Just Try It

Chapter 29- Make-up Mistakes

Tuesday, February 14th 5:00pm

Lincoln High School, Girls' Locker Room

Practice was hard, but Sondra was pleased with her serving. Even though Nancy was still placing her targets at the worst angle possible, it wasn't an impossible task. When she was done, Sondra was happy to see more than half of the targets were knocked over. Nancy's disgusted face was particularly satisfying. Sondra wryly noted that Nancy was setting Susie's targets at more of an angle too. Susie didn't seem to notice, and she knocked them over anyway. However, Sondra still thought it was interesting.

As practice went on, more and more make-up came off with the sweat, and Sondra saw her friends peering at her face. Sondra didn't want to answer questions in the middle of practice, so she stayed on the other side of the court, and splashed her face with water the next time she got a drink. This washed off the rest of her foundation, but she also made sure to smear her mascara down her cheeks.

The next time Danica looked her way, Sondra knew her tactic had worked. Instead of peering closer, Danica just rolled her eyes and looked away like she had seen something painful. No questions were asked, so Sondra didn't have to lie. The hard part was stopping a smile when Danica whispered for Sondra to remember to wash her face before the boys could see her. Instead, Sondra nodded solemnly and made sure to keep her distance until practice was over. In fact, she waited until most of the girls had left the locker room before starting to take care of her makeup.

It took longer to removed the streaked makeup than she thought, and once it was off she took some time to examine her face. The redness was gone, but the bruise was clearly visible on her pale skin. It wasn't large, mostly just on her cheekbone, but it was clearly there. Sondra stared at her face for a moment before defiantly refusing to try to cover it again. She hadn't done anything wrong, she reminded herself, and she couldn't avoid her telling her friends any longer.

Opening the door was very anticlimactic though. The only one close by was Moe, and he was facing the other way.  Her grandma was still picking up on the other court, but she was too far away to see any bruises. Sondra wasn't even sure if Moe was waiting for her or not. After how their conversation had ended earlier, he might not even want to keep working together. Finally, she just made sure her exit path would take her past him, and left it up to him to join her or not. When Moe turned her way, Sondra gave a cautious smile and hoped for the best. When he responded to her smile with a scowl and glare, her smile faded, and she hurried toward the gate without a word. No need to let him see how badly his reaction had hurt her. She should have known better than to get used to being around him so much again.

"Hey, wait up!" Moe cried, and Sondra heard him call out. When she stopped in surprise and turned back, she noticed Moe limping over to her in surprise. He was still frowning when he caught up, but then his hand came up and gently touched her bruise. Oh. Yeah. The bruise. Duh. Of course he wasn't happy now that he could see it. That wasn't important to Sondra right now though.

"What's wrong?" Sondra asked in concern.

"Your bruise," Moe said softly.

"I meant, why are you limping?" Sondra asked with a grin.

Moe looked away and blushed, before answering, "Just a rough practice." Then, he looked back, caressed her cheek again and said softly, "I didn't know she had hit you that hard."

Sondra's heart melted at his touch and she had to firmly remind herself that she needed him to see her as strong. Her blush probably didn't  help, but she tried to act nonchalant as she answered, "I kept it covered since I didn't want to explain to everyone at school. It isn't as bad as it looks. With some luck it will be fading by tomorrow."

Moe didn't look convinced, so Sondra continued, I don't want people worrying about it so much that they can't focus on what is important.  For instance, you were almost late for practice."

Moe paused blurting out his question, "So you did you mean it when you said I should stay out of your business?"

It was tempting to take the easy road and just agree, but he needed to hear the rest or he might back off. Instead, Sondra hesitated and chose her words carefully as she replied, "You are my friend, but I'm not helpless anymore Moe. I understand you care, but I don't need you to fix all my problems for me, especially when you have other things that you need to focus on."

Moe was glad she acknowledged their friendship, but wasn't too clear on what his roll was to be. Eventually, he shrugged and decided they would cross that bridge later. He nodded his understanding and said, "I'm glad to know you aren't mad at me, but I'm not the only one that this will bother. People care about you too much to let this go, Sondra."

They moved out slowly as Sondra shrugged and answered, "It doesn't change that you need to work on your next project tonight. You can start that while I talk to Sean before work."

It took a moment, but Moe finally gave a nod of agreement, even if it was with a frown.

After a few moments, Sondra shyly asked, "How did you like the story? 

His eyes finally left her bruise and he even smiled.  She couldn't help but smile back.

Her arched brow and teasing smile lifted his heart. She wasn't acting defeated. In fact, she seemed to want to call the shots. If that was what she needed, he would stop fighting for control. Besides, that way he would be there to back her up. He forced himself to continue to grin as he answered, "The story was great. There was so much going on that I had to listen to it several times, but I think that I understand how it all works together now. There were several projects that could go with that section. They all looked like they would take a long time though. Do you have any ideas?

Sondra nodded and said, I thought a diorama with labels would be quickest.  Just choose one event that led up to the war and we'll set it up. Sondra paused and frowned as she said, Let's just work at the dojo if we can find a quiet spot.  If I'm not home, then I wont have to worry about Mom showing up unexpectedly. I'm not quite ready to deal with that yet.

Moe nodded and hid the small rush of anger at the thought of Pamela. Now that Sondra was being so open with him, he didn't want to scare her off.  Instead, he said reassuringly, "Smart. Besides, everyone will want to make sure you are safe." Before she could think of anything else to say, he switched to talking about his project. That tactic worked, and Sondra relaxed and chatted calmly. With her acting so normal, even some of his anger evaporated.

Before he knew it, they had arrived at their apartments, and Moe had picked an event that sounded interesting. While he rummaged through his old toys for army figures, plastic planes, and ships, Sondra gathered a box, construction paper, note cards, glue. and string. Quickly packing up what they needed, they hurried on to the dojo to start the project.

If not for the glaring bruise, it would be easy to just focus on the project. Clearly, that was what Sondra wanted. However, the bruise on her cheek was a constant reminder. Even the aches in his body led his brain back to Sonda and the problem with her mom. He couldn't help wondering when Pamela would show up again, so he kept his eyes open on the way to the dojo. Nothing seemed out of place, but he decided to spend a little time with Jamie or Sean talking about how to spot a tail. He just wished Jamie's uncle Bandit was back. He was the expert on that area after all.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think. I always appeciate comments. If you want, feel free to just tap the star if you liked it, but dont want to leave a comment. Thanks for reading.