anger well up in my breast.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Miss Thompson was smiling warmly as I walked past the check-out desk.
“Yes.”
*
Mark was waiting for me by my locker at the end of the day. I didn’t notice him at first because of the crowd of students milling in the hallway.
“Guy.”
When I turned to look, I saw him standing there with a hurt look on his face. “What do you want?” I said.
“Where have you been?”
“In my classes.” I had steered clear of him all day, pretending not to see him, avoiding the places where we usually met.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Nothing’s the matter. Why do you ask?”
“It sort of seems like you’re trying to avoid me for some reason.”
“Why should I try to avoid you?”
“I don’t know. It just seems that way, that’s all.”
“I just want to be alone, okay? I want to be by myself.”
“How come?”
“Do I have to have a reason? I just want to, that’s all. Anyway, who says I have to have permission from you? Do I have to tell you everything?”
“Wait, Guy—”
“Let go of my elbow.”
He had grabbed me lightly as I turned to go, and for some reason that light touch felt like an unclean caress. When he saw the look on my face, he actually cringed.
“Let go, damn it!” I tugged myself loose and pushed my way through the crowd, fighting free of his imagined clasp. I could feel him staring after me. Suddenly I was running, baffled and angry.
At the steps of the main entrance I ran into Jack as he was strapping his book band around his textbooks. Though he didn’t notice me at first, something told me he’d just seen me talking with Mark.
“Jack, wait up.”
He began bounding down the steps, three at a time, his books slung over his shoulder.
I caught up with him and matched my steps to his. “Where you going?”
“To see Sheri.” This was his current girlfriend, Sheri Drennon. Since entering junior high school, Jack had already gone steady with half a dozen girls, a school record. (No one else even came close.) Sheri was a freckle-faced redhead who’d been in my class last year, a rather wild girl who was always in trouble with the teachers. In fact, she’d been sent home from school this morning for wearing a too-short skirt to homeroom.
To me she wasn’t very attractive and I was a little disappointed that Jack had chosen her from among all the other more attractive girls—it lowered him just the slightest bit in my estimation. Still, she was, as Jack whispered in my ear as we walked up her driveway, “stacked.”
She greeted us at the door chewing gum, and I was reminded of the time our teacher had caught her chewing gum in class and had made her put the wad on the end of her nose.
Nobody else was home so we went into the living room and chatted idly for a while. Jack and Sheri were seated close together on the sofa, and I couldn’t help noticing the proprietary way Jack put his arm around her. I envied the ease with which he did everything.
Soon he was nuzzling her cheek and sneaking light kisses until, with a sigh almost of resignation, Sheri finally returned a kiss. The silences in the conversation grew longer as their kisses became prolonged…while I sat before them, my rapt attention tinged with awkwardness.
Oblivious to my presence, they were hugging in the most intimate way and nibbling at each others’ mouths. Their kisses sounded viscid and liquid and quite erotic, and I was growing weak with longing. There was a keen smell of something in the close room. I saw Jack’s hand slide up and boldly fondle one of Sheri’s breasts. She made a half-hearted remonstration, pushing his hand away and glancing modestly toward me (I quickly put on an air of nonchalance.) But when she returned to her kissing I continued my absorbed study.
It seemed that my presence, far from dampening her ardor, only emboldened and inflamed her kisses to an alarming degree. A suggestive
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Miss Thompson was smiling warmly as I walked past the check-out desk.
“Yes.”
*
Mark was waiting for me by my locker at the end of the day. I didn’t notice him at first because of the crowd of students milling in the hallway.
“Guy.”
When I turned to look, I saw him standing there with a hurt look on his face. “What do you want?” I said.
“Where have you been?”
“In my classes.” I had steered clear of him all day, pretending not to see him, avoiding the places where we usually met.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Nothing’s the matter. Why do you ask?”
“It sort of seems like you’re trying to avoid me for some reason.”
“Why should I try to avoid you?”
“I don’t know. It just seems that way, that’s all.”
“I just want to be alone, okay? I want to be by myself.”
“How come?”
“Do I have to have a reason? I just want to, that’s all. Anyway, who says I have to have permission from you? Do I have to tell you everything?”
“Wait, Guy—”
“Let go of my elbow.”
He had grabbed me lightly as I turned to go, and for some reason that light touch felt like an unclean caress. When he saw the look on my face, he actually cringed.
“Let go, damn it!” I tugged myself loose and pushed my way through the crowd, fighting free of his imagined clasp. I could feel him staring after me. Suddenly I was running, baffled and angry.
At the steps of the main entrance I ran into Jack as he was strapping his book band around his textbooks. Though he didn’t notice me at first, something told me he’d just seen me talking with Mark.
“Jack, wait up.”
He began bounding down the steps, three at a time, his books slung over his shoulder.
I caught up with him and matched my steps to his. “Where you going?”
“To see Sheri.” This was his current girlfriend, Sheri Drennon. Since entering junior high school, Jack had already gone steady with half a dozen girls, a school record. (No one else even came close.) Sheri was a freckle-faced redhead who’d been in my class last year, a rather wild girl who was always in trouble with the teachers. In fact, she’d been sent home from school this morning for wearing a too-short skirt to homeroom.
To me she wasn’t very attractive and I was a little disappointed that Jack had chosen her from among all the other more attractive girls—it lowered him just the slightest bit in my estimation. Still, she was, as Jack whispered in my ear as we walked up her driveway, “stacked.”
She greeted us at the door chewing gum, and I was reminded of the time our teacher had caught her chewing gum in class and had made her put the wad on the end of her nose.
Nobody else was home so we went into the living room and chatted idly for a while. Jack and Sheri were seated close together on the sofa, and I couldn’t help noticing the proprietary way Jack put his arm around her. I envied the ease with which he did everything.
Soon he was nuzzling her cheek and sneaking light kisses until, with a sigh almost of resignation, Sheri finally returned a kiss. The silences in the conversation grew longer as their kisses became prolonged…while I sat before them, my rapt attention tinged with awkwardness.
Oblivious to my presence, they were hugging in the most intimate way and nibbling at each others’ mouths. Their kisses sounded viscid and liquid and quite erotic, and I was growing weak with longing. There was a keen smell of something in the close room. I saw Jack’s hand slide up and boldly fondle one of Sheri’s breasts. She made a half-hearted remonstration, pushing his hand away and glancing modestly toward me (I quickly put on an air of nonchalance.) But when she returned to her kissing I continued my absorbed study.
It seemed that my presence, far from dampening her ardor, only emboldened and inflamed her kisses to an alarming degree. A suggestive
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