April 17, 1962
The only good thing that Edward Morrison could say about his senior year of high school was that it would be over soon. As he parked his car in the Clearwater Lake High School parking lot one Tuesday morning, he hoped that nothing too terrible would happen that day. It was already raining, but Edward knew that the day could get much worse from here.
Edward grabbed his cane, locked the car door, and stumbled toward the Clearwater Lake High School entrance. The pavement was quite slippery, and Edward struggled to maintain his balance. Plenty of people walked past, but Edward didn't get any help from his classmates. Eventually, he reached the door, opened it, and headed inside, completely soaked from the rain.
It was during times like these that Edward wished that James was here. James always managed to cheer him up, but he had graduated last year. Now, he was off at college, and Edward was alone and friendless at Clearwater Lake High School. As he headed toward his locker, the other students avoided him - none of the other kids wanted to be seen befriending the cripple. James wasn't afraid to be a little bit square, but nobody else at Edward's high school was like that.
Edward finally got to his locker, but when he reached for his books, Gary Reinhart walked by and knocked Edward's cane out of his hand. Edward fell over, and while he lay sprawled out on the ground, Gary laughed. Edward sighed - nearly every day was like this for him. He snatched his cane from off of the ground and after a few minutes of wriggling around on the floor, he managed to stand up again. He took his math textbook out of his locker and headed to class, but the hallways were nearly empty, telling him that he was probably late already.
When Edward walked into the classroom, Mrs. Minsky gave him a disapproving look. "Mr. Morrison, you're late to class again," she said.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Minsky," Edward said. He was too embarrassed to recount what had actually made him late for class, but he couldn't think of a good excuse either, so he simply hobbled to the only empty seat in the back of the classroom without offering an explanation.
Edward didn't recognize the girl sitting next to him. The school was massive, so perhaps that shouldn't have been a surprise, but Edward thought that he knew everyone in his class. The girl appeared to be Native American, and in Edward's opinion, she was quite pretty. Edward briefly wondered why he had never noticed her before.
"Let's continue on," Mrs. Minsky said. "Can anyone tell me what the derivative of 2x+3 is?"
Edward had no clue - he hadn't had time to do yesterday's homework. When nobody answered the teacher's question, Mrs. Minsky said, "Did nobody do the homework that I assigned yesterday?"
The girl next to Edward raised her hand. "The answer is two, Mrs. Minsky," she said.
"Very good," Mrs. Minsky said. "How about the derivative of 6x²-7?"
Again, the girl next to Edward raised her hand, but Mrs. Minsky didn't call on her. "Did anyone else do the homework?" she asked, but nobody responded. "Well, if nobody did the homework, then I suppose that we're all going to have to waste some precious class time so that everyone can complete it. You can work in pairs if you'd like, but everyone needs to be working on the problem set in Chapter 11 of your textbook."
Edward turned to the girl next to him and asked, "Are you new here?" It was the most reasonable explanation for why Edward had never seen her before, but Edward soon realized that it was not the best first impression he could have made on the most beautiful girl that he had ever met.
"Yes, my family just moved to Clearwater Lake," the girl said. "I'm Lorraine Hill, by the way. What's your name?"
"I'm Edward Morrison," he said.
"It's nice to meet you, Edward," Lorraine said as she opened the textbook. "Let's get to work on these problems."
"If you're new to Clearwater Lake, then how do you know how to do everything already?" Edward asked.
"I read ahead in my old textbook," Lorraine said. "I don't think that I fully understand integrals though."
Edward didn't even know what an integral was. "Where are you from, Lorraine?" he asked.
"I used to live on the Oneida reservation," Lorraine said. "I really miss my friends back there."
"You'll make new friends," Edward said, even though he had failed to do exactly that after eighteen years in Clearwater Lake. Then again, Lorraine was beautiful and Edward wasn't. Beautiful girls always managed to become popular at Clearwater Lake High School.
"I hope so," Lorraine said. "Maybe you can be my first friend here." She smiled, making Edward's heart melt.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Edward said. "You don't really want to be friends with me."
"Why not?" Lorraine said. "You seem nice enough."
Edward shrugged and said, "Could we go back to the assignment? Mrs. Minsky might get mad at us if we spend too much time chatting."
"Sure," Lorraine said. She flipped to Chapter 11 in the textbook, and she explained each of the problems to Edward until he understood all of it. They managed to finish every problem before class was over, and when the two of them realized that they still had three minutes left, they started chatting again.
"How do you like Clearwater Lake so far?" Edward asked.
"It's a bit lonely here, but Clearwater Lake is a pretty town," Lorraine said. "I'd like to go to the lake sometime."
"I live next to the lake," Edward said.
"Really?" Lorraine said. "What's that like?"
"It's nice," Edward said. "I get to sail in the yacht club in the summers."
"I've never been sailing," Lorraine said.
"You have to go sailing sometime," Edward said. "Being out on the water is such an amazing feeling. There's nothing else like it in the world."
"I'd like to go sailing sometime," Lorraine said.
Edward was going to respond to her, but the bell rang, and Edward had to go to his history class. "What's your next class?" he asked Lorraine.
"Chemistry," Lorraine answered.
The science labs were on the other side of the school from the history wing. "I have history next," Edward said. "I guess I'll see you later."
"See you later, Edward," Lorraine said. She grinned and waved at him, and Edward briefly wondered why a girl as pretty as Lorraine would put in the effort to smile at someone like him. The thought passed by as Edward headed toward his next class, but the way that Lorraine had smiled at him would never leave his memory.
Edward went through the rest of his day as usual, but as he headed toward his car, he spotted Lorraine again. She was standing in front of Clearwater Lake High School, waiting for the bus. "Hi Lorraine," he said.
A part of him didn't expect her to respond, but she said, "Hi Edward."
"I'm driving home now," he said, noticing the nice weather. It had stopped raining, and it was strangely warm for April - warm enough to go sailing. "Would you like to come with me? We could go sailing."
Edward worried that his offer was too forward, but Lorraine smiled again and said, "I'd love to Edward, but I think that my mom will worry if I don't come home on the bus."
"There's a payphone next to the entrance on the other side of the school," Edward said.
"I'm not sure if I know where that is," Lorraine said. "Could you take me there?"
"Of course," Edward said. He hobbled back into the school, and Lorraine walked next to him, never complaining that he was walking too slowly, which even James did sometimes. She asked him about the lake and his sailboat, and Edward answered all of her questions, surprised that she was taking such an interest in him.
When they got to the other end of the school, Lorraine entered a dime into the payphone and then dialed her mother's number. She talked to her mom for a few minutes and then told Edward, "My mom was a little wary at first, but she said that I could go to your house for a little bit. She's picking me up at five though."
"That's enough time to go sailing as long as we leave now," Edward said.
Lorraine and Edward returned to the Clearwater Lake High School parking lot, and Edward climbed into the driver's seat while Lorraine sat next to him. Edward started up the car and drove away. "Can I turn on the radio?" Lorraine asked.
Edward shrugged, and Lorraine turned the radio on. An overplayed Elvis song came on, and Lorraine immediately started to sing along. "Have you ever seen Blue Hawaii, Edward?" Lorraine asked.
"I haven't seen it," Edward said.
"It's a really good movie, and I love its soundtrack so much," Lorraine said. "Elvis is just so amazing."
Edward continued to drive as Lorraine sang about how some things are just meant to be. He didn't particularly care for the music, but he loved seeing Lorraine this happy. She seemed so carefree while she was singing. "You have a lovely singing voice, Lorraine," Edward said.
"Thanks," Lorraine said. She kept singing along to the radio, but she stopped suddenly when they drove past Clearwater Lake. Lorraine stared out the window, in awe of the lake. "It's beautiful," she said.
Edward briefly glanced toward the lake and then said, "I think so too." He parked in front of his house, and he and Lorraine climbed out of the car and walked toward the shore. When they got there, the two of them took a few moments to admire the lake. Then, they got into the sailboat and set sail.
At first, Lorraine didn't seem to know what was happening, so Edward sailed the boat on his own, reminding Lorraine to duck when necessary. He headed toward the middle of the lake, hoping to get away from shore. Eventually, Edward reached a quiet spot in the center of the lake, and he let the boat rest in place for a while. Waves gently rocked the boat, but it only made Edward enjoy being out on the water even more.
"This was really fun, Edward," Lorraine said.
"Thanks," Edward said. "I thought so too."
"You know, Edward, you're kind of cute," Lorraine said.
Edward couldn't believe his ears. "Cute" wasn't exactly a word that anyone ever used to describe him. Instead of arguing, however, as he would have with nearly anyone else, he said, "I think you're cute too."
"Maybe we should go steady," Lorraine said as she held Edward's hand in hers. Edward simply smiled, but that was enough to let Lorraine know how he felt.
Lorraine looked back toward the shore and noticed her mother's car driving toward Edward's house. Edward turned the boat around and headed home, and when they reached the shore, Lorraine immediately jumped out of the boat and waved goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow, Edward!" she exclaimed before running toward her mom's car.
"See you tomorrow," Edward said, but Lorraine didn't hear. He climbed out of the boat and headed inside, where his parents were waiting from him.
"Who was that girl?" Mom asked him almost immediately.
"Lorraine Hill," Edward said with a lovesick smile on his face. He already couldn't stop thinking about his new girlfriend.
"Lorraine Hill," Dad repeated. "She sounds like trouble to me."
"Don't worry about it, Melvin," Mom said. "Edward's going to college soon, and he'll find a new girl there."
Edward didn't respond, lost in a daydream, but he couldn't imagine finding a new girl. Already, he knew that all he wanted was Lorraine, and no other girl could make him happy like she did.