Chapter Two
September 4, 1990- February 2, 1991
I.
School started for Micah, officially on September fourth, and for a few days, he was scared to death that his life was over. His fear was two fold. Or maybe it was one fold with the two just barely connected.
Gutter had been held back another year, and wasn't too happy about it. Ever since the dance, Gutter had wanted a chance to kill Micah, and now he had a whole year to wait for the perfect oppurtunity. Micah wasn't overly thrilled with that propostion. He sighed as he ate his lunch with Jared, and wished not for the first, nor for the last time that Gutter had never gotten interested in Shawna.
Which was his second problem. Shawna hadn't been around for a few days, not since the beginning of the year, and he was beginning to fear that she had been transferred to another school. He sighed again.
Jared let his head drop, then picked it back up and looked at him.
"Let. Her. Go. it's alright. The world isn't going to end if she doesn't like you. Life goes on. There's more fish in the sea. All you need to do is pick up the pieces of your shatter-"
"if you throw one more little cliché at me, I will personally ram this sandwich down your throat," Micah said.
Jared grinned. "Ahh, the Wordless Wonder responds!"
Despite himself, Micah grinned. "Shut up."
Jared took a bite of his peanut butter and pickle sandwich and nodded his head. "There's Lynn, why don't you ask her out?"
"Lynn?"
Jared nodded.
"Lynn Treval?"
Jared nodded again.
"Captain of the cheerleaders?"
Jared nodded a third time.
Micah rolled his eyes. "I don't think so. The conversation would go something like this: Hi Lynn. Hi Micah. Would you want to go out with me on Friday night? You?? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! I'm going to tell the rest of the school what an idiot you are! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha"
Jared nodded his head. "Yeah, that's probably true. So, let's see here... what can we do, to help you win the girl of your dreams? I know! Let's buy her a car!"
Micah whacked Jared on the back of the head.
"Ouch!"
"You deserved it."
"Did not! I'm just trying to make you smile, man."
"Yeah.. well...."
"Hey, the Cheerleaders are doing those candygram things aren't they?"
As a Cheerleader fundraiser, the cheerleaders would pack little bags with candy, and attach a message. For fifty cents, you could send a message to someone, and do it in complete anonymity, if you wanted.
Micah knew all this, but it had never really clicked until now.
Slowly, a smile crossed his face.
The next day, Shawna stepped off the bus and looked at the school with a sort of dismal joy. Dismal because she couldn't bear the thought of having to face Gutter once again, and joy because she was happy to be with Micah.
She stared up at the school, and took a deep breath, and then was rudely shoved aside as another student stepped off the bus. She watched the pusher walk away with a swagger in his step, and realized he was a new kid.
Some guts he's got, thought Shawna. Pushing around a regular like that, and him just a newbie.
She sighed again and walked into the courtyard. She looked around at all the students, some she recognized, some she didn't, and hoped to see Micah.
She walked onto the patio where some of the students were talking, and the rest mingling, forming their little cliques in which they would hover the rest of the year, and she wished she could be in a clique.
She turned in a circle, taking in the view, and looking absently for Micah. She took a step back, and then another, and bumped into someone. She turned around again, and there he was.
She smiled, and giggled. "Sorry, I didn't see you there..."
"No, no, it's my fault I wasn't watching who was...
"But I was walking backward..."
"I had my eyes closed..."
Jared coughed. They both turned and looked at him.
"What?" He said, "I didn't say anything."
Shawna smiled and lowered her eyes to look at Micah's tennis shoes. They were the same ones he had the year before. You would have thought he would have gotten new shoes before. But Micah wasn't like everyone else. if something worked, he stuck with it until it didn't work anymore.
"So.. uhh... Where have you been?" Jared asked.
"Oh, I was... uh.. down in Florida. Visiting relatives. My little brother got sick, and since we didn't want him getting sick all over the car, we stayed behind a little longer then planned. it was an amazing recovery. He got better as soon as we planned a trick to Disneyland. Miracle cure. You would think those televangelists would have thought of that by now."
Micah laughed, and Shawna laughed too.
"Have you ever been to Disneyland?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, I've been there plenty of times. Probably my most vivid memory is my little brother when he was about two screaming and yelling the entire hour and forty-five minutes we were in line for the dumbo ride that he didn't want to go on, he didn't want to go... Sheez. an hour and forty-five minutes later, we got on the ride, took our three minute ride, got off, and he looked up at mom and said 'Let's go again!!!'
"I just about knocked his teeth out for that."
Micah laughed again. "Yeah, I remember that ride. my grandma would always drag us on that ride, and she would always push the button to make us go higher, no matter how scared we were to do it. She was sadistic in a funny sort of way." Micah grinned, and shook his head.
Later in class, Micah was thinking. Not about the class though. He was thinking about what, exactly, he was going to write to Shawna. He looked down at his paper, doodled a monkey face, put the name Gutter under it, and smiled.
He looked up once, and stole a glance at Shawna. She was taking notes. What was he going to write to her? He thought about all the quotes he knew from all the movies he had watched, trying to find the one that would fit perfectly to what he was trying to say.
It wouldn't come.
He looked at Jared, sitting next to him.
"I can't think of anything," he whispered.
Jared grinned wryly. He muttered something that sounded like "Obsession" and then turned back. "Why not just tell her how you feel, and sign it, 'Your Secret Admirer'?"
"That's boring. Everyone does that. I want to be original."
Jared shrugged. "it's your candygram. I don't want a co-author credit on this."
Micah looked back down at his paper. The monkey head had been partially obscured by a folded over piece of paper. He looked at it, his heart beating a little faster. Was this from Shawna?
He picked it up and looked at Shawna. She was looking right at him. Hastily, he looked to the left, then the right, to cover his look at her. He unfolded it, and read what it said.
Two words.
His heart momentarily stopped, then started again with a lurch and a shudder. He read over the note again, and then crumpled it up. Right now, the important thing is to appear unaffected by it. He had an idea who it was from, though he hoped it wasn't from the person he suspected.
His heart was beating in irregular intervals as he went back to composing his note. Then, as if to spit in the face of all that had happened, it all clicked. He knew exactly what to write on the candygram. it was so simple. How could he have missed it?
The bell rang, and class was out.
Shawna stole a glance over at Micah. He was taking notes. Or maybe doodling. She looked down at her paper which, while it looked like she was taking notes, was actually covered with everything she wanted to say to Micah. It was all written out in a poem. Not that she could ever find the guts to give it to him.
More then once, she had entertained the thought of sending him a candygram telling him how she felt, but surely he would think that was a childish and immature way of telling someone isn't it? He would have laughed at her.
She had decided against it.
A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
Jonny Levere, one of Gutter's cohorts, was whispering something to Gutter. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Gutter's face darkened. He pulled a sheet of paper out of his binder, and wrote something on it. Then he folded it in half, and gave it to Levere.
Levere took it, and handed it to the kid sitting next to him, and the kid placed it on Micah's desk. Micah didn't notice. He was talking to Jared about something.
Shawna wondered what Gutter had written. It couldn't have been something very nice. She wondered what Micah had done to irritate Gutter now.
Micah turned back, and looked down at his desk. At the paper. He picked it up, and then glanced around the classroom. He unfolded it, and read it.
His face paled, then he looked over it again. he crumpled it up, and dropped it on the floor next to his backpack. He sat staring at his notes for a minute, and then, his face seemed to brighten.
She wondered over this, and then the bell rang.
She closed her binder, sealing the poem inside, and put it in her bag. She put her book down on top of her binder, and then zipped her bag up. She stood up just as Micah went walking out the door. She saw him throw a crumpled piece of paper in the trash.
As she walked out the door, she bent over and picked it up. Walking down the hall toward her locker, she unfolded it and read it. it was a short note, only two words. The two words scared her, mainly because they conveyed the depth of hatred that Gutter had for Micah.
In a flash of inspiration, she knew exactly how to let Micah know she liked him. it wouldn't be easy, but she thought she could do it. She had a two part plan. One part she had to meet with Gutter about.
The second part was a message on a Candygram.
Three days later, almost a year to the day that Jared first put the letter and the snicker bar in Shawna's locker, Gutter confronted Micah.
The school day had gone slow, and Micah was impatient for it to end. The sooner it ended, the quicker he could go home. The sooner he got home, the quicker the day would pass. The quicker the day would pass, the sooner tomorrow would come, and tomorrow, they were passing out the candygrams.
Micah was on pins and needles. He had filled out the information or the candygram, and turned it in two days ago. Perhaps he had done it rather anonymously, turning it all in to Lynn Treval by leaving it on her desk while everyone was at lunch, but it had been done.
He simply wanted it to be tomorrow.
Class ended, and he walked out of the classroom, and started walking toward his locker, when an arm was thrown around his shoulders, and he was led away from the lockers. He looked over at who had taken him aside and inwardly groaned. it was Gutter. Gutter with his new facial feature- a really good shiner right underneath his right eye.
Gutter took him aside, around a corner where no one else was, and looked him in the eye.
"Hey there Micah."
Micah was a little taken back by Gutter's lack of profanity in relation to him, but was nonetheless grateful.
"Hi Gutter. What's up?" it was a struggle to keep fear from his voice.
"I should kill you. I should just beat the hell out of you right here and now."
"Ummm, you mind if I ask why?"
"You makin' fun of me, that's why, bitch."
Anger flared up in Micah. "Two things Clarence. One, don't ever call me that again, and two, I have no idea what you are talking about."
"I'll call you whatever I damn well want, bitch, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. The monkey drawing."
Micah's chest clenched. That confirmed who had sent him that short little two word note. He had been afraid it had been Gutter, and it was. But how had he known? Micah didn't show it to anyone. Not even Jared.
He supposed that someone in class could have seen it and spread word around, and that was probably what did happen.
"Oh, that."
"Yeah. That."
Silence for a minute.
"So? Are you gonna beat me or not?"
"No, I'm not."
Micah was momentarily taken aback. "Uhhhh... okay. Your perogative of course..."
Gutter leaned in close, and Micah could smell the cigarettes on his breath. "Just remember. if you ever do that again, no one, no one, is going to talk me out of beating you up then. Got it, bitch?"
"Yeah, I got it, Gutter."
"Good." He gave Micah a good shake, and then was gone.
Micah watched him go, and then slumped down against the wall. That was too close.
The next day, Shawna smiled to herself as she stepped off the bus, and walked to her locker. "Talking" Gutter out of beating up Micah had actually been the simple part. Writing the candygram had been the hard part. She wasn't a writer, and she had no idea how it sounded. She had read it over, but that didn't help any when you wrote it, and she didn't dare show it to anyone else. Not even Marie. Marie would tell Jared, and Jared would tell Micah, and then it would all be ruined.
So she hoped it was good, and decided to dwell on the past, and her victory over Gutter.
Gutter had been storming around the campus again, as mad as a hornet with a hernia, and she had approached him.
"Gutter?"
He spun around, surprised, but he covered it up, and walked over to her.
"Yeah Kitty Kat?"
She smiled sweetly as she approached him, and when she was close enough, she placed her hand lightly on his chest.
"I have a question for you," she said with a teasing inflection in her voice.
He smiled stupidly. She hated his smile. "What's your question Kitty Kat?"
She hated that name as well. "Well... I noticed you in class today."
"Really?" Moron, she thought, Thinks I noticed him in a good way.
"Yeah, and I was just wondering..." her voice suddenly shifted from teasing and sultry to hard and cold, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Gutter's face dropped, and his smile froze in place. "Uhhh, what.. what are you talking about?"
"THIS!" She stuck the note right up in his face, and he stared at the two words printed there. Printed hard enough to rip the paper in a place or two.
He looked at it, and then flinched. "Oh, that."
"Yeah, this. Now, let me give you fair warning Gutter. if you touch him, or hurt him at all, you had better pray to whatever god you believe in that I don't hear about it, because if I do, I'll come after you, and I will personally pound you so hard your children will feel it, even unto the third and fourth generation." Gutter didn't get the reference, but Shawna knew that.
He was taken aback, though, and as such, defended himself in the only way he knew how.
"Listen, Kitty Kat. You don't command me. I ain't afraid of you. I'll do whatever I want to that bastard, and you can't stop me." He turned to walk away. Shawna caught his arm, and spun him around. He looked at her, and then at her rapidly ascending fist, and fell back as she hit him square in the cheek, right under his right eye.
She looked at him, as he lay on the ground. He was making some weird sort of chuffing sound, like he was holding back tears.
"If you hurt Micah, and I hear about it, you'll get more of that. My promise to God," she said, then turned and walked away.
Micah waited all through first, second and third period, through the break, and halfway through fourth period before the candygrams were handed out.
Jared got one from Marie, and one from a couple other people. He watched as the cheerleaders delivered first one, and then another, and then a third to Shawna.
They came around to him, and he got two. One from Jared, with some stupid joke written on it. (What's the hardest part of a vegetable to eat? The wheelchair.) He read it, and then looked at Jared.
"That's sick, dude."
"But funny."
"Yeah, it was kinda funny."
"See? There's still hope for today's youth."
"Just not the youth in your family."
"Shut up, Micah."
Micah grinned to himself and looked at the second one. it had a somewhat lengthy message.
Dear Micah,
I heard about Gutter, and the note. "You're dead." Real mature huh? Don't worry about it though. I got it taken care of. He won't bother you. I'll make sure of it.
I hope you aren't thinking I'm some sort of stalker, or anything. I'm not. I just need to repay you, for last year. I hope you know what I mean.
it was signed "Your Guardian Angel." Micah read it over, and then showed it to Jared.
Jared read it, and then looked at Micah. He was grinning. "That's kinda funny. Know who it's from?"
"No. Do you?"
"Not a clue actually."
Jared actually suspected he knew who it was from. He was pretty sure it was from Shawna. He would have to talk to Marie about it later on. She could probably wrestle the information out of Shawna, and then pass it on to Jared.
It was kind of frustrating being Micah's friend, sometimes. Jared and Marie had just recently started working toward the goal of getting Micah and Shawna together. They belonged together. They were just too scared to admit anything to each other.
Jared and Marie were working behind the scenes to help them overcome their fear.
So far, it was hard work.
Shawna watched as The Candygrams were handed out. They started on the left side of the classroom, and went to the right. When they got to her, they dug through the bag, and for one terrific second, she thought she had none.
They came out with a handful, and handed one to her, then another, then a third. Then they moved on.
She looked at them, and turned over the first one.
"Fine!" it said "Don't send me a candygram. I won't send you one either!" That one was from Marie.
She turned over the second one, and read the message on the back.
"Homecoming is coming up in four months. I'll be asking you. Say yes."
The letter had the unmistakable sound of Gutter. She cringed, and tucked that one into her backpack.
She reached for the third one and turned it over.
"To Beauty. From the Beast."
Or could this one be from Gutter? Would Gutter refer to himself as a beast? Would Gutter even have the appropriate knowledge to know of the Beauty and the Beast story? She didn't think Gutter would stoop so low as to call himself a Beast, even to go out with her.
So who had sent it? It sent a thrill through her. Someone thought she was Beautiful? inwardly, she hoped it was Micah, but wouldn't come close to voicing those hopes, in fear that she would jinx it, and it wouldn't really be him after all.
Better to not know, and suspect him, then know, and it not be him.
Marie knew, of course. That's one of the differences between guys and girls. Guys may act all secretive, and not want anyone to know, but there is always someone the guy will tell, usually under an oath to not tell anyone else.
The guy he tells, will, in turn tell someone else. Say, his girlfriend, who just happens to be the best friend of the girl the secret is about. This is how the male mind works. Tell someone, who can spread the news around until the person you want to hear it, does.
So, Marie knew. She didn't tell however. She kept working in her own subtle way.
Thanksgiving came and went. Christmas vacation was fast approaching, and on the last wednesday before school was out for the winter, a school assembly was called. Rumors went flying that the announcement would be about when, where, and how much for Homecoming, and everyone was duly excited.
Homecoming was one of the big deals at school. it was, however, different from other school's Homecomings. They didn't have a football game. Their's was for basketball. There was a queen chosen, and a Homecoming court, of course. The banquet, however, was always held in a fancy restaurant, and there was rarely a dance associated with it.
You were allowed to take dates, and formal dress was a requirement.
Micah and Jared filed into the auditorium with the rest of the students and sat down in chairs near the back. Jared was grinning and waving. Micah looked over to where Jared was waving, and saw Marie. She smiled and waved back, and came over and sat down next to Jared.
Shawna was following after her, and she sat down next to Marie. They all greeted each other, and talked for a while.
None of them noticed the four figures that moved in and sat down in the chairs directly behind them. Specifically, no one noticed the one figure who was sitting directly behind Micah and Jared.
The announcement was pretty much what everyone thought it would be. Homecoming this year would be at a restaurant called Hs Lordships, and the dinner meals would be a choice of either Sirloin Steak, or Tender broiled Chicken.
It would be held on February 2, 1990, at 6 PM, and the dinner would last until 8 PM. From there, you can do whatever you want.
Micah looked right, at Jared, and then beyond him, at Marie and Shawna. He had to ask her at some point. He made an oath to himself he would do it.
Marie leaned over and whispered something to Shawna.
"Can we trade places? I need to ask Sandra a couple questions."
"Yeah, okay." Shawna half stood as Marie scooted over to her seat, and then sat down in Marie's old seat.
Jared watched the maneuvering, pretending not to think anything of it. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Marie talking to Sandra about who knows what. His heart was beating a little faster then normal, and the words that the speaker was saying were slipping right over him like water.
His move was next, and he had to appear totally nonchalant about it.
He leaned over to Micah. "You are going to ask her right?"
Micah took a deep breath. "Yeah, I think I am. I'm really going to do it this year."
"Good. I want to see you two together at Homecoming this year." He grinned.
Jared turned straight ahead again, pretending to listen to the speaker, but really waiting just a few seconds before he moved again.
Shawna was trying to listen to what the speaker was saying, but couldn't concentrate on it. There was something going on here, but she wasn't quite sure what. Marie never talked to Sandra. Why would she do that now? It made no sense.
Maybe it had something to do with the yearbook. Those yearbook people talked to everyone at anytime.
Still, there was a nagging sense of something bigger going on.
"Hey, Shawna."
She turned to look at Jared. "Hey, Jared."
"You mind if we trade spots? I need to talk to Marie. You know... about Homecoming..." he grinned kind of embarrasedly.
She smiled back. "Yeah, sure." She half stood again while he took her seat, then sat down in his.
She watched as Jared leaned over and whispered something to Marie, who whispered something back, and smiled. So, it looked they were going to Homecoming together. Not that there was ever any doubt.
She smiled and turned back to the speaker.
Micah is sitting next to you now. The thought struck her with all the speed of a runaway train, and nearly left her breathless.
Get control of yourself. Don't let him see you like this. She took on a poker face, and assumed nonchalance. They maneuvered me. Somehow, I got manipulated right into their game. I hate you Marie!
She stole a glance at Micah, who wasn't paying any attention to her, like usual.
Micah watched Jared get up and trade places with Shawna. He had been hoping something like that would happen as soon as he saw Shawna and Marie switch places. Those two. He could have happily boinked their heads together.
That was when an errant thought entered his head. and as soon as it did, it set off a raging debate within himself.
Ask her now. No. Yes. Ask her! No, she'll say no. No she won't she'll say yes- ask her! No, she doesn't want me to. Yes she does. Now do it! No, it's too soon. I'll appear to eager. If you don't do it now, you won't have the nerve later on, NOW DO IT. Okay, okay, I'll do it.
He took a deep breath, mustered up his courage and screwed it to the sticking place, then turned to her and opened his mouth.
Then, the worst possible thing could have happened.
Ask me. Ask me now. Do it. I won't say no. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. She sent the thought at Micah as hard as she could. She was still sitting, pretending to listen, but that was all outward. inwardly, she was thinking this thought as hard as she could.
She watched peripherally as Micah took a deep breath, and turned toward her.
Her thoughts had worked. But on the wrong person.
Just as Micah opened his mouth, about to ask Shawna if she wanted to go to Homecoming with him, a hand flopped over the seat from the row behind, and a head popped into view.
Micah recognized it, and nearly screamed, not in shock, or terror, but in frustration. it wasn't fair! it just wasn't fair! Why God? Why?
"So Kitty Kat, you wanna go to Homecoming with me?" Gutter asked.
Shawna jumped a little, and looked at her with an exasperated look on his face. Then she smiled sweetly. Micah felt a growing dread in his stomach.
"Sure Gutter. I would love to go with you." Micah felt an icicle enter his stomach, like a knife. What is she saying?
Gutter grinned. "Alright then. That's more like it. Thanks, Kitty Kat."
"Oh, Gutter?" She rested a hand lightly on his arm. He leaned forward again, with a lustful grin on his face. Micah wanted to punch him, but if Shawna felt about him the way it appeared she did, she would hate him for it.
This sucks.
Hook, Line and Sinker, thought Shawna. This guy is more then a total moron. he flies into the airspace of monumental stupidity.
"if we go to Homecoming together, what would we be doing afterwards?" She drew a lock of hair back from her face, and tucked it behind her ear.
"Afterwards? Umm. Well, anything you want, baby." He grinned, showing his golden yellows.
She smiled back, with her best smile. "Anything?"
He grinned back. "Anything."
She tried to suppress the gag reflex that accompanied the thought of her and Gutter doing anything and somehow did it.
"So, after Homecoming, we could find someplace to wander off... alone.. and be.... intimate? That's the only reason I'm saying yes. I finally realized I can't fight my desire anymore." She ran her finger lightly up and down his arm, and over the tattoo he had on his arm; the one that spelled out his name- Gutter, not Clarence Anderson.
He grinned even more widely.
"Baby," he said, "we can rut like animals."
Shawna almost didn't succeed in keeping down the gag reflex this time. That was just too disgusting a thought.
She did though, somehow.
She smiled and stroked his arm some more. "Well, that's good," she said. It hurt like no one's business to have to ignore Micah and play all goody goody to Gutter, but it would be worth it in the end. She hoped.
"Of course, you realize that you're almost twenty, and I'm only sixteen."
"Yeah, I know. So?"
"So, if we were to do that, all I have to do is scream rape, and everyone in school, and in town, and more importantly in the police department, will believe me." She added a tone of implication that she would do such a thing, and inwardly was thrilled when Gutter's face began to blanch.
"Secondly, I'm a minor, and you're not, so that would get you thrown in jail, doing double duty. Do you still want to go to Homecoming with me?"
Gutter fell back against his chair, speechless.
Micah watched all this with morbid fascination, and when Gutter fell back, defeated, he loved Shawna more then ever.
However, he had already entered the asking mode, using his store of will power to ask her, and when Gutter had interrupted, he couldn't stop the flow. it was all gone.
He couldn't possibly ask her now. The moment was lost.
This Friday, though. This Friday, he would ask her. The last day before Christmas Vacation. He would ask her then.
Finished with Gutter, she turned back to Micah. "Now, what were you saying?"
"Oh, uh.. well... Those two there." He nodded his head indicating Jared and Marie. "They're something else, aren't they?"
Them? She looked back at them. They were talking about something, she couldn't hear what. "Oh, yeah. I guess they are." She smiled.
She had hoped he was going to ask her to Homecoming. For a second, she had been positive he was going to, and then... Gutter.
She sighed.
This sucks.
Friday.
The alarm bleeped loudly, and Micah awoke. He blinked a couple of times, and then sighed. I have to go to school. At least I don't have to go anymore this year after today....
Today is Friday.
The thought hit him suddenly, and his heart did a double take. This was the day, for better or for worse, that he asked Shawna to Homecoming. He felt a small butterfly of nervousness touch down in his stomach, and hoped it would remain that size for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, it would probably grow worse. He sighed and got ready for school.
I will ask her as soon as the classes get out.
This was his resolution. As soon as the half day of school ended, he would ask her. He thought no more about it that day.
He sat through his first class, and then the second, and midway through the third, began to get impatient for the day to end. he spent most of his class time doodling (nothing having to do with Gutter- he had learned that lesson), and talking to Jared.
Jared was indeed going with Marie to Homecoming. He was purposely vague when Micah asked whether or not they were officially a couple. The truth was, Jared and Marie had been a couple since almost the end of seventh grade. They had just kept it low key, not wanting to attract attention.
Finally, the third class ended, and the final class before the three week break began. Micah sat down, and tried to concentrate, thinking that mayeb that would make time pass quicker, but it didn't.
Halfway through the class, his ear suddenly was a sharp screech of pain. He opened his mouth, silently gasping, and turned around.
Jonny Levere, Gutter's second in command, was sitting behind him. He leaned forward, and dropped a folded piece of paper on the arm rest of Micah's desk.
Micah picked it up, and opened it.
Don't ask Shauna to Homecoming, or I'll have to kill you.
Gutter. Still going after Shawna. The moron doesn't even know how to spell her name correctly. Micah chuckled to himself.
The thought never occured to him that he was less then fifteen minutes away from when he would ask her.
The class finally ended, and he was free! Gloriously free for three weeks! He grinned as he stepped out of the building and into the crisp sunlight.
It's time.
He stopped short as the voice reverberated.
Time? For what?
To ask Shawna to Homecoming.
It is, isn't it?
How had it snuck up on him this quickly? Was it really time? It really was. Classes were over. He had to ask her.
So, he steeled himself, and set off to find her.
She wasn't on the patio, with the majority of students waiting for their rides, nor was she in the main building.
He looked around, but couldn't find her. He decided to get some books out of his locker, and began to walk across the campus. That was when he saw her, and his heart started up double time. This was it. He was going to do it.
She was walking with Marie, in the direction he had just come from. He slowed.
"Shawna, I need to talk to you." She looked up at him.
"Okay, just a minute," she walked on.
Micah surprised himself. "Uh, no, now please." She stopped, and turned halfway and looked at him.
"Okay, just give me a minute."
"Alright." idiot. How could he have said something like that? What kind of moron was he?
Shawna and Marie were talking, then Shawna turned and walked toward him.
This was it. He took a deep breath.
After class that day, Shawna met Marie outside the locker room.
"So, you and Jared are going to Homecoming, huh?"
"Yeah, we are," she said, with a shy smile. Shawna nodded.
"I wish Micah would ask me."
"Well, he probably will." Shawna's head snapped around, and she looked at her friend.
"What? How do you know? Did Jared say something?"
"No, actually, he didn't."
"Then how do you know?"
"Because Micah is walking in this direction, and he has quite a look on his face." Shawna didn't look. She pretended not to notice. She cast about frantically for something to say, anything, but could come up with nothing.
"Shawna, I need to talk to you," he said. She looked up, and there he was. She kept walking. Why was she still walking? Stop! Stay and talk to him!
"Okay, just a minute." Every nerve in her body was screaming to turn around and talk to him. But she didn't.
"Uh, no, now please." She froze. He wanted to talk to her this badly about something. She looked back at him.
"Okay, just give me a minute."
"Alright."
She looked at Marie. "Are you positive he wants to ask me to Homecoming?"
"I'm pretty sure."
"if you're messing with me, I'm going to kill you."
"Just go see what he wants."
"Alright. I'm going."
She turned and began to walk toward Micah. Micah was watching her, and then his own feet. He took a deep breath.
"Well, about time," he said grinning, then glanced at his watch. "is it 1993 already?"
"Well, almost..." she said, and then laughed.
"Anyway... Umm... Do you.. do you wanna go to Homecoming with me?"
Her stomach jumped up into her chest, and she felt her heart leap.
Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes a thousand million billion times yes!
"I don't know." She said calmly, surprised by her own voice. "I'll have to think about it. I'll get back to you."
"Okay. Alright. That's fine. I'll see you next year then."
"Yeah. See ya then."
She walked off, and thus ended the first half of the school year for Shawna Pope.
Micah was on pins and needles all during winter vacation. it wouldn't pass fast enough for him. The days seemed to lag, moving more slowly then he would have imagined possible.
Christmas came and went, and New Years. He stayed up until midnight, and welcomed in 1991. He spent most of the night wishing Shawna were with him, so he could kiss her at the stroke of twelve.
He and Jared went to see a couple of movies, and sometimes Marie would tag along. Jared and Marie would, of course, be holding hands, and that made Micah jealous, but what could he do about it?
The first school day of the new year was coming in two days, and Micah was getting more nervous everyday. He would get her response. Did she decide yes, or no?
The first day of school of the year 1991 came, and Micah was so nervous he could barely eat.
Shawna hadn't said anything to him so far. Through the first four classes, and the break, she hadn't said anything, and he was beginning to get worried.
Lunch came around, and he and Jared sat down at their usual table.
"She hasn't answered yet," he said, with no preamble.
"I know."
"Has Marie said anything?"
"Marie doesn't know anything more then we do about this. Or so she says. Shawna is playing her cards close to her vest on this one. I'll let you know if I hear anything."
Micah sighed. "Yeah, I guess it's just a waiting game."
"That it is, my friend, that it is." There was a pause. "Though... you might want to go and talk to her."
"No. no, that's crazy. if I go and talk to her, she'll think I'm too anxious, and she'll know something's up."
Jared said nothing.
"Awwww shove it. I'll go talk to her after school today."
Jared grinned.
End of the school day.
He took a deep breath and walked over to her, and asked her if she had made any decisions yet.
She hadn't yet, but she would let him know as soon as she did.
He inquired further as to whether or not she was going to hang him out to dry until the day before Homecoming.
She laughed slightly, but assured him she wasn't doing that.
As long as she didn't forget.
She agreed.
He left.
The next day passed slowly, and Micah dredged through it, waiting for her answer.
All through the day, he fretted, but no answer came. Then, at the beginning of seventh period, Marie walked over to the class he was in, and got his attention.
He stepped over to her, and she handed him an envelope.
He looked at it. "Micah" was written on the front in Shawna's script. His heart sped up, and he realized this was it. This was his answer. He sat down at his desk, and opened the envelope.
The letter was three paragraphs long.
"Micah,
I didn't want to tell you this way, but it seemed once I was ready to tell you, there were all kinds of people there also.
I can't go with you. Not with anyone. I considered going with you only as friends (note: no boy/girl) but I'm not allowed to go with anyone. I don't know if I've even going.
I don't want to hurt you. I don't want this to hurt our friendship.
From: You-should-know"
He read it over once, twice, three times. His stomach sunk, and he felt sick. As the teacher droned on, Micah's mind was elsewhere.
One of the phrases of the letter had stuck in his mind.
I don't want this to hurt you. I don't want this to hurt our friendship.
Why had she written that?
It seemed almost out of place in the letter. Unless, it was some way of her telling him that she liked him. Could that be?
But then what about that part that said "no boy/girl"? Maybe she didn't like him.
He didn't understand it at all, and it left him hurt and confused.
Shawna was crying as she wrote the note to Micah. Her parents were being unfair. There had been a big argument, but they had won out. She was very angry.
She had Marie deliver the envelope, cause if she had, she would have just broken down right there. So, she had told Micah no, and now she really didn't know if she was going.
Homecoming finally came, and she did decide to go, and she saw Micah there. Gutter was also there, though, which was probably why Micah didn't say anything to Shawna.
Gutter was holding him back, not wanting him to infringe, apparently. Shawna hated him.
Homecoming eventually ended, just as it always did, and during the next few months, Marie and Jared started hanging out together, and Shawna and Micah were dragged along for the ride.
Before the end of the year, Gutter had been suspended for use of Marijuana on campus, but he was back again within a week.
Micah and Shawna slowly became friends, and by the end of the year, Micah, Shawna, Jared and Marie, were "The Group."
And now Chapter 3
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