What They Left Behind

Gennie didn’t know the first thing about love. Ben was sure of that as he lay in bed trying to sleep. Any other sister would be delighted he had a crush on Charlene. Unlike other guys, who would be too afraid to take the plunge, as soon as he got that part in the play, he would ask her out. He was sure they clicked and there was no way she would say no. They belonged together. Gennie should have been happy because this was her chance to get into the ‘in’ crowd, but she couldn’t have cared less. Even worse, she was already passing judgment on Charlene when she barely knew her.

  His relationship with Gennie really bothered him. She was so embarrassing now. She had always been a tomboy, but Ben figured it was because she grew up in the middle of nowhere in a house filled with guys. When they moved to San Francisco, he assumed with Colleen’s guidance that she would become a little more feminine. He never expected her to be a debutante, but he thought she’d care a little more about her appearance. She stayed exactly the same though. Usually, as soon as she came home, she changed into a flannel shirt, jeans and boots. Just before Charlene arrived to tutor him, she would either run off to Page’s house, or go in the garage and work on that hunk of junk she called a bike for hours on end. He couldn’t imagine her getting married and having kids. Since every guy in school thought she was a freak, it probably wouldn’t happen anyway.

  Ben thought most of his sister’s behavior stemmed from her friend Page. That chick was just weird. She only wore black clothes, had huge coke bottle glasses and crooked teeth. It didn’t help that she smelled as if fifty cats peed on her at once. Ben wouldn’t have touched her with a ninety-foot pole, even if he were paid to do it. The most annoying thing about her was she knew she was an oddball, but didn’t seem to care. Plus, that beatnik slang she used made Ben want to slam his head against a wall a couple of dozen times. If only Gennie would dump Page, there would be hope for her turning into a normal person, but that wasn’t likely to happen in the near future.

  Before he knew it, his alarm clock went off, waking him at quarter before seven. He rose out of bed and got dressed. The bathroom was closer to his room and he could hear the water running. Gennie must have been brushing her teeth. Luckily, personal hygiene wasn’t her forte, so she wouldn’t spend a lot of time in there. He was combing his hair when he heard her clomp down the hall like Bigfoot.

  He walked quickly to the bathroom, washed his face and brushed his teeth. It was hard to tell what Gennie was doing in the kitchen because he couldn’t hear, but he imagined she was eating breakfast, probably cramming her face with cereal or cream of wheat. He would hear her when she left though. She always slammed the door really hard.

  Ten minutes later when he heard the front door slam, that was his cue. It was safe to go into the kitchen. He made himself two poached eggs and heated up a few strips of bacon he pre-cooked the night before. He ate quickly and chugged down a glass of orange juice. Since fifteen minutes had passed by, it was likely Gennie was already at school. He grabbed his books and walked out the door.

  Unfortunately, his first period class was Phys. Ed. When he walked into the boys’ locker room, the stifling air and the smell of perspiration hit him. He walked past all the other guys, who were chatting amongst each other. He didn’t look at them because he knew they were half-naked. His stomach was in a knot as usual. He found the whole place intimidating and uncomfortable.

  Ben walked to the farthest set of lockers. There were pry marks and dents on the locker door, as if it had been forced open. He also noticed the guys, who usually talked and yelled non-stop, were unusually quiet. He opened the door and the odor of urine was unmistakable. He looked down at his clothes and it was obvious they were soaking wet. He slammed the door shut and the other boys instantly erupted into laughter.

  He had to walk past them in order to find Mr. Yates, the gym teacher, and tell him what happened. He tried his best to keep his head up and not look at them.

  “Did you like how we decorated your clothes, Tinker Bell?” Johnny Briggs, Charlene’s boyfriend, asked. The other boys roared with laughter.

  “Oh look, Pussy Willow is going to tell on us,” Eric Pace, another football player and Johnny’s best friend said.

  Ben turned around, gave them a hard stare and flipped them the bird.

  “Whoa!” they all said in unison.

  “I take that as a threat,” Johnny said, a note of hostility in his voice.

  “That’s because it is,” Ben replied.

  Before Ben could blink an eye, Johnny slammed him against the cinder block wall, knocking the wind out of him. Ben didn’t realize how tall he was. He was probably about six foot three and was at least fifty pounds heavier than Ben was. Johnny’s intense blue eyes bored into him and he lifted up his arm, getting ready to punch Ben in the face.

  “Hey!” Mr. Yates said from behind, “Get off him!”

  “I thought he was going to hit me!” Johnny whined. “I was only defending myself!”

  Mr. Yates looked at him doubtfully behind thick white eyebrows. He was probably as old as the school was and had seen everything.

  “I don’t care. Get your clothes on and your butts out in that gym. I don’t want to see this happening again.”

  The boys did what they were told, dutifully changing and heading out into the gymnasium.

  “Why are you standing around here?” Mr. Yates asked Ben.

  “Uh, well…someone broke into my locker, and uh…all my clothes are wet.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “I don’t know, but they were fine yesterday.”

  Mr. Yates sighed. “I think there might be some spare pants and a shirt in my office. I took them home last week and my wife washed them so they’re clean. Let me get them for you.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Yates,” Ben said, “you’re a lifesaver.”

  Gym class was hell as usual. Johnny and his friends were trying harder to hit Ben in the face with the basketball rather than actually make a basket, but luckily, Ben had expert dodging skills. He survived without a scratch. He only had Johnny in this class and his friends simply ignored him when Johnny wasn’t around so the rest of the day went off without a hitch. It was hard concentrating on algebra, history and English when all he wanted to do was daydream about Charlene though. He couldn’t wait until three-thirty. That’s when everyone who was trying out for Romeo and Juliet would meet in the auditorium. They were going to whittle down the try out list by half. He hoped he would make the cut.

  After what seemed like the longest day ever, Ben reported to the auditorium and took a seat. Mrs. Erwin, the drama coach, walked out on the stage.

  “I would love to give a part to all of you fine students, but unfortunately, I can’t,” she said. She pushed up her glasses and held up a legal pad in front of her face. “So, I’ve narrowed the list down by half. I’m going to start with the role of narrator and end with the role of Romeo. If you hear your name, you’re still in the running and I would like you to stay until I’ve read off all character names. If you don’t and haven’t auditioned for any other parts, you’re free to leave.”

  Ben groaned. This was going to take forever. He found this whole process extremely boring and wanted to find out if he was still in the running right away. When Mrs. Erwin finished reading the names still in the running to be narrator, four kids whose names weren’t mentioned walked out. That’s how it proceeded for the next two hours. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find Charlene anywhere. Maybe she forgot to come. It would have made the process less painful if he could stare at her at least.

  Mrs. Erwin droned on and on. Ben and some of the other students almost fell asleep a few times.

  “Now for the role of Juliet,” Mrs. Erwin said. The doors to the auditorium suddenly flew open.

  “Excuse me,” Mrs. Erwin announced, “you were supposed to here at three-thirty.”

  “Oh, I’m terribly sorry, Mrs. Erwin,” Charlene said. Though she was still
impeccably groomed, this was the first time Ben had seen her flustered. “My mother was sent to the hospital this afternoon. My father picked me up after school to visit her. It all took much longer than I expected.”

  “Take a seat. I hope your mother gets well soon.”

  “Thank you,” Charlene said, walking past Ben and sitting three rows ahead of him, joining her friends.

  Mrs. Erwin cleared her throat. She read a list of twenty names. Charlene and her friends clapped their hands and cheered silently when Mrs. Erwin read her name aloud.

  “And now, for Romeo,” Mrs. Erwin said, and read off a list of names. Ben’s wasn’t mentioned at all. He gathered up his books and was about to walk off in disgust when Mrs. Erwin cleared her throat.

  “Benjamin,” she said sternly. “I wasn’t done reading this list.”

  “Sorry, Mrs. Erwin,” Ben said. “It sounded like you were done and I didn’t hear my name.”

  “Well you may be interested to know the last name on the list because it happens to be yours.”

  “Oh…uh…I made the cut?”

  Everyone chuckled.

  “Yes, you certainly did.”

  “Okay,” Ben said sheepishly, sitting back down. Charlene looked back and smiled at him.

  Mrs. Erwin put the list down and gathered up a stack of papers that were stapled together. “This is the script to Romeo and Juliet. I underlined the sections you need to memorize. There will be further auditions tomorrow. I recommend you all come prepared. Anyone who doesn’t know their lines by memory will be eliminated.”

  She gave the stack of papers to a student in the first row, who passed them along. When they got to Ben, he looked through them and grabbed one that had Romeo written on it in neat block letters. He noticed Charlene and her friends were rifling through the script, trying to find the lines they needed to know by tomorrow. Ben did the same. Most of the students were walking past him, but he wanted to get the lines in his head right away. He was still looking through the script when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Whoa!” he said, startled.

  It was Charlene.

  “I’m sorry to scare you,” she replied sweetly.

  “No, you didn’t scare me. It’s just that…I really want to know my lines.”

  “I know what you mean,” Charlene said. “I love the theater…and Shakespeare. I want to be Juliet so bad.”

  “Me too,” Ben replied.

  Charlene burst out laughing.

  “Wow, that came out the wrong way,” Ben said, embarrassed.

  “I know what you mean,” Charlene replied. “So you’re trying out for Romeo, right?”

  “Yep.”

  “That would be great if you got it because then we could walk to your house after rehearsals.”

  “Yeah, that would be great,” Ben said. The thought of walking home with Charlene every day made him extremely excited. “So, where are your friends?”

  “Oh, I told them to go along without me,” she said. “Since I have to go to your house anyway, I thought it would be easiest if we walked together.”

  “Yeah, it would be,” Ben said. He was so happy he thought he was going to jump out of his shoes. “Well, my lady…let’s goeth on to my hometh.”

  He put his arm around hers and Charlene giggled. As they left the auditorium, he realized he was one step closer to having Charlene as his girl.

  Chapter 17: March 22