure out something on my own.”

“No,” she said with a sigh.  “Mom was right, we owe you. Aaron would have hurt Sam if you hadn’t  stepped in, and I was supposed to be watching him. I was focused on  getting ready for school and told him to go outside and play. Driving  you places I’m going to anyways is the least I could do in return. I was  just being not happy about being volunteered.”

“Well, still, I appreciate everything.”

“Soooo... What’s the deal with Rhonda?”

“There’s no deal. I just thought she was cute, and we got along really well. That’s all.”

“You’re interested, though, right?”

“I guess. I’ve only talked to her that one time, though.”

“She’s not as bad as Jordan made her sound. She can be a pain with her friends, but away from them, she’s alright.”

“Okay.”

“You should ask her out.”

“Why?”

“Because you want to ask her out. You wouldn’t have brought her up otherwise.”

“I  just thought she was cute, that’s all. Traveling with my dad, I didn’t  get a lot of chances to meet girls my own age. Everyone was in their  twenties or older.”

“Really? So you haven’t dated much?”

“I  haven’t dated at all. I lived in a small RV with my parents, and we  never spent more than a few weeks in one city. There wasn’t a lot of  opportunities.”

“Even more of a reason you should ask her out.”

“Why is my lack of dating more of a reason?”

“Because  you’re behind everyone else. Most of us started dating freshman year or  even in eighth grade. If you don’t want to be totally helpless, you  should start getting dating experience now.”

“I’ll think about it.”

I turned to look out the window when a thought occurred to me.

“What about you. You don’t seem to be dating anyone.”

“We’re not talking about me.”

“Fair’s  fair. If we can discuss my love life or lifelong lack of it, we can  talk about yours. You’re here pushing me to ask Rhonda out, yet I  haven’t heard anything about the person you’re dating.”

“I’m not dating anyone.”

She sounded unhappy with either the fact that she was not dating or the admission, I was not sure which.

“Why?  You’re attractive, don’t have a terrible personality, and from all the  advice, you seem to have the dating thing down cold.”

“While I appreciate you don’t think I have a terrible personality, my dating is none of your damn business.”

“Okay.  I wasn’t trying to pry, I just thought that if you were going to give  out relationship advice, you should be in one, ya know.”

“For your information, I’m not dating because I have exceptionally bad luck with it.”

When I did not say anything, she just kept on talking.

“Well,  either that or I have terrible taste in men. Back before... I used to  date the wrong guys. I’m trying to be choosier now. You don’t need to  worry about my social calendar. I could go out and get a date tomorrow  if I wanted. I just don’t want to waste my time on someone not worth it.  Plus, this time next year, I’ll be out of this place and off to bigger  and better things.”

There was clearly a story there, but equally  as clear, it was not something she wanted to discuss. She had skipped  over something on purpose, and I did not know her well enough to pry. I  was saved from the rest of the conversation as we pulled up in front of  my trailer.

“See you tomorrow,” I said, pushing myself out of the  car.She waved and drove off as I made my way up the steps into the  trailer.