The BSC Legacy - Book 3: When Numbers Really Count
By: CNJ
PG-13
14: The Big Win!
Mona:
Good thing I remember Beth's number. I called her that evening after the reporters came to SHS. "Hi, it's me, Mona Vaughn," I said when she answered.
"Oh...Mona...hi!" she said, sounding surprised. "Did you see all the letters?"
"I sure did," I laughed a little. "I saw yours...thanks."
"I just wanted to thank you...for being there last year...you know when Jana and I..."
Beth's voice got soft. It was good that she seemed mostly back to her usual bouncy, bubbly, dramatic self.
"I also wanted to make it up to the Baby-Sitters' group...what I did last year with the BIG clique was so wrong," she added.
"I'll pass it along to them," I told her. "So...how've you been..."
We talked about a half hour or so, catching up. Jana and Randy are STILL stuck together, it seems like. It's wonderful that Beth found good friends in Katie, Christie, Dekeisha, and Whitney. They call themselves the Five R Us.
They even had a sleepover in early November at Katie's house. Beth is also going by Liza now and is in this year's winter play.
I told her about my joining the SHS yearbook and the SHS upcoming holiday production with Abby, Claudia, Mary Anne, Anna, and me involved.
I told her about the band, Unconventional Sounds and the practices Anna, Mary Anne, and I have several times a week and some Saturdays.
It's good knowing Liza's heart is healing from last year and Katie and the others were doing better now.
Claudia:
I raced into the auditorium and helped Trevor Sandbourne, Miranda Shillibar, and Caitlin Giotti put up the last of the scenery about a week later after school.
Dawn later joined me as Abby's part was rehearsing. Boy, is Abby one swell actress! She'd be good trying her hand at acting as a career, but she says she wants to be in pro sports and if not that, a lawyer.
"We used paint that poses no threat to the ozone," I whispered.
"Swell," Dawn whispered back.
Abby has the part of a teenager who's been raised Jewish just like she and Anna were in reality. In the play, the character is growing up in a largely Gentile neighborhood and the neighbors can't understand why her family doesn't celebrate the way they do.
The character, "Meg" feels "odd," then meets a girl who's Muslim and with the friend's help, invites her other friends over for a Hanukkah celebration with Driedel-spinning and all. We gave Abby a standing ovation when her part was finished.
"WOOOWH!" Somebody chimed in and we saw Kristy walk in and head toward us.
She'd just gotten out of basketball practice. Abby bowed dramatically and waved to us as she ran offstage. Kristy sat by us and we talked a bit until the next part came on.
Two more parts, then it was Mona, Mary Anne, and Anna's turn. Wow, was I impressed! I know Anna has ton of musical talent that could take her to the top of the music charts, but Mary Anne and Mona were just as swell! Apparently Anna had taught them well.
Mary Anne got this dreamy look on her face when she hit an especially sweet note on the violin. She must really be touched by the music.
Mona seemed to really get into the music also; she often swayed to the melody.
When they finished their finale, we gave another ovation and whooped. The three of them looked started a minute, then blushed and bowed.
"Hope they're not too scared about the production," I whispered as they walked offstage.
"If I know my stepsister, she's scared but will go through with it anyway," Dawn whispered. "It's neat hearing the violin in her room. I haven't even needed the radio anymore when I'm studying."
Dawn:
It's so good to see Mary Anne getting on with her life. Our rental house...it doesn't feel so odd especially now that we have the holiday decorations up. We even have a menorah at our living room window.
After last summer's house fire, Mary Anne had been crushed. She'd felt so lost and was in so much pain that she went mute for two days, then cried hard for hours. She'd suffered terrible nightmares also.
On the first day of school this year, she'd had trouble eating and was listless and pale. I think this band has helped her re-build her life and I know last month's sleepover, helped us both feel comfortable in our temporary house.
Even though I still often miss the California desert, I'm glad to be back in Stoneybrook for the last two years of high school. I do plan to head back west for college; I haven't decided where yet.
Mary Anne:
I wished Lara Garrett good luck on Tuesday's English Lit exam as I left to head home after I'd tutored her. In two more days, Ms. Cerrata's giving a HUGE test on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
British Lit is more challenging than the other lit classes we've taken. Most of the stuff you have to read more than once...once just to get the surface gist, twice to dig into the meaning between the lines, and in some cases, three to get under the letters and behind the actual words of the author's actual world and era.
I walked home in the dusty blue chilly dusk, looking up at the sky several times and wondering if we'd get snow for the holidays this year. Some years we do; some years we don't.
Once I got home, I continued my studying for Tuesday's exam. As I was studying, Tigger crawled into my lap and licked a page in my lit book. I smiled softly and stroked him.
Most of the questions on the test were straightforward essay questions. Some kids groaned when Ms. Cerrata passed the tests out.
"I don't think I did too well," Lara told me after class.
"Why?" I wondered.
"I guess...some of the questions had a lot of double-meaning and were vague."
"The notes I gave you...did they help?" I asked as we headed to our lockers to change books.
"I guess..." she shrugged and buried her face into her locker. "I read them and got them," she finished hastily.
Kristy:
My family and I were lucky enough to get chairs near the front Wednesday night for the X-mas-Hanukkah production. It was so great that several of my friends would be in this. We, the BSC, are winning against the In clique.
It is Operation Today's Good Youth that gave so many kids the courage to stand up to the In clique. It also united most of the students at SHS. It's good knowing that the BSC has many allies. It looks like we're going to make it. I smiled softly as the first act began...
Anna:
Was I surprised to see that Abby was actually sweating backstage before her part came! She's not shy at all and always seems so cool and together in front of others.
I'm not surprised, however that Mona, Mary Anne, and I were sweating up a storm and Mary Anne's hands were shaking. I just hoped we wouldn't be sopping wet when our turn came. Abby managed a weak grin and joke.
"Good luck and don't break the instruments..." Abby whispered as her part was called. We managed to smile weakly back.
Dawn:
I'm sooo proud of my shy, nervous stepsister! God, she was great with the violin, even though I knew inside that she was shaking.
I got the feeling Mona and Anna were a bit scared too. But once they got the music going, they soared!
It's so wonderful that Mary Anne really is "de-chickening" herself.
I remembered how, back when we graduated from middle school, the BSC had been taking a first-aid course and Mary Anne has been scared out of her mind.
"You've got to fight these fears," I'd told her. "Be as brave as a tiger." I guess she's taking my advice!
Mary Anne:
The spotlight was nearly blinding, but by the time Unconventional Sounds got through the first two songs, I was managing to not squint and frown so much.
I was shaking like crazy and it was a wonder I was able to hold the bow to the violin straight. Maybe a Hanukkah spirit was looking out for us because we managed to stay in harmony and hit all the notes at the right time.
I could see Mona taking several deep breaths and I myself tried to stop shaking, but it was hard.
But I enjoyed hearing the notes coming out of our instruments and once we got to the end of our songs, the audience applauded and I spotted the outline of some of the rest of the BSC under the glare of the spotlight.
Wwwhh... I let out my breath in a shaky gasp and bowed along with Mona and Anna.
I could feel splotches of nervous sweat under my armpits dampening my white blouse. Oh, well, if I'm lucky no one will care, I thought as we headed offstage. Anyway, my friends would never care about armpit sweat.
"Oh, we did it," Mona let out her breath as we sank onto a long couch backstage in relief.
"Yeah..." Anna nodded. "Wow, I felt lightheaded when we were bowing out there."
"I was sweating and shaking," I held up my arms.
"Me too." Mona showed me sweat stains on her white blouse. "But we made it through."
We sure did, I thought. I never really thought I'd ever get the courage to perform on stage, but tonight I did.
It made me feel good facing down that fear. The fear would always be there, but I knew now I could feel it and cope with it constructively.
"The debut of Unconventional Sounds," Anna told us and we held up our instruments and tapped them softly together.
"To Unconventional Sounds," Mona and I chimed in
Claudia:
It was a good feeling when all of us who'd been part of the production. Even the art managers for the scenery were called out and all of us bowed after the last performance. The applause was deafening.
Abby and I waved, grinning and Mary Anne burst into happy tears.
"Awww..." a few of the audience gushed. I saw my BSC friends. Kristy gave the circle and whistled. Once we were backstage, we whooped and danced in a kind of circle. It's good to know that the BSC has a niche at SHS after all!
"I c-can't believe I...did it!" Mary Anne squeaked, wiping her tear-streaked face.
"Me either," Mona panted.
"We should CELEBRATE!" Caitlin Giotti whooped.
"How about a cast-BSC party at my house on Friday night?" I offered. "Cast of this production and the BSC invited."
"AWWWRIGHT!" Everyone chimed in.
Dawn, Kristy, and Stacey along with Mallory and Jessi, who were home for winter break, burst backstage and gave us hugs and hi-fives.
"YYESSS!" Kristy howled, giving Mary Anne and me one big hug. Then she hugged Anna and Mona in one swoop.
"You all were wonderful!" Stacey added. "God you were all so SWELL."
"Congratulations, Mary Anne!" Dawn hugged her stepsister. "You're succeeding at the great de-chickening project!"
"De-chickening?" I asked with a laugh.
"Oh, just a resolution I made after we graduated from eighth grade," Mary Anne told me. "Remember when we were taking the first-aid course and I was so scared?"
"Yeah, way back in the old days of middle school," I quipped and we all laughed.
It seemed all so long ago. Middle school had been like a calm latency before the storm of high school set in, then last year we'd had so much trouble with the In clique.
It looks like we've weathered the storm and all of us are stronger for it...not just the BSC, but most of the other kids at SHS who were once prey to the In crowd.
It feels good that SHS kids have pulled together in a united front, I thought as we continued to make plans for our cast/BSC party.