Part 9 (2/2)
As Christy marched away, she heard Katie say, ”She must have had a fight with Todd.”
Now Christy was really fuming. It was bad enough that she had gotten nowhere with Katie, but to hear her crack about having a fight with Todd was even worse, especially since it was true.
Christy found an unoccupied corner of a picnic table and tried to convince herself she was hungry enough to eat her lunch.
”Hey, Miss Chris!” came an irritatingly familiar voice behind her. She was not in the mood to talk to Fred.
”I got some great shots at the game Friday. You should have been there. I love your camera. Are you going to be needing it the rest of this week? Because if you don't mind, I'd like to finish off this roll of film.”
”Fine.” Christy said without looking up.
”Thanks.” Fred was about to walk away when he stopped. ”Are you okay?”
”Sure. I'm fine.”
”Then why are you sitting here all by yourself?”
”I need to get some homework done,” Christy lied.
Fred sat down next to her. ”You're lying, Christy. You don't have any books with you. You're a terrible liar, I hope you know. Boyfriend problems?”
Christy ignored him. She felt terrible.
”Problems at home?”
Christy unwrapped her sandwich and prepared to take a bite.
Fred wouldn't give up. He bent closer and in a low voice said. ”You can confide in me, Christy. Your dad is beating you, isn't he?”
His question prompted her to crack a tiny smile since the thought of her dad beating her was so completely absurd. ”No, Fred, my dad doesn't beat me.”
”Mine does.”
Christy looked up at Fred for the first time. He was serious.
”Your dad really beats you, Fred?”
”Well, he used to, before my mom divorced him. I haven't seen him since I was nine. I don't even know where he lives now. The only reason I said anything was because I used to sit by myself at lunch every day when I was a kid, especially after he had beaten me and I didn't want to hear another person ask how I got the black and blue marks.”
Fred lifted Christy's right arm and checked both sides. ”No welts. You must be telling the truth.” He smiled as if trying to make light of the subject.
”Fred,” Christy said softly, ”I'm really sorry. I had no idea.”
”It's not something you go around broadcasting, you know. Besides, he's long gone.”
”But the memories take a little longer to go away, don't they?” Christy almost thought she saw Fred's eyes mist over.
”Yeah, well, life goes on. n.o.body has it perfect, you know. I don't even know why I told you. It's not really something I'd like spread around, okay?”
Christy nodded.
Fred let out a sigh. ”So you haven't told me what your problem is.”
Christy had almost forgotten her problems with Katie, Michael, and Todd in light of Fred's revelations. ”Oh, it's nothing really. I'm glad you came by though. I feel better. Thanks.”
”There's the smile I was waiting for.” Before Christy could stop him, Fred lifted the camera and pointed it at her face for a close-up shot. ”Big smile, Miss Chris!”
”Fred, don't take my picture.” Christy put her hand in front of the lens and blocked the shot just as the camera clicked.
”Hey!” he protested. ”That would've been a great shot. Why did you do that?”
”Because I've told you, I don't want you to take my picture.”
”But it's part of our relations.h.i.+p. It's my way of doc.u.menting our year together.”
”Fred, we don't have a relations.h.i.+p. Our *year together' is based on us being in the same yearbook cla.s.s. That's all.”
”You can see things your way. I see things mine.”
”Fred,” Christy began, but she didn't know what else to say. She felt frustrated. He had opened himself up and told her about his dad, and that made her feel more tender toward him. However, Fred seemed to use her sympathy to a.s.sume their relations.h.i.+p was progressing.
She decided to try ignoring him. It had worked in junior high with guys like Fred. Maybe he would take the hint if she ate her sandwich and didn't talk to him.
Unfortunately, Fred seemed content to sit in silence. He dug into his own sack lunch. Every now and then he would look up and smile at people who happened to notice them, as if this were a planned lunch meeting and he and Christy were together by mutual choice.
”I need to go to my locker,” Christy said suddenly, stuffing the unfinished half of her sandwich in her bag and getting up from the table.
”I'll go with you,” Fred quickly offered.
”That's okay. I'm going to stop at the restroom too. You can't come with me there.”
”Then I'll see you in cla.s.s in a few minutes.”
Christy started to walk away when Fred said softly, ”And thanks for having lunch with me. Nine years is a long time to eat lunch by yourself.”
Christy kept walking but thought about how things apparently hadn't changed much for Fred over the years. Part of her felt sorry for him and wanted to make an effort to be nicer to him. He wasn't that bad. He had a pretty nice personality. If only he weren't so annoying.
The more she thought about it, the more Christy realized that Fred's appearance was his problem. However, she had enough of her own problems and began to plan how she would start calling Todd the minute she got home from school. She vowed she wouldn't go to bed that night until she had cleared things up with him.
She finally reached Todd at 9:45 'hat night. He seemed fine, completely unaffected by their tiff the night before.
”I'm really sorry. Todd. I can't believe I hung up on you.”
”You were mad.”
”I shouldn't have been.”
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