The Atlanta Affair
Chapter 1
"Really, Angela, you think
something's gonna happen?"
The
entire band, guard and dance team had been looking forward all year to the
annual spring band trip. Especially
Angela Crane. THIS was her chance with
Jarod Dalton, the senior who she had been crushing on since fall season. He was the reason that she had been looking
forward to these five days all year.
Recently, she had made it a point to strike up a friendship with him,
but she was still behind schedule. The
trip was tomorrow, and despite their close friendship, they weren't quite there
yet.
Angela
nodded at smiled at her friend, Kelly.
"Just watch. Everything will
come together perfectly according to plan."
"I
wish I were going," Kelly told her.
"I'd love to miss some school and get away from Dustin."
Angela
rolled her eyes. "I thought that you
were going to dump him."
"I changed my mind," Kelly
replied. "I never really got around to
it, so I decided not to."
"Gee,
great philosophy," Angela said. Kelly
had always been a little off-kilter and inconsistent when it came to men. Angela, however, had gotten her heart set on
Jarod since the middle of fall season, when she was the color guard runner and
he was the drum line captain. She had
first seen him at a guard practice. The
guard had been annoyed with the percussion for practicing on the field during
their time, but Angela didn't mind.
That was the first time that she had decided what her fate was, and she
would do whatever it took to seal it.
Unfortunately,
she had later learned that he had a girlfriend who went to a nearby school, and
the fact that three years separated them didn't make it any easier for
her. Still, she was sure that something
was going to happen, and she was going to make sure of it.
"Anyway,"
Kelly said as the bus reached Angela's stop, "I'll talk to you in the morning."
Angela
stood up and grabbed her bookbag. "Wish me luck."
"Yeah,
you're gonna need a hell of a lot," Kelly replied and Angela stepped off.
******************************
The
day was here, and one could feel the excitement growing as the 92 students and
chaperones boarded the coach buses for Atlanta. The ten-hour ride didn't excite Angela whatsoever, but the bus
rides were the best part of competitions in the fall. Especially if you were next to the right person.
"Angela,"
her friend Alyssa teased when she saw Jarod get on the bus. "He's sitting alone and so are you."
"Give
it time," Angela said mysteriously.
"I'm not blind."
"Did
you just say you're not blond?" another guard member, Kim, asked.
"I'm
not BLIND," Angela responded.
Her
luck seemed to be kicking in as a couple entered the bus and needed to sit
together. The only available seats were
the one next to her and the one next to Jarod.
Her heart soared as he came to sit by her. "Hey, can I sit here?" he asked and smiled his killer grin. She had to confess that he looked cute in a
baseball cap and sunglasses, kind of a rugged, dark attractiveness that she
loved.
She
smiled back and moved her bags. "Feel
free," she answered and breathed deeply to calm herself. Don't
make anything obvious, she warned herself.
Not yet. Through the corner of her eye, she could see
all the guard girls – Alyssa, Kim, Carrie, Lisa, Kristine, Jen, Abby and
Melissa - smiling at her and whispering.
She warningly gave them the finger.
Abby, who was sitting across the aisle with another band guy, Josh,
gestured to them and gave Angela thumbs up.
Angela shook her head and put her headphones on.
The
conversation most of the way was pleasant and friendly. She had to admit that even if it turned out
that he didn't feel the same way about her that she felt about him, he would be
a good friend anyway.
******************************
Jarod
looked out the window to where Angela was looking. The drive through rural southside Virginia was long and tedious,
through small towns and cow pastures, but being with her made it go
faster. She was pretty, of course, and
sometimes he thought of her as more of a friend. But Blair High School social circles wouldn't allow it – he was a
senior who wasn't exactly part of the mainstream, wasn't constantly on the
honor roll and kept to himself; she was a bubbly freshman who had something to
say about everything, was on the distinguished honor roll and was part of the
"in" crowd. He loved her company,
though, and their meetings during A lunch on even days and their walk to her
fourth period class were two things that he looked forward to every other day. He had a girlfriend, who he had been
completely committed to for two and a half years. But he often found himself struggling not to think about Angela
and her dark eyes and bright smile, her verbose opinions, and her springy way
of walking and talking that Emily, his girlfriend, just didn't seem to possess.
"Any
idea where we are?" Angela's voice interrupted his thoughts of her. "Hello?"
"Um,
I think somewhere near South Hill," Jarod answered, still distracted by her.
"We've
only been here for two hours," Angela said and sighed. "Eight more to go. I'm gonna be beat by the time we get there."
Jarod
smiled and saw her eyes light up. She must like my smile, he thought. I'll
have to make it a point to do it more often in front of her.
"Angela!"
he heard one of her friends call.
"Switch seats with Jarod, I need to talk to you."
"That
okay?" she asked.
"No
problem," he answered and moved so she could slide over. He put his headphones back on and settled
down for the rest of the trip.
