The Fifteenth Year

March: Part 2

Friday, March 4, 2005

Dear Friend,

I was breezing through this day with flying colors. I got a great grade on my health test and Miss Burgess didn't give us much homework for the weekend at all (probably saving it for spring break.)

All through lunch Chloe was fidgeting.

Renee rolled her eyes. "They're gonna take you, ya dork. Would you quit worrying? Cassie said you played great."

Chloe shook her head vigorously. "I'm not the fastest, I'm not the tallest, and I'm not the strongest. I'm going to be cut."

"You are not!" Tessa and I said in unison.

"When are they posting the roster?"

Chloe bit her lip. "End of the day."

"We believe in you, okay? They'd be stupid not to take you," Renee said.

"Right. We'll be with you at the bulletin board by the office when they post it. Don't sweat it," Tessa assured her.

"Really? Golly. Thanks, guys." She smiled sweetly.

When the final bell rang, Renee and I sprang from our seats to run to Chloe's class.

"She's got to be a wreck," Renee laughed. "One of these days she's going to spaz herself into a seizure."

"Hey," I said as we turned down a hallway. "Do you wanna talk about what happened over the weekend? With your dad?"

She made a face. "Not today, okay? We got the game and everything. We will though. Just give me another day or two to process it."

I nodded, and we almost bumped into Tessa coming from Mr. Thomas' class. And three of us took off for the office where Chloe was already pacing back and forth outside the principal's office.

"How'd you get here so fast?" I asked, looking at a clock on the wall.

"I made an excuse. Said my time of the month got here and I needed to get Midol from the nurse," Chloe admitted.

"You lied?!" Renee asked in horror, mouth dropping. "But Chloe...what about your sainthood?"

"Shh!" I interrupted. "Here comes the mail for the bulletin board."

We waited in silence as the papers got tacked one by one. When the person disappeared we crowded around it.

"Which one is it?" Chloe asked frantically as all our eyes scanned.

"You'd think they'd make it like a stand-out page printed in yellow or something," Tessa commented.

"Stop! Stop! Here it is!" I announced, finger stabbing the paper. "Announcement for the Lakota Girls' Softball Team of 2005."

Chloe put her finger to the paper too and dragged it down to the list of girls in alphabetical order until she found the only F on the list.

Fleacorn, Chloe.

She screamed and jumped up and down in the hall and we all did the same for her, high-fiving and hugging her.

"Girls!" a stern voice hollered at us.

We stopped immediately and cleared our throats. Poking out of the office door was our assistant principal.

"Until the buses get here these hallways are not playgrounds. Be respectful and quiet down."

Renee was stifling a laugh.

"Sure, Ms. Anderson," I murmured, glancing at my shoes. "Sorry. We'll keep it down."