David Collins was sitting in the outdoor courtyard next to the cafeteria. He had already wolfed down half his lunch by the time Laurie arrived, and he was beginning to feel like a normal human being again. He watched Laurie put her tray down next to his and then noticed that Robert Billings was also headed for the courtyard.
"Hey, look," David whispered as Laurie sat down. They watched as Robert stepped out of the cafeteria carrying a tray, looking for a place to eat. True to form, he had already started eating and stood in the doorway with half a hot dog sticking out of his mouth.
There were two girls from Mr Ross's history class sitting at the table Robert chose. As Robert set his tray down, they both stood up and took their trays to another table. Robert pretended he hadn't noticed.
David shook his head. "Gordon High's very own Untouchable," he mumbled.
"Do you think there's something really wrong with him?" Laurie asked.
David shrugged. "I don't know. He's been pretty strange for as long as I can remember. Then again, if people treated me like that, I'd probably be pretty strange too. It's just weird that he and his brother could come from the same family."
"Did I ever tell you that my mother knows his mother?" Laurie asked.
"His mother ever talk about him?" David asked.
"No. Except I think she told me once that they had him tested and he really does have a normal I.Q. He's not really dumb or anything."
"Just weird," David said and went back to eating his lunch. But Laurie only picked at hers. She seemed preoccupied.
"What is it?" David asked.
"That film, David," Laurie answered. "It really bothers me. Doesn't it bother you?"
David thought for a moment. Then he said, "Yeah, sure, as something horrible that happened once, it bothers me. But that was a long time ago, Laurie. To me it's like a piece of history. You can't change what happened then."
"But you can't forget it," Laurie said. She tried a bite of her hamburger, then made a face and put it down.
"Well, you can't go around being bummed out about it for the rest of your life either," David said. He eyed Laurie's uneaten hamburger. "By the way, you gonna eat that?"
Laurie shook her head. The movie had left her without much of an appetite. "Help yourself."
Not only did David help himself to her burger, he finished off her fries, salad, and ice cream as well. Laurie looked in his direction, but her eyes were distant.
"Hmm." David wiped his lips with a napkin.
"Would you like anything more?" Laurie asked.
"Well, to tell you the truth ..."
"Hey, is this seat taken?" someone behind them said.
"I was here first!" said another voice.
David and Laurie looked up to find Amy Smith and Brian Amnion, the quarterback, both heading for their table from opposite directions.
"What do you mean you were here first?" Brian asked.
"Well, I meant I wanted to be here first," Amy replied.
"Meaning to be first doesn't count," Brian said. "Besides, I have to talk to Dave about football."
"And I have to talk to Laurie," Amy said.
"What about?" Brian asked.
"Well, about keeping her company while you talk about boring football."
"Stop it," Laurie said. "There's room for two."
"But with them you need room for three," Amy said, nodding at Brian and David.
"Hardy har har," Brian grunted.
David and Laurie slid over, and Amy and Brian squeezed in next to them at the table. Amy was right about room for three — Brian was carrying two full lunch trays.
"Hey, what are you doing with all this food?" David asked, patting Brian on the back. Although he was the team's quarterback, Brian was not very big. David stood a full head taller than him.
"I gotta gain some weight," Brian said as he started to wolf down his lunch. "I'm gonna need every pound I've got against those guys from Clarkstown on Saturday. They are big. I mean, huge. I hear they got a linebacker who stands six three and weighs sixteen stone."
"I don't see what you're worried about," Amy said. "No one that heavy can run very fast."
Brian rolled Ins eyes. "He doesn't have to run, Amy. All he has to do is squash quarterbacks."
"Will you have a chance on Saturday?" Laurie asked. She was thinking about the story they would need for The Grapevine.
David shrugged. "I don't know. The team's pretty disorganized. We're way behind on learning our plays and stuff. Half the guys don't even show up for practice."
"Yeah," Brian agreed. "Coach Schiller said he was gonna throw anyone who didn't show up for practice off the team. But if he did that we wouldn't even have enough guys to play."
No one seemed to have anything more to say about football, so Brian bit into his second hamburger.
David's thoughts drifted to other pressing matters. "Hey, is anyone here good at calculus?"
"Why are you taking calculus?" Amy asked.
"You need it for engineering," David said.
"So why not wait till college?" Brian asked.
"I heard it was so hard you have to take it twice to understand it," David explained, "so I figured I'd take it once now and once later."
Amy nudged Laurie. "I think your boyfriend is strange," she said.
"Talk about strange," Brian whispered, nodding towards Robert Billings.
They all looked. Robert was sitting alone at his table, engrossed in a Spiderman comic book. His lips moved as he read and there was. a red streak of ketchup on his chin.
"You see him sleep through the whole movie?" Brian asked.
"Don't remind Laurie," David told him. "She's upset."
"What, about that movie?" Brian asked.
Laurie gave David a dirty look. "Do you have to tell everybody?"
"Well, it's true, isn't it?" David asked.
"Oh, just leave me alone," Laurie answered.
"I can understand how you feel," Amy told her. "I thought it was just awful."
Laurie turned to David. "There, you see? I'm not the only one that it bothered."
"Hey," David said defensively. "I didn't say I wasn't bothered by it. I just said it's over now. Forget about it. It happened once and the world learned its lesson. It'll never happen again." "I hope not," Laurie said, picking up her tray.
"Where're you going?" David asked her.
"I have to go and work on The Grapevine," Laurie said.
"Wait," Amy said, "I'll go with you."
David and Brian watched the two girls go.
"Gee, she really is upset about that movie, isn't she?" Brian said.
"Yeah." David nodded. "You know, she always takes stuff like that too seriously."
Amy Smith and Laurie Saunders sat in The Grapevine office talking. Amy wasn't on the newspaper staff, but she often hung out with Laurie in the publications office. The office door could be locked, and Amy would sit inside by an open window, holding a cigarette outside and blowing the smoke out. If a teacher came in, she could drop the cigarette to the ground and there would hardly be any smell of smoke in the room.
"That was an awful movie," Amy said.
Laurie nodded quietly.
"Are you and David having a fight?" her friend asked.
"Oh, not really." Laurie couldn't help smiling slightly. "I just wish he would take something besides football seriously. He's — I don't know — he's such a jock sometimes."
"But he gets good grades," Amy said. "At least he's not a dumb jock like Brian."
The two girls giggled for a moment and then Amy asked, "Why does he want to be an engineer? It sounds so boring."
"He wants to be a computer engineer," Laurie said. "Did you ever see the one he has at home? He built it from a kit."
"Somehow I missed it," Amy said facetiously. "By the way, have you decided what you're doing next year?"
Laurie shook her head. "Maybe we'll go somewhere together. It depends on where we get accepted."
"Your parents will be thrilled," Amy said.
"I don't think they'd mind that much," Laurie said.
"Why don't you just get married?" Amy asked.
Laurie made a face. "Oh, Amy. I mean, I guess I love David, but who wants to get married yet?"
Amy smiled. "Oh, I don't know, if David asked me I might consider it," she teased.
Laurie laughed. "Would you like me to drop a hint?"
"Come off it, Laurie," Amy said. "You know how much he likes you. He doesn't even look at other girls."
"He'd better not," Laurie said. She noticed that there was a wistful note to Amy's voice. Ever since Laurie had started dating David, Amy had wanted to date a football player too. It sometimes bothered Laurie that underlying their friendship was a constant competition for boys, grades, popularity, almost everything one could compete for. Even though they were best friends, that constant competition somehow prevented them from being really close.
Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door and someone tried the doorknob. Both girls jumped. "Who is it?" Laurie asked.
"Principal Owens," a deep voice replied. "Why is this door locked?"
Amy's eyes went wide with fear. She quickly dropped her cigarette and started digging through her pocket-book for a stick of gum or a mint.
"Uh, it must have been an accident," Laurie replied nervously, going to the door.
"Well, open it immediately!"
Amy looked terrified.
Laurie gave her a helpless look and pulled the door open.
Outside in the hall were Carl Block, The Grapevine's investigative reporter, and Alex Cooper, the music reviewer. They were both grinning.
"Oh, you two!" Laurie said angrily. Behind her Amy looked as if she was going to faint as the two biggest practical jokers in the school stepped into the room.
Carl was a tall, thin guy with blond hair. Alex, who was stocky and dark, was wearing earphones connected to a small tape player.
"Something illegal going on in here?" Carl asked slyly, making his eyebrows bounce up and down.
"You made me waste a perfectly good cigarette," Amy complained.
"Tisk, tisk," Alex said, looking on disapprovingly.
"So how is the paper coming?" Carl asked. "What do you mean?" Laurie asked in exasperation. "Neither of you has handed in your assignments for this issue."
"Oh-oh." Alex was suddenly looking at his watch and backing away towards the door. "I just remembered I have to catch a plane to Argentina."
"I'll drive you to the airport!" Carl said, following him out the door.
Laurie looked at Amy and shook her head wearily. "Those two," she mumbled, making a fist.