Finding Hope in Texas by Ryan T. Petty

nodded. “I figured it was something
like that. She’s a...bad person.
    “I’ve heard curse words before, you know,” I
grinned. Lizzy’s face flushed.
    “I don’t like saying things like that, but
yes, she and her friends are those, that’s for certain.”
    “I wonder where the herd is today.” I
questioned. “I know they’re around here somewhere.”
    Our conversation changed from insane
cheerleaders to our classes and finally to band and orchestra. I
learned that Lizzy was not only in band but also in science honors.
As she talked, she began to remind me a lot of...well, me. It
wasn’t that she and I were loners that had found each other like
some emo-goth kids that thought the world sucked as well as
everyone in it. No, we just liked our space, our cocoon that we
could get away in for even the briefest of time, and our bubble
that kept the idiocy of high school drama at least an arm’s length
away. Yes, we were probably judged for that, but who wasn’t getting
judged by how they looked, their clothes, or their hair? I didn’t
know if it was just Jimmy Carter or all high schools where one
could be lifted up like a hero by wearing a $200 pair of shoes or
thrown in the dirt for wearing something that came from
Wal-Mart.
    “So, I think I’m going to take your dad’s
college class that starts next week.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah, he said it would be better than the
regular class that I am in now.”
    “Well, don’t let him be a jerk to you. And if
he is, you just let me know,” she chirped.
    “I will. Say, what did you mean yesterday
about your dad and his uniform? Was he in the army or
something?”
    Lizzy smiled one of those I have a secret
and not telling you smiles. “Oh, you’ll find out.”
    With that, the bell rang and we emptied the
remnants of our trays in the nearby trashcans and headed in our
different directions to our lockers. I went through the halls and
came to my mine, finding my books were all laid out on the floor. What the heck? Someone has been in my things! I looked
around but didn’t notice anyone. It could only have been Jody and
her friends. Jeez, when is this going to stop? With a quick flip, I
opened my locker and a large pile of manure fell upon the floor
right in front of me. Yes, manure, crap, cow poo! They had
stuck it in my locker, my locker! Jody called me that
yesterday. “You are just crap that we allow to stain our
floors.” And here it was. Not only did they call me this, now
they were practically shoving me down in it. I glared down the
hallways and didn’t see any of them, but could hear the laughter
kick into high gear from all those who passed by. I sighed. Well,
at least they were nice enough to take my books out first. Lucky
me.
     

 
    Chapter
Three
     
    I saw the girls later in gym, where the whole
knockout incident came down the day before. With a cool, crisp air
finally making it this far south, we had moved indoors and were
practicing basketball in the school’s oldest gym, also from the
Jimmy Carter era. They had three, but the coaches were not about to
allow some off-season track runners to take up time in the new gym
when they were in the middle of district play in basketball.
Supposedly, we were in the hunt for the championship this year in
both girls and boys basketball. Of course you could hardly tell it.
For myself, I was from out of town and didn’t know any of these
players, so that was my excuse for not caring. For the rest of the
student body, it just seemed that school spirit was beneath them,
that they had more important things to do than whoop and holler
about a round ball going through a hoop. My excuse seemed
better.
    When I made my way on the court, I already
knew that my sullen expression was going to give everything away.
Mom always told me there was no easier book to read than my face,
and Dad said if I was ever to make a good lawyer, then I needed to
play more poker and learn my own tales. Because of that, and that
the girls