Hal Bennett
So, we got to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Center early Saturday morning. It was pretty easy to see how we’d never noticed it, even though it was close to school like trumpetgirl pointed out. The building was a converted old church with no signs out front or anything. It was smack in the middle of a kind of thicket overrun with grass and weeds. We could see some old playground equipment around the back. Not what we expected.
We followed Nia inside. “You can do the talking,” Callie whispered, “since this whole volunteering thing was your big idea.”
“Coward,” Nia hissed.
Inside, Nia was all business, as usual. She headed straight for the woman behind the desk and told her we were here to volunteer.
“That’s wonderful, children! How sweet!” Oh, no, really? “Was there anything in particular you wanted to help with?”
We’d already agreed on the office work, since we thought we were totally with you guys that IT could mean “information technology” like SarahB and luna*zeus suggested. And then we will have access to the files to see if Amanda was a big sister, as most of you think (and Nia totally agrees!).
“I think we’d like to work in the office,” Nia said.
The woman looked over the three of us and frowned. “Well, we can’t really accommodate three extra people at once, but we could really use some help out in the yard. You may have noticed that when we came in.” Unless I was imagining things, she was looking right at me.
Before Callie or I could make a peep, Nia said, “Sure! I’ll take the office work. Hal and Callie, you guys love being outside, right?”
Um, awk. I guess that’s what we get for putting Nia in charge. “Sure. I guess that’s cool,” I said.
The woman stood up and shook our hands. “Well my name is Barbara,” she said. “And it’s a pleasure to meet you. Why don’t I take you outside really quick so you can have a look-see. That work for you guys?”
Nia was already eying the cabinets as we followed Barbara outside.
Barbara walked a little ahead of us, yammering about the weather. Just as I was starting to zone out, we passed a big tree with the bark peeling off. And drawn right on the smooth wood was a heart around a set of initials: AV + IT.
I stopped dead in my tracks. I pointed the tree out to Callie, and her eyes got big and round as a smile broke onto her face. “You think it’s Amanda?”
“Gotta be,” I said.
Callie nodded. “But by the looks of that, IT is…a good guy?”
I nodded. “Yeah. A really good guy.”
My heart sank a little, and I couldn’t help feeling a little jealous that Amanda might have a special guy. A guy who was not me. But Amanda has that effect on people. On all people, as Callie knows well.
In November we had to memorize Juliet’s speech in English class. “Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, toward Phoebus’s lodging.” It’s all about how she just wants night to come because she can’t wait to be with Romeo. Lee got his hands on my book and he wrote, LF and CL= R and J, in the margin and drew a heart around it. That day, waiting impatiently for Friday to come so I could go to the movies with Lee, I’d thought I understood how Juliet felt.
But clearly I hadn’t understood anything.
Every second of Tuesday seemed to last an hour. Every hour seemed to last a month. Normally I never have enough time to finish a bio quiz, but today, I swear, I had time to finish it, check it over, and check it over again.
Twelve more hours. Nine more hours. When I saw Nia and Hal in the hallway on the way to the gym, I was actually glad that we didn’t talk to one another in school, and it wasn’t because I was afraid that being seen talking to them would equal social suicide. Trying to pretend I was worried about where Amanda was when I knew where she was (or where she was going to be in just a few short hours) felt almost impossible as telling them my plans for later that night. Because part of what made tonight so exciting was that I was going to see Amanda. I, not we. She’d left me a message, and even if it was petty and immature, I couldn’t help being proud that I was the one she’d singled out. Okay, she’d been friends with Nia and Hal, too; I wasn’t trying to deny that. We were all her so-called guides. Maybe she’d cut school to spend the day with Hal in Baltimore or prowl cool shops with Nia for great vintage clothes. But when push came to shove, she and I did have something special, something she didn’t have with anyone else.
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