Starstruck

Chapter 1a: Shifting orbits

When we were all in fifth grade, Debbi moved in next door to Bri and became a third star in our tiny constellation. While Bri was almost as stick-figured as I was, Deb was just the opposite-barely five feet tall with curves bordering on chubby, but with a blonde, baby-doll cuteness that tended to make guys kind of protective of her. Though none of us had ever had an actual boyfriend, Debbi sometimes got asked to dance at school mixers, which was more than Bri or I could claim.

"Did you hear?" Bri looked at Deb, then me, then back at Deb, letting the suspense build. "We have a new quarterback! My dad told me at breakfast this morning."

Bri was kind of a sports nut, since her dad was an assistant football coach. He also taught some computer and gym classes, since at a school as small as Jewel High, most of the teachers wore multiple hats.

"Who is it?" Deb asked. "Ooh, is it Gary?" Bri had had a crush on Gary Chambers nearly as long as I'd had one on Jimmy Franklin.

But she shook her head, making her dark curls bounce. "No, it's a new guy--a transfer from Center North. He just moved here, like last week."

Now Brianna had the attention of everyone within earshot. New students were rare enough at our little rural high school, but a new boy coming in to quarterback our pathetic football team? That was big news!

"Whoa, Center North? Seriously?" Joe Thomas hung over the back of his seat. "If he played for them, he's gotta be way better than any of our losers. Did he quarterback there?"

"Backup quarterback," Bri said. "Rigel Stuart? Anyone hear of him?"

"Like the star?" I blurted out without thinking. A few people gave me weird looks.

Joe frowned at me. "There's a star named Rigel? What has he been in?"

Feeling even more like a dork, I shook my head. "Not that kind of star. Rigel is the seventh brightest...oh, never mind," I mumbled.

Astronomy had been a hobby of mine for years and everyone knew it. Back in middle school, when we'd taken a class trip to the planetarium, I'd played nerdy know-it-all, raising my hand and showing off. I cringed, remembering that, and wished I hadn't reminded everybody all over again.

Luckily, nobody seemed as interested in making fun of me as they were in hearing about the new quarterback. That topic obsessed everyone as the bus drove through endless cornfields along the state road. I didn't pay much attention, since I wasn't into football. Unless Jimmy Franklin made the team this year. I considered asking Bri, but decided that would be too obvious.

Instead, I retreated into a pleasant fantasy where Jimmy, seeing me for the first time since spring, suddenly realized how much I meant to him. He'd stare, then smile, then hurry toward me, arms outstretched, to sweep me into a hug and tell me how much he'd missed me over the summer. I'd shyly admit I'd missed him, too, then we'd walk down the hall holding hands, making me the envy of every girl in school. If only.

The bus pulled up in front of one-story Jewel Senior High, three miles out of town. Jewel Junior High, a smaller but similar yellow brick building, was right across the street. Nothing else was nearby but more cornfields. Bri, Deb and I followed the others into the school and across the skylighted atrium to the hand-lettered signs taped to the opposite wall telling us which homeroom to report to.

"See you at lunch," Bri said as she and Deb headed off to the left. I turned right, to the S through Z room.

I didn't hurry. The bell wouldn't ring for almost ten minutes, and I was hoping for a glimpse of Jimmy in the still-crowded hallway. Besides, if they seated us alphabetically again--Squires, Truitt--I'd be right behind Trina, who probably already had some new humiliation planned for me.