It was the first day back to school. Ronnie woke up bright and early. After showering, she put on a Georgetown Hoyas sweatshirt, some jeans that were ripped at the knee and some Converse sneakers. She wasn't really fussy about her attire, she was going to school to get an education, not make a fashion statement. The only thing she cared about was the locket Mark gave her. It was one of her most treasured gifts and she made sure she wore it everyday.
Since Claudine had come home, Ronnie had to plan her phone calls with Mark. It was easier when Claudine was drunk as a skunk some nights, but most nights when Mark called, Ronnie often said, "wrong number," to indicate that Claudine was around and couldn't talk at the moment. That last thing Ronnie wanted was for Claudine to become suspicious and started inquiring about Mark. She was already commenting on how Ronnie walked differently.
Ronnie gathered up her bookbag and went into the kitchen. Claudine was still asleep and wouldn't be awake until the early afternoon. She had landed a gig at the Village Vanguard, one of the most eminent jazz clubs in the world. She worked late nights, so she slept all day and didn't have time to make breakfast, which left Ronnie disappointed. She was hoping her mother would make her famous French Toast.
Ronnie went into the pantry and grabbed a Pop Tart and Hi-C drink before heading out the door. As she turned a corner, she unwrapped the Pop Tart and bit into it. Normally, she loved the taste of blueberry Pop Tarts, but the minute she bit into it, the blueberries were suddenly too overwhelming for her taste buds. She spit out the Pop Tart and retched on the sidewalk. After she recovered, she tossed the rest of the Pop Tart away and kept going.
Students were everywhere as they waited for City As to open. Ronnie hoped not only to ace all of her classes and graduate, but to complete the school year without getting detention or getting into fights. She wasn't going to let anyone wind her up. As much as she was looking forward to giving Lisa and her clique an overdue beatdown, she decided that she wasn't going to let them jeopardize her studies. She had her heart set on going to Howard, and nobody, nobody was going to get in the way of that.
After school finally opened, the students had to report to the main office to pick up their schedules. It took a couple of hours, but Ronnie finally got hers and reported to her home room. When she got there, the teacher hadn't arrived yet, so there were a few students in there acting rowdy, laughing obnoxiously and throwing things at each other. All she needed was to get hit by an object and her vow not to get into a fight would have been broken.
But she didn't get hit. The two main boys throwing things at each other got a glimpse of Ronnie and froze. They waited until she wasn't in the crossfire to continue throwing again.
She found a seat in the back by the window. While waiting upon the teacher, she pulled out her doodling pad. She drew a rat sitting on the back of a rottweiler looking in delight at the oak tree, which had the initials R+M '91 carved into it. Her mind then wandered to the English Oak tree by Lake Larriwien. Those spiritually intimate moments spent with Mark brought a smile to Ronnie's face. It was almost as if she could smell his Boucheron cologne. God, she missed him so much.
The first day of school turned out to be grueling. She already had loads of homework to do; She had to do at least a page on current events for Government and Politics, 15 word problems for trigonometry, a report on how the Beat Generation's influence shaped literature today as we knew it (she knew she would ace that report with no effort) and at least a page on the Boomerang Nebula for Astronomy. And it didn't help that Ronnie kept experiencing bouts of nausea throughout the day. The sensation was so strong that it nearly made her faint. She had retched a few times, but nothing came out.
Lunch couldn't come soon enough. After Ronnie gathered up her food, she looked around for a place to sit. She spotted Lisa and her little entourage as she walked past them. She gave them a mocking smile, knowing it would piss them off. She saw Micah, sitting at a table by himself. She walked up to that table and ask Micah, "mind if I sit here?"
Micah looked bemused, but delighted. He said, "No, not at all."
Micah had grown a few more inches since Ronnie had last saw him, making him more gangly than ever. He had gotten a buzz cut for school, and it made his already protruding ears more prominent than ever.
"How was your remaining vacation?" asked Ronnie as she begin to cut her Salisbury steak in neat rectangle shapes over her bed of mashed potatoes.
"It was great," said Micah, "My grandparents and I went to Massachusetts. I've got a lot of family up there, we went to see Paul Revere's house, the USS of Constitution, it was great. We also spent the weekend at Martha's Vineyard, it was really nice. What about you Ronnie, how was the rest of your summer vacation?"
"Oh, it was mostly quiet," said Ronnie, "I've been volunteeing at this homeless shelter and I really like it."
She didn't tell Micah about Mark and she wasn't going to tell him. Secret romances should stay exactly how they were; Secret.
"Listen Micah," she said. "I really want to thank you for being nice to me up in West Milford. I got you a gift to show my gratitude."
She reached into her bookbag and pulled out a comic book, handing it to Micah, who's eyes went as wide as a deer caught in the headlights.
"Whoa, the first edition of the Fantastic Four!" he said in awe, "where did you get this?"
"This guy was having a yard sale," said Ronnie, starting on her fruit cocktail "I heard you talking to Paul and Terry about comic books, so I thought you'd like it."
"I love it," said Micah, still ogling the comic book, "but Ronnie, you really didn't have to get this for me."
"I know," said Ronnie, "but I wanted to."
"Thanks a lot, Ronnie," Micah, grinning, revealing his braces.
"You're welcome," said Ronnie, returning the grin.
"Hey, Ronnie?" said Micah suddenly looking seriously, "Are you going to run for class president this year?"
Ronnie looked at Micah as if he'd lost his mind.
"Me? Class president?" she said incredulously, "yeah right."
"Why not?" said Micah, "You're smart, you know how to speak, and you're passionate. You'd be perfect for it."
"Incase you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly popular in this school," said Ronnie, taking a gulp of milk.
"Who cares about that?" said Micah, "I just don't want to see Lisa as class president. She's been talking about running. She'd just use her rich parents' influence over the school. We need a class presidents who represents the voiceless, and would use her influence as class president to help the entire student body instead of just themselves."
Ronnie eyed Micah curiously. She'd always known him to be shy and akward. She'd never heard him speak with such confidence.
"Ok, I'll run for class president," said Ronnie, "under one condition."
"Which is?" asked Micah.
"You be my running mate," said Ronnie.
Micah's large ears turned bright red.
"Sure," he said, "I'd be honored."
Somewhere in Illinois...
In the brisk crescent midnight, Mark parked his rental in the lot of a diner. It was nearly empty, which suited him well. He needed a break from the bumrush of fans who wouldn't even let him take a piss in peace now.
He sat at the stool and immediately ordered a cup of tea . In addition to his body feeling sore and achy from being slammed on a plywood mat for a living, he was also battling a cold, which was taking a lot out of him. He never felt more miserable in his life. After being on the road for for two and a half weeks, Mark was glad to be going home, and he hated being home.
After departing from Ronnie's apartment, he called an emotionally hysterical Jodi, who had been worried sick and demanded to know why he hadn't called. In a tone that barely hid his agitation, he'd explained that Vince had asked him to remain in New York for some PR work and didn't have much time to contact anyone. There was something in Jodi's term that sounded accusatory. Like she knew he was lying. At this point, Mark didn't care. During one point in his life, there was a time when he couldn't stop thinking about Jodi. She was the Lois Lane to his Superman, and she made him feel that way. Now, he thought about her less. He was pretty sure he loved her less than he did last year.
Mark barely noticed when his waited put his food in front of him. Only then when he realized how hungry he was. He ate in a ravenous manner, stuffing everything at the same time into his mouth. The waitress had to tell him to slow down, and she sounded so much like his mother, that he actually did.
After he paid and tipped the waitress, he checked into a nearby inn and plopped on his bed without taking off his jacket. The tea had done him some good, though his nose was still stufffy and his throat was sore from constantly coughing. He popped a lozenge in his mouth and began to remove his clothing, taking a long, needed shower.
As he lay in bed, waiting to fall asleep, his mind drifted off to Ronnie. What he wanted right now, more than anything, was to be graced with her presence. He wanted to look into her sparkly brown eyes and feel her smooth, golden beige skin. He wouldn't even want to make love to her, he just wanted to look at her and never let her out of his sight. Though, just thinking about her gave her a plesant tingling in his midriff.
Realizing that he couldn't stop thinking about her, Mark did something he hadn't done since his freshman year in high school. In order to ease his mind of Ronnie, he would have to do some self abuse.