Before Christy could answer, the guy spoke up. “Have you tried vitamin C?”
Christy noticed his accent. She guessed it was British.
“Excuse me?” Katie said, making eye contact with him.
“For the eyes.” He motioned to Katie’s obvious bruises. “Vitamin C with bioflavonoids three times a day. Have you tried it?” Katie looked at the guy, then at Christy. She seemed about to burst out laughing.
“Cabbage is a good source. Potatoes and tomatoes are as well.”
He said ‘potatoes’ and ‘tomatoes’ funny, and Katie did start to laugh.
“Where did you come from?” she asked.
“Belfast.”
Katie looked at Christy blankly. “Belfast. That’s in Ireland, right?”
“Northern,” the guy said quickly. “Northern Ireland. There’s a vast difference, you know.”
Apparently Katie and Christy didn’t know. At the moment they were both captivated by this fair-skinned, dark-haired, green-eyed stranger.
“The name is Michael,” the guy said, introducing himself with a smile. “And who might you be?”
“I’m Christy.”
“Katie.” The minute Katie said her name, Michael burst out laughing.
“What?” Katie wanted to know. “What’s so funny about ‘Katie’?”
“Nothing’s wrong with being a Katie. It’s a daft thing that I should leave a school brimming with Katies in Belfast, and the first person I meet in this California school is a Katie!”
“A ‘daft thing’?” Katie repeated. The previous summer, she had started using an original expression, a “God-thing,” and every now and then Katie would inform Christy that Todd was doing a “Todd-thing,” but Katie had never heard of a “daft thing.”
“‘Daft.’ You know, ‘daft.’ You don’t say that here?”
Christy and Katie both shook their heads.
“It means crazy or silly.”
“Oh,” both the girls said.
“So, Mike—” Katie began.
“Michael,” he corrected her. “It’s Michael.”
“So, Michael,” she continued, “you’re giving vitamin prescriptions to a complete stranger, and you think we’re daft? Perhaps I should tell you right up front that you’re quoting vitamins to the wrong person. Unless your vitamin C with whatever-noids is found as a natural source in Twinkies, there’s a pretty good chance it won’t find its way into my blood system.”
Michael smiled. Christy noticed that his whole face lit up when he did. He seemed harmless enough. A new guy looking to meet some people. A foreign exchange student, perhaps. Still, this friendly flirting didn’t come as easily to Christy as it did to Katie.
The rest of their lunchtime, Christy sat back, quietly eating her sandwich and listening to Michael and Katie’s playful banter about junk food versus health food. It appeared that Michael was winning, which was a first with Katie. Christy had rarely seen a guy overpower her in any category.
“Saved by the bell.” Katie said as the loud buzzer echoed across the school yard. “I haven’t given up though. I’ll prove to you why my way of eating is just as good as yours.”
“We’ll see,” Michael said with a twinkle in his eye. Pulling a piece of paper from his backpack and scanning the computer printout, he asked. “Do you happen to know where I might find room 145?”
“You’re kidding!” Katie said. “That’s my next class. Government with Mr. Jacobs, right?”
“I suppose I should thank my lucky stars. I’ll be needing some friendly assistance when it comes to your American government.” Michael slung his backpack over his arm and offered a hand to Katie to help her stand up.
“Shouldn’t that be your ‘Lucky Charms’? You know, that leprechaun cereal with the little colored marsh mallows? Never mind,” Katie said, responding to the blank look on Michael’s face. “You obviously need an education in more than just American government. American breakfast cereal is a very important subject too, I hope you know.”
“Oh, is it now?”
“See you later, Christy.” Katie called over her shoulder as she and Michael took off together for their class, walking close, deeply involved in their conversation.
Christy watched them for a minute before heading to her yearbook class. Michael was about the same height as Katie, and from the back, Christy could see that his thick. dark hair had reddish highlights enhanced by the sun. The back of his T-shirt had a whale on it and some kind of slogan about saving the whales. He seemed like a decent sort of guy, even though he was so different.
What am I thinking? He’s a complete stranger, and he’s totally captivated by Katie. This all happened too quickly. She’s too eager for a boyfriend right now. How do we even know if this guy is a Christian?
Christy entered her yearbook class and felt even more uneasy. Not just about Katie, but about being with this close-knit group of students. She hadn’t worked on the yearbook staff the way most of them had last year. When she sat down at a desk in the back of the room, no one even seemed to notice she was there.
Why did I even take this class?
“Hi, Christy,” a guy said, coming through the door as the bell rang.
It was Fred, the school photographer who had caught her in several embarrassing poses last year and made sure those shots made it into the yearbook. Part of her reason for signing up for yearbook was to prevent any more embarrassing photos this year, although she would never admit that to anyone.
Fred plopped down on top of the desk next to her. Reaching for the camera hanging around his neck, he pointed it at Christy. “Nice big smile for your ol’ pal Freddy.”
Christy did not smile. Calmly she said, “I don’t want you to take my picture, Fred. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Okay?”
Snap! The bright flash went off in Christy’s face.
“I don’t think you’re listening to me, Fred. I said no pictures.”
Fred’s face appeared from behind the camera. His front two teeth were crooked, and his complexion wasn’t the best. His hair clung to the top of his head like the skin on a pear. Katie had once said Fred was the kind of guy who should be arrested for using hair spray without a license.
“I had a dream about you last night, Christy. You were a famous model on location in Greece, and I was your photographer. You do believe that dreams can come true, don’t you?”
I can’t believe this is happening!
“I’ve already asked Miss Wallace if she’d make you my assistant this year so we can spend lots of time together. We’ll have to go out on lots of photo assignments. Like every weekend for football games.” Fred smiled, and she noticed a piece of something orange leftover from lunch wedged between his two crooked teeth.
“Fred. I have a boyfriend.” Christy never would have guessed how relieved she felt to be able to say those words aloud.
“Not that slime Rick Doyle, I hope!”
“No. His name is Todd. Todd Spencer. He’s in college. and I’m sure I’ll be spending all my weekends with him. So you see, I won’t be able to go on any photo shoots with you.”
Fred’s enthusiasm seemed only slightly dampened. “Not a problem. I’ll be with you every weekday, and Schmoddy-Toddy will only have you on weekends. We’ll see what happens by the end of the school year. As I always say, ‘May the best man win!’”
“Oh that wasn’t the worst of it.” Christy leaned against the kitchen counter that evening while her mom washed a head of lettuce. “He took at least five pictures of me while I was sitting there listening to the teacher, and then Miss Wallace said I was assigned to take pictures with him at the football game Friday night.”
“So what did you tell Fred?” Mom asked, her round face looking soft and interested.
“I told him I had a boyfriend and that if he didn’t leave me alone, Todd was going to beat him up.”
“You didn’t!”
“No, of course I didn’t tell him that. I did tell him I had a boyfriend th
ough and that I worked Friday nights, and Todd and I had plans for Saturday nights.”
“And do you and Todd have plans?”
“Well, not yet. But I’m sure we will. You know Todd is sort of a last-minute, spontaneous kind of guy.”
“Christy, this is not the time to get in the habit of stretching the truth,” Mom said as she sliced up a cucumber and added it to the salad in the big wooden bowl.
Christy snitched a cucumber slice. “I know. You’re right.” Pointing to the tomato, she said. “Did you know that tomatoes are full of vitamin C and something-noids?”
“Is that what you learned in science today?”
“No, that’s what I learned from Michael.” Christy gave Mom a rundown on how they had met Michael at lunch. “Then after school, if you can believe this. I waited for Katie at the car for at least ten minutes. She finally shows up with Michael in his beat-up little sports car, and she says she’s taking him to Baskin-Robbins to introduce him to all the vitamins in Jamoca Almond Fudge ice cream.”
Mom chuckled and shook her head. “This could be a very interesting situation for Katie. Does she seem to like this Michael as much as he seems to like her?”
“I’m afraid the rest of the world has ceased to exist when he’s around. It’s kind of scary though. Mom. She doesn’t know anything about this guy. He’s different. Not in a bad way, just unique. And he seems really interested in her”— black eyes and all. I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right to me.”
“Well, now’s not the time to abandon her. Keep up with her in this new relationship, and keep those channels of communication open.”
“I will,” Christy said. “Are we ready to eat? Where are Dad and David?”
“Dad is in the garage, and your brother should be out front riding his bike. Could you call them both in while I put dinner on the table?”
Christy stepped out onto the front porch of their small rental home and called for David. A moment later the red-haired eleven-year-old came pedaling fast up their tree-lined street with his bike aimed at his homemade wooden bike jump. Up went the front tire as David let out a hoot and sailed through the air a full five seconds before landing on the grass.
“David, time for dinner.”
“Okay, after one more jump.” David pushed up his glasses.
“Mom said to come now.”
“All right, all right! You don’t have to get bossy.”
“I’m not bossy. You just never come to dinner on time. And don’t forget to wash your hands and put away your bike.”
In a squeaky voice. David mimicked. “Wash your hands! Put away your bike!’ Bossy, bossy, bossy!”
“David!” came a deep voice from inside the garage. That was all Christy’s dad ever had to say to get either of them to straighten up. In his firmest, strictest growling voice, he would call out their names, and both Christy and David knew they had better straighten up right then.
“I’m coming,” David answered, sheepishly wheeling his bike into the garage.
“Tell your mom we’ll be right there.” Dad called out to Christy.
He was a large man who had worked on a dairy farm nearly all his life. Moving to Southern California had been a big change for him, and Christy knew it had taken him quite a while to make the adjustment. Now that they had been in Escondido for several years and things were going well for him at the Hollandale Dairy. Christy thought he seemed a little more settled. They still didn’t have a lot of money, and her dad still wore his overalls in public, which embarrassed Christy, but in a lot of ways she knew she was blessed to have the parents she did.
Christy had some of those same thoughts later that week in English class. Their assignment was to describe someone they knew well and to use all five senses in the description. Her dad was the first person who came to mind. Christy jotted down some descriptive words the way the teacher had instructed them to. She wrote about how her dad’s hands felt big and rough and how he smelled like cows a lot of the time, but on Sunday mornings on the way to church he always smelled like a forest, green and mossy. Sometimes the car would still smell like that on Monday mornings when Christy drove to school.
Her dad chewed Dentyne gum, which Christy listed under the sense of taste since she had chewed many pieces along with him over the years, and that strong cinnamon tang on her tongue always reminded her of her dad. His bushy eyebrows and thick brownish-red hair made him look like an elf inside a giant’s body.
For the sense of hearing, Christy wrote about the way his deep laughter tumbled from his huge chest and how whenever he laughed it made Christy’s mom smile.
The last line of her description read, “Even though he comes across kind of gruff, my dad has a teddy bear heart. I’ve never doubted that he loves me, although I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand how much.”
Feeling pleased with her conclusion and glad she had it done before class was over, Christy handed in her paper and used the rest of the class time to finish some of her Spanish assignment. It was due Friday, and she wanted to take home as little homework as possible.
As soon as school was over she would have to go to work at the pet store. She worked all day on Saturdays and went to church Sundays. That didn’t leave much time for Todd and left even less time for homework.
When the final bell rang, Christy hurried to her locker and saw Fred standing there waiting for her. “Hi, Miss Chris. What time shall I pick you up for the game?”
“Fred.” Christy impatiently spun through the combination on her lock. “I told you I work tonight. I can’t go to the game, and I can’t take yearbook pictures with you.”
“Sure you can! After the game. We could meet at one of the pizza joints where all the football players hang out and catch them with their mouths full.”
“I don’t think so, Fred.”
“Come on, Miss Chris. We’re in this together, besides your camera is nicer than mine.”
“Would you like to borrow my camera?” Christy pulled it from the corner of her locker and offered it to Fred. It had been a Christmas gift from her Uncle Bob. She knew it was a nice one, but she didn’t know how nice until Fred had drooled over it the first time she brought it into class.
“Are you sure?”
Christy hesitated. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to loan such an expensive gift to this guy. Still, it would keep him out of her hair for a while. “Yes, you can borrow it on one condition.”
“Wow, thanks! Anything. What’s the condition?”
“That you promise to stop taking pictures of me and not to take any more for the rest of the year.”
Fred made a face. “I can’t promise that.”
Christy reached for the camera. “Promise me, Fred, or else you can’t borrow the camera.”
“I can’t promise that.” Fred sadly handed the camera back to Christy. He looked dejected.
“Oh, all right.” Christy pushed the camera back into his arms. “You can borrow it, and you don’t have to make any promises. Just don’t break it or lose it or hurt it, okay?”
“Not a problem. I promise I’ll take perfect care of it, Christy.” Fred flashed her a big smile. “You’re the best, you know. Anyone ever tell you that?”
“Just take good care of it, okay?”
As Christy drove to work, she wondered if she would regret her decision to loan Fred her camera. She decided to ask Jon, her boss at the pet store, what he thought. He tended to be a pretty good judge of character, or in Fred’s case, judge of a character.
It felt strange going to work without Katie. Ever since last Christmas when Katie had landed a job as one of Santa’s elves, Katie and Christy had shared rides to work. Katie had stayed on with the mall photographer and worked pretty much the same hours as Christy. Now with Michael to drive her around, Katie didn’t seem to have much use for a best friend anymore.
It bothered Christy more than she had admitted to anyone. Especially since Katie was beginning to change. Not in any huge, obvious ways, but
Christy noticed little things, like the way Katie had started to wear funky sandals like Michael’s and how yesterday at lunch she drank bottled water instead of a Coke.
Jon was on the phone when she arrived at the pet store, so Christy went right to work, checking on the fish in the large aquarium section in the back of the shop. The soothing sound of the bubbles in the tanks and the gentle motion of all the fish made this hideaway Christy’s favorite spot to go when she arrived at work and tried to make the transition from school to pet shop.
“Christy,” Jon called from the front, “could you come up to the cash register, please?”
Christy slid the cover over a tank of angel fish she was feeding and hurried to the front. She had a feeling it was going to be one of those nonstop nights.
What she didn’t count on was becoming one of the customers. By the end of the evening, she had a new pet to take home.
Christy tried to quietly open the front door around 9:15 when she arrived at home. The screen door didn’t cooperate, and a loud screech announced her arrival. The eyes of both her parents were instantly on her, focusing on the rather large animal cage she held gingerly in front of her.
“Guess what? I got a bonus. From Jon. See, he thought I should have a pet since I work at a pet store and don’t own any animals. He gave me everything free. There’s even a big bag of food out in the car.”
“What is it?” Christy’s mom asked, rising from the couch and coming closer to inspect their new houseguest.
“A rabbit. I had a hard time choosing. You see, there was this little girl who came into the store with her mom. and she said she would pick whatever kind of pet I had. Since I didn’t have a pet, Jon told me to pick a pet, any pet, and he would give it to me. So Abbey and I both picked rabbits.”
“And what are you going to name it?” Mom asked, still appearing calm.
“Hershey. Because he’s so dark, like chocolate. I can keep him, can’t I?”
Mom and Dad exchanged glances. When Dad gave Mom a slight nod, Christy knew Hershey had passed the test.